Keeps Things Strong, Keep Things Consistent

By Colleen Davis

There are certain catalogs I come to rely on coming each year at a certain time. Some of these I rather look forward to, and have pretty much set some of my holiday shopping around them. I know of at least one catalog that comes about a month before the birthday for a friend of mine, giving me just the right amount of time to order something and get it in the mail before giving it to them.

I know I'm not alone with it comes to this, because there are many companies out there who print catalogs on a regular basis and have been doing so for years and years. Catalogs are a staple of our society, and have been around for so long people have come to rely on them as a source of good deals and products they can conveniently order from their home. Before the days of the internet this was one of the only ways you could accomplish this.

What this has done is created for a lot of companies a strong image associated specifically with their catalogs. People come to know them based on whatever catalogs they're printing, and any change in this system might be met with skepticism about how well the company is doing.

The reason is because there are two things that go into a strong catalog printing push. The first is a strong presence from the catalogs themselves, which comes from having well made catalogs that act as a good representation of your business. The second is the stability of having these catalogs come on regular intervals.

You're creating a very effective form of routine people simply expect. For the company who hasn't had a lot of experience with catalogs and feels like jumping into the area, theses are two of the most important facts to take to heart.

When you print catalogs you have to accept that if you want things to be successful you have to stick with it. Because of this I would suggest that you make plans right from the beginning to maintain your catalogs for at least a few years. If you don't do that you won't be able to really gauge what kind of success rate you'll have.

Building up a strong number of sales from catalog printing might end up taking a while. Each time you send out another catalog you're slowly letting people know you're going to stick around and be consistent with them. They'll start to expect your catalogs, and maybe even start to plan out the way they do things around the knowledge that your catalog is coming.

If you don't immediately get a lot of sales from your catalogs, don't start to panic and cut them off. If you're willing to take the time to properly invest in them, I think you'll start to see those sales building, until you make your catalog a part of your customer's routine.

For more information, you can visit this page on print catalogs.