In today’s world, companies need to tweak how they view themselves in order to compete at the highest level, and this fundamental shift starts with businesses understanding that they’re actually technology companies just as much as they are financial services companies or real estate agencies or a host of other outfits. Given the massive increase in e-commerce over the last 18 months and the rise in digital customer communications that’s come along with it, getting the most out of your technology platforms is perhaps more critical than ever before.
A recent state-of-marketing report from HubSpot revealed that 76% of companies used some form of marketing automation in 2021 to create strategic, personalized relationships with customers. The fact that three-fourths of companies in this survey are using technology to execute targeted marketing campaigns means the rules of the game for businesses have forever changed, and the question many businesses are left with is: Are you taking advantage of all the latest technology to manage your marketing execution?
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts, here are a couple of technologies to consider incorporating into your overall marketing strategy.
Imagine you had a piece of software technology where you could store, organize, and manage the contact data of your customers for a better understanding of their overall demographics and a faster, more efficient way to create personalized marketing materials for them? Imagine no more, as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is the technology tool you need to achieve these and many more marketing goals.
Not only can a CRM store important pieces of customer data, but it can also help you analyze mission-critical elements of the marketing funnel such as recent customer behaviors, how long a contact has been a customer, and purchase history — all of which can be used to customize print and digital communications for a seamless omnichannel customer experience.
Additional benefits of a CRM include:
It’s important to note these value propositions come with an important caveat: effectively managing your CRM to ensure your database of contacts is accurate and up-to-date. Without a strategy for maintaining and consistently evaluating the health of your contact database, your marketing efforts will be hampered, no matter how powerful the marketing technology. But a clean database makes ultra-personalized print campaigns a possibility.
Web-to-print technology is essentially your one-stop-shop for creating customized, targeted print marketing campaigns where everything from design to fulfillment is executed via an online portal and in an on-demand manner to help you pivot and move in whatever direction your industry takes you.
With a web-to-print partner, variable data printing (VDP) is easier than ever to execute, as your marketing templates can be customized based on nearly limitless detailed data points (age, location of residence, marital status, job title, buying behaviors, and more) to create a customer relationship where value and trust are paramount.
How paramount, you ask? Well, a study by Forbes revealed that more than 84% of consumers are more likely to open a piece of mail that is personalized. What that means for businesses is that partnering with a web-to-print partner who offers design-to-delivery services makes it easier to get your metaphorical foot in the door and increases the likelihood your print piece will be opened and engaged with.
From a project management standpoint, web-to-print services also help streamline your marketing collateral management and ensure your brand standards and templates remain consistent no matter the scope or volume of your marketing operations. This helps optimize important elements of facilitating print campaigns with variable messaging such as version control, expenditure tracking, and the proof and approval processes, each of which are critical tasks in reducing waste and the potential for costly errors.
If a centralized hub for easy sorting and segmentation of your contacts and a portal for easily ordering on-demand print campaigns are not enough to get you thinking differently about marketing technology, how about the ability to reduce mailing costs associated with your print campaigns simply because of your adventurous technological spirit?
That’s exactly what the United States Post Office is incentivizing with its Emerging and Advanced Technology promotion that runs from March 1, 2022 to August 31, 2022 and offers 2% or 3% savings on a variety of mailings that incorporate innovative and advanced technology. This promotion can be applied with a variety of mail pieces including: First-Class Mail letters, cards and flats; USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats; and Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats.
Whatever the technology you use in helping to optimize your marketing efforts, the important step is to find a marketing partner that has the knowledge, experience, and tools to ferry your campaigns from conception to execution. Our expertise resides in helping you create targeted, dynamic print marketing campaigns that provide real-world, measurable results and help take your business to the next level of growth and profitability.
Tell us about your next project and we’ll work together to ensure it’s a success.