Source: http://www.overnightprints.com/news/driving-traffic-online-using-direct-mail-marketing-1064 

There are an overwhelming number of consumers who actively search the web to learn about new products and services, which has led many small business owners to create websites that either educate consumers on their offerings or allow them to buy directly. However, driving traffic to web pages can often be difficult, with many entrepreneurs spending heavily on paid search campaigns.

Speaking to MarketingProfs, Dean Rieck recently asserted that direct mail can be used to help support web-based marketing efforts.

Citing a study from ExactTarget, he claims that 76 percent of internet shoppers who made online purchases are influenced by direct mail.

Successful integration of the two platforms is key, so Rieck offered small business owners several tips for merging their on and offline campaigns. "Old and new media aren’t necessarily oil and water – when blended properly, they can pack a potent punch," notes MarketingProfs.

First, consumers need a good reason to take the extra effort to visit a company’s website. Rieck suggests business owners "tempt" shoppers with compelling incentives, which could range from whitepapers to coupons. "It must be something they want, not just something you want them to see," Rieck told the source

Entrepreneurs should also remember that consumers receiving direct mail have to manually type in web addresses to visit their sites. With this in mind, small business owners should make their web addresses as simple as possible, and possibly even use link shortening services, such as Bit.ly, if their URLs are too complex.

As always, calls to action should be clear and direct mail recipients to business websites. For example, if companies are offering consumers a discount for taking a survey, they should be sure to specifically list the survey’s URL. "People are more likely to respond when you specifically tell them what to do," Rieck said.

If small business owners are using direct mail to promote specific campaigns, they may also want to consider launching a unique landing page for recipients. This allows them to better track how much traffic their campaigns are driving and create tailored experiences for consumers.

While direct mail can be used to boost web traffic, this strategy will only work if messages are delivered to the right consumers. Marketing Lists Direct recently advised small business owners to consult third-party mailing list vendors so they can more effectively reach their target audience

Marketers and technology innovators have done some very interesting examples of AR for the home market, using symbols printed locally which are then placed in front of your PC’s web camera.

AR is now also being developed for retail displays and mobile phones.

Here are some quick examples from these three AR forums:

AR @ home

Magazine publishers have already started using AR to enhance their readers’ experience, albeit to mixed reviews. Magazines have included Esquire, Popular Science and USA Today (whose back cover featured a Harry Potter Augmented Reality map).

AR enabled locations

Lego installed AR retail kiosks in all of their LEGO brand stores worldwide. This let their consumers reveal a virtually built-up and fully animated LEGO product by holding the package up to the DIGITAL BOX.

AR in your pocket

AR applications are being written for the iPhone, Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.

Their uses have involved product promotions, educational information, outdoor advertising and location based services.

FAQ’s

Metaio, a company that develops AR projects for the European market shared this information in a webinar last week:

• Some AR promotions require the home PC user to download a specific program, install it and then run it to get their AR experience. This is too much to ask of your @ home market.
• The best way to promote AR for the home market is to make sure your AR application makes use of the existing Adobe Flash and Shockwave platforms prevalent in over 96% of all PC’s.
• Allow a 4 – 6 week time line for the software development of your AR promotion. This is dependant on the complexity of the job though.
• Currently allow a budget with a starting price of around US$50,000.

I would expect this price to drop as technology improves and AR becomes more readily available.

Introduced in October at MPA’s Magazine Innovation Summit, hy.pr was developed specifically to extend the reach of print publications and the life of their content by allowing readers to share links to the articles they read in print with their online social networks.  According to Smub, "With hy.pr, every reader is a potential social media marketer for the publication. By providing readers the tools to push content instantly to their online social networks, hy.pr drives traffic to the publisher’s website, increases brand awareness and lowers the cost of subscriber acquisition."

As reported by Folio Magazine, to use it publishers register with hy.pr, then create custom URLs for select articles and print them in the physical edition of the magazine. When the reader wants to share the article, they can then enter the URL into a web browser, which offers the reader a "share and save" page from which they can e-mail a shortened link directly to their contacts, bookmark the link or share it among social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Digg. Folio cites as an example, the French magazine Polka which includes the URL polka.hy.pr/punk which allows readers to then share pictures on social media sites.

According to Smub CEO Thierry Lamouline, "Our research shows that roughly 25% of all Tweets and Facebook status updates contain a link.  By empowering their readers to share content, publishers will create an audience of social media marketers who actively promote publishers brands, driving targeted traffic to publishers’ web sites, which in turn will dramatically lower the cost of a subscriber acquisition via the web."

Digital print can connect to the world wide web with PURLS

Print can connect to mobile phones through TXT or SMS numbers and QR Codes

Now print can connect to your computer or mobile phone using a web or phone cam to create Augmented Reality

A “marker” on a printed page can be “read” by a webcam-enabled personal computer a bit like a barcode. A three-dimensional virtual object appears on the screen, suspended like a hologram over the image of the page.

Bring the square to life

1 If you have a computer with a webcam and Adobe Flash 9 or higher installed (and internet connection), click here. Your camera may work straight away. If so, skip to point 4.

2 Right-click (or Ctrl-click for Macs) on the large black square and select Settings.

3 Select the webcam tab and choose your camera from the list (if that does not work, try another from the list).

4 Show the camera the large black square in Friday’s Financial Times (or click here to print out the square). Adjust angle and distance until your screen displays a three-dimensional “augmented” image.

Car manufacturers such as BMW and Toyota have used the technique to show off their latest models. Paramount Pictures, the film distributor, used 3D graphics to publicise Transformers 2 and Star Trek.

On November 9th, Esquire Magazine is dedicating an entire issue to augmented reality http://www.esquire.com/the-side/augmented-reality-coming-soon

As an aside, not everyone is excited by Esquires decision, as stated by BoSacks at PrintCEO.com http://printceo.com/2009/10/esquire-looks-to-energize-print

Now Jonas Jager from Toxin has taken augmented reality from an oh-cute! status to holy-frack-that’s-cool position. His business card will make the owner appear like a 3D hologram, displaying Twitter information in real time, plus all kinds of cool stuff.

Note the QR Code on his business card alongside the AR Marker.

Click on the picture to view the video.

Augmented Business Card from jonas on Vimeo.

Have a look at how marketing has dramatically changed over the last few years, and how a well planned direct marketing campaign can produce extremely good responses, profit and return on investment!

The fact is, Googles contribution to traffic and sales leads for the majority of websites is seldom over 35%. In one study, (right) it was a measly 8.3%!

Even in our internet age, the majority of people will still find out about your business website via ‘old fashioned’ business cards, brochures, signs, magazines, referrals, emails, networking.

Let Print Make New Media Better – So, if you think you’re spending too much time and money on website SEO development for little return, talk to us about a print strategy that will get you noticed on the net.

For more information phone us on 03 963 8899 or email info@cq.co.nz