Merging of the Minds

27. That's how many times just today that I used my smartphone to do something other than make a phone call. Wow! If you're not using mobile technology as part of your marketing mix, think of the sales opportunities you're missing.

Some of those 27 tasks included emailing, texting, checking facebook and twitter, looking up an address on Google maps, and checking the store hours of a local shop.

How often do you use your smartphone to access the web to make plans or shop? While it may not be as often as me (I'm addicted to my phone), I bet you'd reach for it all day long if I took it away from you. So, reason would have it that if you and I are using our smartphones this much, aren't our customers and prospects? What do we do about that and how do we engage them in mobile marketing?

While most people still think that the internet will be the death of print, we at BPI Media Group beg to differ. We embrace the web and simply incorporate it into print and that's what smart marketers do as well. Here are four ways we encourage you to merge mobile marketing into your print campaigns:

• QR Codes. They're easy, they're quick and they're catching on.
• Short Codes. Great for promotions. Great for gaining phone #'s for future campaigns.
• Text Alerts. It's the best thing to happen to customer service for many places (think of your pharmacy or for dining out).
• Mobile Landing Pages. Use them for campaigns or promotions. Have a mobile-friendly version of your website & folks will be more likely to use it while on the go.

These are just a few simple ways to include mobile marketing and how to incorporate it into your print messages. Read more about ways to combine print with mobile in our next issue of BPI's Graphic Advisor. Want to subscribe to our quarterly newsletter? We'd love to add you to our mailing list!

Until next time...Elizabeth

What Does BPI Stand For?

One of the biggest questions we were asked yesterday at the Greenville Business Expo was "what does BPI stand for?" Well, here's our version of what it means and what we have to offer.

B-BRANDING. We can help maintain your corporate branding through templated print on demand and an image library.

P-PERSONALIZATION. Creating 1:1 communications with your customers and prospects can lift your response rates.

I-INTEGRATION. We have the tools to create integrated campaigns, so you can use multiple channels within a campaign to reach your customers and prospects.

M-MOBILE MESSAGING. We can help with sms and mobile messaging to create contests, sign-ups, etc with your customers who are mobile savvy (and who isn't these days?).

E-EMAIL BLASTS. Using complementary graphics as your printed pieces, we can set up email marketing messages to your customers and prospects and even version them, so that they receive unique messages and offers based on their buying patterns.

D-DIRECT MAIL. With two mail machines in house and trained staff on how to manage lists to get the best postage rates, we can process your mail quickly to get it in the mailboxes of your customers.

I-INVENTORY MANAGEMENT. With our online storefront, managing inventory of your collateral, stationery, promo items, etc is easier than ever. Reports keep track of real-time inventory.

A-ANALYTICS (data). Need to mail to a very, very specific demographic? We can analyze your current data to determine the criteria of those who buy from you to get a "good list" for you to target.

G-GENERATE sales. With print and other forms of media, we can help you create campaigns that will not only improve your ROI but also boost more sales from qualified leads.

R-REPORTING. Our storefront system has reports available 24/7, so you and your team can view order history, inventory levels and user groups.

O-ONLINE and web marketing. Our web development team can help with your website to make it fully optimized to boost your online traffic and sales.

U-UNBELIEVABLE customer service. Our CSR team are there to help answer questions, troubleshoot, track and manage each project from start to finish.

P-PRINTING. The premise of BPI Media Group is our flexibility of printing services ranging from long runs on our offset presses to shorter, personalized runs on our digital device.

I look forward to hearing form you to see how BPI can help you! Until next time...Elizabeth