Highlight Printing, a local printer near downtown Mpls, offers these tips and tricks for marketing:

I have been so frustrated by the hype and confusion about marketing lately!  Information is everywhere and everyone’s got their opinion and advice about what a business NEEDS to do.  To help cut through the noise, listed below is a simple list of various tools in most marketer’s toolboxes and a few hints on how to design your unique plan:

TOOLS: 

• Direct Sales (OK, I know there is debate if sales is part of marketing or a separate function, but for our discussion here I am going to consider it part of marketing because it is part of the “customer-getting” process)
• Traditional Advertising (I’m talking publications, radio, TV, etc.)
• Online Marketing and Networking (A good, search-engine-optimized website, social media, etc.)
• Targeted Mailings (Always effective, but extra effective now because there’s not as much stuff landing in your prospects’ mailboxes)
• Client Events (Do you ever invite your clients to your office for special events?  It is a great way to have repeated contact with them and to thank them for their loyalty.  A great enticement is food.  My husband is a Champion BBQ Competitor, so guess what we serve at our events?  We are also in the midst of planning some training events.)
• Community Service (Do you leverage your donations by building community relationships?   Yes, it feels good to do good, and that is generally good enough.  But in these challenging times you gotta use every tool you can to promote your business.)
• Passive Marketing (Does the signage on your building get noticed?)
• Traditional Networking (Do you belong to the BBB, BNI, or your local chamber?)
• Public Relations (A good PR person knows how to spin things to get create buzz.)
• Press Releases (Simple for even the smallest of businesses.)

STEPS: 

• FIRST – BRANDING:  it’s easier than you think!  Your design doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be memorable and stand out from the rest.  And then repeat it over and over and over…in every bit of communication you do.   We call it the “purple cow” technique.  If everything you communicate with has a purple cow on it, pretty soon anything that has a purple cow on it will make people think of you.
• SECOND – PLAN:  again, pretty easy!  From the list above and any other marketing tools you can think of, decide on YOUR unique path to getting traction the fastest way possible. 
• THIRD – IMPLEMENT:  Here’s where it starts to pay off!  Start with the top 3 things you think will be effective and just jump right in.  It won’t be long until you figure out if it is the right path or not.  From personal experience, I can tell you that “buzz” and a few sales were created right away, but it has taken about 6 months to finally get into a groove that is successful and sustainable. 
• DON’T GET MIRED DOWN IN THE DETAILS!  Attack it with the “Ready, Fire, Aim” method.  If you wait until every single detail is perfect – you’ll end up with a perfect marketing plan that no-one will ever see because you will have gone out of business in the mean-time.  There is no such thing as perfect – just let your marketing reflect who you are, what your company is about and RELAX…it’s all a work in progress.

If you’d like to brain-storm about your identity, branding, and/or marketing efforts, we would love to do so.  There is not much we find more satisfying than working with businesses on the verge of blasting out into the marketplace.

BONUS:  NO CHARGE FOR THIS CONSULTATION!

The author, Lisa Bickford, president of Highlight Printing, is a veteran of the printing industry and a lover of all things printed.  Since 1984 she has worked her way up through many areas of the industry before acquiring Highlight Printing in 1996 with her husband Don, who has also been in printing since the early 80’s.  The things she continues to find most satisfying are the wonderful business relationships that have developed with clients, vendors, & co-workers, and the energy that is created from challenge resolution.  You can email her directly at lisab@highlightprinting.com

This Printing Blog was launched in November, 2008, as a vehicle to share ideas, information, and innovationsTo see other topics within this blog, click HERE.