JANUARY 2018 | 27
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
GET YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS
Thomas Dodds of PrintUK advises on the importance of taking a multi-action, cross-media approach to
get your marketing message across to the widest audience possible - and for it to be fruitful in its efforts.
Social media has revolution-
ised businesses, helping SMEs to
directly communicate with cus-
tomers more effectively than ever
before. With so many different
platforms and channels to produce
work for, it can feel overwhelming
to know which will be the most
effective for your business, and
help to generate you the greatest
ROI.
If a business doesn’t keep up
to date with social media they
risk losing a lot of business and a
whole generation will not engage
with them to the levels that would
be expected.
SME’s need to utilise every mar-
keting avenue possible, and with
that in mind you have to be aware
that spending so much time online
takes you away from your local
business sphere. Print marketing
(posters, brochures), exhibitions
and local networking events put
you back on the local map, and
gets your business building a
powerful, local fan club. Typically,
you’ll have a higher rate of conver-
sion in your local area in compar-
ison to internet-based traffic. Your
local marketing will act as the
strong foundation allowing you to
drive your profits and grow your
business, especially when you
consider local shoppers tend to
have higher spending habits than
new customers. As a general rule
of thumb people typically like to
spend their money locally. Printing
is the perfect way to take advan-
tage of your local connections.
With so many companies and
brands using social media produc-
ing masses of content every day, it
can also be difficult to have your
content seen over your competi-
tion. Below we’ve listed out our
top tips for social media marketing
for SME businesses.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Most businesses use more than
one social media platform, creat-
ing different forms of content de-
pendent on the channel it’s being
posted on. Social media marketing
is a fast-paced form of marketing,
requiring regular content updates
across multiple outlets, and, as a
result, can lead to inconsistencies
in terms of branding. As your
marketing strategy should include
both on and offline communi-
cations you need to ensure your
social media branding coincides
with your offline marketing
strategy such as your printed and
published materials.
It is crucial, therefore, that every
time you post on any of your
social media channels or produce
marketing materials which will be
printed, you maintain consistency
across your logo, imagery, and
tone of voice. The more effective
you are at doing this, the quicker
your audience will begin to rec-
ognise your brand and associate
you with the product or service
you offer. This means that next
time the person is ready to make a
purchase, they will consider your
brand from which to buy.
MULTI CHANNEL
MATTERS
Perhaps you think that that be-
cause you’re using an online social
media marketing strategy, you can
neglect other channels such as
printing, email marketing, offline
events and PR. Think again! Social
media marketing is most effective
as part of a wider marketing strat-
egy, and can be used in several
ways.
You can run teaser campaigns
on your social channels, high-
lighting upcoming activity offline,
such as an event you are running.
You can run crowd-sourcing
campaigns, asking your online
audience to vote for preferences
from anything including a new
product or service you are looking
to launch, to the colour of a much-
loved product.
Consider your social media mar-
keting as one of the most effective
ways to generate quick responses
from your audience, but be aware
that your customers will need to
see your brand across multiple
channels and in multiple media
forms from brochure printing to
e-mailers, Adwords, billboards,
in order for it to be an effective
campaign.
If you are looking to streamline
your social media marketing to
make it more consistent, you will
need to ensure your brand, mar-
keting message and logo look the
same across all platforms, including
your printing and graphic designs.
This will help you develop a brand
that is instantly recognisable.
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