Lead generation will always be of the utmost importance whether marketing to consumers or other businesses. Maintaining strong sales numbers and increasing revenue requires attracting the most qualified leads. If you are struggling with conversion rates, you need to take action to generate and attract more qualified leads, which ultimately increases revenue. Below we cover a few powerful ways you can optimize your print marketing strategy and watch your conversion rates rise:
Know Your Target Market
Every successful print marketing strategy begins by identifying a target market. You’ve likely done this, but to attract more qualified needs you need to reevaluate your audience and truly understand your customers’ wants and needs. You can approach this task through surveys, sales data, and expert analysis from industry leaders and consultants. Defining a ‘qualified lead’ for your business is of critical importance to ensure you target the right groups of consumers. What characteristics make up your ideal customer or the ideal household or business where you want your catalog to land? Once you understand your customer, their spending habits, and their purchasing habits, you can focus on how best to reach them and develop targeted catalog marketing messages to help you achieve your goals.
Cooperative databases offer an efficient way for the catalog industry to reach their target markets. A cooperative database is a pool of responsive consumers built by companies and organizations that contribute names, demographics, and customer transaction history. You can send your customer history with accompanying demographics and purchase names from the database that look similar to your customers. In addition to transactional history, cooperative databases also typically include psychographic information, lifestyle information, and other insights that can be useful in deepening your focus on a specific type of responsive customer.
Capture Your Readers’ Attention
You’ve likely heard that catalog marketing and direct mail are dying from those who worship the internet. You also know there is nothing further from the truth. In fact, the United States Postal Service (USPS) conducted a survey and found that among respondents, 81 percent take time each day to look through their mail and 67 percent prefer viewing physical mail over email. You can attract more qualified leads by capturing the attention of your audience. Make your catalog covers stand out, so recipients open the catalog and view what’s inside. Recipients will quickly scan the front of a catalog and make a split-second decision whether to open and see what’s inside, toss the catalog aside, or toss it in the trash. Use compelling headlines and rich imagery to attract more qualified leads who want to purchase your product or service, but don’t sacrifice familiarity for sleekness. The best catalog covers tie in a few familiar elements from old covers with fresh, new elements. Ultimately, you want to complement your brand.
Use Innovative Printing Techniques
One specific way to capture the attention of catalog recipients includes the use of innovative printing techniques to set your print media apart from others. Your product mix will largely determine the length of your catalog, but you can change up the catalog design, format, and the print size and find out what things elicit the best response from potential customers. Other innovative printing techniques include using different paper textures to make your catalogs and other print media stand out.
Create a Sense of Urgency with Promotions
Qualified leads will take action when you create a sense of urgency. Research reveals that customer engagement with catalogs is highest when companies feature sales and promotions and 81 percent are more likely to look at a catalog when items are on sale. Limited-time promotions and sales motivate repeat customers and potential new customers to take action. You can also consider running a contest or offering a special giveaway to attract qualified leads. This gives you the chance to connect with the lead and ultimately convert them with repeat engagement. Even if a potential customer does not immediately make a purchase, your promotion can drive them to your website or social media channels and inspire them to read more about your brand.
Use Your Catalog as a Launching Pad for an Omnichannel Marketing Campaign
Attracting more qualified leads means you want to come at them from every direction, without overwhelming them. Using your catalog or other print marketing items can do just that. A strong omnichannel marketing campaign that includes print media will cement your brand identity when you carry the same imagery and tone throughout each channel in print and online. When your catalog offers a consistent voice, potential customers will want to seek out your business on social media and visit your website. They will also want to engage with your business in other ways. To attract more qualified leads, your catalog needs to include multiple ways for your customers to order such as links to your website, numbers for phone orders, and mail-in forms.
Customize Your Catalogs
Customization inspires trust in potential leads and builds brand loyalty in already existing customers. Use up-to-date mailing lists to include a customer’s name and a personalized discount code on the back cover. For years, Bed, Bath, & Beyond has employed this strategy. If you’ve ever received one of their catalogs, you have your personal coupon code on the back. Consumers head to the store, use the code, and by the time they get home, they have an email waiting and typically start to see more of their ads when they are online. Customizing catalogs with discounts helps you combine several things to attract qualified leads. Not only are you creating a sense of urgency with a personal promotion, but your catalog also truly serves as a launching pad for an ominchannel marketing strategy.
Let Us Help You Attract More Qualified Leads
As you choose which actions to take to optimize your print strategy, contact The Dingley Press for more information about how we can help you. We have been serving the catalog industry for more than 90 years by printing catalogs and providing co-mail and distribution and are eager to share our knowledge.
