Dealer Tip: 10 Ways Print Marketing Can Work For You

Whether your website is beautiful and robust or simple and to the point, your site can’t do it all. Remember newspaper ads, magazine ads, direct mail pieces and flyers? The value of print marketing is not to be forgotten.  These days, a printed marketing piece is perceived as a gift by those who prefer to actually hold something in their hands. Here are 10 tips for creating and distributing marketing information:

1. Don't just focus on advertising your products.  Provide information that will inform them on a relevant or timely topic.   Offer a printed "Hidden Camera Buying Guide" similar to this one from Ebay. Be sure to create your own.
2.  To save money, only place ads in publications that target a very specific audience or community and partner with another business related to your industry.  For example, split an ad with a self-defense instructor. 
3. If you write a blog, carry that information over to a printed piece and hand it out at your store or print and mail it to a prospect list. 
4. Don't forget to promote your site on your printed materials.  Print and web are a beautiful partnership. 
5. Establish credibility. If you have something to "say", putting it in a professional printed pieces gives the perception that you are a credible professional. 
6. Be frugal when printing by using any of the hundreds of online printing companies like Vistaprint or Mimeo. 
7. Write handwritten notes. Yes! Studies show that a personalized note can increase response to a marketing campaign by 30-50%.
8. Avoid getting overwhelmed by choices and goals.  Create a small print marketing plan for 90 days at a time. 
9. Stuck with what to say or how to say it? Research your competition to see what they are saying and read industry blogs. 
10. Don't copy content from other sources.  Create your own by thinking like a customer - what do they need to know?

Whether in person, via email or in an ad, telling people to visit your website is not enough.  Save them time and frustration by telling them exactly what part of your site to visit.  Better yet, dedicate one page or section of your site just to relevant statistics or FYI's and drive readers to that page first.  You will appear to be a knowledgeable resource rather than just another dealer:

Resources:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Hidden-Camera-Buying-Guide-/10000000177628710/g.html
www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2012/06/28/print-is-dead-not-so-fast/

http://www.mimeo.com/

http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/default.aspx?couponAutoload=1&GP=7%2f8%2f2014+12%3a29%3a59+PM&GPS=3228237509&GNF=0

http://info.tmrdirect.com/the-power-of-the-handwritten-notes-in-marketing