PRINT + DIGITAL

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide

Balance is hard.

But in marketing, as in life, it’s crucial.

People who can’t balance work and life get either burnt out or fired. Those who can’t find the middle ground between marketing fads and foundational platforms end up wasting their budget and watching their ROI plummet.

CEOs and marketing managers are doing this right now with print and digital marketing.

While some can’t muster the courage to take advantage of digital marketing platforms, others overcorrect in their rush to go all-digital.

Two things happen when you find a balance between print and digital marketing: you improve the performance of both and you gain an advantage over every competitor who doesn’t have that balance.

This field guide will explain why so many get it wrong, why it’s so important to get it right, how to make your print and digital marketing work together, what each medium is good at, what they’re not good at, how to run an effective direct mail and email campaign, how to develop print and digital at the same time, and more.

We condensed all that into the following 5 sections:

1. Data not hype: Why so many get it wrong 2. Why print and digital work so well together 3. How to combine print and digital marketing 4. eCommerce Branding vs Physical Branding 5. Email Marketing + Direct Mail: The Marketing Alley-Oop

There’s no time to waste. Let’s get to it.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 2 Data not hype

The Direct Marketing Association does a huge study each year, and each year the findings are a gold mine for savvy marketers.

The 2016 study’s results were no different:

• More than 100 million U.S. adults made a catalog purchase last year

• 190% rise in direct mail response rates

But how? How did marketers get such huge response rates and even *gasp* sales from a channel that had been pronounced dead over a decade ago?

Well, for starters, they listened to data instead of clickbait. They leveraged this growing wealth of info to segment their mailing lists just like their email lists. Their multi-channel campaigns actually included physical and digital for a much greater array of touchpoints and better effectiveness of each thanks to higher recall rates. And they used the same insights their digital counterparts were using to create mailers that addressed where their prospects are in their buyer’s journey.

They found a powerful balance between print and digital. And you should too.

As your competition overcorrects in their wholesale rush from print to digital, your competitive advantage lies in the balance.

Human nature is a funny thing.

If you’ve ever seen the line stretching around the block on the day the latest iWhatever is launched, you know humans love novelty beyond reason. Countless books written by serious, pipe-smoking psychologists no doubt explain this in excruciating detail, but for our purposes, we just need to recognize this tendency: People love what’s new, tend to follow the herd, and almost always pursue our gut feelings beyond what’s rational.

Case in point: The digital marketing gold rush.

As digital marketing channels emerged, early adopters cashed in. Their success sent CMOs the world over scrambling to get their share. They went all in on digital and print was pronounced dead on the spot.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 3 Why Print and Digital Work so Well Together

Like a classic food pairing, print and digital complement each other by being different in exactly the right ways. Donuts are sweet while coffee is bitter. Fries are hot, salty and crispy, while ketchup is cold, tangy, and slightly sweet.

Print is tangible and lasting while digital is pixels. Digital is perfect for action – you can buy in few clicks – while print is perfect for engaging the brain at a deeper level to deliver a complicated message.

The Canadian neuromarketing firm TrueImpact recently did a massive study that found direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media. This gives marketers a great way to take a user from totally unaware of your brand/ product/service to highly informed in a single touch. Now they’re ready for that targeted digital ad.

Compare that with a digital-only approach where your ad is supposed to introduce your brand and get a user to take action in the same half second while try to actively avoid it?

I’ll take the first approach, thank you.

Use each medium for what it’s best at, create seamless handoffs between the two, and align both from the start of the campaign to the final sale and you’ve got a smarter process than a huge portion of your competitors.

It turns out that the magic of combining print and digital, is isn’t magic at all, but logic, data, and knowing enough about human nature to counter it.

Digital marketing is great and targeted ads are a really efficient way to get your message in front of a very specific crowd. But just because targeted ads are good doesn’t mean that direct mail is bad. These two don’t have to be rivals –

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 4 How To Combine Direct Mail and Targeted Ads

First, let’s get some baseline definitions to work with.

Direct Mail: A marketing method in which carefully targeted prospects (chosen on the basis of age, income, location, profession, buying pattern, etc.) are presented with custom tailored offers for goods or services via ordinary mail or email. Marketing firms usually ‘rent’ lists of prospects from mailing list compiling firms who maintain a large inventory of names and addresses of prospects, divided into hundreds of categories and subcategories. – BusinessDictionary

Targeted Ads: A form of advertising where online advertisers can use sophisticated methods to target the most receptive audiences with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. – Wikipedia

Each have things they’re really good at and some things that they aren’t so suited for. Knowing the difference is crucial for any marketer who doesn’t like wasting money.

Direct Mail – Pros • Highly targeted • Heightened sensory appeal (tactile, physical) • People absorb info 21% faster when it’s printed • Longer attention spans (online users experience more distractions) • More opportunity to deliver a larger, more complex message • Higher comprehension and better recall than digital ads • Greater emotional reactions than digital ads • More ventral striatum stimulation (area of the brain associated with desire) than digital media

Direct Mail – Cons • Effective direct mail can be expensive to create and produce • Long lead times – digital ads can be seen instantly while mail takes days to get to recipients • Environmental impact • Acting on impulse takes longer than on a digital ad • Response rates are typically low (below 3.7%)

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 5 Targeted Ads – Pros • Instant access • Ability to convert desire to a sale in seconds • Highly customizable • Powerful personalization options • Ability to use video for highly attention-grabbing ads • Low cost • Low risk • Trackable – you can gather tons of info on every person who clicks your ad • Optimizable – improve your ad’s performance during it’s run based on data

Targeted Ads – Cons • Very low attention spans • Ads shown to people who have already made their purchase and are out of the market • Too targeted can feel creepy (How do they know that about me?!) • Taking advantage of the ability to personalize drives costs higher • People share computers or devices can lead to faulty targeting (husband seeing ads for shoes his wife searched for)

How can targeted digital ads and direct mail benefit each other? When your marketing mix lacks balance, you end up relying on a tactic to do something it’s not good at. Top-of-the-funnel Facebook ads for a product that requires a long explanation aren’t going to work. Instead, send a direct mail first that introduces your brand and breaks down your value prop and proves it through eye-popping stats. Then make that targeted ad look just like your mailer and continue the conversation.

You can also leverage the data collected for your physical mailing list when you sit down to target your digital ads. That mailing list you bought with all those demographics doesn’t stop being applicable once the image becomes pixels.

Did your mailer do well? Replicate the creative and targeting online. And vice versa. If you run an ad on Instagram that gets a ton of clicks, use that as the cover panel of a direct mailer where you can expand on the concept. When art and copy clicks, it’s a powerful thing. Don’t just run it once and shelve it.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 6 Practical Takeaways: Direct Mail Tips

Get specific:A broad message that tries to appeal to everyone is like trying to hammer in a nail sideways. Find your point and put your weight behind it. To do this, you need to first segment your audience so you can address each buyer persona’s needs and pain points specifically. Then segment by where they are in their buyer’s journey. If you just added them to your CRM you may have better luck pushing for a call with a sales rep than going right for the sale. If they’ve already had a call with a rep, your mailer needs to recap all the reasons they need to pull the trigger.

Consider the size and shape: If you need to deliver a significant message, don’t try to squeeze it all on a post card. Your message needs room to breathe. Look at how much better this is than this. Talk to your printer. If they’re any good at all, they’ll be willing and able to give you great advice on how to best get your message across.

Nail the cover: Nothing else matters on your mailer if the recipient doesn’t get past the cover. It is crucial to find a captivating image and a bold headline that commands attention.

Use bullets: Bulleted lists make for easy reading, and that’s exactly what you need. Replace a big block of text with bulleted lists every chance you get.

Your CTA makes the money: A CTA, or call to action, is what pays the bills. It’s what gets the recipient to act. It should be “you” focused, rather than “I”, “me”, or “we.” First make sure you’re asking something that makes sense for who is looking at it. Go back to your targeting and think about this person – what motivates them, what pain or aggravation can you help them alleviate, what reward can you offer? Then make it as easy as humanly possible to act. Don’t ask them to do anything complicated or more than one step.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 7 Practical Takeaways: Targeted Ad Tips

Master Facebook and Google’s ad platforms first: Sure, there are great opportunities on YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, and others – but Facebook and Google are dominating the ad game for good reason. They work better. Their targeting allows you to get your message in front of exactly the right people at the right time. Learn how to use those two ad platforms effectively and you’re

Consider the Lead Ad: Speaking of Facebook’s ad platform, they have a new(ish) ad type that is worth reading about: The Lead Ad. They let you turn a stranger into a lead with a single ad without even making the user leave Facebook. This all may seem minor. It’s not. You can turn strangers into leads with one touch. That’s big. Learn about it, master it, and start adding new leads like crazy.

Target only people who haven’t been to your website: One downside to well-targeted ads is that you risk spending time and money preaching to the choir, so to speak. People that have recently purchased your product aren’t going to buy again this soon. Facebook lets you skip anyone who has recently been to your site. But you have to install Facebook Pixel first.

Create a lookalike audience: Facebook lets you reach people who have the same or similar behavior and interests as your current fans. It’s a perfect way to expand your reach without much hassle, so get after it.

Google Adwords is worth your time: If you have a good site but no traffic, Google Adwords is a powerful tool you need to get familiar with. Here’s the Google Adwords Youtube channel. It’s like Hogwarts for digital marketing. Accio, web traffic!

This probably feels like a lot to learn. But if you can just get a basic understanding of Facebook and Google’s ad platforms, you can get your ads in front of a lot of people for a great cost. Then, commit to getting a little better every week. As far as time investments go, the ROI here is really hard to beat.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 8 eCommerce Branding vs Physical Branding

Branding is one of the most misunderstood topics in small to medium-sized businesses.

Marketing managers who went to business school to learn about marketing and the 4 Ps are good at many things. Understanding all the elements that encompass their brand is usually not one of them. They’ll often tell you their brand is the logos, colors, and packaging they use.

That’s like saying a car is a headrest.

Your brand is your story and your promise to your customer all rolled into one. Sure it manifests itself in color palates and logos, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s the soul and personality behind your product – and if it’s not clearly defined, your product or service cannot have an authentic personality that elevates it from a commodity.

This post is going to break down the importance of presenting a seamless brand both online and off, how to clarify your branding to encourage brand advocates and loyalists, and more – but first we need to just clear the air about branding in general.

The Basics

What’s your story and what’s your promise to your customers? Answer these first before doing anything else. Take your time, be thoughtful, write it out, come back to it later to edit and polish. This is the foundation of your brand, it needs to be rock-solid.

Now that you have that, you can move on to your customers. If you don’t have personas built, that’s something that cannot wait. Here’s a good guide to create those.

Ok, so now that you have your story, your promise to your customers, and your personas built, your real brand is taking shape. If your colors and logos and packaging doesn’t reflect what you’ve done, fixing that needs to be a top priority. There are plenty of resources that are a Google search away that will help you through this process.

Schizophrenia is a Bad Party Trick

Once you have your brand established, you need to be vigilant about staying true to it on your packaging, social media, online shopping cart, and everywhere else.

If your brand is one person online and someone else entirely in person – it’s going to have trouble making and keeping friends. This may sound insignificant, but it directly affects your ability to reach new customers and keep the ones you have coming back for more. It’s big.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 9 Ok, so how do you check for that?

Think of your brand as a person. When you read your packaging and your website, does it sound like the same person? Do you see the same personality? If it doesn’t, you probably need a brand guide or some rules in place to ensure you follow it. (Here’s a great brand guide resource.)

What makes good branding in packaging?

We’ll go speed round on this:

• Your packaging should be immediately recognizable as you • It has to be clear what you offer and what sets you apart • It makes your product look desireable • Authentic – don’t try to be something you’re not • It’s practical and keeps the product safe • Consider your surroundings and make sure you stand out • It translates well for your whole line

But this is all pretty general – and your product isn’t general, is it? We have packaging pros ready to give you specific advice. Seriously, they love this stuff. Get specific advice.

What makes good digital branding?

• It takes advantage of social channels as a place to be it’s most honest and friendly while staying authentic • Stay true to your brand guide on every platform, channel, and site that your products appear on – be vigilant • Use the right logo in every occasion – that means knowing when to use the PNG, JPEGs, and GIFs. (Here’s a cheat sheet.) • Look for every opportunity to bolster your branding – do you have branded email template(s), are there pages on your site that could be any site, is your Facebook cover photo on brand? These opportunities are plentiful and valuable, go find them.

This looks like a lot, but once you boil your brand down to its essence and know it like a BFF, it’s so much easier. Once you do that, you can easily spot places where your branding is missing, or worse: being inauthentic.

For some reason, businesses large and small have taken this either/or approach to their marketing and it’s costing them. This post is going to show you how to beat them by changing the conversation from “email vs direct mail” to “email and direct mail.”

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 10 Engage your prospect everywhere.

This basic advice is ignored a lot these days. If you’re trying to reach a human who is both online and offline, it would seem only logical that your marketing should also be both online and off.

So how do you use email and direct mail seamlessly?

They’re not as different as you may think. You’re reaching out to the same people with a way to either solve a problem or help them achieve something they want. There are some key differences in what makes copywriting effective for digital vs print. The first step in a successful email and direct mail alley-oop is working on them together, at the same time. Here’s your basic approach:

1. Identify what you need to say and who you need to say it to? Then define what you want them to do (the ask or CTA) and why they should care. 2. Create your offer, message and look/feel based on the above direction. 3. If you have a sales team, get their thoughts on the work. They know what motivates prospects and can make your marketing more effective. 4. Find the best way to communicate this art & copy in both direct mail and email. 5. Once you’re done making revisions, review them together to ensure they’re aligned. 6. Review your mailing list and email list to ensure the audience is the same and it matches the audience you defined in step one.

This is a simple way to send both messages at the same time. But your emails and direct mails probably won’t always be going out at the same time. After all, they have different strengths and weaknesses and that’s just not how alley-oops work.

Cold direct mails are so much better than cold emails. (And really, you shouldn’t ever be emailing someone who hasn’t given you permission to email them. People hate that and the click through rates prove as much.) So if your piece will be the first touch with a prospect, use direct mail first to get their email (or permission to email them) then craft that perfect marketing email to get the ultimate action you want. A letter is a great way to get a cold lead to open and read your message. So start there.

In this case, your basic process would look something like this:

1. Identify what you need to say and who you need to say it to? Then define what you want them to do (the ask or CTA) and why they should care. 2. Break that ask down into 2 steps, the first should get them to a webpage where you can convince them to give you their email in exchange for an offer or discount. 3. Create your offer, message and look/feel for this mini campaign. 4. If you have a sales team, get their thoughts on the work. They know what motivates prospects and can make your marketing more effective. 5. Take that art & copy and translate it into a letter first, then an email.

Combining Print + Digital Marketing: The Field Guide Page 11 Concepting and creating the two pieces together will help you keep the process seamless for the prospect. That first touch direct mail is crucial in this approach. If it doesn’t work, nothing else matters. Find a printer who is a total pro with direct mail – no Kinkos or Print 4 Less for this one. If you call your printer and they can’t or won’t help you craft the perfect direct mail for what you’re trying to accomplish, hang up and call us.

That’s a wrap.

We get it – that looks like a lot. But if you take it one step at a time, slowly folding in each new process or way of thinking into your daily grind – you’ll have it down in a few weeks.

Remember: Balance doesn’t mean an even split between print + digital. Balance is getting the best ROI from every dollar you spend, utilizing each platform, medium, or tactic at what it’s best at, using print to improve your digital, and digital to improve your print.

If you have questions about your print campaign, expanding your direct mail list, the wide range of personalization options available through variable printing, or anything else printing related – let us know. We’ve got a team that is obsessed with helping you reach your goals and decades of print marketing experience to do it.

Now get out there and take your marketing to the next level with the power of balance.

Cheers, MPress Printing

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