2BUSINESS BUSINESS

UPDATESEPTEMBER 2011

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Marketing In Real LifeOnline Ordering Helps a Brand Grow

Brand MarketingIs Someone Talking Behind Your Back?

Biz TipsA Plan for Success

Business 2 Business Update is a monthly newsletter published by PIP

List segmentation is the process of dividing your prospect/customer list (or database) into distinct groups of buyers. This helps you tailor your message so it’s more relevant, thus driving a higher response rate on all types of communications campaigns.

In addition to traditional demographic- and geographic-based segmentation, at PIP Printing, we can help you create marketing lists based on:

• Buying Behavior, including product usage, attitudes and responses

• Psychographics, including lifestyle, values and personality traits

• Corpographics/Firmographics, including a company’s annual revenue, number of locations and/or employees, SIC code and more

List segmentation allows you to really know who your customers are so you can create better-targeted campaigns, and develop credible dialogues with customers that increase loyalty and open the door for selling new products and services.

Rather than throwing away money by marketing to people who aren’t interested in what you’re offering, call the experts at PIP Printing when you’re ready to make your next marketing campaign the best it can be.

Personally SpeakingTRENDS IN THE MARKETPLACE

PIPQUIZHOW TO...

See how savvy you are with our PIP Quiz.What Chicago radio station was originally linked with Sears?

A. WLS-AM

B. WABC

C. WCHI

D. WSRS

Answer inside!

Benefi t from Being CuriousIs curiosity a valuable characteristic for a leader? Noah Blumenthal, founder and president of Leading Principles, Inc., believes so. According to Blumenthal, curiosity about your business helps you discover your company’s strengths and weaknesses, and allows you to make appropriate adjustments.

Curiosity about your people helps you better understand what is happening in their world, which in turn makes them more willing to share their thoughts with you. Not only can this help you discover your employees’ best ideas, but knowing you’re going to ask questions will make your employees more likely to think outside the box.

Curiosity about the world around you helps you discover changes in your industry that could affect your organization. It also helps you react quickly to crises, limit losses, and take advantage of opportunities. And just as being curious in business can improve your company, being curious can actually lead to more enjoyment and fulfi llment in all aspects of your life.

next marketing campaign the best it can be.next marketing campaign the best it can be.

Finding Profi t in Customer Behavior It goes without saying that selling a new product or service to a current customer costs signifi cantly less than acquiring a new customer. That’s why it always makes sense to retain good customers. Not only do loyal customers tend to be your most profi table customers, according to an article on crm2day.com, they are also a great source of information that can be leveraged to create new and innovative products and services.

Many industries already use geographic and demographic segmentation techniques to identify potentially valuable customers. In markets where there is little competition, these strategies may deliver adequate results. But in markets where competition is intense and churn rates high, these somewhat passive strategies don’t go far enough to improve the bottom line.

Behavioral segmentation, on the other hand, offers meaningful insight and actionable business intelligence at reasonable cost. In behavior segmentation, potential buyers of a product are divided into groups based on their knowledge, attitude, uses, or responses to a product. Behavioral segmentation helps marketers see their customers as real people and, accordingly, develop extremely cost-effective and highly targeted marketing campaigns.

Unlike other measures of customer value, behavior tends to evolve very slowly over time. However, once an accurate picture of a customer’s likely behavior has been created, that picture is unlikely to change for quite a while. This gives marketers infi nite opportunities to cost-effectively and unobtrusively market new products and services to that customer.

Behavioral segmentation helps marketers see their customers as individuals. Therefore, making it easier to develop highly targeted marketing campaigns.

E pippdx@pip.comP 503.282.0913

633 SE Clay StreetPortland, OR 97214

John KonradOwner

www.pippdx.com

MARKETING IN REAL LIFE BRAND MARKETING

Do you know what’s being said about your brand online? According to a survey by Alterian, a leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, less than a third of marketers have a strong understanding of social media conversations involving their brands.

Alterian recently polled nearly 1,500 marketers, agencies, marketing service providers and systems integrators around the world to examine marketing expenditure, social media measurement and the level of personalization across digital channels. Thirty-one percent of respondents indicated they either have very little or no understanding of social media conversations regarding their brand. Approximately 39 percent indicated they use only a few ad-hoc tools to track and measure social media conversations.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents admitted being concerned that their brand may be at risk because they are not more engaged with customers and/or because they do not have a good grasp of how online conversations are impacting their brand. The study further revealed that a large portion of marketers appear to be limited in analytical competency, indicating they either have no analytical experience concerning digital media (6 percent), stop at the basic analytical level (29 percent) or struggle to tie analytics back to the campaign strategy (28 percent).

While it is easy to become paralyzed due to the sheer volume of social media conversations, companies need to be engaged in some form of social media monitoring. Otherwise, they risk having customers—and possibly even competitors—“talking” about them in cyberspace with nothing being said to counter potentially negative conversations.

Is Someone Talking Behind Your Back?

BIZ TIPS

Fictional company used to demonstrate application.

Online Ordering Helps a Brand GrowCHALLENGECloud Spas has ten locations throughout the Southwest. The company has an aggressive plan for growth over the next fi ve years. To prepare for this expansion and to ensure the consistency and integrity of their brand, the vice president of marketing, Jim, decided to implement a centralized procedure for ordering all printed materials. He had noticed some inconsistency in Cloud Spas’ brand identity due to each location manager ordering his/her own materials. In addition, several personnel at the corporate offi ce were spending too much of their time managing the information needs of these locations.

SOLUTIONWe knew that our PIP easyDOCS online ordering system was the perfect solution for Cloud Spas. It allowed all administrative forms, operational documents and marketing materials to be uploaded to a customized online catalog that all Cloud Spas locations could use for ordering their materials.

First, we redesigned many of their existing materials so each adhered to the company’s branding standards. Some were recreated as templates so that each of the spa locations, when ordering, could easily just type in their specifi c contact information to customize the materials for their location. By updating all materials and limiting ordering through the easyDOCS online catalog, Cloud Spas was able to ensure that its customers would receive consistent information about the company, thus protecting their brand image. Also, since the easyDOCS system has a master buyer feature, the corporate offi ce was able to control printing costs by approving all orders before they came to us for printing.

Once everyone became comfortable with the new ordering system, Cloud Spas expanded the website to include more items. They added promotional products such as sun visors, mini-towels, soaps and other beauty products imprinted with their logo that each location could order to give to their customers. These products helped the company to further market its brand.

RESULTSThe Web to Print online ordering system really helped Cloud Spas manage their growth. Their corporate personnel now have more time to spend on their continued growth plan tasks. In addition, Jim and his team are able to receive several types of reports from the system that help them manage their operations, their brand and their printing costs.

PIP

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A Plan for Success

What is the single most important thing a business owner can do to ensure the success of his or her business? According to Nancy Clauss, president of SAGE Business Consulting, writing out a realistic business plan can help you not just survive, but actually thrive. Clauss offers the following seven tips for writing a simple, yet effective, business plan:

1. Look at your business from 20,000 feet. Think about where you want to be in ten years, fi ve years, even one year from now.

2. Map it out. Determine what needs to happen in your business in the next year to move you signifi cantly along toward your fi ve- or ten-year goal.

3. Refi ne your markets: List all the possible markets that fi t your product or service. Narrow them down to three to fi ve.

4. Review your sales goals: Decide how you will reach your markets, including on- and offl ine channels.

5. Document systems for growth. Start at the most obvious and keep going until you have a real operations manual.

6. Financials: Keep an eye on your budget and plan for the future.

7. Focus on the big picture items fi rst and add in detail as you go.

MARKETING IN REAL LIFE BRAND MARKETING

Do you know what’s being said about your brand online? According to a survey by Alterian, a leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, less than a third of marketers have a strong understanding of social media conversations involving their brands.

Alterian recently polled nearly 1,500 marketers, agencies, marketing service providers and systems integrators around the world to examine marketing expenditure, social media measurement and the level of personalization across digital channels. Thirty-one percent of respondents indicated they either have very little or no understanding of social media conversations regarding their brand. Approximately 39 percent indicated they use only a few ad-hoc tools to track and measure social media conversations.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents admitted being concerned that their brand may be at risk because they are not more engaged with customers and/or because they do not have a good grasp of how online conversations are impacting their brand. The study further revealed that a large portion of marketers appear to be limited in analytical competency, indicating they either have no analytical experience concerning digital media (6 percent), stop at the basic analytical level (29 percent) or struggle to tie analytics back to the campaign strategy (28 percent).

While it is easy to become paralyzed due to the sheer volume of social media conversations, companies need to be engaged in some form of social media monitoring. Otherwise, they risk having customers—and possibly even competitors—“talking” about them in cyberspace with nothing being said to counter potentially negative conversations.

Is Someone Talking Behind Your Back?

BIZ TIPS

Fictional company used to demonstrate application.

Online Ordering Helps a Brand GrowCHALLENGECloud Spas has ten locations throughout the Southwest. The company has an aggressive plan for growth over the next fi ve years. To prepare for this expansion and to ensure the consistency and integrity of their brand, the vice president of marketing, Jim, decided to implement a centralized procedure for ordering all printed materials. He had noticed some inconsistency in Cloud Spas’ brand identity due to each location manager ordering his/her own materials. In addition, several personnel at the corporate offi ce were spending too much of their time managing the information needs of these locations.

SOLUTIONWe knew that our PIP easyDOCS online ordering system was the perfect solution for Cloud Spas. It allowed all administrative forms, operational documents and marketing materials to be uploaded to a customized online catalog that all Cloud Spas locations could use for ordering their materials.

First, we redesigned many of their existing materials so each adhered to the company’s branding standards. Some were recreated as templates so that each of the spa locations, when ordering, could easily just type in their specifi c contact information to customize the materials for their location. By updating all materials and limiting ordering through the easyDOCS online catalog, Cloud Spas was able to ensure that its customers would receive consistent information about the company, thus protecting their brand image. Also, since the easyDOCS system has a master buyer feature, the corporate offi ce was able to control printing costs by approving all orders before they came to us for printing.

Once everyone became comfortable with the new ordering system, Cloud Spas expanded the website to include more items. They added promotional products such as sun visors, mini-towels, soaps and other beauty products imprinted with their logo that each location could order to give to their customers. These products helped the company to further market its brand.

RESULTSThe Web to Print online ordering system really helped Cloud Spas manage their growth. Their corporate personnel now have more time to spend on their continued growth plan tasks. In addition, Jim and his team are able to receive several types of reports from the system that help them manage their operations, their brand and their printing costs.

PIP

Qui

z: A

, WLS

-AM

, whi

ch o

rigin

ally

sto

od fo

r Wor

ld’s

Larg

est S

tore

. The

sta

tion

offi c

ially

com

men

ced

on A

pril

12, 1

924.

A Plan for Success

What is the single most important thing a business owner can do to ensure the success of his or her business? According to Nancy Clauss, president of SAGE Business Consulting, writing out a realistic business plan can help you not just survive, but actually thrive. Clauss offers the following seven tips for writing a simple, yet effective, business plan:

1. Look at your business from 20,000 feet. Think about where you want to be in ten years, fi ve years, even one year from now.

2. Map it out. Determine what needs to happen in your business in the next year to move you signifi cantly along toward your fi ve- or ten-year goal.

3. Refi ne your markets: List all the possible markets that fi t your product or service. Narrow them down to three to fi ve.

4. Review your sales goals: Decide how you will reach your markets, including on- and offl ine channels.

5. Document systems for growth. Start at the most obvious and keep going until you have a real operations manual.

6. Financials: Keep an eye on your budget and plan for the future.

7. Focus on the big picture items fi rst and add in detail as you go.

2BUSINESS BUSINESS

UPDATESEPTEMBER 2011

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Marketing In Real LifeOnline Ordering Helps a Brand Grow

Brand MarketingIs Someone Talking Behind Your Back?

Biz TipsA Plan for Success

Business 2 Business Update is a monthly newsletter published by PIP

List segmentation is the process of dividing your prospect/customer list (or database) into distinct groups of buyers. This helps you tailor your message so it’s more relevant, thus driving a higher response rate on all types of communications campaigns.

In addition to traditional demographic- and geographic-based segmentation, at PIP Printing, we can help you create marketing lists based on:

• Buying Behavior, including product usage, attitudes and responses

• Psychographics, including lifestyle, values and personality traits

• Corpographics/Firmographics, including a company’s annual revenue, number of locations and/or employees, SIC code and more

List segmentation allows you to really know who your customers are so you can create better-targeted campaigns, and develop credible dialogues with customers that increase loyalty and open the door for selling new products and services.

Rather than throwing away money by marketing to people who aren’t interested in what you’re offering, call the experts at PIP Printing when you’re ready to make your next marketing campaign the best it can be.

Personally SpeakingTRENDS IN THE MARKETPLACE

PIPQUIZHOW TO...

See how savvy you are with our PIP Quiz.What Chicago radio station was originally linked with Sears?

A. WLS-AM

B. WABC

C. WCHI

D. WSRS

Answer inside!

Benefi t from Being CuriousIs curiosity a valuable characteristic for a leader? Noah Blumenthal, founder and president of Leading Principles, Inc., believes so. According to Blumenthal, curiosity about your business helps you discover your company’s strengths and weaknesses, and allows you to make appropriate adjustments.

Curiosity about your people helps you better understand what is happening in their world, which in turn makes them more willing to share their thoughts with you. Not only can this help you discover your employees’ best ideas, but knowing you’re going to ask questions will make your employees more likely to think outside the box.

Curiosity about the world around you helps you discover changes in your industry that could affect your organization. It also helps you react quickly to crises, limit losses, and take advantage of opportunities. And just as being curious in business can improve your company, being curious can actually lead to more enjoyment and fulfi llment in all aspects of your life.

next marketing campaign the best it can be.next marketing campaign the best it can be.

Finding Profi t in Customer Behavior It goes without saying that selling a new product or service to a current customer costs signifi cantly less than acquiring a new customer. That’s why it always makes sense to retain good customers. Not only do loyal customers tend to be your most profi table customers, according to an article on crm2day.com, they are also a great source of information that can be leveraged to create new and innovative products and services.

Many industries already use geographic and demographic segmentation techniques to identify potentially valuable customers. In markets where there is little competition, these strategies may deliver adequate results. But in markets where competition is intense and churn rates high, these somewhat passive strategies don’t go far enough to improve the bottom line.

Behavioral segmentation, on the other hand, offers meaningful insight and actionable business intelligence at reasonable cost. In behavior segmentation, potential buyers of a product are divided into groups based on their knowledge, attitude, uses, or responses to a product. Behavioral segmentation helps marketers see their customers as real people and, accordingly, develop extremely cost-effective and highly targeted marketing campaigns.

Unlike other measures of customer value, behavior tends to evolve very slowly over time. However, once an accurate picture of a customer’s likely behavior has been created, that picture is unlikely to change for quite a while. This gives marketers infi nite opportunities to cost-effectively and unobtrusively market new products and services to that customer.

Behavioral segmentation helps marketers see their customers as individuals. Therefore, making it easier to develop highly targeted marketing campaigns.

633 SE Clay Street

Portland, OR 97214

503.282.0913

pip@pippdx.com

pippdx.com

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