Fall Marketing and Advertising: 8 Autumn Campaign Tips

Fall Marketing and Advertising: 8 Autumn Campaign Tips

Fall marketing and advertising should be at the forefront of your mind with autumn officially beginning September 23rd. The days of “sizzling summer sales” will soon begin to be replaced with “FALL-ing into savings.” How can you take your business to the next level this fall marketing season? Below are 8 fall marketing and advertising tips to make sure you stand out against the crowd this autumn.

1. Put a pumpkin on it.

What is “it,” you ask? Pretty much anything. During the fall season, you will notice that pumpkin spice makes its way into everything. The food and drink industry puts pumpkin into lattes, muffins, pancakes, or beer–if you can ingest it, restaurants and cafes will pumpkin spice it. If your business doesn’t have the ability to put actual pumpkin into its products, you can still poke fun at the trend. A realtor can offer pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pies at an open house. Or, for a more comedic approach, a mechanic shop could advertise pumpkin spice oil changes. Have some fun promoting these products on your website and to your email subscribers and social media followers. Add a festive touch to your logos and profile photos on social media and continue this throughout the holiday season. You can use a jack-o-lantern during Halloween, or a cornucopia close to Thanksgiving.

2. Sponsor a team.

The beginning of fall also marks the beginning of back to school. (For back to school marketing tips, see our previous blog post.) This means many students will be participating in sports. Support young athletes in a way that fits with your business. For example, if you sell women’s clothing, maybe partner with a girls’ soccer team. Offer to provide jerseys for the students in exchange for your logo to also be present on them. Or if you run a restaurant, offer a discount if a customer brings in a game ticket stub–which will of course have your company name listed on it. There are many ways to provide your services fairly cheaply in exchange for publicity.

3. Get involved in your community.

Speaking of publicity, there are tons of opportunities to become more involved in your community and in doing so–getting your name out there. One of the key factors of marketing is making sure that people know your company exists. Chances are that organizations in your area host a fall fair or Oktoberfest, so find out how to set up a booth or get involved in sponsoring the event. Join up with local, non-competing businesses to organize trick-or-treating events to get customers (existing and potential) to make the rounds in your downtown or shopping district, hand out candy to kids and maybe market yourself to their parents. Make it a goal to add one new networking event to your calendar this month. Marketing isn’t just about paid advertising, websites, and logos. It’s about putting your business out there and building relationships and networks of people who will recommend you to others.

4. Do a fall photo contest on social media.

We live in the era of the selfie–who doesn’t love taking pictures and sharing them on social networks? Let your social media followers do your marketing for you! Encourage your audience to have some fun and invite customers to post selfies or pictures of their kids and pets doing their favorite fall activities like jumping in a pile of leaves, getting a pumpkin spice latte, or dressing up in a Halloween costume. Choose a designated hashtag for your followers to use, and encourage them to SHARE the post with their friends. This way, more people will see the post, and in turn, your company. To give them an incentive, offer a prize to the winner. This prize could be something as simple as a gift card to your business. A social media contest is not only a low-cost marketing and advertising opportunity, but also another fun way to get involved in your community.

5. Create a fall marketing campaign page.

Once you know what fall campaign you’re going to run, you need to create a specific page within your website which is focused on that campaign. Having a specific page for your campaign will result in better conversion rates (because your traffic is more focused on a single goal) making it easier to run ads, and make it easier for you to track the success of your campaign.

6. Get in the fall holiday spirit!

Holidays are a great way to theme a sales event. For Halloween, you can use language like “spooktacular savings” or a “monstrous sale!” During Thanksgiving, on the other hand, consider puns around gobbling up savings or maybe some sort of ‘leftovers’ clearance sale.

Halloween and Thanksgiving are the big holidays that stand out, but there are many fun holidays in autumn that you can take advantage of to promote your business. Examples include: Grandparents Day, Columbus Day, Boss’s Day, the end of Daylight Savings, Veterans Day, First Day of Fall, You’re Welcome Day), and Small Business Saturday. Create special offers or quick, one day deals based on these holidays. For example, offer a BOGO special on coffee so your customers can bring their boss a free drink on Boss’s Day. You can even make up your own holidays that are related to autumn imagery and create special offers for your fake holiday.

7. Keep the next holiday season in mind. 

While it may be fall now, Christmas is just around the corner! Offer “spend now, save later” promotions to your customers.  If they spend a certain amount now, they’ll get a designated amount off their purchase after Thanksgiving. You also need to start preparing for the biggest shopping day of the year–Black Friday! Consumers start researching early so that they can strategize their holiday shopping. If possible, start advertising what sales and promotions you will have for the event early so that customers will know what you’re offering before the big day.

8. Diversify your fall marketing.

When it comes to fall marketing, you want to make sure you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Consider social media marketing, networking in your community, digital marketing, and direct mail marketing. While the advertising world is becoming more digital, DO NOT underestimate the effectiveness of good old fashioned mail. Whether it’s a postcard, self-mailer, or letter in an envelope, looking at a piece of physical mail takes more time and attention than digital advertisement does. This captured attention means more opportunity for sales!

The most important piece of advice for fall marketing is to DO IT. Simply put, if you miss out on marketing–you miss out on business.

What Makes the Best Printing Providers Stand Out?

Are you using a quality printing provider? You have a business and your printing and advertising material speaks volumes about who you are as a company. Using a high quality printing company can make the difference whether you are perceived as professional or amateur. Sure, you can look into fast and cheap online printers to create your materials, but it’s worth a mention that you get what you pay for. All too often, we see clients who are unhappy with the products they receive from DIY upload online print vendors. These clients end up paying extra for wasted time and materials.

Because we care about our clients on a personal level, we’ve put together this guide on how to source a printer for your company advertising materials.

Choosing a Quality Printing Company – What to Look For

Professional Results – Any top quality printing company will be able to provide professional results, so that you receive the high quality of printed items you expect. It’s important to look at proofs for quality issues such as blurry or pixelated image(s) or an uneven cut along the edge, because these can take your item from polished and professional to careless and substandard in the eyes of a potential customer – and quality standards are important to clients, especially those who are brand agents.

ProTip: If you’re creating a 4 color process project for a printing provider, and are using bitmap images (like photography), you must insure that the digital files you supply to your printer are a high enough resolution of at least 300dpi to match the printed dimension you want to see on paper.

Great References – From account management to prepress to mailing, your printing organization should be happy to offer references who you can contact. Online reviews can be helpful for this as well, but keep in mind that sometimes businesses go about getting good reviews in a not-so-honest way. Fortunately, these are pretty easy to spot, but not always. If you ask for references and the printer is unwilling to provide any, or they only have one or two previous customers who might be willing to talk about their experience with the printer, this may just be a sign that you need to keep looking for professional printing companies with more integrity.

Value and Affordability

Value Combined with Affordability – Your best printing companies will be affordable but not just ‘cheap’. They will have a competitive pricing schedule that is on the same playing field with what other printers would charge for the same order type and quantity. If the price of a print job seems excessively low or high, this can indicate problems that may arise. You will likely be better off choosing a different print vendor. Never sacrifice excellence for cost. Discount printers all too often produce sub-par results like image pixelation or poor coverage, flimsy paper, or colors that are poorly balanced – all of which will reflect poorly on your company’s quality standards.

Extensive Know-How

Well Established – Quality printing companies with a great reputation will prove to be well established. They have been in business for many years, and are still going strong. If a new printer just started their business last year then it is really not possible to evaluate them thoroughly unless they are willing to provide a good portfolio of physical samples printed on a variety of papers and finishes to really ‘wow’ you. It’s up to you to decide whether they are the best one to use for your printing needs, or if you should keep researching.

Professional Assistance – Your best possible printer will offer professional assistance and options with each step of the process, from account managers to prepress to the final printed material post office clearing and mailing. This one-to-one assistance can hold so much value for inexperienced business owners, or people who do not know a lot about the printing processes. This gives clients peace of mind because they know that assistance is available whenever needed.

Extensive Printing Knowledge – A top quality printing business will have extensive knowledge of every step in the process – from the prepress aspects to the colors and stock used and the best print method to use. Without extensive knowledge of printing, the business may not be able to provide the guidance and the finished results that you require for your business.

Options & Samples

Many Ink and Paper Stock Options – The right printing company will provide several options when it comes to paper stock and ink. Some printers even offer green options that help to minimize any environmental pollution from your order. A good printer will not rush you. You will be able to take time to compare the printing materials available for you to choose from, and ask questions on whether a certain ink, coating, varnish, or paper stock can be ordered if the printer does not have it available on hand.

Samples, Lots of Printed Samples – Great printers will be able to offer you relevant and recent, sometimes even on-demand samples that will be true to what your printed items will look like. If the printer is not willing or able to provide relevant samples, then you have no idea what you will get. You’ll have no idea what quality you will receive as your finished marketing items.

(Clicking the “Request Samples” image should open your default email client.
If it does not, please use the contact form.)

Finishes for a Professional Look

Specialized Techniques and Finishes Offered – There are so many specialized techniques that you can choose, such as variable data, variable images, UV coating, soft touch coating, laminating, die cutting and others. Look for special folds, key attachments, card attachments, and other unique pieces if you really wish to be set apart from your competition.

To Shop Local or National? – Any good quality printing company that you choose should have local services, or at minimum, the willingness to send you a stack of samples right away, especially if it is a national print vendor. Locality can be very beneficial if you need to talk with someone immediately.

A direct mail printing provider will not only specialize in getting your materials printed professionally, but will also offer design services and mailing services along with printing out the materials that you want. This can speed up the process to ensure faster delivery of your marketing items. What’s important is to take the time to ask a lot of questions and make sure that any printer you consider can deliver the services that you want and need before you place your order.

To get an idea of the scope of our printing services, have a look at our equipment and samples.

Back to School Marketing – Implementing the Most Effective Strategies

Summer is coming to an end, and parents everywhere are rejoicing. It’s finally that time of year again – Back to School season! While parents may be happy to send their children back to school, what does this mean for businesses? Well, many will say that back to school season is the official kick off of the fourth quarter (Q4,) which is the most profitable quarter of the year for most businesses. This means you should definitely be putting in efforts towards back to school marketing this year.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF,)  $80.7 billion is projected to be spent during back-to-school season for K-12 and college students during 2019. Parents of K-12 students will spend an average of $697 in 2019, which is up from the average of $685 spent in 2018. Additionally, families with college students are expected to spend an average of $977 which is up from last year’s $942. Some of the most popular areas in which this money will be spent are: clothes, electronics, and shoes. If you don’t have a campaign aimed at back to school shopping, you will be missing out on some serious possible profits.

How can I market for back to school?

So – you want to get in on the action, but your business doesn’t seem relevant? You don’t have to be selling clothes, electronics, or shoes to be able to have a back to school sale. Come up with a creative way to tie your business into the season that makes sense. For example, if you have a lawn care business you can mention that Jimmy will be busy with football and won’t have time to mow the lawn anymore. Or if it is a restaurant, focus on how going out to dinner can be so much easier than cooking at home now that you are back to juggling a busy school schedule. Hair salons and makeup stores can focus on wanting to look good for the beginning of a new school year. Back to school marketing isn’t just for K-12 students, either. Once you think of college aged students, even more ideas can come into play. From dorm decor to a new car, the possibilities are endless. No matter what business you have, there is always a way you can tie it in to back to school savings.

Who am I REALLY targeting for back to school marketing?

Keep in mind that parents aren’t the only ones you are advertising to. Especially during back to school season, many times parents are simply buying what their kids are telling them to. Make your advertising relevant to current trends. What is popular with kids these days? It may be wise to even ask children for ideas. Their opinion is important when they are your key demographic.

Another thing to keep in mind is HOW you market your business. Nearly everyone of school age (and their parents) has social media today. Once again, it may be wise to ask some kids what social media platforms they are most often frequenting and focus your social media efforts there. Just because you use Facebook doesn’t mean teenagers in middle school do.

How can I compete during the back to school sale season?

While the opinion of kids matters, don’t discount mom and dad. While Susie may be surfing Snapchat, her parents are most likely to be checking the mail for sales. Direct mail campaigns are vital for any successful back to school marketing strategy. It’s important to note that you won’t be the only business trying to grab the attention of consumers at this time. Therefore, it’s important to stand out from the crowd. PrimeNet has a variety of unique mailers that are sure to get you noticed.

Make your sale valuable to the consumer. Try adding a school supply giveaway or a gift card to a place where the customer can shop for school supplies as part of your deal. Think of ways you can make your sale unique so that customers feel drawn to you versus your competitors.

Follow this advice, and you are sure to have an A+ back to school marketing campaign!

Direct Mail Marketing Ideas for Educational Institutions

Direct mail marketing has increasingly taken a backseat role to digital marketing in the past decade. Much of the focus these days is on optimizing an institution’s digital presence and improving its online metrics in order to rank higher on search engines. However, direct mail marketing campaigns can still be useful in the information age. In fact, the education sector is one of the main areas that could benefit greatly with direct mail marketing campaigns. Here are several ways institutions from different educational levels can use direct mail marketing.

K-12 Education

K-12 educational institutions can greatly benefit from direct mail marketing. The parents of children and teens are often busy, and it’ll take more than a flashy online ad to capture their attention. Although highly hyped, digital ads actually generate a very low response rate. According to Invesp, the average click rate for a display ad campaigns is only 0.1 percent. This means that only one out of a thousand ads in a display campaign online is clicked. Direct mail marketing can be a much more effective strategy. K-12 direct mail ads can range widely from a postcard-style printed coupon to a multi-page pamphlet. There are many creative ideas, such as bi-fold cards, cutouts, patterns, and textures, suitable for direct mail marketing, depending on your needs and budget. Institutions at the K-12 level can probably levy the largest range of creativity on their ads.

Private Schools

Private schools often need to invest more in advertising to attract incoming students and to promote fundraising campaigns. Direct mail marketing can help, and it has proven to be a successful strategy for private schools. When it comes to local or regional organizations, direct mail sent to the targeted demographics is more effective when generating response rates. You’ll want to make sure you do some research on who you want to have enrolled in your school so you can tailor marketing to their parents. For private institutions, direct mail can be used to generate interest for open houses, discounted enrollment and registration fees, after-school activities, clubs and athletics options, fundraiser sales, and many other special events.

Higher Education

Direct mail marketing can also be used for higher education like colleges and universities, both physical and online. Higher education can use direct mail marketing to advertise one portion of the school at a time. For example, the school can advertise campus tours, can create question-and-answer sessions with a counselor, and can remind on-leave students to return to school. You can also use direct mail to provide information on your most popular or trending degrees. For example, medical assistants are currently in high demand, so that would be a good one to put on your flyer or postcard if you offer that degree.

Alumni

Direct mail marketing provides an important way for fundraiser organizers to communicate with their alumni base and current contributors. Most students who finished their educations have fond memories of their campuses and are willing to contribute with donations. Make sure your marketing showcases the strength of the school and the progress that has been made over the years. In addition, make sure that you highlight the current on-going events that their donations are going toward.

Because of the increased cost of direct mail marketing, educational institutions need to truly understand their demographics and target audiences. Perhaps due to this narrower range of targets, direct mail marketing can produce a better response result compared to digital marketing. Receiving a personalized card in the mail with special local offers can generate a lot more active engagement. Parents want what is best for their children, college applicants want to know all their college options, and alumni want to gain a sense of nostalgia of their student days. Direct mail marketing is still highly effective and can produce results.