B-to-B Cataloger Goes Digital

Searching for additional ways to interact with its customers, the Council for Economic Education, a B-to-B catalog/multichannel marketer of lesson plans for economics and personal finance education, decided digital catalogs were worth a shot. The company, which also markets to its customers (i.e., teachers) via a print catalog, e-commerce site, and at retail bookstores and teacher conferences, reports that nearly two years later, digital catalogs have passed its test with flying colors.

In a Catalog Success webinar last month, “Digital Catalogs: Expand your audience while slashing your costs,” sponsored by digital publishing services provider Nxtbook Media, Troy White, director of product marketing and sales at the Council for Economic Education, outlined how digital catalogs have become an integral part of the company's overall marketing mix. Here's the second in a two-part recap of the event; the first part included a presentation from natural nutritional goods cataloger/wholesaler Shaklee.

Make It Known
The most important factor with a digital catalog is that you make it known to your customers that this option is available to them, White said. The Council for Economic Education does this in three ways:

1. Includes a link for the digital catalog in its e-mail marketing campaigns. The company bookends the in-home dates of the print catalog — which mails twice a year — with e-mails notifying customers that they'll be receiving the catalog in the mail, while also allowing them to preview it by clicking on the digital catalog's link.
2. Includes a link to the digital catalog in any follow-up e-mails with customers, such as catalog requests.
3. Mentions the digital catalog in the print catalog.

“Any place that you can promote the digital catalog — follow-up e-mails, conferences — take advantage of it,” White said.

Paying Dividends
White highlighted several benefits the Council for Economic Education has realized because of its digital catalog: