TMR's Direct Mail and Marketing Blog

Guest Post, Mike Smith of WordSmith Creative

If you’ve read the headlines about the problems facing the United States Postal System lately, you may think that the U.S.P.S. is headed the way of the dinosaur. While the long-range prognosis for the Post Office is not all that promising, does it mean that businesses don’t need direct mail services any more?

Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between a fad and a true paradigm shift—something that signals a significant change in the way society thinks about and does things.

It’s not unusual to hear kids asking one another: “Are you an ‘innie’ or an “outie”—referring to the appearance of their respective navels. That same question takes on a completely different meaning when you’re talking about businesses and how they market their goods and services.

With all the Tebow-mania going on, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about why Tim Tebow is similar to inbound marketing practices (Get Found, Convert, Analyze):

Mark Twain famously quipped, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” The same might be said for Colorado Springs printing companies (and printers in other locations as well!). It’s true that the face of the printing industry has changed, but print marketing hasn’t died yet. And in many cases it’s a vital part of an integrated marketing effort.

If you move around in the world of online marketing, you’re certain to come across discussions about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). As a matter of fact, there are companies that specialize in nothing but SEO. For a fee, these companies will promise to get you on the first page of a search result (usually a Google or a Bing search) for a particular keyword. That’s a good thing—as far as it goes.

According to HubSpot, 74 percent of businesses say social media is the leading emerging channel for lead generation. That’s not really surprising when you consider that companies that blog have 55 percent more website visitors and up to 88 percent more leads per month than those who don’t blog. And blogging is only one component of a social media strategy.

If you’ve followed our posts for a while you’ve probably seen an article or two about Quick Response (QR) Codes. Chances are you’ve also seen QR codes (such as the one to the left) pop up in all kinds of places. We’ve seen them at bus stops, on billboards, in magazines, on direct mail pieces. Lately they’ve even popped up on TV. QR codes seem to be reproducing like rabbits. That must mean they’re working, right?

At TMR Direct we talk a lot about making sure that you continually add fresh content to your website. We encourage clients to continually update their blogs with new information that will help their customers make good buying decisions and will stimulate their thinking. We also encourage clients to update the content on their websites and to add fresh calls to action and offers.