Radius Ravings

We are often asked what is the best way to advertise to new customers?  The question seems simple enough but the answer is always complex.  In marketing the goal is to be in front of the right customer, at the right time with the right message.  Demographics and analytics help us find the right customers.  If you understand the kind of marketing your customer consumes and responds to you can use those mediums to be in front of them as well. But being in front of them at the right time can be the tricky part.  Do you know why customers respond and buy when they do?  Is it seasonality or is it only when there is a full moon?   What we have found is there are outside factors that influence these buying times.  It can be times like the holidays when people go from being shoppers to buyers or a simple as something has broken and now they need it fixed.  In the Exede world it can be as simple as an increase in a customers bill or slower internet speeds.  You probably have noticed this in your business but have you really put your business in a position to use it to your benefit?  The good news is that you can!  With the Trost Marketing Automatic Radius Program (ARM) you can target customers around previous activations with radius mailings.  This means that your message is in front of customers with similar needs and demographics around the same time as other neighbors are making buying decisions.  This is the best time to be in front of these potential customers because they are more likely to be going through the same things that caused their neighbor to respond.  This puts you one step closer to a sale and allows you to cultivate areas where you are getting activations.  This program is consistently our most successful tactic by the numbers because it incorporates targeting, timing, high readership rates and consistency.  The best part about it is that campaigns only mail when you have activations so it’s self sustaining.  You will never deplete your marketing co-op or go over budget with this program because it adjusts to the activations you have each month.  As an approved Marketing partner for Exede we work closely with your distributor marketing programs to make sure all of your co-op claims are processed smoothly and efficiently.  You can have the peace of mind to know that your claims will be processed quickly and automatically.  Now that you know one of the best ways to advertise call us today to learn more and get signed up today.

Do you every wonder why direct mail is one of the most commonly used forms of marketing?  The answer is in the name.  It’s direct.  Many times we speed past the name of the tactic and focus on the the cost or the design and think that just because we are doing direct mail that it will be successful.  The true value of direct mail is it’s ability to directly target your ideal customer.  If done correctly your message will be in the hands of a potential customer that has a need that you can meet.  If you know who your customer is and how to reach them you will put your business if the best opportunity for success.

Targeting customers is more than just picking addresses based on their proximity to you.  It is the careful review of indicators that match your typical customer.  The best way to find out what your typical customer looks like is to ask them.  Pay close attention to who is already coming and who are the customers that actually buy from you.  From there find demographic indicators that match the people you want to be in front of.  If you use this knowledge properly you will be putting your direct mail in the best opportunity for success.

You may think twice next time you walk past a penny on the ground.  For most a few pennies isn’t much.  In fact many people believe that the dime is the new penny and won’t bother to pick one up if they dropped it.  But for all of us those pennies can add up.  Last Sunday the USPS officially raised the cost of a stamp $0.03 which works out to an increase of approximately 6%. The USPS anticipates this will increase the USPS revenue $2.6 Billion dollars.  That’s a lot of pennies.  260 billion pennies for those keeping track.

So what does that mean for companies marketing with direct mail?  It means marketing planning is that much more important.  Your marketing budgets probably didn’t go up by 6% so you need to make sure you are sending the right message to the right people.  Look closely at your demographics and identify your best opportunity for success.  Find out who your current customers are and see what they have in common.  Then use demographic indicates to find more people like that.  If your not sure.  Find a marketing company that can help you get started.  Direct mail is still one of the best ways to advertise and is a great way to send a target message to potential customer.  And that’s our 2 cents.

At Trost Consulting we’re committed to reducing, reusing and recycling whenever and wherever possible. If you ever wondered how we do it, here is a little insight to the products we use.

Inks: Vegetable oil based inks can be made from a variety of sources including soy-bean, corn and linseed oils. By replacing mineral oil with vegetable oil, this means we can reduce or even cut out volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. VOCs are carbon-containing gases and vapors that are released from solvents used during the printing process. The most significant environmental impact of VOCs is their formation with vehicle exhaust to form photochemical smog. However, in liquid form VOCs can effect water and soil quality. This is why we have opted to use vegetable oil based inks.

Paper: When it comes to protecting and preserving our environmental resources, perhaps no other organization is as well known and respected worldwide than FSC. Trost Consulting is proud to use FSC certified products and companies. Using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified products gives Trost Consulting customers the choice to print on paper that originates in responsibly managed forests. Trost Consulting also uses Chain of Custody certified printers, and is entitled to apply the FSC’s “checkmark-and-tree” trademark logo to projects printed on FSC-certified paper. You will start seeing this logo on more and more of our direct mail postcards. The FSC Chain of Custody certified logos shows Trost Consulting’s commitment to environmentally friendly manufacturing practices and provides our customers an additional option to help reduce the environmental impact of their printed materials.

Recycling: Any waste paper products used in the production of our post cards are recycled . Given the amount of postcards we produce there can be a large amount of paper waste from trimming and cutting. This waste is recycled so that we can maximize the usage of the paper and minimize the environmental impact of our processes.

Our goal is to be environmentally responsible and to provide a quality product for our customers. To learn more about the FSC go to:http://www.fsc.org/