bfc-print

BFC Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:56:31 GMT

BATAVIA, IL, April 15, 2025 – BFC, a leading provider of e-commerce solutions and marketing automation, is celebrating its 50th year in business with continued growth and investment in cutting-edge technology. To further enhance its service offerings and meet the evolving needs of its diverse clientele, BFC has recently expanded its capabilities with the acquisition of a second Canon varioPRINT iX3200 sheetfed inkjet press. This investment underscores BFC’s commitment to delivering exceptional quality, efficiency, and customized solutions for its clients.

BFC Adds Second Canon varioPRINT iX3200 Sheetfed Inkjet Press to Fuel Growth and Enhance Customer Solutions as it Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation

The Canon varioPRINT iX was selected after a thorough evaluation of various digital equipment options. Key factors in the decision included:

Superior Color Quality and Consistency : The Canon varioPRINT iX 3200 delivers predictable and consistent color, which is critical for clients with stringent color requirements.
Enhanced Efficiency : The press streamlines workflows, enabling faster turnarounds and cost-effective production by consolidating processes that previously required multiple machines.
Versatility : The ability to handle multiple substrates and inline finishing provides greater flexibility and allows for the creation of high-quality, integrated print products.
Reliability and Uptime : Canon’s commitment to service and uptime ensures minimal disruption to BFC’s operations, which is essential for meeting client deadlines.

“We tested them all, and the Canon varioPRINT iX was hands down the best quality we could find,” Brad Novak, BFC Vice President – Sales & Marketing, shared. “Quality was a key priority in our investment decision.”

“Being able to streamline all of our print work onto one press with the high quality of the 3200 was also an important factor for us,” added Trafford Seymour, Sr. Director, Operations. “The benefits of this are significant: the cost goes down, the turnaround times decline, we get more consistency, more reliability—it’s a win at every turn.”

When asked what business philosophy has kept them in business for over 50 years, Brad responded, “Adapting. Adapting is what has not only kept us in business but fueled our growth. We never set out to be who we are today; we allowed our customers to mold us into who we are today based on their needs. We weren’t afraid of change. We are a completely different business from when we started, and we will be completely different 50 years from now. It’s knowing we have to change and embracing that change that fuels growth.”

“BFC’s investment in Canon’s inkjet technology not only enhances its print capabilities but also supports the company’s broader strategy of providing comprehensive e-commerce and marketing automation solutions,” said Peter P. Kowalczuk, Executive Vice President and Client Services Group President, Canon U.S.A. “By integrating high-quality print with online platforms, BFC enables clients to streamline their marketing operations and achieve greater efficiency.”

Celebrating 50 years of innovation, BFC is a leading provider of integrated print and communications management. BFC empowers clients across Associations, Franchises, Healthcare, Insurance, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail and Education to streamline marketing operations, strengthen brand management, and drive efficiency through configurable solutions. Discover more at bfcprint.com.

About BFC

thINK is an independent community of Canon U.S.A. production inkjet customers, solution partners, and print industry experts, and Canon is a proud executive sponsor. Led by some of the most successful inkjet service providers in the country, it provides a forum for members to network, gain knowledge, discuss common challenges, and share best practices. For more information, visit thinkforum.com.

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Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

About thINK

BFC Adds Second Canon varioPRINT iX3200 Sheetfed Inkjet Press to Fuel Growth and Enhance Customer Solutions as it Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 20:47:44 GMT

The Canon varioPRINT iX was selected after a thorough evaluation of various digital equipment options. Key factors in the decision included:

Superior Color Quality and Consistency : The Canon varioPRINT iX 3200 delivers predictable and consistent color, which is critical for clients with stringent color requirements.
Enhanced Efficiency : The press streamlines workflows, enabling faster turnarounds and cost-effective production by consolidating processes that previously required multiple machines.
Versatility : The ability to handle multiple substrates and inline finishing provides greater flexibility and allows for the creation of high-quality, integrated print products.
Reliability and Uptime : Canon’s commitment to service and uptime ensures minimal disruption to BFC’s operations, which is essential for meeting client deadlines.

“Being able to streamline all of our print work onto one press with the high quality of the 3200 was also an important factor for us,” added Trafford Seymour, BFC Director – Sales & Marketing. “The benefits of this are significant: the cost goes down, the turnaround times decline, we get more consistency, more reliability—it’s a win at every turn.”

About BFC

About thINK

Silos Are for Farmers, Not Marketers

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 17:23:06 GMT

Got a silo problem? If you’re like most companies doing targeted and personalized marketing, you do. You may have plenty of customer data, but it might be in different places (silos), and these places often aren’t talking to each other. As a result, your marketing is less effective than it could be.

Here are some risks to having siloed data:

Unhappy customers. Whenever mail gets lost because you have the wrong address, whenever a mail piece arrives with a bad name, or you offer to sell a long-term customer a product they already own, you risk alienating that customer.
High costs. The average price of every piece of returned mail is $3 (Source: Pitney Bowes). This is not just the postage and printing. It’s the cost of the piece coming back to you, figuring out what went wrong, and taking the time to fix it.
Lost sales. How many marketing opportunities are lost because the data on customers’ preferences and behavior is siloed in different departments? That translates into lost revenue.

Let’s look at five steps for getting rid of those silos.

1. Connect inbound mail to outbound mail. Build in tracking mechanisms that allow you to connect the incoming to outgoing mail. This can be as simple as adding a barcode unique to each participant. When the response envelope comes in, the barcode is scanned. This connects the incoming mail to the outbound file, linking the customer information together.

2. Centralize data capture. Centralize mail processing in one location. Capture mail coming in from marketing, sales, customer service, web forms, and anywhere else in your company.

3. Extract what you need. Your mail contains lots of essential details that can be useful to your print and digital marketing. Extract all of the insights you can, including names, addresses, channel preferences, transaction history, and customer surveys. Input it into a centralized database that can be accessed throughout the organization.

4. Look and learn. Assign someone with a marketing and data background to analyze your database to understand what it tells you. Contained in there are critical nuggets about customer behavior, channel preferences, and more. Need help? Just ask!

5. Put it to use. With a closed-loop on your mail communications and a centralized, up-to-date database accessible by all departments, you have a powerful marketing tool at your disposal. Take what you can learn and use it to improve your targeted and personalized direct mail marketing or other customer communications.

Do Self-Mailers Have Benefits Over Direct Mail Envelopes? You Bet!

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 17:27:02 GMT

For many businesses, direct mail letters are their “go-to.” They are inexpensive to produce, can include BREs and other inserts, and depending on the design, can seem more personal than self-mailers. Still, the popularity of self-mailers is growing. They, too, are inexpensive and have many benefits.

Self-mailers are created when a single piece of paper is folded to create a self-contained mailing format. Depending on the size of the sheet, self-mailers can be folded into two or more panels. They can be sealed using glue lines, wafer seals, or glue spots along the edge.

Let’s take a look at some of their benefits:

Because they require no envelope, self-mailers have no envelope or inserting costs. This makes them a great option for tight budgets.
When unfolded, self-mailers provide lots of real estate for graphics and messaging.
Even on digital presses, self-mailers can be printed on a wide variety of substrates, including heavier substrates.
While we tend to think of self-mailers as simple, folded formats, their substrate flexibility allows them to include pockets and interior panels into which you can insert gift cards, reply cards, or small samples.
Because self-mailers can be digitally printed, they can be fully personalized like any other mailer.

Self-mailers are readily identifiable as marketing mail, so they can have lower response rates. For this reason, some businesses use them for mailing to people with whom they already have a relationship—loyal customers who will open them simply because of their relationship with the brand. Others use them for campaigns in which people want promotional mail. Examples include promotions around clearance sales, new store openings with discounts, and free samples. We see them heavily used around college recruiting, as well.

In the end, choosing the correct format depends on your target audience and the goals of the campaign. Testing will be critical in helping you identify when and where each format will work best for you.

WHAT IS TRENDING? The 5 Most Consistent Direct Mail Trends That are Still Working

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 20:04:26 GMT

The national direct mail database Who’s Mailing What! (WMW!) recently analyzed its database of more than 130,000 mail pieces to find the strongest, most consistent direct mail trends over the past 20 years. We’ve picked five that we think are most relevant to small to mid-sized businesses. How many of these do you see in your own marketing?

1. Postcards are on the rise

Between 2009–2021, the number of postcards being mailed increased by approximately 20%, while self-mailers and envelopes declined slightly. The new postal rates for 6 x 9 will only increase this number over time!

2. Businesses are using less copy

Over the past 20 years, WMW! found that the number of words used in direct mail pieces has declined, on average, by 62%. Direct mail is also using shorter sentences, more concise paragraphs, and bullet points. Many campaigns have replaced text with images, charts, and graphics that provide quick, easy comprehension in today’s fast-paced world.

3. Focus on print-to-digital

Whether businesses are engaging with their audiences with QR Codes or driving them online to their websites or social media channels, the interaction between print and digital channels is rocketing. The use of user names (@ username), QR Codes, and digital CTAs such as “follow us” or “visit our website” have doubled in the past four years.

4. Sustainability messaging is hot

Buyers care about the environment, and they appreciate brands that show they care, too. The WMW! database was established 20 years ago, and of the direct mail messaging that contains a sustainability element, 75% has come in the last five years.

5. Even young companies are using direct mail

When WMW! looked at the age of the companies in its direct mail database, it found that the percentage of companies founded in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s was nearly identical. Very young companies like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Payson are all using direct mail.

Lessons Learned from Real-Life Split Testing

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 19:12:05 GMT

Real-Life Split Testing – If you want to know what’s working, test it. Is this recipe better than that one? Is this pair of shoes more comfortable than those? Marketing is no different. By taking a portion of your list and testing one element at a time, you can find out what works best. Even if you’ve done testing in the past, things change. It’s essential to keep testing to make sure you know what is working now.

Unbounce, a service that allows marketers to build, publish, and test landing pages, has described the impact of testing on three different companies and the lessons learned from each. Let’s take a brief look at each one.

Test #1: Great ads can get better. SafeSoft Solutions had a slick, professional ad that was doing well. The headline promoted productivity and efficiency. It used attention-grabbing, easy-to-read bullet points to outline the benefits of its services. But the ad did not contain pricing information. SafeSoft decided to test the addition of a green starburst with its pricing inside. The result? A 100% increase in conversions.

Test #2: Not all trial offers are created equal. For some companies, a seven-day offer might be perfect. For others, customers might need a more extended test-out period. When HubSpot split tested its trial offer, it found that prospects required more time to make a decision. By testing a 30-day trial over a seven-day trial, it was found that it could boost conversions by 110%.

Test #3: Location matters. Does the placement of the CTA make a difference? Inbound Strategy wanted to find out. It tweaked its site’s landing page, added more information, and played with the location of the CTA. The results? When the CTA was moved from the right-hand side of the page to the left, there was a 217% increase in conversions compared to the control.

These examples have lessons for us, as well. Whether you are working with print, email, landing pages, or any other channel, you’re missing opportunities if you’re not doing split testing regularly. What insights and higher conversion rates might you be missing?

Why You Need a Web-Based Portal for All Marketing Collateral

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 19:55:21 GMT

Is it possible to have a single, web based portal for all marketing collateral? The answer is yes. Learn how in this guide.

Marketing collateral encompasses a lot and, as a result, can be difficult to keep track of. Wouldn’t it be easier to have one place to see your company marketing and promotional tools?

Such a thing does exist! When you choose to use a web-based portal for all marketing collateral, you make running e-commerce stores and more so much easier.

Here are several benefits to using a single web-based portal to keep track of your company marketing materials and media.

Access All Marketing Collateral from One Place

Having one web-based portal is more convenient because you can access everything from one place.

Look at your sales collateral, email and mail campaigns, and other promotional tools all in one place. It streamlines your company marketing process. It also makes it easier for others to find what they are looking for since they only have to look in one place.

Organization is key. It is one of many best marketing tips to follow.

E-Commerce Stores Information Available All Day Every Day

With a web-based portal, your marketing collateral for e-commerce stores is available all day, every day.

MyResource will help you stay on top of your business and marketing needs at any hour of the day. It centralizes the way you order for direct mail and email campaigns, sales collateral, and other promotional tools.

Your brand is important, and having access to it even during non-business hours could help you in an emergency. This is why using a distributed network is useful, so you or another employee can connect from anywhere.

No Constant Username and Password Confusion

A web-based portal like myResource means that you don’t have to remember an infinite amount of usernames and passwords. That’s right: you just need to remember one.

Instead of trying to keep your different accounts for creator, distributor, and fulfillment websites straight, give yourself a break so you just have to remember one!

It may help keep your information more secure as well; you will not have to worry about misplacing your information.

Cut Down Your Marketing Costs

Think about how much money you can save when you used a marketing web-based portal like myResource instead of going through the usual hoops.

Instead of having to pay out for company marketing—such as marketing material creation, distribution, fulfillment, inventory, and more—you can cut down your costs when you streamline everything.

Cheaper company marketing and promotional materials mean more money to invest elsewhere in your brand. You can reallocate your funds to other parts of your brand that may need it.

Try a Web-Based Portal Today

It is easier to have everything for your company marketing in one place. Stay secure, organized, and cost-efficient by using a distributed network!

With myResource, you will be able to have marketing collateral, direct mail and email campaigns, ad builder tools, sales support, and even more for e-commerce stores! You can’t go wrong by making the switch.

Is Brand Awareness Worth the Investment?

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:12:07 GMT

We all want to sell more products and services, and for decades, brand awareness has been the subject of research and study. Is this a good investment of your marketing dollars? To what extent does brand awareness truly influence the final purchase decision?

As it turns out, quite a lot.

Here are the results from one fascinating study:

In a blind study by the University of Newcastle and the University of South Australia, 85.5% of subjects chose the familiar brand in the first trial, even if they preferred a less familiar brand.
Even when testing brands during an initial trial, consumers were more likely to purchase the product from a familiar brand name, even if they preferred the taste (or, by extension, the look, smell, or function) of an unfamiliar brand.
Consumers were not only likely to choose the more familiar brand but were more likely to make the decision more quickly — 9.8 seconds faster.

What does this mean for you? Get to the consumer early. Stay in front of them and don’t quit! Repetition is critical. One statistic we regularly run across is that the average person remembers three to five brands per category. To get in there, you have to push someone else out and then stay there.

This is where consistent drips of brand messaging can pay off in a big way. Send a direct mailer and follow up with an email. Invest in retargeting with social media ads for visitors to your website. Create constant reminders of who you are and what your brand offers.

Creating brand awareness is not always about getting someone to buy right now. It’s about staying top of mind—and keeping your competitors out in the cold—so that when your target audience is ready to buy, they think of you.

Source: “Brand Awareness Effects on Consumer Decision Making for a Common, Repeat Purchase Product: A Replication” (Journal of Business Research)

5 Reasons to Invest in Personalized Print Over Time

Mon, 24 May 2021 15:22:52 GMT

No doubt—getting a quick boost in sales feels great. However, the biggest profits come from long-term customers who provide recurring revenue over time. This is particularly true when it comes to investing in personalized print.

Here are five reasons to focus on recurring personalized print programs rather than “quick hit” campaigns:

1. Build relationships.

To establish a relationship with your customers, you need to get to know them. No one-off campaign, no matter how successful, can do that.

2. Learn about your customers.

At the beginning of a campaign, you make educated guesses about how your customers think and act. As they respond, you learn more about them. This allows you to modify your messaging, offers and calls to action to generate the most impact over time.

3. Generate more revenue.

As you learn which campaign elements are most effective at motivating your customers, your campaigns will be more profitable. More refined campaigns translate into higher response rates, higher conversion rates, and increased ROI.

4. Maximize investment.

Setting up your first personalized print campaign requires an investment in time and money. By developing programs rather than one-off campaigns, your set-up costs are amortized over the life of the program. As costs become amortized, your ROI per campaign goes up.

5. Program value is proven.

Unless you are the president or owner of the company, chances are you had to work with a team of others to make the initial decision to deploy personalized print communications. Each time you run a one-off campaign, you end up going through the entire process again. With programs, you have the freedom to refine and maximize your efforts without having to re-prove their value each time.

Programs allow you to develop and refine your marketing strategy over time and take advantage of the value of relationship-building. One-off campaigns can produce great short-term results, but the highest profits come when you invest in long-term programs instead.

Marketers Identify Their #1 Priority in the Next Five Years

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 17:44:25 GMT

If you had to name the top priority for marketers today, what would it be? If you said creating a positive Customer Experience (CX), you’d be right. Sure, everybody wants to increase sales, but without a good customer experience, that’s very difficult, if not impossible, to do.

CX is your customers’ perception of how you treat them and what it’s like to do business with you. CX is influenced by everything from the types of marketing your company engages in, to your willingness to honor their channel preferences, to how salespeople inside the store treat them.

To understand just how vital CX really is, SuperOffice recently surveyed nearly 2,000 marketers, asking them to identify the top priority for their businesses in the next five years. Perhaps surprising to no one, CX came out on top. It even beat out products and pricing:

Customer experience (46%)
Products (34%)
Pricing (21%)

When you look deeper, you can see why. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, found that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for great CX, and the more expensive the item, the more they are willing to pay. For example, customers are willing to pay a price premium of up to 13% for luxury and indulgence services simply by receiving a great CX.

How can you improve your CX? Make every interaction matter. In your marketing, for example:

Create a consistent brand experience from one channel to another. Ensure that your brand colors, images, and messaging are consistent regardless of whether they are interacting with you through print, email, social media, mobile, or the web.
Personalize your mailings to ensure that your communications are relevant and exciting.
Use highlight color and great design to make it easy to find critical information, such as contact numbers, payment information, and addresses.
Ask customers about their channel preferences for communications. Then honor them.
Use high-quality materials for your print communications. Make each contact feel like a luxury experience. Use color, special coatings, and high-quality papers that make customers feel special.

Creating a positive customer experience has never been more important. Marketing communications can be an essential component of achieving this goal.

5 Steps to Foolproof Direct Mail

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 19:48:03 GMT

When you want to get something right, consult the experts. For direct mail, there is no greater expert than the U.S. Postal Service. Here are five tips for foolproof direct mail from the USPS that every marketer should know.

Choose your format carefully . Before you start your design, choose your mailing format carefully. Know how much space you have to work with and design within those guidelines. If you have a lot of content, consider using larger formats, such as flats, that give you more space.
Details matter. The major components of direct mail (design, format, and color choices) are important, but there are other details to consider, as well. Is that postcard too small to fit all of the copy you expected? Is that oversized “postcard” not a postcard at all, but a non-standard format that increases the postage budget? Sweat the details.
Faux stamps deliver. Delivering mail with real stamps gets better results than bulk mail, but it is expensive. Consider using pre-canceled stamps instead. Pre-canceled stamps offer the personalized look without the price. To qualify, your mailing must have a 200-piece or 50-pound minimum.
Pick the right class. Do you know the difference between First-Class Mail, USPS Marketing Mail, and commercial mail? Do you know how your postage would change if you switched to a postcard instead of a letter? Or if you used an oversized postcard rather than a standard one? Consider all of your options before your next mailing.
Add a letter. Adding a letter to a direct mail package can really boost your ROI, even if it costs more in print and postage. Peter DeLegge, a marketing consultant, has recounted the story of a company that tested two packages promoting its mail-order tool catalog. Package A consisted of a sales letter and reply form. Package B was a double postcard. The result? Package A out-pulled Package B by a 3:1 ratio. Postal costs are important, but they have to be weighed against the potential return.

When it comes to direct mail, details matter!

“Do You Really Know Me?” From: Your Customer

Sat, 09 Jan 2021 14:13:09 GMT

To create genuinely personal communications, you need to know your customers. This requires more than knowing basics like name, address, and gender. It requires knowing more about who your customers are.

Let’s take an example from the world of sports. For example, when we think of hockey fans, we might think of demographics such as age, gender, and region of the country in which a fan lives. But did you know that National Hockey League (NHL) fans are the most affluent sports fans in the country? (Out of all major league sports, the NHL has the highest percentage of fans earning more than $100,000 per year.) Or that half of Major League Baseball fans are retirees? Or that 40% of NASCAR fans are women?

The starting point for any targeted or personalized campaign is knowing the make-up of your audience. If you don’t have this information, make it one of your goals to find out. Send a direct mail or email survey or conduct a focus group. Add survey forms on your website or purchase additional data to fill in the gaps.

Don’t stop there. Ask yourself what else you might not know about your target audience that would be helpful. When the NHL started personalizing its fan communications, for example, it asked them to fill out a survey that indicated where they lived and their favorite hockey team. The NHL discovered that 40% of its fan base lives outside their favorite team’s home market. Imagine the marketing opportunities for the league!

Know your customers from the inside, too.

Consider investing in fundamental database analysis. Identify your top 10% of customers by frequency, volume, and revenue.
What do those customers “look” like? Create a set of customer profiles.
What does each profile have in common (age, income, marital status, purchase habits)? In a B2B environment, you might look at the vertical market, employee size, and annual revenues.
Get to know your bottom 10%, too. What do they look like? Are they customers you can woo back?

There is an infinite number of questions you can ask, but they all start with knowing who your customers are in the first place.

The Power of Marketing Local

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:32:39 GMT

One of the most powerful consumer trends of 2020 has been the move to the suburbs. Yes, the ‘burbs. The suburbanization of America is changing the way we live, work, and play.

This trend was in place before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the nationwide health crisis has accelerated it. Consumers are increasingly shopping where they live, whether it’s for safety or convenience. Smaller, local businesses are often perceived as safer choices than crowded big-box stores. There is also an increased desire to support local businesses during tough times.

For companies looking to grow their sales, this means an increased emphasis on localized marketing. According to a study by Accenture, two-thirds of consumers are now either shopping primarily in neighborhood stores or buying more locally sourced products.

How do you engage local customers? Here are five ideas.

Emphasize direct mail. Direct mail with pictures of your location and referencing local landmarks and personalities creates a sense of home. “Conveniently located one block from Town Square!”
Use local imagery. For localized marketing, ditch the stock photographs and use images taken in your area instead. Showcase the local landscape, architecture, and people.
Add personalized maps . Specialized software allows you to dynamically add personalized maps to your print and email communications. Show the driving route from the recipient’s home or office to your store or venue. Add distance, driving time, and important landmarks, such as parking garages and restaurants.
Use radio to generate excitement . Radio has a super hometown feel, so use localized spots to promote your event in advance of a direct mail campaign. “Look for our 10% off coupon in your mailbox soon!” Boost awareness and increase the likelihood that people will open your direct mail piece as soon as it arrives.

Now is a time when buyers increasingly yearn for the comfort of home. Tap into that yearning with powerful localized multichannel marketing that keeps your audience’s hearts—and shopping—local.

Get Your Pre-Game On! 4 Steps to Effective Targeting

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 14:11:47 GMT

When creating any direct mail or email campaign, smart pre-game strategies set you up for the win. While marketers tend to plan for great results by focusing on the right message, offer, and call to action, they can improve their results even more by planning even earlier. Here are four pre-game strategies for maximizing your efforts.

Freshen up your insights. Think you know your customers? Don’t rely on data or customer profiles you developed last year. Customers and their needs are continually changing. Keep your data and profiles up to date, so you maintain a current picture. Make sure to track not just your customers’ lifestyles, demographics, and habits, but their preferred channels as well.
Break down silos. Both online and offline data give you a picture of your customers, but it takes both types to make that picture complete. Offline data can tell you things like what your customers look like, what they buy, and how much they spend. Online data like activity on your website, interaction with your Facebook page, and click-throughs on product detail pages give you insights into why people buy and how they navigate the journey. You need both.
Drill down into the details. Not every customer group acts the same way. Not every household with a $50,000-$75,000 income, for example, has the same needs. Nor does every age group. You want to know more than just the basics. Is the presence of children in the home a factor? What about the location? Life stage? Customers within similar demographic groups can think and act differently. (Think the difference between your grandmother and, say, Mick Jagger.)
Pay attention to timing . Understanding the “when” is as important as the “what.” One telecom company had always sent follow-up printed pieces after phone inquiries, but it hadn’t tested the timing. Once it decided to do some testing, it discovered that a two-stage follow-up was most effective: an email sent immediately (within the first 24 hours of the phone call), then a print piece two to three days later. After making the change, it saw a double-digit lift in its response rates.

Even if you get great results from your multichannel marketing efforts already, don’t rest on your previous wins. Stay sharp. Always be reinventing, and you’ll run up the score.

QR Codes Connect Marketers and Buyers in Today’s World of Social Distancing

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 13:54:40 GMT

In today’s world of social distancing and working from home, marketers are seeing an exploding use of QR Codes, which connect buyers to marketing and product information in a safe and touchless way. QR Codes give buyers confidence that you value their health and safety, while still giving them access to the information they want and need.

What are QR Codes? They are those black-and-white squares you see on direct mailers, menus, posters, and other print communications that, when viewed through the lens of a cell phone camera, take the buyer from the printed piece directly to the web. Older phones require the user to download an app, while newer cameras have the capability built-in. Just point the camera at the QR Code, and it launches the phone’s web browser and takes them right to the desired content.

So, where are the best places to use QR Codes? Here are five places to get started:

Packaging . QR Codes have tremendous value as “closers” on retail sales. Link to videos of happy customers using your products or ways to use your products that shoppers might not have thought of.
Provide directions . Are you encouraging people to stop by your retail location or attend an event? Add a QR Code to your direct mail piece that launches directions to the place.
Enter social media contests . Ask people to upload pictures or videos as a way to create engagement. How do most people take photos and videos? On their phones. Why not create a print-to-mobile link to make it easy to participate?
Download coupons . What is one of the best ways to tip the scales for shoppers on the fence about a purchase decision? Give them a coupon. QR Codes are a great way to do that on the spot. “Scan this code for 15% off!”
Hang tags or shelf-talkers. What information might people need to make a purchase decision that they don’t see on the package? Installation instructions? Comparisons to competitive products? Provide a QR Code leading to pictures or videos with that information.

QR Codes are great tools. To get the most out of them, use them in ways that provide real value.

Need help? Let us brainstorm ways to put QR Codes to use for you!

Scan the QR Code to see how easy it is!

STRONGER TOGETHER Direct Mail + Digital: Two superhero techniques join forces

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:41:13 GMT

You know those movies in which two competing heroes suddenly realize they can do more when they work together? They join forces and save the world in record time. That’s print and digital marketing—stronger, better, and more effective together than working alone.

Why does pairing up work so well? Anytime you reinforce your message with multiple touches in different channels, you have a greater chance of breaking through the clutter, getting noticed, and being remembered.

Plus, print and digital play different roles.

Email is great for short-term boosts in response, while direct mail tends to have a “longer tail.”
Email gives you a bump in orders right away, but those orders will tail off quickly.
With direct mail, people tend to hang onto mail pieces longer, and those orders continue to roll in for a longer period of time.

What does this one-two punch look like in action? When one “fast fresh” catering company wanted to boost sales, for example, it started with an email campaign. Orders came in fast and furious, but once those orders died down, the caterer deployed phase two: a direct mail piece sent to everyone who had not responded to the email. The mailer was highly targeted and showcased the caterer’s culinary creations in a way that email couldn’t. The direct mail campaign paid for itself within a few days, but the orders continued to come in for a month. Ultimately, the campaign achieved 113% ROI.

However you use it, direct mail + email is a powerful combination. You can use email to reinforce a traditional or personalized direct mail campaign or, as in the case above, use direct mail to reinforce a digital campaign.

Keep in mind that “digital” doesn’t mean email only. One of the trending approaches in direct marketing is to combine direct mail with Facebook and other ads. This provides non-invasive reinforcement of the direct mail message and reminds people of their interest and prompts them to respond.

Take the example of a small, family-owned tax accounting firm. With so many competitors, it decided to do something innovative. First, it mailed to the right people in the right ZIP Codes—close to the business so people feel it is highly convenient—and then retargeted them with Google and Facebook ads. The firm’s persistence was rewarded: 30 new clients, and with a client retention rate of 90%, a massive long-term ROI.

There are as many ways to combine direct mail and digital marketing as there are different marketing goals. Which one is right for you?

Need some suggestions? Let’s talk!

Want to Sell More? Get Customers to Care About Your Mail

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 13:43:24 GMT

Your customer communications, whether print, email, or mobile, are the face of your business. If your conversation isn’t meaningful, your products never get noticed. That’s why customer-centricity (or making the customer central to every interaction) is critical to your success.

Here are five steps to making sure that every communication is customer-centric:

1. Think as they do. Buyers want to be understood. When creating your messaging, think like your customers and create messaging that causes them to say, “Hey! They understand me!”

2. Use empathy. Put on your customers’ shoes. Understand where they are coming from so that you can craft messaging they can relate to. This is always important, but it is particularly so during these challenging times associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Track the customer journey.

How do your customers arrive at a purchasing decision? Do they research products online? Rely on customer reviews? At what point in the journey do they contact a salesperson?

Understanding the customer journey requires connecting all customer touchpoints, both online and offline, to know how they go from product awareness to making a purchase. This enables you to create messaging that resonates and is relevant at each stage.

4. Break down silos .

Most customers interact with you using multiple channels, so consolidate your customer information into a single database to get a complete view of each customer. Tie together all of the points of connection to improve consumers’ overall experience with your brand.

5. Talk like a human being.

Talk to your customer, not at them. Be human. Interact as if you are person to person, not marketer to customer. The more your customer can relate to you; the more effective your communication will be.

Direct marketing is critical to driving your sales efforts, so be personal, relatable, and human. People like to buy from brands they love and admire on a personal level. Be a brand they want to buy from.

How to Stay in Touch Without Being Annoying

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 19:45:00 GMT

What makes for great direct mail? It’s content, but it’s also timing and frequency. The ideal number of mailings is often said to be eight to ten per year. However, while repetition is essential, you don’t want to annoy people either. To be effective, you need to strike a balance.

One of the ways you can do this by changing up the way you present the message.

Here are some ideas:

Tie the message to special events.

Can your product or service help to celebrate a national holiday or special event? We see this approach around the Super Bowl. People eat snacks and chips at all times of the year, but marketers use the Super Bowl to showcase how their brands make the party perfect.

Announce something new or respond to a move by the competition.

Upgrades to your products and cross-sells and upsells, provide the perfect excuse to touch base with your customers. “Hey, we’ve got something new!” Likewise, you can piggyback off promotions made by your competitors. “You may have heard that Brand X is the longest-lasting widget on the market. But you may not know that our product…” Use competitive moves to your advantage.

Drip your content.

Another way to continually put yourself in front of the customer is to use drip marketing. Here you present different elements of your message over time.

In the first touch, you might present your product in a problem-solution format.
In the second touch, you might talk about how the product fits into changing market conditions.
In the third touch, you might talk about how the product is positioned against competitive products.
In the fourth touch, you might follow up with customer testimonials.

Although you are continually engaging your customer, you are presenting fresh information each time.

Change up your formats.

Mix in different mailing formats, too. Try postcards, tri-folds, and envelopes with letters. Maybe use a mail kit or a dimensional mailer to grab attention.

Saving Money on Print by Using Digital Storefronts

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 13:46:46 GMT

When it comes to ordering print, did you know that you can save money by changing from traditional ordering methods, such as sending email requests or placing orders over the phone, to a streamlined automated storefront?

Here are five ways this simple change can boost your bottom line:

Faster, easier ordering . Every time one of your employees has to stop what they are doing to place a manual order, it costs you money. By automating the process, they can spend more time doing things that make you money.
No more wasted inventory . When you order through a digital storefront, you can order in small quantities on demand. No more throwing out large amounts of letterhead, brochures, or other business or marketing materials when they go out of date.
Bye-bye errors. When you approve and centralize all of your materials in a digital storefront, the branding elements are locked in. Say goodbye to the accidental use of incorrect images and old logos.
Embrace the template . Companies, especially small companies working with independent contractors, can spend a lot of money on design. By creating templates for your most common projects, you can put that money toward other things. You’ll still want the most creative, one-off jobs to be professionally designed, but simple, recurring projects can be managed in-house without compromising your brand.
Save time . Time is money, right? By starting with a brand-approved template, you can turn around projects in hours rather than weeks, even when you need to make changes to the copy, offer, or image. This allows you to respond more quickly to market changes (such as moves by your competitors) or launch a pop-up sale.

These are some of the top benefits of digital storefronts, but they are by no means the only ones. Let’s go through your account together and see how much money you can save by making this simple change!

Make It Personal: It’s Not Optional Anymore

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 19:58:16 GMT

It used to be that personalizing your marketing, whether digitally or in print, was something that made you stand out. It was something your competitors weren’t doing, so your customers and prospects took notice. Today, personalization has become expected so that people notice if you are not personalizing. Instead of being a positive differentiator, it has become a negative one.

While some marketers are still deciding whether to take the plunge into this form of marketing, fully personalized documents have been around for a long time. Back in 2010, InfoTrends found that the overwhelming majority of marketers were using segmented (40%) or fully personalized (21%) communications. That was ten years ago! At the time, only 40% of campaigns fit into the category of “one to many.”

If you are still sending static mail pieces, you’re competing with marketers who are not only speaking to their customers and prospects on a personalized level but who are seasoned at doing so.

The good news is that it’s never too late to get started. Even with a simple basic customer list, you can create personalized pieces that are highly effective. Let’s take a look at three impactful but straightforward strategies.

1. Get creative with names.

Everyone personalizes by name these days, so use the recipient’s name creatively. Integrate it into the design in an engaging, eye-catching way.

2. Use one variable, but do it well.

Sometimes a single variable can have a powerful impact on results if you pick the right variable and use it well. For example, will it help to target the mailing by gender? How about by ZIP Code? Would it help to add a map? (Personalized maps work great for new businesses or new branches or locations.) These are the data you already have. Use them!

3. Add new, fresh variables.

Determine which variables you don’t have, but that would be helpful in your marketing, and add them. List companies allow you to purchase simple variables like homeownership or household income for the names you already have. This doesn’t have to be expensive, and it can boost your marketing effectiveness exponentially.

Even if you are just getting started with personalization, you probably have more options than you think you have. Let’s talk about them!

Consumers Continue Their Love Affair with Print

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 19:22:18 GMT

Despite the meteoric rise of digital marketing, consumers still have a love affair with print. From direct mail to packaging to signage and in-store displays, print continues to be critical to marketers’ success. It’s not that marketers need to focus on print to the exclusion of digital media, but for best results, it needs to remain a key part of the mix.
According to a recent study by Smithers Pira, the global print market is expected to reach $821 billion by 2022 (“The Future of Global Printing to 2022”). That’s a lot of printed products! Much of this growth will be driven by the cost-effectiveness and flexibility offered by digital production, not just in direct mail, but in nontraditional digital print applications like packaging and labels.

Why? Print is more than beautiful and fun to interact with. There is something about the human brain that responds to print in a way that it does not respond to digital media.
One of the ways that researchers seek to understand this phenomenon is by studying how people’s brains respond to different channels, including print. Response is often measured using two metrics: motivation, or the level at which the channel drives behavior; and cognitive load, which refers to how easy or difficult something is to understand. To be most effective, a channel must score well in both categories. It must be easy to understand and highly motivating.

Print soars in both categories. Here are some data from a classic study by Canada Post titled “A Bias for Action.” The study used neuro-scientific research to study print and digital channels on key drivers of behavior, including motivation and cognitive load. Here is what it found:

Direct mail is easier to understand and more memorable than digital media, requiring 32% less cognitive effort to process and eliciting a much higher brand recall.
Direct mail is more persuasive than digital media, with a motivation response 20% higher than digital.
Direct mail is visually processed more quickly than digital media.

When these three things are considered together, this suggests that print gets the message across faster. Consequently, direct mail is more likely to drive behavior.
As marketers, we love print because our customers love print. Digital plays an important role in flexibility, speed, and viral sharing, but print needs to be in the center of the mix.

Do you need more help with direct mail? We’ll gladly help!

Don’t Miss Your Chance: Maximizing Your Trade Show Success

Thu, 27 Feb 2020 19:49:15 GMT

When you are displaying at a trade show, you’ve got one shot to breakthrough.

The show may last a weekend, and sometimes only a day, so don’t miss a single opportunity to engage with potential customers. Eye-catching displays, such as booth banners, backlit displays, and floor graphics, are a great start. Here are five other factors that impact your success.

1. Pre-show marketing.

Attendees visit only about 5% of the exhibits on a show floor. Getting them to come to your booth starts before the show even opens. Set up a strategic direct mail, email, and social campaign to create interest well in advance.

2. Focus on people first, logistics second.

Logistics are critical to trade show prep, and it’s important to ask questions like, “What products will we take? What displays will we use? How will we handle transportation?” But invest an equal amount of time (or even more time) crafting smart, practical strategies for attracting the right people.

3. Make your booth irresistible.

You have only a few seconds to capture the attention of attendees before they walk by.

Use big, bold images, simple messaging, and lots of white space to make messages stand out, even from a distance.
Incorporate all of the senses, not just the visual ones. If you sell gourmet coffee, fill your booth space with the scent of brewing beans. If you sell fitness programs, crank up the music!

People remember what they interact with, so use product demos, touch-screen technology, video, and other tools to get visitors to engage with you actively.

4. Emphasize demonstrations.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research found that the number one reason attendees remember a booth long after a show is a product demonstration. If your product doesn’t lend itself to booth demos, use flat screens, tablets, or other interactive tools.

5. Plan for follow-ups.

Scan badges, let visitors sign up for sweepstakes, or create an interactive game that requires them to register. However you do it, follow up with visitors after the show, and keep the conversation going.

You’ve made a tremendous investment in preparing for the show. Now get the most out of it!

Want to Sell More? Keep It Dripping!

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 19:35:08 GMT

If you keep hearing the term “drip marketing,” there’s a reason. It’s a powerful lead nurturing tool that works.

The marketer sends (drips) regular marketing communications, often through multiple channels, with strategic precision designed to move a prospect through the sales funnel over time. It uses a combination of direct mail, email, mobile marketing, newsletters, or other content at the appropriate stage of the sales process.

Let’s take the example of selling a motorcycle.

Bob goes to the manufacturer’s website and begins research on a new bike. He decides to “create his own bike” by choosing the model, color, and options, then downloads a PDF that he prints out and shows to his wife.
Creating the bike triggers a thank-you email that provides Bob with the name and address of his closest motorcycle dealership where he can take “his” bike out for a test ride.
If Bob does not schedule a test ride within a specific time frame, he receives a personalized letter from a salesperson outlining reasons why now is the time to buy.
If Bob does not come in for a test drive, he receives an email nudging him to do so.
If Bob comes in for the test ride but does not buy the motorcycle, within 48 hours, he receives a glossy brochure in the mail with more details about the bike and an incentive to purchase.
Once Bob makes a purchase, he receives a thank-you package from the dealership and is moved into the customer retention funnel.

This is drip marketing—sending multichannel communications appropriate to each stage of the sales process to move the prospect along until they make the buying decision.

These programs are highly effective and uniquely tailored to the sales cycle of each product or service.

Ready to drip your way to success? Let us help!

About BFC
BFC is a single source provider of variable data and offset printing, complex fulfillment, pick and pack services, and technology solutions to automate and create efficiencies relating to print and electronic communications. With more than 40 years of industry experience, we’ve built a reputation as experts in our industry and a valued resource for our clients. We have created long-lasting relationships and mutually rewarding partnerships.

Get More from Your Print Budget with Retargeting

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:40:52 GMT

You make a significant investment in your print marketing. Yet even with the most targeted, well-concepted campaign, sometimes you don’t net the sale.

Why?

Often, it’s because many conversations need to be kept going before they bear fruit. This is where retargeting comes in. Once a prospect visits your website, you target them again (retarget them) on social media. This allows you to further engage them and complete the sale.

Retargeting is possible because once people visit your website, you can track their movements, even after they leave your site. Based on the pages they visit, your target audience will be shown relevant digital ads on social media sites like Facebook.

Say you are a manufacturer of lawn care equipment. You have recently dropped your spring direct mail promotion and want to follow up with people who respond by going to your website. Buyers start flocking in, but most of them are only casual lookers. Some of them, however, are more interested. They are interested enough, in fact, to drill down deeper into your product pages to look at the detailed specs. These are the buyers you want to capture.

If buyers get to the detailed specs on a zero turn mower, for example, but don’t make a purchase, you might retarget them with Facebook ads inviting them to hear what others are saying about the mower they are interested in. If they go further than the specs (say, they click all the way through to the customer reviews), but still don’t make a purchase, you might target them with a direct call to action instead. “Never miss a blade of grass again! Use this 20% off coupon to purchase the ZERO TURN mower everyone is talking about!”

You make a significant investment in pulling people into the sales funnel, so keep the conversation going until they are ready to make a purchase. Retargeting makes the most of your investment in print marketing and can be a key component of any lead nurturing strategy .

About BFC
BFC is a single source provider of variable data and offset printing, complex fulfillment, pick and pack services, and technology solutions to automate and create efficiencies relating to print and electronic communications. With more than 40 years of industry experience, we’ve built a reputation as experts in our industry and a valued resource for our clients. We have created long-lasting relationships and mutually rewarding partnerships.

To discover how our technology can enhance your print communications and direct mail programs, click the button below.

Why Your Text Should Have Color, Too

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:07:40 GMT

When it comes to images, we know that color pushes the needle when it comes to motivating buyers.

A picture of a juicy hamburger topped with bright green lettuce and ripe red tomato is far more compelling than the same image in black-and-white. So why should we be surprised that color in your marketing and informational text has the same power? Highlight color can boost your results dramatically.

Among the benefits of adding color to marketing or informational text:

Helping readers find information more easily (great for insurance policies, contracts, and other lengthy documents)
Reducing errors (highlight instructions or account information, so people get it right the first time)
Slashing payment time (highlight the amount owed and the due date and watch your invoices get paid faster)
Increasing the ability of readers to understand and retain information (great for sales presentations)
Increased recall of the marketing message (great for everything)

How can you put this into practice? Make phone numbers or due dates stand out. Highlight different methods of payment. Feature discounts in brightly colored starbursts. Use arrows or colored bullets to focus attention on critical points in brochures.

A classic example of these benefits in action comes from the State of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). The FTB used to send out plain tax notices, but the documents were confusing, and the FTB consistently experienced slow payments and high volumes to its call centers. So it added highlight color and personalized messaging. Critical information was displayed in blue, guiding taxpayers through the document and providing specific instructions. The result? Faster payments and fewer mistakes. This translated into millions in additional interest income and, at an average cost of $15 per call to the call center, significant savings from reduced call volume.

Color gets attention and helps recipients find information and process it faster. This has significant benefits at every level of your organization. Let us help you use color to make you money and save you money, too.

What to Expect with a Best-in-Class Direct Mail Provider

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 15:21:15 GMT

Do you already have a direct mail provider? Have you been working with the same company for years and think, “Things are going just fine, why make a change?” If you are happy with your current provider, great! But it’s always worth asking the question, “What else could I be getting? Am I leaving opportunities on the table?”

Whether you’ve been in direct mail for years or you’re just getting started, here are five things you should expect from your direct mail provider, even if you’ve been working with them for years.

1. Lowest possible postage . Most direct mail houses help you get discounts on your mail, but not every direct mail house is certified to get the lowest possible discounts based on volume, drop-shipping, and mail design. That’s where a “best in class” provider comes in. Best-in-class providers can offer all discounts for which you qualify and have the knowledge, technology, and experience to help you capitalize on them.

2. Expert mail consultation and design . Saving money also means avoiding unnecessary costs. Best-in-class mail providers look for problems that might delay your mail or result in unexpected surcharges. For example, are the indicia placed correctly? Are the folds placed so that the return address falls into the right place? We can’t count the number of times we’ve helped clients save thousands of dollars by identifying out-of-compliance designs or tweaking details before the piece goes into the mail.

Note : You might be mailing non-compliant pieces and not even know it. Even if you have been sending non-compliant mail pieces until now, that doesn’t mean that someone at the post office won’t suddenly decide to be a stickler tomorrow!

3. Sophisticated data management. Best-in-class direct mail providers can help you save money by managing your mailing list to remove duplicates, stay up to date with address changes, and fix noncompliance issues. They offer mail tracking so that you know where your mail is in the postal stream and the exact day each piece hits.

4. Expert campaign development. No matter whom you work with, you want the best results. Best-in-class mail providers help you identify what your ideal prospect looks like, expand your database to get to know your customers, and can help you use this information to design highly targeted mailings. This can include sending direct mailers automatically based on triggers that you set. Best-in-class providers also help you collect detailed metrics (so you know your campaigns are working) and do A/B testing to refine your campaigns based on real-life results.

5. Detailed tracking and reporting. The more tracking and reporting data you have, the more you can plan your timing around other aspects of the campaign. For example, once delivery of your mail has been confirmed, your salespeople can start making calls immediately. You can also time follow-up emails and reminders, and if you know that mail takes longer in specific ZIP Codes, you can optimize your mail drops to ensure that you hit your target windows. You can even schedule complimentary channels, such as radio advertising, to begin the desired number of days after your mail is in-home.

Working with a best-in-class direct mail provider is more than making sure your mail is delivered on time. It means working with someone with in-depth knowledge of the postal regulations and with deep data, mail design, and consultation expertise who can get you the best results.

3 Ways to Sell More to Existing Customers

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 20:30:54 GMT

Think you have to go out and drum up new customers in order to increase your sales?

Prospecting is an important tool for revenue generation, but there are ways to increase your sales from existing customers, too. Here are three simple, but highly effective ways to increase revenues from the customers you already have.

1. Bring ‘em back!

Revive lagging customer relationships. Identify those customers that used to order frequently but who have dropped off the map. Send them a note telling them you missed them. Ask them to fill out a survey to find out why they disengaged and offer a coupon encouraging them to come back.

2. Cross-sell and upsell.

While prospecting can be enormously profitable, your most profitable relationships are the people who already buy from you. Take advantage of these relationships to cross-sell and upsell relevant products. If you are an auto dealer and know a customer’s lease is about to expire on a Toyota Corolla, for example, send a personalized brochure appealing to all of the benefits of upgrading to a Toyota Camry.

3. Tap into loyalty.

Do you have a loyalty program? Why not start one? These programs encourage customers to maintain their relationship with you based on discounts, rewards, and deals. Sometimes benefits are things like discounts and free merchandise, but especially for luxury items, exclusive access and insider information can be powerful incentives, too. If you are a local winery, ask tour visitors to sign up for a wine club. Offer insider “deals” like exclusive wine tastings and access to lectures from local celebrities.

Need help maximizing your existing customer data? We’ve got great ideas. Just ask!

5 Keys to Customer Acquisition

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 20:36:27 GMT

Without direct mail, customer acquisition falls flat. Sound like a bold claim? It is, but there’s a reason—it’s true.

Many direct marketers can attest that, without direct mail, their customer acquisition efforts would be less successful.

What makes direct mail so powerful?

1. It is the only channel that can reach your entire target audience.

Did you know that 6% of consumers in the United States don’t have access to broadband? That 30% of Americans don’t use Facebook? Or that only 83% of U.S. adults have cellphones, and of those, 17% don’t text? Even the best email lists only reach 40–50% of your list. Postal mail is the only channel that can reach your entire target audience.

2. Direct mail lists have lower churn.

People change email addresses frequently, whether through preference or job change. By contrast, people may live at the same address for years, if not decades.

3. Personalization is more reliable.

Data used to personalize by demographic and psychographic can be readily cross-checked and validated. When purchasing or adding to a direct mail list, you can have a high level of confidence in its accuracy.

4. Mail stands out in the mailbox.

It is not unusual for the average person to receive hundreds of emails in a single day. Even the best, most personalized email may still never be seen. By contrast, with consumers’ mailboxes less full than they used to be, well-designed direct mail pieces jump out and command attention.

5. Direct mail is visually compelling.

HTML email utilizes many of the benefits of graphics and personalization, but direct mail offers a level of tangibility and visual appeal not available in any other channel. People respond to the richness of color, the depth of imagery, and dimensional techniques such as coatings, dynamic folds, and eye-catching die-cuts.

Customer acquisition is critical to your business. To achieve success, you need the right tools. While going multichannel with print and digital marketing is a “must have” approach, direct mail remains the most predictable, effective way to reach the widest number of consumers. Don’t miss out!

Keep the Conversation Going!

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 17:50:18 GMT

When do you engage with your customers? Is it only when you want to sell them something? If so, consider extending the conversation.

Customers are more loyal when they feel that you care about them personally, not just the bottom line, so here are three ways to keep the conversation rolling.

Touch base . . . just to touch base.

Send personalized notes and postcards at critical anniversaries. Celebrate customers’ birthdays, but also significant business relationship anniversaries, such as the date someone first becomes a customer. Some companies make these touches by email, but personalized cards and letters have far more impact. There is something more powerful about a beautiful personalized message that arrives in a printed envelope than “Happy Birthday!” in an 8-point subject line.

Provide valuable information.

If you continue to receive real estate postcards even after you’ve purchased a home, it’s not that your realtor forgot to take you out of their database. It’s part of a growing trend of long-term customer retention that all market verticals can learn from. Realtors often send postcards every few months or at the change of seasons. They might offer suggestions for improving the curb appeal of your home, tricks for spring decluttering, or ideas for winterizing your garage. When your friends are looking for referrals or when your children are looking to purchase their first home, they want to be the first one you recommend. Maybe they are onto something. How could you use this strategy to your advantage?

Don’t let them get away.

Do you know when customers are starting to fade away? Maybe they buy fewer products from you, or maybe they do so less frequently. Perhaps they stopped engaging on social media or changed their email address and didn’t re-up with your newsletter. Pay attention to which of your customers remain engaged and reach out to those who are not. This allows you to re-engage lagging relationships before it’s too late. Once a pattern of non-engagement becomes entrenched, it’s much harder to change.

Everyone wants to be noticed and cared about, and your customers are no different. Love your customers beyond the sale, and they will love you back.

Are You Giving Your Mailing List Enough Love?

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:39:13 GMT

Quick! If you had to identify the most important component of your marketing, what would you say? Did you say your mailing list?

Did you say your mailing list? If so, make sure it gets enough love. Let’s look at some basic steps you should be taking regularly to keep your list in top shape.

Address correction. If you do bulk mailings, the United States Postal Service requires you to run your list through NCOA within 90 days of every mailing. Even if your mailings don’t fall under the “bulk” category, using NCOA on a regular basis is just a good idea.
Enhanced change of address . NCOA is only about 80% effective. It only works for people who file their change of address with the Post Office, and it is only accurate for those who have moved within the past four years. Enhanced change of address services tap into the data from third parties and can yield 20–40% more matches than NCOA alone.
Address accuracy. You should be running your list through CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) on a regular basis, as well. This corrects and matches street addresses to postal specifications.
De-dupe names . It’s easy for duplicates to sneak into your mailing list (for example, Jane Smith and Jane A. Smith may be the same person), but it’s just as easy to remove them.
De-dupe households . Unless you are selling to businesses in which multiple practitioners may be at the same location (such as an office building), why send multiple direct mail pieces to the same address?
Deceased suppression . This is another mailing service that may be unfamiliar to many marketers, but it should be a regular part of your routine.
Service endorsements . With service endorsements, you are asking the Post Office to let you know if mail cannot be delivered because of an incorrect address. If a new address is available, the Post Office will provide it. If not, you can remove the name from your list.

How many of these services do you use on a regular basis?

What Are Customer Journey Maps

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 19:09:10 GMT

Customer journey maps are step-by-step guides to how customers arrive at a purchase decision for your products. Think “road maps” during a vacation. Customer journey maps are graphical representations of the route your customers take as they move through the sales funnel toward the destination (a purchase).

How does this help you? Buyers don’t simply wake up one day and decide to buy a specific product or service, so knowing the route others used helps you move new customers to a purchase, too. In addition, each stage typically uses different types of content delivered through different channels, so understanding how your customers reach each stage helps inform your strategy.

Customer journeys generally include . . .

discovery of the product,
education about the product,
trying the product,
purchasing the product, and
using and advocating for the product.

Discovery is how customers find out about your product in the first place. Is it social media? Direct mail ads? Web searches? Here is where you’ll use your widest range of channels: direct mail, print ads, web banner ads, and social media marketing. Know where your customers learn about your products, what types of content they use (social media reviews, blogs, in-store signage), and meet them where they are.

The education stage is how they learn about your product. What information do they need to move them to the next step? This could include drip marketing of product details and tutorials via print and email, QR Codes on packaging, or for more complex products and services, multi-stage mailings of high-quality print collateral.

Next, you want people to move to the try stage. For this, you might provide product samples or allow prospects to register for a trial period.

Ultimately, you will move the customers to the purchase stage. That should be multichannel, too. It’s not unusual for customers to make a purchase only after the second, third, or even fourth attempt, so make responding as easy as possible. (Don’t assume that delay means no. Be persistent, but not annoying.)

Even once your customer makes a purchase, the journey isn’t over. You want them to move to the advocate stage. You want happy customers to encourage their friends and family to try the product, too. Customer-loyalty and customer-retention marketing pick up where lead nurturing left off.

Why Invest in Customer Loyalty? 3 Reasons

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 15:17:59 GMT

What’s the value of loyal customers? According to a study by Yotpo, loyal customers offer a brand three key benefits:

They tell friends and family about the brand (60%)
They are willing to join the brand’s loyalty or VIP program (52.3%)
They spend more on a brand’s product even if there are cheaper options elsewhere (39.4%)

Not only this, but HubSpot has found that existing customers spend 67% more than new customers.

Keep your customers, make more money. It’s that simple. Optimove, reporting on the Yotpo study, put it this way: “The power of customer loyalty is so vital, its effects could mean the difference between your business either thriving, just about surviving, or breaking down completely.”

Optimove went on to suggest three ways you can show your appreciation and keep those customers around.

1. Let them know that you reward loyalty.
Regardless how you reward loyalty, it’s critical to let your customers know that you do. Don’t make them wait to find out. Promote your loyalty program in your direct mail pieces. Create a “loyalty” link on your website. In your print and email newsletters, talk about real people who have saved money and earned free stuff.

2. Create and promote multi-level incentives.
Tier your rewards so that the most loyal customers get the most benefits. The more loyal they are, the more they save, the more they earn, and the more insider benefits they get. Also consider creating a sense of competition. “Enable your customers to compare their scores, points and/or rankings with other customers,” says Optimove.

3. Re-engage disconnected customers.
Don’t assume that lost customers are gone forever. There can be many reasons they have stopped buying, many of which may have nothing to do with them falling out of love with your products. Sometimes, all it takes is a nudge and an incentive to get them to come back.

You’ve worked hard to gain your customers, and they are worth keeping. Make the investment in your customers and they will invest in you.

Why Great Content Matters

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 13:40:27 GMT

Customers want authenticity. With so much power in their hands to research products and services online, they have little tolerance for brands whose messages come off as cheap and inauthentic. They want sincerity and depth. They want brands with personalities and missions they can buy into.

How do they know which brands are a good fit? Great content.

With content marketing, whether delivered through direct mail like postcards or newsletters or digital channels like email, consumers learn more about a company than the products it sells or the services it provides. They learn about its personality, its commitments, and its mission. Consumers want brands that add genuine value to their lives. This is what not only engages them initially, but what maintains that engagement and brand loyalty over time.

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

Consumers are fed up with in-your-face advertising and sales tactics that feel cheap, slimy, or underhanded. Instead, they’re attracted to authenticity, transparency, and friendliness in a brand. The advent of the internet and social media has a lot to do with this. These channels help consumers pick and choose exactly which brands they interact with. If people don’t want to see your ads, they’ll [move on]—it’s as simple as that.

Here are five suggestions for providing content that engages your audience and keeps them engaged over time:

Be real. When you speak to your audience, use natural language that they can relate to. Your messaging should sound like it was written by a human being.
Be transparent. Be honest with your audience. You can’t be the best product to every person. Nobody can. Consumers appreciate honesty and a genuine approach to helping them select the best products for them.
Use readers’ own content. Consumers trust user-generated content more than they do content generated by your brand. As much as possible, incorporate customers’ own images, reviews, and videos.
Use humor. Brands that incorporate humor are seen as more authentic than those that don’t. Humor is relatable.
Be original. Consumers can sniff out canned content and disingenuousness faster than a police investigator in a room full of con men, so when possible, use content that you’ve created yourself.

Does this require more effort? Yes, but the payoff can be huge. Content marketing has six times the power of traditional marketing for converting people into leads and leads into customers. So make the investment in authentic, relatable content, and your customers will reward you for it.

To discover how our technology can enhance your print communications and direct mail programs, click the button below.

3 Ways to Use Age Demographics in Targeting

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 19:56:18 GMT

When developing a direct mail campaign, we often take into consideration a person’s age when developing targeted copy. But there are different ways to use that information. Let’s look at three ways that offer benefits for different audiences and different types of products.

1. Product Selection
The first and most common way to use someone’s age in targeted marketing is to inform the selection of products you offer. If you’re a retailer, you’re more likely to entice younger buyers with Bluetooth headphones or virtual reality headsets, for example, while for older, more established buyers, you might offer FitBits or devices for a Smart Home.

Even for products that cross generational lines, there are differences in how people make decisions based on their age demographic. When it comes to athletic shoes, younger buyers may focus on aesthetics and the level of a brand’s social responsibility, while older buyers may focus on quality of the materials and overall comfort and performance.

2. Life-stage Marketing
The second way to take someone’s age into consideration is by marketing to their life stage. Consumers 18–24 years old are likely to still be single. They are more open to products that involve travel and experiences than, say, those who are 25–34 years old and are starting families and raising young children. Likewise, a family with children going off to college will have very different needs from empty nesters (those with no children living at home) or those planning for retirement.

3. Generational Targeting
The third way to use age demographics is in how you craft the message to reflect their values. For example, Millennials tend to value experiences and social responsibility, so craft messaging that reflects those priorities. Meanwhile, Boomers are more likely to respond to messaging that reflects the values of respect, morals, and a strong work ethic. The Silent Generation tends to respond to language that reflects honesty, work ethic, and morals, as well, especially when communicated through more traditional media (print, television, radio).

3 Reasons to Use Direct Mail

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 17:48:12 GMT

There are lots of reasons to use direct mail, and you may have heard many of them. So here are three statistics on the value of direct mail marketing that you may not have heard.

1. Direct mail has higher value in persuasion
According to a recent study by Canada Post and True Impact Marketing, direct mail generates a motivation score that is 20% higher than digital media. The study found this score to be even higher when direct mail creative uses print enhancements (for example, special coatings, dimensionality, and print-to-mobile technologies).

2. Direct mail is easier to understand
A wide variety of studies confirm that information provided in print is easier for people to understand and process than information provided in digital form. In the case of the True Impact study, direct mail was found to require 21% less cognitive effort. That means your message is absorbed more quickly and effectively. Relying only on digital marketing can be costly. Recently, the co-president of Nordstrom cited one reason for lower sales was a shift away from the practice of sending paper notes to customers, “but later discovered that a segment of our customer base relies on receiving these notes by mail. As a result, we saw a reduction in traffic across Full-Price and Off Price.” Click here to see The Seattle Times original story.

3. Direct mail results in higher brand recall
Not only is information in direct mail easier to process, but it is more likely to be retained. True Impact found that brand recall was 70% higher among participants who were exposed to direct mail ads rather than to digital ones.

To discover how our technology can enhance your print communications and direct mail programs, click the button below.

Make Your Print Faster to Read

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:07:30 GMT

Who has time to read marketing communications these days? Consumers love print, but they have less and less time to read. You have to hook them fast—and keep them engaged. The solution? Make your printed pieces faster and easier to read. Here are five ways to freshen things up and make your printed pieces “sticky.”

1. Make your pieces scannable.
Most people scan their printed materials. They don’t read them. So make your projects scannable. If your messaging tends to be text heavy, try saying the same thing in fewer words. In fact, why not try cutting the number of words in half?

2. Use more white space.
Use more white space and give your design breathing room. Choose typography that is easy to read. Tight kerning and condensed fonts let you pack in more information, but they can also result in communications that feel cramped.

3. Replace text with images and graphics.
People absorb visual information more quickly than text, so ditch the text and tap into the power of graphics and icons, images, and data points.

4. Go big!
Have you noticed that most postcards these days are oversized? It’s not unusual to see letter-sized pieces printed on card stock that is 6” x 9” or 11.375” x 6”. While you can still be successful with traditional-sized mailers, over-sized projects stand out. They won’t disappear as easily between the utility bill and the catalogs. But oversized or not, the “less is more” rule still applies.

5. Target your messaging.
Segment your mailings by key demographics and customize the content to speak to the interests of the people receiving them. This means more than just swapping out demographically appropriate imagery. It includes changing up the tone and the messaging to reflect the unique “personality” of each target audience.

Personalization: Why It Works

Thu, 02 May 2019 19:26:49 GMT

Everywhere you look, marketing content is personalized . From grocery store receipts to your Amazon recommendations to postcards in the mailbox, companies are personalizing their communications to address who their customers are and what their customers need. Are you capitalizing on those opportunities, too?

Let’s look at some of the reasons personalized marketing works so well (and why you should be using it, too).

First, personalized communications give your customers the feeling that you care about them. It takes more time and effort to talk to someone by name (“Hi, Jane! We have a special offer just for you!”). Targeting based on their needs and wants makes your customers feel noticed and valued.

Second, personalized mailings are more relevant to your customers. When you market based on their interests and needs, they are more likely to respond. The combination of more relevant communications and the customer’s greater sense of value is powerful.

Personalization can really pay off in your results. One study found the following lift for personalized over static mailing campaigns:

Lead generation: 6.9% lift over static mailings
Direct orders: 6.2% lift over static mailings
Traffic generation: 14.7% lift over static mailings

You do have to take different steps to personalize your documents than you do for traditional campaigns, but don’t be intimidated. It doesn’t need to be difficult. You don’t have to be an expert in databases or IT.

We are here to help. Talk to us about going from static marketing communications to making it personal.

Don’t Let Print Buying Stress You Out

Wed, 01 May 2019 15:24:43 GMT

Does print buying stress you out? There are so many details that can make or break a print job. Then you have finishing, mailing lists, dealing with the USPS. . . and oh, yes, schedules. Print buying can be a daunting task. Try these common-sense strategies to make your experience more predictable and (hopefully) stress-free.

1. Get into your printer’s ears. By involving your printer early in your project, you will get a high-quality result while saving time and money. Tell them your concept, they will suggest colors, papers, layouts, and finishes that can minimize production time at the best cost.

2. Plan backwards. Given today’s advances in printing technology, buyers often underestimate the time required to deliver a job. Sure, you may be printing on a digital press, but you still have prepress, proofing, special order requirements, and finishing. Providing ample lead time will save money by preventing rush charges.

3. Know your specs. The more explicit your instructions, the more likely you are to be happy with the quality and cost of the end product. One missing piece of information or last-minute change can delay a cost estimate, proof, or final production.

4. Proof everything. Your printer should alert you if they identify errors in your file, but they aren’t experts in your marketing copy—you are. Your print job cannot move into the next stage of production until you sign off on the proof, and that includes your copy.

Even if you do not have a job to submit today, give BFC a call so we can start preplanning your next project. Together, we can create a stress-free print buying experience that will exceed your expectations for quality, efficiency, and cost.

5 Stats that Show Print Still Matters (A Lot)

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 20:10:43 GMT

Think print is starting to “lose its cool” in the age of digital marketing? Actually, the opposite is true. With the growth of digital, print has solidified its place as a channel that marketers cannot ignore. Here are five print marketing statistics that every marketer should know.

1. Some customers can only be reached by print. Even in today’s digital age, there are still large groups of consumers who cannot be reached through digital channels. According to the Pew Research Center, 11% of Americans have no Internet access at all, and among certain populations, such as older Americans, rural Americans, and those without high school diplomas, this number is significantly higher. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2018)

2. Many consumers use print and digital coupons equally. Who doesn’t like a deal? While some consumers prefer digital coupons for their convenience and immediacy, 41% of shoppers use print and digital coupons equally. (Valassis, 2017).

3. Direct mail is the number one driver for online fundraising. According to MobileCause, donors are three times more likely to give online in response to a direct mail appeal than an e-appeal. (MobileCause 2018)

4. Consumers spend more time with direct mail. According to a widely cited study on the neuroscience of print, people spend 118% more time considering direct mail than they do digital mail. (CanadaPost, 2016)

5. Millennials love direct mail. Nearly half (47%) of Millennials look forward to checking their mail every day. In a digital world, even the most digitally embedded crave human connection. (United States Postal Service, 2016)

There is a reason that print remains the bedrock of today’s most successful marketing campaigns. Email, mobile, and social media all have important places in the mix, but print remains the cornerstone of truly successful multichannel marketing for a reason.

USPS to retire CAPS

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 15:06:41 GMT

USPS to Retire the Centralized Accounting Processing System (CAPS) - Effective April 1, 2019

The Postal Service has launched a new payment processing platform called Enterprise Payment System (EPS). EPS supports multiple payment options including mobile check deposit, offers more reporting features, and allows customers to manage multiple USPS business functions under one account.

Eligible Products and Services include First-Class Mail®, Letters, Cards, and Flats, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, USPS Marketing Mail™, Letters, Flats, and Parcels, Parcel Select®, Media Mail®, Library Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Periodicals, International Products, Business Reply Mail (BRM), and Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM®), submitted via hard copy, eDoc (Mail.dat/Mail.XML), Postal Wizard or the Intelligent Mail® small business (IMsb) Tool, PO Box, Caller & Reserve Services (EPOBOL), and Address Quality Products (AEC, AECII and ACS™).

Products not currently supported include Electronic Verification System (eVS®), Parcel Return Service (PRS), PC Postage®, Scan Based Payment (SBP), Merchandise Return Service (MRS), Official Mail Accounting System (OMAS), Premium Forwarding Service Commercial (PFSC™), Share Mail®, and Intelligent Mail barcode Accounting (IMbA). Customers utilizing these products will continue to be supported through CAPS.

Note: Customers who have a combination of eligible and non-eligible products and services will not be required to migrate until a future date.

Mail Entry and Business Mailer Support is hosting a series of informational sessions on EPS and the migration process:

When: Occurs every Tuesday 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET
Webex: https://uspsmeetings.webex.com/uspsmeetings/j.php?MTID=mff5afd6359556285405a0a15e707d813
Call-in toll-free number (US): 1-855-860-7461
Conference Code: 819 297 8257

For more information:

Visit PostalPro Enterprise Payment System Page: https://postalpro.usps.com/eps
Formore EPS benefits and how to create an EPS account review the Enterprise Payment System Account Creation Fact Sheet: https://postalpro.usps.com/EPS

To sign-up today contact:

Your local Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU): https://tools.usps.com/find-location.htm
PostalOne!Helpdesk
Call: 1-800-522-9085
Email: Postalone@usps.gov

Want to Keep Customers? Ask Their Opinion (Then Act on It)

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 17:36:10 GMT

Want to keep your customers loyal and continuing to shop from you? Ask their opinion… then act on what you learn.

One of the most important ways you can value someone is to ask their opinion. When you ask what they think, it makes them feel important. From a marketing perspective, this deepens customer engagement and solidifies their loyalty. If you actually act on what you learn from those customers, so much the better.

Let’s look at an example. A regional grocery store chain was experiencing increased competitive pressure from a large national chain and wanted to preserve its most valuable customer relationships. The chain sent two personalized surveys to its top 400 customers: one in the fall and one in the spring.

The first survey included six survey questions and a letter addressed to the shopper, signed by the store manager. The second was a follow-up to find out how well the chain had addressed the concerns raised in the first survey. Recipients of the second mailer also received a personalized cover letter from the store manager.

The surveys received a 52% response rate. While specific data on customer retention was not provided, a research study conducted by Rice University and published in Harvard Business Review found that, over the course of a year, customers who received similar customer surveys were twice as likely to continue their relationship with the company than those who did not.[1] We can assume a similar result here.

Once people have made a purchase from you, they are your customers to lose. Show them that you care what they think, that their opinions are valuable, and that you will act on information they share with you. They will reward you with their loyalty.

To discover how our technology can enhance your email and direct mail programs, click the button below.

BFC installs Océ VarioPrint i300 Inkjet Press

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 20:01:51 GMT

10.04.018 | BFC installs Océ VarioPrint i300 Inkjet Press

As an industry leader in variable data communications, BFC entered 2018 with a priority to provide a white-sheet-in, finished-application-out workflow required by customers – ultimately working to meet the increased demand for shorter run, fast turnaround output.

The installation of the Océ VarioPrint i300 Inkjet Press exceeds these expectations.

The i300 supports the consolidation of sheetfed black-and-white, highlight color, and full-color digital workflows into one production printing system. This feature will help BFC take on more jobs, manage shorter runs, handle variable data projects with more ease, and offer a wider range of media options – all at lower operating cost compared to previous workflows.

Spot UV Coating – How Did They Do That?

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 18:54:23 GMT

Dazzling. Brilliant.

Whether you’re looking for a high impact shine to make an image jump off the page or to add a subtle shimmer, spot UV is a versatile, cost-effective process that adds that extra something that makes your project pop. UV coating is cured instantly using ultraviolet light. It creates a brilliant finish that is precise enough to highlight even the fine details of images or text. UV coating is also highly resistant to scuffing and moisture and helps to protect the piece over time.

Whether spot UV is used to flood the piece or simply to provide highlights, you can’t miss the effect. As soon as light hits the areas where the coating is applied, they dazzle. If you’re an automotive manufacturer, for example, you might add UV spot coating over the entire body of a car to enhance its gloss and shine. On a business card, you might use spot UV coating over top of your logo to make it leap off the page.

Another way to use spot UV is a technique called “clear impact.” In this technique, the entire background is uncoated, while the UV coating is used to make specific portions of the text or graphic design jump out. If you’re a nonprofit fundraising for a clean water project, for example, you might use this technique on the water droplets falling from the spigot on a newly drilled well. Your eye is immediately drawn to those droplets, which sparkle like shimmering rain. Spot UV can be used on a wide range of stocks, but for maximum impact, try using spot UV on matte finished paper. Thicker weights are generally preferred. This will create the greatest contrast with the glossy coating.

Here’s another benefit of spot UV: The process emits no VOCs, so it does not release toxic compounds into the air. This means it does not contribute to environmental pollution. Need more reasons to love spot UV? Ask us for samples!

To discover how our print expertise can enhance your communication programs and more, click the button below.

5 Reasons Direct Mail Fails

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 20:39:21 GMT

Every now and then, you come across some really horrific examples of direct mail opportunities gone wrong. With the right planning, however, you can ensure that yours is never among them!

Here are five things that can kill your piece right out of the gate.

1) Too Much Clutter
Have you ever gotten a mailer so packed with “stuff” that you can’t focus on any of it? When your direct mail has little or no space between words, images, boxes, and starbursts, it can be nearly impossible to read. (Not to mention that it makes your eyes hurt!) Make white space your friend. Design your mailers so they are clean, the information is easy to absorb, and the main points can be picked out quickly.

2) Insulting Your Audience
Sometimes “plain speak” can be a little too plain. We recently ran across several stories of marketers of products targeting the 60+ crowd that insulted their prospects right out of the gate.

One marketer recently recalled receiving a sales letter from a hearing aid company that began with the words, “Now that you’re old, your hearing is probably failing.” Not a great approach.

3) Inaccurate Databases
Make sure you’re working with a database that is up to date and accurate. Another marketer complains that she regularly receives mail addressed to her husband’s ex-wife. When it comes to renting a mailing list, you get what you pay for.

4) Poor Grammar
If your mailer is filled with grammatical mistakes and typos, you’re not going to be seen as professional. As one marketer complained: “When I had already found two spelling errors and a grammatical mistake before finishing the first sentence, I decided perhaps this [company] lacked the attention to detail I was seeking.”

5) No Call to Action
If you don’t provide a call to action, you’re just mailing artwork. Let people know what you want them to do and give them an incentive to do it.

To discover how our technology can enhance your direct mail communication programs and more, click the button below.

Email and Direct Mail: A One-Two Punch that Delivers Results

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 19:16:31 GMT

Want to increase the results of your direct mail campaigns?

Try a combination of print and email. It’s a powerful “one, two” punch that can really deliver.

Why would having an email address make such a difference? Let’s look at three reasons.

Customers who provide email addresses tend to be more engaged with your company . Not that providing the email address, in itself, makes the customer more engaged. It’s because they are more engaged that they are more likely to provide this information. An email address can be an indicator of engagement.
Customers providing email addresses self-select themselves as being more receptive to your marketing . By providing their email addresses, customers are telling you that they want to hear from you.
Customers who provide their email addresses are more open to additional marketing “touches.” More touches means more results.

We see this two-step process producing results every day. By combining variable printing with email and an online registration process, one association, for example, was able to triple the attendance at its annual summer conference. In another example, a software manufacturer sent a follow-up email to non-responders to a print campaign, personalized using the same rules as the print mailer, and sales of its targeted products jumped 81%.

Of course, there are other elements to successful direct mail campaigns beyond using the dual punch of print and email. Still, this combination is a key aspect of many campaigns’ success. It’s no wonder that direct mail with email follow-up has become almost the de facto standard in multichannel marketing today.

Don’t have your customers’ email addresses? No worries. Web site registration, personalized URL campaigns and email list purchases are all techniques you can use to gather the missing information.

Personalization Works - But You Have to Get It Right

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:16:04 GMT

Studies consistently show that personalization works, but you have to get it right. Get it wrong, and customers will move on.

This comes from Accenture’s “ 13th Annual Strategy Global Consumer Pulse Research ,” which surveyed more than 25,000 consumers around the world. Accenture found that 41% of U.S. shoppers said they have disengaged with a company because of “poor personalization and lack of trust.”

The cost to U.S. retailers is staggering: $756 billion in lost retail and brand sales.

Fortunately for print marketers, “poor personalization” tends to be associated with digital marketing rather than direct mail. Digital marketing can seem like a stalker — following you around the web and popping up at every turn. But direct mail is more transparent, and consumers’ reaction to it is overwhelmingly positive. In fact, InfoTrends found that 84% of consumers said they are “much more likely” or “somewhat more likely” to open direct mail when the content is personalized.

How do you get personalization right? Whether you are sending direct mail or email, the answer is simple: transparency. Let customers know that you are collecting data on them. Ask for their preferences so they can give information voluntarily. Position targeted and personalized communication as a benefit to your customers and one that they can participate in to make the experience better.

BFC is a single source provider of variable data and offset printing, complex fulfillment, pick and pack services, and technology solutions to automate and create efficiencies relating to print and electronic communications. With more than 40 years of industry experience, we’ve built a reputation as experts in our industry and a valued resource for our clients. We have created long-lasting relationships and mutually rewarding partnerships.

BFC takes digital printing to new heights with installation of Océ VarioPrint i300 Inkjet Press

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 19:19:20 GMT

Variable data leader BFC has kept to its commitment of providing clients with dynamic technology offerings and superior finished products by installing the Océ VarioPrint i300 color inkjet press.

The addition of the flagship inkjet press from Canon Solutions America makes for a total of 12 digital presses, providing the Illinois-based leader with the speed, quality, and cost-efficiency required by demanding customers.

“At BFC, almost 85 percent of what we do is driven by variable data printing,” said Lori Nelson, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for BFC. “As such, we needed technology that could not only keep up with that demanding workload but also produce dynamic and engaging personalized communications. The solution for us was the i300, which has allowed us to increase flexibility and expand our application mix for our client base.”

With such an emphasis on data management and variable data communications, BFC was equally interested in employing the white-sheet-in, finished-application-out workflow that is required by customers today – working to meet the increased demand for shorter run, fast turnaround output. The i300 supports the consolidation of sheetfed black-and-white, highlight color, and full-color digital workflows into one production printing system. This feature will help BFC take on more jobs, manage shorter runs, handle variable data projects with more ease, and offer a wider range of media options.

“Evolving and growing with the industry is part of the DNA here at BFC,” added Nelson. “When we looked into inkjet and the i300 we also wanted something that could allow us to produce more direct mail and full-color jobs while not compromising quality and/or efficiency. The i300 directly opens that up and will allow us to serve our partners better, while also entering into markets and prospects outside of our original space.”

BFC installs industry-best FTS high speed-mailing inserter

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 21:01:41 GMT

BFC announces the installation of a Pitney Bowes/MCS Flexible Transactional System (FTS). The new technology is a high-speed inserter that provides on-the-fly mail processing of personalized information and individual selection of multiple documents to each addressee. Able to insert from #10 to mailing flat sizes, the technology also provides critical error detection and immediate reporting to customers for correction and timely completion of mailings.

In simple terms, the FTS Insertion capability allows mailers to…

Save money while providing personal attention . Within the scope of a mass-mailing, reach each addressee with personalized information and targeted materials. Selective insertion allows connection with some addressees, but not others, saving money and avoiding sending some unnecessary mail.
Dramatically decrease production times . The FTS systems can process mail at variable rates of speed – anywhere from 10,000 to 26,000 cycles per hour.
Catch errors prior to delivery to the post office . Individual mail pieces with an error are physically removed from production. Operators and customers receive real-time reports offering timely correction.
Improve security with compliance assurance . The MCS Flexible Transactional System provides documented verification that documents were processed and delivered.

“The state-of-the-art FTS technology is the premier mailing solution for our financial, insurance, benefits and fundraising customers, according to Matt Novak, BFC President. This addition is just part of our comprehensive $2,000,000 commitment to upgrading hardware and software, which is critical to our customers’ ability to serve their audience better. In 2018, BFC will be adding wide-format printing, as well as high-speed inkjet technology, the latter providing output quality that is comparable to traditional offset printing.”

For more information on the benefits of FTS inserting, click this link from Pitney Bowes – https://www.pitneybowes.com/us/shipping-and-mailing/mailing-equipment/folder-inserters.html

For more information on how BFC can speed your time to mail, add flexibility of communicating personal information to each addressee, and enhance your ability to review the process in real-time, click the link below.

Consumer’s preference for print (vs digital) challenges one of today’s biggest urban myths

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 19:01:38 GMT

Digital fatigue, authenticity, and electronic security concerns, are just a few of the reasons that readers are abandoning electronic media. Read on…

A survey conducted by Toluna and commissioned by Two Sides in June 2017 explored how consumers are digesting content, as well as what are their preferences and concerns on consuming content. Across all age groups, including millennial, people are turning to traditional printed materials.

Primary reasons for these choices include:

Consumers want to retain a choice . Across all age brackets, 90% felt they should have the right to choose how they receive communications.
Print on paper is considered safer and more secure . 79% of consumers keep hard copies of important documents files at home, avoiding the risk of being hacked, stolen, lost or damaged.
“ Go Paperless, Go Green” claims are not trusted . 71% of customers believe the claim is groundless, with the assumption being that most corporations just want to save money.
Ads are more effective in print. Even among 18-24-year-olds, 65% say they do not pay attention to online ads.

Is digital overload starting to set in?

The survey found that consumers, particularly in the younger age categories, are concerned about health issues associated with spending time looking at screens and show a desire to “unplug.” About half of those surveyed (53%) felt they spent too much time on electronic devices and that number was highest (81%) in the 25- to 34-year-old group.

The Toluna ( https://us.toluna.com/#/ ) survey commissioned by Two Sides points out that print on paper plays a strong role in our daily lives, whether it is reading recreationally, carrying out financial transactions, maintaining our personal financial records, or responding to advertising. The push to digital communications by many companies suggests that there is a disconnect with what their customers, young and old, actually want.

Want to know more? Read the PRINT AND PAPER IN A DIGITAL WORLD SURVEY. This international survey provides more in-depth insight into consumer preferences and concerns of content consumption for paper and print communications in the current digital landscape.

http://www.digitalprintinginsider.com/2018/2018-06-june/commercial-printing/lp/pdfs/Print-and-Paper-In-A-Digital-World.pdf

BFC Adds Wide-Format Digital Print Capabilities for Banners and Signage

Thu, 03 May 2018 19:58:23 GMT

BFC has installed an Epson S80600 wide-format 9-color printer. The Printing News – 2017 Wide-Format & Signage Readers’ Choice Top Product Award Winner combines a cutting-edge processor and software technology with 64” maximum output width – excellent for printing banners, signage, and posters.

With a variety of substrates available, the capability is perfect for advertising, trade show displays, point-of-purchase, and internal marketing campaigns. Imagery can be printed on paper, vinyl, and fabrics including canvas. Photographic-quality output features superior color matching made possible through Epson’s proprietary 9-color technology, including opaque white and metallic silver.

According to BFC President Matt Novak, “this new addition is ideal for our insurance carriers, franchise systems, banking institutions, universities and manufacturing customers. This enhances BFC’s ability to respond to timely requests with additional value-added, consistently high-quality products.”

A wide variety of products and applications are available. A few of these include:

Advertising materials including banners, flags, posters from single-site applications to support for national campaigns
Retractable and static banner stands that provide quick and easy installation for conferences and trade shows
Promotional, decorative graphics and signage ideal for corporate and retail environments

With more than 40 years of industry experience, we’ve built a reputation as experts in our industry and a valued resource for our clients. We have created long-lasting relationships and mutually rewarding partnerships. To discover how our new technology can enhance your communication programs, click the button below.

Color Equals More Direct Mail Opens

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:30:11 GMT

Studies have shown that using color on the outside of your direct mail envelope equals higher open rates. In fact, one study found that 69% of people are more likely to open a mail piece with color text and graphics on the front than they are when the envelope is plain.

Additionally, adding color to the front of the mail piece has more than double the value of color on the back. Four color text and graphics are more than twice as valuable as using only a single color.

Adding color can make a huge difference in your bottom line. Even if your conversion rate remains the same, by doubling the number of people who open your direct mail letter or package, you increase brand awareness from that campaign.

How can you add color to your envelopes?

• Graphics and images
• Color Banners
• Company Logos
• Patterned backgrounds
• Brightly colored indicia
• Outlined of the state in which they live

These are simple changes that can yield excellent results. Why not try color on your next envelope and see what a difference it makes for you?

At BFC, for over 40 years we have been a print partner for numerous successful direct mail campaigns. We have the equipment and expertise to leverage affordable color technology for maximum impact and return on investment.

5 Reasons Why Print is Still on Target

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 19:24:22 GMT

Tempted to shift marketing dollars to electronic media because it is less expensive? Think before you switch. While electronic media, including email, can be an important part of the mix, print remains the bedrock of an effective long-term campaign. Let’s look at five reasons why print is still on target!

1. Cut through the clutter.

With less postal mail in the mailbox, your printed pieces get noticed right away. Let the competition fight it out in the inbox. You have your prospect’s attention the moment they open the mailbox door.

2. Add instant credibility.

The public is rightfully wary of many of the offers that appear in their email box. While it is easy for any company to create a professional looking email, print tells the reader that you are the real deal. If you put it in print, consumers trust that you are who you say you are.

3. Stay connected.

More and more, people are tiring of 24/7 electronic connectivity. Make sure the prospect has your information at his fingertips when he unplugs from digital devices. Print never runs out of power.

4. Print makes sense.

Print appeals to all five senses. It appeals to the eye, with rich colors and textures beyond what we can get on screen. Printed paper appeals to our sense of smell, which is handled by the same part of the brain that handles memory and emotion. It appeals to our sense of hearing too, as the pages crinkle and slide. As we reach out to experience the texture of special papers and finishes, it appeals to the touch. (Click the link below for our free Guide to Paper Finishes – Coatings, Foils, and more!)

5. You can’t hide from print.

What percentage of electronic media is reaching the destination? The same developers who introduced the electronic platforms are developing technologies to empower consumers to avoid them. Think TiVo and spam filters. The mail carrier, on the other hand, always delivers your mail.

Consider print versus e-marketing as not an either/or choice. Increasingly, marketers are using both together for a one-two punch. But some information just needs the pace and benefits of print, and it has never been easier or less expensive to get high-quality printed materials in the hands of your target audience. Look for our blog titled, “Print Powers Social Media”!

Choosing a Print Partner: One Manufacturing Plant or Multiple?

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:26:54 GMT

When you’re searching for a new printing company, you likely have a list of considerations you reference when analyzing potential partners. This list might include things like glowing testimonials, services offered and the location of your printer’s facility. Some printers you come across might even have multiple facilities spread across the country. Should these vendors jump to the front of your list?

While it may seem like a benefit to work with a printer who has multiple facilities, this often does not lead to greater efficiency or customer service. In fact, it can oftentimes create new problems.

Here’s why:

Which Facility Again?

One of the biggest reasons multiple facility printers can fail to live up to your expectations is due to the misplaced belief that if a printer’s satellite location is close to either your business or where your projects should be mailed, that this will naturally be the location which will handle the printing and fulfillment of these projects. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true.

Most printers with multiple facilities nationwide rely on capacity, rather than location, to decide who prints which project. If the closest facility to you is overloaded with work when you need your project printed; rather than taking on your project, scheduling will instead direct your job to a facility who has the space to take your project. Location does not matter – the facility could be on the other side of the country for all you know. With this comes several issues you likely didn’t consider before choosing this vendor.

For one, they can’t guarantee your project will be handled by a facility who knows your organization (and you) and everything that comes along with that – be it printing preferences or the knowledge to be on the lookout for specific details. If an issue does come up, it could be awkward for that facility to contact you directly. Or will they have to contact your account representative, who themselves may not work in the same facility. You can see how this could develop into an unnecessary game of telephone calls. This delay will likely end up slowing down the progress of your print project, potentially even pushing back your deadline and leading to extra costs.

Then there’s the issue of mailing. If you build your expectations around your projects being printed and mailed from one specific location, then you’re likely to be disappointed. Projects may not get to your audience quicker because they’re not coming from that preferred facility. This could affect your internal deadlines and force you to build in extra time for delivery. The worst part is you may not even be aware which facility is printing your project until you’re contacted by the printer or your rep directly.

Doesn’t sound so great.

One Facility Efficiency

A printer with “only” one facility who also serves as a one-stop-shop for all your printing and fulfillment needs, however, does not face these same issues. Rather than having your print jobs carried out by an anonymous print manager who could be anywhere around the country, you’ll be working with a team who really knows you and your business. Along with allowing them to quickly address errors and get feedback from you directly, this also allows then to make instant suggestions for improvement of your print projects. These could include ideas to lower cost or suggestions for different kinds of paper that might make your project stand out more, for example. Most importantly, you’ll know who’s working on your project and feel confident that it will be appropriately handled.

Having all your warehoused items in one location, furthermore, means that you’ll be able to receive accurate inventory counts whenever you need it. Feel like stopping in and assessing your inventory yourself? With one facility, this is easily doable, especially when compared to having your inventory split up across multiple facilities around the country. Simply put, inventory management is increasingly difficult with multiple facility vendors. Often a project gets routed to a facility that ends up not having the inventory required to complete the job, incurring delays.

Then there’s the issue of mailing. Working with just one facility means you can accurately predict your mail delivery times and plan accordingly. If your project has been produced at a facility halfway across the country, you will need to make sure to get your project in the mail early enough to make up for the additional delivery time. Those concerns would not be an issue if you were working with your trusted print partner that understands the importance of your mail date.

Working with a printer with one facility just makes your life a lot easier. Multiple facilities do not necessarily mean that a printer’s methods and internal processes are efficient. When it comes to trusted, efficient printing, it’s the people who make all the difference. Move that to the top of your print vendor consideration list and forget the multiple facilities one. Service matters – not the amount of buildings.

For more information on how our comprehensive services located under one roof can serve you, click on the contact us button below.

Beyond Traditional Print: Some Industry Terms Explained

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 20:57:37 GMT

Some of today’s printing companies do more than just print. Take BFC, for example. While printing is our foundation, we also supply technology solutions that automate digital and print communications and increase efficiencies. Combined with our pick-n-pack, warehousing and fulfillment services, BFC is prepared to get your projects out the door.

Whether you’re working with a large-scale printer for the first time or you’ve been around the industry for a while now, you might find yourself confused by this wide breadth of services. To help clear up some questions you might have, we’ve compiled a list of terms associated with today’s printing industry and have broken them down.

Hopefully, this will help you make better, more informed decisions when it comes to any future print projects or print-related technology needs you might have in the future.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) Systems – DAM is the common name for a system used to store digital assets that need to be available for use in the digital environment. These assets include items like images, logos, animations, videos, music or templates.

Your vendor may use a cloud-based DAM system through which you can upload your digital assets that may be used in ordering print and email campaigns, or within digital content. Overall, there are two broader categories of DAM systems you should be aware of. These include:

Brand Asset Management – This a subset of a DAM that is only concerned with the digital assets that relate directly to branding and marketing activity. Implementing a brand asset management system is especially beneficial for franchises or organizations with sales associates or offices set up across the country. Using this system, staff can access marketing materials that have been approved by your organization.
Library Asset Management – This is more of a cataloging system serving as a library for your organization. Here, all of your organizations infrequently used items such as videos and images are stored for future use and reference. This is especially useful for associations and similar nonprofits who often need to keep track of member and organization histories.

These are just a few classifications for DAM systems. Overall, these systems are here to make your life easier – especially when it comes to managing print jobs and the distribution of your printed materials.

Marketing Asset Manager (MAM) – Essentially, a MAM is an organization’s central marketing platform that contains your DAM, brand asset management and library asset management systems.

BFC’s myResource portal is our in-house developed MAM system, which allows you to complete a wide range of tasks. Below is an image taken from the landing page of our client’s myResource portal:

This portal was customized to meet this clients marketing support needs. As such, the appearance of myResource and its functions will vary from organization to organization, based on the tools and services they require.

In this example, the headers at the top – or modules – represent how this client wanted their information organized. This client requested 1) a separate pathway be created through which their users could access all their marketing assets, 2) another which contained all their non-marketing, informational content, and 3) one for a variety of business-related support documents.

Other organizations may want a separate module to access their imagery, or their marketing collateral separated by product. These separate modules combine various DAM systems, all adding up into one, comprehensive asset manager that helps your business run smoother and more effectively.

Offset Printing – Offset printing uses metal plates to apply ink onto paper. Setting up an offset printing job is generally more time consuming than its cousin, digital printing, and involves the creation and installation of the metal plates used in the process along with the actual printing process. This printing method is best suited for higher volume print jobs where thousands of pieces are needed, and at this higher volume the process becomes much more cost effective.

Digital Printing – Digital printing, on the other hand, uses rollers to apply ink to paper through an electrostatic charge. This method of printing is generally cheaper than offset for jobs with smaller quantities; think 500 copies of a project, for example. If you submit a job to your printer with lower quantities, they will likely choose digital printing to complete the job.

Variable Data Printing (VDP) – VDP is a technique through which documents are personalized to specific contacts by specifying designated areas in your template flagged as a variable field, either in the form of text boxes or images, which are then populated based off information assigned to a specific contact.

Print on Demand (POD) – POD refers to a technology and business process where projects are only printed when there is a demand for them. For example, sales collateral is a common POD item because it becomes obsolete quite often and organizations don’t want to guess at a print quantity and then be forced to throw away inventoried material that is no longer relevant. Therefore, they structure the item to be printed when needed. It is also used when individual personalization of a piece is required. Digital printing is the most cost-effective print method for POD.

Web-to-Print – This is a general term for any web-based software or application which allows organizations to do print business via websites. Typically, an online store with a catalog of items that can be ordered is referred to as

Web-to-Print or W2P

There you have it, a few terms you might come across when interacting with the print industry. If you ever have questions or concerns about any other terms you might come across in the constantly expanding world of print, feel free to reach out to us.

What to Consider When Centralizing Marketing

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 14:19:25 GMT

Let’s begin with something simple: keeping documents and marketing collateral centralized is a good idea. As we’ve previously discussed, implementing a centralized marketing platform can dramatically improve the way your business shares information. If you’re a franchisor, for example, all your franchisees will now be working from the same playbook, leading to less potential mistakes and minimizing potential damage to your brand overall.

This system functions as a portal through which any of the users, whether they be franchisees or field representatives within your organization, can access approved and ready to use forms or marketing collateral. Simply put, it makes life easier.

With that being said, if you’re new to a marketing platform or are thinking about making the switch, there are a few steps you should know about to get the most out of this technology. Below are suggestions for how to get your system off on the right foot and maximize your return on investment.

Staff Training

So you’ve made the commitment, worked with a vendor to build your portal, developed plenty of documents and collateral for your employees to browse… but does anyone know how to use it? Your users need to have a thorough understanding of how this platform works to get the most out of it.

A key part of adopting a system like this is scheduling training with the relevant members of your team who will be actively using it. If possible, you should try to do this in-person in a classroom-like setting. Here, you can talk through any concerns someone has, run exercises to show how exactly the system should be used and even lay out terms for how your collateral should be used or altered (if you allow the latter).

Along with ensuring proper usage, doing this affords you the opportunity to get buy-in up front by being able to explain all the benefits of this new technology. Building excitement among your staff is crucial for user engagement.

If you can’t do an in-person training session, then schedule several online run-throughs, and make them interactive. You can ask participants to share their screens and walk through exercises that fully explain the system, or simply build a test order and have users find and create collateral themselves.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the people using your program understand how it works so that they can get the most out of your system.

Don’t Stop Adding New Items

Along with this last point, give users incentives to visit the site by frequently updating it. Nothing crushes enthusiasm for a new internet portal like this than failing to keep it updated and letting it languish for months at a time.

This means you’ll need to commit internal resources toward having new materials developed or rely on a vendor to create them. To accomplish this, you’ll need to either develop and build out your year plan for developing collateral, or ensure your current plan has a schedule that will keep your users interested. It is not uncommon to release the site for use with only a few starter items and add as time goes.

It is also a good idea to provide users with a mechanism to request certain items be added to the platform. That way you can monitor requests and see if there are certain items more in demand. These discussions will allow you to create new collateral with the certainty that they will be useful to your users.

Highlight Certain Products

Of course, one extra benefit of using a centralized platform is you can subtly point your users toward using your preferred collateral. On your homepage, you can prominently display collateral that features your latest messaging or calls out time-sensitive offers, like promoting your organization at an upcoming event, for example. Having these documents on the platform for easy usage will only hammer home their importance.

Keep in mind, the portal makes ordering and customizing collateral much easier. Maintaining a well curated and organized platform will limit the time they need to search for the most appropriate collateral.

Regular Feedback

Perhaps most importantly, you should solicit feedback from your users regularly. Not just on the aforementioned collateral, but also on the quality of the system in general. Is there a prominent function your users just don’t need? Then you can go to your vendor and ask to have this removed.

On the other hand, if it becomes clear that the software is lacking in some aspects, you can work with your vendor to have this resolved, raising the value of the software overall.

In all aspects of implementing and managing a centralized marketing platform, you will need to work closely with your vendor. Switching to a centralized approach will greatly enhance your efficiency, but it takes work to do it correctly. Follow these steps and position your business to make a smooth transition.

How to Personalize Print Collateral for Different Markets

Tue, 14 Feb 2017 19:04:35 GMT

In a previous post, we discussed the ways you can use variable data printing (VDP) to personalize your marketing collateral for greater returns. Today, we’re going to dive a little bit deeper into this technique, discussing the ways you can use this printing method to personalize your materials for clients or prospects in completely different industries.

As a business, you likely have a variety of different pieces of printed material. Between brochures, handouts and direct mail flyers, you have a wide variety of collateral – with each piece serving a different purpose. Some may be more evergreen pieces of content that you can share with virtually any client, while others are client or industry specific.

When marketing to specific industries, personalizing your collateral for these different targets is an incredibly important step to take. With VDP, it’s also relatively simple.

In the past, you’d have to spend extra money and time printing different versions of these targeted handouts. Just the cost of extra print runs and all the labor surrounding this might severely limit your marketing capabilities.

The benefits of personalization are something you don’t want to miss out on. As statistics have shown over and over, personalized marketing materials lead to more and better conversions. Here’s how you can personalize your industry-specific materials for greater success.

Swapping out Text

One common example and technique for personalization involves swapping out one set portion of text.

Let’s say you’re developing a brochure advertising one of your services. This service has applications that are unique to different clients depending on which industry they work in, while also having some general features that apply to everyone. Rather than sending out one general piece to all your contacts with all of the potential unique applications muddled together, VDP allows you to personalize a key portion of copy to make it focused on the needs of your audience.

In this scenario, you’d use the introductory paragraph to personalize the service for each industry. Write multiple versions focusing on each industry you’re targeting and really set the tone right from the beginning that this service will do xyz for your target. From there, you can include enough general qualities to fill out the rest of the brochure to make it applicable for all of your recipients, regardless of their industry.

Multiple Image Options

There are other, more subtle ways to personalize your pieces for each industry. Your service may be essentially the same for clients across all verticals. In this case, rather than rely on personalized copy, you can update your imagery to convey the message that your offering is a natural fit for the industry you’re targeting.

The main image on the cover of your brochure, for example, might change for each industry. One batch can include an image showing manufacturing, another insurance and so on. If your cover doesn’t include images, then swap out whatever interior images you do include to be more industry appropriate.

A Best Practice

Keep in mind that, unlike our prior VDP recommendations, the goal here is not to test out and see which language or images resonate the most with your audience. This is a best practice suggestion that you should already be doing. However, once you have some experience personalizing your print marketing materials, then you can experiment and test out various images and text in an effort to increase engagement.

This is especially useful if your service is targeted to only two different industries. In this scenario, you can test out two variations of your print piece for each industry. This will allow you to record the feedback you receive for each and fine tune your imagery and language for future uses.

Start slowly, personalize, and then move onto the testing stages. Get your footing before you fully explore the extra leverage VDP provides. From there, it’s just a matter of how creative you can be.

Client Spotlight: Customers Come First

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 14:37:21 GMT

Customization is essential in basically all facets of life, but especially so in business. As you’re probably well aware, the “one size fits all” approach to customer interactions does not tend to be successful.

We’ve previously written about ways you can customize your client interactions – focusing on the benefits of variable data printing and how print messaging can uniquely connect with your audience – but these points can be hard to grasp without specific examples.

So today, we’re providing an example from one of our clients on how implementing these tactics can not only help your business grow, but also allows you to show a real appreciation for your customers.

The Problem

Renaissance Life and Health Insurance Company is a life insurance company that provides ancillary benefits to groups and individuals in all 50 states.

When Renaissance first came to us, they were going through a significant growth period. A client had brought with them 50,000 new members, all of whom needed ID cards and policy documents printed ASAP. No doubt this was a good problem to have, but it introduced some challenges they needed to address.

For one, Renaissance had historically always printed in house. This was fine when serving a smaller amount of customers, but they recognized they would have trouble meeting this new sudden demand using internal resources.

Secondly, they had a manual printing process they were comfortable with but which was outdated and ineffecient. This process kept the door open for human error, a risk they simply couldn’t take anymore. They knew they needed to digitize their data and segment it by insurance groups to ensure their new customers were getting everything they needed.

These concerns, during a time of impressive growth, led Renaissance to the decision that they needed to broaden their capabilities and find a partner that could meet their needs. A fully customizable, efficient and flexible process was essential.

The Solution

So Renaissance went out into the marketplace. Ultimately, after being introduced to BFC’s solutions, we formed a true partnership. Robert Mulligan, the CEO and President of Renaissance, noted that “BFC listened to us. They didn’t simply tell us what their solution would do, but they listened to us and our needs and helped us craft a solution within their capabilities that fully met what we needed it to do.”

Since first becoming clients several years ago, BFC has printed those crucial ID cards along with certificates of insurance and invoices, all while ensuring the prompt delivery of all projects. These solutions we’ve worked with Renaissance to develop have been crafted with their need for flexibility, control and efficiency in mind. This change has played a part in helping ensure smooth growth, and it has allowed them to prove how much they care about their customers.

“The quality compared to what we were doing is like night and day,” Mulligan said. “BFC brought us a digital solution that helped minimize errors and gave us the ability to track what we were sending out. And ultimately, what that does is enable us to better serve our customers. The quality control and the efficiency we’ve gained through BFC has been really transformative for our business.”

Focused Impact

For many organizations, growing and thriving hinges on being able to deliver value to your customers and members. You do this by putting systems in place that allow for the customization and flexibility you need to meet their expectations. Renaissance recognized this and addressed these issues.

If you’d like to talk about what improvements will help you better serve your customers, we’ll be here.

For more examples of how we’ve helped clients, click here, and to hear Robert discuss his relationship with BFC, watch the video below.

Why Print Still Matters

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:37:36 GMT

We live in a world where important information is increasingly communicated digitally. From email to social messaging, it’s commonplace to see really meaningful – sometimes personal – information broadcast through these methods.

There are a variety of forces behind this trend. From financial statements and member communications to marketing material, sending digitally is typically cheaper than print and allows you to push information out at a greater frequency. You don’t have to wait for an email to be printed, assembled and sent through the mail, for example. Furthermore, digital communications have easier built-in tracking and analytics to iterate and optimize your messaging and tactics.

While these are valid reasons to communicate with your audience digitally, there are plenty of reasons why print still matters – and why, if done properly, it can have a bigger impact than ever before.

Print is More Likely to Stand Out

When you send your audience emails, those emails show up front and center on their mobile devices on in their inbox. They’re hard to miss, right?

Not exactly.

Emails have a high possibility of clustering together. Just check your personal inbox to validate that statement. If you don’t recognize the sender as someone you want to hear from and the subject line doesn’t hook you at first glance, that email is getting buried before you ever see the contents – and if you’re like most people, the chances of you circling back are slim to none.

A study by the Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, found that on average, office workers receive an average of 76 emails per day across their email accounts. What are the odds you cut through that noise?

While an email can have the greatest design of all time, it doesn’t matter if it’s never opened. Print, meanwhile, can use eye-catching content and design to stand out immediately. Mailed pieces are just harder to miss. Most people don’t even bother to read all of their emails and with 76 a day, who can blame them? With print, your audience is more likely to take a look.

Fact: Brains Prefer Print

A tangible printed piece just triggers our brains in more significant ways than digital communications. Forbes notes that a study conducted by the neuromarketing firm TrueImpact found that print – specifically direct mail – was easier to mentally process than similar digital messaging while also having higher odds of brand recall.

The study presented a variety of explanations for this, including that physical material is “real” to our brains due to it engaging with “spatial memory networks.”

In short, unlike digital, which only exists on a screen, print can be held and felt. This adds a level of memorability and authority to print messaging.

The Trust Factor

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Every day there’s news about new data breaches, ransomware and other viruses that can steal your information in the blink of an eye. Click on the wrong website or open the wrong email and you’re suddenly in trouble.

To combat this, your customers have been appropriately drilled with information about how these attacks often come in the disguise of “important” information. Bank info, credit card statements, healthcare information – all of these pretenses are used. If you happen to be someone sending out this type of information through digital channels, there’s already some suspicion due to this environment.

Print has a big advantage in this situation. There’s no risk of triggering a ransomware attack when you open an envelope, which means you’re starting from a better foundation of trust.

New Opportunities

With all that being said, digital is still, of course, a critical way to communicate information today. But rather than make print outdated, this trend does the opposite; it heightens the value of printed information.

By incorporating print to send your most important, sensitive information, you’ll ensure a level of credibility and increase the odds your customers receive the information that they likely can’t do without. And by using print to get attention from members of your audience who are likely inundated with unwanted emails and social messages on a daily basis, you can increase your odds of rising above the tide of ignored digital messages.

And just like digital communications, print is continuously evolving. By harnessing new technologies to automate, personalize and track print communications, companies can create new and better opportunities to reach their audiences.

Why You Need to Centralize Marketing

Wed, 05 Oct 2016 15:28:01 GMT

When you have a number of sales reps or multiple offices spread across the country, maintaining a consistent marketing message can seem like a nearly impossible task. There are so many people and different forms of collateral to keep tabs on; who has the time to keep up?

To fully understand this, let’s use a hypothetical scenario. It may seem like a good idea to have a decentralized marketing system – allowing these different agents and offices to develop their own marketing collateral and messaging. While tempting, going this route puts your business at unnecessary risk.

Keeping up with Demand

Imagine you’re in charge of marketing a growing industrial lighting business. You’re located in the Midwest and you have 40 sales agents spread across the country. Each of your agents works in a different market with slightly different customers, though their overall buyer profile is similar.

You have a library of marketing collateral and messaging that was given to each agent when they first started out, but finding the time to update the materials and share them with your agents on their schedules has been a challenge.

As a result, your agents are starting to get annoyed. They need marketing materials, and the delay has started to concern them. You’re getting more and more requests from them to create marketing on their own, and you’re starting to consider letting them do it just to avoid being a bottleneck. But a few key issues keep going through your mind that will, ultimately, lead you to strengthen your centralized marketing efforts instead.

Consistency

This is the big one. Having consistent messaging, design and information is essential to maintaining the integrity of your brand. After hours spent developing messaging based on careful research, structuring it to sound just right and ensuring all key branding themes are covered, everything can be undone in one misguided edit.

Let’s assume you have messaging that perfectly sums up your business and aligns with your current campaigns. You share it with your agents, directing them to use it with every piece of marketing collateral. If, after falling behind, you allow your agents to create their own collateral, perhaps a few of them think they can come up with something more beneficial for their own marketing efforts. So, they modify the messaging, in some cases changing the meaning substantially.

At this point, there are a number of things that can happen. Prospects who notice the disconnect may be confused or disenchanted with your brand. Agents may feel increasingly emboldened to change collateral and deviate further from the brand guidelines. Loyalty among agents and customers to the brand can erode.

All of these outcomes can be poison for a brand; all of them can be avoided with centralized marketing.

Protection

Beyond inconsistent branding, it’s not too difficult to imagine a scenario in which one of your agents, acting in good faith, makes a slight change to messaging or creates their own marketing collateral from scratch, only for it to contain typos, incorrect contact info, poor design or offensive material.

The mistake may have been created by your agent, but it’s the brand as a whole that suffers.

Using Technology to Simplify Centralized Marketing Efforts

Fortunately, new technologies are making it easier to centralize your marketing without falling behind on the demands of your agents.

For example, powerful distributed marketing solutions now allow companies to provide their teams with the material they need through easily accessible online portals that enforce branding while allowing for personalization. By housing all marketing and sales collateral in one central location, brands can reduce workflow redundancies, improve collaboration between teams, reduce the time needed to introduce campaigns to market, and optimize results through comprehensive reporting.

Regardless of what tools you use, keeping your marketing collateral centralized will ensure the marketing that is distributed fits your company’s messaging and values – while preventing the risks that come with the loss of brand control.

And you can’t put a price on that.

How Are You Setting Your Marketing Goals?

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 19:39:59 GMT

Can you name all the marketing benchmarks you planned on hitting this year?

Did you set any goals at all?

If you’re drawing a blank, you’re not alone. Many businesses invest in marketing without clear goals or a good way to track their investments. Other businesses set goals based on arbitrary benchmarks that have no context or relevance to their broader objectives.

As a company that specializes in printing, fulfillment and technology solutions to power our clients’ marketing communications, BFC understands that a good marketing strategy depends on clear goals.

So how can you improve your goal planning? With SMART Marketing Goals.

SMART is a system that helps you establish specific and achievable goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

To help better align your marketing efforts with SMART Goals, we are offering this marketing goal-setting excel template that you can download for free. It’ll specifically help you:

Easily summarize your marketing goals
Calculate your greatest marketing need
Set a deadline for meeting all your goals

How to Use Direct Mail Effectively in Your Integrated Marketing Strategy

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 14:50:22 GMT

How to Use Direct Mail Effectively in Your Integrated Marketing Strategy

The volume and pervasiveness of today’s fragmented media landscape has made it difficult to create lasting impressions on consumers, who are desensitized by the constant stream of promotional content they encounter. One ad is not going to win customers, and a narrow set of channels is not an adequate path to creating true brand awareness. The only companies that stand out and truly reach their audience are those that integrate their campaigns across a variety of strategically selected channels, ensuring that their brand is consistent and memorable.

Even with today’s wealth of digital media platforms, physical promotions can be incredibly effective, reaching customers where the noise is lowest and filters are minimal. If you’re reading this article, we’ll assume that you’ve done your research, created your buyer personas and determined that integrating direct mail into your strategy presents a strong opportunity.

The people who disparage this channel are usually the ones who use it poorly, but you can have great success if you follow a few simple rules.

Let’s start with the basic elements, and later in this post we will explain why each is so important. Good direct mail campaigns:

Craft clear, bold headline and graphics that clearly support the message.
Highlight the benefits of your service and your specific offer.
Include well defined, easy to follow Calls to Action, and make sure your company name, logo, and contact information are displayed clearly.
Use high quality materials. Postcards, brochures, and other collateral should be well-made, with distinct design and style that matches your existing brand.
Consist of more than one round of mailers. A single glance at your brand won’t magically draw customers. You need to nurture that awareness.
Target the right people. While some businesses like to “spray and pray”, the extra budget for good data will help your ROI if it gets your message in front of your target audience.

One of the most crucial factors – and one that people so often forget – is that “integrated” doesn’t mean “the same.” While it is important to keep your message and brand consistent across channels, that is not an excuse to get lazy with creativity. Integrated marketing is not just the same message on channel after channel; it’s about each platform providing a key piece of the larger brand story. They are all parts of a whole, not rehashed versions of each other.

The manner in which you present your core ideas within each specific medium is a crucial consideration; what works for social media won’t necessarily work for direct mail, and what works for email won’t work in your paid ads. Elements like visual appeal, voice, and Call to Action will vary, and it is crucial to consider the context in which each audience will be viewing your brand. Together, these channels will cover the main ideas your brand is trying to convey, and demonstrate the value of your product or service.

Direct mail involves a very distinct style, and correct usage hinges on a keen understanding of its role. Direct mail is NOT a channel for long descriptions of your product, it’s NOT a way to address competitors, it’s NOT a place to talk about pricing. So how does direct mail contribute to the larger strategy? Let’s go back to our rules, and see what each provides:

Craft clear, bold headline and graphics: Direct mail generates awareness. There’s nothing too complicated about it – your audience didn’t know your service existed, and now they do. A standout headline and graphic will grab their attention long enough to take a look, long enough for them to learn that your services are available to them.
Highlight the benefits: Direct mail has a good chance of getting through to your audience, especially if your business is B2C. About 98% of people bring in their mail the same day it’s delivered, and the vast majority go through it immediately. One of the weaknesses of direct mail – its minimal space – makes your audience likely to read the whole thing, IF it’s quick. If your few short bullet points speak to their problem or needs, your ad will be spared, and the audience member will look for next steps.
Include well defined, easy to follow Calls to Action: There are two halves to acquiring new leads: getting their attention, and keeping it. Direct mail gets their attention better than most channels, and sends people to sources that will keep attention and facilitate the buyer’s journey. By including clear calls to action or a bar code to scan, you direct people to sources where they can find out more, such as a website or phone number. But it’s up to them to act on this, and any friction or confusion about next steps will lose their attention.
Use high quality materials: This is a chance to convey to your potential customer what sort of company you are. Cheap materials, weak graphics, poor printing or bad design indicate sloppiness. But crisp, glossy postcards or brochures speak much louder than poor attempts (and louder than the majority of online ads), demonstrating professionalism and respectability.
Consist of more than one round of mailers: Awareness isn’t achieved with one piece of mail – people need more touchpoints before brand recognition starts taking place. After three to six mailings, the repeated exposure solidifies your brand in their mind, so that all your channels will engage them.
Target the right people: A targeted direct mail campaign not only saves you money, but also acts as a gentle push to customers who might still be putting off the call. Because they’ve already been identified as quality prospects, your direct mail piece acts as a reminder for them to get going.

Integrated marketing that includes direct mail can require a significant investment of time, energy, and resources; after all, most worthwhile things do. But if your marketing efforts aren’t coordinated, you’re likely to end up with low participation and lower ROI.

To streamline the process and reduce the time and labor involved, businesses now have the option to use integrated marketing tools that automate the execution of multi-channel campaigns while allowing for personalization and enforcing brand standards .

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BFC Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation

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BFC Adds Second Canon varioPRINT iX3200 Sheetfed Inkjet Press to Fuel Growth and Enhance Customer Solutions as it Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation

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