Direct marketing without contact information is a waste of time and money. As marketers, we want to make sure we have a compelling call to action AND a way for our ideal prospects to get in touch with us. Not so long ago, a phone number and street address was the best contact method; today it’s a website and email address.
Some may offer that branding campaigns are stand-alone graphics – logos with no contact information. If the brand has a multi-million dollar budget with appeal to a broad demographic, that is an expense that may be worthwhile. I’m talking about mega brands like Nike®, United Airlines®, Budweiser® and Fedex®. For companies needing to make every marketing approach count, it is absolutely essential to include several methods to make contact.
When designing graphics and copy for clients, our objective is to make the most powerful impression by being compelling and memorable. In the nascent days of the World Wide Web (WWW), graphic artists and marketers included the full URL, such as www.websitedomainename.internetdomainsuffix. We have grown in our sophistication and recognize those prevalent domain extensions of .com, .biz, net., .org and .edu.
A few years ago, many designers shifted their graphics to remove the “www” before the website address. Those common domain name extensions (such as those listed above) are now commonplace and understood to be the domain name of the website. It is easier for the eye to read, and that counts for a lot when we have nanoseconds to make an impression with our graphics, advertising and branding. It’s perfectly acceptable to remove the “www” from the business cards, printed collateral, etc. Some marketers consider it dated to include the “www”. It is so commonplace that it’s become it’s superfluous.
Be absolutely sure and test the domain name on the 4 major web browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari. Take this extra step to be assured the website will launch properly.
Make the most of your direct marketing graphics. Be sure to include your website address and drive visitors to your virtual marketplace so they can see the benefits of your products and services. If you want to see sample graphics displaying website URLs, contact us at 888-235-3088, sales@1st-straw.com. And, of course, visit our website at 1st-Straw.com!