Pick up the Phone!

Have you found it EXTREMELY difficult to get customers and prospects on the phone recently? If you're like me, dialing and leaving voice mails is part of my daily routine, so if you actually get a live person on the phone, it catches you off guard.

We at BPI Media Group have found that having a reason to call is helpful to get a response or a live person on the other end of the line. Try sending out a postcard or lumpy mailer then follow up in a few days by phone. Even if you have to leave a voice mail, your prospect will more than likely correlate the mailer with your phone call and maybe even pick up the phone next time. You can also try email marketing as part of your communications mix. Nothing new, but I know many prospects of mine reply much more promptly to an email than to a voice mail. You could even mix all three channels together and use mail, phone and email. For the "cream of the crop" prospects, you may even consider an integrated campaign using Purls (personalized urls or landing pages) to engage them in the conversation.

Whatever your marketing mix, I know I sound like my boss here, but don't stop picking up the phone. I was reminded of this twice recently when a customer's momentary anxiety was put to rest by a simple phone call to assure them their project was in good hands and would be completed on time. The other instance was when they had a project and had been "meaning to call me" but had not had the time to do so yet. Sometimes, clients and prospects actually want to hear from you and hear your voice. So, keep your messaging brief, relevant and most importantly friendly!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Power of Proof

If you're like many customers and prospects I call on, you may be a little skeptical of change and relinquishing control of print ordering to your reps, branch locations or regional offices. That's why I wanted to share this case study with you to show you how well it works and why. My hope is that after reading this case study, you'll feel a bit more confident in why a web-to-print system with BPI Media Group can be the best decision you make in 2013!

This case study by PODi shared by Print in the Mix shares a tremendous example of how an organization benefits from engaging their print partner and utilizes a web-to-print system. Putting this system in place allows the following:

• Gives corporate a means to maintain brand consistency
• Allows branch locations to customize the collateral to their location
• Provides a way to manage print-spend budgets for each location
• Gives corporate a dashboard to download and/or review all order history
• Allows for order approval process if needed
• Streamlines ordering process of marketing collateral
• Allows for versioning of corporately-branded materials
• Provides a an easy-to-use interface for users
• Utilizes templates from which locations can choose
• Takes advantage of print on demand for short-run needs
• Choose from options of customization to best fit your company's needs

For an online demo of how a web-to-print system can work for your company, drop me a note. We'd love to show you how this can simplify your print management of your marketing collateral, stationery, business cards and even promotional items.

Until next time...Elizabeth

Rave Reviews

It usually takes an either exceptionally great experience or terrible one for me to review a product. We all feel compelled to share a positive experience or warn others about a negative one after we try something new. We tell family, friends and colleagues about these experiences and then compare notes. Have you thought about how your customers would review you and your company? (PS-You can gather customer feedback from a landing page campaign, and we can help with that. )

Here's my review of an app I recently downloaded (per recommendation of my boss), and I must say, it knocked my socks off! Print Apply is an app for smart phones where you can have a multitude of tools at your fingertips. Not only is this a necessity for print sales reps, but I'm also going to recommend it to customers. If you spec envelopes, papers, folds, or need a fraction converter, this handy app has it all and a few more bells and whistles. My personal favorite is the animated folding demonstration. Check it out and then let's compare notes!

I'd also like to encourage you to give BPI Media Group a review. Visit our contact us page and tell us how we're doing. Our philosophy is that we can only improve upon things if we know where our weaknesses lie. Hope to hear from you soon!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Thankfulness

The turkey is in the roasting pan, the sweet potato casserole is in the oven, and the pecan pies are cooling. What are your family's or company's Thanksgiving traditions? At BPI Media Group, we are "a family" as well, and we want to extend our thankfulness to those who work with us. Not only are we grateful to handle your print projects, mailings, fulfillment, websites, storefronts, and design, but we are most grateful to have the opportunity to develop relationships with each of our customers. Those relationships are what make us your partner. For the opportunities you've given us and the trust you place in BPI's team, we say "thank you!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Gaining Ground

As many of you know, I'm a runner. Right now, I'm training for a half marathon that's on December 15. As race day approaches, speed and endurance build. These don't come easy though, it takes hard work and careful planning. I've also been training myself on my sales skills. Reading books, articles and blogs, but also engaging in networking opportunities to help me practice the craft of "the elevator speech." Hard work is paying off, and the confidence it takes to call on large accounts is now part of my routine.

Are you and your company practicing your craft of sales and marketing to your target audience? If not, BPI Media Group would love to help you in the following areas:

• Segmented mailings
• 1:1 personalized messaging
• Direct mail list purchases with clearly-defined demographics
• Integrated campaigns (including landing pages, QR codes, SMS messages, email messages and direct mail)
• SEO website
• Fulfillment to keep you product moving to the anxious customer

BPI would love to talk with you specifically how these marketing strategies can help you reach your sales goal and by getting a practice through campaigns under your belt, you can learn about your prospects and then better target with each consecutive message.

Until next time...Elizabeth

Train Hard for Big Rewards

Training. We all go through training in different areas of our life. There's potty training as a child, college prep training as a high schooler, on-the-job training as an adult and athletic training for those of us who push ourselves physically and run, cycle, swim, etc. We even print a ton of training materials for our customers. What are you training for right now?

BPI Media Group offers training for our customers on a variety of our solutions through BPI University. These trainings are a great resource, but our most important training is that which we do every day, and I bet the same is true for you too.

I was reminded recently that the best training I can get is to work hard and keep doing my job EVERY SINGLE DAY. BY exercising the same activities every day, our skills get sharper, just like our muscles. When I run, I can run farther and faster the next time. When I'm working, I can focus on the projects at hand and work toward gaining new prospects and customers. How are you gaining new prospects?

Here are a few tools I utilize from BPI that help me stay in contact with customers and prospects:

• Direct mail with 1:1 personalization
• Personalized landing pages with dashboard management
• Web portal for ordering campaign pieces to target prospects
• Email marketing to communicate in multiple channels

How can we help you in your training to keep your marketing messages fresh?

Until next time...Elizabeth