Bottom Line June 2015

THE BUZZ

CASE STUDY

SHARE YOUR STORY

Industry trends that your business needs to know to survive. p. 20

No inventory, no rush, no hassle. A digital storefront saves a retirement plan administrator money and staff time.p. 18

Capture your audience’s minds (and dollars!) with time-tested storytelling techniques.p. 12

p r o v i d i n g b u s i n e s s i n n o v a t i o n sL I N E

B O T T O M

T U R N T H E K E Y T O T H E S E C R E T SO F G R E A T P A C K A G I N G D E S I G NPop psychology and special effects create customer anticipation for the product inside. p. 2

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BOTTOM LINE V4:2 | 1

The challenges we, as CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, and other business leaders, face today are multifaceted and complex. We’re often asked to do more with less. That’s where maximizing return on dollars invested in marketing and business development efforts is crucial. In Bottom Line, we present a number of practical, innovative ideas that can help you drive revenue and reduce costs.

Ever notice how we often get caught up in the B2B and B2C lexicon, when in reality people do business with people? It’s when we form those

human-to-human connections that successful—and profitable—relationships arise. At the start of every relationship you have only a few seconds to make a first

impression. Snag your customers’ attention with the latest packaging trends. In “The Outer Wrapping is Just the Beginning” (page 2), we explore die cutting, affixing, and other take-notice construction techniques. You’ll also learn about the latest paper stocks and interactive techniques tempting customers and prospects to take a peek inside the package.

Letting your stakeholders inside your business with honest and relatable storytelling is the best way to nurture long-lasting relationships in today’s noisy communications culture. “Rise Above the Chaos” (page 12) explores storytelling and how to use it effectively to build your brand and carve out spaces where you can provide real value to your audiences.

Focusing on delivering value and improving the customer experience often leads to unexpected benefits behind the scenes. The Case Study on page 18 tells the story of a retirement plan administrator that found print-on-demand and digital storefront ordering for client materials helped them reduce internal costs and increase efficiency (much to their employees’ delight!).

Finally, to err is human. However, avoiding the most common direct mail mistakes is easier if you follow the time-tested tips provided in “The Buzz” (page 20). And in “Overheard” (page 10), we look at social media and how you can leverage your existing content to create meaningful connections.

This issue of Bottom Line is packed with tips, strategies, and insights designed to strengthen your bottom line. As always, we welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Personalize Your Bottom Line LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Contents

OVERHEARDWhen it comes to social media, use what you’ve got. Your company has plenty of existing content. Don’t let it go to waste.

10 THE BUZZDirect mail goofs costing you money? Here are the top 5 mistakes and how to avoid them.

20CASE STUDYIdeas that work: A digital storefront saves money and staff time for a retirement plan administrator.

18

Bottom Line, Volume 4, Issue 2, June 15 (ISSN 1550-8064) is published by Great Lakes Bay Publishing, 1311 Straits Dr, Bay City, MI 48706. Periodicals postage pending at Bay City, MI. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Great Lakes Bay Publishing, P.O. Box 925, Bay City, MI 48707. Copyright © 2015 Great Lakes Bay Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

Fritz [email protected]

PUBLISHER: Fritz Horak, [email protected] THE F.P. HORAK COMPANY CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER: Marisa Horak Belotti, [email protected]

EDITOR: Mimi Bell, [email protected] | ART DIRECTOR: Chad Hussle, [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHER: Doug Julian, [email protected]

THE OUTER WRAPPING IS JUST THE BEGINNINGGood packaging says “hey, look at me,” enticing the consumer to make a buying decision.2

RISE ABOVE THE CHAOSCut through marketing noise with storytelling that educates, entertains, and engages your audience.12

THIS ISSUE PRINTED ON:

Cover: Kromekote Silver C1S by CTI PaperText: 80# Accent Opaque Text by International Paper

FRITZ HORAK

THE F.P. HORAK COMPANY IS THE PARENT COMPANY OF MONARCH PRINT SOLUTIONS AND PROGRADE.

W R A P P I N GO U T E R

B E G I N N I N G

BY ILENE WOLFF

Good packaging says “hey, look at me,” ent ic ing the consumer to make a buying decis ion.

T H E

T H E

I S

J U S T

feature

package’s design has

about the same amount of time to grab your attention as we do to entice you to read this story: just a few seconds.

We’re all sparring for a consumer’s attention in our overbooked world of too much to do in too little time, whether it’s in their buying a bottle of shampoo or whiskey, or opening a B2B direct mail piece. That’s why packaging designers have become pop psychologists. Armed with knowledge about preferences based on gender, age, and even geography, these largely unsung marketers employ construction and interactive techniques they hope will grab you. They know that once a package’s outer dress has hooked your attention, their client has a chance to reel you in and get you to sniff a scented sticker, peel away a peek-flap, scan a QR code, or visit a personalized URL for more information.

If marketers can get you involved, there’s a much greater chance of landing the catch. If not, you’ll move on along the retailer’s shelf or to the next piece of mail in the pile.

That’s why your product packaging should be front and center and not an afterthought: It’s the best way to get you noticed by your customers.

W R A P P I N G ABOTTOM LINE V4:2 | 3

So, how do you produce an attention-grabbing package?

“Ask yourself who’s going to buy this product,” says Carol Quade (KWAY-dee), creative director for Impress Creative in Bay City, Michigan. “Who’s the person it’s going to be marketed to?”

For one client’s B2B direct mail package, Impress Creative decided to market to the end recipient’s inner child, daring to buck the rules even though it was selling a financial services firm to potential business clients—potentially a pretty dry setting.

Not this time. The firm mailed three small containers of Play-Doh® in a generic white corrugated cardboard box, with a heavy card stock sleeve that was four-color printed, scored, and glued. It bore the message: “We play with a lot of dough. Look inside to see how we make business a little more fun.” The financial services company’s name was also printed on the sleeve, but in a font that looked as though the letters were made of modeling clay.

“Part of the reason why we did this with a sleeve is we could put a variable label on it,” says Quade, explaining that digital printing variable labels makes the package hyper-specific to the recipient. “That’s the goal, to really tailor it to who you’re sending it to. Personally, I think they’re (the recipient) more apt to open it.”

In addition to the Play-Doh, the box held a card letting the recipient know he would receive a call from the sender, and, if the call resulted in a sales presentation meeting being scheduled, the recipient would receive a $100 gift card or equivalent donation to a children’s charity.

Quade agrees that age, gender, and geographic location of the targeted receiver play an important part in the package design process. They help accomplish the goal of surprising and delighting the recipient or buyer.

Quade mentions another B2B mailer package, designed for a company that services credit unions with ATMs. The piece was a clear tube with plastic caps, made to look like the containers financial institutions use in their drive-through banking pneumatic tube systems. Inside was a flyer with a personalized URL (PURL) directing the recipient to visit the financial institution’s website, which had a call to action intended to drum up business. Also inside was a pen rattling around, using sound as a way to pique even more interest.

WHO GETS IT?

O N E

H I G H - E N D

R E T A I L E R U S E S

T R A D I T I O N A L

B L A C K I N K ,

F O R D E B O S S E D

L E T T E R I N G , O N

B L A C K P A P E R

T O C R E A T E

A L U X U R Y

A P P E A R A N C E .

feature

A G E , G E N D E R , A N D G E O G R A P H I C L O C A T I O N O F T H E T A R G E T E D R E C E I V E R

P L A Y A N I M P O R T A N T P A R T I N T H E P A C K A G E D E S I G N P R O C E S S .


Mark Sng (SING), director of marketing for Neenah Packaging, Alpharetta, Georgia, is an expert on how paper’s texture, color, and weight play into luxury branding. All of these factors, and more, affect the entire user experience of opening a box, something Sng refers to as the “unveiling process.”

“How a person opens a box is an indication of quality,” he says. “A well-designed package will self-guide the user through the process of unboxing, while simultaneously creating a sense of anticipation for what’s inside.”

Sng says, “The quality of the paper, its texture and color, helps create a memorable experience.” Heavier weight paper indicates luxury, and Sng sees a current high demand

from clients for the more robust stock.For example, Sng points to Maker’s

Mark® whiskey, a high-end brand in the brown liquor family. The bottle’s label paper is uncoated matte stock and has a textured, craft-type finish that denotes history and heritage, he says.

“The key phrase we use is high-touch,” Sng says. “Textured labels tell a handcrafted story.”

Sng, who has a focus on beer and spirits packaging, says that while some brews really are small-batch and made by hand, other so-called craft brews are actually overseen by national conglomerates, although you’d never know it from outside appearances. That’s where bottle shape, label design, and the quality of the paper stock play their part.

THE CADILLAC OF PACKAGING

feature

T H E P A P E R U S E D

F O R A M A K E R ’ S

M A R K ® L A B E L I S

U N C O A T E D

M A T T E A N D H A S

A T E X T U R E D ,

C R A F T - T Y P E

F I N I S H T H A T

S U G G E S T S

B R A N D H I S T O R Y

A N D H E R I T A G E .

“ A W E L L - D E S I G N E D P A C K A G E W I L L S E L F - G U I D E T H E U S E R T H R O U G H T H E

P R O C E S S O F U N B O X I N G , W H I L E S I M U L T A N E O U S L Y C R E A T I N G A S E N S E O F

A N T I C I P A T I O N F O R W H A T ’ S I N S I D E . ” ~ M a r k S n g , N e e n a h P a c k a g i n g


When it comes to packaging color, Sng says gold foil really commands attention, and is used mostly in the beauty industry. Luxury brands also continue to be interested in pearlescent papers and inks for an accent or pop-in color.

Color even becomes part of a company’s brand. For example, consider the iconic Tiffany turquoise.

“Even if you didn’t put that brand name on the box or the bag, the color still denotes luxury,” Sng says.

Interestingly, Tiffany uses a shiny, coated paper for its boxes, but Neenah supplies uncoated paper for its bags. “It adds a certain tactile and weight dimension that a coated paper would not,” Sng explains.

Although some colors, like Tiffany turquoise, have become part of the brand, current trends favor achromatic colors such as whites, browns, and blacks, because they are more natural and organic. Sng says, “I think you could almost argue, is it a trend or is it here to stay?”

Newly added to Neenah’s product line-up are five fashion-forward box wrap colors that

MARISA HORAK BELOTTI is the chief strategy officer for The F.P. Horak Company. She recommends attention-getting packaging options to help her customers raise brand awareness and get results on their marketing campaigns. Contact Marisa at 989-891-1707, or by emailing [email protected].

T H E C O M B I N A T I O N O F G O L D F O I L A N D T E X T U R E D

P A P E R A T T R A C T S A T T E N T I O N , A N D I S U S E D M O S T L Y

F O R P R O D U C T P A C K A G I N G W I T H I N T H E B E A U T Y

I N D U S T R Y .

are inspired by Pantone’s 10 spring 2015 colors. These Pantone colors, in turn, take their cues from nature: all have a warm, soft, subtle effect, Sng points out.

He advises learning the tricks of the packaging trade and employing them to your best advantage. “Anything that you can gain over your competition helps, whether it’s the shape of a bottle or the texture of a label,” he says.

Remember, the clock is always ticking: You have only a few seconds to make the right impression—and the sale.

8 | BOTTOM LINE V4:2

While both sexes have strong emotional connections to elements of product packaging, package designers cater to women because they make or influence most buying decisions. If they’re not buying a product directly, they usually recommend purchases to their husbands or boyfriends.

One strongly influential element is color.

Researchers say men prefer bright colors or achromatic neutrals—white, grey, brown, or black—while women prefer soft colors. Orange denotes lower quality, men dislike purple, and everybody loves blue. But, even in that case, there’s a gender difference: While women may describe blue as royal, cornflower, sky, or baby, to men, blue is just blue.

“Research has shown that women actually see more colors than men,” says Susan Gunelius, president and CEO of KeySplash Creative, a marketing company in Gainesville, Florida.

Dove soap, for example, uses packaging with white and blue, colors favored by everyone and that convey additional psychological meaning.

“More important is the association with fresh and clean,” says Gunelius.

However, there can be pitfalls, Gunelius says. For example, women like pink, but in a B2B situation, because women still struggle for equality in the business world, that can be inappropriate.

“If I made the package pink, there are a lot of women who that would be a negative for,” she says. “In B2B, go for blues.”

Carol Quade (KWAY-dee), creative director for Impress Creative in Bay City, Michigan, says strolling the aisles of hair care products can reveal clues about color psychology.

An established, professional woman in her 30s who’s shopping for shampoo would more likely be attracted to a bottle that has more of an upscale “salon” look to it, while a teenage girl would go for bright colors because “it kind of portrays fun.” Suave, a national drugstore brand that includes men’s grooming products, on the other hand, uses a grey bottle with predominantly white printing in marketing to men.

In addition to color, size really does matter when it comes to packaging.

While men prefer larger packages with sharp angles, and don’t mind drinking from aluminum cans, women tend to like smaller packages with curves, and prefer to drink from plastic bottles, according to the Brand Packaging website.

Tapping into these psychological elements can mean the difference between making the sale and losing a customer to a competitor.

M E N A R E F R O M M A R S ,B U T

feature

BY ILENE WOLFF

Packaging appeals to gender preferences and emotions.

E V E R Y B O D Y L I K E S B L U E

Your company has plenty of existing content. Don’t let it go to waste.

BY KATHRYN WILL

W H E N I T C O M E S T O S O C I A L M E D I A , U S E W H A T Y O U ’ V E G O T

overheard


You may think you need to create new content every time you post to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Google+, but your social media life will be much easier when you take inventory and use what you already have.

Repurposing your content helps you reach more people in more places, says Social Media Examiner, the world’s largest online social media magazine, and it gives your content a longer lifespan.

Where to look for contentYour company has content to use. Even something as simple as a list of frequently asked customer questions can be turned into a great piece of social media content.

If your business offers any kind of tips or best practices, a great technique is to put that information online and then re-share it, either in its entirety or one tidbit at a time. This gives your customers and leads useful information and it doesn’t create any extra work on your end because the content has practically created itself. Customer testimonials from your social media channels can also be reused in this way.

Whitepapers or reports are great social media resources, too, as they can be segmented and shared again and again. An interesting statistic or fact can be tweeted and linked to the original report.

Also consider repurposing existing industry-relevant articles from other sources and providing your own unique commentary, including how the news relates to your clients.

Change things up When it comes to repurposing, you can also consider using the same piece of content for your different social media channels.

Long-form articles or whitepapers might be just fine for LinkedIn, but visual content tends to perform better on Facebook and even Twitter, says Social Media Examiner, with posts getting more shares, likes, and retweets than posts without photos.

Tools such as SlideShare, Haiku Deck, or Canva can help you turn text-heavy content into image-based material.

Cultivate a plan to take inventory of things you and your staff have already created, including everything from case studies and presentations to client stories and annual reports. Once you know what you’ve got, you can think about where best to first use that content, and how to reformat it for more mileage.

K eeping up with customers and leads on multiple social media platforms can seem

overwhelming. You need to engage your customers and offer relevant content in order to build and keep their interest—but how? Allow existing content, such as case studies, customer questions, client testimonials, blog posts, and white papers or reports to drive your social media marketing.

Your company has plenty of existing content. Don’t let it go to waste.

BY KATHRYN WILL

BY LAURIE HILEMAN

Rise Above the Chaos Cut through marketing noise

with storytel l ing that educates, entertains, and engages your audience.


feature

“Maybe stories are just data with a soul,” suggested Brené Brown at TEDx Houston in 2010 during her talk, “The Power of Vulnerability.”

The academic researcher—and gifted storyteller—fretted after her 2010 speech, at one point lamenting to a friend, “I just told 500 people I had a breakdown!”

Never did she imagine her talk would become one of TED’s most popular ever, with more than 19 million views (as of this writing).

What Brown understands—and uses so effectively—is the power of stories to inspire and inform, entertain and engage. And businesses are taking note.

In a modern world knuckling under a barrage of noisy marketing messages and relentless communication, a compelling narrative is essential for any organization looking to establish trust and inspire action from employees, customers, prospects, and other stakeholders.

Here’s what you need to know about brand storytelling, developing your own narrative, and how to tell it effectively.

WHY STORYTELLING? “We can all shout from the rooftops about how good we are,” says Mark Masters, author of The Content Revolution: Telling a Better Story to Differentiate from the Competition and owner of The ID Group, a content marketing consultancy based in the United Kingdom.

“We’re very good at using Facebook and Twitter to try to sound more important, but what a story does is it allows people into our worlds. Storytelling is now one of the only differentiators that we have as businesses,” he says.

And differentiate we must.Every day 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared, 1.8

billion photos are uploaded and shared, 500 million tweets are posted, and 400 million snapchats are sent.* Yes, every day.

“I’m competing with my mum, who’s signed up for a Twitter account!” quips Masters.

Differentiating your business or organization demands a compelling narrative that appeals to a specific audience: yours.

Far better than lifeless facts and figures, or worn-out features and benefits, stories build empathy, create understanding, and motivate people to action. Tell a good story and your audience will perk up. Lean in. Stay when there may be cheaper, better, faster alternatives elsewhere.

Masters warns that having today’s communication tools such as websites, blogs, email newsletters, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts is not enough. “Gone are the days of the build-it-and-they-will-come mentality. All that it means in 2015 is that we have a ticket to enter the race,” he says.

WHAT’S MY STORY? The race to get content produced and distributed via various communication channels is a fool’s errand without a clear strategy and well-defined target audience. It’s simply not viable to be all things to all people. Says Masters, “You need to stand for something.”

Are you a lawn care business with over-the-top customer service? Are you an accounting firm capable of breaking down complex tax issues in a way even a middle-schooler can understand? Determine what uniquely defines your company, your brand strategy, and your goals.

With a clear picture in mind, think carefully about the audience you are trying to reach. Is it existing customers? Prospects that look just like your best customers? Suppliers? Donors?

Once you have a well-defined audience and strategy in place, it’s time to start developing narratives to support your goals. Look deeply. What problems can you solve? How can you make your customers’ lives better? The goal, Masters says, is to become your customers’ best answer by providing real value.

“A powerful narrative can persuade customers, employees, investors, and stakeholders that your company, product, or idea can help them achieve the success they desire,” writes Carmine Gallo, in his book, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.

“People are more engaged with products when they know where those products come from and if they get to know the real people behind those products,” Gallo writes.

Masters suggests capturing your story ideas in an editorial calendar, a document outlining story topics, the intended audience, and marketing channel that will be used.

PRINT MAGAZINES

CASE STUDIES

PRINT NEWSLETTERS

BLOGS

ENEWSLETTERS

VIDEOS

GUEST POSTS

ARTICLES POSTED ON YOUR WEBSITEMICROSITESIN-PERSON EVENTSWHITE PAPERSONLINE PRESENTATIONSEBOOKS

WEBINARS/WEBCASTSRESEARCH REPORTSINFOGRAPHICSBRANDED CONTENT TOOLSMOBILE APPSMOBILE CONTENT

BOOKS

PODCASTS

DIGITAL MAGAZINES

ANNUAL REPORTS

GAMES/GAMIFICATION

TYPES OF CONTENT

Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/11/content-marketing-playbook-connecting-customers/

24

GETTING YOUR STORY HEARD. “Marketing is still the same; the difference is everything is now magnified. There are more channels than ever before,” says Masters. The key is finding what channels resonate most with your audience and inviting them in.

He’s a strong proponent of an owned-media approach, one that is 100-percent owned by the company. Rather than relying heavily on channels such as Facebook or LinkedIn— where you’ve little control over costs or competing messages—focus especially on traditional channels such as custom publications or in-person events, where you maintain complete control of the narrative, or use your website or blog.

“Slowly, you’re creating pockets and spaces that are relevant to that [audience],” says Masters. These are spaces in which relationships are nurtured and grown.

Just as personal relationships develop and strengthen over time, so do brand relationships built on open, honest storytelling. Masters warns against taking a “we’ll try this for three months and see” campaign approach. Instead, he stresses the need for a long-term commitment. “It has to be part of a longer mindset,” he says.

Author and screenwriting lecturer Robert McKee once said: “If you don’t control your story and tell it powerfully, others will tell it for you with less than flattering results. Fair or unfair, stories shape corporate futures.”

Start strengthening your brand and shaping your future with a marketing strategy rich in storytelling. Content that consistently educates, entertains, and engages your audience drives profitable action.

* NewsCred (2015), The Personalization Game: How to Use Content to Drive Marketing ROI [white paper].

feature

MIMI BELL is the editorial director for Great Lakes Bay Publishing, a Michigan-based custom publisher that specializes in producing consumer and B2B magazines, newsletters, annual reports, and commemorative editions. She believes businesses best tell their stories in a compelling way through branded content. Contact Mimi at 989-891-1724, or by emailing [email protected].

“Brands, as well as individuals, who tell stories—emotional and genuine stories—connect with their customers and audiences in far deeper and more meaningful ways than do their competitors.” ~Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds


There’s no shortage of creative content ideas. The problem? Getting your stories into the hands of people who matter: your customers and best prospects.

Maintaining control is key, according to Mark Masters, author of The Content Revolution: Telling a Better Story to Differentiate from the Competition. “Owned-media, when it works, means we are just as relevant as the big boys (national media companies).”

Whether it’s your custom publication, website, blog, or email newsletter, here are Master’s five tips for making an owned-media approach work for you.

BUILD YOUR LIST ORGANICALLY. Whenever anyone expresses interest in your company or service offerings, invite her to sign up for your offerings. Don’t waste money on purchasing expensive lists.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. You won’t get far trying to be all things to all people. Understand the wants and needs of your customers and share your passion for helping them.

BE AUTHENTIC AND VALUABLE. Employees and customers are often the best place to find relevant, relatable story material. Focus on what resonates with your audience, not what you think they ought to know. Your stories, and the value you deliver, set you apart from your competitors.

TAKE THE LONG VIEW. Abandon the “let’s give this three months” campaign mindset, in favor of a long-term commitment. Developing relationships—in business, as in life—takes time.

BE RELENTLESS. Once you’ve committed to a content strategy—deliver! Whatever timeframe you determine for deploying emails, blogs, and other communications, stick to it. You’ll get better—and it will get easier over time.

To learn more about storytelling, owned-media, and creating a defined space in a crowded business world, visit www.fphorak.com/thinking for an in-depth interview with Mark Masters.

Here’s how to del iver k i l ler content that gets noticed.

L I K E A B O S S


WE MAKEmagazines

GLBR FAMILY FIELDS TO FAMILY FACTORIES TO YOUR FAMILY’S TABLE

p. 31

THE TOP 38 GROWING COMPANIES p. 41

WHAT’S HOLDING YOU BACK IN BUSINESS?Look fear straight in the eye… then go for it

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Successful Execs ShareTHE BEST ONE-WORD ADVICE

p. 18

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Case StudyThe BuzzA sugar manufacturer redesigns its websites to speak to multiple—and different—customers. p. 18

Spending time on peripheral functions detracts from your core business. Outsourcing can help. p. 11

Industry trends that your business needs to know to survive. p. 20

W h e n y o u u s e d a t a , y o u m i g h t d i s c o v e r

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A Thriving Bay AreaGiving Guide

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BACF.indd 1

8/8/13 10:33 AM

After reading your custom publication that includes compelling content, stunning visuals, and sophisticated design, prospects and clients develop an emotional connection with stories about your organization. They feel familiar

with your business, and are more inclined to donate, join, or buy—like 63% more inclined.*

Fusing strategy, creation, and distribution, we can help tell your story every step of the worthwhile way.*Data from Roper Public Affairs Survey

THAT CREATE STAGGERING RESULTS

989.893.2083 | greatlakesbaypublishing.com

A digital storefront saves money and staff t ime for a ret irement plan administrator.BY LAURIE HILEMAN

TWO CLICKS AND DONE

Ideas That Work:

case study

started simply enough. At a hefty 50 pages each,

enrollment packets for the 401(k) plans administered by Chemical Bank’s wealth management services team needed a redesign. While strict regulatory requirements govern the bulk of information that must be included within the enrollment packets, Chemical Bank’s wealth management marketing specialist Lovisa

Golder felt more could be done to provide participants with a clear and concise roadmap on how to use the enclosed materials.

The redesign project prompted Golder to step back and evaluate the entire packet preparation process—from start to finish. What she quickly discovered was an opportunity to improve efficiency and reduce costs by jettisoning the time-consuming tasks of printing, collating, and stuffing the finished packets.

BackgroundThe wealth management services team at Chemical Bank, the second largest bank headquartered in Michigan, with more than 180—and growing—banking offices throughout the state’s Lower Peninsula, has been providing investment management, trust services, financial planning, and retirement plan solutions for more than 50 years.

As part of its retirement plan services, Chemical Bank manages the back-end operations of 401(k) and other retirement plans for more than 200 client companies. Employees at those companies who enroll in a retirement plan receive a packet of information put together by Chemical Bank that outlines their company’s plan details and enrollment instructions.

Problem“All hands on deck.”

It was the battle cry heard round the office when orders for as many as 100 packets came in, recalls Golder. Printing, collating, and stuffing folders would tie up the office’s printer and staff for the better part of a day, depending on the turnaround time required by the client.

“As you can imagine, it was a cumbersome process,” says Golder.

The bank needed a solution that would maintain the integrity of the heavily regulated informational packets but also free up the wealth management team’s time—not to mention the office printer—to serve more pressing client needs.

SolutionTaking a play from their retail banking side, Golder explored the idea of using a digital storefront as a print-on-demand solution for enrollment packets. She worked with Beth Elliott,

BRAD BITZER is the eCommerce manager for The F.P. Horak Company. He helps customers save time and money by developing cost-effective purchasing and distribution solutions such as web-enabled catalogs and digital storefronts. Contact Brad at 989-891-1726, or by emailing [email protected].

a sales consultant with The F.P. Horak Company, a Michigan-based full-service printing and marketing communications provider, to establish a seamless process.

Golder pulls together each new 401(k) and retirement plan’s original packet of materials to ensure all regulatory requirements are met. She then sends pdf files along with the name of the corresponding Chemical Bank plan administrator for Elliott and her team to load onto the digital storefront site.

When an order for packets comes in, the plan administrator hops on Chemical Bank’s digital storefront and places an order with two or three easy clicks. The packets are printed, collated, stuffed in folders along with the plan administrator’s business card, and delivered to the appropriate Chemical Bank office—usually with one- or same-day service.

As changes are needed in plan documents, Golder simply sends over new pdfs to be uploaded to the site. No inventory, no rush, no hassle.

Results“At the time we factored in what we were paying our people [on staff ] to do this work versus what we were paying [The F.P. Horak Company], it was without a doubt a much more cost-effective solution,” says Golder.

Folders and reams of paper no longer monopolize office space, the Chemical Bank brand is carefully controlled, and her team can get what they need exactly when they need it.

“Our retirement plan services team loves that they’re not pulling together any more packets,” says Golder. “It frees up time for everybody to focus on our customer service, really delivering the solutions we’re known for delivering. And, we’re not working quite as hard on this end.”

The excitement is starting to catch on. Once the wealth management team’s enrollment packets were up and running, Golder notes some of her other business lines requested their forms be loaded onto the digital storefront. Now that they’ve seen how automatic and easy the process is for ordering, they want in.

“The architecture is so open,” says Elliott, about the digital e-commerce platforms available through F.P. Horak. “We can do so many different things.” She encourages people to take some time to review existing processes, and see where improvements might be made. More often than not, she says, “It’s just so much more efficient and cost-effective in the end.”

It


“RESPONSE IS ONE OF THE FIVE KEYS OF SUCCESSFUL DIRECT MARKETING. AND IF YOU HAVE THAT, THE OTHER FOUR DON’T MATTER.”

the buzz

Direct Mail Goofs Costing You Money?Here are the top 5 mistakes and how to avoid them.

“Learn from the mistakes of others; you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself,” said Eleanor Roosevelt. And when it comes to direct mail campaigns, your business can’t afford to make costly mistakes that suck the life from your investment.

After all, direct mail continues to be one of the most effective tools for generating leads. Companies spent more than $44.9 billion on direct mail in 2013, an increase over the previous year.

Fortunately, you don’t have to sift through hundreds of do’s and don’ts floating around the Internet to get your next campaign on track. Here are the top five mistakes along with five easy fixes that are sure to generate additional responses, convert new leads, and add directly to your bottom line.

BY LAURIE HILEMAN

5 Big Mistakes (with 5 Simple Fixes!)

MISTAKE NO. 1. MISS WITH THE LIST.You live and die by your mailing list; don’t settle for a generic list.

THE FIX: Identify and target your ideal customers. Segment, and then test your list.

MISTAKE NO. 3. DILUTE THE CALL TO ACTION.Readers need to understand the time to act is N–O–W.

THE FIX: Whether it is to sign up, visit, call, or order, make the next step clear and convincing.

MISTAKE NO. 4. FORGET TO TEST AND TRACK.Resist the urge to mail and hope for the best.

THE FIX: Run small tests with the list, offer format, and even colors. Be sure to include tracking mechanisms, such as a personalized URL (PURL), to gauge success.

MISTAKE NO. 5. FAIL TO FOLLOW UP.Mailing is just step one.

THE FIX: Make following up a part of the campaign. You may get referrals from those who buy—and learn where you can improve from those who don’t.

87.3 BILLION PIECES OVERALL VOLUME OF DIRECT MAIL SENT OUT IN 2013, REPRESENTING 56.2 PERCENT OF ALL MAIL.*

73%OF CONSUMERS PREFER MAIL OVER OTHER ADVERTISING METHODS.**

Sources: *http://eleventygroup.com/site/2014/04/30/25-standout-stats-multichannel-marketing-direct-marketing-association/** http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24084/print-marketing-will-thrive-in-2014-and-beyond#ixzz3SZHDgE1l

~ DEAN RIECK, DIRECT CREATIVE

MISTAKE NO. 2. SETTLE FOR LESS THAN THE BEST COPY/CREATIVE.You’ve got seconds to make an impression; don’t risk it all with a weak headline or confusing copy.

THE FIX: Consider professional copywriters and designers with a proven direct mail track record.


THEMARKETING AUTOMATION WAY

To learn more, call Shaynie at 989.891.1710

Deliver the right message to the right person at the right time—and we will deliver sales-ready leads to your sales professionals.

THE OLD WAY

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Working together to improve your bottom line.

Bottom Line June 2015

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