Are you looking for creative ways to market for online sales and e-commerce? Marketing Fulfillment could be the strategy you’ve been looking for – seriously!
What is Marketing Fulfillment?
You follow your favorite fitness brand on social media and see that they just came out with a brand new protein powder. Your interest is piqued because you’ve promised yourself (again) to start working out. Soon, you find your finger reflexively tapping the “try a sample” button. A few days later, the sample arrives at your doorstep and you get to test it out. You have the best work out of your life that day, and your sore, throbbing muscles are a reminder to order more of that magical powder.
What happened on the other side of that button is marketing fulfillment. It’s the all-in-one service that involves creating and facilitating the distribution of various types of marketing materials.
Campaign Ideas Using Marketing Fulfillment
Marketing fulfillment is an influential marketing strategy for both current customers and sales qualified leads alike. It’s like sending a gift – an enticing gift that translates to more sales. Sending this gift to your current customers is an opportunity to upsell and garner customer retention. Whether it’s a sample of a product or a brochure about a new service you offer, it affirms that their experience with your business is just getting started.
Additionally, using this tactic on sales leads can gain you new customers. What better way to introduce yourself to a customer than to show up at their door offering them a product they can’t refuse?
There are many types of marketing fulfillment, and each can be extremely effective when done right. Familiarize yourself with the examples below to help you understand which kind of marketing fulfillment best fits your business needs.
Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail marketing is an inexpensive idea for marketing new products or services to a targeted geographic or previous customer list. It involves using a mailing list (of which there are various types) to send media such as letters, flyers, catalogs, etc. to customers. It’s a no-fuss, simple, and effective way to get your media in the hands of the customers you want for your business.
Brand Apparel & Swag
Everybody loves free swag! By distributing your branded t-shirt or water bottle via marketing fulfillment, you can build brand loyalty at the same time as getting free advertising. It’s a win-win! Your swag is sent to current or potential customers who then wear or use it, promoting your business for you. This can create all kinds of attraction to your brand and can even be a great idea for employee gifting – send your teams, wherever they are located, gifts that they can rep and be proud of sporting. Learn more about apparel fulfillment for e-commerce.
Print Fulfillment
Print fulfillment is similar to direct mail marketing in concept, except it’s bigger and better! It involves more complex print material such as spiral bound books or brochures with multiple layers, inserts, or pockets. These can be sent to qualified leads to give them a more in-depth look at what your company offers.
Another fantastic way to market your products or services is by book fulfillment. While it may be more of an investment on your part, printing and distributing a book via marketing fulfillment is a sure-fire way to gain new customers and keep your current customers interested and informed.
This is a much better alternative to authors trying to send out their books “for free” by advertising that “all you have to do is pay shipping and handling, sign up with an email and address; then you get a free book.” In reality, shipping and handling are up-ticked to cover production costs, and now the buyers email will be spammed with sales material until the cows come home. Print fulfillment is an effective and customer-friendly way to promote your business.
How Do Marketing Fulfillment Services Work?
Typical order fulfillment services include everything from accepting a product order, to processing, packaging, and successfully delivering it to the customer. Companies can do this in-house or hire an external provider to do this for them if they don’t have the proper resources.
Marketing fulfillment works much like the order fulfillment process. Doing this kind of marketing in-house isn’t always an option for companies. So, partnering with a third-party logistics provider to oversee the entire process from start to finish is an excellent solution. This allows for optimal operation and cost-effective marketing.
What is a 3PL
Third-party logistics ( 3PL) is when a company hires an outside fulfillment provider to store their inventory. 3PLs also process, package, and deliver products to customers. If your company doesn’t have space for inventory or the workforce to fulfill all the marketing you plan to do, this is an effective way to meet your goals.
A third-party logistics provider will do everything! They manage orders, inventory, printing, and producing all marketing materials. They also keep customer data to streamline the process going forward. While internal fulfillment is always an option, not all companies have the luxury of keeping it all in-house. It can be expensive and cumbersome, and leaving it to the professionals can save you time and money in the long run.
How to Partner with a Fulfillment Company
Print Bind Ship is a terrific solution for all of your marketing fulfillment needs. It is a dynamic fulfillment center that not only does your processing, packaging, tracking, and shipping, but it manufactures all of your marketing materials for you from the start. It is a start-to-finish, all-in-one, a full-service 3PL company that started in the printing businesses and has been growing for over 60 years. Reach out to us and find out how we can meet your specific marketing needs today.