The Tray Way: Cross-Channel Marketing - The Online Catalog

To complete our May blog series on cross-channel marketing, we wanted to close the month with a product we have been heralded for as of late: The Online Catalog

Whether it is for B2B or B2C purposes, the online catalog offers a number of benefits 

• Create a more automated system 
• Reduce inventory 
• Improve turnaround times
• Make your brand seem more "tech-savvy"
• And, when combined with a website, social media channels or even print marketing, develop a cross-channel marketing workflow that allows for greater reach.

At Tray, the creation, development and implementation of online catalogs has been a perfect supplement and evolution to the work we have been known for. Our work with DoubleTree by Hilton helped revolutionize their internal communications abilities. According to their press release:

Prior to 2011, when a DoubleTree property wanted to order customized printed collateral or branded on-property materials for their hotel, they were faced with many different procedures. They envisioned a comprehensive toolkit where all promotional materials could be ordered from one place including on-demand digital, offset, large format and specialty items

We are extremely proud of our work on that project, but that work is quite elaborate and involved a number of moving-parts and approvals. While it was literally award-winning, we understand that not all businesses have the time, energy, budget and desire to be praised nationally. They want something that is functional, appealing to the eye, easy to use and affordable. For this reason, one of our favorite case studies is our work with Gator Athletics. We worked on creating an online catalog that they could promote and share through all their channels. It aligns with all their branding and criteria, despite not having the revenues of a multinational hotel chain.

Are you considering creating or improving an online catalog for your business? What are the most important features you are looking?
 





The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages. For information about the company and its successes, visit www.traypml.com

The Tray Way: Should Local Businesses Utilize Facebook? Yes, but....

Small, local businesses are always aiming to cut costs whenever possible, and with the advent of cost-effective social media options, the marketing budget is a common place to target. However, new research has indicated that shifting focus completely towards this new medium is not as beneficial to a local company.

In correlation with the newsfeed change on Facebook, EdgeRank Checker recently reported that popular Pages (those with more than 100,000 fans) have been generating a great deal more engagement (27.8%), smaller Pages (those with less than 5,000 fans) are generating about the same level of engagement. However, those Pages with less than 1,000 fans have seen an average engagement drop of 11.6%.

Inside Facebook presented it this way:

Most major brands tend to have at least 10,000 fans, so this may come as good news — they’re receiving a lot more Likes and comments. However, fledgling brands and local businesses that only appeal to a limited audience may find they’re receiving fewer impressions and engagement. This reduces return on their Facebook marketing investment and make their posts less likely to be reshared, a core way of organically growing their fan counts.

What does this mean for businesses trying to gain business in their immediate geographic area? From our perspective, we have two thoughts:

1. Social media is a great marketing tool for small businesses to formalize their brand (especially for the money it costs) and hit a target market, but putting all your eggs in the social media basket can potentially have a less than remarkable result, even for the investment. Tray's philosophy has always been to recommend an integrated approach, combining new media with more established, traditional media (e.g. direct mail). This actually offers local businesses a significant advantage over larger competitors because they have the necessary local insight.
2. To get all the benefits out of social media as a small business, it is worth consulting marketing experts that know where the gaps should be filled. The statistics in this report are accurate, but it is an average, meaning there are Pages that have seen growth. It is likely that those businesses have had experts in their corner to craft messages and plan campaigns that have worked.

Local businesses should absolutely not shy away from Facebook or other social media channels, but think of the smartest way to utilize the advantages you have. You know the community you operate in better than most, so think of the best mix of what your demographics want to hear and how they want to hear it.

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The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our organization's capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.