Keep Your Existing Customers Around By Improving Engagement

If you're like many business professionals, you know that half the battle of growing your business is getting existing customers to stick around. When you provide your customers with outstanding customer service, some incredible things happen:

• Customers are willing to pay more, just for your service.


• Customers are more likely to recommend you to others.


• You end up spending less for each conversion (it costs less to retain customers than find new ones).


• You build customer loyalty.

In our intensely competitive modern market, you can't afford to overlook these benefits.

The key to providing this outstanding level of service is taking the time to engage your existing customers. Too many organizations focus so much energy on attracting new customers that their existing customers feel neglected and overlooked. This can lead to feelings of resentment. Fortunately, with just a little bit of extra effort, you can keep your existing customers engaged and invested in your company. Here are a few ideas to get started.

Leverage the 'social' part of social media

Social media was designed to give you a platform to chat and get to know your customers on a personal level. Rather than advertising blindly to large populations, you can communicate directly to individual people and meet their needs personally. Encourage your existing customers to communicate with you on social media. You can do this in a number of different ways.

• Invite them to ask questions about using your products or services.


• Start fun contests that involve customers telling stories about using your products or services.


• Respond to inquiries quickly and personally.

When you use social platforms to reach out and communicate with your customers, you show them how much you care about their experience, which resonates with both existing customers and those considering your company.

Run relevant promotions that existing customers can use

We've all experienced times when special promotions or discounts were made available only to new customers. Such deals often leave us feeling unappreciated and annoyed. Many customers facing such restrictions look for ways to get around them, such as switching back and forth between companies just to take advantage of the promotions. This leads to poor service and frustration for customers and does no good for the company's reputation.

Instead of rewarding only new customers, offer your longtime customers a "loyalty" discount based on their longevity with your company. Customers will feel more appreciated and more loyal to your brand. They'll see this simple 'thank you' as evidence that your company truly does value them, not just the bottom line.

Develop communications relevant to your existing customers

The more personal you can make your communications and correspondence, the more likely your customers are to respond. When people buy from your company, remember what they bought and why. Initiate messages, such as emails, asking customers about how well their needs have been met and if they have any questions about using your products or services. Ask customers for reviews and feedback, and make your requests using the name of a salesperson the customer dealt with personally.

Keeping customers engaged is an important step in encouraging them to stay with your company. When you do this successfully, you can grow your customer base and your bottom line.

Blogging Can Be a Fantastic Promotion Tool Across Platforms

Building a successful blog is an excellent way to integrate your marketing campaigns across several platforms. Here are a few ways to use your blog to promote your business regardless of medium.

With direct mail

When you send direct mail, mention your blog to let people know it's there for them to read and comment on. Highlight some of the recent topics you've covered to entice them even further.

Direct mail is a wonderful way to advertise deals and upcoming sales. Market your blog as another way to stay updated about specials and events. Promote it as a way to learn more about your industry, so customers can get the most from your products and services.

On social media

Social media is an excellent tool for promoting a blog and connecting with page visitors. Use your social media accounts to promote your blog posts among your followers. Invite conversations on social media about subjects you've covered in your blog as a way of keeping your social channels active and engaged.

Promoting your posts on social media makes it much easier for people to share your content. People can read and post your content to their own social media pages without much effort. The more people share your content, the greater your reach, which can help spread your brand name and reputation.

With community events

Becoming active in your local community is a fantastic way to promote your brand. Customers enjoy working with local businesses they see as interested and supportive of the local community. Sponsor various charity events or host a table at community picnics and other neighborhood gatherings. This will allow you to get your organization in front of others in the community, so your company becomes a familiar entity. Use these opportunities to begin conversations about your industry and products with interested parties to further boost your reputation as an industry leader.

Use your blog to promote the events you participate in and to speak about your involvement with the organizations holding them. Encourage people to participate and get involved. After the event, post some pictures and write a post with highlights from the day. These types of posts can help advertise the event and encourage people to participate, while also demonstrating your involvement in the community even for those who are unable to attend.

A successful marketing campaign means reaching out to prospective buyers on a variety of platforms so they get to know your brand and how you can serve them. Your blog can be a fantastic tool for accomplishing this goal. If you're still debating the merits of starting a company blog, consider the benefits it will bring to your integrated campaigns. If you'd like assistance getting a campaign off the ground, let us know. We'd be happy to help you with your marketing.

Instilling School Spirit at Your Company

Many factors go into the decision about where to attend college. While majors, location, and ranking undoubtedly hold a high place, the experience of other students and the school's reputation also play a crucial role.

Schools must strike a careful balance between providing a rigorous academic environment, while at the same time offering an enjoyable experience that will make students talk about their school in a positive way to other prospective students.

Satisfied students can be the best brand ambassadors an institution can find. When students love their school, it emanates from everything they do.

• The students root for the home team during sports matches.


• School tour guides who speak about the university to groups of prospective students are enthusiastic and insightful.


• Successful professionals who have 'made it' in their respective fields eagerly voice their support for their alma mater.

Such enthusiasm builds a positive culture around the school and encourages new students to come and try it out. Building a strong brand around any organization entices people to want to belong to that particular select group and culture.

What colleges can teach us about building a winning culture

Most professionals realize that employees are important for keeping the company running smoothly. They know that turnover is bad because it wastes time and resources. They also know that high turnover can damage their reputation among potential hires.

What they don't realize, though, is the importance of employee satisfaction when it comes to the customer experience.

Just like the college student who loves their school so much they broadcast it to anyone who asks their opinion, employees who feel respected and appreciated help to broadcast a positive image of the company and can increase customer satisfaction rates.

Think about it.

Employees are the face of your company. When they feel valued, they take the time to invest their energy into the company and their interactions with customers. They also strive to embrace a culture of success, which can help inspire their peers to improve their interactions with customers, too.

Employees and brand advertising

Employees can be wonderful sources for building up your brand. Just as happy college students take the love for their school to every facet of their life, satisfied employees tend to bring their jobs with them wherever they go.

Think about the last time you heard someone complain about the company where they work. How did those complaints impact your perception of the company? Chances are, that negative feedback made you feel worse about the brand in question -- and less likely to turn to them when you need products or services in their industry.

An entirely different experience, however, comes when an employee is positive and upbeat about their employer. When they tell you enthusiastically that they can help you solve your problem, you become inclined to trust them.

Treating your employees well can help boost their satisfaction and improve how they represent your company to the general public. Remember that your employees are the face of your brand. That means you need to select them -- and treat them -- with that goal in mind. Cultivating a great employee culture is a wonderful way to improve your brand's reputation from the inside out.

Marketing Lessons from Iconic Rock Bands

Few entities can inspire the kind of loyalty rock bands do. Think about performers like the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, and Phish, to name just a few. Groups like these have entertained generations of audiences and encouraged strong followings among their most devoted fans. Sure, their music plays a large part in building and maintaining a fan base, but so, too, does great marketing.

Bringing the content to the people

Most recording artists want to sell as many records as possible. That's only natural, after all. So they focus on promoting albums and use concerts as a way to advertise their music.

The same idea is true in business, where companies often use their professional blogs and social media channels to promote their content and toot their own horn. They might provide occasional helpful information for followers, but their main purpose is selling, and their attitude reflects that.

Some of the more iconic bands, however, have taken the opposite tack. They place their primary focus on entertaining their fans. They want to provide an "experience" that encourages fans to spread their music and enjoy what they have to offer. Album sales grow naturally as the word spreads and more and more people are drawn to them.

That's the same idea behind successful inbound marketing. It all starts with the experience. Great content draws customers to your sites and pages. Once there, you engage them, encourage them to spread your information, and watch your sales increase as your brand reach grows.

Staying dedicated to the goal

Success didn't come overnight for most iconic bands. They had to tour constantly, often for years, spreading their music gradually from town to town and venue to venue. Their sound evolved naturally during that time, as they strove to meet their fans' demands for entertainment. Eventually, they were able to reap the benefits of their dedication.

Once again, the same holds true with social marketing. When you begin using a digital marketing strategy, you have to be willing to give your efforts time before you begin to see a strong return. You have to regularly produce quality content that will bring people back and encourage them to become fans. You need to hone your voice and get to know your audience. Other websites need to find your content and begin linking to it. Search engines have to recognize your value as your popularity begins to rise. In time, you'll begin to see positive returns for your effort, but only if you continuously produce high-quality, valuable content.

Creating your own voice

Of course, all the marketing in the world wouldn't have helped these bands grow if they didn't have something unique and worthwhile to share. They created incredible music that people love to listen to. For your marketing efforts to be successful, you have to be able to show your potential audience that you're worth their attention, too. That means developing your own voice, creating new ideas, and building on your strengths within your niche. You want to stand out against the crowd and give people a reason to return to you again and again.

The next time you sit down to enjoy the music of your favorite artist or band, pause and consider the incredible marketing lessons these musicians have to share. If you're ready to start taking your marketing campaign to the next level, let us know how we can help.

How to Build a Company Culture that Helps Marketing

As managers, we all strive to develop an atmosphere of success and teamwork. When you can develop a culture that respects those in your office and encourages success, you'll notice many immediate benefits.

• Workers will become more motivated.


• Employees will feel valued and know the role they play in the success of the greater organization.


• They'll also feel more confident handling day-to-day situations and solving problems.


• You'll be able to spend your time more productively, too, by not having to handle issues your employees now feel confident dealing with on their own.

When your employees feel valued and content, the impact can stretch far beyond the office walls. Happy employees present a more enthusiastic and helpful face for your brand to potential customers. Your company's reputation for caring for its employees and its customers will spread. Referrals will grow, and your marketing efforts will have a greater impact. In short, this type of fantastic company culture can help the bottom line.

So how do you achieve this type of business-friendly dynamic in your office?

During hiring

Building a fantastic company culture begins during the hiring process. Make hires based on two main factors: skills and how well the candidate will fit with the culture you've created or are trying to create. Many companies focus solely on finding the person with the best qualifications, without taking into account how well that person will fit in with the rest of the team.

Ask questions during the interview that speak to the values you seek. When you've found a candidate that appears to work well, consider having them do a trial project with your team to see how well they get along.

Among current employees

Educate and empower your employees so they feel confident taking control of their interactions with customers. Teach them how to delight customers not by just telling them or giving presentations, but through examples and demonstrations. Build a culture that focuses on under-promising and then exceeding customers expectations at every turn. Teach employees to focus on solving problems for their customers. Develop concrete buyer personas that employees understand completely, so they can quickly gauge what customers seek when they speak with them.

At the same time, empower your employees. Let them know they're trusted and responsible for solving problems and finding new ways to help their customers. Have clear guidelines about when employees should ask for help and when they need to come up with their own solutions. This will help employees better assist customers and solve their problems. Customers will be happier knowing they're speaking with someone who can actually do something, rather than just relay messages.

Creating a positive culture and work environment does more than make your organization a great place to work. It can also help boost marketing efforts and improve the bottom line. By helping your employees, you're improving the face of the brand your customers see. You might be amazed at the impact it can have on your efforts.

How Much Value Are You Providing Customers Online?

Imagine you're a student struggling to understand a difficult concept in one of your classes. A friend who aced the class last semester offers to help but ends up just regurgitating the same information you already got from your notes. Frustrated, you ask if they can give you any insight that might help you better understand the subject. "Sure," they reply, "but that wouldn't be fair to the rest of your class because it would make it too easy for you."

Sound far fetched? It probably is. After all, who would show such little interest in helping their friend succeed? Yet, for many companies, that's precisely the attitude they take with their marketing content.

How helpful is your content?

We're all turning more and more online to learn about products and make intelligent and informed buying decisions. In response to this trend, many companies broadcast themselves as the expert and want people to turn to them.

Their content, however, is far less than helpful.

Rather than actually answer industry questions or help customers learn about their products, these companies simply repackage the same general information found elsewhere online and remain vague about the advice they give.

They're afraid that by 'giving away' too much information, customers will not have a reason to hire them. In the process, they're missing a key part of the marketing puzzle: building trust.

Instead of giving customers a reason to hire them, they're driving them away in frustration over the lack of information they provide. Potential customers end up visiting competitors' websites and getting the information they seek there instead. The unhelpful content meant to entice customers actually destroys opportunities to build trust and credibility.

How you can avoid this scenario

The solution to this problem is straightforward: provide valuable content. Listen to the questions that customers ask and use them to generate blog posts. Write helpful articles that will actually inform the reader and guide them in making better decisions. Use the Internet to build a reputation as an approachable leader in the industry.

Consumers today want answers and help navigating your industry. Like a student seeking help in a school subject, these customers aren't going to stick around someone who just tells them general information they already know. To convert your customers, you need to be the helpful authority.

Are You Neglecting This Valuable Source of Income?

When most people think of marketing, their minds automatically turn toward finding ways to attract new customers. In the process, they're overlooking one key customer segment, and that could be costing them enormously.

Who is this precious group? Their existing customers.

Why existing customers are so critical

It costs an estimated 6 to 7 times more to attract new customers than to retain existing ones. Neglecting your existing customers doesn't just waste time and money; it cuts into the bottom line, as you continually search for enough new customers to replace those who leave.

Existing customers can be excellent resources for expanding your consumer base. Customers in general are much more trusting of referrals they receive from friends and family than they are of advertising produced by a company itself. This is also true of reviews on websites and review sites. Taking the time to cultivate a fantastic customer experience will not only help encourage customers to come back, but will also lead to more referrals and positive reviews, which can increase your customer base and improve your reputation.

Encouraging customers to come back

To encourage your customers to return to you time and again, you must create a superior customer experience from the moment they first interact with your brand. Part of creating an ideal customer experience means investing in your employees. Treat your employees well and cultivate a culture that works well with the brand. Happy employees tend to present the best possible image to potential customers.

Train your employees to exceed customer expectations at every turn. This often means under-promising what they can do for the customer, then over-delivering. It means personalizing communications from the company to the person, even in a mass email. Make sure the content is relevant by segmenting email lists.

Make sure the content you develop for your website and blog is relevant and valuable to those who have already purchased from you. While much of your content will be more oriented toward potential customers you're looking to land, you should also have some content geared toward existing customers. This content might suggest ways for them to get the most out of the products or services they're using, offer continued education, or provide other useful information existing customers might find interesting.

In the same way, you should also be paying attention to your existing customers when it comes to promotions and deals. Too many companies focus on special sales and discounts for first time customers. This can leave existing customers feeling annoyed, overlooked, and put off. Make sure you run deals regularly for loyal customers, too, such as milestone discounts and points promotions. Such deals will help to m ake your customers feel valued.

Your existing customers can be a fantastic resource for building your business. These are the people who have already trusted you enough to do business with you, so show them how much they matter. Demonstrate you care about your customers through outstanding service, valuable content, and relevant promotions. You'll keep more customers around, build loyalty, and see a rapid impact on your bottom line.

PrintPoints: Establishing the Printing Customer-Vendor Relationship

Howdy, Pardner: Establishing the Printing Customer-Vendor Relationship

If printing services is a budget  line item for your company or organization, chances are someone is in charge of managing that budget by finding a reliable printing vendor – a company that charges a fair price, is dependable, has expertise in the kind of printing you need, and has the necessary production capability and capacity. When a company or organization that has a regular, recurring need for printing and finds a print vendor with the ability, intention and willingness to meet that need, the two have a basis for forming a printing customer-vendor relationship.

The benefits of establishing a relationship

Establishing a relationship with your printer pays big dividends. Besides saving money overall on your printing, you’ll get better customer service, more help in exploring production options, consultation on related services like mailing and large format printing, and assistance in marketing and business development. These benefits are in addition to competitive pricing on individual projects and great print quality – something that we at PaperGraphics Printing offer as standard service to all our customers.

The print vendor’s part of the relationship

To make the relationship work, we as the print vendor have several responsibilities.

• Dependability. We must deliver your printing order on time, exactly as ordered, and at the agreed-upon price – every single time. This relieves you of the burden of continually checking on your order and frees up time for your other tasks.

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• Consistency. We must ensure that your company or organization looks good in print. That means consistency across all printed materials, including logo reproduction, typography, design and page layout. We may suggest refreshing or even redesigning an item if needed to achieve consistency, or printing an item that was previously printed on desktop equipment to improve image quality.

• Expertise. We must know when to take your order without comment and when to use our professional expertise in print production and management to offer alternatives.

• Trust. We must earn and hold your trust by offering you fair pricing. This includes ways to save money with alternate production methods, materials or volume buying. It also means providing a cost estimate or quotation prior to beginning work on job; not proceeding with work you have not authorized; and honoring the price quoted so long as the specifications don’t change.

• Production management. Although this is largely invisible to you, it is essential to our maintaining control of the production process. Printing is custom manufacturing, with each job having its own unique specifications. Each step of the printing process must occur in a specific order and requires an allotted amount of time. We use production standards to determine the time and resource requirements for all jobs, then use this information to formulate a daily production schedule. Our production manager monitors progress throughout the day to be sure that both the schedule and the quality standards will be met.

The customer’s part of the relationship

Successful relationships are based on mutual responsibilities. Here are the responsibilities for the print customer.

• Honest communication. Tell us the actual day the job must be ready without adding a fudge factor, or give us two due dates: desired and must-have. We will deliver on time. Similarly, if we ask whether a budget has been established, be truthful and share the amount or the range. Sometimes we can tell without formally quoting the job that the budget is inadequate. This allows us to shift the conversation to changing specifications so the job can be done within the budget. 

• Complete specifications. Job specifications are the production instructions, so they must be complete and unambiguous. To dispel ambiguity, printers use specific language to write specifications. If you’re interested, we’ll gladly teach you the basics. Job specifications are also the basis for pricing; a failure to be complete could affect your cost.

  

• Industry-standard document preparation. Microsoft Word is an industry standard for writing a report, but not for designing a brochure or creating a mailing list. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are industry standards for drawings and illustration or photo manipulation and color correction but not for page layout. While many programs can make PDFs, not all can produce an industry-standard PDF that can be used for printing.

• Proof reading. Proof reading is your responsibility, even when we are preparing the document layout (though we do have an obligation to produce a proof that is free of typos and misspellings of common words). Only you can proof read for uncommon words such as industry jargon or names, contact information, proper nouns, etc. 

• Timely input submission. When you are providing inputs – a PDF file, text, photographs, illustrations, mailing list, postage deposit, etc. – we will give you a due date for each element. That date is the latest time you can provide the input if the job is to remain on schedule. While we might remind you of upcoming due dates, the final responsibility for timely submission rests with you.

• Respect our pricing. We use a rational basis for determining the price of a job that includes the cost of production materials, labor and equipment; an allowance for overhead; and profit. If you find a lower price somewhere else, it isn’t because we padded our quotation. It is because the specifications were different or the other printer has equipment that is more efficient at manufacturing that particular job. We will work with you on price by changing specifications or production methods, but we won’t automatically price match to a competitor. 

• Prompt payment. For us, the job is not complete until the invoice has been paid. If we have delivered your printing order on time, exactly as ordered, and at the agreed-upon price, show your appreciation by paying within terms. If something we are not aware of was wrong with the job, call it to our attention not by withholding payment, but by letting us know right away so we can fix the problem. 

Loyalty: the relationship reward

If we are successful in building a solid printing customer/vendor relationship, the reward will be loyalty on both sides. We will be loyal to you by continuing to fulfill our responsibilities to be worthy of your trust. You will be loyal to us letting us know when there are new opportunities within your company and by recommending us to others.

If you are interested in taking the first steps toward building a relationship and gaining its many benefits, contact us at 254-773-7391 or 254-526-4303 and we’ll arrange a convenient time and place to meet.

How to Use Keywords to Get Attention

When it comes to developing content, few buzzwords are thrown around quite as much as "keywords." While quality content remains by far the gold standard for SEO, keywords can be very helpful for guiding search engines and those making queries on them to relevant content on your website. Of course, figuring out what keywords to focus on can be a challenge. Keywords should match the vocabulary and information sought by potential customers, while also flowing naturally within the piece. Here's what every professional should know about finding quality keywords for their website.

Determine the keywords people use

You don't want to use keywords you think potential customers might use. Instead, you want keywords you know are commonly used. Use resources such as Google Trends and Adwords to monitor how frequently certain keywords are used. Look at trends within your market or industry, too. If a keyword has been decreasing in usage, focus somewhere else. If usage is low but has been growing steadily over the past few months, it may be worth looking at ways to incorporate that word or phrase more prominently on your site.

Look for words that match the vocabulary of your customers

In many industries, there's a difference between the language used by the professionals and that used by their customers. Make sure the keywords you include on your website reflect the language your customers use. If you use your industry jargon, you're more likely to attract your competitors or others in the industry rather than potential customers.

Make sure your content answers the query

It's always good practice to run your own searches using keywords before developing your content. This will give you a good idea about the type of content that already exists for a particular keyword or phrase. It will also help you gain insight into the type of content people expect when they type those words or phrases into the search engine.

How well does your content line up with customer expectations? Even if you are able to use a keyword naturally in your content, if you aren't answering the questions people have, your content will rank poorly. Google and the other search engines want to present helpful, relevant content for users. If your content isn't addressing customer needs, it will quickly find itself falling behind.

See what your customers respond to

As you develop content, keep a careful eye on the type of content most likely to attract customers to your website. Note the keywords and topics that bring the most traffic and the most conversions. This can help you hone in on what your customers are responding to the most, helping to refine your efforts and increase traffic to your website. It will also help you better understand your customers, which will help you serve them better.

Keywords can be enormous assets when it comes to catching the attention of search engines and potential customers. When you take the time to determine the right types of keywords that will best serve your business, you'll see much greater return on your efforts. If you're looking to develop a strong marketing campaign, contact us today to see how we can help.

High School Loyalty and Brand Community

There's something about high school that inspires loyalty for decades after graduation. For an outsider looking in, it can be difficult to understand why people care so much about their past high school experiences. Whether it's journeying hundreds of miles for a high school reunion or feeling offended when someone insults the old sports hero, high school loyalties run deep for many people.

Why?

High schools have built an incredibly strong community within their walls. The students have countless shared experiences together, from classes and teachers to events and activities. These common moments help to tie the collective memories together.

This same sense of community, which helps bring high schools such strong loyalty, can also prove helpful in the business world. Building brand loyalty can lead to higher numbers of repeat customers and more referrals, both of which are excellent for the bottom line. Here's how to go about building a community around your brand.

Create shared experiences

Help customers get to know each other and your representatives. Host get-togethers and customer events. Get involved in your local community. Raise money for a national charity, or sponsor regional fundraising events. All of these are fantastic ways to bring your customers together, improve your reputation, and get your brand in front of new potential customers. They're also great conversation starters with followers later on social media or in blog posts.

Encourage connections

Invite existing customers to tell stories about using your products or services on various social media platforms. Have contests where people take pictures of themselves with your product or share stories of how your service helped them. This type of sharing builds credibility for your brand and helps participating customers feel more connected to your company. It helps encourage a concept known as the 'bandwagon effect,' where people are more likely to try a product or service when they see others doing so. Having customers share their experiences with your brand helps all customers and potential customers see themselves as a part of a desirable group, which increases loyalty.

Highlight clients and employees

Show prospects the people behind the reviews and the employees who will be helping them succeed. Highlighting past clients and employees in this manner serves two purposes. First, the person highlighted will enjoy and appreciate the attention cast upon them. And second, other customers will feel a connection to the person and thereby feel a strong connection to your brand.

Building a strong community around your brand can help tremendously when building brand loyalty. Just like a high school looking to encourage its alumni to come out and root for the home team, creating a strong loyalty can serve your company well for years to come. Keep the above three tips in mind and start coming up with ideas to build loyalty for your brand.

The Importance of Reputation Management

Companies used to be able to control a large portion of their message through advertising. Now, thanks to digital media, online reviews, and customers doing their own research, creating and maintaining a positive image requires much more subtlety and work.

The importance of a positive image

Customers naturally want to do business with companies they feel they can trust. They want to know a brand performs well, will meet their needs, and will be there to help with any problems that arise. A strong brand presence can be a fantastic advertising tool. It helps to spread your reach and encourage new prospects to become paying customers. But just as a positive review can boost sales, a negative one can spread like wildfire through social networks and hurt a reputation -- and the bottom line.

Steps to foster a positive reputation

1. Focus on the customer experience. When customers feel valued and trust that service is a genuine priority, they become much more likely to return and recommend your brand to others.



2. Focus marketing efforts on providing value for customers. Customers today research companies before making a purchase, so be that reliable source of information they can turn to for answers to their questions.



3. Build a community around your brand. Encourage customers to interact with you and with each other through social media and real life events. Strong communities build loyalty and positive associations.



4. Anticipate people leaving reviews on the major review sites. Take the time to upload pictures and provide information, so the review sites show a complete picture. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews.

How to handle a negative review

Most well-established companies do end up getting the occasional negative review. It's impossible to please everyone all the time. You'll probably have at least one customer who thinks you should have done something differently, so it's important not to panic if someone writes something less than friendly on either a review site, social media, or a blog. It's also not the time to get defensive and start a battle of words. Instead, take the opportunity to demonstrate the professionalism and commitment to customer satisfaction your brand advertises.

Respond to the negative review personally, saying how sorry you were the customer didn't have a good experience. Restate your commitment to making the customer happy and offer to rectify the situation. Contact the customer offline whenever possible, and see if the situation can be improved. Discounts on future services, money back, and sometimes even just an apology can help smooth over hurt feelings and improve the relationship between customer and company.

In certain situations, you might not want to apologize. Say, for example, the customer complains about something that's a critical part of your brand. Rather than apologize, try restating your company's goals. Apologies should be genuine. If you have nothing to apologize for, then stick with being professional and courteous to the customer.

If the situation is resolved completely, you can ask the customer to remove the negative review. You can also post another reply to the review, saying you were glad you were able to work with the customer to resolve the issue.

By making your efforts to satisfy the customer public, you're advertising your commitment to customer care. People understand that even the best companies make mistakes. It's the steps taken to correct these mistakes that matter.

Managing your brand's reputation will have an enormous impact on the trust potential customers feel. Understanding the factors that go into reputation management in the digital age can help you better leverage technology to improve how you're seen online.

What Relay Teams Can Teach Us About Teamwork

Few people exemplify skill and teamwork better than a well-coached relay team. Whether at the Olympic Games or a high school track meet, the relays are often one of the most exciting events.

Relay teams typically consist of four of the most highly skilled runners at a particular distance. But skill alone isn't enough. The teams must practice together to get their timing and execution just right. It takes a great deal of teamwork to win a relay event.

In a relay race, runners must pass the baton from one to the next within a predefined zone. If they fail to make the handoff within that zone, they are disqualified. At the same time, the runner receiving the baton cannot start their leg of the race from a complete stop. The amount of time they'd lose would be astronomical. That means the runner handing off the baton and the runner receiving the baton must time their running perfectly so that the second runner can pick up speed while still receiving the baton within the zone. This requires a level of precision that can only be developed with practice and considerable communication. When a team masters this aspect of running a relay and combines it with phenomenal skill, they can accomplishes incredible things.

How running a relay relates to running a business

Like running a relay race, running a successful business requires more than just having talented people. You could hire people who are absolutely genius in their respective roles, but if they can't communicate well together, they won't accomplish much.

Building a successful team in a professional environment requires finding employees who can accomplish their jobs effectively, but also fit together as a group. When a relay team is working together, they understand how their roles fit together to form a cohesive unit. The same is true of your organization. Everyone on your team must be clear about their individual role and how it relates to the end goals of the organization.

The handoff

As with a relay team, the handoff is critical in business, too. Every member of the team has their own job to do, and handoffs dictate how well potential leads and prospects are passed from one department or team to the next. When these handoffs are handled well, leads are moved seamlessly down the sales funnel, and relationships develop and grow.

The perfect handoff occurs when the members of the team know how to communicate with one another. They understand each other's respective roles and strengths and know how to work together for the betterment of the team. For example, in a team with weak communication, the marketing department might hand off a lead to the sales team before that lead is ready to move along. However, when the two departments communicate and understand each other better, they improve their handoff skills, boosting the odds of conversion and success.

Track and field can be a source of entertainment, but also inspiration. The next time you see the sport, watch carefully how well the relay team fits together. Use some of their insight when planning your hires and organizing your business.

Back to Basics: The 'Why' in Creating Valuable Content

When it comes to producing valuable content, countless marketing and business professionals will tell you that you 'should,' but not many delve into the 'why.'

"You need content to bring customers to your website!"
"You need content to keep up with the digital age!"
"You need content because that's what your customers seek!"

These responses are the 'reasons' most often given for spending time creating content for websites and marketing materials.

In truth, creating valuable content will help you grow your business and improve your bottom line. Here are two key ways it accomplishes this:

1. It helps you build trust with your customers.
People don't accept advertisements at face value. They choose brands based on how well those brands meet their needs.

When customers go online, they want to find answers to their questions. They want a brand to understand the problems they face, offer solutions, and explain why their products are the best at meeting those needs. When a prospect finds a company that answers their questions again and again while also providing them with a service that comes with good reviews, the decision to buy becomes a no-brainer.

Valuable content builds a reputation of authority and leadership in the minds of customers. They come to see you as someone who really knows your industry and feel confident knowing they can turn to you whenever they have questions. This increases loyalty and the potential for future sales.

2. It's more likely to be shared, increasing your brand's reach.

Customers today live on social media. Just about everyone has a Facebook or Twitter account. People use these profiles to share things that interest them and offer value they think others might appreciate. When you provide your customers with repeated value, you enhance the odds your material might be shared on these social sites. When content is shared, it automatically increases your reach, while also building credibility in the minds of all those who see the share. Customers tend to trust referrals more than standard advertising.

How to develop content that can work this way

The potential for quality content is incredible. Your task is to learn how to capitalize on it. Here are six steps to get you started:

1. Research and identify the 'ideal customers' you want to reach.


2. Learn as much as possible about these ideal customers.


3. Determine the common questions and problems that face these customers.


4. Develop content that addresses these questions and problems in an informative and helpful way.


5. Share the content on blogs, social media, emails, newsletters, and other places to draw attention to it.


6. Repeat the process regularly to stay current.

When you take the time to develop valuable content for your customers, you're investing in helping your business grow. Take the time to create content your customers will appreciate, and watch the impact it can have on your brand.

What a Symphony Orchestra Can Teach Us About Harmony and Marketing

We all have some type of music we find pleasing to the ear. For some, it's classical. Others prefer rock, hip hop, pop, or jazz. But no matter what type of music we enjoy, there's something about a symphony orchestra that seems to draw admirers from a wide variety of musical backgrounds and tastes.

An orchestra brings harmony to life. Its beauty comes from the different sections -- woodwinds, percussion, strings, and brass -- working together to create something spectacular. If just one person or one section is out of tune or out of line, the entire piece can fall flat. The same is true in your marketing.

The importance of harmony in marketing

Just like an orchestra, marketing works best when every member of the team works together to perfectly complement the others. In today's busy world, countless platforms vie for your audience's attention. Print media, inbound marketing, social media, PPC ads, retargeting ads, radio advertising, and more all seek at least some portion of the metaphoric pie.

Too often, we try to meet these demands by randomly throwing content at all of these different platforms. We see each platform as a checklist of requirements, rather than a resource to be leveraged. By finding harmony in the platforms we use to carry out our plans, we stand a far greater chance for success from our marketing efforts. The key to creating this harmony is five-fold:

1. Develop the central message for the new marketing campaign.


2. Identify the key characteristics of buyers the marketing campaign will target, including where those people will be found.


3. Use these characteristics to prioritize your advertising platforms and decide which ones will receive a greater share of the budget.


4. Develop the campaign with all of the platforms pointing toward a common goal, such as leading buyers to a particular promotional webpage.


5. Use common colors, language, and themes across the different platforms to create a unified brand.

Take the time to learn how different platforms complement each other, such as how social media can drive people toward the inbound content on your website. This will enhance your efforts and your reach. Marketing works best when different platforms are used in unison to create a common message for prospective customers. When marketing is performed well, it can make people sit up and pay attention.

Finding the right rhythm in your marketing requires careful analysis and planning. When you can accomplish this, you'll see far better results from your marketing campaigns. If you're interested in developing a successful new marketing campaign, contact us today. We'd be happy to help you get started.

The Role of Gamification in Marketing

For many of us, increasing visitor engagement is an important goal for the new year. Marketing today revolves around building relationships with prospective customers. When a prospective client sees you as an authority, they're far more likely to convert and buy from you.

Improving visitor engagement on your website, through social media, and in person can help boost brand loyalty and build relationships that lead to sales. Gamification is a growing trend in making that happen. The process works by encouraging prospects to interact with your brand through various games and competitions.

What you should know about gamification

Gamification is quickly gaining steam among some of the largest brands in the world. Of the largest 2,000 companies in the world, more than 70 percent had used at least one form of gamification by the end of 2014. Fifty one percent of American adults also say that when competition is added to their everyday activities, they become more likely to pay attention to their behavior in those areas.

The vendors of various gamification programs claim that companies can see a 100 percent to 150 percent improvement in engagement on their websites simply by including gasification in their marketing.

Customers have begun to expect companies to work on developing relationships with them. Gamification is an easy way to build these kinds of relationships while also providing some fun and a reason to return. Even more appealing is that many games can also be used to encourage players to tell their friends about their progress on the game. This can be a wonderful form of advertising.

How gamification works

Gamification can take a number of different forms. Think, for example, about the popular McDonald's Monopoly game. Consumers receive game pieces with various meals, increasing their odds of winning some awesome prizes.

Not all gamification efforts include glamorous prizes, but they still encourage customers to participate. For example, producers of the TV show Psych created Club Psych, an online arcade that allowed users to play different games and complete challenges based on the television show. Users could earn points and challenge their friends. The effort led to a 30 percent increase in traffic, a 50 percent increase in sales, a 130 percent increase in page views, and an overall reach of more than 40 million people.

Nike + was also an immense success. People could use the company's app to track their physical fitness and share it with others on social media. The app tracks fitness data to help people see their personal improvements or compete with others from anywhere in the world.

Gamification keeps people involved and uses their desire for challenge, competition, and fun to bring them back over and over again. Best of all, it doesn't have to be extravagant or over the top. Offering prizes to people who collect all four of a particular month's direct mail fliers or having a search for clues on a website to qualify for a coupon can help boost engagement without much cost.

Gamification helps turn marketing and attracting attention into a game. It boosts loyalty and conversions. If you're interested in learning more about how to start a marketing campaign to maximize customer engagement, contact us today. We'd be happy to help you get started.

PGP Tip: Has Technology Killed the Business Card?

Has Technology Killed the Business Card?

Here’s an intriguing question – can you name a digital technology that has the equivalent universality of a printed business card? Lots of digital technologies – smart phones, the electronic Rolodex, social media sites like LinkedIn – provide ways to access, organize and display the contact information found on a printed business card. But none offer the ease of exchange between any giver and any receiver as a printed business card.

A January 2014 survey by DesignCrowd.com of 1000 small businesses in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia revealed that 87% of respondents exchange business cards when meeting someone for the first time. Two-thirds of respondents said they subsequently enter the business card information into a smart phone or Rolodex. So even though the contact information may ultimately be transferred to a digital format, the printed business card is still the best way to get information into the hands of a customer or prospect.

The business card appearance

Besides being a very efficient way to provide contact information, today’s business card is part of the business or organization’s brand strategy. This makes it imperative that the business card design match all other printed materials and the company web site.

In face-to-face meetings, your business card may be the first time a customer or prospect sees your company’s visual image. To make the best impression, the card needs to be of high quality in all aspects – tactile feel (i.e. the quality of the paper); design elements (layout, typography, color palette); and readability (font size, font styles, color of type).

A standard business card measures 2 inches x 3½ inches and should be printed on a heavy card stock. If you intend to write notes on the back of the card, be sure that side does not have a coating, either on the paper itself or one applied after printing (unless the coating explicitly accepts ink, called pencil receptive aqueous coating.)

Other options for business cards include foldover, under- or over-sized, portrait rather than landscape orientation, die cut in shapes besides rectangular, and printed on unusual substrates (such as wood or metal). These have been touted as a way to be memorable or to create a conversation. But a recipient who uses a digital organization system will transfer the information then toss the card, negating its long-term impact. Other people find that bulky or odd-shaped cards don’t fit well in a manual filing system and may discard them.

Business card content

The essential information to include on a business card is still the same: logo and name of company or organization, name of individual, physical or mailing address and phone number. Technology has also made these elements essential: company web page URL, individual’s e-mail address and mobile phone number.

Optional elements include additional phone numbers, FAX number, social media links, company or organization tag line, the individual’s job title or position and a photograph. As a guideline, group information about the individual together (name, job title, direct or mobile phone number, e-mail address).

Trends in business card design and content

As business cards move from conveying contact information to becoming part of a company or organization’s brand identity, new trends are emerging. Here are a few to consider:

• Branding. The company logo, tag line or brand promise, typography and color palette have assumed much greater importance. With so many customers and prospects investigating potential vendors by visiting web sites and social media profiles, it is critical that the visual impression be consistent from print to digital. For an established company that has recently established or updated a web site, there could be a serious discrepancy between the new image and what appears on the business card.

• Simplicity. Business cards are moving toward a minimalist design – clean, strong lines; clear, legible fonts (reminiscent of those used on web sites); solid blocks of color and creative use of typography. Avoid a business card that is packed with information, images and using too many colors.

• More simplicity. Because company details can easily be accessed at the web site with any electronic device, it is no longer crucial to explain the business or the products and services offered. More important is the individual’s information – name, title, direct or mobile phone number and e-mail address.

• Two-sided printing. Today there is so much information and so many images to include on a business card that there may not be enough room on the face. To keep the front side of the card clean and simple, put information of secondary importance on the reverse.

• QR codes. The trend in using QR codes on business cards is not clear. QR codes have not proved to be the digital marketing tool they were once thought to be, and there is some evidence that they may be replaced by image recognition technology. If you do use a QR code on the business card, be sure it goes to the right landing page – such as an About page with a video or a form to complete to request more information.

Given the importance of business cards in brand identity, the trend toward simplicity, and the need to incorporate a large amount of content, it is prudent to have business cards (and accompanying business stationery such as letterheads and envelopes) professionally designed. A designer will skillfully use typography and color to manage the business card content, emphasizing what is most important while keeping the content legible and the business card uncluttered.

The same concept applies to having business cards professionally printed. Both offset and digital printing provide a wider choice of business card stock than can be printed on a desktop printer. After printing, the cards will be precision-cut with a guillotine-style cutter so all will be precisely the same size and straight. In addition, a professional printer can offer high-quality additional services such as foil stamping, blind embossing and die cutting. 

Effective use of business cards

The best way to use your business cards is to get them in circulation. Keep cards with you all the time, not just during business hours so you can give them out as appropriate in both business and personal settings. Keep a supply in your car, home and office so you can replenish as needed. Reorder in enough time to avoid running out of cards. Here are some other ideas:

• Include a business card in correspondence or when shipping a package. It will identify you even before the recipient reads the letter or opens the package.

• When making contact with a prospect or potential customer, ask to trade business cards. If you receive a business card as well as providing one, you will gain control of the follow up actions.

• When presenting a business card, jot something on it to remind the person of your conversation or where you met. If someone asks you for a piece of paper to write a note, offer a business card.

We are business card experts

We have been printing business cards ever since we opened for business in 1972 – since before there was do-it-yourself desktop publishing and online business card printers. Depending on the design of your business cards and your budget, we can print the cards in a number of ways. We can also design, refresh or redesign your business cards to reflect current trends. For more information on how we can help you make your business cards effective, contact Dennis Smith at 254-773-7391 or dennis@papergraphicsltd.com.

5 Ways to Increase Visitor Engagement in 2015

As you prepare your marketing plans for the year, one of your chief priorities should be website visitor engagement. As engagement increases, so do brand loyalty and conversions. Engagement helps page visitors begin to build a relationship with your brand. This in turn helps to increase their trust in what you have to say and makes them more likely to end up buying from you. Here are a handful of changes you can make to greatly enhance your visitor engagement and see measurable changes in 2015.

Make content easily shareable

Encourage page visitors to interact with your brand by sharing your content. You can accomplish this by making your content interesting and easy to broadcast across various social channels. Enable social share buttons on every piece of content you produce, and share the content yourself on a variety of social networks. If your content provides high value and is timely, readers will be more likely to want to share that information with their connections.

Use gamification and promotions

Use fun contests and games to encourage page visitors to remain on your website and tell others about your brand. There are a number of different types of games and promotions you can use. For example, have customers solve puzzles to earn coupons. Encourage them to share your brand with friends to earn points. Run contests on your social media pages that invite people to tell stories about their successes with your brand. Use these opportunities to encourage communication and build a relationship between page visitors and your company.

Encourage feedback

When customers know their opinions are valued, they're more likely to feel loyal to your brand. Customers appreciate companies that go the extra mile to help them and make their experiences memorable. Encourage this level of engagement by letting customers vote on different topics they'd like to have featured on your website, leave reviews of your products and services for others to see, and offer opinions and feedback about your brand and their experience with it. Your page visitors will enjoy having their voices heard, and you'll gain better insight on your customers, which can help you improve your marketing and customer service efforts.

Remember customers

Work with your website developers to create a website that will remember customers and their preferences when they return. Simple things, such as automatically filling out forms or remembering products that the customer looked at the last time they visited, can be excellent for boosting engagement. Such conveniences will make it easier for customers to convert, while at the same time helping them feel as though the services they're receiving from you are personalized to their specific needs.

Make recommendations

In addition to remembering customers when they return to your website, add functionality that provides solid recommendations based on past purchases, too. Consider websites such as Amazon that offer recommendations based on the buying habits of others who have bought similar products in the past. These services encourage people to dive deeper into the website, increasing their interaction and improving the odds they will convert. Similarly, make sure your calls-to-action always fit well with the topic and intended audience of the content you're presenting.

Increasing visitor engagement on your website can help your brand take its marketing efforts to new levels for 2015. Keep the above tips in mind, and see how you start building stronger company loyalty in the new year. If you're ready to start developing a new marketing campaign, contact us today to get started.

Business Lessons from Willy Wonka

The story of Willy Wonka is a classic childhood favorite that people have loved for generations. From the books to the original movie version that was adapted in 1971 to its latest incarnation in 2005, the idea of this fantastic chocolate factory has entertained and delighted children of all ages.

The story follows young Charlie Bucket, who manages to find one of five golden tickets hidden in delicious Wonka Bars. These tickets give the winners a tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The five winners receive their prize tours, during which the other prize winners are eliminated one by one because of their poor behavior. Only Charlie manages to pass all the tests for honesty. In the end, it's revealed that his true prize will be the chocolate factory itself.

For us in the business world, the story of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory is much more valuable than mere entertainment. It can teach us many lessons about successfully running a company. Here are just a few that every business owner should note.

The importance of innovation

Willy Wonka ran one of the most prized and valued chocolate companies in the world, with children of all ages eagerly consuming the chocolate in an effort to find the bars containing the sought-after golden tickets. One of the key reasons for the popularity of the brand was the sheer innovation of the factory's products. Whether an 'everlasting gobstopper' or 'three-course-dinner' gum, the treats created at the Wonka factory were unique and delicious. The ability of the factory to remain a trendsetter of the candy world led customers to remain loyal fans.

We, too, must continue to look for ways to innovate and better meet the needs of customers. Being content with the same products and services will not help our brands become industry leaders or help us find loyal customers.

Promotions can be the key to successful advertising

Customers and companies alike enjoy promotions, making them a fantastic marketing tool. While most companies will never enjoy the publicity Willy Wonka's factory enjoyed, with the competition and winners being featured on the news, it's still possible for nearly any promotion or loyalty program to gain traction. Social media can be a major asset in promoting such a program. Reward your customers and encourage them to return time and again. This is a wonderful way to gain name recognition and build loyalty.

The value of honesty

Willy Wonka managed to cultivate a superior business plan because he knew how to select workers, and he chose Charlie because of his honesty. The boy impressed the chocolatier because he turned down offers of money in favor of being completely forthright, impressing Wonka. Wonka knew that this boy had the values that would enable the factory to continue to grow.

We, too, should always look for employees and leaders who value honesty and integrity. A positive reputation will help build a culture of trust. In turn, this will help enhance the cohesiveness among the staff and encourage communication.

The story of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory has delighted people for generations. Next time you watch one of the movies or read the books, take the time to learn a bit about business from Mr. Wonka. If you're ready to start building a new marketing campaign, contact us for help getting started.