Driving physical traffic, it's gotta be big or creative to work

We all get solicitations in the mail from retailers with their advertisements and their sales telling us to come on in. We even get car companies say come on in for a test drive and we will give you something, usually the equivalent of some day old sushi in most cases.

To get your customers off of their couch and into the car or on to the subway to come down to your place of business, especially in the winter time, it has to be big, fun, or creative and in most cases a combination of those.

What are your customers looking for? They are looking for a chance to win a great prize, a trip, a car, free gasoline for a year, (especially at $3 a gallon).

They like excitement or games of chance, they like intrigue. Besides you want them to have intrigue or not knowing if they have won, or what they have won.

Recently I received a scratch off from a furniture company, and the scratch off idea is okay, but once I scratched it off, I knew what I had won. If I didn't like my prize I would not go in and see them. Now, had they done it a little like this they might have had me.

Scratch off here, and bring in your card, and if your lucky number matches, we will pay for your gas for a year! Now you have my attention right? Now you have me motivated. Well I do go down there and I didn't win, but my lucky number does qualify me for 20% off on my furniture. See the difference.

With a great prize, and a fun promotion you can get them to your place of business and then get a chance to try to sell them.



Situation
Black & Decker knows the value of strong database marketing. The company's long-term strategy was to develop a stronger database of user email information to enable it to promote their broad range of products via email marketing.

Approach
The approach utilized an Instant Win WebDecoder® promotion. 600,000 were mailed to established Black & Decker product owners and 50,000 were tipped in with new product purchases. Respondents to the mailing were sent to the company website, where they registered and provided demographic data.

Result
The response rate of the program actually overwhelmed the servers at Black & Decker, resulting in thousands of game pieces actually being mailed directly to B&D.

This type of program can work for you too, on ANY scale that you want it too, and we will turnkey the entire project.

So whether you have a retail location, wholesale location or you want the end user to meet with your salesperson, we can show you how using exciting promotions like this will work for you.

Thank you for reading.

Derek

Offering more services to save you time and money!

In the past you have heard about some of our great ideas to help you increase your business. You have read about ideas such as our online games to help you gather more opt in email subscribers. You have learned about our incentive programs to reward clients for their business to you.

In all of these cases what as a value added supplier we do for you can be done on a stand alone basis. What do I mean by that? If you run a promotion, there are certain things that need to be done, before the promotion goes live.

1. You must have a copywriter provide you with rules that have to get approved.
2. You probably have insurance for a grand prize offering, if you go that route.
3. A graphic designer designed your marketing collateral and supporting website.
4. Your marketing collateral got printed and mailed or distributed.
5. You supported your event with branded promotional products too.

We here at ProPrinters want to let you know that all of these services can be done individually, so I will address the printing aspect of our service here.


Whether you are designing and printing a brochure, point of sale, banners or posters, we can work with you to create, design print and mail your marketing collateral for you. Whether it is short run digital pieces 1-3000 or offset 3000-3,000,000 we can provide you with a cost effective alternative to your current printing services.

With our mailing services, we can do intelligent insertion, so different members of your database receive different pieces based upon your sort. All donors get "x" insert and all non donors get a "y" insert.

As you can see from the samples that there is a lot of flexibility in printing, so the next time you want to send out a message, customize, use personalization, use color all to enhance your message.

Thank you again for reading and please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

QRCodes are you using them?

Many people are talking about QR codes, what are they and how can you use them? Well these funny shaped boxes have been around a little while but are starting to become more and more prevelant.

Where you may ask? Direct mail, is one. As a professional who helps our clients promote their businesses, it is my duty to review direct mail that comes addressed to me or my family for trends ideas that I can share with YOU. On a number of direct mail pieces people have printed these codes on the envelopes. Why you may ask.

They wanted me to scan the QR code which will take me to their website, a video about what their product, promotion or cause it. This will get me to their website faster, give them tracking ability.

Next lets go to manufacturing or retail as they can cross over. My local best buy had QR codes printed on their displays next to many of their products. Again the manufacturer wants me to use my smart phone for accessing their information to become more informed creating a consumer that is more engaged with the brand.

So let us say you are a retailer, and you want your customer to engage why not put QR codes on your POS, with a promotion scan our QC code for a chance to win.

If you are a manufacturer scan our QC code to register your product purchase online.

The younger demographic who is using their smart phones as a computer is going to demand immediate access to information and QC codes give you a great way to do it.

I have enclosed the QR code for www.proprintersonline.com

Good luck with the QR codes and let us show you how they can be used most effectively.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today's message on Thanksgiving Eve, is that I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. This is one of our country's true holidays, where everyone can celebrate, regardless of religon, race etc.

We all have something to be thankful for, our health, our families, we have enough food to eat, we have a job etc.

So whether you are traveling, hosting your own Thanksgiving Dinner and cooking, going out to eat, like to watch football or not, it does not matter. It matters that we have fun with our loved ones.

So as we all sit down and enjoy a great weekend with our loved ones, let us give thanks for the blessings we have.

Be safe in your travels, and enjoy.

Derek

Offer Great Prizes with low risk

Let's face it people love big prizes, whether it is cash, trips or cars. How many of us play the lottery, contests or sweepstakes, for that "chance" to win. We all know the odds are stacked against us but we do it anyway.

Well, your company can accomplish the same goal of attracting customers to your store, website or facebook page by using large incentives or prizes to help you grow your business. How you may ask can McDonalds offer 1 million dollars if somebody wins their Monopoly game? Well of course they can pay it, but they won't. AN INSURANCE COMPANY WILL! It is called prize insurance. Most of us have been involved in a charity golf outing and if you got a hole in one there was a car awarded. Well some insurance company secured that prize with insurance and the company running the program paid a premium, based upon the odds of somebody getting a hole in one.

Well this concept can be used in many ways. Some ideas are if the Dow Jones hits 20,000, or if we get a certain amount of snow, or simply other odds based games of chance from scratch off cards to online games.

Well recently Callway ran a promotion if you bought a Callaway Driver and Phil Mickelson won the Masters your driver is free. Well the insurance company had to pay off on this one as, he did win.



Callaway and it's retail partners made off great through the sales lift and the increased buzz surrounding this program. They are running it again!

So the next time you want to run a promotion, think about offering some great prizes, and asking us how we can help you accomplish this and use the power of great prizes to achieve goals for you.

Thanks again.

Derek

Customer and Employee Gifts and Recognition

Everyone wants to be thanked and appreciated. Most of us probably don't tell people thank you, you did a great job, I appreciate you as an employee or, we value your business very much.

Well employee and customer recognition are more important today than EVER before. Why you may ask?

1. When there is a difficult economy YOUR CUSTOMERS are getting called on by more and more of your competitors looking to offset lost business. And if ever your customers start to feel that their business is being taken for granted or not appreciated, then they are susceptible to the competition.

2. The same thing happens with your employees. They may not be able to leave and get a new job today in a difficult labor market, but when it turns, and if they don't feel appreciated then watch out.

Recognition programs help organizations in three ways:
• Recognition programs help companies make more money
• Recognition programs keep employees engaged in their work
• Recognition programs improve employee performance

Recognition makes your company more profitable because employees who are recognized are more engaged in their work. Engaged employees perform at a higher level and give better service. As a result, customers are more satisfied and will continue to do business with your organization.

Additionally, recognition builds a stronger relationship between the manager and the employee. As this relationship grows, employees develop a loyalty to the manager and the organization.
Recognition Programs Help Companies Make Money

Most importantly, recognition programs help companies make more money. According to John Knotter, author of Culture and Performance, companies that pay attention to employees enjoy exceptional increases to the bottom line when compared to companies that only pay attention to the bottom line.


So what can do? Offer small tokens of appreciation to your customers and employees for the holidays. We find the best products are food based, gifts. They can be shared and enjoyed at home and in the office as well. They come in many price points with low minimums and can be dropped shipped to your clients location as well.




For example these great custom imprinted cookies have a price point of under $8.00 and we have products that start there and go as far as your budge allows.

The point here is to remember to thank your customers, thank your employees it is a good investment.

Please feel free to call me at 609 844 0088, with any questions you may have about this or other ideas to promote your business.

Thanks for reading

Why brand FedEx, UPS, or USPS?

Okay we are all guilty of it building somebody else's brand instead of ours. Most people use either FedEx or UPS or USPS for their fast delivery services from point A to point B. Most of those same people will help build those companies brand by mailing those letters in packaging that supports those companies. Why? Why are you not using a branded product that can act in the same manner as those others?

Why can't you use a branded tabbed envelope and ship with UPS, or FedEx or USPS? YOU CAN, so the next time you have to start sending critical documents to customers, or colleagues, think twice about using somebody else's marketing materials, and not yours.
Features
"The envelope that becomes a file folder!"

•Easy Open "Zip Strip"
•Fully Customizable including the Tab
•High-Gloss Laminate
•15pt C1S Stock
•Entire Envelope Imprint Area
•Four Color Process
•Made in U.S.A
Dimensions: 11 ¾" x 9"



If you have any questions about this product, or would like to see some samples, please feel free to give me a call at 1 877 614 7746.

Thank you for your readership.

Derek