PGP Tip: The Value of Print

The Value of Print

Much is being made today of the decline of printing. Newspaper and magazine subscribers are dwindling; e-books are gaining in popularity; online advertising is replacing print; and printed products are being assailed as environmentally unsound. So does printing have a future? Does it have a present?

We say unequivocally: yes, but it will be different. Let me explain . . .

Businesses and organizations know that printing is not about the ink on the paper; it is about the target audience’s reaction to it. As author, journalist and marketing consultant Cary Sherburne says, “It is not about print; it is about the most effective way to achieve the business objectives associated with any given customer communication or campaign.”

Print is not dead or dying, though it is changing. In today’s message we’ll share with you why our outlook on print is so positive.

Affordable color

One beneficial change in printing is the new affordability of full color printing. Improvements in digital printing equipment have resulted in output that rivals offset printing for color fidelity, image resolution and the range of papers that can be used. And because digital printing requires almost no make ready, there are minimal fixed costs associated with each job. That means full color printing is now affordable in quantities as low as 100 prints, as well as in variable data printing applications such as versioning and one-to-one marketing.

Affordable color and the ready availability of stock photography means that small businesses and organizations can now realize the benefit of having corporate identity and marketing materials designed and printed in full color and illustrated with photographs. The effectiveness of informational material such as instruction sheets and training guides can be increased by incorporating color. Membership communications like newsletters and event invitations can be more visually appealing by printing in full color. Booklets and catalogs can now have full color covers (and maybe even full color interior pages). Depending on the design and the stock requirements, it may even be possible to print business cards digitally on demand, eliminating the need for imprinting on masters or shells.

Direct mail

As the amount of advertising on the Internet has grown, conventional wisdom has declared that direct mail marketing will disappear as a way of reaching customers and prospects. To us this sounds a lot like the now-debunked predictions about the paperless office. Every year since 1987, the United States Postal Service has conducted an annual study called The Household Diary Study. In 2008 the study included 5,312 households who completed a seven-day household diary of mail received and sent for all 52 months of the study year. Here are some of the study results:

• Advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received – an average of about 16 pieces a week.
• 79% of households said they either read or scanned the advertising mail they received.
• One in three households said they made one or more purchases as a result of receiving the advertising mail.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion that direct mail is “junk” mail that is immediately discarded by recipients, a majority of respondents in the 2008 Household Study reported paying attention to the advertising.

In another 2008 study, the DMNews/Pitney Bowes survey, 1000 American consumers (split 50-50 between men and women) age 18 and up from ten major metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix and Seattle) were surveyed regarding the direct mail marketing pieces they receive. The survey findings:

• Nearly 94% of consumers surveyed reported taking action on promotional offers and coupons received via direct mail.
• 20% of consumers reported that more than 10% of the offers or coupons they received by mail led to a purchase.
• Almost 40% of respondents said they had tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
• Nearly 70% of respondents said they renewed a relationship with a business because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.
• Respondents stated that information received via direct mail often led to contribution to a non-profit organization for the first time.

The surveyors concluded that “direct mail induces consumers to touch the offer – recipients of mail are receiving, sorting, reading and using direct mail to make purchasing decisions.”

Combine direct mail with e-mail marketing

The best strategy for communicating with customers and prospects is to use a combination of direct mail and e-mail marketing. According to an Ipsos survey conducted in 2007, 67% of respondents performed online searches for more information on a company, service or product after receiving an “offline” message.

Results from ExactTarget’s 2008 Channel Preference Survey supports the strategy of combining direct mail with e-mail. Respondents in that survey gave direct mail a score of 3.9 (out of a possible 5) as an acceptable marketing method and e-mail a score of 3.7. Three-quarters of respondents (75%) said they made a purchase because of a marketing message received through direct mail, and 65% said they made a purchase because of an e-mail.

Print is here to stay

Despite the pace of change affecting printing, it remains a proven way to communicate with customers and prospects. Direct mail marketing, when combined with e-mail, is more effective than e-mail alone. And the affordability of full color means that direct mail pieces can be eye catching and appealing to the target audience.

At PaperGraphics Printing we can teach you how to grow sales and make more money through our ManagedMarketing™ program where we can handle all of your printing needs but also teach your staff how to prepare, invite and close the sale with your prospects. In fact, we are the only printer in this market that is certified to do so. 

If your organization or business needs to increase sales we can help. Call us at 254-773-7391  to set up a no obligation consultation where we assess your current situation and offer a plan of attack that works for your budget.

PaperGraphics Tip: How To Choose A Printing Company For Your Project

How To Choose A Printing Company For Your Project

Once upon a time there were relatively few places that a business, organization or individual could go to buy printing. General commercial printers, as we were known back then, had large, noisy printing presses best suited to areas zoned for manufacturing and away from retail centers.

Technology changed that in the 1970s when small, clean presses and photo direct plate makers gave birth to the quick print segment of the printing industry. Quick printers could operate in a 2000 square foot retail storefront, readily visible from the street.

Another shift in technology added copiers, then digital output devices that eliminated the need for chemicals to process press plates and run the presses. Now printing could be done in an environment less like a factory and more like an office.

Digital technology also enabled printers to expand their offerings beyond offset printing to include high speed digital printing (color and black and white), large format graphics, posters, banners, signs and even mailing services – a complete range of services needed by businesses and organizations to communicate, market and sell.

Competitors arise

As each technological change was adopted by the printing industry, it also gave rise to a new set of competitors. Quick printers challenged general commercial printers by being more visible and by offering faster turnaround, lower minimum quantities, and better pricing in low quantities.

Copier technology enabled fast and economical reproduction of multi-page originals in limited quantities. An early commercial application was academic coursepacks – a collection of reading materials for college classes consisting of excerpts from published books and other materials assigned by the professor, to be used by a small number of students enrolled in the class.

Through a process called supplier convergence, copier technology also gave rise to printing becoming available in highly-visible retail locations of large, nationwide chain stores. Mega office supply stores and retail shipping franchises are the best known examples.

Before the Internet made it so easy to find sellers of goods and services, customers purchased printing primarily from local vendors. Now the power of Internet search engines, coupled with new digital-based productivity enhancements for preparing jobs for print, has given rise to online printing companies that specialize in a limited menu of printed products such as business cards, post cards, brochures and flyers.

Today’s choices for buying printing

When your business or organization needs printing today, you have a wide range of choices. You can buy from a locally owned and operated business like PaperGraphics Printing, or a “big box” mega store, or an online printer. Which should you choose?

The answer depends in part on what you need and how soon you need it. Both mega stores and online printers are organized around a standard menu of items as well as the specifications for those items. If you want business cards printed on something other than white paper or a brochure in a non-standard size, this might not be available at a mega store or online printer.

Getting the printing from the online printer’s production facility to you requires time and costs for shipping as well as a small element of risk that the job will be lost or damaged in transit.

Self-serve vs. customer service

One of the primary differences between us and a mega store or online printer is our customer service. We consider this position to be central to the successful completion of any printing project. The customer service representatives at PaperGraphics will listen closely, write up the job accurately, and offer alternatives and options as appropriate. This requires excellent communication skills and a natural tendency to be detail-oriented.

Because these qualities are so important, we use pre-employment tests to determine how closely a candidate’s skills and natural way of doing things fits with the CSR job requirements. We have a written job description that clearly explains the duties and responsibilities of the position. We conduct an annual performance review that includes eight areas of evaluation. We provide tools and continuous training for technical skills.

But the most important thing about our CSRs is their personal accountability and their access to their supervisor. Their personal accountability means they have the ability and have been given the authority to take action if needed. They may offer suggestions or alternatives that you may not be aware of. They will speak up if what you have asked for will increase costs or production time. They will resolve problems on the spot. And if the need arises, they have immediate access to their supervisor who offers another level of knowledge and authority.

The importance of relationship

One of the reasons we invest so much in our customer service representatives is that we believe in relationships as a fundamental business value. We’ve worked hard to develop our professionalism and technical expertise and nothing pleases us more than to share both with our customers.

Here’s the promise we make: when you do business with PaperGraphics you will benefit from the expertise we’ve acquired from years of helping organizations like yours for over 40 years. You get an assigned customer service representative who becomes part of your team, the added convenience of 24/7 online ordering, and the benefit of having an organized, well-run vendor/partner who thinks about your company from the perspective of a stakeholder in your company.

So who’re you gonna call?

We recognize that you may occasionally use a mega store or an online printer. We may be closed when your need arises, or you may think that the job is too small to “bother” us with. What we hope is that despite those times, you think of us as your primary printer, and call us first.

We are staffed and equipped to provide a wide range of printing and printing-related services, some of which you may not be aware of because you’ve never needed them. That’s one of the reasons we ask you to call us first – because we may be the best choice you don’t know about.

At PaperGraphics we can teach you how to make more money through our ManagedMarketing™ program where we can handle all of your printing needs but also teach your staff how to prepare, invite and close the sale with your prospects. In fact, we are the only printer in this market that is certified to do so. 

If your organization or business needs to increase sales we can help. Call us at 254-773-7391 to set up a no obligation consultation where we assess your current situation and offer a plan of attack that works for your budget.