Business is a Game – PLAY IT!

October 5, 2011

Monopoly, by the fun people at Parker Bros., has been turned into a thousand different versions since it hit the market in 1924. Produced in hundreds of different languages, it has been changed for Star Wars, different cities, cartoons, TV shows and just about everything else, so why not create one for your own company? Sure, there’s some copyright issues, but the spoofing law allows some leeway and as a holiday promotional gift, who’s to say Fender Guitar-opoly or Mexican Restaurant-opoly isn’t just plain fun?

Just think of the “Chance” and “Community Chest” cards one can come up with in planning a game your clients and prospects can play at lunch or with family? Because only an idiot would spend their hard-earned pass-Go money on those lousy utilities, why not come up with something that actually pays? Hey…that’s Life?

Come up with some rules that present players with some Risk! Create a virtual Candyland of delight and joy with your logo all over the place. A great promotion is no Trivial Pursuit when it comes to something people will talk about for years. When it comes to word of mouth advertising, you’ll have a Monopoly in your industry.

So, give us a call and let R and R Images take a Mystery Date and turn it into a deadline and we’ll create a package that will have hours of fun…ours and yours!

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Post-It Means Read It!

August 4, 2011

According to the Direct Marketing Association, using a Post-It on a mailing piece draws attention and adds a personal touch recipients appreciate. Does your company send out direct mail pieces that are only personalized with the salutation? It’s still not enough to say; “I care about YOU, which is why I’m sending this letter.”

Sure, sometimes you need to print a handwritten Post-It in blue ink, but if the Post-It has your name and company printed on the top, it makes it a bit more personal.

Personalized Post-Its are also great as contact information, placed on invoices, letters, stuck to office doors, car windows or just about anywhere. They can take the age-old business card to the next level and while you’re at it, how about Post-Its with a QR code on it? Create mystery, post them in odd places (the new street graffiti!) or wear one as a name tag when networking.

Call R and R Images and we’ll set you up with some great options that help not only your direct mail pieces but shoot you into Post-It stardom!

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Pearls of wisdom about personalized URLs

July 20, 2011

We here at R and R Images are big fans of personalized URLs (PURLs). They pair up beautifully with direct mail and variable data printing. They allow for much greater insight into the results of a campaign and enable personalized follow up, if you so desire.

How do they enable all of these wondrous things? Well, we could explain it, but The Ballantine Corporation recently posted a great blog entry which explains the basics. Head over there and read it now. Seriously. Even if you’re not sure how PURLs could benefit your marketing efforts, go read up on them.

What we really love about Ballantine’s post is that they discuss ways to use PURL redirects to make your first foray into PURL use easier and cheaper. We know that many budgets have been cut back and that marketing departments are being asked to do more with less money. Using PURL redirects are a great way to maximise those few marketing dollars while being able to test the effectiveness of PURLs in a campaign.

If you want to hear more from us on how we can make your marketing budget stretch as far as possible, sign up for our newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. We promise we won’t waste your time.

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Welcome to our new neighbors!

June 9, 2011

As you may have seen us state elsewhere on this blog, R and R Images is dedicated to providing our clients with end-to-end direct marketing solutions that provide measurable results. We don’t stand still in pursuing those ends; we’re always looking for ways to expand our offerings. That’s why we’re happy to announce that UVIAUS (pronounced you-via-us), a provider of dimensional, interactive and sensory engaging print has moved into our building.

Since 2006, UVIAUS has developed a reputation for specialty print products designed to get noticed and stay noticed. Among their products are 3-dimensional pop-up cards, 3D and Decoder cards (viewing glasses included!) and “Flips,” folded direct mailers that are as engaging as a Rubik’s Cube. You can see images of the products and request samples on their website at www.uviaus.com.

Grabbing your audience’s attention is no easy task in today’s “noisy” environment says Jaycen Thorgeirson, founder and president of UVIAUS. But rising above the noise level is what UVIAUS is all about.

“Think about how much information you’re exposed to every day – television, the Internet, newspapers, direct mail ads, billboards, sales collateral, etc. It can be overwhelming,” says Thorgeirson. “The marketing challenge is to attach your message to a medium that’s so compelling, your audience will be simply be driven to sit up and take notice. That’s what we do. It’s not about just getting the message out there; it’s about making sure that the message is received.”

In addition to its specialty paper products, UVIAUS also offers creative and marketing services, which include customized, computer-driven marketing campaigns built on email, personalized direct mail, web landing pages and quantitative, real-time feedback on the campaign’s effectiveness.

Have a look at one of their products in action, then head over to www.uviaus.com to see more!

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Cross-ethinc marketing?

May 13, 2011

Thinking about race and ethnicity in marketing (or anywhere in business for that matter) can be tricky. Companies go to great lengths to avoid discrimination in their hiring practices and workplace environments. That’s a good thing. But outside the corporate environment, ethnicity matters. Different ethnic groups respond differently to marketing messages. We’re not talking about racial profiling or other negative practices. What we are talking about is effective market segmentation and appropriate messaging. Businesses who don’t make an effort to tune their message for different ethnic groups risk missing sales opportunities.

Unfortunately, determining how to tune a marketing message for ethnic groups is largely an unanswered question. The article entitled Marketers should target Hispanics, but how? Um… written by Tim Peterson on Direct Marketing News is a excellent discussion of the challenges faced by non-Hispanic companies when marketing to Hispanics. While marketing to Hispanics is something many companies need to consider, the need is especially acute here in Arizona. In 2009, Arizona’s percentage of Hispanic residents was 30.8%, compared to just 15.8% nationwide according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Companies who do business in Arizona and don’t market to Hispanics risk missing nearly one-third of their potential customers, yet a concrete strategy for mitigating that risk hasn’t been developed yet. Peterson offers some of his thoughts, but no one has real-world examples of success. So the question remains: how can companies market to ethnic groups without appearing insensitive or coming off as unauthentic?

We’re not certain of the answer either, but if you have thoughts or an example of a strategy which has been tested, please share them in the comments.

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Go beyond ‘what everyone does’

May 4, 2011

Think Outside the BoxYesterday, we posted to our Facebook page a fantastic article on how the Grateful Dead’s unconventional promotional strategies can apply to direct marketing. Yes, those Grateful Dead. Whether you’re a fan of their music or not, it’s impossible to deny the Dead’s unique approach to their art.

In a follow-up piece, Deliver Magazine offers seven tips to apply to direct mail campaigns, but many of these apply outside of the direct mail realm. They can be used across an integrated marketing campaign and even be used to change the core of a company.

One lesson to be learned from the Grateful Dead is that a business should create an experience for its customer. To truly do this, a company and all of its employees must focus on the experience in all levels, not just in marketing. The best customer experiences are created from authenticity. If everything a company does is generated by an authentic commitment to the experience, it becomes much easier to convert leads to clients and clients to fans.

The core competency of a business is what generates revenue, but creating an experience is how it builds fans who will be repeat customers and brand evangelists. What company doesn’t want thousands of fans who will happily pay for their products again and again?

In addition to authenticity and creating an experience, a business can give a tremendous boost to its brand by going beyond the usual marketing tactics. Yes, “outside the box” thinking. The Grateful Dead did things which were unheard of in the music business at the time and found incredible success. They didn’t do it simply to be contrarian; they did it to create a better experience for their fans. They thought about what fans would want, rather than what industry wisdom dictated.

Business owners, CEOs and CMOs, take a look at your marketing from the perspective of your leads and customers. Forget about what you’re currently doing, forget about what marketing veterans say and forget about what your competitors are doing, because the people you’re marketing to already don’t care about that. Figure out what they want and give it to them, even if it seems as crazy as letting people record your concerts. Give customers a great experience and they will reward you in the best way they can: by giving you their business.

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Rod Key helps ignite HP clients’ growth

April 27, 2011

Last Wednesday, R and R Images founder and CEO Rod Key took part in a panel discussion at Hewlett-Packard’s exciting new Graphic Arts Experience Center. The event, called Ignite Your Growth was a one-day event put on by industry expert Barb Pellow. It brought together a group of leading HP customers for a panel discussion and Q & A in front of many existing and prospective HP clients. The panel itself was moderated by HP’s Vice President of Sales Ron Kukla and included Rod, DPI president Susan Moore and Cheryl Kahanec, president of digital solutions at Sandy Alexander.

The event started with presentations by the panelists and was followed by questions from the attendees. Rod delivered a ten minute presentation on the positioning and growth of R and R Images in the dynamic environment of today. We’ve included it in this post, so have a look and see how R and R Images is keeping up with the changing landscape of printing and direct marketing.

Rod also took the time to grab some pictures of the displays which highlight the diverse capabilities of HP’s printing products. Have a look at some of the items, then browse Rod’s presentation slides.

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Creativity is key

April 18, 2011

Creativity is the key to great marketing. This sounds obvious, but with the ever-increasing ability of digital technology to collect and analyze data, creativity can easily be lost beneath a mountain of keywords, click-through rates and strategy based solely on data. In support of creativity, Matt Blint of RAPP recently wrote A Call for Creativity on Direct Marketing News. In his short but to-the-point article, he minces no words in reminding marketing professionals that the human element must not be lost.

Strategy and creative as a crosswordNot only do marketing solution providers need to keep this in mind, it’s also a good lesson for clients when working with their MSPs. True, a small- to mid-size business isn’t going to need a campaign as large as “Mac vs. PC”, but that doesn’t mean an MSP should crank out uninspired, keyword-laden copy just because it will rank well with Google. If you’re a client who is working with an MSP which is relying only on numbers and forgetting to include a healthy dose of creativity, now is the time to have a conversation about changing that situation.

Data should form the underpinnings of great marketing and an MSP should know how to collect and effectively analyze data from any channel used in a marketing campaign. But data is to a campaign as a building’s frame is to the final structure. The architectural creativity provides the human element and makes a building memorable. Marketing campaigns are similar; it’s the creativity which gives them true value.

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