We’ve made it to the middle of April. How are things going for your brand?
Clients in almost all verticals are telling us that this is the strangest month they’ve seen in YEARS. Past trends and assumptions don’t seem to hold true anymore.
At American Litho, we hear you. Yet we see real opportunities for brands that are bold enough to try new things. Week #3 of our Healthy Revenue Series helps you harness the power of print and digital as a way of reaching into homes and hearts while millions shelter in place.
The first step is to envision how your brand can meet deeper needs
In conversations with our clients, we are exploring some vital questions:
- How does your brand relate to what’s happening in the world right now?
- Can you bring joy, inspiration, entertainment, calm, connection or hope into people’s lives?
- Are your marketing messages aligned with deeper human needs?
- Are you adding to the frenzied chatter out there, or giving people a welcome break from it?
Every brand will answer these questions differently. This is a time of testing, listening, and recalibrating to make sure your strategy is fully aligned with what customers are thinking and feeling.
Next: map out a cost-effective way to reach people at home
Now that most Americans are sheltering in place – or at the very least, making fewer trips out – buying patterns have shifted in a massive way.
If you’re in retail, food service, entertainment or any vertical that traditionally draws people to physical locations, you’re already feeling the impact. Yet all brands need to take notice of two new realities:
- Online spending has risen 10% to 30%.
- Seeing what came in the mail has become a major source of delight and connection for millions.
With these points in mind, we’re helping leading brands quickly adopt a dual approach that delivers greater impact than print or digital alone.
Helpful facts about the value of marrying print and digital
We’ve been talking about these findings for some time, but just to refresh your sense of why they’re relevant now, here’s a quick review.
- Research shows that print has a unique human appeal that extends to all age groups.
- Millennials REALLY love print. Even though they spend plenty of time online, 92% of young shoppers trust direct mail to guide their buying decisions.
- Web and print work beautifully together. In fact, 44% of customers visit a brand’s website after getting something in the mail that piques their interest.
- Nearly 40% of people buy a brand for the first time because they saw it in print.
- Nearly half of all people keep mailers on hand for future reference. Great way to make sure your brand spends more time in customers’ living rooms, kitchens and home offices.
- By gathering web and mobile data to identify existing customers, you can target them with print for response rates of up to 25%. Compare this with the average .06% response with digital ads only.
What does success look like?
Here is one case study among many that will show you just how efficiently a digital + print strategy can work.
A national retailer needed to build brand awareness and increase holiday sales in selected regions. Tapping the power of Amerilytics®, our proprietary data analytics suite, we created a list of ideal prospects. Each household received a brilliant catalog filled with delectable holiday offerings. We used geofencing techniques to analyze past store traffic and deliver mobile, tablet and desktop messages to prospects. The results:
1.1 million ad impressions within 40 days
18% faster lead conversion, compared with past digital-only campaigns
How can we adapt this strategy to your needs?
Just as every organization is looking for that special sauce that will break through consumer pessimism and lift revenues, the unique strategy you need is …well, unique.
That’s why we invite you to get in touch with us. With a little information about what’s happening with sales, revenues and engagement rates, we can recommend a cost-effective approach that will improve short-term results while building deeper loyalty for the long-term win.
We’re here for you. Let us know how we can help.
