The list of recipients for 2012 is as follows:

Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair
Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton
Bulldogs Foundation
Canadian Federation of University Women- Hamilton
Community Residential Care Home Inc.
Dundas Museum and Archives
Dundas Valley School of Art
Dundas Youth Chaplaincy Operating Routes Youth Centre
Green Venture
Hamilton District Extend-a-Family
Hamilton Partners in Nutrition
Hamilton Speed Skating Club
Hamilton Tiger Cat Alumni Association
John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington and Area
L’Arche Hamilton
Learning Disabilities Association of Halton
Path Employment Services
Rygiel Supports for Community Living
Special Olympics Ontario SOO Hamilton
St. Mark’s Co-op Preschool
Street Youth Planning Collaborative
Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton
Wismer Foundation

New to 2012 we introduced the Brand Builder Program Award. The innovative Brand Builder program helps non-profit organizations develop a blueprint for success, by clearly defining and differentiating their organization and developing a strategy to propel the brand forward.

The 2012 Brand Builder Award recipients are:

St. Matthew’s House
Welcome Inn Community Centre
Hamilton Aquatic Water Polo

Congratulations to all of our 2012 recipients! Please remember all nonprofit organizations can also use our Posters with Purpose program. The posters with Purpose program does not require a formal application and is available throughout the year. It awards up to 50 full-colour, customized posters for any event. Please provide the print ready file and we will gladly print them for you. If you require help with the design we can also assist with that.

Taylor has an honours degree in communication studies from McMaster University. He joined Allegra almost five years ago.

“Carson’s diligence and proactive commitment to helping our clients grow their businesses is what has earned him their respect,” said Gasper Lipari, owner of Allegra. “He is tireless in his pursuit of service excellence and sets the bar high for other sales professionals.”

Carson’s networks include the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Hive and the Downtown Hamilton BIA. He’s also an avid sports fan.

The following news clipping was printed in The Hamilton Spectator in 1997, the year Allegra opened. The article talks about how the digital evolution was a constant challenge back then. This statement still holds true today, however in a different context, involving social media and multi-channel marketing versus printing technologies.

Please take a moment to read the article.

We are pleased to say that Downtown Hamilton BIA was also nominated for three awards, include 2011 Gore Park Summer Promenade for Medium Event or Festival, 2011 Downtown Localicious Experience for “New” Culinary Tourism Experience and won Brochure or Promotional Piece for 2011 Downtown Restaurant Guide. The two graphic designers for our Downtown Restaurant Guide, Tina Belter and Andrea Brierley, are from BIA member Allegra Hamilton. “I get my inspiration by trying to anticipate what the reader would like to see. I designed the restaurant guide by putting myself in the shoes of tourists who might be looking for information on a great place to eat in Hamilton.” said Tina Belter, who developed the original layout of the award-winning Downtown Restaurant Guide.

Moreover, everybody’s favorite “Supercrawl”, which will mark its fourth anniversary this September, won two individual awards – Entertainment Ambassador Tim Potocic and Volunteer of the Year Dane Pedersen.

A special thank you goes to the staff and volunteers from Tourism Hamilton for a wonderful awards experience. The many awards in different categories encourage and promote excellent hospitality in Hamilton. We can expect great developments in Hamilton in the future.

The landing page can be personalized with the recipient’s name and address or anything else that you have in your database. Some tips on winning with PURLs:

1. Optimize your opportunity. Include a video demonstration, downloadable information, a survey/questionnaire, or a special incentive/offer on the landing page.
2. Keep the content personal and relevant. Creating a personalized landing page with relevant messaging can increase conversion by 2.3 times.
3. Make it easy for visitors to enter their contact information by providing pre-filled forms and a clear sequence of requested actions.
4. Track responses in real time. You can monitor the effectiveness of your campaign and make necessary changes on the fly. Scheduling the next wave of communications can also be done with ease.
5. Use it to cleanse and expand your customer database. The online forms you provide allow recipients to enter/update their contact information easily.

For ideas on improving your next direct mail campaign, talk to the experts at Allegra.

DID YOU KNOW…

According to a recent study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), 43 percent of consumers prefer to respond online to direct mail.

Organization: A national women’s organization with more than 3 million youth and adult members worldwide.

Situation Overview: Seeing a decline in donations, the organization sought expertise in creating a campaign that would prompt donations from alumni and begin to develop a database of donors for future campaigns.

Marketing Recommendation: The recommendation was a multi-channel, cross-media campaign. It appealed to the memories and emotions of former organization members in an effort to get them re-engaged, and ultimately make a donation to support today’s participants.

Working from a client-provided list of approximately 3,000 names, the campaign segmented recipients by age and employed the following mediums:

• Variable data direct mail
• Email (initial and follow-up)
• Web (personalized landing pages)
• Social Media (Facebook cause page, YouTube video)
• Telemarketing

The variable data direct mail piece featured prominent women of the community that are members of the organization.

The call to action drove recipients to a personalized URL (PURL) or personalized landing page that greeted them by name and solicited secure, online donations.

Telemarketers reached out to those who indicated they wanted to donate but were reluctant to do so online. The campaign also made use of social media to nurture future relationships.

Measurement: The campaign results were positive. Of the 3,000 who received the direct mail piece, 4.9 percent visited their PURL.

Among the respondents, 31 percent made a donation, and the average donation increased from $50 to $250 per person. What’s more they gained over 80 referrals from a “refer a friend” function in support of their goal to grow their list for future fund-raising efforts.

Contact the marketing pros at Allegra when you’re ready for new growth strategies.

Since opening its doors in 1997, when owners Gasper Lipari and Dave Knox merged their print shops, many new channels have opened to business communicators that go far beyond printing and copying. “It’s fair to say Allegra has kept pace by successfully evolving from a printing-only company to a full-service marketing communications provider,” says Knox.

To grow their business further, Allegra owners Lipari and Knox recently completed a rigorous marketing certification program that included advanced training in marketing planning, database procurement and management, and the development and execution of cross-media tactics. Allegra’s goal is to become the areas leading one-stop resource for small to mid-sized businesses and nonprofits looking for real results from their marketing plans.

“Today’s successful marketers recognize that they need to be more thoughtful and strategic than ever,” adds Lipari. “Over the years, our clients have asked us to play an expanded role, telling us that a single source for planning, design and production services would be valuable to them.” Allegra has even developed an innovative program called Brand Builder; a process that helps clients develop a blueprint for success.

Transforming into a marketing resource for area businesses and nonprofits is not the first time Allegra has expanded services to meet client demand. In 2009, it enhanced its printing capabilities with the addition of blueprinting services to assist clients requiring the printing and archiving of large-scale documents like architectural drawings, landscape designs, site plans and more. In 2011, Allegra expanded its capabilities yet again by adding an eco-friendly wide format printer used for posters, signs, banners and vehicle wraps.

Allegra, now with 2 locations in Hamilton, is a full-service marketing communications provider with added support from its National Marketing Resource Center. Capabilities include in-house offset and digital printing technologies, web marketing, blueprinting, promotional products, signs, posters and banners, graphic design, mailing services, marketing planning and project consulting.

One of the top direct mail mistakes is not making a specific offer (or request) and expecting the recipient to figure out what you want them to do.

The job of your offer is to motivate the respondent to take action. Without a compelling reason to respond, your target is most likely going to do nothing. A great offer has high perceived value to the prospect. This does not necessarily mean it costs you much to give, but that your target thinks it’s valuable. Of course, any offer should also be simple, easy to explain and quickly understood.

Here are 15 surefire offers:

1. FREE information – This is the most common offer when trying to get sales leads in the business-to-business world. Free information can be in the form of a helpful guide, white paper or case study.

2. FREE demonstration – This is important for complex products like business equipment.

3. FREE trial – This is a common offer for higher-priced merchandise and many services, both for businesses and consumers.

4. FREE cost estimate – A good offer for many professional services such as contractors.

5. FREE sample – Depending on the product, the offer of a free sample can be compelling, particularly when it is coupled with something else, such as free information.

6. FREE survey of your needs – Also called an “audit offer,” this is often used with success by service companies.

7. FREE gift – This can be an effective offer to drive traffic to retailers or consumer service businesses.

8. Rebate after purchase – This offer is common, usually for consumer products.

9. Seasonal sale – This offer is limited to a special event or time period, usually a season or holiday (White Sale, Fourth of July, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.).

10. Customer appreciation sale – These are special deals for past and current customers only.

11. Two-for-one – This offer communicates “value.”

12. Time limit – Setting a time limit on any offer is good practice because it forces action now.

13. Introductory pricing – This offer promotes a discounted price for acting fast.

14. Volume discounts – This offer makes it a good deal for people to buy more than they had planned. “Save 50 percent when you buy all five!”

15. Trade-in – An example of a trade-in offer would be: “We’ll give you $50 off your computer monitor when you trade in your old one.”

Three ways to ensure a more successful email campaign.

Ask yourself:

• Does your reader recognize you? Eighty percent of people will decide to read your email by what you have put in the “from” name and subject line.
• Are you saying something relevant? The better you understand your customers, the greater the chance you’ll deliver a message that motivates them.
• Is the email content “share ready?” Be sure to include a forward-to-a-friend button. If applicable, also link it to your entries on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Email lists: Make them better, but not necessarily bigger.

It’s much better to build a smaller list that brings you opens, clicks, forwards and shares than a huge list with little engagement. Engagement is the best way to measure success and build online reputation. The more engaged your readership, the higher the performance of your effort.

Just remember that you are building an opt-in list, which means a person must give their permission before being added. Be able to be found … be everywhere!

• Ask for an email address when interacting with clients.
• If clients frequently come into your business, print out a colour copy of your newsletter and frame it in your lobby. Show customers exactly what they are signing up to receive.
• Collect emails at events and meetings.
• Have a Join our Email List button in your email signature and on your web site.

More bang for your bucks: Re-purposing email campaigns.

The easiest way to re-purpose your email content is to archive it. Take past editions of your e-newsletters and post them on your website. As a bonus, this regular addition of new, relevant content will help drive up your site’s SEO ranking.

“Providing community support is an important goal at Allegra” says Vice President Gasper Lipari, “and the FootPRINT Fund was created to provide a means of helping local organizations receive assistance in an area that may not be addressed by other funding sources.”

Celebrating its 15th year in business this year, Allegra launched the FootPRINT Fund as part of its Community Care Campaign, a North American wide effort supported by the company’s franchise headquarters, Allegra Network. The FootPRINT Fund was developed to help unite and strengthen local communities by assisting eligible nonprofit organizations and associations in building their awareness and increasing local support. Dozens of local nonprofit organizations, such as Temple Anshe Sholom, Special Olympics, Dundas Museum and Archives, Saltfleet Figure Skating, Mountain Kidz, and Catholic Family Services to name a few, have benefited over the years by applying to FootPRINT Fund and receiving assistance on terrific projects.

“The real payoff is when organizations give us feedback on the positive results projects, funded by FootPRINT, have achieved,” adds Lipari.

To be considered for a FootPRINT Fund award, nonprofit groups, associations and charitable organizations with a main office or branch in the Greater Hamilton area must submit a completed application. The deadline to apply is February 15. Further information and application forms may be downloaded from the Community Page.

Award recipients are selected by a review panel and awards based on how the services will be used to further the organization’s goals including service expansion, program enhancement and maximization of existing resources, as well as the organization’s history of innovation and resourcefulness.

“This program is a way for us to make a difference in our community, one step at a time. At Allegra, we feel that it is extremely important to reach out to those in need and help our local organizations and associations leave their ‘footprints’ in the community,” added Lipari, who owns Allegra along with partner Dave Knox, “Since opening in 1997, we have provided in-kind services to several area not-for-profit businesses and organizations. FootPRINT has become an instrumental vehicle allowing us to focus these charitable efforts.”