It’s practically child’s play to make a great impression using print. Just take enough time to write some decent copy for your ad, brochure or mailer. That simple practice has become so rare that even a perfunctory effort at story telling gets attention.

It’s really quite daring to step out and tell a story with drama. Much simpler to advertise with leaden bullet points, as if your reader where looking at a powerpoint presentation.

The art of advertising in print certainly goes back thousands of years, and will likely be around even when the internet is a distant, faded memory. That’s because there {hidden treasure} are always stories to tell, for those perceptive enough to find them, and bold enough to write them.

How to create a company newsletter: a popular theory

Repurpose our general campaign creative. Extract products from our catalog. Give everyone a heads up on our Spring promotions. People will read it. It’s a NEWSLETTER, after all. True?

Enter the faux newsletter. The domain of marketers who either don’t respect their readers (i.e. customers and clients) enough to provide substantive content, or of marketers who are just confused.

A company newsletter is most successful when it opens and maintains an intimate conversation between real people. It is generous in content and in spirit. It avoids even a hint of self promotion. It is journalistic in style and pointed in its attitude. It’s more about substance than style. It proves that you have a story to tell, or if you have none.

In the Internet Age, reach and repetition have become something of a commodity; real communication remains more elusive.

Wanna’ talk more about newsletters? Check out our newsletter event; it’s your last chance to register.

Forget the elevator speeches and the boring chamber mixers. Follow this plan and you’ll be more successful in business and in life!

1. Concentrate on pinpointed target market(s).
2. Have at least two good reasons to add a name to your list.
3. Call to check names and titles on your list
4. Write great copy, for real readers.
5. Let copy define graphic design, not vice versa
6. Freely offer real value to your readers
7. Start small. Test and refine.
8. Scale up your best performing design.
9. Follow up all leads without delay
10. Make your product/service clearly best in class

Yes, building a program like this is a lot more work than a slapdash postcard sent to everyone and everything that moves within a 20 mile radius. Which is exactly why it works. Junk mail and spam are so very, very easy. Which is exactly why you should avoid them.

Where was the torment of the wrenching decision by handful of patriots that declared indendence from Britain? Where was the gripping oratory of John Adams?  Where was the story of sacrifice and hardship of Abigail Adams, and the eloquence of Thomas Jefferson’s pen? Why did my classmates have to endure a year that was filled with so little, when America’s history is teeming with gripping stories just waiting to be told.

If you’d like to learn how to write copy for your next newsletter or direct mail letter, just watch HBO. Rent a DVD of John Adams and enter the world of our early patriots. Fear, passion, anger, suffering, laughter and joy; the full scope of human emotion. Tell a real story, and capture the minds of your listeners. It’s genetically coded in the human race.

So much of what arrives in a mailbox these days is devoid of anything a living breathing human being can relate to. Postcards and brochures are often no more interesting than a supermarket shopping list. Newsletters: thinly disguised billboards. Web pages: just add liquid and you’ve got your own website in 30 minutes or less. Nice to look at, but no substance.

Is it any wonder that high and low, folks are clamoring: “stop the spam?”

Our lives are filed with stories. Turn your senses in their direction. Be it lawn service or Attorney at Law, you’ve got a story to tell. People will listen.

How much would you pay for this screen shot of Wednesday’s New York Times Inauguration issue? Likely, not much, even in full resolution. E-mail and web pages live in the cyber-world. We don’t put much value on them.

Physical copies of the actual newspaper were going for $30 or more on E-Bay, according to a report on NBC. On Wednesday morning, the day after President Obama’s inauguration, there wasn’t a copy of the Times to be found anywhere in Manhattan. For that matter, there wasn’t a copy of the LA Times available anywhere in our home town, Rancho Cucamonga. I checked several places.

Would you throw away your Led Zeppelin Mothership LP box set, after you’ve downloaded it in MP3? Of course not. We live in a physical world, and we value physical objects. We relate to these objects in a visceral way.

As much as we love to market via e-mail and web, nothing compares to the permanence of print. Your brochure tells a whole different story in print. The fine texture and heft of your business card communicates its own message to the reader. The persistance of a printed sheet and its consistency all lend credibility to your message.

Here’s the common fallacy: it’s always cheaper to dump the print, and use purely electronic communication. Before you make this calculation for your own marketing and communication, be sure to include how much value you might lose in the mind of the reader.

The best way to use print hearkens back to Marketing 101: clearly communicate the most relevant message for a well defined audience. Done right, print will hold its own in the ROI department. It deserves plenty of attention in your own marketing efforts.

And by the way, please continue to support your local print newspapers. They employ the professional journalists that provide some of the best online content. I guess the question to ask is: would you be willing to pay for the news online?

Wanna see more Obama inauguration covers? Here’s a site that collected some from across the globe. Enjoy!

Here are the new rules

Obviously, this is not a do-it-yourself job. It requires special tools and direct access to the most current version of the Postal Service’s Move/Update database.

NEED TO NCOA UPDATE YOUR LIST? Do it for FREE

Copies&Ink has special access to the NCOA database. Here’s what we will do to bring you into full compliance:

If you choose, we’ll process and mail your materials for the lowest available postage rates.

Keeping your list clean is a good step along the path to being “green.” You’ll save on postage and printing while less undeliverable mail ends up in the landfill. Besides, wouldn’t you want to know if your customer or prospect has moved (or died)? In any event, you’ll need to certify in writing that your list is ready for prime time.

FREE NCOA UPDATES
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: Copies&Ink will update and certify your list AT NO CHARGE if your project is printing and/or addressing & mailing at Copies&Ink. Contact our customer service department and ask for the NCOA promo. Offer expires Jan 31, 2009, so act today!

LOW COST NCOA UPDATE SERVICE
We’re also offering a special $27 rate for NCOA processing only (any list up to 2500 addresses), no printing or mailing services need be purchased to receive this price. Offer valid until Jan. 31, 2000.

TO GET STARTED or for additional information, fill out our quick form below. You can optionally attach your mailing list file in Excel or text formats.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

OPTIONAL: Attach your mailing list using the file upload button above.

Sign up for our InkBlot newsletter. We’ll keep you up to date on all matters print and direct mail.

I’m in Chicago on an extended business trip, and decided to try a new (to me) hotel chain: Extended Stay Hotels. Upon checking in (a marginal experience) I found my room to be adequate, but missing a couple of things I’ve come to expect at any hotel: shampoo and a hair dryer. One would think those necessities are provided in a place that by definition caters to business travelers.

I can put up with a room that isn’t quite clean, and even one that smells a little funny, as this one does. But to the front desk manager (well dressed lady in her 40s): please don’t admonish me to return your low end hair dryer, as if I intend to steal it. And when I ask for shampoo, (I’m here for 3 days) perhaps you could afford to give me more than one tiny 1 oz bottle?

Contrast that to my experience at optical chain Lenscrafters. I’m a long time customer of that company. Just before boarding my Chicago plane a day ago, my eyeglass frame broke. Upon arriving at my hotel, I noticed a problem with my backup glasses too. Panic began to set in!

I was the first customer to visit a Skokie, Illinois Lenscrafter store on Tuesday morning. The young clerk behind the counter quickly assessed the situation used her creativity to improvise a temporary repair for my frame, while another technician replaced a missing part in my other pair. “No charge,” I was told. “We just did what I’d expect if I were traveling and broke my glasses,” declared the 20-something employee. What a star!

Wow. That simple act cemented my customer loyalty for years to come. By the same token, my experiences at Extended Stay were equally memorable, but for different reasons. It’s not about mission statements and corporate edicts. It’s not about fancy signage alongside the interstate. It *is* about being friendly, professional and attentive when the rubber meets the road.

I’m guilty of falling into that trap too. A few years ago I gave up our family business’ name for a moniker that sounds more like a national chain. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.

Thinking back a few years and remembering some my earliest Alpert’s Printing customers, there are a few that still stand out in my mind, some 29 years later. They had personality. They didn’t need a six paragraph mission statement. Clarity and character is so lacking in today’s world of sameness. I’d be willing to bet a month’s phone bill that the descriptive name General Telephone is still easier to remember than the cryptic Verizon.

I doubt the corporate spin masters will be dropping their LGs, Altrias and Cingulars any time soon, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us need to buy into the blanding of America. If you want to get your marketing noticed today, perhaps try something that comes naturally: be yourself!

Are you thinking about sending out a flyer or mailer? Stop! Why are you sending it? Unless you have a clear picture of your reason, you’re cooking up a recipe for disappointment!

Most people who send out flyers are thinking DRM, or direct response marketing. Compare that to “branding” or image marketing, and you’ll find two different kinds of animals, which should never be confused for each other. If you’re looking for a response, that is you want the orders to come and the phone to ring, you’ll need a relevant and compelling offer to motivate your customers.

DRM won’t work for every type of business. Sometimes the reason for the mailing is to build awareness of your brand in the marketplace. That’s something that happens over time. Sorry, no shortcuts here. Instead think about how many times and ways you can “touch” your customer over the next six to 12 months. If there’s a trick here, it’s to be memorable.

So much of this stuff gets confused because it looks so similar on the surface. A mailer is a mailer, yes?
Couldn’t be more wrong!

“Content creators use graphic design techniques to ensure that images are viewed in a manner that they will make their client’s message effective. In print, they have almost full control of the physical nature of their message.” When you design for print, the print buyer can feel fairly sure that the result will always be predictable. The size and shape are predictable. The color is consistent. Even the texture and thickness of the paper substrate are known factors.

Put that same design online, and the size, shape and color will always differ from one viewer to the next. Will you message be read on a 13″ display or a 24″ widescreen? Will that sky look blue or purple? What about that fabric color? What about the guy who’s reading it on his cell phone? These are just a few of dozens of good reasons to keep print in your marketing mix. Maybe the highest and best use of internet marketing is giving your customers and prospects a convenient way to respond to your offer. That’s a must!
In any event, turning your website into a multi-page online brochure is definitely NOT guerilla marketing!