Boost Your Ecommerce Sales with Traditional Print Materials and Signage
11/11/2015
| admin
The world between traditional commerce and Ecommerce is filled with blurred lines. Conceptually, the two share many similarities that make them one in the same, but the obvious mediums by which they operate could not be more different. Simply put: in theory, they’re the same but in practice, they’re different.
One key to succeeding in today’s world of rapidly growing and evolving Ecommerce is drawing inspiration and ideas from the proven practices of traditional commerce. When it comes to marketing and sales, this means learning from experience by looking at things that have worked well in the past and avoiding the common mistakes made by so many.
Many people think the game has changed in regards to marketing an Ecommerce versus a traditional brick and mortar store—but it really hasn’t: it has just expanded. Email and direct mail are one in the same; popup ads and fliers are cut from the same cloth; referral links and landing pages are akin to canvasing and customized offers. The trick to succeeding in Ecommerce marketing isn’t thinking of new marketing as different, but rather in adapting old marketing concepts to new, modern media!
All of this is a simple way of saying that materials like print products and signage are too often overlooked by Ecommerce marketers, when in reality, they should be a cornerstone of any marketing campaign, digital or otherwise!
Making the jump from real-world to digital
Even though your Ecommerce marketing is delivered digitally, your customers are still a part of the real world, which means you’re going to need ways to bridge the gap between online and offline. Traditional print materials and physical signage are one answer to building this bridge.
Whether it’s a brand name, a web address, a product or something else altogether, printed materials and coordinated signage are two footholds in the physical world that will induce your potential customers and target demographic online, to learn more about what they’re seeing offline. Think about it—when you see an interesting brand, product or subject, what’s the first thing you do? Chances are, you look it up on the Internet.
Having the right print materials in the physical world is going to jumpstart your Ecommerce in ways digital campaigns can’t match. While online, you can hide popups, ignore links and navigate away from referrals but in the real world, you can’t ignore a physical sign that’s right in front of you!
Crafting a real-world, Ecommerce campaign
The beauty in using physical printed materials and signage for an Ecommerce campaign is that it’s more of a soft sell. Generally, popups and email spam that people associate with digital advertising and Ecommerce marketing have a bad reputation for being invasive and a hard sell. The perception of a soft sell, as might be perceived with a simple print product—will be a welcome change that can actually encourage people to visit your Ecommerce site, rather than flee from it!
Like any real-world campaign, crafting a successful physical campaign for Ecommerce takes planning and the right materials. Whether you’re trying to drive people to a landing page, promote a specific product, increase memberships or just build brand awareness, it takes refined marketing materials and a coordinated plan to funnel action into the form you want it to take.
At AlphaGraphics, we understand the synergy between offline print products and signage and the world of Ecommerce marketing. Stop by your local AlphaGraphics today to learn more about how a few traditional materials and a proven approach can elevate your Ecommerce marketing strategy to an entirely new plane in the coming year!