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Read about Digtial and print marketing from local experts.

TOP 4 COUPON MARKET TAKEAWAYS FROM VALPAK’S 2018 READERSHIP STUDY

7/13/2018

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Since 2001, Valpak’s Readership Study has been the consistent consumer engagement survey for The Blue Envelope®. The results of this year’s study are in – and they’re too good not to share.

THE METHODOLOGY
Valpak partnered with third-party firm and industry leader Research Now to conduct this year’s survey. To ensure an accurate sample, we focused on our current mailing areas with quotas aligned to the Valpak household audience – including age gender, ethnicity, dwelling type and geography. Over 1,500 surveys were completed, with a ±2.43% margin of error.
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THE RESULTS
Now let’s get to the good stuff. We ask the same set of core questions each year to gauge trends in our open rates, brand awareness and audience engagement. For insight into contemporary issues, like this year’s $100 Instant Win program, we rotate in a few new questions to ask respondents.

The results of this year’s study, once again, prove the Valpak audience is highly engaged, highly motived and drive more results for our advertisers.

1. BRAND AWARENESS
Over eight in ten (81%) households receiving the Valpak envelope were aware of it. What’s more, when we asked which brands participants recalled receiving coupons from in the mail, Valpak had the highest awareness among shared mail (81%). Compare that to RedPlum (57%), Money Mailer (47%) and Clipper Magazine (41%).

2. ENGAGEMENT
The readership study confirmed that Valpak continues to mail to a highly engaged audience. Among the households that recall receiving Valpak, nine out of 10 (92%) opened and looked through the Valpak envelope and 85% looked at every envelope insert.

The Valpak audience isn’t just looking at the inserts, they’re using them too. Of the households that opened their envelopes, 51% used Valpak coupons once a month to every three months. 65% set aside 1-3 coupons they intend to share or use in the future.

3. NEW COUPON ENVELOPE DESIGN
We wanted to know if the new envelope design and Instant Win promotion were motivating audiences to open the envelope. 85% thought the new Valpak envelope looked more modern and up to date, and 69% were inspired to open the envelope because of the new look. 59% of respondents were more likely to open the envelope because of the $100 Instant Win program.

4. WHAT CONSUMERS WANT
We asked what types of businesses participants would like to see in The Blue Envelope. The top five ranked categories were:
  1. Grocery,Shopping & Stores
  2. Fast Food Restaurants
  3. Pharmacies/Drugstores
  4. Department Stores
  5. Movie Rentals &Movie Theaters

FINAL THOUGHTS
Through 50 years of direct mail experience, Valpak continues to lead the industry by providing dynamic advertising solutions for local businesses. How do we do it? Our Blue Envelope is sent to nearly 40 million households in the U.S. and Canada each month, targeting homes with discretionary income to spend. By targeting our advertisers’ messages and sending them at the right frequency, we ensure no wasted coverage and maximum ROI.

If you’re struggling with the best way to market your business, or just want to talk advertising, contact your local Valpak representative today.

Source: 2018 Valpak® Readership Study, Research Now®, May 2018.
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Welcome Corey Cinabro to the Valpak Team!

5/22/2018

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​Corey Cinabro joined the Valpak Colorado Team in February.  He grew up in Golden, Colorado, Graduated from University of Colorado at Denver with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and minor in Finance.  Corey brings over 18 Years of experience working with B2B in Northern Colorado.  His values are to always put the client and their goals first and foremost and help them grow their business.  Outside of the office he enjoys spending time with his bride of over 18 years and their 4 children and puppy “Buttercup.” 

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Why Direct Mail Marketing Is Far From Dead

2/21/2018

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We’ve all heard someone say “print advertising is dead.” Or, “online marketing is the best way to market your business,” but we all know that is just not true.  Don’t just take our word for it though, check out this article by Forbes to learn why direct mail is still the top channel for direct response.

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How Is Valpak Different From The Local Competition?

2/21/2018

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We know that as a business owner, you are inundated with sales calls from marketers telling you why their products and services are different from and better than your current advertising.  We also know that with all the conflicting information out there, it can make it difficult to decipher what truly makes one marketing service different from another. So, to help clear up any confusion, we would like to remind our clients what truly makes Valpak different from the other direct marketers.

Street-Level Mapping: A Powerful Marketing Advantage For Your Business
Unlike other direct marketing companies who mail saturation lists (every address within a carrier route) or use a 3rd party in a distant location to determine their mailing list, we use our years of local knowledge to select our audience. Our Street-Level mapping program is integrated with Google Street View, allowing us to include or exclude specific addresses based upon our local knowledge and research. Through the years, our constantly evolving list has developed into a powerful marketing advantage for our clients. You can be certain — and the results show — our list delivers Valpak clients’ messages to the best audience of local consumers.

If you are interested in learning more, ask your Valpak Marketing Advisor for additional information. Or better yet, schedule a visit to our office. We’d love to show you the process in person.

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We drill down to the street level!
Local Advertising: Over $150,000/Year in Northern Colorado Advertising
We know advertising works, that’s why we practice what we preach and promote our Valpak Blue Envelope! You’ve seen our billboards. You’ve seen our blimp at the Colorado Eagles, our newspaper ads, and heard our radio spots. The consumers in northern Colorado have too, and that’s why they open Valpak and use your coupons! What do other direct marketing companies do to promote your advertising?
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Instant Win Program: Drives Opens
Each month we randomly places $100 checks in our envelopes to encourage consumers to look through them every month, and the majority of them get cashed! Imagine the word-of-mouth exposure this creates among neighbors and the office! Who else has an instant win promotion?
Content: Ensures a Positive Consumer Experience
Valpak understands that content is key to drive envelope opens. We make sure there is a strong mix of categories that consumers want to see each month: dining, entertainment, retail, and home improvement categories.

Valpak.com Listings: Get Found Online
While our competitors may also list your offers online, Valpak provides you with your own unique URL on Valpak.com that is indexed on Google and other search engines. That means consumers can find you more easily and that you do not share a page with competing businesses.​

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Click for better view of local Valpak Business Profile Page
Sleek Envelope Design: High-End Design for High-End Consumers
Recently, Valpak tested envelope designs with consumer groups and the feedback was clear — people want to see a sleek, clean, and BLUE Valpak envelope. In January 2018, we started delivering our new envelope design to better align with high-end consumers’ expectations.
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Longevity: Most Recognized Direct Mail Program There Is
Valpak has been powering businesses for 50 years and our local franchise has been in operation since 1978. We credit our longevity to staying true to our mission: To be the most effective advertising medium at generating business for our clients. To engage consumers and motivate them to do business with our clients by delivering interesting content and compelling offers through the mail, online, and the phone.
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Valpak of N. Colorado & S. Wyoming welcomes the opportunity to track and compare how your Valpak ads stack up against your other advertising programs. Contact your Valpak Marketing Advisor today to learn how.
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What Does the 2018 Postal Rate Increase Mean for Your Marketing?

2/21/2018

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Although it is still early on in 2018, the direct mail industry has already seen a significant increase in both postage and paper costs this year, which may have you asking, “What does that mean for my direct mail marketing?”

First, let’s start with the facts. On January 21, 2018, the United States Postal Service increased postage. The saturation letters class in which Valpak falls increased by 1.94%, which you can read more about here.

In addition to a postage increase, our industry has also seen a notable increase in paper costs, with companies experiencing an 8-10% increase in paper expense!

So what does that mean for your direct mail marketing with Valpak? Not much! As an advertiser in our our co-op envelope, you split the cost of these increases with the other advertisers in the pack. So unlike other forms of direct mail, these industry changes will have a proportionally small impact on your direct mail rate.

Want more good news? Direct mail continues to be a trusted and cost-effective form of advertising for small business owners. In fact, according the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), direct mail saw a 5.1% response rate in 2017, which is 10-30 times higher than that of digital advertising mediums!

On behalf of Valpak of N. Colorado & S. Wyoming, we thank you for your business and look forward to continuing to serve your advertising needs. If you have any further questions about how these increases affect your business, please contact your Valpak Marketing Advisor.

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Dream vs. Reality–Starting Your Own Business

10/25/2017

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Guest Post

​If you’ve ever considered starting your dream business, you’re not alone. Michael Gerber, the author of The E-Myth Revisited, called it the “entrepreneurial seizure.” I have to admit, I’ve experienced it a time or two as a business owner and actually grew up in what I call a “small business family,” working in my father’s business as a teenager.

In fact, I learned how to work mowing the lawn at home and sweeping the floors of my Dad’s warehouse. He was adamant that I learn a good work ethic, making sure that I understood the right way to both mow and sweep. I didn’t appreciate at the time that there was a right way and a wrong way to do either—those lessons are more meaningful to me now than I think they were then.

Having experienced the act of starting a business from scratch myself, I can share a few lessons I learned along the way. Taking the entrepreneurial leap should be a decision based on rational analysis rather than hope. As much as possible, grasp the sacrifices you may have to make so you can determine if the risk is worth the reward.
Fortunately, in a study conducted not too long ago, 90 percent of the business owners said they would do it again and never look back.

Before you entertain the idea of beginning your own entrepreneurship, here are some points to consider:
  1. Beginning a business is hard. Staying in business is harder. I’ve never worked harder or longer hours than I did when I owned my own business. I can’t count the number of times my wife would call at 1 or 2 a.m. to ask if she needed to bring me a sleeping bag (my cue it was time to call it a day). In our survey, two-thirds of those surveyed said they worked over 50 hours a week, nine of 10 put in time on the weekend, and 80 percent of them continued working after leaving their businesses at the end of the day. That’s not to say it stays that way forever, however. If it does—and you’re not happy about it—you should reevaluate what changes need to be made.
  2. Is your idea for your business sustainable? Will people pay you for it? Over the years I’ve talked to a number of friends who had what they thought was a great idea for a new business, but their idea didn’t really solve a problem for their potential customers. Before you jump into business ownership with both feet, make sure you have something to offer that solves a problem, makes life easier, or that your potential customers are looking for. What’s even more important is determining whether or not they’re willing to pay for your solution at a price that will be profitable for you. A solution your customers won’t pay for isn’t really a viable solution.
  3. Can you identify your competitive edge? Is your product or service less expensive than others? Is it easier to use? Does it last longer? If you can’t describe what makes your product or service better than anything else available, it will be difficult to convince your potential customers to spend their cash on what you’re offering. If you can’t find your competitive edge, work to create one.
  4. What will your solution cost? How you set the price for your product or service is critical. Price it too low and not only will you reduce your profit, but you risk giving the impression that your product or service isn’t valuable.

I met an inventor who had broken his arm. To ease the discomfort from itching, he drilled a hole in his cast so he could blow cool air into it with a hairdryer. He decided to make an adapter that could be placed in a cast by a doctor. Although it only cost him about $.30 to make, he charged $25. “Because,” he said, “doctors won’t buy it if it’s too cheap.”
I learned that you can price things too low as well as too high and make it more difficult to sell your product.
  1. Do you know your stuff? In my off time, I enjoy maintaining my motorcycle and take pride in doing the work myself. I’m not a real motorcycle mechanic though, and opening up a shop to fix other’s motorcycles wouldn’t be a good idea because I really don’t know what I’m doing. Every new project is an adventure of discovery. I’m passionate about it. It just wouldn’t be a good business idea for me. If you’re going to take the risk of starting your own business, make sure you have significant industry knowledge and can leverage your expertise into building a strong, healthy business.
  2. Make it legal. If you’re going to start a new business, even from home, make it legal. Get a business license, register with the state, and be a business. This is important for a number of reasons, but it can make a difference when you’re looking for financing down the road. Lenders want to see a track record (the longer the better), and if you’ve been doing business for seven years, but you didn’t get a business license until last year, you’ve really only been in business for a year—at least as far as the bank is concerned. Get a business checking account and separate your business expenses from your personal expenses. This applies regardless of the business entity you choose, but is something mandatory that you’ll need to do should you decide to incorporate.
  3. Location, location, location. Where you decide to do business is every bit as important as your product or service. Retail businesses should probably be in locations where potential customers will find them; it’s a different story for online businesses or industrial businesses. I know of one business that started out working from a storage area. His father owned office buildings and offered him the free space to get things up and running. He eventually wound up a major tenant of the building but started with those humble beginnings.
  4. Do you have the capital you need? Many businesses fail because they don’t have the cash flow to support their business. Unfortunately, finding capital is very difficult for new businesses without a record of accomplishment, no revenues, and no credit history. This isn’t the end of the world, but financing will be difficult until you get a couple of years under your belt. This is the time to start small and be patient. If you have a business idea that can scale quickly with the infusion of some extra capital, it might be possible to find an equity investor willing to help you get going. However, an investor will likely be looking for an exit plan and will want some decision-making influence as well as a seat at the table when important decisions need to be made.
  5. Cash is great, but creative problem-solving can take you far. Popular media would have us all believe that money solves all of our business problems, but it’s really creative problem-solving. Are there ways you can reduce your costs to get started? Most entrepreneurs are always looking for ways around, over, under, or through problems—I think it’s part of their DNA. Can you look at a problem or other situation from other perspectives and find creative solutions? This is a skill you’ll need to successfully survive your “entrepreneurial seizure.”
  6. If you build it, will they come? Not if you don’t do any marketing. You may have the best solution on the market, at a price your customers will be willing to pay, but if they don’t know about you and your business, you won’t make any sales.
Marketing your business is one of the first and best investments you make toward your eventual success. According to the SBA, investing seven to eight percent of business revenue on marketing is a good rule of thumb. However, if you choose to wait to invest the recommended amount into your business, you can gain some exposure locally.

Participate in your community events by volunteering, setting up at street fairs, holding a fundraising event. Participate in Small Business Saturday® and Shop Small®.  Or, start small and simple with your marketing by sending a direct mail piece that offers a new customer discount. Valpak offers their Blue Envelope full of local business coupons that households anticipate receiving. Invite your community to a grand opening or holiday event with a postcard.

In the very beginning, when my business was very small and we didn’t have a budget for the large direct mail campaign we wanted, my partners and I created our own postcards, addressed and stamped them after work on Monday, and deliver them to the post office. For somewhere around $100 every week we were able to send out postcards to customers and prospects to remind them we were there and introduce our weekly special. Like clockwork, the phones started ringing on Wednesday as our postcard arrived in their mailbox. Eventually, we had the budget for the large-scale direct mail campaign.

Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, but you have to do it. Be creative. Don’t be afraid to try something new. And, don’t be afraid to tackle something yourself. I think one of the things that made our postcard so successful was that it didn’t look slick and overproduced. It looked like exactly what it was, something we were doing ourselves.

There’s nothing easy about starting your own business. It takes hard work, determination, commitment, vision, and sacrifice, but it’s also very rewarding. Doing your research and knowing what to expect will help you decide if business ownership is right for you. If it is, get out there and make your dream a reality.

If you’ve decided that business ownership is something you want to make a reality, or you’re already there, Valpak is here to help you grow. With over 145 franchise offices across the United States and Canada, there’s a Valpak marketing expert near you. Download our Media Kit* and contact us today!



Ty Kiisel is a contributing author focusing on small business financing at OnDeck, a technology company solving small business’s biggest challenge: access to capital. With over 25 years of experience in the trenches of small business, Ty shares personal experiences and valuable tips to help small business owners become more financially responsible. OnDeck can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
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Understanding Where Your Sales Are REALLY Coming From: First Touch vs. Last Touch Attribution

10/4/2017

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We take our role as your Marketing Advisor seriously. Here at Valpak of N. Colorado and S. Wyoming, we want to ensure your Valpak campaign engages consumers and motivates them to do business with you. To do this, it is important for our clients (and for us) to understand where their sales and conversions are coming from, and lately, this leads to a discussion about first and last touch attribution.

First Touch vs. Last Touch Attribution
First Touch Attribution gives 100% of the credit to the marketing effort that drove a visitor to your site or store for the first time. Conversely, Last Touch Attribution gives all the credit to the marketing activity that immediately precedes the sale or conversion.

The Misunderstanding
Marketers and business owners tend to rely heavily on built-in tools like Google Analytics and Google AdWords to determine where in the marketing funnel their sales and conversions are coming from. Less tech-savvy business owners may even rely on their receptionist to ask a consumer where they heard about the business. These methods usually end up crediting the last piece of advertising served to the shopper before they made a purchase, clicked on a link, or picked up the phone.  

The problem with last touch attribution is that it tends to oversimplify the marketing process and and can undervalue important awareness channels. Awarding all the credit to the last marketing piece served to a consumer before they made a purchase is kind of like declaring the winner of a basketball game the team that scored the last basket, regardless of who had the highest final score!

Our Marketing Advisors appreciate the clients who dedicate time to track their coupons, phone calls and online conversions, but sometimes they fall into the “last touch trap” and end credit other online sources for their transactions while discounting their Valpak print piece.

The Reality
While a customer may tell you they found you online, ask yourself how they decided to choose you. A customer cannot buy from you if they don’t know you exist! So, before you write off any marketing piece not directly correlated to a sale, remember: a lead may interact with your company multiple times before converting. Relying too heavily on the last click or view can discount valuable marketing pieces that helped lead to the conversion!

Ultimately, no purchase or conversion is exclusively attributable to a single advertising channel. Every channel, from direct mail to radio to search or display, needs to work together to move a consumer through the marketing funnel.

For help creating and coordinating your print and online advertising to help get consumers to notice you, choose you, and spend money with you, contact your Valpak Marketing Advisor today.

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Think Big. Shop Small.

10/4/2017

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For the 5th consecutive year, small businesses in northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming will have an exclusive opportunity to use Shop Small / American Express branded marketing solutions through Valpak!

Shop Small is a nationally recognized movement dedicated to supporting and celebrating businesses and the neighborhoods they’re part of. Customers look for the Shop Small logo to see where they can Shop Small and support small businesses — like yours, year round!

As an official partner, Valpak has some fun (and FREE) Shop Small swag that we are more than happy to share with you! We also encourage any of our clients who accept American Express to go here to create your own FREE marketing materials to let shoppers know you’re a Shop Small participant and to join you on November 25 for Small Business Saturday.

For more information about Shop Small and how to get some free swag, please let your Valpak Marketing Advisor know.
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Small Business Social Media Advertising: It’s Not ‘If,’ It’s ‘Which’

8/8/2017

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Social media advertising has increased exponentially in the last two years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. As social media platforms respond to demand from advertisers, it’s important that small businesses understand the options and choose the platform(s) that best fits their marketing goals. We’ve put together some social media advertising tips to help you make good decisions when setting your small business social media marketing goals and deciding on an effective social strategy for your business.

Social Media Advertising and Its Growing Popularity

Worldwide, between 2014 and 2016, social media advertising budgets doubled, growing from $16 billion to $31 billion. By the end of 2017, it’s expected to increase by another 26%. According to Forbes, four million small businesses were advertising on Facebook in 2015.
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As social media’s impact continues to grow it can’t be denied that social advertising is a vital way to support your multi-channel and omnichannel marketing strategies. Social media advertising allows for brand personalization, loyalty, engagement, and data analytics—all important components of a multi-channel and omnichannel marketing strategy.

Social Media Advertising Platforms for Small Business
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Facebook
Facebook ads allow you to create custom advertisements targeting specific markets. These ads will appear in the newsfeeds of your target audience or in the right-hand side bar. Facebook Insights allows you to collect data to improve your ads, as well as your targeting, to provide a more effective advertising experience.
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Twitter
Twitter allows you to choose promoted tweets, which are a good way to build brand awareness. Promoted tweets appear in a user’s timeline and in “Who To Follow” suggestions. In addition, Twitter offers conversion campaigns that use a tracking code for the specific type of conversion you want to track and targets users by keyword. Finally, there are Twitter lead generation cards that allow users to opt-in to sign up to a newsletter, for example, with one click.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn provides the ability to create sponsored updates or text ads, both of which are linked to your website and allow audience targeting options. You can also choose between cost per click (CPC) and cost per impression (CPM) based on whether your goal is to get click-throughs or build exposure. LinkedIn provides analytics allowing you to quickly compare results from sponsored updates and text ads, as well as different variations of your ads.

Pinterest
Pinterest ads are known as promoted pins—they’re really just regular pins that you pay to promote. Pinterest offers three types of ad campaigns. The first is an awareness campaign, designed to help you build your brand. Pricing is based on every 1,000 impressions. Next is an engagement campaign to encourage users to interact with your content by either pinning it to a board or clicking on the link. You pay according to user actions—a closeup, repin, or click. Third is a traffic campaign, designed to increase traffic to your website, priced on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis.

Instagram
Instagram offers three types of ads. Photo ads allow businesses to tell their story and feature products targeting a specific audience. Instagram video ads can be up to 60 seconds in length and allow users to download and share. Instagram carousel ads provide the user with the ability to view multiple images and also includes a CTA that will take users to your website. In addition, since the purchase of Instagram by Facebook, Instagram advertisers now have access to the same analytics available on Facebook.

YouTube
YouTube offers in-stream ads, in-display ads, and in-search ads. The type of ad you choose is dependent on your advertising goals.
  • In-stream ads are effective at increasing the number of impressions
  • In-display ads are for increasing subscribers or views
  • In-search ads are for promoting your YouTube channel in a less disruptive way
The recently launched YouTube Community allows brands to directly engage with the target audience.

3 Social Media Advertising Tips for Small Businesses

Social media advertising offers great consumer targeting options. Knowing the audience you intend to target is integral to the campaign’s success. Discover who your audience is—their lifestyle, behaviors, needs, desires, etc.

1. Choose the Right Social Media Channel
Choosing the best platforms is also important. If your target customer is active on Facebook, but not on Twitter, don’t waste your money on Twitter ads. Base your advertising decisions on facts and research.

For example, if you’re targeting a particular age demographic, it’s important to consider where they’re spending their time on social media. The following chart shows the percentage of users, by age, on four popular social media platforms.
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Facebook may be a good choice for reaching all age ranges. However, if you’re targeting an older demographic, advertising on Twitter or Instagram is not likely to achieve a good ROI. If your target audience is younger, under age 29, you may get more bang for your buck by advertising on Instagram. You should also consider similar comparisons of other demographics such as income, education, and location.

2. Stand Out
The best strategy for success with social media ads is to offer great content. On Facebook, for example, ads show up in a user’s news feed based on how relevant the content is to your target audience. If your relevance score is higher, your ad is more likely to appear in the news feed of your target audience than ads of other businesses targeting a similar audience.

In addition, the effectiveness of your ad content is closely tied to how successful your ad will be. Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared. To increase ROI, test various content types in organic posts.

Other social media sites offer advertising that may be more cost-effective than the ones cited above. Tumblr, for example, offers sponsored posts, sponsored video posts, and even a sponsored day which enables brands to pin their logo and tagline to all users’ dashboards for 24 hours. Quora, the question-and-answer site, only very recently began offering advertising opportunities. Ads are non-intrusive, text-based, and priced on a PPC model. Snapchat offers three types of ads, one of which allows you to use its popular geofilter, and has a three-tiered pricing model. Advertising on Reddit allows for audience targeting and engagement opportunity and is priced based on CPM.

3. Keep Mobile Top of Mind
More than 80% of social network users are accessing platforms via mobile. Mobile advertising accounts for 86% of all advertising revenue on Twitter. Your social media ads must be designed with small mobile screens in mind. Also, take advantage of mobile features such as hyper-local ads and the popularity of video on mobile. On Twitter, 90% of promoted video is viewed via a mobile device.

Social media advertising for small business has become an essential part of marketing in today’s business environment. Ensure that you understand which social media platforms are most effective for reaching your target audience, as well the types of ad formats that will work best. Develop a strategy for using the performance analytics from each social platform and modify your ads to improve effectiveness and increase your ROI.

Use These Tips to Develop Social Media Advertising for Your Business Today

  • Set your advertising budget
  • Define your target audience
  • Determine which social media channels relate most to your target audience
  • Create great content that will stand out in social feeds
  • Use eye-catching visuals and video
  • Optimize your content for mobile
  • Track your social media advertising efforts
  • Analyze your campaign performance and readjust ads when performance wanes to achieve optimal results

​Need help deciding which social channel would work best for your small business? Contact your local Valpak consultant for solid social advertising advice.


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7 Reasons Why Print & Direct Mail Marketing Rule

7/25/2017

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In today’s digital age, research shows that consumers are beginning to show signs of digital fatigue. Look at your own email. How many promotional messages and marketing emails do you receive on a daily basis? More than likely, quite a few.

​Use this opportunity to increase your brand exposure and acquire new customers with good, old-fashioned print advertising and direct mail. These advertising vehicles offer very effective ways for your business to rise above the digital noise.

How Print Advertising and Direct Mail Drive Sales

1. Breaks Through Digital Noise
As of February 2017, the Radicati Group estimated that there are 3.7 billion email users worldwide and around 269 billion emails sent daily. The Radicati Group’s research from 2014 showed that business users sent or received, on average, 121 emails daily. Talk about email overload. That number is expected to rise to 141 by 2018. With Americans being exposed to around 5,000 ads per day, up from 500 ads per day in the ‘70s, and a large amount of those being digital, print and direct mail can cut through the digital noise to drive sales.

2. Elicits a Strong Emotional Reaction
With less physical mail hitting the mailbox than the number of emails that hit your inbox, consumers might actually enjoy checking their physical mail as opposed to their email. A Gallup Poll shows that 41 percent of Americans look forward to checking their mailboxes on a daily basis. It’s not just the older demographics, either. In fact, 36 percent of Americans under the age of 30 share this sentiment. Statistics also show that people have a strong emotional reaction to receiving mail. 27 percent of people who enjoy checking their mail have a positive reaction to receiving an advertising card or flyer.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General conducted a study with Temple University’s Center of Neural Decision Making that focuses on the responses to digital and physical media in the buying process, which included the intent to purchase. This study found that participants spend more time with physical ads and had a stronger emotional response. They also remembered the physical ads better. The physical ads had a longer lasting impact for easy recall when purchasing, and they triggered the area of the brain responsible for value and desirability of featured products, which can signal greater intent to purchase.

3. Supports Digital Efforts
Print advertising and direct mail can work alongside digital marketing in a supporting role. As a small business owner, you could include your social media channels on your printed materials explaining the benefits of connecting on your social media channels. Mentioning your social channels on printed materials is one way to bridge the gap between print and digital.

Another way you can use print to support your digital marketing efforts is by providing an offer and driving consumers to a high-value lead magnet online. Verizon and Motorola ran a campaign with a call to action on their direct mail promotion that drove consumers to a landing page by scanning a QR code where they could enter to win Super Bowl tickets. The companies then used the entry information to move consumers through their sales process.

4. Strengthens Branding
Given that 70 percent of people who receive direct mail and print advertising open it, and 79 percent of it is read for a minute or more, it’s an excellent method for strengthening your brand and keeps your TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness) high. A business could stay top of mind by sending direct mail to 1,000 people every 2-3 months for 3-4 years. This would be more effective than sending direct mail to 100,000 people one time.

As part of your strategy though, it’s imperative that you keep a few things in mind, like the colors you use on your mailings; a firm understanding of your demographics; and consistency. If you’re mindful of these factors, you will be well on your way to strengthening your brand awareness.

5. Direct Mail is Engaging
With the right content, direct mail can be incredibly engaging. Businesses can personalize a message, share information that’s relevant, and customize it to fit a specific target audience.

Consumers want to feel special and print advertising campaigns can make that happen. While it may be easier to send messages to an audience with a generic greeting, a personalized, targeted piece would garner more appreciation and response. In fact, research shows that 80 percent of consumers are more likely to open a direct mail piece if it’s personalized. That same research shows that 44 percent of people will immediately discard a mailer if it’s not relevant to them.

6. Establishes Trust
Research shows that print advertising and direct mail are perceived as more trustworthy sources. Although we live in a digital-driven world, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people always believe what they read and see in the digital realm. There’s a certain trust that comes along with print. In fact, 88 percent of Millennials find that something printed on paper is more official than digital. To further drive home the point, 82 percent of Millennials view messages printed on paper as more trustworthy than digital messages. It’s also worth noting that half of the Millennials ignore digital ads.

7. Evokes Response and Engagement
Print advertising and direct mail encourage consumers to respond and engage. The response rate for direct mail is 3.7%, while other means lag behind:
  • Email: 0.2%
  • Paid Search 0.1%
  • Other digital channels like mobile and social media display ads: 0.32%

Direct mail drives consumer purchase behavior. Results of direct mail efforts include:
  • 55% of consumers visited a physical store
  • 54% percent visited a website
  • 45% acknowledged that direct mail led to a purchase
As mentioned earlier, the positive emotional reaction to direct mail leads consumers to remember the physical ads better, which have an extended impact for easy recall when purchasing. They trigger the area of the brain responsible for value and desirability of featured products, which can signal greater intent to purchase.

Here are some direct mail offers that are most responded to:
  • Buy One Get One Free (57%)
  • Gift Card (55%)
  • Percent Off Total Purchase (51%)
  • Free Gift (38%)
  • Percentage of a Single Item (35%)
  • Everyday Lowest Price (32%)
  • Free Shipping (31%)
  • Birthday Offer (28%)
In an age of digital overload, the reasons mentioned above show why print advertising and digital mail still have a big impact on driving sales. There are many reasons to utilize these tactics in your small business marketing strategy to elicit response and drive sales.

Try Print Advertising & Direct Mail Today
Now that you’ve learned about how print advertising and direct mail can help your business drive sales, it’s time to put this information to work.
  • Download the free “Small Business Guide to Building an Effective Marketing Strategy.”
  • Set the target audience you desire to reach with your print advertising and direct mail
  • Plan your campaign and ensure your messaging, branding and all creative aspects speak to the target audienc
  • Develop a strong call-to-action which incorporates digital engagement with the consumer
  • Personalize your message to capture the consumer’s attention
  • Track and analyze your efforts to determine success and effectiveness in driving sales
Valpak has been an industry leader in direct mail marketing for over 50 years. If you need help establishing a print and direct mail campaign for your small business, be sure to contact your local Valpak representative and let us introduce you to your neighborhood.
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