ABOUT OUR CLIENTS
We mainly serve New York and New Jersey area.
Our studio is located in Fort Lee, right in front of George Washington
Bridge.
Working in NJ helps us to keep our service fee very competitive against
other design firms by
cutting unnecessary overheads such as parking, high office lease and
commuting time.
In fact, our price and service quality is so competitive that many out
of state companies work with us on various projects, mainly catalog
design.
Some of our biggest clients are located in Atlanta, Texas and even in
China and Korea.
We make the catalog design process very simple. They send us the product,
we photograph them and send them back.
Then we finish the catalog design, working with the clients every step
of the way.
We send them the ‘pdf’ format proof, making it easy for
the clients to check over the entire catalog.
Once the final layout is confirmed, we print the catalog and send them
out to our clients’ customers then ship the rest to our clients.
Our physical address is 2125 Center Avenue Fort Lee, NJ.
If you are near us, please feel free to contact us or even stop by.
If you are far away, please call us and we can discuss how we can serve
you in many different ways.
SEE OUR REVIEW
FI you would like to see some of the reviews from our clients,
you can find them in Yahoo
Local.
If you are our client, we would appreciate an positive review from you.
DIRECT
MARKETING
Direct marketing is a sub-discipline of marketing focused
on driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific "call-to-action".
Direct marketing is distinguished from other marketing efforts by its
emphasis on trackable,
measurable results (known as "response" in the industry) regardless
of medium.
Direct marketers use a variety of media including catalogs, postcards,
statement inserts, card packs, magazines and other mail.
Direct marketers also use media such as door hangers, package inserts,
magazines, newspapers, radio, television, email, internet banner ads,
pay-per-click ads, billboards, transit ads, etc. If the ad in the medium
asks the prospect to take a specific action--call an 800 number,
visit a website, return a response card, place an order, complete a
survey, etc.--then the effort is considered to be direct marketing.
The term is believed to have been first used in 1961 in a speech by
Lester Wunderman,
who pioneered direct marketing techniques with brands such as American
Express and Columbia Records.
Although Wunderman may have been the first to use the term "direct
marketing", the practice of "mail order selling"
(direct marketing via mail) essentially began in the U.S. upon invention
of the typewriter in 1867.
The first mail-order catalog was produced by Aaron Montgomery Ward in
1872. The Direct Mail Advertising Association,
predecessor of the present-day Direct Marketing Association, was first
established in 1917. Third class bulk mail postage rates were established
in 1928.
Direct marketing's history in Europe can be traced to the 15th century.
Upon Gutenberg's invention of moveable type,
the first trade catalogs from printer-publishers appeared sometime around
1450.
Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers, because in many cases
its effectiveness can be measured directly.
For example, if a marketer sends out one million solicitations by mail,
and ten thousand customers can be tracked as having responded to the
promotion,
the marketer can say with some confidence that the campaign led directly
to the responses.
By contrast, measurement of other media must often be indirect, since
there is no direct response from a consumer.
Measurement of results, a fundamental element in successful direct marketing,
is explored in greater detail elsewhere in this article.
While many marketers like this form of marketing, some direct marketing
efforts using particular media have sometimes been criticized
for generating unwanted solicitations. For example, direct mail that
is irrelevant to the recipient is considered "junk mail",
and unwanted email messages are considered "spam".
DIRECT MARKETING CHANNELS
Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer
can be employed in direct marketing.
Probably the most commonly used medium for direct marketing is direct
mail,
in which marketing communications are sent to customers using the postal
service. In many developed countries,
direct mail represents such a significant amount of the total volume
of mail that special rate classes have been established.
In the United States and United Kingdom, for example, there are bulk
mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are
substantially lower than regular first-class rates. In order to qualify
for these rates,
marketers must format and sort the mail in particular ways - which reduces
the handling (and therefore costs) required by the postal service.
Direct mail permits the marketer to design marketing pieces in many
different formats. Indeed, there is an entire subsector of the industry
that produces specialized papers, printing, envelopes, and other materials
for direct mail marketing. Some of the common formats, include:
• Catalogs: Multi-page, bound promotions, usually featuring a
selection of products for sale.
• Self-mailers: Pieces usually created from a single sheet that
has been printed and folded.
For instance, a common practice is to print a page-length advertisement
or promotion on one side of a sheet of paper.
This is then folded in half or in thirds, with the promotional message
to the inside.
The two outside surfaces are then used for the address of the recipient
and some "teaser" message designed to persuade the customer
to open the piece.
• Poly-bag packages: Large (often 9x12 or bigger) full-color packages
sealed in a clear plastic outer wrap.
The contents show through the poly-bag, giving the potential for maximum
initial impact.
Poly-bag packages can be extremely effective, but also quite expensive.
• Postcards: Simple, two-sided pieces, with a promotional message
on one side and the customer's address on the other.
• Envelope mailers: Mailings in which the marketing material is
placed inside an envelope. This permits the marketer to include more
than one insert.
When more than one advertiser is included, this is often called "marriage
mail". Valpak is one of the largest examples of a marriage mail
service.
• Snap Mailers: Mailers that fold and seal with pressure. The
sides detach and the mailer is opened to reveal the message.
• Dimensional Mailers: Mailers that have some dimension to them,
like a small box.
• Intelligent Documents: Programmable mail pieces built dynamically
from database information, and printed digitally for faster production.
ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE OF DIRECT MAIL
Advantages include the following:
• Targeting - Historically, the most important aspect of direct
mail was its ability to precisely target previous customers.
If a suitable list was available, it also did a good job of targeting
prospects.
• Personalization - Direct mail can address the customer personally
and be tailored to their needs based on previous transactions and gathered
data.
• Optimization - Because of its direct accountability, direct
mail can be tested to find the best list; the best offer; the best timing
(and many other factors).
Then the winning tests can be rolled out to a wider audience for optimal
results.
• Accumulation - Responses (and non-responses) can be added to
the database, allowing future mailings to be better targeted.
Disadvantages include:
• Cost - The cost per thousand will be higher than almost any
other form of mass promotion (although the wastage rate may be much
lower).
• Waste - Large quantities of paper are thrown away (see below).
• Alienation - Some recipients resent direct marketing being "forced"
upon them, and boycott companies that do so.
Moreover, they may obtain Prohibitory Orders against companies whose
direct marketing mail they find offensive.
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MAILING (B2B)
Business products and services have long used direct mail to promote
themselves.
Traditionally, this worked in one of two ways. As a direct sale, therefore
precluding the use of a salesperson or a retail store,
or as a method of generating leads for a salesforce. The former method
was ideally used by products that were easy to sell,
were familiar to the prospect and needed no demonstration.
The latter method was used for large ticket items or for those that
needed demonstration for example.
Above
information is from Wikipeida, the free
encyclopedia.