19 Reasons Why You Should Offer Print Catalogs for Your e-Business

Tim    Trends    

Effectiveness of print catalogs

Print catalogs are an effective way to sell your products. There is a powerful synergy between the online and print channels. One cannot replace the other.

For an interesting read on this subject, see this research conducted by Real Results Marketing with Modern Distribution Management. They show that more than 65% of distributors find print catalogs to be effective.

Using their research in combination with other sources, here’s our list of why print catalogs make sense for e-businesses: read more

How Custom Print Brochures Can Drive “No Boundaries” Sales for Retail Stores

Tim    Mobile commerce, Trends    

Custom Print Catalogs Can Drive Retail Sales

Peter Sheldon of Forrester calls it the “brick-and-mortar renaissance”. He blogs that ”Retailers are investing in the vision of ‘Buy Anywhere, Fulfill Anywhere.’ The new digitally connected store allows them to offer up an endless assortment of products far beyond the capacity of the store shelves.”

Mark Grondin, SVP of Marketing at Shopatron expands on this. He writes “customers in many retail locations can expect a hybrid shopping experience that couples the convenience and versatility of eCommerce shopping with the hands-on, instant gratification of shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. In this new world, eCommerce hasn’t replaced brick-and-mortar at all. It’s made it even better.” read more

Accelerate Cross-Media Marketing with Custom Print Catalogs

Tim    Trends    

Number of different types of media in direct marketing (Original source: Capturing the Cross-Media Direct Marketing Opportunity, InfoTrends 2010)

Regardless of the size of your business, you will benefit by delivering your product and service information in more than one media.

You will be at a disadvantage if your marketing strategy is based solely on your website. Savvy marketers know that they also need print.

This message is well-articulated by Barb Pellow, Group Director at InfoTrends, in a white paper titled “Cross-Media Services… Beyond Personalization“. It can be downloaded at the Océ site for no charge.

As she states in the introduction, “One thing is certain—effectively using cross-media communications delivers better business results. Delivering multiple impressions and giving prospects a variety of ways to respond can have a dramatic impact.” read more

How To Quickly Make A Print Catalog From A Simple Data File

Tim    Import / Export Data, Product Data    

Example of a print brochure made from a simple data file

Do you need a nice print brochure or catalog for your top-selling products?

Getting started is a lot easier than you think.

read more

Print Catalogs Become a Powerful Research Tool with Real-Time Reports

Tim    Analytics, Mobile commerce, QR Codes    

Now Print Catalogs Can Give You Real-Time Action Reports

Marketers — here is a new tool in your arsenal. We are calling it a “Real-Time Catalog Action Report”. On a per publication basis, you can see how many downloads, how many scans & clicks, and which products received the most attention.

You will look at print catalogs in a new light. It completely changes their value proposition. read more

Touchcode Will Help Make Print Catalogs More Interactive

Tim    News, QR Codes, Uncategorized    

Touchcode looks promising for making print catalogs more interactive

Touchcode is an interesting new way to link print catalogs with other content, media, and mobile sites. We are glad to see it. Touchcode offers an alternative to using QR codes for the same purpose.

One advantage of Touchcode over QR is its invisibility. This will be important in some cases, both for aesthetic and practical reasons. The QR code can take up valuable space on the page. On the other hand, seeing a QR code is a call to action. People know what they are being asked to do when they see one. With Touchcode, some page real estate will be required for the call to action. read more

QR Codes are Second Highest in Mobile Market Budgeting

Tim    QR Codes, Trends    

QR codes are the second highest mobile marketing investment, after apps

Econsultancy has published its Marketing Budgets report for 2012.

68% of companies and agencies are increasing their digital marketing budgets. As you would expect, most businesses will give top priority to building mobile apps. Next up: “QR codes represent the second most popular mobile technology, with just under half of companies (48%) saying they intend to invest here in 2012.”

The report summary does not delve into how QR codes are likely to be used. Our prediction is that print catalogs will become one of the primary delivery vehicles for QR codes.

This makes sense with today’s ability to create print catalogs that are tailored to specific markets, events, and even individual companies. Marketers can use QR codes in print catalogs to drive mobile users to specially designed landing pages. Custom catalogs and landing pages can be produced together as components of a single campaign.

Catalog-on-Demand can make as many different print catalogs as you need. Each product in each publication has a unique QR code. All scans are tracked for analytic purposes. Try it out today. Please let us know if you have any questions or issues.

How To Create a Parts Catalog — And Keep It Up-To-Date

Tim    Auto Update — Always Fresh™, Layout, Product Data    

Making a parts catalog is simple. Your customers will love it!

Selling replacement parts is a competitive business. One of the best ways to differentiate yourself is to make it easy for customers to order the right part. Help them with a quality PDF catalog that includes only the parts they need. They will appreciate it and remember you! read more

Print Catalogs With QR Codes Give Measurable Results

Tim    Analytics, QR Codes, Trends    

Marketers can use print catalogs with QR codes to get useful analytics.

Matthew Parker, printing consultant, has made some interesting predictions for 2012. We’ve mentioned one already in an earlier post. His second prediction is that we will hearing more about ROI for print. This is a big idea. As Matthew says, “Now that print will drive prospects to other channels, its success can be properly measured.” read more

Print Catalogs and QR Codes Are About Driving Web Traffic in 2012

Tim    QR Codes, Trends    

Increased web traffic is the main reason to integrate print and digital. Custom print catalogs are ideal for this role.

A recent survey by Charterhouse shows that “the majority (70%) of marketers are using print to drive interest to their digital content.  The most common objective, stated by 61% of respondents, is to increase traffic to their website. read more