It seems counterintuitive at first glance. The idea that an online retail behemoth like Amazon might send customers humble, printed catalogs, and marketing their products through an age-old system like the US Postal Service. But there they are, delivered to the homes of consumers across the nation: Catalogs from Amazon, Wayfair, and Bass Pro Shops, to name just a few of the retail giants that still find value in this print marketing mainstay in today’s digital age. Some of these most successful companies use catalogs to drive sales – your business can do the same.
There’s a great marketing secret that savvy marketers have uncovered over the past decade, likely to hold true well into the future: As businesses rush to center their marketing efforts through online media, eschewing many old standby methods, a new opportunity arises. Put simply, if customers’ mailboxes are empty, but their email inboxes, social media feeds and browser tabs are all full, then their mailbox is exactly where you want your marketing efforts to end up. That’s where catalogs come in.
Studies have shown that direct mail marketing elicits positive responses and encourages conversion at a rate that has actually increased over the past few years. Direct mail marketing in the digital age is becoming more effective, not less. And catalogs are a great vehicle for capitalizing on these trends: Customers will enjoy receiving your professionally printed, well-designed catalog in vivid color right at home.
What’s more, catalogs are great vehicles for debuting new products, lookbook style. New product reveals online may not meet the eyes of every customer you’d like to see them, but catalogs sent directly to their homes certainly will. Catalogs can make customers feel valued, and they make sure no one “slips through the cracks” of your digital marketing campaigns.
With available printing technologies, your business can print catalogs that outpace the catalogs of just ten or twenty years ago in style and substance. Everything from variable printing technology to cutting-edge color printing techniques on quality paper makes catalog printing in 2021 sustainable, affordable and effective for marketers and downright exciting for customers. Even better are the new means for connecting your catalog with the digital sales arm of your company. For the most part, gone are the days of customers filling out order forms or mailing paper checks to your companies to purchase Christmas goodies or a new pair of shoes. But that’s more than okay when you can employ creative technology like printing QR codes that link directly to your website right there within the pages of your catalog. Customers can reap the benefits of a nostalgia-inducing night at home with your business’s catalog in hand, then link directly to your website through their smartphone in an instant when it’s time to make a purchase.
This kind of creative integration of the ease of digital shopping with the old-school effectiveness of direct mail marketing can set your business apart from its competitors. With trustworthy and experienced print marketing professionals like the ones at U.S. Press, it’s never been easier to integrate catalogs into your marketing campaign. And if Amazon does it, shouldn’t your business give it a shot as well?
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