How Phone Ninjas Cut Through the Noise with Print Marketing Materials
When it comes to marketing, how do you control the narrative for your brand and stand out from your competition at the same time? With effective print marketing materials. It’s a strategy that works every time.
The key here is effective. To be especially memorable, it can’t just be any old print collateral. So, how do you design and print the right stuff? If you’re Phone Ninjas, you partner with Smartpress for direct mail, kitting services and specialty finishes that engage with customers and set you apart.
Key Takaways
- Phone Ninjas used print to shape their narrative, differentiate from competitors and create memorable brand experiences in a digital-saturated world.
- Smartpress’ services make print strategies seamless and impactful. Direct mail, kitting and specialty finishes gave Phone Ninjas a professional, tactile edge while Smartpress handled fulfillment, accuracy and customization.
- Phone Ninjas saw increased awareness, leads and client responses thanks to print’s personal, sensory engagement – something digital advertising struggles to achieve.
Tailor Print Marketing to Your Brand’s Needs
As a company that provides phone skills training, Phone Ninjas understands the value of human interaction – especially in a world bombarded by digital. So, it’s no surprise that they’d employ a tactile strategy like print.
“We help businesses improve their customer-facing communications through active and ongoing coaching and training that increases appointment sets and show rates the right way,” said Phone Ninjas COO and partner Chris Vitale.
To bolster that mission, Vitale turned to Kelly Bedrossian, the creative brand strategist and designer at Image Steward, for print design and concepting help.
“Our designs are customized to fit each business’s distinct character and include the latest trends, helping them stand out in today’s competitive market with visuals that highlight their mission and products,” said Bedrossian.
Together with Smartpress, they faced Phone Ninjas’ marketing challenges head-on.
Every Business Faces Marketing Challenges
For Vitale, it was imperative Phone Ninjas’ print marketing materials accomplished two things:
- Shape the brand’s story: Vitale wanted to control the branding and messaging clients saw and experienced, and most importantly, when.
- Differentiate them from competitors: Like every business, Phone Ninjas needed marketing that highlighted their unique selling propositions.
Can custom printing really do all that? With Smartpress, absolutely.
Here’s your guide to how print marketing can drive more sales.
Online Printing Services and Print Marketing Examples
Vitale and Bedrossian landed on a variety of Smartpress’ services and print materials for marketing Phone Ninjas. From a targeted direct mail suite to kitting and assembling sales collateral, plus specialty finishes that provide a little something extra, they did more than create assets – they established a whole visual identity.
Direct Mail Printing Offers Multi-Point Intrigue
One of Vitale’s print marketing requirements was being able to send the right message at the right time. Enter: Direct mail. Bedrossian designed direct mail postcards, folded self-mailers and sleeve mailers for stand-out sends.
“Phone Ninjas is a progressively creative client that wants to push the mold on providing various in-person experiences for their prospects and current clients – a designer’s dream,” said Bedrossian. “Their creative request is always exciting and requires a boldness to step out of the expected and try new things.”
With Smartpress’ complete mail fulfillment, Vitale could take advantage of list purchasing, list processing and variable addressing, then let us do the actual mailing. Targeting audiences has never been easier.
Variety can be a key element for your direct mail marketing strategy, driving engagement and sales across sequential campaigns. In other words, change it up – clients will notice.
Kitting Services Bring Your Assets Together
Part of Smartpress’ exclusive Designer Folds collections, the sleeve mailer Bedrossian designed also features an insert card. Now, Vitale and the Phone Ninjas team could have spent time inserting each card into each sleeve (they’re sold separately). But what brilliant thing did they do instead? Utilized Smartpress’ kitting and assembly services.
With this convenient service, we’re the ones inserting those cards into those sleeves (and often by hand, no less). Kitting comes to the rescue when you have printed marketing materials that need to be compiled and bundled in a certain way and you don’t want to be the one to do it.
Which we totally get – you’ve got more important business to attend to. From pocket folders with booklets and flyers to sales kits with product samples, kitting takes care of it all. Have decks that need hand-collating? Envelopes that need stuffing? It includes all that, too.
“Smartpress has been incredible to work with in terms of accuracy in assembly and production,” said Bedrossian.
Make Print Memorable with Raised UV & Foil Printing
For a campaign to be successful, the print assets need to look professional. But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes you need a little something extra to ensure your message lands. Bedrossian knew that, which is why she incorporated postcards with a raised UV finish and catalogs that feature a flash of foil into Phone Ninjas’ printed marketing material.
“Sometimes we start backward and research finishes that could showcase the visual story more tangibly,” she said. “Our goal was to make [the catalog] feel as luxurious as a high-end car brochure you’d find in an upscale dealership. The raised UV was an entertaining print design that gave us the idea to emphasize a particular message in a unique way.”
No matter how these specialty finishes are used, they make an impact that can turn a one-time engagement into a repeat customer. “Prospects and clients have complimented [on] the uniqueness of our branding and materials, calling it the nicest and best they’ve ever seen,” said Vitale.
“Direct mail allows us to scale and time messaging quite well – we’ve realized an increase in awareness, lead generation and client responses.”
Print is Still a Valuable Strategy for Brands
Vitale already knew the power of printing marketing materials, but with these latest assets, he’s seen tangible results – and they’ve all been positive.
“[Print] allows us to control what prospects and customers literally have in their hands and differentiate ourselves from others with an edge that most don’t think of today,” he said. “It’s a uniqueness, both in presentation and branding. [And] it makes us more memorable.”
With Smartpress’ total customization and streamlined mailing process, Vitale’s direct mail wins have been particularly impressive: “It allows us to scale and time messaging quite well, [and] we’ve realized an increase in awareness, lead generation and client responses.”
As a marketer and designer who regularly works with print, Bedrossian wasn’t surprised at all the success.
“There’s been a significant move toward digital, which has ironically made printed communications stand out more,” she said. “Despite the relentless digital advertising onslaught, a physical, personal experience engages more senses – something digital cannot replicate.”
“There’s been a significant move toward digital, which has ironically made printed communications stand out more.”
Print Marketing Materials for Your Business with Smartpress
Creating a marketing strategy full of effective print assets like Phone Ninjas’ is easier than you think. At least, it is with a premium online printer like Smartpress. We make it simple with a huge selection of paper stocks, finishes you won’t find elsewhere and customer service and design help from print nerds who genuinely care.
Two things, in particular, impressed Vitale: “1: Quality. Second to none. First class. 2: Accuracy. I love seeing things done correctly the first time, as it not only saves time, but also means someone is paying attention!”
Bedrossian had similar feedback: “Smartpress keeps impressing me and my clients with their excellent quality and wide selection of finishes, colors and papers. I appreciate the hands-on dashboard that lets me monitor each printed item for every client and order. [They’re] my preferred printer for specialty projects across all Image Steward clients.”
