Print collateral can separate your practice from the competition. After all, in this digital landscape, information overload can happen quite easily. It’s important to mix up your strategies of engagement, and not to brush off those traditional tactics. Everyone will not see the same ad. By sending the vast majority of advertisements with a specific vehicle, countless potential customers will be lost. The heart of a media campaign is the vehicle to which the advertisement or information is delivered. Will it be sent digitally to a person’s email, during a prime-time commercial break or in the form of a traditional newsletter?
In the past, we’ve discussed and explored radio, television, video marketing and direct mailing strategies. Print collateral is another effective method that helps a business get a message to their targeted audience. These advertisements are tangible. A customer is able to hold a flyer or a brochure. Conversely, a pop-up internet ad is often brushed aside, like a pesky mosquito. Essentially, print collateral emphasizes brand awareness.
Follow these steps, and watch how print collateral will transform your practice into a successful and recognizable brand.
Budget a Print Collateral Campaign
Everything starts with a budget. A print collateral campaign is no different. A successful print collateral campaign begins by determining the strategy. The strategy must recognize concerns such as targeted audience, content, vehicle and assets. A glance at your calendar should answer most of these questions. Holidays are great reasons to contact previous customers regarding a big product launch or sale.
You’ll want to send out postcards for product launches, promotional flyers for holiday sales and promotional products for local events. Plan all of this on January 1. Know how much it will cost to produce and mail all of the promotional material to your mailing list for the entire year.
Logo
Print collateral begins with a sparkling logo. The first step in a print collateral campaign is to design a logo. Ten years ago, such a mission would entail hiring an expensive logo creator. Currently, all you need to do is Google ‘logo design’ and you could find cheap apps that will produce a logo for you. The logo you choose will represent your practice. Therefore, make sure that it is good. Spending a few extra dollars and hiring someone to create a logo, could be worth it.
Arm your Staff
Print collateral is all about brand awareness. Adequate print collateral will arm staff members with a logo-branded arsenal of business cards and brochures. Print collateral can be kept in wallets and in cars. Consequently, no one ever knows when they might bump into a potential patient.
Send Print Collateral Regularly to Existing Customers
The best part about printed collateral, is that it is very inexpensive to produce and mail. You have nothing to lose by sending a brochure or a postcard to an existing customer. If anything, the printed collateral could remind previous customers of additional desired treatment. Just try not to send such material so often.
Drop Newsletters in Popular Public Places
Newsletters are excellent for advertising. Not only do they lend credibility to your practice, but a newsletter allows you to write about whatever you want. One article could be about the new treatment your practice is offering, and another article could be about the goodwill your practice has done for the community.
Ask around town and find out where you could drop a pile of your newsletters off. Lots of times, public places will have no problem with you leaving some of your newsletters at their door. As a result, that unsuspecting individual can become your next patient when they begin reading your newsletter, while waiting for a table at a restaurant or waiting for their barber to finish cutting someone’s hair. Read this blog from AlphaGraphics to get some ideas of which print advertisements could work for certain targeted audiences.