3 Ways to Promote Print Ideas to Customers

Not only are today’s print buyers looking for new products and ideas, they’re looking for you to meet them where they are. What do we mean by that? We mean that in order to promote print ideas, you need to combine physical communication with digital communication to reach your audience.

The trick is not to sacrifice your physical presence for digital, while still investing enough time and money into your digital presence to attract today’s consumers.  

Inbound Marketing

A great way to do this is through inbound marketing. More and more print shops are discovering that traditional outbound marketing efforts are not attracting the same number of customers that they used to. Inbound marketing allows you to build a relationship with your potential buyers in the digital space. By the time they actually walk into your physical shop, they’re closer to making a purchasing decision. It’s also cost efficient: inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads.

Where to Start: 3 Ideas

Ask yourself: What are you currently doing to market your products and services? Catalog your efforts and their effectiveness as best you can. Determine which efforts to continue and which ones you cut down on or get rid of to make room for new initiatives.

You should also analyze your current online presence. For local shops, online search (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) can be an incredibly important part of attracting customers. Make sure your website is optimized for those search engines to find.

Consider social media. If you currently have social media accounts, how are they doing? Could they be better? If you don’t, maybe it’s time to start. Social media is a big part of inbound marketing efforts and a great way to connect with potential and current customers. According to Sprout Social, social media marketing has reduced costs for 45% of businesses. Businesses utilizing social media for lead generation increased their revenue by about 24%.

Real World Example

TPI Solutions Ink uses their blog as an informational resource for their current and potential customers. This post, about how to create a print ready PDF, ranks in the top three spots for several keywords TPI’s buyer personas would likely search, including, “create pdf for print” and “print ready pdf.”

 TPI also does a good job of responding to blog and social media comments. They engage with users. Weekly #TypefaceTuesday updates, coupled with a mix of both internal and external content provides their followers with information that’s not only useful, but also interesting.

See three more real world examples by downloading the eBook: click here or on the button below. In the eBook, we also cover specific marketing ideas for printers using specialty paper.