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T H E O F F I C I A L K E S S L E R C R E AT I V E N E W S L E T T E R

this month's feature: Project Spotlight: Alset Auto

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@kesslercreative

SEPTEMBER 2022

VOLUME 11

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4 Direct Mail Trends to Keep an Eye On

Inspiration from the Experts: QR Codes

How to Reinforce Your Branding

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Kessler Culture

in this issue

AN INSIDE SCOOP by Dina Kessler Hello,

Welcome to our latest edition of Hot Off the Press! We look forward to sharing our most recent marketing insights, projects, and company events with you in our newsletters, and we couldn’t be more excited to present you with volume 11. As you look through this month’s issue, you’ll see one of our recent projects for Jacksonville’s newest ALSET Auto franchise, as well as insights and tips on how to strengthen your brand, direct mail trends, and inspiration from our experts. Enjoy!

A Message from The President

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HOT OFF THE PRESS

How to Reinforce Your Branding Efforts Your brand is your most important asset. Branding drives your company and sticks with it longer than any product or service you offer. Times change and innovations come about, but your branding keeps your business thriving. The key is that opinions and perceptions of your branding determine your value in the marketplace. Your ability to build and reinforce the branding you communicate to consumers through marketing efforts will be the test of sustained success. What is Brand Reinforcement? Brand reinforcement involves the various activities organizations pursue to ensure the brand equity they have built won’t dissipate over a long period. Companies such as Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson have invested consistently in brand reinforcement that keeps them thriving, even as product lines and target demographics change. Areas of focus to properly reinforce your brand are: • Consistency • Communication

Consistency is Essential The goal is to be recognizable and memorable to your audience, accomplished through consistent branding. When we say consistent, we refer to your brand image, messaging, and values being clear and unmistakable. Implementing your logo, colors, and other features of your visual image across all resources, products, and materials makes your branding consistent. Aside from your brand’s visual image, your core values should be unwavering through all company ventures, activities, and promotions. Your customer service, marketing, products, and business operations should reflect your core values to remain consistent. Establishing and maintaining a consistent brand is easily the first step a business should take to create lifetime value for consumers. Communicate Regularly Through Social Channels It is unlikely that your customers and prospects will remember every word you have said or every movement you have made. Engaging your audience through channels such as social media is key to reinforcing your brand. Prioritizing availability to respond to the needs and desires of your audience with branded messaging and tone of voice will continually build your brand in the eye of the consumer.

• Community • Brand Value

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Be sure to lay out brand voice standards so anyone within your organization can establish consistent communication that aligns with your core values. Designing these guidelines around your industry expertise and willingness to listen, reach out, and motivate sharing through social channels will have a positive effect on brand reinforcement efforts. Build a community A highly effective method of boosting branding is taking your relationships with customers to the next level by establishing a community. Customer relationships should never stop when they leave your website, purchase an item, or make a connection with your company. Building a community through a newsletter, social media group, or forum allows customers and your brand to stay connected. You could even organize events or send out direct mail to stay in touch, further reinforcing branding efforts and community building. Once your community is formed, engaging your audience becomes clockwork. Communities form long-lasting relationships between customers and brands and have the added benefit of making a customer feel valued, meaning they are more likely to spread the word about your business. To build on community, if your goals involve building long-lasting customer relationships, integrating your core brand values into your marketing strategy that represents your beliefs and what you stand for is essential. While your product lines, logo, website, and marketing will change over time, your brand’s values must stay consistent. Sharing your brand values openly builds deeper connections with your audience. These connections nurture your business and build trust over the long haul. With proper implementation, reinforcing your branding will increase the value your business displays to consumers. Integrate Your Brand Values

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HOT OFF THE PRESS

cover story

Kessler Creative printed and installed these eye- catching wall decals at ALSET Auto’s newest franchise location right here in Jacksonville, Florida just in time for their official grand opening! ALSET Auto is the nation’s leading provider of Tesla aftermarket services. Specializing in the installation of paint protection film, window tint, ceramic coatings, vinyl wraps, and accessories. ALSET auto employs Tesla-approved installers that are certified technicians who love working with and talking about Teslas. Project Spotlight: Alset Auto

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4 Direct Mail Trends to Keep an Eye On

Direct mail has played a vital role in marketing efforts for decades. Especially as more people have continued to work from home post- pandemic, 20-25% of the workforce worked from home through 2021, with 22% of the workforce predicted to work remotely by 2025, mail continues to be a viable option for reaching the right consumers (Apollo Technical). While direct mail has been a reliable channel for reaching consumers year in and year out, predicting the exact direction of mail in the future can seem difficult. One thing is certain, 72% of consumers feel positive about receiving direct mail, which shows it is not going away anytime soon (Pi world). What keeps mail as a viable marketing channel is its adaptation to the digital world around it while alsomaintaining the core values of tangibility and a tactile experience that make it effective. Digital integration, personalization, retargeting, sensory designs, and surprisingly, millennials have allowed direct mail to flourish in 2022. You can expect no different in the coming years. Digital Meets Direct Mail Direct mail has always been a traditional form of marketing, but with technological advancements, digital integration of mail pieces has been made easy. With QR codes, you can link your mail piece to a specific landing page, website, social media profile, or video that will play upon being scanned. You can also use Informed Delivery through the USPS for additional impressions of your mail through email. Since 2017, 44 million people in the U.S. have signed up for the program (USPS). Integrating digital content in your mail increases engagement and response rates as consumers have more options to engage with your mailer. Digital integration also leads you on a multichannel marketing path which consumers prefer, as 70% of consumers say they’d rather interact with brands via multichannel marketing (SailThru). Companies that use multichannel marketing have an 89% retention rate of customers (Aberdeen Group).

Personalization Replaces Mass Mailing

HOT OFF THE PRESS In 2021 alone, over 70 million pieces of direct mail were sent around the U.S (Statista). Mass quantities of mail have forced businesses to find new ways to win a consumer’s mailbox. Integrating sensory features such as smell for a coffee mailer or texture for a flooring mailer adds a new dimension to your direct mail that increases engagement. With modern printing technologies, embedding sensory features into your mailers has become the norm for those seeking to stand out in the mailbox. Leveraging advancements in printing technology to include sensory characteristics in your mailers enhances how each consumer will interact with your mail driving up response rates. Another trend in direct mail is the increased personalization of mail pieces. Marketers know how important personalization is, and direct mail has become one of the most personal marketing channels as 70% of people believe direct mail is more personal than email (Compu-Mail). This trend is made possible by digital technologies such as variable data printing, allowing you to access consumer demographics and purchase behavior to create tailored messages on each mailer. Personalization today goes beyond including a name. It involves specific offers and messaging tailored to individuals, color and layout combinations tied to consumer interest, and personalized landing pages that deepen the connection they feel with your brand. Knowing your customers is the only way to pull this off. So be sure to keep your customer relationship management and analytics systems up to date. Retargeting Takes a Front Seat The more impressions, the higher the chance your brand gets remembered. With the technological advancements we have seen recently, there will be increased use of retargeting in conjunction with direct mail. Even if a consumer visits your website but doesn’t make a purchase, you can send them a direct mail piece with an enticing offer. Milestone dates such as anniversaries and birthdays also represent retargeting opportunities that could trigger a mailing offer. Or you can retarget with digital ads done by obtaining IP addresses and cookies that allow marketers to deploy timely ads that work to reinforce your messaging to consumers online. Sensory/Creative Mail Becomes a Priority

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inspiration from the experts: QR Codes

With QR codes, you can link your mail piece to a specific landing page, website, social media profile, or video that will play upon being scanned. They enhance your marketing campaigns, allowing you to reach, engage and convert a wider target audience by linking from offline to online platforms. Add a QR code to your next mail piece to see an increase in conversions and response rates.

SEPTEMBER 2022

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Employee spotlight Meet Isaac Manning, Kessler Creative’s Production Intern! Isaac is currently a student at Clemson University studying Graphic Communications. As a Production Intern, Isaac is responsible for submitting client orders and ensuring that jobs make their way through the production floor and are delivered to clients nationwide. We couldn’t be more excited to have him on board!

12276 San Jose Blvd, Ste 111 Jacksonville, FL 32223

kessler culture

florida print awards Kessler Creative was honored to accept six accolades at The 2022 Florida Print Awards! A big thank you to our incredible clients and team for coming together to make this a reality.

Best of Category: 3 Hound Game Logo Design Best of Category: ECWPGT Course Leave Behind

Award of Excellence: My Life in Two Worlds Award of Excellence: McGala 2022 Invitation Award of Excellence: Jordan Christian Academy Monument Sign Judges Award: Swimming on your Back