8 Reasons Your Business or School Should Go Beyond Paper in 2011

It’s easy to do nothing, especially when the return on doing something, anything, seems questionable. But there is real risk in doing nothing. When you stop promoting your business or institution people forget about you. You become irrelevant. Then when the time comes to make a buying decision you’re left out or at best, as an afterthought, you’re included with a list of other Johnny-come-lately providers to compete for business that once was yours. But, you say, budgets are tight in 2011. Yes, they are. Budgets should always be tight, which is why there are eight good reasons that you should avoid the cost of doing nothing and move some or all of your marketing beyond paper right now.

1)    Save Money – Have you ever thought about the amount of money spent producing, storing and distributing information on paper? Even if you have not produced new paper marketing materials in 2011 – to save money – you’re paying to store what you produced in 2010. Couldn’t you save money by moving some of that material online? To print on demand? Test a postcard mailing with a new email program? There are lots of hidden, paper-related money wasters in your business. IMR would be happy to brainstorm with you about eliminating them.

2)    Amplified Voice – Ever been in a meeting when everyone is talking at once? It’s hard to make out anything that anyone is saying. It’s amazing what happens when suddenly everyone but one person stops talking. That one voice is loud and clear. The same thing happens in the market for customers. When all your competition is marketing to your prospects at the same time you are, it’s hard to be heard. You have to spend a lot more money to have the same impact. But when the market is quiet, the one person speaking gets a lot of attention. Similarly, when one medium is noisy – say email, because it costs less – you may be heard loudly and clearly using direct mail where volume has dropped significantly. It’s quiet now. Are you missing an opportunity?

3)    Go Green – Today we have recycled paper and renewable forests but even if you assume every tree harvested for paper production is replanted, the carbon footprint of the paper industry is huge. John Rooks, president of sustainable business practice The SOAP Group, estimates that each reem of paper a business does not use eliminates 30 pounds of carbon from the environment! Five pounds of paper saves 30 pounds of Carbon! Wow! If your company is trying to be a better steward of the planet, IMR can help by moving some or all of your marketing and business processes to new media and online processes. Waiting isn’t a planet-friendly option.

4)    Improve Efficiency – Businesses run on processes. Your business probably has paper forms that drive many of these processes. How many of those processes could move from paper to the computer? How much faster could you be? How much money could you save on forms? Time? How could you benefit from the new information that is online and available to the organization? When budgets are tight, improving efficiency is a great way to stretch every dollar and prepare for explosive growth when the economy heats up.

5)    Expand Reach – You probably receive dozens of communications each day. Ever thought that your prospects do too? If you’re communicating with them only on paper, is that the way that is most apt to get their limited attention? Research shows that it takes six contacts before a person is ready to make a purchase. Can you afford six paper contacts to your prospects? How many more prospects could you reach six times if you converted half your solicitations to email or text messages? IMR can show you how you can move some communications away from paper, test the results and make informed choices about how to expand your reach.

6)    Stay top of mind – Especially if you’re in an industry where your customers are sitting on the sidelines in this economy, you want to stay at the forefront of their thinking. When they decide to invest in the services you provide, you want to be the very first firm and person they think of. Staying top of mind using direct mail, with the increased cost of postage, may be prohibitive, but if you go paperless, you can keep in front of your prospects and customers on a budget. It’s a good investment that mitigates the risk of doing nothing.

7)    Effective Campaign Management – To get people’s attention you need just the right message, subject, format and medium. Testing each of these to find the combination that makes an impact is essential. Using only paper, how do you efficiently track and archive different versions for future reference?  IMR can work with you to implement a job management system that will put all your project history at your fingertips.

8)    Get out of the rut – Is your marketing in a rut? It’s the “rut” we get in to that blocks the possibility of new ideas. In this market, being stuck in a rut you may be reluctant to spend scarce resources on the same old direct mail campaign but are not sure what else to do – paralyzed by fear of the unknown. IMR is ready to help your organization get over those fears. Don’t be afraid to “test” a market. Try digital printing with personalization to smaller more targeted demographics instead of mass mailing to large broader groups. Perhaps email marketing to save postage costs? Don’t let your rut prevent you from learning how to reach prospects in ways that influence a response. The time is right.