Better Results, Better ROIGetting the best possible direct mail piece is crucial to ensure that your direct mail ends up in the hands of the consumer, rather than in the trash. This is where Variable Data Printing come in.
How do you increase response rates on those direct mail pieces without spending a king’s ransom to do it? Variable Data Printing is how. It’s always been important to make the customer feel like the piece is mailed just to them, and the offer is just for them. Address labels that look handwritten have long been a staple in Miami direct mail campaigns. Variable Data Printing makes it even easier to make your customer feel special.
By inserting the correct name, images, relevant data about the prospect, and other information, you increase your response rate threefold. That’s a massive difference in the response to your direct mail campaign, and one that can create explosive direct mail return on investment, without a huge investment!
Having the appropriate information printed directly into the direct mail piece, you can increase your average order size, along with reducing the cost per response. The combination of the two has a significant impact on your bottom line. Often, those who respond to a standard direct mail piece might make a purchase once. By including variable data printing in the direct mail piece, you increase the chances of that person ordering again, because they feel the piece was directed at them personally.
One of the truly amazing things about variable data printing is that you don’t have to worry about proofs being “off.” Because of the nature of variable data printing, the proof that you approve is really the first piece of your production-printed direct mail campaign. It looks exactly like what will be mailed to your customers because it is what will be mailed to your customers!
Contact us today to find out how the variable data printing technology can reduce your time and cost expenditures while increasing your return.
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A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. The <title> tag should be placed within the <head> tag of the HTML document. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site. If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of the title tag will usually appear in the first line of the results. Words in the title are bolded if they appear in the user’s search query. This can help users recognize if the page is likely to be relevant to their search.
The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/ business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.
Page titles are an important aspect of search engine optimization.
A page’s description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about (1). Whereas a page’s title may be a few words or a phrase, a page’s description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google Webmaster Tools provides a handy content analysis section that’ll tell you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for <title> tags). Like the <title> tag, the description meta tag is placed within the <head> tag of your HTML document.
Description meta tags are important because Google might use them as snippets for your pages. Note that we say “might” because Google may choose to use a relevant section of your page’s visible text if it does a good job of matching up with a user’s query. Alternatively, Google might use your site’s description in the Open Directory Project if your site is listed there (learn how to prevent search engines from displaying ODP data). Adding description meta tags to each of your pages is always a good practice in case Google cannot find a good selection of text to use in the snippet. The Webmaster Central Blog has an informative post on improving snippets with better description meta tags. Words in the snippet are bolded when they appear in the user’s query. This gives the user clues about whether the content on the page matches with what he or she is looking for.
Use description meta tags to provide both search engines and users with a summary of what your page is about!
Hope this gives you a basic idea of how to get started, there are many steps to SEO and many techniques out there impossible to list them all but if you at least understand the basics it’s a great start! If you need help with your sites SEO or do want to do this on your own please do not hesitate to contact us today.
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.
-Thomas Merton
Vehicle Wraps is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery; a mobile billboard is the outcome of the process. Wrap advertising can be achieved by painting onto a vehicle’s outer surface, but an increasingly ubiquitous practice in the 21st century involves the use of large vinyl sheets as “decals.”
The vinyl sheets can be removed with relative ease, drastically reducing the costs associated with changing advertisements. While vehicles with large, flat surfaces, such as buses and light-rail carriages, are often utilized due to ease, smaller cars consisting of curved surfaces can also serve as hosts for wrap advertising.
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Wrap advertising (Vehicle Wraps) is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery; a mobile billboard is the outcome of the process. Wrap advertising can be achieved by painting onto a vehicle’s outer surface, but an increasingly ubiquitous practice in the 21st century involves the use of large vinyl sheets as “decals.” The vinyl sheets can be removed with relative ease, drastically reducing the costs associated with changing advertisements. While vehicles with large, flat surfaces, such as buses and light-rail carriages, are often utilized due to ease, smaller cars consisting of curved surfaces can also serve as hosts for wrap advertising.
Recent advancements in vinyl development have led to new types of vinyl, designed specifically for wrap advertising—this includes vinyl that feature bubble-preventing air channels and microscopic glass beads that prevent an adhesive from functioning until the user is prepared (the beads allow the material to be repeatedly lifted and reapplied during the wrapping process, without compromising the longevity of the wrap). The vinyl is heated with a heat gun or torch for the purpose of molding the material around objects.
Decals can be made to cover side and rear windows on a vehicle, though for obvious safety reasons, the front windows used by the driver are not covered. The decals on side windows are typically perforated so that it is still possible for passengers to look outside. A wrap must often be divided into a number of smaller pieces to appropriately cover any movable panels on the vehicle, such as the fuel tank cover, trunk (boot) openings, and other doors.
Wrapping is also sometimes used instead of paint as a less-permanent way of applying its operator’s standard livery than paint. This has become particularly common in the United Kingdom where, since the privatization of British Rail, it has become quite frequent for trains to be transferred from one company to another and thus require many changes of livery. Wrapping is also used for vehicle customizing and mobile advertising. Race cars opt for vehicle wraps in that it is lighter than paint.
Industry analysts, researchers and trade representatives have researched the effectiveness of mobile billboards. Outdoor Advertising Magazine said that outdoor mobile media billboards have a 97% recall rate, and 99% of survey respondents thought mobile advertising is more effective than traditional outdoor advertising. 3M and the American Trucking Associations noted 91% of the target noticed the text and graphics on truck advertising, and the Traffic Audit Bureau noted that on local routes monthly impressions ranged from one to four millions hits. Product Acceptance and Research said 94% of respondents recalled seeing the Mobile Billboard, with 80% recalling the specific advertisement; the billboards resulted in a sales increase of 107%
You’ve been busy creating campaign concepts, logo designs or ad copy and things are clicking and when the next job comes along you feel like your creative tank is empty. We all know and dread that this day will come. You think and think and the ideas just don’t come easily or at all. What do you do to get that creative spark back? Depending on the project you are working on, there are several things you can do to help yourself. Keep in mind this is not an exact science. One or all of these suggestions may or may not work for you or as they say… “Your mileage may vary”.
When given the assignment, if client is present or you’re working with the art director, don’t be afraid to ask questions and take good notes. Also, if you are working with a copywriter, good collaboration can make all the difference in the world. There is a great article at Roundpeg, “Help Me Help You: 5 Tips for Working with a Copywriter“ that offers great tips on the subject.
Sometimes talking about it with others can help trigger an idea. Talk with other co-workers and designers about your creative funk and be open to suggestions. If you’re a freelancer and work alone, talk with other designers you have collaborated with or friends that are designers. You never know, someone may just say that one word that triggers a spark. Friends help friends.
If sitting behind your desk staring at the screen isn’t helping you, then grab yourself a pad and a pencil. Moving away from the electronic routine is what I sometimes prefer rather than bringing along a tablet or laptop. Changing up the usual modus operandi can make you think in a different way. Go sit on the couch, go to a Starbucks, or grab some fresh air on a balcony or terrace. Just by changing your surroundings, you’ll stimulate your brain just by what you see going around you. Sometimes if things are too hectic in the office and there’s too much commotion, opt to move somewhere else. If you can’t, put on some headphones and play some music you really like to groove to. I have found that going to your local bookstore is great place for inspiration. Looking at design books or magazines can get the creative juices flowing. You might even find a new magazine you’ll want to subscribe to.
I know we are in the digital age but sometimes you can’t beat roughing out ideas or layout compositions on paper with my personal favorite… Post-its. If you have a tablet with a stylus that works too! Sometimes I might have a small kernel of an idea. I start with simple roughs of the layout and pretty soon it will snowball to several thumbnail iterations. I will take that and go back to my Mac and build on. Sometimes simpler beginnings are a better start in getting an idea to grow.
With the Internet, we have an unlimited archive within reach of our fingertips. There are hundreds and thousands of sites that can guide and inspire. They can offer great case studies of how others have tackled creative challenges. The Internet can also offer you a global perspective. The worldwide web really is worldwide and can offer ideas and suggestions from freelancers and firms from around the world. Some of my personal favorite sites are:
http://www.deviantart.com/ (Illustrations)
https://www.behance.net/ (Graphic Design, Photography, Interaction, Design, Art Direction, Illustration)
https://www.tumblr.com/ (Graphic Design, Photography, Interaction, Design, Art Direction, Illustration and more!)
http://www.adteachings.com/ (Copywriting and Print Campaigns)
http://www.aiga.org/ (American Institute of Graphic Arts)
