Use Digital Printing for Your Point-of-Sale Materials

Point-of-sale, or POS, materials are important tools for any retail store manager or owner. When used correctly, POS materials help create visibility for different brands and attract customers to product displays. Printing POS materials digitally with Matreks makes changing the design and text of signage and other materials easy and economical.

Use Point-of-Sale Materials Wisely

Though POS materials can be a valuable tool when used correctly, many companies waste money on ineffective POS materials. For example, most customers ignore ceiling-mounted POS materials. Instead, they look down or at eye level while shopping to hunt for products. Companies that invest money in overhead POS materials may be wasting their money. Instead, retail stores should position point-of-sale materials at eye level, incorporating them into display design to draw customers to the products.

Store owners should also keep the messages and graphics on POS materials simple. Customers often tune out materials that are too busy graphically or include too much copy. Bold graphic design and simple messaging make an emotional connection with customers and increase the impact of POS materials.

Create Effective Point-of-Sale Materials with Matreks

Creating effective point-of-sale materials is easy with digital printing at Matreks. Shelf and display materials up to 13x19 inches can be printed digitally. All Matreks needs is a digital file of the design. Matreks can accept PDFs, Adobe InDesign files, Photoshop files, Quark XPress files and Microsoft Office files. With digital printing, each printed piece is an original copy. This means that changes to the file can be immediately integrated into the print job, with no need for a press check.

Digital printing is also an economical choice for POS materials. Since every piece is an original copy of a digital file, unlike conventional printing, there is no need to create a master copy of the project. There is also no need to print more copies than a company needs to be cost effective. With digital printing, companies print only what they need, saving money and materials.

To learn more about point-of-sale materials and get started with a POS materials project of your own, contact Matreks today at 952-746-4010.

Try Out These Springtime Direct Mail Ideas

Spring is finally in the air in the Twin Cities. People are opening their windows to let in the fresh air, dusting off their lawn mowers and celebrating May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. Spring is full of fresh activities and fun holidays. Why not take advantage of the season with a spring-themed direct mail campaign?

Springtime Promotions and Offers

A spring-themed promotion, special offer or coupon is an easy way to incorporate the season into a direct mail project. Consumers are looking for deals on springtime activities and purchases. Companies should tap into these needs to focus the efforts of their direct mail campaigns.

For example, health and wellness companies could design direct mail promotions that offer discounts on athletic wear, nutritional products or gym memberships. Minneapolis landscaping companies and exterior contractors could offer a discount on their services. Spring-themed offers are a natural choice for most outdoor-based businesses, including pool cleaning companies, garden centers, asphalt and paving companies and tree pruning and removal businesses.

Don’t Forget the Holidays
May is full of celebrations. May Day kicks off the month, quickly followed by Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day. Memorial Day weekend rounds out the month. Minneapolis companies can incorporate these celebrations into their advertising.

Restaurants and bars may offer a special for Cinco de Mayo. Or, they may send out a flyer advertising their new patio space with a 10 percent off coupon. Similarly, companies that sell grills and other outdoor cooking equipment may offer a Memorial Day discount. A Mother’s Day promotion is a natural choice for florists and gift stores.

To make a spring-themed direct mail piece stand out, design the postcard or flyer with engaging, colorful graphics that reflect the season or a specific holiday. Flowers, lawn mowers, roofing tiles or images of people running, gardening or grilling will grab recipients’ attention.

To make the greatest impact on recipients, companies advertising in the Twin Cities should consider digital printing with Matreks. In digital printing, each piece is an original copy of a digital file. This means companies can customize pieces by changing the lay-out or message of their direct mail piece mid-run or printing several different versions of a direct mail project in one run. Digital printing is cost-effective for both short and long-run projects.

To learn more about how digital printing can help your company with its spring-themed direct mail project, contact Matreks today at 952-746-4010.

Take These Three Steps Before Executing a Direct Mail Campaign

Direct mail campaigns can be costly for businesses, especially if companies fail to create a strategy for executing their direct mail campaigns. Fortunately, there are several things Twin Cities companies can do to decrease costs and increase the effectiveness of their direct mail campaigns.

First Step: Manage Your List

A company’s list of advertising recipients is essential to the success of a direct mail campaign. A well-maintained list will include only recipients who are interested in the company’s product and are able to convert from potential to paying customers. Recipients who may have moved and are no longer at the address listed on a company’s list, or a recipient may have requested to not receive mail from the company should be removed from the list.

To weed out recipients who do not meet these criteria, companies should delete the following types of people from their lists:

· People for whom companies receive “return to sender” mail

· People for whom companies receive “not at this address” mail

· People for whom companies receive stop mail requests

Second Step: Test the Direct Mail Campaign

Testing a direct mail campaign allows companies to tweak their messages so the mail pieces target recipients more effectively. There are several ways to test a direct mail campaign. The simplest is to show mock-ups of a direct mail piece to current and potential customers and ask them to evaluate the message and calls-to-action. Positive responses can give companies the confidence they need to go to press with the campaign.

Other ways to test a direct mail campaign is to send pieces to a small, pre-selected target market and tract responses, or send multiple versions of a campaign to recipients and see which one has the most positive outcome. Companies can use this data to tweak its message and roll out the campaign on a larger scale.

Third Step: Print Direct Mail Digitally

Whether companies are implementing a full direct mail campaign or are testing a campaign on a small audience, digital printing with Matreks is an economical way to print high-quality mail pieces. In digital printing, each piece is an original copy of a digital file. This means companies can change the lay-out or message of their direct mail piece mid-run or print several different versions of a direct mail piece in one run. Digital printing is cost-effective for short and long-run projects alike.

To learn more about how digital printing can lower costs of your company’s direct mail campaign, contact Matreks today at 952-746-4010.

Is It Possible to Track ROI with Print Marketing? Yes!

One of the challenges Twin Cities companies face when developing print marketing campaigns is how to track their return-on-investment, or ROI. While online marketing campaigns are easily tracked with Google tools such as AdWords and Google Analytics, evaluating ROI for print marketing campaigns can seem tricky.

However, there are few simple steps companies can take to help them determine whether or not their print marketing campaigns are paying off or need to be modified to increase sales conversions.

Four Easy Ways to Track ROI in Print Mail Campaigns

1. Include a mail-in feedback form. Feedback forms are easy additions to print marketing projects. They can be included in the envelopes of prospecting letters or attached with a perforated edge to a single-page mailing like a postcard. Feedback forms should be effortless for recipients to complete and easy to send back to companies.

2. Include a QR code on print marketing materials. Companies that wish to integrate their print marketing with their online marketing campaigns should seriously consider adding QR codes to their print marketing pieces. A QR code is a small, square graphic that looks like a barcode. Smartphone users can scan the code, which opens a website in their phone’s browser. Companies can have the QR code lead to a promotion, a list of services, or other part of their website and track how much traffic is coming to these pages from the QR code scans.

3. Use mailings to promote a specific product or offer. Companies can also evaluate ROI by creating a marketing campaign that targets a specific product or promotes a unique special offer. Companies can use this information to track how many recipients become customers.

4. Track print marketing recipients online. It is increasingly common for companies to integrate their print and online marketing campaigns. Including special offer codes or URLs on print marketing pieces allows companies to use web analytics tools to track print marketing success. For example, companies may include a discount code such as PRINT10 on a print marketing piece. When customers enter this code during a purchase, the company is able to track how many sales are produced by their print marketing campaign.

Digital printing with Matreks is a great tool for companies who want to track their ROI on print marketing campaigns. The digital printing process allows companies to change the content of their print marketing pieces quickly and effortlessly, even in the middle of a print run. Companies may also use digital printing to test a print campaign, since digital printing is a cost-effective choice for short-run print projects.

To learn more about how to track the ROI on print marketing campaigns, contact Matreks today at 952-746-4010.

Create Effective Direct Mail Campaigns with Matreks

Direct mail campaigns continue to be an effective way to connect with potential and current clients. When properly executed, direct mail campaigns target a specific audience with a relevant message that helps build a company’s brand and reputation and improve sales.

Keys to Successful Direct Mail Campaigns

Successful direct mail campaigns use a few different techniques to ensure they are effective. First, savvy companies analyze the direct mail campaigns of their competitors and identify what works and what does not, then use this information to develop their own campaigns.

The success of direct mail campaigns often depend on the quality of the list of recipients. Without a well-crafted list, companies cannot shape the message of their direct mail campaigns. Successful direct mail campaigns target their audiences with customized messages. Without a strong list, there is little chance that a direct mail campaign will connect with recipients and convert into sales.

Many companies improve their chances that a direct mail campaign will be successful by testing their messages with a few recipients before rolling them out on a large scale. This allows companies to tweak their messages to improve their effectiveness, resulting in increased sales.

Improve Your Direct Mail Campaigns with Matreks

Digital printing with Matreks makes it easy for Twin Cities companies to improve their direct mail campaigns. All Matreks needs is the direct mail file and list of recipients to create full-color, personalized mailings where every piece is a first-run copy. Variable data printing empowers Matreks to customize companies’ messages to each mail recipient, even in the middle of a printing run.

Ensure your company’s direct mail campaign is successful by targeting your audience, developing a quality list, and customizing your message with digital printing from Matreks. If your company is considering developing a direct mail campaign, contact Matreks Printing today at 952-746-4010.

Statement Stuffers Can Transform Customer “Ugh”s to “A-ha”s

No one likes opening and paying bills. However, invoices and statements are an integral part of doing business. Sending statements to clients is also an opportunity for Twin Cities businesses to build their brands with statement stuffers prepared by Matreks.

What Are Statement Stuffers?

Statement stuffers are printed materials added to statement mailers that help keep a company’s brand top-of-mind with customers. Every piece of mail sent to customers is an opportunity to connect with them, even if that piece of mail is an invoice.

Including statements stuffers with invoice mailing are a cost-effective way to connect with customers. Well-planned statement stuffers are cost-effective and do not add extra postage costs to invoicing. One low-cost option that has to potential to increase sales is a capabilities sheet.

A capabilities sheet lists a company’s full range of products and services that existing customers may not be aware of. Finding a capabilities sheet tucked in with their bills can prompt customers to add more services or buy more products, leading to increased sales for the company and stronger company-client relationships.

Other productive statement stuffers include business cards, special offers, promotions and slips that offer other high-interest information, such as a change in a service or product.

How Can Matreks Help Companies with Statement Stuffers?

Digital, variable data printing process makes it easy to include statement stuffers in invoice mailings. Matreks is a one-stop shop for full-color, high-quality printing and direct mail services. Matreks can design and print a vibrant, high-interest statement stuffer that reinforces a company’s brand and include it in that company’s invoice mailing, with no increase in the cost of postage.

Statement stuffers can turn bills into an advertising opportunity for companies. Including capabilities sheets and other information can help build stronger company-customer relationships. If your company is ready to turn your customers’ “ugh”s at opening an invoice into “a-ha”s about your products and services, contact Matreks Printing today at 952-746-4010.

Don’t Write It Off: Print Is Still Alive and Well

As the boom in social media, e-mail drip campaigns and other online marketing continues to evolve and grow, the question of whether or not print marketing is obsolete never seems to be put to bed. Before companies write off print to adopt a completely digital marketing strategy, they should stop and consider how print and digital marketing projects can actually work together within a larger marketing strategy.

Benefits of Print Marketing

These days, potential clients are inundated with e-mails and online ads advertising companies’ latest deals. Some believe that recipients are over-saturated with these promotions, which means the message is often lost when an e-mail goes unopened or is deleted.

This is where print marketing can enhance a company’s online marketing efforts. Print marketing, including mailers, brochures and sales sheets, can reinforce the messages in e-mail or other online marketing campaigns. For example, a print marketing campaign can include a QR code that directs recipients to a company’s website. Others point to the benefits of giving recipients something they can hold in their hands, which makes not only a visual impression but a tactile one.

Integrating print marketing with online marketing also helps strengthen a company’s brand recognition. Recipients may receive an e-mail or view an ad with a company’s flashy new logo, tagline and font styles, then find a mailing in their mailbox with the same logo, tagline and styles. This helps reinforce a company’s brand and increase brand recognition for recipients.

Print marketing can also lend credibility to online marketing campaigns. When potential clients receive direct mail or another physical piece of advertising, it helps show these clients that a company is legitimate and reputable.

Lastly, companies can target their audiences much more specifically with print marketing than with online marketing. A digitally printed direct mail campaign can target specific demographics and even be translated into different languages. Some companies may choose to mass market online and target market with printed materials.

How Matreks Can Help

Matreks Printing is the go-to source for Twin Cities companies that wish to integrate their online and print marketing campaigns. Matreks can help these companies match the style and logos of a print campaign to those used in an online campaign. It can also help companies choose from a wide variety of paper products and printing styles so their direct mail campaigns are effective.

If your company is ready to integrate your online and print marketing campaigns, contact Matreks Printing today at 952-746-4010.