Print Innovation – Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Print is one of the longest-standing and trusted medias available and it continues to prove effective for brands across categories. While the media has long existed, there is a lot of new & exciting innovation with print. You have probably experienced some of this as a consumer… Maybe you have come across magazines that release a smell when they are opened or have seen an ad that changes color in different lighting - it is all amazing and somewhat MIND-BLOWING! Connections by The Specialist Works is taking the power of print media a step further and has found success in using word-of-mouth marketing to drive incremental response and brand loyalty.

Brands including The White Company, Graze, Celtic & Co and Charles Tyrwhitt have utilized our innovative print services to bring this opportunity to life. We have effectively leveraged word-of-mouth marketing by utilizing a format most commonly known as the “Double Pop-Out,” which can be utilized in direct mail, event marketing & inserts. The “Double Pop-Out” format has two pop-out cards (similar in size to a gift card) imbedded into the printed piece. Utilizing perforation on a flat sheet of paper means that this format can typically run through feeders for inserting or withstand expected wear and tear through the postal system without deterioration. In short, it is an extremely versatile and robust print format. 

As mentioned above, the “Double Pop-Out” has two pop-out areas which presents a brand a larger opportunity. We suggest and have seen success when utilizing the first pop-out to share an offer with the targeted consumer, and then utilizing the second pop-out for that consumer to share with a friend. If you are targeting the right audience and reaching them at the right time, this format has proven to be incredibly effective - in some cases even doubling response rates! Giving consumers an opportunity to share amazing offers with their friends is a great example of word-of-mouth marketing, as consumers are now doing the work for your brand.

Word-of-mouth is THE most powerful form of marketing because of how much we trust our friends and family. Word-of-mouth marketing is also essentially free (e.g. in the example above, you are simply dedicating space on a piece you were already running), which makes it very efficient and scalable.

At Connections by The Specialist Works, we love creative, new, and engaging formats. Creating new opportunities for brands to connect with their current and potential customers is what we live for!