Traditionally, web-to-print has been all about helping customers retain brand control, get their collateral faster, get better return on investment for marketing campaigns and realize savings on printing budgets. This was done by providing a system that encompassed online ordering, tracking and collaboration of materials. Web to print is still all about those things, but it has evolved with technology and now can be used to bridge the gap across multi-channel campaigns.

Today, a web to print solutions provider can help with:

- direct mail campaigns

- personalized URLs (pURLS)

- QR Codes

- website development

- social media

- cross channel marketing

It’s important to make sure that the data your business has is used to make your messages relevant. Catchy phrases and funny graphics only go so far. You need to make sure your message fits your audience. And along the way, your audience will tell you their preferred method of communication. With multiple touches, your marketing campaign will receive a better response rate. And it all wraps up with a more relevant and personalized way to reach out to your prospects and customers than other, less integrated approaches.

Web to print is able to automate many tasks that are typically repetitive, or done manually or offline. This frees staff up to work on other responsibilities. And it can help the overall budget, by decreasing production and fulfillment costs. In fact, the affordability of web to print solutions allows smaller companies with tight budgets to still get a lot of bang for their marketing bucks and reduce wasteful spending that often happens when campaigns are conducted without the consistency and care that can be found with web to print. Web to print also allows for timely adjustments to campaigns when needed. By tracking response actions and rates, you can make better informed decisions about your strategies.

Another important aspect of web to print is the ability to retain control of branding – with online offerings and print materials. It’s easy for things to become disjointed when they are handled with various solutions.  Instead, with web to print you streamline things so you don’t have too many hands in the cookie jar, watering down your message and overall brand.

In a nutshell, web to print helps you manage not only print collateral from any location at any time, but it can be used to create a fully functional, cost-saving cross channel campaign. The benefits include customizable content, managements of digital assets, consistency in branding, budget savings and higher response rates. And who doesn’t like better ROI on campaigns?

Want a little more info on this new world? Here is a free White Paper on integrated marketing. I call it the Holy Grail. 

I have a new reason to love Instagram . . . it has provided me with my latest example of personalization gone wrong. It’s an image posted by Jim David on his Instagram account.  Clearly, the emails were intended to be personalized but the marketer didn’t have a business name to insert into the name field. So Jim’s email was personalized with the default.

This is another example of how important it is to consider your default settings when you are personalizing anything. When the variable field is empty, what will go in there? How will it read once it does?

This issue is relevant to print, too, not just email. Don’t just include a default — make sure that, when it’s used, it doesn’t undermine your efforts to develop a positive relationship with your customer.

If you haven’t connected with me on Instagram, I invite you to do so, as well.

Nicole Schappert’s Digital Nirvana post last week made the case for printers adopting social media.

According to the InfoTrends study cited by Nicole, most printers have three goals in using social media:

• engage with customers
• promote their brand
• generate leads.

In my experience, engaging with current customers is where you should focus. Here’s what I mean.

Printing is a business that runs on relationships. Effective print products aren’t cheap and they aren’t easy to produce. Direct mail is an art form that draws on a bunch of skills: strategy, planning, copy, design, production, mailing, tracking, evaluating, and tweaking, and more. Good printers either do it all, or know how to get it all done.

The customers looking for these products really need to trust their printers. And, in my experience, most customers will stick with a printer they trust even when the price isn’t the lowest. Relationships rule.

So, in terms of what I’d recommend — and in terms of massaging current customer relationships — four social media products stand out:

1. Twitter. Here’s where you share what you know and what you’ve learned. I’d recommend tweeting three or four times in the morning and again in the afternoon. Please don’t tweet your own stuff, unless you have something original to say. Rather, read the trade press and industry blogs and tweet news and developments of interest to your customers. You’ll be helping your customers “keep up with it all.” But here’s where you also can help your customers in their businesses. Are they blogging? Tweet what they have to say. Did they win an award? Let your followers know. If you can’t think of anything else to do, retweet your customers’ tweets. Really, Twitter is all about informing, honoring, and helping them.

2. Your electronic newsletter. Two printers I’m familiar with both do a terrific e-newsletter. What makes these newsletters so special?

These folks research and write their own stories. And the stories are good: original, fresh, insider-ish. For example, one printer did an excellent piece about 18 months ago explaining the impact of industry consolidation on direct mail budgets. The writer researched, interviewed, and wrote an authoritative article about how the cost of direct mail was roller coastering and why. Even the trade mags didn’t have this story.. but this company’s customers did. Another favorite example came from a printer who took time to interview the manager of his nearby bulk mail facility. This gal happily shared her experience related to the best ways to avoid postal nightmares.

Both of these articles — and many more like them — were highly instructive and truly “in-the-know.” No, this content can’t be thrown together and, yes, it demands a high degree of authenticity and professionalism. But that’s what you want to demonstrate, right?

3. Your blog. Here’s where you can share a depth of information and your knowledge about more complicated topics: postal rates and activities, different direct marketing techniques, suggestions for integrated marketing, tips and tricks based on case studies — the list of what you know and do is endless. The best advice here is to be authoritative and, above all, authentic. Be a real person readers can relate to. Be yourself. p.s. If you’re going to generate new business, here is where it can happen because here is where new customers surfing the Internet will find you. (Of course you’ll tweet a 140-character teaser linked to your blog.)

4. Your Facebook page (but maybe not Facebook as you think of it). Something different. Something personal and reflective of your company culture. Facebook isn’t your website. It’s designed to be friendlier and more accessible. It’s designed for public Q&A. (Yes, maybe stuff you don’t want could show up — but very rarely– and not so you can’t handle it). Just FYI: one printer I know swears by Facebook. But guess what this company features on its Facebook page? Photos! Photos of customers, colleagues, friends, and industry greats. Captions yes, but hardly any copy. Not surprisingly, customers love (and “like”) this Facebook page.

5. Pinterest. Okay, I don’t know any printer who’s using Pinterest … yet. That’s a shame. This exceedingly popular social media channel is all visual, all the time. Could this be a terrific place to feature your company’s great printing skills? How about photos of your staff and plant? Or even your own “favorite” print jobs and papers?

In short, social media is about reaching out to people — first, connecting with and solidifying relationships with your current customers and then — in time — connecting with your not-yet-customers.

Selling marketing services may seem like one of those “pie in the sky” endeavors at times. There is more of an emotional component to selling services (versus products), because the intangible is involved. And the results desired (after your awesome services have been utilized) may mean different things to different people.

You aren’t selling an item, you are selling the idea of results and what those results mean to your prospects.  Here are the top five practices for selling your marketing services:

1 - If you haven’t already, you need to narrow that target market.

Let’s face it, you can’t be all things to all people. And you don’t want to work with everyone. You want to work with the “right” companies. Companies you can help. Companies that fit your brand and “get” your work. Companies that appreciate your expertise.

2 – Since you don’t have a product to offer as a sample to your prospective clients, you need to show them what you can do, without offering up your services for free.

The best way to do this is to create an in-depth online portfolio of sorts that showcases your abilities. Make everything you put out – blog, white papers, newsletters, etc. do “double duty” in that they should be a promotional item that shows off your marketing capabilities, but also provides some information or tips that can help the prospect.

3 - Use testimonials and case studies to your advantage.

Prospects like to see what others have to say. A great testimonial is good stuff. But don’t just stick with testimonials. Ask your current happy clients for referrals. Obviously they aren’t going to offer up their competition. But, since no business operates inside a bubble, your clients work with companies (perhaps on joint ventures) that likely need your help. And your clients, when happy with your work, may have a few suggestions on who you should contact and market your services to.

4 - Track down the decision maker – don’t get stuck with the gatekeeper.

When you are given referrals, you typically get to go straight to the person who will make the decision whether or not to work with you. But when you acquire leads through other means it’s not unusual to get stuck with someone who doesn’t have the authority to make the decision. You need to determine who is in charge of saying yes to your marketing services and get to that person. Don’t waste your time with the employees who can’t give the green light. Be polite. Be business-like. But push past the keeper of the gate and get to the “right” person.

5 – Since results can be somewhat subjective, you need to pinpoint exactly what your prospective client’s individual needs and wants are.

You may be promising them A, and they really want B. Or they may not understand that A will eventually lead to B. It’s up to you to make the possible results crystal clear. Explain how you can measure the results and what those results will translate into for your client’s business.

In the end the prospect should believe in your abilities, understand what it is that you can do, and believe that you are worth every penny you charge for your services.

To learn more, here is a free White Paper from John! 

A study by JWT reinforces what we are hearing on a regular basis now . . . people think the fact that marketers can get a 360-degree view of their behavior and use that information to target them is creepy.  But hey, if it benefits them, who cares?

Here’s the “anxious factor” in play:

Percentage of American and British adults who agree with the following after learning that, through data analysis, companies can predict what they’ll want or need and create customized offers for them as individuals:

• It feels like Big Brother is watching me  (65%)
• The idea of being tracked and analyzed makes me nervous (64%)
• It makes me feel violated (51%)
• I think this will help simplify my life (48%)

As we might expect, Millennials (18-34 year olds) are less likely to feel this way than Gen-Xers and Boomers, but the percentages were fairly tight. But in the end, self-interest wins out. These same respondents also said:

• It’s okay with me as long as I save money  (64%)
• It’s okay with me as long as I get relevant offers  (62%)
• It’s okay with me as long as it makes shopping easier (56%)

It’s interesting that the percentages saying “It’s okay with me if . . .” are nearly identical to those saying, “It creeps me out.”

The takeaway? People will accept being uncomfortable as long as it saves them time or benefits their wallets.

It reminds me of a survey I read just recently about coupons and how people will drive very much out of their way (up to 20 miles, if I remember correctly) to use a coupon worth just a few dollars. I thought that was interesting considering that, with the price of today’s gas, it could end up costing these people money to use the coupon, but apparently the lure of “saving money” was stronger than logic and reason. Consumers are not always rational creatures, are they?

Social Media is huge right now. HUGE. If you keep up with this blog, then you’ve likely already caught a few posts about social media. But here is one more; one that is specifically focused on printers and how they are using social media to achieve their business goals and communicate with customers.

I recently read a 2011 InfoTrends study on social media usage in the printing industry and was surprised to learn some of the findings. As of 2011, about 1/3 of print business had adopted social media and used it in their day-to-day business operations. I was at first surprised by how low the percentage was, but considering data was likely gathered for this study at the end of 2010, I would imagine the usage rate is significantly higher by now. What it also interesting is that print providing companies that were smaller in nature had the highest rate of social media adoption, while larger companies were less likely to engage in social networks. The most common networking platforms used are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and company blogs.

According to InfoTrends, the top business goals driving social media usage for printers are to engage with customers, promote their brand and generate leads. While technology is still advancing in terms of measuring the ROI on social media marketing, most respondent indicate that social networking is positive for their business and brand image. With that being said, social media is still a marketing initiative that should be approached in a strategic manner with well defined objectives and an operating plan.

One point that I want to get across here is that print providers who have not yet adopted social media usage, should seriously consider doing so. Not only is it a great way to engage with customers in a convenient and free manner, but it can be a great way to demonstrate expertise in communication. Print providers and marketing services providers attract B2B customers because of their ability to communicate with end users and effectively communicate a message that will move someone to purchase. Being able to do that in the online world signals to potential customers that a print/marketing services provider can do the same with a printed piece. Demonstrating expertise in both online and printed communications could provide the opportunities to manage both for customers. Not too bad of business proposition, eh?

Do personalized recommendations really work? If so, just how much? Most of the data comes from the world of online retailing where it’s easier to track than print, but there are certainly applications to print we can learn from. Yesterday, I ran across an actual A/B split test that provided the kind of detail you don’t normally see.

The test [PDF download] came from Nova Pontocom, the second largest Latin American online retailer. It ran an experiment for one month involving three portals, nearly 600,000 different users, and 50 million page views and resulted in 1 million online orders generating revenues of $230 million.

[NOTE: I am getting feedback that the PDF download link is not working, but when I paste it into my browser, it works fine. URL is wanlab.poly.edu/recsys12/recsys/p277.pdf.]

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest scale controlled experiment aiming to assess the business value impact of personalized recommendations published so far,” write the authors of the report.

Users were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received personalized recommendations and a control group that did not. The personalized recommendations were generated by seven different collaborative filtering techniques based on product views, purchases, and shopping cart composition.

At the end of the month-long test, researchers found (with 95% of statistical significance) that the personalized recommendations resulted in an overall increase in revenues in the order of 8-20%.

Although online shopping and print marketing are different animals, the concept of providing a relevant offer based on the recipient’s own behavior has universal application. For those who’ve wondered just how much personalization can affect the bottom line when all other factors remain the same, this is some pretty strong data.

I have just finished reading a very interesting case study in the December 2012 issue of Target Marketing magazine.

It’s for Red Tie Insurance Services, which revealed how it works all the angles to squeeze every drop out its rented lists. Although the company relies on cold calling as its initial point of contact, its approach would work for print and mail, as well.

Here is the nutshell:

1. Once or twice a month, Red Tie purchases a homeowners list based on ZIP Code radius.

2. It imports the list into its CRM system to glean all the phone numbers, address, and names associated with those homeowners.

3. It cold calls all homeowners on the list. For those it cannot contact by phone, it contacts by email if available.

4. Using its CRM system, Red Tie finds Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts for the leads it cannot contact by phone or email and invites them to connect through the company’s Facebook page.

Red Tie has a 22% conversion rate among prospects with whom it speaks, and outside lists comprise 65% of its marketing mix. I have a call in to the owner, Reginald Hawkins, to find out what percentage of those email contacts and social media invitations convert to actual phone calls. As soon as I hear back, I’ll update this post.

[Update: Hawkins indicates that his email contacts generate about a 3% conversion-to-phone call rate. Social media is marginal, but it's just an important "catch all." You never know what leads it will generate.]

For clients who serve business and professional services providers who target homeowners, renters, new movers, and similar audiences, a  similar approach could be used with print, as well. Instead of cold calling, use personalized print as the first contact.  If possible, prime the pump with personalized email or use email to follow up (“Did you receive our postcard?”). Connect with nonrespondents using social media. It’s a simple repeatable approach that has paid off for this marketer.

As a side note, if you go to Red Tie’s Facebook page, it’s interesting that they have a huge QR Code in the upper righthand corner that says, “Scan Me!” The code takes you to a mobile version of its site. We might say, “Why would someone scan a QR Code to go to the mobile site when they are sitting at a computer right then and there?” The answer is, I don’t know, but what I know is that people do it — all the time.

You should plan your content, all your content, for mobile. Sound crazy? Maybe it is. But here’s the thing – you know you need to keep your mobile content relevant. Mobile users don’t want the fluff. They want what they want, when they want it…on their various mobile devices. So when you are planning your content using responsive web design, you should think from a mobile standpoint.

Ask yourself:

• What information do I need my mobile users to see?
• What information do my mobile users want to see?
• What other content would be beneficial to my mobile audience?
• What else can I add that would improve the overall mobile experience, not seem stupid or come across as absolute fluff? What would be cool but not annoying and useless?

Once you answer those questions, then look to your website. Think about your desktop audience. Would you answer any of those questions differently when posing them about your desktop users? And if you do answer those questions differently, why?

Look, just because you have more real estate when you’re creating your website for your online (desktop and laptop) audience doesn’t mean you should abuse that real estate and fill it up with a bunch of gratuitous images, text blocks and so on. No, you don’t have to have a minimalist approach, but you should think in terms of streamlining.

Ever been looking for something online, whether you are on your smartphone or on your computer, and gotten annoyed at trying to wade through a lot of “junk” that just makes it that much harder to find the content you really need? Well, consider your audience. You don’t want them to be that annoyed user who is one touch away from heading to another site to get what they are looking for.

It wasn’t too long ago that many businesses were stripping away content as they developed a mobile site. They looked at their traditional website and wondered what they could take away to make it “fit” on the small screen of a mobile device. And some are still doing this.

And when you get down to it, doesn’t it just sound…well, wrong?

Doesn’t everything you have on your traditional site have a reason for being there? Isn’t it all wonderful, tasty goodness that you (or someone on your team) thought at some point had a good reason for being online?

It’s depressing to think about what you need to strip away in order for a mobile site to be readable or useable to the audience. Sure, there are certain businesses that have mobile users who are searching for very specific things. And having a different mobile site (or perhaps even an app) may make absolute sense. (Not sure what your business needs? This is when you partner up with a company like Grow Socially – they can take a look and help you either way).

But when you know that you don’t need specific mobile functionality that would necessitate an app or separate mobile site, isn’t it logical to provide your audience with a responsive, seamless design? And in that case, working from small and then scaling up makes total sense. You aren’t stripping away anything. You are building a new, awesomely terrific experience that can be enjoyed by users across all devices.

Learn more about responsive web design and mobile strategies here.

Last week, I wrote about how the success of trigger-based email continues to support the value of trigger-based mail. After all, the importance is not in the medium. It’s in the timing and relevance.

Chuck Gehman, vice president of product platforms at Mimeo.com, disagreed. He commented on my post, saying,

It’s a real stretch to suggest that it would be possible to emulate what is going on in the digital world. It is possible that a few years ago, before digital marketing started to “run over” personalized print, this would have been a good idea. Now, though, why on earth would you want to? I mean, I get letters from my Honda dealer telling me my car is about to need a service. My BMW/Mini Cooper dealer, on the other hand, has an email platform. I honestly don’t have a preference as to which one I prefer… but I do know that the Honda dealer is spending way more money, and I believe I’m paying for it, which makes me a little unhappy.

I had to read this twice. Was Chuck really saying trigger-based print is passe? So I asked, and this is what he said.

Yes, unfortunately. The time has past for “that kind” of transactional/transpromo direct mail. In fact, I went to the Honda dealer yesterday– and I brought the letter with me (it’s a black and white letter in an envelope with two coupons at the bottom). I didn’t need it, because its content was all in their computer. The first thing the service adviser said was, “I have a coupon for you.”

One thing I might add is that my car was also telling me I needed service every time I turned it on, and it told me what kind of service it needed with a little code on the display– I looked up the code by typing “Honda Pilot B12″ into Google, and voila, I found out I needed an Oil Change.

So, Heidi, what’s the point?

There may still be room for the “print as a luxury” crowd, where some super-high end transactional/triggered direct mail piece is a good move, but generally, I think it’s a quickly and dramatically shrinking category.

I mean, I love print as much (and probably a lot more) than the next guy, but we can’t keep fooling ourselves. Some applications are just done.

I would agree with Chuck for some target audiences, but not everyone lives in the world that he is describing.

My car doesn’t talk to me. I have a neighbor without Internet access. Both my husband’s parents and mine are highly educated, with disposable incomes, but neither has an iPad or a smartphone. My husband’s parents don’t even watch television.

I have a close friend whose husband runs a research lab at Penn State. They don’t have smartphones, and their computer has so many filters on it I’m surprised email gets through. Another set of close friends is still smartphone-free, as well, despite the fact that she’s a teacher and her husband works in the world of computers.

My husband has a director-level job at a private school, but he doesn’t have a smartphone, receives no marketing email, and only looks at his home email once a week.

I think we forget that there is still a whole world out there that is not plugged into this world of e-everything, and unless we don’t need revenue from their wallets, I think print is still very much worthy of their attention.

Chuck was ready for me. He volleyed back:

That’s a very dramatically shrinking world, though Heidi, you’ve published a lot of the statistics to prove what I’m saying in previous posts you have made here!

[Yes, that's true, I would interject, but I've also posted a lot of data showing the continued effectiveness of direct mail, too.]

People who have Smartphones are the people marketers want to spend money trying to reach… not people who don’t consume any media, which is increasingly the demo for the people you are describing.

Um, I responded, does this mean that people without smartphones don’t spend any money? That’s not the case among non-smartphone owners I know. They just spend money on things other than electronics. (Although one is an avid iPad user.)

The other point is that while as an industry, we’ve been watching with great interest as the percentage of smartphone owners has grown, and there was great excitement when smartphone owners hit 50% if the market. But that still leaves the other 50%. Are we going to say they don’t spend money or consume media?

Then the irony of what I was writing back to Chuck hit me. I added,

By the way, just for fun, it’s worth noting that I’m posting my defense of the legitimacy of trigger-based print from my iPhone while at the gym…

In the final volley in this exchange (until I continued it here), Chuck posted:

Uh oh! That is fun, Heidi! Hey, check out the statistics embedded in this post I just stumbled upon.

Okay, Chuck. Good stuff. But growth in one medium doesn’t mean a corresponding decline in the effectiveness in the other. When did media become mutually exclusive? I thought multi-channel marketing meant multiple channels, including a mix of media.  That means that print stays relevant, even when other channels are growing in popularity.

In fact, according to last year’s USPS Household Survey, eight out of 10 U.S. households still scan or read advertising mail that comes to their homes. That sure beats average click rates. And the percentage of U.S. households that “usually read” advertising mail increases as the volume of mail they receive decreases. This is more evidence that, as U.S. mail volumes decline, advertising mail becomes that much more effective. Plus, we know that personalization increases effectiveness even further.

So I agree with Chuck’s comments, but only on a non-exclusive basis. I think that’s where we can easily become myopic. Growth in one medium doesn’t necessarily mean lack of effectiveness of another.

Please chime in . . . what is your response to this exchange?

When it comes to mobile marketing content and distribution, you want to provide a coherent and consistent experience. No matter what the delivery format – be it texts, emails, apps or a mobile website, you want to make sure that you take advantage of the various capabilities that can be found on mobile devices.

However, this is not the time to make an all-you-can-eat buffet mobile marketing plan that shoots out in all directions. While the internet and internet marketing may cater a bit more to the “bigger is better” and “knowledge is power” mantras at times, the reality of mobile is that it’s a different beast. Users think differently. They act differently. And your content and the delivery of that content must reflect that if your mobile marketing plan is to be a success.

Take a minimalist approach. With your mobile website, you should carefully pick and choose what kind of information you provide. Remember, your mobile users are typically looking for specific information, not just grazing and roaming from site to site. This doesn’t mean you have the green light to skimp on actual content. You want to give them what they are looking for. So the correct information is key, and not oodles of extraneous bits that you may naturally add on your regular website.

Keep that minimalist approach in mind as you design your website. Navigation should be kept simple. Information should never be more than 3 clicks away. Buttons should be obvious. Scrolling should be vertical, not horizontal. Avoid using frames. And keep image use to a minimum, as it can bog down the load time and suck up bandwidth.

Remember that with mobile devices you can use location to your advantage. So your content should reflect that when possible. And delivery should also be coordinated with location when possible. Everyone loves a deal, right? So how about offering special pricing that can be made available when a user checks in to your location?

As you develop your mobile marketing messages, you want to focus on “shareability.” Meaning, you want it to be something that is worthy of sharing. You want your mobile users to think, “Hey, this is cool. I need to pass this along.” And then, make it as effortless as possible to either forward it via email, post on Facebook, tweet via Twitter or otherwise share it. Don’t be afraid to include links that encourage sharing…a lot of times, if you don’t ask, they won’t do it. So plant that seed of sharing and make it an easy task.

And never, ever forget the importance of mobile marketing metrics. You should be tracking your efforts and paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. Mobile isn’t the internet on a smaller screen. It involves different levels of responsiveness and buying patterns. Test and test some more. Tweak and tweak some more. You will find mobile success as you develop content that is tailored to the mobile audience in both the message and the actual delivery.

Learn more with this free White Paper from iFlyMobi. 

It seems that you hear about Pinterest and its 25+ million users everywhere now.  Whole Foods has 86,000 followers. Michael’s Stores has 7,000 followers. Social media strategist Ted Rubin has 2,600 followers. Ted Rubin’s sock board has 2,300 followers.

There is no doubt about it. Pinterest is fun. I’ve seen some very interesting things on there. Certainly there are a few pairs of socks owned by Ted Rubin I’d like to see on my husband. But is it for printers?

Print is a visual medium, and since Pinterest appeals to visual thinkers like designers, you’d think there would some great overlap there. Yet look for a printer on Pinterest and, well, if you find one, let me know.

Consumer marketers seem to have figured out what works on Pinterest: a mix of product-oriented images and lifestyle boards. People come for the quirky lifestyle images, the fabulous design ideas, and the images of the really “out there.” But with every image viewed comes branding, too, and if consumers go through the marketer’s main Pinterest page, they get exposed to product information, as well.

I like Ted Rubin’s mix of content. His popular sock board sits alongside the board for his book Return on Relationship, his Collective Bias blog, his conferences appearanches, and other fun things like holidays, “just to be nice,” and “other things I like.” Go for the socks, but get exposed to his professional expertise along the way.

I can see this really working for printers. Different boards for different types of products alongside quirky boards about unusual uses for recycled paper, unorthodox employee activity, contest results for the most creative use of empty ink cans, things like that. It would be killer for dimensional mail, I would think. Especially considering the visual- and design-focused audience. Alongside the boards for the quirky, thought-provoking, and unusual, you could add images that lead to white papers, case studies, and video tutorials.  Think of it as branding and accidental exposure.

So why aren’t printers using Pinterest more? Probably the same reason they don’t tend toward any kind of self-promotion. New, untried, uncertain return on investment. But particularly if you’re targeting designers and agencies, I’d think Pinterest would be somewhere you’d want to be.

It’s fair to say that the business model for health insurance is in the process of being completely redefined by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA). Health insurers can expect to spend the bulk of 2013 getting ready for the new post-ACA marketplace. How far reaching are these changes? Well, they impact critical factors like:

• Who insurers can sell to: individuals in addition to groups.
• Who insurers must sell to: no ability to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
• Where they sell their products: new Health Insurance Exchanges (HIE) in addition to the usual channels plus new retail branches.
• How they can sell their products: products offered through exchanges must conform to one of 5 standardized options.
• How they can price their products: they must devote 80% (in some cases 85%) of premiums to actual customer medical expenses leaving only 15% to 20% for all administration and overhead.

In addition to the changes that are mandated by the plan, there are many changes that just naturally flow from adapting to a consumer-driven market. In 2011 approximately 50 million people – or about 16% of the US population – had no health insurance coverage or eligibility for government sponsored health programs. In 2014 approximately 60% of that population is expected to purchase private health insurance coverage – that’s about 30 million new customers. In addition, another 17 million customers may come on the books as states expand Medicaid eligibility to more low-income Americans since most states contract Medicaid coverage to private insurers.

Insurers are trying to turn their marketing and sales organizations into retail operations to tap the consumer market. Like retailers, they are trying to leverage data on their customer base to drive effective marketing and communications programs. Since, other than marketing Medicare supplement programs, most insurers have had little or no consumer marketing experience they need help in this area. Compounding the problem, according to PWC, this new insurance market is made up of consumers who are likely to be less educated and many will need material in a language other than English.

Since many of these new insurance consumers have never enrolled in a health plan before, they are likely to shop for health insurance they way that they would shop for any other major purchase like a home appliance or a car – by seeking out a familiar brand. To become top of mind before these people enter the market, insurers are investing in a wide array of advertising: TV, radio, web, print and billboards to build awareness. Direct mail, email and mobile marketing will only increase as new products become available and market data is refined.

But the retail transformation goes beyond branding, insurers are opening branches where consumers can learn about insurance options and buy on the spot. In May, Horizon BCBS announced that they would be opening a new retail center in New Jersey and Blue Shield of California recently opened a “Blue Shield Store” inside of Lucky’s Supermarket in San Francisco. These are two of several retail store-fronts in 5 or 6 states with more to come in 2013.

These retail operations will naturally need to be staffed with knowledgeable people and supported with kiosks and other technology but, they will also need printed collateral, the ability to order and manage collateral across locations and the kind of seasonal and tailored signage seen in the best branch banks and retail stores.

Responsive web development and design is the idea that the development of a website should actually respond to the environment that a user is in, and the user’s actions. This involves the platform, orientation and screen size.

Ideally, when a user switches devices, the website itself should switch seamlessly, accommodating for the difference in screen resolution, the sizing of images and other computer script issues. Instead of a business being “forced” to create a new design or develop a website or application for every new little gadget that comes out, responsive web development allows a business to create one, totally branded and awesomely cohesive site.

Think about all the different screen sizes there are out there. We’re not talking desktop screen versus laptop screen versus tablet screen versus smartphone screen. If you think in those terms, you’re thinking “Oh, we’ve got to accommodate about 4 different sized screens that our audience may be checking out our website from.” Wrong. Big time wrong.

Think about all the different desktop monitor sizes. Then think about all the different laptop screen sizes. Then think about all the different tablet screen sizes. And think about all those different brands and models of smartphones out there (and there are a lot of them!).  We’re talking multiple screen sizes and multiple browsers. It’s a bit daunting just to think about. And that’s the reality of what you are dealing with. What business has the time and resources to effectively develop and design for all of those viewing alternatives?

 That’s where responsive web development comes into play.

Traditionally, we developed with constraints. We scaled things down. But we knew it wasn’t perfect. How could it be? How could we provide the exact same experience to everyone? We instead had to pick and choose what information we would provide within those constraints. And at times shooting ourselves in the proverbial foot. Because our audience wasn’t always getting what it wanted or needed. So then we came up with two sites – one for the larger screens and one for mobile devices. And that works. The cons are evident, though.

We have to maintain two different codes bases. We still typically compromise on design and content. And let’s face it, a lot of businesses put their mobile sites on the backburner. So it never gets done, or it becomes the red-headed stepchild. (A good reason why it’s important to partner up with a company like Grow Socially that can handle these things for you and make sure you don’t get behind in these things…because if your audience doesn’t find what they want, how they want it, then you’re losing business.)Having dual websites (mobile enhanced and your “regular” website) also waters down the SEO results since you have to split the search engine optimization juice between two sites. Not the worst thing in the world, but something you want to avoid if possible.

 Responsive web development and design is more than just dealing with screen size. It also deals with audience input such as touches, mouse clicks, etc. It takes into account the resolution of the device the audience is using. And it looks at navigation, hierarchy and typography.

The focus is on flexibility and the creation of a site that adapts. Trying to tailor your design to each and every possible scenario is headache-inducing and just plain scary. So using today’s technology, responsive web development takes the problem and works around it, to make sure that your design adjusts to the needs of your audience. Responsive web development consists of a flexible, grid-based layout, CSS3 media inquiries and the use of flexible images and media. Images are “context aware” in that the images are scaled to change to different resolutions when being viewed on larger screens or smaller screens. The goal being that the images look crisp and clear in any type of view. But don’t get too freaked out by the techie words.

It all really boils down to a fluid, flexible environment. It ensures your audience is getting your content, no matter what device they are using. It is absolutely content driven. It’s not a cheap alternative, but it is definitely cost effective when you realize that you won’t lose your audience by sacrificing content (intentionally or not). It also takes a bit more time to build and design, but is well worth the effort. You need to wrap your head around responsive web development because that is where the future is headed as we keep developing various devices, and we want to truly make it a responsive experience for our individual audience members.

Contact Grow Socially today to learn more about responsive web development.

Several weeks ago, I posted about a personalized letter I received from my power company telling me that I was among the worst energy users in my neighborhood — using 19% more energy than my neighbors within 1/2 mile of me. In case I didn’t get the hint, there was a lovely bar chart.

Efficient neighbors

All Neighbors

YOU

My bar stretched halfway across the page.

The data was correct, I’m sure. I have no reason to doubt that, but I questioned whether data accuracy and personalization, in this sense, was really helping anybody.  After all, I’m home all day because I work from a home office. Ours is also the only house for several miles with a pool.  That doesn’t make me an energy hog.

As a follow-up to that post, I’d like to report that my power company is at it again. Just a few months later, it sent me a follow-up. Guess what? I’m still among the worst offenders. In fact, my energy use is now up to 44% higher than all of my neighbors. You know what else? I still work from home, and since I do most of my work from the only unheated room in the house, I save tons of money (and, oh yes, fuel by the way) by not using the furnace and running a small electric heater faced toward me instead.

I guess nobody else within 1/2 miles is running an electric heater all day, but I would guess they are driving to work, using more fossil fuel than I do, and they likely have a pretty decent environmental footprint at work — probably larger than mine.

But hey, the helpful personalized charts tell me that I’m on pace to use 19% energy than last year, so that’s a good thing. Good grief, if I’m one of the worst offenders this year, can you imagine what they would have sent about me last year if they’d be using this program?

So think before you personalize. Remember, data is just data until you (or your clients) give it some context — and there are real people on the other end of these communications.