Slate Group | One Way to Increase Your Print Marketing ROI

One Way to Increase Your Print Marketing ROI

Things You Can Learn from Colleges

Think about everyone in your office. While you are all employed at the same place, that’s probably one of the few things you have in common. Between you and your coworkers, there is a range of colleges, high schools, sport interests, hobbies, family backgrounds, etc. Some of you might have just graduated college, while others have been working there for years. Some of you work out to get fit, some of you work out so you can eat bad. (There’s a difference. I know this because I’m the latter, haha!) Some of you are saving for your children’s future, some of you are saving for a car down payment.

The point is, everyone is different. We are at different stages in our lives. You can’t send out print marketing pieces to the “general public” and expect amazing results because the general public doesn’t exist.

Let me say it louder for the people in the back: The general public doesn’t exist.

Breaking down your audience into segments and personalizing your print marketing, even just a little bit, can truly impact your response rate, from receiving RSVPs for your event, to getting people to come into your store, to fundraising for scholarship.

This is an example from Arkansas Tech University, where they used variable text and images to target their audience. They changed out the picture to the dean of the college the student was accepted into, along changing the name of the student. However, just personalizing names can greatly increase your ROI for print marketing.

One industry that stands out to us as a great example of targeting specific audiences is higher education. Colleges and universities have widely diverse audiences, from high school students all the way to alumni who graduated 25 years ago (or more). Each audience has difference interests due to their life stages, just like everyone in your office. A high school student isn’t interested in donating, just like regularly-donating alumni aren’t interested in recruitment messages. Because of this, higher education has some great examples on how to tailor messages to specific audiences.

Wait, before you roll eyes and think college audiences don’t relate to you… Think about how you recruit people to buy from your store, get a membership, share your post on Instagram… Think about how you need to build a relationship with your new recruits and maintain an established relationship so they don’t leave you for another brand.

So, let’s go back to college temporarily. Below are some examples of how we have helped colleges and universities personalize print marketing to the age, interests, and life stages of their audiences.

Recruiting

When recruiting potential students, colleges are looking at high school students. Their recruitment marketing is most often geared towards juniors and seniors, the students who are beginning to think about the next stage of their life after high school. They are most likely tired of their annoying parents, but still depend on them for much of their security. But, boy, are they ready for their independence. These marketing pieces are meant to excite and convince the student that this college is their college…

This is a piece that is literally hard to put down. It folds continuously, allowing you to provide a loop of information to your audience. Temple College used it as a recruitment piece, providing potential students with the information about opportunities to be successful at the college. Pictures couldn’t do it justice, however, so here’s a video:

University of Texas at El Paso collaborated on us with this self-mailer that folds out to a poster. Since it is double-sided, on one side it had the “5 Reasons Why You Should Attend UTEP” and on the other side it had a poster that could be hung up. These messages not only relate to the high school student they are trying to recruit, but also (as a subcategory) the parents, who want to make sure the school is a good investment. Print marketing that reaches two audiences, mails itself, and is wall decor… you got quadruple bang for your buck there.

Sometimes it can just take something simple, like stair-stepping pages, to enhance your print marketing design. Midwestern State used stair-stepped pages to clearly show what type of information is available inside the booklet. The student can easily flip to the page that they are the most interested in, making the probability of the booklet getting read increase greatly. If they open one page, the chances of them opening other pages increases greatly.

Accepted

…So that the student applies and gets accepted. Next stage. Next audience. This student has been mostly convinced that this college is the one for them, but some might not have completely committed yet. By now, the student is about to or has graduated from high school and is seriously considering his or her future. Which college is truly going to set them up for success? (Whether that success be actually going to class or offer them the most extracurricular activities or the most parties?) That’s where variable data can really come into play.

ATU used variable text on this financial aid self-mailer to customize information to exactly what the student needed, eliminating the need to send pages and pages of general information to each student. As the top picture shows, the body text was changed to reflect whether the student had applied to FAFSA for not. On a perforated side panel, they listed the student’s current financial situation, based of accepted scholarships, estimated family contribution, cost of tuition, and other factors that would play into the total costs of attending.

Our ability to print custom boxes has allowed our clients to really make eye-catching print marketing. This is an example from University of Wyoming of what they are sending to students that have recently been accepted into the university. Inside the box is stickers, an information card, chapstick, and a toboggan. While this was a gift to an accepted student, it could easily be translated into year-end gifts, customer appreciation, new employee welcome kits… and the list goes on.

Giving your audience something to post on social media means your brand is advertised online, and you didn’t even have to pay to boost the post. The limiting factor is that it has to be cool enough to post on social media. With this piece, Howard College used spot UV to give their neon sign style lettering a little boost, so that when the light hits it just right, it looks like it’s glowing. Talk about cool enough to post on social media…

Current

This is the audience who has suddenly realized being an adult maybe isn’t as fun as they wanted it to be. It’s fun, but it would be nice if a parent would cook a meal every once in a while, you know? For this audience, it’s important to continually engage them in the university. Just because they are here, doesn’t mean they aren’t important anymore. These students need to have their school pride fueled and feel welcomed, so they come back next semester. (Or are glad they transferred in. Especially compared to the “not fun” college they were at last semester.)

Texas Tech Athletics uses wide format printing to engage current students on campus with campus traditions. Environmental graphics like walls wraps, stair wraps, signs, banners and more improve the look of the area and can make great backdrops for pictures that just so happen to end up on social media, meaning sweet, sweet ROI.

Providing engagement pieces, like these Angelo State University megaphones or Victoria College noisemakers, at a sporting event can be a great way to get your brand out there because you are literally giving them something to hold in their hand for the entirety of the game. They are bound to look at the marketing piece at some point in the game (like during a TV timeout). Giving your audience something useful can never be wrong.

West Texas A&M University uses wide format in another way. In their rec center, they have pictures hanging of intramural teams and clubs, showing off the extracurricular activities. This display not only makes the space more attractive, but also serves as way to get information out about all the ways students can get involved, further deepening their pride in the college, especially if they choose to join an activity.

Alumni

These are the people that colleges hope they have instilled enough school pride that they want to contribute back to the college’s continual progress. This audience needs updates on achievements and progress, and, if they have donated, that their money is being used for an worthwhile cause. Colleges and universities need to maintain, if not build, the connection the college established while they were a student.

Rice University Athletics often utilizes uniquely folded and embellished print designs with perforated return panels, along with sending reply envelopes. Regardless of whether they are mailing an impact report booklet or invitation to an event, this method allows the recipient to interact with the piece, while also making it easy to respond.

Self-mailers are a great way to reach an audience that will be potentially donating. We have seen colleges put promotional items, ID cards, bumper stickers, season tickets… anything to allow the recipient to visibly show their pride in what they are or could be part of. This is an example from Texas Tech Athletics that they sent out to season ticket holders. Giving something to your audience can make them more willing to give something back to you.

Utilizing embellishments, such as the raised UV on this University of Texas of the Permian Basin event print collateral, can give print marketing the edge it needs to stand out from everything else in the mailbox. Other ways to help your print marketing stand out are using die cuts, folds, and foil stamping. A little of something extra can go a long way in getting an increase in responses.

These audiences could even be segmented further down, such as the alumni could be broken into those who donate and those who don’t. For someone who is a regular donor, they would more likely need a “Thank you for…” message, rather than “Would you please…” message.

Knowing your audiences helps you personalize marketing pieces to increasingly engage and excite your publics. Think of where you attended college and ask yourself if you feel pride that you went there? Then think of their marketing, digital and print. Do you feel connected?

Now think of your print marketing. Do you know your audiences? Though your audiences may not be students, the recruitment of people to believe in your brand is a huge part of why your brand exists. Just like maintaining the consumer-brand relationship is important. Segmenting your audience can help you ignite a new relationship, while also maintaining ongoing relationships. Cool folds and unique embellishments make people look, but knowing who your audience is will greatly allow you to see even more return on your investment.

So, let’s ditch the general public. Let’s engage your actual audiences. Let’s increase your ROI for print marketing.