Monday, August 19, 2013

5 Reasons to Care about Infographics

According to IDG’s B2B Content Marketing Trends survey, infographics are the fastest growing content type on the web. Twenty-percent of B2B companies say they are using infographics as part of their content marketing efforts. This is up 150% over year over year. There is no mystery why. 

1. Infographics are easy to understand.
Few people have time to sit down and read anymore. However, the busiest people will often look at infographics even when they won’t read anything else. 

2. Your customers are visual. 
In general, human beings are wired to absorb information faster and more easily visually than by reading text. Infographics offer the power of visual learning. 

3. Infographics make data easier to absorb.
Because complex information can be communicated more easily in graphic form, infographics are the perfect way to present large amounts of data. 

4. Infographics boost SEO. 
According to Google, searches for infographics are up 800% 2011-2012. Adorn your infographics with descriptions, captions, and alt tags and they are very likely to get found. 

5. Infographics improve viral sharing. 
People love to share information via social media, and infographics make great viral content. If you post them, your customers are likely to Tweet, like, Pin, and otherwise share them.  

Although infographics are primarily an online content medium, they benefit your print design, as well. The elements you develop to create great infographics can be used in other print media.  Plus, you may also want your print materials such as direct mail, brochures, and marketing collateral to be influenced by the infographics style — less text, more data, and heavier emphasis on conceptual design elements that communicate information in visual form. 

Want to grab attention and help customers retain information better? Think infographics!


http://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2b-content-marketing-trends-2012

Monday, August 12, 2013

Using Google Analytics to Track Your Progress

If it was your New Year’s resolution to improve the effectiveness of your marketing, how do you determine if it’s working? Since one of the benefits of 1:1 print marketing is the ability to drive traffic to your website, one of the ways to determine success is to use Google Analytics and similar tools to monitor your Web activity. 

Online analytics tools are about more than the number of visitors to your site. They can tell you where these visitors are coming from, how long they stay, which sites or search engines are driving the most traffic, and more. 

In addition to basic site traffic, let’s look at some of the metrics Google Analytics offers. 
  • Absolute unique visits. Number of individual visitors (as contrasted with people who might be visiting the site more than once). 
  • Page views / average page views. When people come to your site, how many pages do they click on before they leave? 
  • Time on site. Once people hit your site, how long do they stay? Are they taking the time to read the content? Or clicking out right away? 
  • Traffic sources. Where are your visitors coming from? Are they typing in your URL directly? Coming from referring sites? Search engines? If the latter, which ones? What keywords are they using? 
  • Page navigation. Did people land on each page directly? Or did they click through another page to get there? After viewing the content, did they click through to more pages? Or leave the site? 
What can you learn from this type of information? 

If you’re running a specific 1:1 printing campaign, for example, you can watch how effective it is for driving website traffic—how quickly traffic peaks and how high. 

Once people land on your main URL, if they leave without clicking through to other pages, it might tell you that you need to improve the relevance of your index page or make the content more compelling. 
If you know the keywords being used to drive the most traffic from search engines, you can use this information in your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts. 

If you track which pages people are landing on or clicking through most often, you can add content or links to those pages to maximize your message. 

You make a significant investment in 1:1 print marketing, so maximize every dollar you spend. Once you’ve driven people to your website, free metrics tools can help you sharpen your message and improve site relevance, navigation, and functionality. You will capture more site visitors, hold them, and ultimately drive more conversion to sales. 



Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Elements of a Successful Cross-Media Campaign

Want to energize your print campaign? Add demographic or psychographic segmentation and personalization. Want to energize your print campaign even more? Combine print with other media to amplify its effect.

The most common cross-media campaigns these days are print and e-mail, but you might also want to consider banner ads, social media, SMS text messaging, search engine advertising and other avenues that complement print. Each will have different uses and benefits, depending on your marketing goals and the target demographic you are trying to reach.

Here are some basic rules to keep in mind:

1. Consistent branding across all media.
Different media have different requirements and limitations, so you aren’t going to be able to maintain 100% consistency all the time. But whenever possible, try to use the same images, color schemes, messaging and other elements across media.

2. Strategic application of media.
Know what role, specifically, each medium is supposed to play. If you are going to combine e-mail with print, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to “prime the pump” for the print piece? Are you using e-mail as a follow-up? Maybe if you’re driving traffic to a campaign-specific website, you might want to consider Internet banner advertising in demographic “hot spots.” The key is to match the medium to the audience and the message so that each medium plays off the other’s strengths.

3. Appropriate matching of media to the audience.
Ensure that you use the right medium to communicate with each target audience. Not all media are appropriate for every demographic. You’re not going to reach many senior citizens with SMS, for example. Plus, the mix is always changing. For example, only teenagers and college students used to use Facebook, but increasingly professionals and businesses use it as well.

Identify your marketing objectives, and then ensure that each medium is the right one to accomplish those goals. Make sure that you match the medium to your demographic and your offer, and use it appropriately within the best practices of that medium.


There is a learning curve associated with multi-channel marketing, but the ability to amplify and reinforce your marketing message can be invaluable.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Just Try a Letter!

When you are looking to get a great response to a print marketing campaign, have you ever considered just sending a direct mail letter? Marketing experts have begun to advocate a return to this simple but effective approach. 

Letters have an emotional appeal that doesn’t come from a postcard, a trifold, or even the most beautifully designed brochure. There is something about the personal connection that is made between the sender to the recipient when communicated in natural language in a way that’s easy to understand and relate to. 

Letters are inexpensive to print and mail, but they can be profoundly effective when done well. 

Here are some thoughts on letter writing and how to do it in very effectively.  

1. It has to be great. 
An average letter will not do the trick. You need to tell a great story, provide a compelling offer, and do it really, really well. This may mean hiring a copy writer, but it’s worth the effort. 

2. Keep it simple. 
Sometimes the most simple letters are the most effective. One marketing agency encouraged its client, Ford of Canada, to send a letter saying, “This letter is worth $1,500 to you when you buy or lease a brand new Lincoln.” Over a six-month period, that letter was responsible for the sales of about half the Lincolns in Canada.

3.  Make it as personal as possible. 
Be sincere. Use natural language. Affix real stamps on the envelope—or maybe even two. This alone can boost response rates significantly. 

This is not about being fancy. It’s about making a real, emotional connection with your audience. Sometimes a fancy, full-color, high-gloss mailer or multi-channel marketing campaign is the right tool for the job. But sometimes a simple, but very well written letter will be just as effective — or more. 


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