Ken Dunn

As someone who has helped numerous clients promote and build their brand, I always suggest a multi-channel approach to marketing. I do this because, based on my research, I know that consumers today move across online and offline channels during their journey to purchase a service or product.

While I understand that the online and offline worlds work together to help consumers arrive at a decision, sometimes my clients don’t truly appreciate the importance of a balanced marketing plan. I often hear people say, “We think digital is a more cost effective marketing tool than print.”

I’d like to share a couple of important factors that I think every brand needs to consider when discussing marketing, budgets, consumers and the path to purchase.

Saving Money: at what cost?

Some brands, due to budget concerns, think about focusing their marketing efforts on digital rather than print. Moving a print newsletter online may save on the printing and mailing costs but are there unforeseen consequences to such a move?

A recent Virginia Tech study shows that marketers should think twice before making the jump to an all-digital publication. A print version of Virginia Tech’s alumni publication was sent to some of their subscribers while others received an email directing them to the online version of the magazine. These subscribers were then contacted by telephone and asked a series of questions about the publication. Take a look at some of the results.

More people remembered getting the print magazine

82% of those who received the print version remembered receiving the magazine
49% of those who received the online version remembered getting the email
More people opened the print magazine

77% of those who remembered receiving it viewed the magazine
49% of those who remembered receiving the online invitation actually clicked through and viewed the publication
In addition, people who viewed the print version recalled a significantly greater number of articles than did those who viewed the online version.

An alumni magazine can be a powerful marketing tool. It can sell to both past and future customers. But, if far fewer subscribers open, read and remember the content of the magazine, is it “cost-effective” to move that magazine from print to online?

The author of the study said, “ceasing a print publication in favor of an online-only publication might hurt the effectiveness of an organization’s marketing communication, and managers should not make the decision based on cost alone.”

Understanding the Science of Marketing

Another important factor to consider when discussing budgets, print and digital marketing is the effect of print and digital advertising on the brain of the consumer. Canada Post and neuromarketing research and strategy firm True Impact Marketing conducted the largest study of its kind aimed at understanding direct mail and digital advertising’s relative impact on the brain.

Individuals were shown promotional materials. Then using electroencephalography (EEG), eye tracking tests, surveys and memory tests they were then assessed on a number of critical areas.

The study focused on the two key indicators of media effectiveness: ease of understanding and persuasiveness. The results were impressive.

Direct mail is easier to understand and more memorable than digital media. It requires 21% less cognitive effort to process and elicits a much higher brand recall.
Direct mail is far more persuasive than digital media. Its motivation response is 20% higher – even more so if it appeals to more senses beyond touch.
Direct mail is visually processed quicker than digital media. When considered in concert with its higher motivation and lower cognitive load, this suggests it gets the message across faster.
Direct mail is more likely to drive behavior than digital media. Direct mail taps into deep-seated neurological processes that trigger action.

Today’s consumers have multiple ways to learn about and engage with brands. Digital marketing efforts encourage interaction while print helps in brand recall and drives action on the part of the consumer. When discussing budgets, marketing and consumers remember, digital and print together will deliver powerful results to your bottom line.

Printer and founding father Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” It was thoughtful preparation and planning that helped Franklin become one of America’s first millionaires.

Through hard work and careful planning Franklin created a successful printing operation. Once his business was well established he began opening up printing franchises throughout the colonies. This successful printing endeavor allowed him to begin publishing his own newspaper. According to adage.com, in 1729 Franklin began publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadelphia, which included pages of “new advertisements.” And later, in 1742, Franklin’s General Magazine printed the first American magazine ads.

What, you may ask, does Benjamin Franklin, being prepared, and advertisements have to do with us today?

Lessons from Benjamin Franklin

We here at Westamerica Communications have a special gift for of our clients and friends who’d like to follow in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin. Because today’s advertising landscape is much larger than it was back in the 1700s, it’s even more important to plan ahead. To aid in that planning we’ve created the 2017 Marketing Calendar & Planner.

Our 2017 Marketing Calendar & Planner will guide you step-by-step through developing a successful marketing plan for the coming year. The planner will help you assess, refine, create, build and execute a successful plan.

Included in the planner are topics like:

• 14 guidelines to create successful promotions
• What a promotion is and isn’t
• Promotion as part of the marketing process
• The five pre-promotional steps that lead to a successful campaign
• And much more

The Promotion Plan Worksheet included in the planner will help with:

• Defining your target market
• Identifying your competitive advantage, benefits and specials factors
• Identify various form of media to be used in your promotion including print and digital advertising, direct mail, email and other electronic media

The Return on Marketing Investment section of the planner will help you calculate the cost, sales and profits of your promotion.

Franklin was an Innovator

Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette and General Magazine were on the forefront of 18^th century advertising. Westamerica’s 2017 Marketing Calendar & Planner will help you be on the cutting edge of 21^st century advertising. The planner will help you explore different media and formats that can be used to deliver your message. By exploring alternative media and cutting edge technology you can capture additional opportunities to communicate with your audience. Television and radio spots, lobby videos, your website, email blasts, social media and other techniques will help you reach a wide variety of demographics at various times and places.

I also encourage you to follow in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin and plan ahead. To help you in that endeavor we are providing our 2017 Marketing Calendar & Planner free of charge. To get you copy click here.

It seems like only yesterday I was printing ledger sheets and envelopes on a Multi 1250 with a T-head at my father’s business forms company. And the next thing you know, last week I was in Kansas City, Missouri, being inducted into the Ben Franklin Honor Society. It’s amazing how quickly time passes. And yet, when you take time to think about it, there have been some incredible and wonderful events that have taken place in the world and personally in my life that lead up to that moment in Kansas City.

First, I want to say what a tremendous honor it is to be a member of this group. The Ben Franklin Honor Society is kind of like the “Hall of Fame” for the printing industry. While founded in 2005 it can trace its roots all the way back to the 1950s. When you see the list of members you realize it’s a veritable who’s who in the industry.

It’s humbling to be nominated yet alone be inducted into a printing institution like the Ben Franklin Honor Society. When I was running that Multi 1250 forty years ago no one could have ever accuse me of being an excellent press operator but what I learned back then helped me through college, and then with my move into printing sales, again with my move into management and finally as President and CEO of Westamerica Communications.

I’d like to think that the family spirit that was established at The Printing Company by my father Bud Grant, my sister Cathy and my brother-in-law Mike all those years ago is still felt by the friends and employees that work with us today. And, like a family, things don’t always run as smooth as you’d like. But the true test of a person, a family and a company is how you react to trials and tribulations.

Over the years The Printing Company has evolved into Westamerica Communications and online media, email, interactive, and web programming have replaced that Multi 1250. We still print and mail but on a level that my father would have never imagined all those years ago. The things we can do with dimensional print, variable data and the like, take direct mail to a whole new level.

Actually, when I think of print and mail in the 21^st century, I can’t help but think about Millennials. I’ve recently connected with Gabrielle Jackson Bosché. In her workshops, books and online media she says that print is a great way to connect with Millennials. She says that many Millennials ignore emails by using multiple accounts. So the marketing email you think you’re sending to that target audience may actually be headed for an account that is never opened. Does that mean that print is a great way to reach the younger generation? Does that mean that what’s old is new again? Does that mean I should dust off the Multi 1250 and brush up on my ink and fountain solution balancing skills?

I think what it means is simply this. During the past 40 years change has been the only constant. Things do not remained static.

As I stood on that stage in Kansas City I was surrounded with old friends and new. Some on that stage were there because of their contributions to printing education. Others were there due to their contributions to their local printing association. All of us where there because we know that the traditional values of family, friendship and giving back is what makes life worthwhile.  As it says in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you.”

In today’s crowded marketplace you need an advertising method that will capture the attention of consumers and get your message out. Many companies rely on large format marketing and merchandising tools to do just that. With large format signage you are only limited by your imagination.

Digital large format printing is used to produce everything from banners to trade show graphics; vehicle wraps to building wraps; H-stake yard signs to outdoor billboard signs.

Benefits of using Large Format Printing

The benefits of using large format printing in your marketing campaigns are many. First, large format printing can help you take advantage of existing client traffic patterns. With the ability to print on a variety of substrates large format printing is a great medium for creating engaging wall murals. A photo wall mural with captivating images and creative text can grab the attention of consumers and introduce them to your products and services.

And, due to the variety of printable substrates, you could augment your wall mural with images and text printed onto wood or glass panels then mounted to the wall. I’ve even heard of a company printing a photo of a pop singer or other pop culture icon onto an office door.

Besides the ability to print onto a variety of surfaces, digital large format printing allows you to print just one or a few copies of your marketing materials. This reminds me of the old Burma-Shave roadside sign campaigns. Not that I’m old enough to remember, but from 1925 to 1966 this company would use a series of six roadside signs to advertise the benefits of using their brand of brushless shaving cream. The signs were spaced out along the road or highway. Each sign contained part of a rhyme or verse. In that way, as a motorist would pass, they’d read each sign and by the final sign they’d have read the entire advertisement. It was very creative.

That’s the biggest advantage of large format printing. You’re only limited by your imagination. You really have an endless choice of printable substrates for indoor use, outdoor use and everything in between. Here are some of the large format printing materials available to you:

• Wood
• Glass
• Vinyl
• Foam Core
• Gator Board
• Wallpaper
• Metal and Plastic Sheeting
• Plastic and Paper Corrugate
• Carpet
• Wrapping Paper

What you need to know about Large Format Printing

Our creative, production and finishing services can deliver the solutions you need to drive your marketing message. Whether you’re looking for large format printing in Los Angeles County or large format printing in Orange County, we can help.

If you have your own creative services and are designing for large format printing talk with us first. We can explain how to prepare images for large format printing. We’ll discuss proper resolution and also help you understand how resizing images for large format printing will create a better final product.

Maybe you just have an idea or concept and you need some help to make it become a reality. Westamerica has both the creative and technical staff to build your one-of-a-kind solution. We can build a powerful single image or a comprehensive campaign using our in-house creative staff. We can even create custom photography with our in-house photographer.

While this may not be everything you need to know about large format printing I hope I helped you to better understand the possibilities and benefits available to you. When you’re ready to create indoor wall signage, window graphics or even outdoor building signage, remember, you’re only limited by your imagination.

Merely touching an object can make someone buy that object. Does this sound a little crazy?

Well, take a minute and think back to a time when you were playing with a young child. You may have handed that child a personal item like your wallet, keys or mobile phone. What happened when you tried to retrieve your item? You were probably met with cries of, “Mine, mine.” You may have had to manipulate the situation by offering the child a different object so you could get your property back.

Those primal instincts of ownership don’t necessarily disappear when you grow up. In fact, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of California, Los Angeles, have conducted studies that prove that touch influences the feeling of ownership and valuation of an object.

The Influence of Touch

The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, also reported that touching an object results in a person being willing to pay more for most objects that they touch versus ones they cannot touch.

A few years ago the Illinois Attorney General’s office actually warned holiday shoppers to be cautious of retailers who encourage them to hold objects and imagine the objects as their own when shopping.

Think of retail stores like those owned by Apple and Microsoft. When you walk into the store the employees encourage you to touch and interact with the devices on display. They want you to play games, try out the software, use the camera, and thus imagine yourself owning these products.

The Influence of Direct Mail

Can a direct mail piece have the same effect on a person? Can a piece of mail influence the feeling of ownership and value of an object to the recipient?

Well, the researchers found that even if consumers cannot touch an object they still respond effectively to “ownership imagery.”

Now imagine a direct mail piece that contains an image that the recipient can see, touch and feel. A dimensional piece that says, “Touch me!”

Think of the reaction of a consumer when they can see, touch and feel the car interior on an automotive manufacturer’s direct mail piece. Or see, touch and feel the texture of the sand in a beach resort’s marketing collateral.

Understand we’re not talking about a simple coating. We’re talking about the ability to feel the texture of a leaf with its smooth veins and rough edges. Or the ability to see, touch and feel the water drops on a freshly washed apple.

The Power of Dimensional Print

A printed piece that contains beautiful images, texture and dimension can have a positive impact on a person. The above-mentioned study explained that people who have a positive or neutral response to touching an object are willing to pay more.

We’re not saying that everyone who receives a dimensional print piece will buy the product being offered but the research does indicate that having people imagine owning a product increases their perception of ownership and how much they are willing to pay for the product.

Ownership imagery through the use of dimensional print that can be seen, touched and experienced suggests a remarkable opportunity to increase perceived ownership and purchase.

An acquaintance of mine has a son who is about to graduate high school. This young man is a true entrepreneur. He’s making $15,000 a month from his YouTube channel. There are young “celebrities” who are “killing it” on YouTube.

A DIY makeup duo is making $2,000 per day from YouTube advertisements. That’s $730,000 a year. A gaming couple has an estimated net worth of $11 million from their “goofy” gaming activities on YouTube. I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, that’s a bunch of kids watching some other kids do goofy things on YouTube.” And you’d be right. But, there’s another side to video and YouTube.

A colleague in the printing industry, he’s a label manufacturer, wanted to sell a piece of equipment. He shot a short video, on his iPhone, of the press running and posted it on YouTube. Within 24 hours he received three legitimate offers to buy the press. Within days my colleague received the full asking price for the press and the press was shipped off to a company in Oregon.

YouTube is a Bonafide Marketing Channel

While YouTube may contain videos of cute cats and make-up tutorials it’s also a bonafide marketing channel. It can, and is, being used by both B2C and B2B businesses to generate sales.

These stats should help you appreciate why you need to increase your video marketing efforts:

• Using video in an email leads to a 200-300% increase in click-through rates
• Including video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%
• 90% of user say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process
• 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video
• 59% of executives would rather watch video than read text

The Power of B2B Video

Here’s another story that illustrates the power of B2B video. Another colleague of mine in the printing industry, his company prints on plastic bags, shot a video and posted it on YouTube. They then embedded the video on their website. Within one week of posting the video my colleague received a phone call from a prospective client who had viewed the video. Here’s the interesting part. My colleague’s sales reps had been trying to get a meeting with this prospect for three years! Now, after viewing the video, the prospect called them and the sale was made.

Improving the Customer Experience with Video

The reason this prospect called my colleague instead of talking to a sales rep is simple. It’s the same reason why you go online and research a product or service before you speak to a sales representative or visit a brick and mortar establishment. Online marketing materials, including video, enhance the customer’s experience. It allows prospective clients to draw their own conclusions. It puts the buyer in the driver’s seat.

According to a global study of 1,000 C-level executives from Avanade, “Buyers prioritize the customer experience over the price of a product or service when weighing a purchase decision.”

The same study reports that companies find a 61% increase in customer loyalty, a 60% increase in revenue, and a 60% increase in their customer base.

Helping our clients improve their clients online experience is the reason why Westamerica includes video production as part of our marketing capabilities. Let us help you make video content a bigger part of your communication efforts.