A handy guide filled with effective marketing advice for commercial printers. How to use your web site, blog, email newsletter, and social media to connect with and engage with customers and prospects. How social media helps printers Web site do's and don'ts Email marketing tips - practical, easy, effective! Marketing associations - why they matter to printers

1. Easy & Effective Marketing
Ideas for Printers
Margie Dana
Margiedana.com
November 21, 2013
Graphics Canada

2. Steeped in “print buyer-hood”
o
Former print buyer 15+ years
o
Founder of Print Buyers International (2006-2012)
o
Produced 9 PBI Print & Media Conferences
o
Write weekly Print Tips (since 1999)
o
Manage buyers-only PBI LinkedIn Group
o
Wrote 3 books about print buying & print selling
o
New business: content provider
o
Conduct market research on print buyers
@margiedana

3. @margiedana

4. Don’t be afraid of marketing.
Be very afraid of NOT doing any.
@margiedana

5. Where your focus needs to be
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Web site
Email marketing
Social media
Direct mail
Marketing associations
One for all and all for one.
@margiedana

6. #1: Your web site
www.yourURLhere.com
@margiedana

7. 10 Web site DO’s
Your URL is the FIRST place
a prospect will go. It must
represent you well.
1. DO focus on your home page. What you do, who
you serve, why you‟re different. Your company‟s
personality is reflected here. Does yours?
2. DO feature people more than heavy metal.
Customers like working with people. Show faces,
shed a light on personalities. Avoid an excess of
equipment, building pictures.
@margiedana

8. Web site DO’s
3. DO build it with a Content Management System.
It will be easy to maintain & update. Key to have
content regularly refreshed on your site.
4. DO make if visually spectacular. Printing is a
visual industry. A combination of photos & other
graphic imagery, plus a refreshing color palette &
contemporary type treatment is expected.
5. DO make it social. There‟s no good reason why
any printer in 2013 shouldn‟t be socially active.
More on this later. Show your SM buttons.
@margiedana

9. Web site DO’s
6. DO feature good customer reviews. Millennials
in particular are influenced by peer reviews
(TripAdvisor, Facebook, Yelp, etc.). Make good
use of testimonials.
7. DO make it easy to get in touch. Don‟t make
them hunt for names, emails, phones, addresses.
Have these on every page.
8. DO have an easy-to-find equipment list. Savvy
print customers pre-qualify their printers by
equipment. Make sure it‟s current.
@margiedana

10. Does equipment really matter?
315 buyers surveyed in July said
73%
23%
4%
YES
SOMETIMES
NO
@margiedana

11. www.millettheprinter.com - best!
@margiedana

12. Web site DO’s
9. DO have a blog. Lose your „fear of blogging.‟
Collect a list of common customer problems or
concerns, turn them into a series. Or build a series
on a theme that suits your firm naturally. Ideas:
“Did you know that…?” “Featured Customers”
“Time-saving Tips”
10. DO make sure it passes proofreading muster.
Do it professionally or triple-check spelling,
grammar, etc. Print customers are typically
crackerjack at proofing.
@margiedana

13. 10 Web site DON’Ts
1. DON’T neglect it. The importance of your online
presence will only grow. Put someone in charge of
paying attention to your site.
2. DON’T make it anonymous. The more you can
feature people, the more personal the reaction.
Start building relationships with your site.
3. DON’T start what you can’t finish. A regular
customer newsletter that has evidently died on the
vine will do more harm than good. Take it down.
@margiedana

14. Web site DON’Ts
4.DON’T choke it with dense content. More words
don‟t make something “better.” Clear, concise
copy with plenty of breathing room is more
effective. We scan copy on the „net, we don‟t read.
5. DON’T make it difficult to read. Sites having a
dark, solid background and all KO type are
impossible to read. Visitors get annoyed & leave.
Professional site designers will make sure your
site is pleasing to the eye.
@margiedana

15. Web site DON’Ts
6. DON’T be ashamed to brag. Have you won
awards? Been prominent in your community?
Involved in certain charitable efforts? Make room
for these „trophies‟ on your site. Customers want
to work with successful printers.
7. DON’T have a ‘split-personality’ site. Some
companies have sub-divisions or a separate
business that specializes in another vertical.
Incorporate these other businesses on your site
with the same design, look, and feel.
@margiedana

16. Web site DON’Ts
8.DON’T assume anyone can build & maintain it.
Your site is too important a marketing tool to put it
in the hands of amateurs.
9. DON’T hide your green-ness. Sustainability
programs are still mega-important to customers
and prospects. Give yours its own tab on your
site.
10. DON’T be afraid to have fun. Company sites
need not be totally buttoned-up. Prospects will
react well to tasteful humor.
@margiedana

17. #2: Email Marketing
@margiedana

18. Easiest & best way to
keep in touch with every
customer.
@margiedana

19. How easy is email marketing?
Low-cost options: do it yourself or work with a
service (I use Constant Contact.)
If I didn’t market via email, I would’ve failed.
- Print Tip email: weekly since 1999
- About 720 columns in my library
- 4000 followers
- Made me as a subject matter expert and a writer
- I get business regularly from it
@margiedana

20. Why do it? Here are 10 reasons…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Keep in regular touch with customers
Share news
Increase your brand awareness
Opportunity to educate & inform
Gives customers a reason to interact with you
Easily forwarded
Cheaper than printed marketing materials
Feedback will inspire, inform you
You‟ll get business
You can repurpose the content
@margiedana

21. Getting started
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Commit to it for the long-term. Establish goals.
Set a do-able schedule. Monthly is ideal.
Quarterly is not enough; weekly is a lot more
work.
Put someone in charge. Or it won‟t happen.
Write an editorial calendar. 12 months = 12
topics: easy!
Name your email and decide how long/short it
will be. One topic. 400 – 500 words.
Ensure your customer database is clean,
current and maintained.
@margiedana

22. Getting started
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Let your customers know. Send an email
announcing you‟ll be doing it monthly.
Allow them to opt-in and opt-out.
Build it into your web site. Have a section, add
new issues as they‟re published. Have sign-up
forms on every page.
Design it in HTML as well as text-based. Test it,
have colleagues comment on it, before going live.
Make sure it works on all platforms, in all
browsers.
@margiedana

23. Getting started
12.
13.
14.
Make sure readers can forward it and share on
social media, too.
Engage readers. Invite comments in each issue.
Repurpose your content!
-
Post it on your site
Post it on your company FB page
Post a link to the site page on LinkedIn and Twitter, and
other SM channels you have.
Golden rule of email marketing: content
must be informational, not promotional.
@margiedana

24. #3: Social Media
@margiedana

25. Where’s the marketing value?
Do these numbers grab you?
@margiedana

26. @margiedana

27. From therealtimereport.com 11/1
Social networking stats for the week, included:
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Instagram
Vine
Pinterest
1.15 billion monthly active users
1 billion+ monthly unique users
218+ million monthly active users
238 million active users
144 million blogs
150 million users
40 million registered users
70 million users
@margiedana

28. SM is here to stay. So jump in!
Your competition is there
 You can (and should) pick one or two that feel right
for your firm. Familiarize yourself with what others
in the field are doing. Start slowly, and don‟t expect
marketing miracles overnight.
 Building brand awareness might be #1 advantage
 Establish yourself as experts
 Print is a visual industry: lends itself perfectly to
sites like Facebook and Pinterest.
 The single best way to cast off a dated image.

@margiedana

29. Twitter Start-up Tips
Establish your objectives – as with any marketing
effort
 Design Twitter page to match your site
 It‟s OK for more than 1 person to tweet for you
 Tweeting a few times daily is recommended.
 Inform, use links to interesting news articles/blog
posts – don‟t use it to overtly sell. Work in tweets
about your services, expertise
 Twitter etiquette: RT others‟ posts that you find
valuable. Thank those who do so for you.
 Don‟t expect miracles overnight. Building a Twitter
base takes a long time. Be patient.
@margiedana


30. Facebook Start-up Tips
Establish your objectives – as with any marketing
effort
 Facebook page design should match your site
 It‟s a great visual canvas for printers: post images
primarily!
 You can get more personal on FB than other social
media sites – it‟s expected.

@margiedana

31. LinkedIn Tips
We should all be on LinkedIn. It‟s your public
resume. Prospects & recruiters will search there.
 Personal profile should be current and robust. Build
in recommendations.
 Post links to your blogs, etc.
 Corporate profile can be very elegant, almost like a
„mini‟ site.
 Build connections on LinkedIn over time
 Join a few Groups that you can realistically
participate in.
 It‟s still free – so do it today!

@margiedana

32. Key for all social media activity
Think of them together. Update/post in sync with
each other. Your posts and updates on social media
should be integrated with your web site.
 If nothing else, get involved to increase brand
awareness.
 Add social media buttons to every site page,
making sure they link to your specific pages/profiles
(as opposed to just facebook.com or twitter.com).

Align your social media efforts behind
your business goals.
@margiedana

33. #4: Direct Mail
@margiedana

34. Printers should market with print
Email fatigue makes direct mail a welcome relief.
 Use postcard campaign to show off your services.
 Do not feature equipment for equipment sake.
 Always ask yourself, “What’s in it for my
customers?” - not, why is this press so cool.
 Send personal thank you notes to customers from
time to time.
 Send holiday cards to customers.
 Mailed sales letters have greater impact than a cold
email.
 Mail samples. Include equipment list. And a letter.

@margiedana

35. #5: Marketing Associations
Marketers need what
you have.
@margiedana

36. Print customers move to marketing
Roles changing within corporations, move from
communications environments to marketing
 Customers getting closer to decision makers
 Print customers/marketers crave innovation from
print industry – what‟s new, what‟s cutting-edge,
what can be done with digital/VDP, etc.
 Customers want information on how to build
multichannel campaigns – and look to print industry
for this expertise.

@margiedana

37. What value-added
services did 315 print
buyers vote for in
July ‘13 survey?
@margiedana

38. 76% - ideas about new
print concepts, innovation
67% - mailing/fulfillment
44% - personalization
26% - web-to-print
24% - multichannel
support
@margiedana

39. Join the club(s)
Marketing associations offer programs and other
events that welcome printers and are a natural for
learning and networking.
 Programs often include sessions on multichannel,
direct mail, integrated print, etc.
 Printers can support and sponsor their local
marketing groups. Build brand awareness, establish
your credentials, learn about marketing trends,
influence marketers, network, meet prospects.

@margiedana

40. Where you’ll find me
Twitter:
@margiedana
Facebook:
Margie Dana
Email:
margie@margiedana.com
Phone:
617.730.5951
@margiedana

41. Questions? Thanks!
Margie Dana, Content Provider
margie@margiedana.com
617.730.5951
Visit
www.margiedana.com
Please sign up for my weekly email column.
@margiedana