Trust + Customer Loyalty=Success

After spending time with customers lately talking about everything from campaign ROI to fulfillment, it dawned on me that BPI Media Group has some very loyal customers. This loyalty is based on several things, but the biggest factor is trust.

We at BPI wear that as a badge of honor knowing that our customers have placed their trust in us to help their marketing and communications channels be successful. That trust is built on relationships we develop and nurture over time with each of our customers. We strive to become invested in your projects because "our success depends on the success of our customers."

Relationships with customers are based on fair pricing, excellent customer service, promises kept (i.e., on-time delivery) and consistent follow up. If you were to take a census of our customer list, you'd find that most of them have been faithful customers for 10+ years--some of them 20+ years! That's an equation for success when you combine trust and customer loyalty.

For those long-time, loyal customers, we'd like to say THANK YOU! Thank you for working with us, trusting us and partnering with us to help achieve your marketing and communication goals. It is our priority to make you and your company look GREAT and to make your job a little less stressful.

Until next time...Elizabeth

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And the Award Goes to...BPI's Creative Team

On a visit to BPI Media Group's plant in Boaz, AL on Monday, I learned some very exciting news from our design and creative team director, Leisa McGowan. Some of the graphic design projects our team has created for an auction company have received numerous awards. I think this is quite news worthy, so I wanted to brag on our creative team just a bit.

These particular awards were for catalogs/brochures. Six first-place awards were won based on the graphic design done by BPI. The competition received more than 650 entries, which were judged based on their creativity, effectiveness, clarity and visual appeal by a panel of marketing and advertising professionals. The NAA-USA TODAY poll is the most esteemed in the auction industry, and it recognized the best marketing and advertising materials. Needless to say, we are quite proud of our designers. GOOD JOB!!!!!

Not only do our designers create aesthetically-pleasing pieces, but they also create pieces that include strategic calls to action because including effective marketing best practices is part of what we do and offer our customers. We want all of your marketing materials to be successful. Keep in mind that all of this is done under very tight deadlines, making last-minute revisions and fine tuning until it is a piece that can be printed, mailed and/or shared with pride.

If your marketing team needs help with design, or you're short handed, let BPI's creative team lend a hand. We guarantee you'll love the results!

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Loud & Clear Call to Action

Wondering why you may not be getting the ROI you anticipated from your latest campaign? As you can imagine, we at BPI Media Group see a wide variety of campaigns and direct mailers. While many of these pieces are aesthetically phenomenal, many are missing a key component: a clear call to action.

A lack luster call to action can leave your ROI falling flat, so avoid this common mistake by giving your customers and prospects more than one way to respond. Don't bury your phone number or website in tiny print at the bottom, instead make it very clear how one can get in touch with you or find you online (website and social media outlets). The best way to make your call to action clear, is for all of your communications pieces to be engaging. Another suggestion is to use multiple channels to reach your customers, each with multiple ways to respond. Sometimes, we all get so set in our ways that we forget to break out of the rut and do something different! Don't be afraid to try something different--especially if what you've been doing isn't yielding the results you want and need.

Here are a few reminders of ways to enhance your call to action:/

• Pair direct mail with email marketing campaigns.
• Include personalization with variable data (a simple way to lift response rates).
• Offer an incentive such as a coupon or reward in exchange for their inquiry or purchase.
• Make the offer relevant.
• Allow customers and prospects to respond online (it's so much easier!).
• Try using a sms text message campaign.
• Drive responders to a PURL (aka, personalized landing page) where you can gather useful information and follow up.
• Provide a QR code for those tech-savvy responders and when it's appropriate for the audience.

While there's no sure-fire way to guarantee a 100% response rate, mixing up your communications with integrated campaigns, 1:1 marketing messages and a variety of channels and ways to respond will offer you more opportunities for your target audience to answer the call to action. Just make sure that CTA (call to action) is loud and clear.

If you'd like to learn more about ways to improve your call to action, these are some great reads:

• 12 Ways to Strengthen Your Call to Action
• Ballantine Corporation Explains How To Enhance the Power of Direct Mail
• Not-for-Profits Raise Response Rates With More Relevant Solicitations

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Web Meet Print: Click. Order. Print.

After talking with a marketer today, I was reminded of the happy marriage between the web and print. This reminder was refreshing and brought a smile to my face because it nullifies the theory that the web is the be-all, end-all of print. I, along with BPI Media Group, are glad to prove that theory wrong!

With the birth of online ordering portals (aka, storefronts), this marriage between web and print was solidified. They not only simply coexist in the marketing world but also work in perfect harmony. Let me explain...

Wouldn't it be super-easy if all of your reps, district managers or branch offices could order versioned collateral material from corporate-approved branding? Yes! BPI's storefront solution makes this possible. You can even have corporate approve the orders to make sure one overly-eager rep isn't running up a big tab on print materials. Reviewing the ordering history and inventory levels via real-time reporting access also makes keeping tabs on use of collateral simple.

During and after this meeting today, I was excited about print again because now there are so many more ways to put ink on paper. It can be through the web where we as printers aren't having to compete for marketing dollars, but we can merge the print and online content, repurpose it for greater use (think e-newsletters and white papers)serve a broader audience. This audience is not only the internal sales and marketing team members but also the customers and prospects who receive the messaging via print and online mediums.

I am proud to declare the war is over between the web and print. We're working together quite nicely here at BPI./

Read more about how print is still alive and kickin':

• TIME Magazine and The Power of Print: Creating and Continuing the Conversation
• Web-to-Print: the revitalization of the impression in the Internet age

Until next time...Elizabeth

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BPI's FAQ's

The most common question I hear is "Can you do this?" "This" is always something specific, so I wanted to give you a run-down of the things that BPI Media Group can do. We'll call this the question and answer portion of the blog. While we like to consider ourselves a one-stop-shop, if there's a project that is well outside the scope of our capabilities, we have a network of partners and vendors that we can refer you to in order help make your project come to fruition. As you can imagine, over the past eleven years at BPI, I've been asked "Can you...?" more times than I admit because then I start telling my age.

BPI's Can-Do List

• Provide customer service from your project's start to finish.
• Design and layout a brochure, book, magazine, etc.
• Design a website
• Assist with SEO on your website
• Print up to 28 x 40 sheet size
• Print with variable data (personalized messaging)
• Varnish, aqueous, uv coat or laminate
• Print short-runs (yes, thanks to our Kodak Nexpress digital press, we can do one-offs as easy as we can do a few hundred copies)
• Print boxes or other custom packaging and signs
• Offer a fast, online proofing system (ours is called insite & it's awesome!)
• Help with promotional items
• Address and mail (and yes, with intelligent mail barcoding)
• Purchase demographic-specific mail lists
• Saddlestitch, perfect bind, coil bind
• 3-hole drill, shrink wrap, round corner
• Diecut for a unique size/shape
• Ship to your distribution list
• Set up an online storefront for ordering of collateral, stationery, promo items, etc.
• Manage and store inventory of items you don't have room to store at your location
• Process online orders through our fulfillment system
• Provide case studies, white papers and training on new products/services
• Provide order history and tracking for orders through our storefront/fulfillment system
• Manage integrated campaigns (included sms text messaging, email blasts, QR codes, and landing pages-personalized and standard).
• Provide ROI calculator for integrated campaigns and online dashboard for lead generation/tracking.

While this isn't the be-all, end-all of BPI's ever-changing capabilities, this should answer some of the FAQ's I get. If there's anything you want to know if we can do, just ask. I'll be more than happy to help, and if we cannot do it, I'll work dilligently to help find a trusted partner who can help you. For more details about BPI's services, click here.

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Make New Friends but Keep the Old

As a Girl Scout, I remember singing this song with my troop mates each month at our meetings. We'd say the pledge of allegiance, sing a few songs and usually do some kind of craft. While I don't remember many of the crafts, I do remember some of the words to the song that go something like this: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

The message of that song has stuck with me for years (far more than I care to admit!), but I think it serves well in the world of business today. While we at BPI Media Group are grateful for our loyal, long-time customers, we cherish the opportunities to add new customers to our list of "friends." The best way we can learn about our new friends/customers is to listen to them and help them with the problem that is staring them in the face at that very moment. That problem might be needing a super-fast turn around on a brochure for the conference (that is 2 days from now!), sending an email blast to announce a last-minute sale, inventory management of collateral or needing proof that your marketing dollars are being well spent (tracking your ROMI).

BPI is committed to helping our customers with these problems and any other marketing challenges you're facing. We love helping our friends, our customers, so if you're looking for a partnership that can help you with the large and small problems (er, projects), we are here for the long haul.For the past 34 years, we have helped our customers get their marketing messages out to their clients and prospects through various mediums. While the means of getting the message out have changed over the years, our commitment to our customers has not changed: Our success depends on the success of our customers. We are committed to helping our friends, old and new, achieve their goals.

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Strength in Numbers

I was reminded today of an old saying that there's strength in numbers. That got me thinking about facts, figures, statistics and how I can never seem to get numbers out of my head. We at BPI Media Group are accustomed to to numbers, but these days, our numbers are more about your numbers. Here's what I'm talking about...

We're interested in these numbers:

• How can we help you grow the number of qualified leads?
• How can we help you communicate with those leads (and loyal customers) through the multi-channels?
• How can we help you grow your sales?
• How can we help you have a greater ROI?
• How can we help you manage inventory numbers of your collateral?

So, what are the answers to these questions? Simple:

• Lead nurturing through data analytics.
• Personalized, integrated campaigns through landing pages, text messaging, social media, email and direct mail.
• 1:1 communications and segmented marketing.
• Increasing the volume of traffic on your website through SEO.
• Online storefront for ordering collateral, stationery, and sales materials with order tracking and history.

Sound like our numbers could help improve yours? Let's talk...you'll love how we can help your numbers improve.

Until next time...Elizabeth

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