Page 61 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2021

Marketing
Using print and digital Marketing guru Malcolm Auld analyses why integrating email and social
Email and print
When it comes to your email newsletter, publish it monthly, and then every quarter create a print version – preferably a magazine. Take the best content from your email newsletters and social media during the previous quarter. Add interviews with clients, industry experts or other relevant executives. Include tips, announcements and showcase your work and staff. Invite partners or suppliers to contribute content, or even advertise in the magazine.
Personalise the cover of the
print version and mail it to your customers and prospects. They’ll be pleasantly surprised, and also keen to be interviewed, so they too can appear in the pages and tell their colleagues. This becomes a high- quality branding tool that acts as
a silent salesperson – particularly
if you include a QR code linked to a landing page on the cover.
Letterboxes and corporate doorways are uncluttered, so your printed literature will get noticed
– and if created professionally
will really boost your brand and your sales. You can promote the publication in your digital channels. It is also a useful sales tool to act as a leave-behind after a meeting, or as a mailing to prospects to get an appointment.
There’s nothing new in marketing – apart from technology. So put your print technology to work for you.
If you are thinking, “What’s old is new again”, you are right. It is just more integrated across more channels now. 21
channels with print gives the best results for connecting with more customers.
One of the benefits of being a printer is you have the ability, more than any other industry, to economically
showcase your work and put it in the hands of your prospects. You can print stuff at cost and deliver it personally to your customers and prospects.
Prior to the internet that is what most printers and B2B marketers did – they printed newsletters or magazines and mailed them to
their database. But as email became ubiquitous and much cheaper, many organisations stopped printing their messages, and started emailing newsletters instead.
And while social channels are easy
to criticise for lack of commercial performance, they are now a cost
of doing business, so should not be ignored. The main problem of using all these digital channels is the expectation of your audience that content must be posted daily, or your brand is seen to be out of touch. This isn’t an issue with an occasionally printed newsletter.
Digital investment
Keeping social channels and email newsletters up to date costs time
and money. Many organisations, particularly those without marketing managers – such as quite a few printers – struggle with the ongoing creation of content, and so let their digital channels wither and die.
Ironically, printers are manufacturers from another age. But that is precisely why you can stand out in both digital and print channels. Every day you create something new
– often for major brands. You have high-tech machinery, interesting characters who work for you, warehousing, delivery vehicles, and you sponsor local sport, charities or other organisations.
So the opportunity to create
fresh content is right under your nose. Why not hire a graduate who understands social media, knows how to use a camera and let them create content for newsletters and social channels? Get staff involved to create content too.
The role of social
If you are unsure how to use social media, here is how you can leverage the different channels:
LinkedIn – use articles and video to demonstrate your expertise and knowledge to position you as an industry authority.
Blog – similar to LinkedIn, use your blog to position your expertise. Many organisations simply republish their blog content on LinkedIn, rather than create separate content.
Facebook – show your personality via staff stories, a day in the life of your company or driver, sponsorship activities, fundraising events, images of finished work – anything that reflects your workplace.
YouTube – educational videos, interviews, print advice to help customers get the best results. Store video you use in other channels on your YouTube channel, accessible via your website.
Instagram – is for print beauty, showcasing your work and print- related products through high- quality mouth-watering photography.
Tik-Tok – yes, it’s a thing in business. Your staff (and future employees) are as much an audience here as your customers and prospects. Use short videos to build your personality and even expertise. Close-ups of presses printing things, staff engaging in some fun – ask your staff to create a Tik Tok challenge.
Pinterest – similar to Instagram, provide visual inspiration to reflect your industry knowledge and skills.
You don’t have to use every channel, but if you commit to social media, commit to it. Start with two channels
and grow from there. Remember, when you
create a video you
can also transcribe
the text, use it as a blog,
or use excerpts in social media. Create 30 second edits of the video for social channels and link to your YouTube channel where the whole video can be viewed. A video gives you so many opportunities to create more than just the video content.
Below
Social media: connect for benefits