The average American now spends 24 hours each week perusing the internet. This includes social media, streaming services, and even the news. 

This leads many business and marketers to believe the majority of their resources should go toward digital marketing. 

Although digital formats seem to be taking over at an alarming rate, print is nowhere near dead. For businesses, print advertising still creates valuable space for gaining visibility. 

Without a comprehensive marketing plan, you could be losing out on potential customers and profits. 

Here’s how to create a marketing plan to include both digital and print platforms. 

Do Your Homework First 

Many businesses jump the gun and start on their marketing strategy before they’ve done their research. There are a few important aspects you need to consider before you start putting any plan into action. 

First, you need to know who you are and what you’re selling. Without an idea of what your product or service is, you’ll fail to communicate the message to potential customers. 

Sounds easy enough, right? 

These important tips will help you define your brand and communicate it to your customers. 

Compare Yourself to the Competition 

Next, figure out against whom you’ll be competing in the market. Check out similar businesses in your niche. 

What are they offering in their email newsletters? Do they use social media? What kind of content do they create and how often? 

Next, you’ll need to do a bit of honest reflection. Consider your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). 

This will help you determine how you can distinguish yourself from the competition and how to move forward. The idea is to carve out a space for yourself in the market. 

Understand Your Buyers 

If you don’t know anything about your potential buyers, you can’t expect to ever reach them. This is true for both digital and print marketing. 

Start by figuring out where your potential buyers get the majority of their information.

Are they more likely to read one magazine over another? 

Which corners of the internet do they inhabit the most? Do they spend a lot of time on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms? 

Consider investing in advertisements in niche newspapers and magazines. These are especially powerful for people living in urban areas, as they give you a broader reach. 

For digital platforms, you’ll want to consider using inbound marketing tactics. This is the means by which you attract your customers to your content or site. 

You create internet content of value to your customers. Over time, you build trust and confidence in your brand. 

Define Your Short and Long-Term Goals 

After you complete your research, you should have a better idea of who you are and to whom you’ll be marketing. 

Your next step should be to define your marketing goals. These goals should be realistic but still challenging. You want to impose some pressure on your business to do better. 

Take a moment to consider the metrics you’ll use to measure your business’s growth over time. The two major metrics you’ll use are KPIs and ROIs. 

Understanding and tracking these metrics will help you evaluate and adjust your strategy. 

Key Performance Indicators

Different departments may have different KPIs, depending on individual roles and objectives. Overall, these indicators should align with overall business objectives. 

The most common KPIs you may track include sales revenue, leads, and cost per acquisition. 

You might consider traffic-to-lead ratios, organic traffic, conversion rates, and much more. 

Return on Investment 

Your marketing strategy, both print and digital, will cost your money. In order to make money, you need to spend money to get your brand out there. 

Your business should use ROI to understand the return on your investment relative to the original costs. 

Monitor and Adjust Your Goals 

Above all, your business goals should be in line with your overall mission. You should start with a couple of main goals with a few supporting goals. 

Try not to overwhelm yourself or your team. 

For example, you might set a target sales goal number for each day, week, month, and year. Sales goal numbers can be an ideal metric of marketing efficiency. 

Leveraging Print as a Digital Brand 

Some businesses shy away from print due to rising costs of production. However, some companies who started online have taken to physical print media. 

Most notably, these companies create regular content in the form of magazines. Magazines, though, are not the limit of print advertising. 

CNET is a popular online publisher for content related to consumer electronics and technology. They publish reviews, podcasts, news, and more. 

In 2014 the company launched a magazine under the same name with the same goals. However, the magazine offers more exclusive content for those customers who are looking for a little extra. 

Search Engine Marketing 

Your digital marketing strategy should always include search engine marketing (SEM). SEM is an umbrella term for internet marketing strategies with the aim of gaining visibility on the search engine results page (SERP). 

Some digital marketers distinguish between SEM and SEO (search engine optimization).

In general, SEM refers to paid search engine marketing, where companies pay to have their ads displayed. In contrast, SEO aims to gain organic traffic via the creation of quality and relatable web content. 

Both SEM and SEO rely on comprehensive keyword research. Creating content with targeted keywords is essential to generating traffic and driving sales. 

There is much to learn about SEM and SEO alike. It’s important to do your research and find a good agency to help you out. 

How to Create a Marketing Plan That Works 

Marketing is one of the most essential aspects of a business. Without customers, you can never expect to make any money. 

Are you wondering how to create a marketing plan that works? While digital marketing is of utmost importance, print still has its place. 

Are you looking for more ways to promote your brand and drive sales? Check out some marketing and promotion advice. 

If you want to boost business for your company or shop, you’ll have to get creative. Thankfully, it’s not as difficult as it sounds.

All you need to do is brainstorm some stellar sign design ideas with your team. Signage is an easy way to attract customers and get your brand out there.

Are you curious to learn more? Keep reading for some awesome tips about signage design that will get customers in your front door and skyrocket your sales. Let’s get started!

Solidify Your Logo First

Small business signs will get your business noticed, even if you’re just starting out. But to create effective signage, you’ll need a stellar logo first. After all, your logo is the most recognizable part of your branding.

If your company already has a logo, make sure you’re happy with it before you create new signage. If you’re starting from scratch, check out our blog for info about creating the perfect logo for any business.

Choose an Attractive Color

Color is an important part of marketing psychology. So, when your team is coming up with business sign ideas, consider which colors best reflect what you’re trying to communicate.

Whether you’re creating the main sign for your business, or a sign to advertise a sale or promotion with both words and images, the colors you choose will affect how effective it is.

Use Signs to Increase Visibility 

Is your business hard to find? Use signs to increase your visibility and decrease customer frustration. Placing clear signs around your area that point people in the right direction will help.

Focus on Contrast in Your Signage Design

If your indoor or outdoor signage design is too busy and complicated, it won’t attract anyone’s eye as they walk or drive by. Make sure the colors you use contrast each other in a clear and simple way. Sticking to two or three colors is a great way to achieve this.

Contrasting with clarity will communicate the message you want, whether you’re directing customers toward your business’ parking machines or foot traffic into your shop.

Put a Fun Sign in Your Window

Are you afraid your business is looking a little stale? If that’s the case, then it’s time to have some fun.

Signs are a great way to communicate your sense of humor to potential customers. Use your whole team to brainstorm out-of-the-box storefront sign ideas. You might just surprise yourself! 

Take This as a Sign

Why wait to start boosting your business? Set yourself up for success today by using effective signage design to improve traffic flow.

For the best results, focus on using colors that match your company’s vibe and message. Be sure to contrast these colors appropriately and to keep your signage simple. Use these signs to show off your sense of humor and to boost your visibility. 

Need help coming up with a recognizable logo to put on your signage? We’re here to help. Check out our online logo maker for great results!

Does your store window use the same tired props every season? Are you stuck for ideas to tempt new customers over the threshold?

It can be tough to know how to attract customers to your store with a new display every month. When you factor in the changes to in-store displays, signage, and advertising, that’s a lot of visual merchandising techniques you need to consider.

Here’s how to rejuvenate your store displays and boost footfall through your door.

How to Attract Customers to Your Store in Four Easy Steps

Visual merchandising is huge business for a reason. However, there are some easy and affordable tactics you can use to spruce up your displays without spending the annual marketing budget in one go.

1. Get All Staff Involved

A fresh perspective could be all it takes to shake up your displays and take them from drab to fab. Give each team member the opportunity to come up with an idea for a seasonal display. You could even run a competition for the best one!

Research your products and ideal customer online, too. Use social media to look at how items are used – and photographed – by the type of person you’d like to shop in your store.

This will give you great store display ideas that’ll attract the right people through the door.

2. Offer Temptation (Instead of Putting the Best Goods on Display)

You want people to walk through the door and continue to enjoy what they see! Many store displays use the best products available, which leads to disappointment when customers walk further into the store.

Tempt customers in with a few key items, and use in-store displays to keep them visually entertained and interested. Highlight key areas in the store with marketing solutions like branded flags or roller banners to make important products and promotions completely unmissable.

Grouping products together – such as a cookery book, a mixing bowl, and a designer apron – will boost additional sales, too. Customers are more likely to buy additional related items if it is easy to do so. 

3. Use Digital Signs for Real-Time Updates

Digital signs can be as simple as hooking up a large TV screen to an app like OptiSigns Digital Signage & Instagram. Choose your hashtag or chosen topic, connect your TV to the app, and that’s it!

A stream of related content will continue to update and show off your products, or generate ideas of how your items can be used in a lifestyle setting.

For example, if you want to sell yoga mats, you could use a digital sign to run a stream of #YogaStretch Instagram posts in the background. Customers will then easily visualize how the product could be used and this will encourage them to buy.

4. Subconsciously Guide Your Customer on a Journey

Lead your customer from window front to interior display, to wall display, to product racks. This will build a subconscious journey that, with each step, builds a customer’s commitment to purchase.

For example, use spotlights at different levels to lead the eye from one product to another. Strip lighting on the floor will create a pathway, while soft lighting in fitting rooms is enticing and flattering.

If you’re using mannequins in the window have their head turned towards a product. The same goes for printed signs and advertising: use models who are looking at the product, not out at the customer. This has been proven to boost product sales!

Consider Your Branding, Too

Knowing how to attract customers to your store is more than creating intriguing shop displays. A strong brand personality will influence the colors, fonts, and even photography style you use to entice people to buy from you.

A good brand stems from a great logo. It should encompass your key colors, fonts, and that all-important personality that you want to convey. Have a go on our free logo maker tool to see how your updated brand could rejuvenate your stagnant displays!

With the average small business spending nearly 10% of their annual revenue on advertising, you could be looking at a significant investment with unknown returns.

If you’re worried about how much you’re spending on advertising, a vehicle wrap might be able to fill in some gaps where spending would be. When you choose to wrap your vehicle in vinyl lettering, you get serious benefits in your advertising arsenal.

Here are 5 reasons to consider vehicle wrap for your car or truck.

1. Billboard Wherever You Go

When you pay for a billboard, you’re suddenly going to turn your boardroom into a war room. You’ll be looking at maps as if you were a general at war. You’ll be looking for the places where your brand name will have the biggest impact without stepping into market saturation or the wrong demographic.

One of the biggest benefits of a vehicle wrap is that you aren’t tethered to one spot. Rather than having to put all of your chips on a single location, a vehicle wrap allows you to be as nomadic as your audience is. No one stays in one location for too long anymore and neither should your brand.

Your vehicle wrap is a moving billboard that can be parked anywhere you please to get the effect you want. If you’re having a regional promotion, you can park your logo wrapped vehicle in a spot where you’ll get all the eyes you need.

Enlist friends, colleagues, and other businesses to loan you a spot on their lawn to promote yourself. Your billboard can be dropped off and picked back up whenever it needs to be. If you can get a little time during rush hour in a high traffic area, you could end up seeing a surprise spike in business.

2. Brand Awareness

People need to see or hear a brand’s name three times before they remember you. If you’re driving around with your brand name wrapped on your vehicle, you’ll have a much easier time letting people know about you than if you were in one spot. Your logo emblazoned vehicle could drive by people three times in a day, thinking you had more market saturation than you really have.

Vehicle wrap helps to remind people of your brand when they might not be paying attention. Their minds could be wandering during their drive home from work and they would need to pick up your products or call you for an appointment. Driving past your vehicle, they’ll be quickly reminded and they’ll make a call to seal the sale.

Brand awareness is a complicated dance you do with your customer base. Telling them about your brand over and over can be exhausting to the point that they might not want to do business with you. But as that’s unlikely on the average small business’s budget, you can rest assured that if you make the effort to put your name out there, it’ll resonate.

3. Let People Know What To Expect

When people see your wrapped vehicle in the parking lot as they pull up to a trade show or event, the hair on the back of their neck might stand up. They might be driving to the mall having an unpleasant day and then when they see your logo in the distance, their eyes might light up.

Knowing that the quality that your products provide is on site with them might turn their day around.

When people get to know about your brand and what you have to offer, they’ll be over the moon to see that they have a chance to talk about your products. If you sell at trade shows, events, or community fairs, you could hype up your audience by having your wrapped vehicle nearby. Rather than hide it somewhere in the parking lot, find a nice open spot to place your car in so that people can see your vehicle from off in the distance.

With your quality on site, your customers and clients know they’re in for a treat. If they’ve got friends with them, they’ll alert those friends about what they’re going to be experiencing with your products.

4. Attention is Important

When you have brightly colored vehicle wrap marking your car, your company’s vehicles stand out from the other cars that are passing on the street. Drivers who might otherwise ignore a plain white van will be wowed by the attention that you attract to your wrapped car.

If you take the time to get your wrap designed by a talented local designer, you could end up hitting the road with a piece of art.

Depending on the types of vehicle you own, you might attract a whole new audience. While people might associate your brand with something that’s not for them, if they see your brand wrapped on a vehicle they admire, it could be interesting.

They might decide to strike up a conversation with your salespeople when they would otherwise have ignored your brand altogether. Let’s hope you’re ready for all the gearheads that your vehicle might attract if you pick the right one.

5. The Perfect Balance

Vehicle wrapping might be one of the best ways to advertise because you get the perfect balance of ad styles. You get to be somehow both in your customers’ faces while not being all that aggressive. You won’t be making a hard sales pitch but you’ll be taking up space in the front of their mind.

One of the reasons that no one ever brings up issues with vehicle wrapping as visual pollution or noise in the landscape is that it’s pretty innocuous. Check out what Image360 could do for your brand with their vehicle wraps.

Vehicle Wrap is Cheap and Easy

When you chose to use vehicle wrap as an advertising strategy, you get to show off your brand and your style. Your vehicle choice means a lot to how you can drive home your brand’s image. A cool car wrapped in a cool logo doubles down on the coolness factor of your company.

If you’re working on creating a new logo that could enhance your business, check out our guide for creating one that works.