Old vs New Marketing: Appreciate the Value of Traditional Marketing

Would you believe that when you were born determines your opinion of the effectiveness of the same marketing strategies? That is one of the conclusions of a study entitled Self-Employed Professional and Small Business Owners in America 2017. That is why we created this two-part series discussing the advantages of traditional and new marketing approaches, because both have merit.

Source: Self-Employed Professional and Small Business Owners in America, A Study Sponsored by FreshBooks and led by Ellen Eastwood, 2017

Within an old school toolkit are direct mail, upselling, plant tours, free training, networking events, and walking the walk.

Upselling and Cross-Selling

Just because you’re a small company without a salesforce doesn’t mean you can’t market your services. Your customer service staff has daily conversations with customers and are in a perfect position to upsell and cross-sell just like the best. That is how VistaPrint succeeds. One of the most impressive features of the VistaPrint site is the non-stop upselling and cross-selling. These are traditional sales techniques that sales and customer service people use to maximize each conversation with customers. One focuses on an upgrade and the other on buying an associated product (e.g. “Do you want fries or a shake with that burger?”).

Upselling

In print production the obvious upsell is better paper or high quality finishing options (i.e. spot varnish, foil stamping). You’ve probably heard this yourself if you have bought a car or a house. They always talk about upgrades. Some sales people try to upsell early in the process while others wait until the order is being entered.

Cross-Selling

Cross-selling usually occurs when the deal is being closed or has been closed. That is when VistaPrint asks if you want stationary, return address labels, and envelopes with your order of business cards. There may also be an incentive of free shipping and a 10% discount on the printing.

Both can add to the top line of the business and take very little time or cost. This traditional marketing technique requires short but ongoing sales training and is easy to do.

Direct Mail

If you’re a printer, direct mail must be part of your marketing arsenal. One of the main reasons mail remains effective is because it is tangible, trustworthy, and effective. Unlike email, you never get a solicitation from an overseas prince asking for your bank account number.

Whatever kind of direct mail you may offer, you should look for statics that support that type of work. Two good sources are the DMA¹ and Print is Big². Here are some examples of 2017 statistics.

1. Direct mail household response rate is 5.1% (compared to .6% email, .6% paid search, .2 online display, .4% social media). This is the highest response rate the DMA has ever reported, since coming out with the Response Rate Report in 2003.
2. Direct mail median household return on investment is 29% (compared to 124% email, 23% paid search, 16% online display, 30% social media).
3. At 6.6%, oversized envelopes have the greatest household response rates over other mediums (followed by postcards at 5.7% and letter-sized envelopes at 4.3%).
4. At 37%, oversized envelopes have the greatest household return on investment over other mediums (followed by postcards and letter-sized envelopes at 29%).
5. The response rate for direct mail among people aged 18-21 years old is 12.4%.
6. The top response rate tracking methods are online tracking such as PURLs (61%), call center or telephone (53%), and code or coupon (42%).
7. For every $167 spent of direct mail in the US, marketers sell $2095 in goods.According to Keypoint Intelligence InfoTrends, the three most important features in offering direct mail are personalization, postal expertise, and automation.

Client Seminars

Ask a consultant where they get most of their work and you may be surprised to hear them say from seminars. It is called Seminar Marketing and is considered one of the best prospecting tools for identifying qualified prospects. It can be broken into two groups: strategic and tactical.

As you would expect, strategic would talk more about the strategic advantages of print such as variable data printing to increase response rates which would be targeted to senior level staff.

Tactical would focus more on the latest features of InDesign and address designers and end users more.

It’s important to work on a good list of people to invite which should be a mix of current clients and prospects. Just like any of these marketing strategies, when it’s done well, it can result in lifelong customers.

Local Networking Events

For some salespeople, attending and participating in networking events such as chamber events, business associations, and community events is very natural. Even from across a crowded room you can see them introducing themselves and handing out business cards, promotional literature, or SWAG (promotional items with your business name, logo and contact info on them). For others, it requires more of an effort to meet people they don’t know but it gets easier after a few meetings.

There are a few keys to achieving success through networking events.

1. First, do your homework: find out how many are attending, who are they, if they are the right people etc.
2. Second, set up goals. Perhaps something like gathering ten business cards, talking to five people and having two in-depth conversations.
3. Finally, evaluate if each event is worth your time. Consider the amount of time, benefit, and potential benefit of each event. If it’s an hour away and an hour event, it will have to provide more leads or lead potential than an event that is a few blocks away and during lunch.

Plant Tours

If you have ever been on a good plant tour, you understand the power. Two that stand out were a large scale HP event in Israel and a smaller event with a university in Denton, Texas. Despite different scales, both shared similarities. They had well-rehearsed tour guides that took small groups from machine to machine. In front of each machine stood an operator who was also well rehearsed in describing the equipment and its role. In fact, some equipment manufacturers or resellers were there too, providing more in-depth information. Finally, both provided world class food. In Israel, we had dinner in cave, and in Texas, it was an award-winning barbeque lunch served under a tent.

Walking the Walk

Nothing demonstrates expertise better then showing you can do it. One of the best ways to prove to customers you provide variable data printing, Purls, QR codes or even simple direct mail is sending it to them. Use it to invite them to a seminar on cross media marketing or an update to the latest features in in Adobe Creative Suite.

Take your time, have it professionally designed, and create a clever campaign. The most effective programs combine presentations on marketing effectiveness, best practices and new technology. Podi.org (Print On Demand Initiative) has some great examples of world class variable data campaigns which will allow you to showcase case histories of how other companies achieved outstanding results.

Do you have other traditional marketing tactics in your toolkit? Share with us in the comments below.