Kick off the fall season with a kick-ass print marketing plan

Looking for fall marketing ideas? Print marketing is a powerful strategy that makes it easy for small businesses to increase brand recognition, promote products and services and, ultimately, boost sales. Use the following ideas to kick off the fall season with a kick-ass print marketing plan.

Be visible

Visibility is critical to brand recognition and will keep your company top-of-mind when customers are ready to buy what you sell. Print marketing tools such as banners, flyers and yard signs foster visibility in your community. Ideas include:

• Sponsor local football and other sports teams, then print banners to prominently place at games. Or, print athletic programs and pepper each page with your ads.
• Print yard signs to place in customers’ yards and banners to place at busy intersections and other strategic locations.
• Sponsor fall festivals or rent booth space, then hand out flyers, brochures, business cards and other print marketing tools to prospects.

Banner for Valley Montessori School

Target likely customers

Print marketing makes it simple to put your company in front of a well-targeted audience, and direct-mail is a fantastic way to target customers during the fall. All you need is a mailing list comprised of people who match your customer demographics. Ideas include:

• Print postcards that promote your special offers. Include a coupon code for tracking and a deadline to motivate fast response.
• Print fall catalogs to market your retail products to likely buyers. Catalogs are perfect for promoting back-to-school sales.
• Distribute door hangers to targeted neighborhoods.

Postcard for Dancesport Academy designed by Teresa Travis

Be relevant to your audience

Brainstorm ways to help your audience identify with you and lend a sense of community, which fosters long-term loyalty and motivates instant purchases. Ideas include:

• Print booklets that help customers accomplish fall-related goals. For example, you might create a Halloween decoration guide or a Thanksgiving recipe booklet.
• Develop fall specials and promote them to past customers based on their buying habits. For example, a mechanic might mail postcards that offer a free winter-ready vehicle inspection with any oil change.
• Print flyers that promote your fall deals or Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials and strategically place them where your customers are: restaurants, grocery stores and even inserts in local newspapers.
• Print refrigerator magnets with local sports team schedules that feature your logo – a great way to show your team spirit.

Booklet designed for Sequoia Elementary School designed by Damion Mosier-Tidd

Personalize your print marketing

Personalization is a meaningful way to communicate with customers. It goes a long way toward establishing relationships, trust and loyalty. Ideas include:

• Print custom greeting cards and mail them to customers with a personalized, handwritten message. Halloween and Thanksgiving present perfect opportunities for this strategy.
• Host a VIP event or special after-hours sale for your top customers. Print invitation cards to invite them and only let people on your “guest list” in the door.
• Pen personalized letters and send them to your best customers to thank them for their business and to offer special VIP benefits. This can also be a great way to announce a loyalty/rewards program. Print letterhead and envelopes bearing your logo for a professional touch that lends credibility to your company.

Greeting card designed by Mike Kelleher

Encourage impulse purchases

Identify ways to motivate impulse purchases – a proven print marketing strategy that bolsters your bottom line. Ideas include:

• Print window clings that announce your fall specials and turn window shoppers into paying customers.
• Print hang tags and stickers that command attention for your best in-store deals.
• Print floor stickers that lead customers through your store to find deals and complementary products.

Hang tag for Pedal Panties

Get a head start on the holidays

You might be focused on fall marketing, but it also pays to look ahead to the winter holidays. Get a head start on competitors by sowing the seed now. Ideas include:

• Print calendars for next year, so customers display yours first before your competitors’ calendars arrive.
• Send Black Friday and Cyber Monday promos with early bird specials: catalogs, postcards and flyers are excellent ways to deliver the news.
• Print banners that announce your business as “holiday headquarters” and place them in prominent locations, so customers plan to shop your store before the onslaught of holiday ads begin.

These ideas will help you craft a kick-ass fall marketing campaign that boosts your brand presence, keeps your company top of mind and increases sales. Maximize your ROI with discount printing services today!