Out of Sight, Out of Mind —Dana

December 2009

multipage

NEARLY TWO months ago, my husband asked me to return something I bought from Amazon. (Okay, it was a cover for his Kindle, but that's another story.) He left the box on his dresser. All I needed to do was reseal, label and mail it.

Weeks went by. When he noticed the box hadn't moved, he reminded me again. While my intentions were good, there the package sat, collecting dust and totally forgotten.

It sits there to this day.

Had I done one little thing—put the box in a spot where I'd see it every day—it would have been sent back to Amazon long ago, and I'd have a sweet little refund.

There's a terrific lesson here for printers: if you're not putting your name in front of prospects where they can easily see you, you've only yourself to blame.

My goal here is to give you plenty of ideas for keeping your name in your prospects' and customers' line of vision. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Decide that you just can't compete with all of the new media out there, or find effective ways of using several media to promote yourself.

As someone who's studied the print buying industry for two decades, I cast my vote (strongly) for the latter. The truth of the matter is this: If you don't keep your name in front of your market, they might forget you exist.

Most printers don't have on-staff marketing managers. You're likely struggling to keep your business profitable until the economy improves. Developing a marketing strategy is just not a priority. What if I told you that there are lots of easy ways to keep your name in front of potential customers, and that it can be done without costing you a bundle?

I sat down to compile such a list, and I came up with 30….so far. Granted, some are way out there. Some are pricey, and some are free. Some will appeal to you; others won't. Pick the ones that match your style, your budget and your market.

30 Diverse Marketing Ideas

1) Phone. Cold calls aside, talk with customers even when there's no work in production. It takes the "sales" out of sales calls.

2) E-mail. Keep in touch with helpful, business-related e-mail, which is less intrusive than phone calls. Make sure your digital signature is complete with all contact information and your URL.

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