Trends in the Marketplace | Dynamark Graphics Group

The Enduring Effectiveness of Promotional Products

For more than 200 years, promotional products have integrated their way into daily life, serving not only as useful tools, but as powerful, long-lasting advertising. But how do recipients feel about receiving promotional products? What purpose do they think such items serve? What actions do they take? These are questions every advertiser should know and understand, as the answers can have a significant impact on their ROI. In an effort to answer some of these questions, the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) conducted a...

Rewarding the Right Behavior

Despite the growing recognition that customer experience matters, most employee compensation programs continue to be based on revenue targets. Andrew McInnes, customer experience analyst at Forrester Research, believes that as more companies acknowledge the effect that customer experience has on their bottom lines, they will begin to add customer feedback scores to their incentive structures along with the more traditional business performance metrics. According to McInnes, the process of establishing customer experience-based employee...

Leveraging Customer Insight for More Targeted Communications

Staying relevant, valued and connected to customers — in other words, deepening the engagement — has become the number one challenge for marketers according to the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, Routes to Revenue. In the report, marketers identified tactics and strategies that they feel are critical to deepening engagement. Nearly 60 percent said they intend to improve customer segmentation, profiling and targeting, while 30 percent reported that they were embracing more personalized, multichannel communications across all...

Becoming a Better Listener

A good listener not only hears what is being said, but listens, responds and acts accordingly. People who are considered good listeners are sought out by colleagues and friends. Likewise, companies that are considered good listeners are rewarded by a higher level of customer loyalty. According to Forrester Research, despite the widespread use of customer feedback programs, fewer than a third of firms contacted closely monitor the quality of their interactions with target customers or systematically incorporate customer needs into...

Customer Value Measurement – An Art and a Science

How should a company measure customer value? According to Onat Unal, a senior consultant at Peppers & Rogers Group Instanbul, there is no one-size fits-all answer. In fact, the definition of a high-value customer is often different for companies that compete in the same market space. Rather than sticking to one single measurement, Unal suggests using several different calculations of customer value: Current revenue: The most basic approach is to calculate the monthly revenue average for each customer and analyze the trend and variance...

Forging Ahead Despite a Weak Eocnomy

Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Despite the fact that economic uncertainty remains, companies need not wait until the recession completely runs its course before getting back to growth activities. Now is the perfect time for companies to focus on growth plans. Profitable, sustainable growth starts when you have a deeper understanding of customers’ needs than your competitors have. Consider this: The average hit rate for products under development is 1 in 4, ...

Don’t Send Emails Like This!!

by: Katrina Sawa I’m going to jump right in and get blunt here. I don’t have time to sugar-coat this information because frankly — It’s costing you and your business numerous sales every day! Pay attention! First of all, if YOU’RE NOT doing any regular, consistent email marketing like ezines, announcements, etc. then ‘what are you thinking’? This is a must for anyone’s follow up system! (Of course it’s not the only thing you should be doing but it needs to be a part of your overall ...

Professional Digital Printing

Better Ads Become Easier to Reach and Afford by: Maureen Pelayo Professional digital printing paved the way for advertisers to be more confident in making ads uniquely their own. Now they can confidently compete with their contemporaries no matter how small or big of a company they are. The choices are vast as well. They can accommodate the amount they have and make it suffice for all their marketing endeavors. What choices do you have? With the advent of professional digital printing, you can choose to have standard-sized ads like...

Generating Sales with Company Holiday Cards

by: Marie Adams During the holidays, a greeting card can be a simple way to share a little holiday cheer and keep in touch with business contacts. If used correctly, those holiday cards will have you cheering with an added boost to your year-end revenue. Deciding to send company holiday cards is the first step to success. You want to show all of your business contacts that you care and are thinking of them at this special time of the year. Especially when it’s unexpected, a holiday card can make a lasting impression on anyone in your...

Active Advertising with Direct Mail Postcards

by: Joel Owens In today’s digital age, direct mail postcards combine innovation and old-world charm to win customers. As a marketing tool, it offers a lot of potential. It brings advertising to a higher level by seeking prospective customers instead of waiting passively for customers to come to know of the business in due time. Give your business a boost with direct mail postcards and your sales will surely take off by itself. Take a good look at today’s postcards. Not only are they more durable but they are better looking, too. The...