The Importance of Business Cards

They are the first line of defense of the networker: a business card.

It is amazing how this thin sliver of heavy weight paper with your name on it can be so important. But consider this as you go out and meet clients and new prospects and suspects that each card has:

• Introduces you by name and brand
• Your contact information
• A life after you leave

And if you design it right, has blank space on the back for notes and can be read by most scanners.

"In my seminars I tell my students to "always carry business cards. Always," Paul E. Maynard said. Known as the Relentless Networker, Maynard knows. "I've traded business cards with people in cabs in Mexico, in airport terminal everywhere and through the mail for almost 30 years."

A good card design features:

• A clear typeface and a simple design
• A quality paper stock to reflect your professionalism
• A blank back for notes
• A logo or other identifying mark

And be sure and buy them in enough quantity to last. Also consider your letterhead, envelopes and other stationery to be consistent with your brand.

The Executive Pressman

The US Post Office and Direct Mail

While they are in the mailing business, the US Postal Service has done a great job of promoting and marketing direct-mail marketing. On a visit to their website the other day I found a whole collection of information that is a good resource for you if you are considering integrating direct mail into your marketing program.

The USPS cited a number of advantages of DMM on their website. Direct mail is:

• Targeted
• Personal
• Flexible
• Tangible
• Measurable
  
• Easy to start and run

Now, if the guys who deliver the mail say all of these things, than it must be true, right? Well the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) backs them up on their website and most professionals in the field, including ourselves, say the same things.

But remember, too, that direct mail is most effective when it is part of a concerted, coordinated, branded program. And you have to give your targets the option to "opt out." Courtesy is still important.

The Executive Pressman

www.executivepress.com

Direct-Mail is Not Dead

Direct-mail marketing is not passe--not even close.

The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) reports that in 2009, marketers--commercial and non-profit--spent $149 billion on direct marketing which was over 50% of all advertising expenditures for the year.

A big part of this effort was direct mail.

Direct-mail marketing is popular and results in a high return because:

• It is targeted to a specific prospect by name.
• The content is customized.
• The return and results are measurable.

For more information on how you can make direct-mail marketing work for you, please call Jennifer Beaty at 214-217-7000 or visit our website at www.executivepress.com.

The Executive Pressman

Invitations

Courtesy, kindness and protocol die hard.

While it is popular (and sometimes, accepted) to issue and respond to invitations electronically, the days of printed and mailed invitations and thank-you notes are far from numbered.

Invitations to important life events still are popular and alive. The kinds of events that still rely on printed invitations include:

• Weddings
• Bachelor and bachelorette parties
• Baby showers
• Super Bowl parties

Step back, Evite, you aren't the end-all-be-all.

As for other printed cards, consider that hand-written notes still have a significant impact with those who receive them. For example:

• A new business associate remembers a hand-written thank-you note longer than an email thank you.
• Newly married couples still follow the protocol of sending hand-written thank-yous to their wedding guests and gift-givers.
• A potential or new employer not only remembers a hand-written note, they appreciate the gesture.

Printed invitations and notes live on because personal interaction is still very important.

For more information about how to design, print and distribute these important printed items, please call Jennifer at Executive Press at 214-217-7000.
The Executive Pressman

Coupons and Offers

Quite often a story appears in the media about people who buy their groceries with coupons and little or no cash. But coupons and offers aren't just for groceries.

"We've been experimenting with text offers and Q codes," Jennifer Beaty said. "We've had a good response, too."

Jennifer is the managing partner of Executive Press. They found that using these new age "coupons" was a natural extension of their direct-mail and other marketing offerings they provide for their clients.

"We first have tried it for ourselves to see how it would work to build our business," Jennifer said. "Our first text offer came at the recent North Dallas Chamber of Commerce's Building Business Expo."

Executive Press started with a sign in their Expo booth with an offer to text to a number for either dollars off your next order or a free digital print.

"The response was more than we expected, quite frankly," Jennifer said. "It shows that people are far more digitally oriented than we imagined in a business-to-business environment," Jennifer said.

Q codes are another option. The simple barcode variation allows customers to scan them and be taken to a specific website or custom URL.

For more information about direct text marketing and Q codes, visit www.executivepress.com or call Jennifer at 214-217-7000.

The Executive Pressman

Why Use Direct-Mail Marketing?

Using direct-mail marketing as a part of your marketing mix still is valid.

A source no less than the US Small Business Administration's SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) advocates direct-mail marketing. In a recent on-line post, SCORE reiterated why to use direct mail as a part of your marketing mix:

1. It works when you aren't working.
2. It leverages your efforts.
   
3. It targets your audience(s) with precision.
4. It gives you an immediate response.
5. It is easy to track return on investment.
6. It is relatively inexpensive.
7. It gets you one-on-one attention.
8. It is something you and touch and feel.

As the story points out, it hangs around, too. One of the biggest documented users of direct-mail marketing is Google. Why would the largest search engine in the world need to use a service and technologies that are so 20th (and maybe 19th) century? Because people still read their mail and react to it.

"Nothing replaces direct contact," Jennifer Beaty says. "Whether it is in person with a handshake or landing a piece of mail or a package on someone's desk, nothing replaces tangible contact," she continued. Jennifer is the managing partner of Executive Press, a North Texas company that specializes in direct-mail marketing.

"Our clients like the personalization of it," Jennifer said. "And being able to target very specifically and track the results quickly have made a real difference in their marketing programs."

As you formulate your marketing plans, seriously consider direct mail as a part of them. For more information visit Executive Press' website or call 214-217-7000.
The Executive Pressman

To read the whole SBA story go to www.score.com.

To Print or Not To Print...That Is The Question

OK, Shakespeare we are not, but the thought is in the right place:

Think before you print.

Before you commit resources, time and money to printing something--anything--think first.

• Will it help the reader to have this in their hands?
• Is the item more likely to be read if it is in hard copy form?
• Will it have more impact as a printed piece?
• How many people need to have it?
• What do you expect the reader to do once they've read it?

Whether you are pressing "print" on your computer or asking your printing partner to set up and print a 4-color brochure, the thought process is the same.

Some things go without saying that you need to have a printed copy. That list is pretty short these days--your business card. You still make connections and trade these things to make an impression. While business cards can be delivered electronically, more than likely they will always be printed and handed out.

So think carefully--and in a green way--before printing.

The Executive Pressman

www.executivepress.com