The #XmasJammies video is a holiday sensation, putting a new spin on an old idea. Much like Shutterfly did for (or to) the traditional photo album (read this article on Shutterfly’s innovative approach), the Holderness family has done to the traditional holiday card, holiday family photo card and the even more detailed ‘year-in-review’ letter.

In 3:38 minutes of time, they sing and dance their way through an engaging review of their accomplishments as a family in 2013. They also manage to promote their digital marketing services in a tasteful and engaging manner while creating an unforgettable product. But above all else here are five reasons why our team loved the #XmasJammies video and why we believe other companies should adopt a similar approach to their marketing.

They Tell a Story
The rise of social media provides the best opportunity for companies to take a fresh look at how they market their brands. New platforms emerge each and every day while the big ones (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) still provide ample opportunities for companies to get their messages out and logos in front of millions. These platforms also provide an opportunity for individuals and companies alike to become storytellers and according to a recent Forbes article, this is the here and now of marketing.

Demonstrate Their Expertise
Team Holderness did a wonderful job telling their story through video which, oh by the way, just-so-happens to be what they do for a living. While not everyone will be able to tell their story through their product offering, demonstrating an expertise in a creative way (hosting a seminar at an unusual event and recording it) not only demonstrates an ability to think outside-the-box, it also demonstrates a willingness to be different and to reach people through different methods.

Be Authentic and Fearless
Just how many husband and wife duos would actually rap their way through a video in their jammies for the entire world to see? We’ll bet that not too many would be that comfortable. However, there’s an authenticity to the Holderness video that pulls the viewer in, as if they can totally relate with what they’re saying. This has more to do with their ability to overcome the fear of being authentic in the eyes of their peers, than it does in their ability to create a video. Any company can hire a marketing firm to record a video but it is up to the company and their employees to figure out how to promote the business and its culture through an authentic story.

Make it Personal
Since the dawn of time people have done business with people they know. This hasn’t changed but the challenge for most companies today is to figure out how to “get personal.” For many businesses, both big and small, there simply isn’t enough time in the day to do everything that needs to get done, including getting personal with customers and vendors alike. The Holderness’s figure out how to do this by using an annual tradition to let everyone know who they were as people and it would be very hard to not do business with them after seeing that video. When joomla_4eloping a marketing plan companies should consider the “how do we get personal” element and should consider the best platform for distributing those messages.

Utilizing Technology
Long gone are the days of questioning whether or not your business should be on Facebook, create a video or blog. These are now standard practices for just about every marketing strategy and the employment of these tools should be a part of any company’s daily routine (excluding the Development and deployment of video). The inclusion of a hashtag within the title (#XmasJammies) was the icing on the cake!

joomla_4eloping a novel approach to differentiate your company from your competition is not easy. It takes strategy, design and implementation as well as testing and a little failure to get it right. However, include a few basic elements like those mentioned above your chances of connecting with your audience is improved.

For those that may not be familiar with the story, Boston’s Old South Church, whose congregants used to include John Adams and Ben Franklin, sold the Bay Psalm Book through an auction at the price of $14.2 million dollars. The book was a first edition, printed in 1640 and is believe to be the oldest book in America.

Fast forward 375 years from today and I wonder what will be sold at auction as a piece of American history? Will they sell a URL from the first known webpage? Or maybe an e-reader that contains the book “Shades of Grey”? Hopefully the charging technology of today will work 375 years from now but I would not bet on it.
What mediums of communication will still be around centuries from now is anyone’s guess, but the disruption in mediums caused by the current wave of technologies will be felt for many years to come.
 

If every print manufacturer can print within the same quality parameters does this make all print producers equal? This question can be resolved when looking at the next step in the production process, which is the finishing of the piece. With competition from all of the other forms of media, one of the trends in print has been to make your piece standout. Finishing techniques such as diecutting, foil stamping, embossing and custom packaging can add a significant “wow” factor to the printed piece and greatly increase the chances that the intended recipient will retain the message that you are trying to convey.

With the pressure towards faster production cycles it is has become more critical that your print production partner handle these operations in house. While outsourcing will always play a significant role in the industry, there is no denying that it places a greater strain on the ability to turn a job as quickly or to maintain consistent quality standards. A print production partner that produces the entire job in-house will provide you with the peace of mind that a project is being managed under a single process and has the greatest probability of meeting your expectations in regards to quality and speed of turn around.
 

The quality of these inkjet joomla_4ices has greatly increased to the point that it is allowing for shorter runs in less time than could have been dreamed about with the previous generation of equipment. The implication of this change, along with significant advances in the types and quality of available substrates, has been most profound in the specialty packaging, interior signage and POP markets.

In the past, to create full color images for products in these markets was a three step process. First, a liner was printed via conventional offset. This was done for quality reasons, as there were no alternative processes to print high quality images directly on to a substrate. A second step often involved lamination of the liner. While sometimes done for aesthetics, this was, more often than not, done to create a more durable product. Offset printing on an unprotected liner sheet would simply not hold up to the rigors of the settings in retail display or packaging. A third step involved mounting the liner sheet to the desired substrate. In the past the choice of substrates was significantly limited. What used to be a three step process can now be accomplished with a single step.

The quality of the substrates have also greatly improved; imaging can now be done directly onto items like foam board, corrugated paper and composite board. The UV inks that are used offer greater rub and fade resistance than conventional offset inks. This eliminates the need for additional protection from lamination in many cases. All of these changes have allowed for shorter run lengths to be done more cost efficiently and with quicker turn cycles that could never have been conceived with the previous production methods.
 

Volunteers are essential to many non-profits as they allow the organization to work more efficiently on limited budgets and increase enthusiasm for the organization within the community. When one thinks of marketing campaigns for non-profit organizations it is usually in the context of a financial giving. The giving of time, however, can be just as valuable to a non-profit and it is important that the proper conversations take place to joomla_4elop and retain those volunteers.

Bringing out the passions of the volunteers is key. While outbound marketing in the form of direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing are key ways in which to communicate, just as important is inbound marketing? Social media and content marketing are ways to keep volunteers connected to your organization. Sharing the successes of the organization and focusing on key volunteers will encourage others to contribute their efforts so that they can be part of something that is doing positive things within the community they care about.

Interestingly, the level of donor retention varies throughout the country. Some of the lowest donor retention rates are in places like Southern California, Miami, Orlando and Las Vegas. In those locations it appears that the non-profits have the added burden of competing against the fun and sun in order to retain their volunteers.
 

Google certainly could have reached out to me via e-mail or via paid search advertisements. For all I know they could have been trying to reach out to me by e-mail, only to have them go into my junk e-mail folder along with the 250 other e-mails that are deposited there on a daily basis. The direct mailer that I received was done in typical Google fashion, lots of white space and focused on copy. While it gave me directions as to how to respond via the web, it also provided instructions for a call in number. Kudos to Google for realizing that giving the intended recipient ways to respond beyond the web can pay dividends.

For those that may wonder if direct mail should play a part in your next campaign, I think that you only need to look at Google. They are a company whose primary source of revenue is from electronic advertising, yet even they see the value in using direct mail to reach the intended target.
 

The EDDM program allows a mailer to search carrier routes within each zip code by age, average income, and average size of household. While the system does not allow for the targeting of specific addresses, these new sort choices certainly allow mailers to better target their mailings within specific zip codes. This allows for a message that is better targeted to the intended recipient and can help lower mailing costs by avoiding mailing to areas that have a lower percentage of households that contain demographics more desirable to the marketer. For example, a search of zip code 08053 can be narrowed to percentage of residents that are age 65 to 85. A review of the data will show there are two carrier routes that have a far higher percentage of residents in that age bracket (25%) than the typical carrier route which ranges from 7% to 12%. One could surmise that those routes with the markedly higher percentage of older residents may contain the over 55 communities within the township. This is one way that you can extrapolate the data to your advantage.

The EDDM program has been one of the postal programs that actually showed increased demand within the past twelve months. The new tools that have been provided should certainly encourage marketers to take a look at how this program may help them obtain their goals.

For those that are just curious and want to get a glimpse of where the rich and possibly famous live, feel free to visit the link below. Enter the famous Beverly Hills zip code of 90210 and sort by average income to see the wealthiest areas in America’s richest zip code.

eddm.usps.com
 

Photo credit: http://courier-delivery-service.biz/

The wide format moniker reminds me of the digital description when we first entered this arena in 2006. When we added digital capabilities there was, and to some extent still is, what the term digital described. Was it a production process? Is it a color output on a digital machine? Does the word digital describe the variable data process? The answer is yes to all of the preceding questions. While the Acuity joomla_4ice incorporates a digital imaging process, its capabilities are far greater than what most people would think of when using the term digital. To provide a better idea of our new capabilities, following are the top 5 products that we can now provide with our new capabilities:

Indoor Signage– We can produce point of sale signage, window signage and interior decorations for retail and corporate settings. This application is a perfect fit for theatres, universities or retail facilities that have a variety of signage needs.

Custom packaging– With the ability to print on corrugated board and coupled with the simultaneous installation of our flatbed router, we can create custom packages for your next premium purchase.

Rigid Substrates- We can now print on almost any PVC, Acrylic or vinyl product. Once again, coupled with the cutting joomla_4ice, we can print and cut to custom shapes and sizes.

Point of Purchase Displays– More than just point of sale signs, we can now create dimensional graphics for retail settings.

Product Decoration– With the capability to print onto flat items that are up to 1-3/4” thick, we can now customize many premium products in-house.

Combining all of these new capabilities with our existing digital and conventional print processes, along with our existing in-house finishing processes and further adding in our agency services will allow us to be a single source creator for the communication needs of any organization.

Have you ever noticed an exceptional print piece? Do you remember what made it exceptional? There are a number of critical factors that can make or break your next print campaign:

1. Excellent design
2. Original professional photography
3. Creative writing
4. The best raw materials

Did number four throw you? When was the last time you thought about the raw materials that go into the production of your printed piece? Inks, plates and processing chemicals can have a direct impact on your final product. Change one variable and the whole job can be impacted for the better and more often worse. Whenever I give people a tour of our facility, I'm always careful to show them our inventory of raw materials that go into their finished products. Consistency in the materials used to produce your products is vital if you want consistency in your final deliverable.

The expression “quality in, quality out” is really true when it comes to producing a printed piece.
So, the next time you plan a marketing campaign, think about whether the printed piece is really a commodity. That way, you won't spend tens of thousands of dollars and weeks of emotional energy, just to be shortchanged at the finish line.