PGP Tip: 3 Things to Avoid in Your Marketing Materials

To improve the quality and effectiveness of the messages in your marketing materials, train yourself to avoid three things:

1. Listing product or service features without translating them into benefits. This forces the prospect to figure out why a feature is important or how it might be useful. Don't let this happen - the prospect may miss an important benefit or ascribe a benefit that doesn't exist. To determine the benefits associated with a specific feature, name the feature and say the phrase "what this means...."
2. Providing vague and unmeasurable benefits. A vague benefit is one that can't be quantified, such as "reduces cost" or "improves productivity". Make benefits tangible by attaching a numeric value that the prospect can calculate: "reduces cost by $3 per item" or "improve productivity by 37%". Any business can make a vague claim. Set your business apart by using a concrete example.
3. Describing benefits in generic or jargon-laden words. A benefit description written in industry jargon risks confusing the prospect or causing him to lose interest quickly. It also fails to articulate why the benefit is unique.

When Your Marketing Materials Talk, Does Anybody Listen?

When Your Marketing Materials Talk, Does Anybody Listen?

Businesses today have an immense arsenal of marketing materials, ranging from printed material (business cards, brochures, product and service flyers, newsletters and direct mail marketing pieces) to digital formats (web sites, web-based marketing and social media). While there is significant potential power in having so many ways to reach customers and prospects, this comes with a responsibility to align all the materials with their interests and behaviors. Marketing materials now bear the burden of being consistent, relevant and beneficial to the intended audience. As marketing guru Seth Godin puts it, "In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff."

Avoiding the ordinary

It may surprise you that avoiding the ordinary is rather simple: know yourself, know your audience, and tell an accurate story clearly.

Know Yourself

Why does your business or organization exist? How would things be different if your business or organization wasn't operating? What are its core values? Is it industry leader? The answers to these questions are embodied in the mission and vision statements and tell your employees and target audience exactly what to expect form doing business with you. Having a mission statement provides focus for marketing activities, while the vision statement describes the business or organization's future aspirations.

Know Your Audience 

Who is your ideal customer? To help answer this question, create a customer profile to include age, gender, job title, ethnicity, material status, skills, interests, personality traits, values, frustrations, likes and dislikes. Think about who specifically is looking for the products and services you offer rather than everyone you might possibly sell to.

Your target audience can be defined by demographic information - the physical attributes of a population. The most commonly used demographic information for marketing is age, gender, income level, race and ethnicity. Psycho-graphic information adds to demographic information by incorporating the interests, attitudes, opinions, values, lifestyle and personality of a population. Psycho-graphic information is used to predict why a prospect might buy.

Tell Your Story

A business or organization's story uses clear language and visual images to explain how customers will benefit. The focus of the story is on the customer, not on the business or its products and services. Here are some questions that help craft the story:

• How will your products or services benefit you audience (i.e., what's in it for me)?
• What needs do your products or services fulfill? What problems do they solve?
• What value does your business or organization bring to the audience that can't be found from your competitors?

Creating a brand identity

The brand identity of your business or organization is embodied in its visual images: logo, printed materials and web site. Taken together, they define the character of your business. Because most successful sales are based on establishing a trusting relationship between buyer and seller, it is important that the brand identity accurately represent the values of the business and that it be consistent across all marketing channels.

Here are some of the elements of brand identity:

• The promises you make to customers and how well you keep them. Besides the promises related to specific products and services, this also includes overall business practices like meeting deadlines and delivery dates, delivering added value, and the process for solving problems or making good on mistakes.
• The benefits that accrue to customers from using your products and services. These include tangibles like more time or money and intangibles like enhanced status or greater feeling security.
• How you nurture the business relationship. Regular communication via printed and web-based newsletters, social media, in-person visits, and personalized messages demonstrate that the relationship with the customer matters to the business.

Brand identity extends to the communication style used by your business or organization to provide information. The elements of communication style are words, grammar, syntax and meaning. The most effective communication style is clear (uses commonly-understood words), economical (uses simple sentence structure), free from jargon and obscure references, and has variety.

Pamela Wilson, a graphic designer and marketing consultant in Nashville, Tennessee, suggests that all brands have a personality, such as friendly, reserved, classic or contemporary. The brand identity embodies this personality in the choice of visual elements - color palette, typography, symbols, graphics, photographs, logo, communication style. For a traditional, established business, Pamela suggests using a classic typeface, conservative, rich colors, and more formal, corporate communication style. In contrast, a contemporary, high-energy company can use more edgy visual elements, a non-traditional typeface, and a friendly, casual communication style.

By carefully establishing your brand identity, all your marketing materials will appear to be coming from the same source over time, creating a sense of dependability in the mind for the customer.

Basic marketing package

A basic marketing package consists of five elements: business cards, company brochure, product and service flyers, newsletter and web site.

• Business cards: Business cards are often the first point of contact for a prospect and start the process of establishing a relationship. To avoid visual clutter, edit the information down to the essentials: company name, address, logo and tagline; the individual's name, title, and preferred ways to contact; and company web site URL. The business card will look best if it has sufficient white space. Consider using the back of the card if needed.
• Company Brochure: The company brochure introduces the company, defines the most important benefits that will accrue to the customer, tells how results have been produced for others, and issues a call to action. It also includes company contact information- company name and logo, address, telephone number, e-mail and web site address.
• Product or service flyer: A product or service flyer defines what the company is selling. It discusses the features and benefits of a single product or service or group of related products and services, and includes photographs and illustrations to attract the reader's attention and draw him into the message. The flyer needs a call to action and the specific way to make contact about the product or service. Company information- name, logo, address and web site address- is also part of the flyer.
• Newsletter: A newsletter is an effective way to stay in touch with customers or introduce the company to prospects. A rule of thumb is that at least 80% of the information should be of interest and relevant to the customer or prospect, and not more than 20% sales message. The newsletter can be delivered by the USPS or sent digitally.
• Web site: Because the company web site effectively has no space limitations, it can incorporate all the information from the company brochure and product and service flyers plus tell an expanded version of the company story- its history, specialty area, geographic reach, size and client base. Customers and prospects are free to browse at will for the information they desire.

Use us as an extension of your marketing department

If you don't have the time to write, design and or print your marketing materials, call us to help. We will work with you to plan the creation of marketing materials, ensure consistent brand identity, and help with any or all of the production steps. To get started, call Dennis Smith at 254-773-7391 for an appointment.

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PGP Tip: Promotion on a Budget

PGP Tip: Promotion on a Budget

The lifeblood of any business or organization is keeping current customers interested in your product or service while finding prospects to become new customers. This necessarily means that your business or organization must devote time and resources to promotion – using various methods to reach a target audience with a specific message.

Effective promotion is not limited to large businesses with substantial budgets. Smaller businesses and organizations can be successful by understanding how promotion works and adapting strategies and techniques to fit the available resources.

Promotion objectives

There are many possible objectives for a promotion strategy. Each is intended to produce a specific outcome and can be used singly or in combination. Here are the most common objectives:

• Build awareness. Although your current customers know you well, your prospects – the businesses or individuals you have identified that you want to have as customers – may not know you at all. Promotion helps introduce your business to your prospects, and is often the first step in gaining a new customer.

• Create interest and build trust. People buy things they need or have an interest in from those whom they trust. And long-term, loyal customers are the result of many positive interactions and transactions that become a trusting relationship. Promotion begins the process of building a relationship.

• Provide information. If you are launching a new product or service, whether to existing or new customers, the object of a promotion may be to explain it and its benefits. If your product is well established, an information-based promotion establishes you as an expert and creates interest among prospects who don’t yet know your company.

• Sell something. Some promotions are intended to drive demand and increase sales by getting customers and prospects to try the product. Free samples, free demonstrations and free trial periods are the type of promotions that stimulate demand.

• Establish loyalty. A repeat customer is one who has product or brand loyalty. Promotions based on establishing loyalty are useful after a customer has made one purchase, to start the process of building a strong relationship.

Target audience

Effective promotion begins with determining what audience you are trying to reach, since both the message and the promotional method may change depending on whether you are targeting current customers, past customers or prospects. Most small and medium-sized businesses are equipped and staffed to offer a specific and well defined complement of products or services. A successful promotion matches these products and services to the audience most likely to be interested in them.

Purchase motivators – the things that cause someone within the target audience to become a buyer – are different for individuals and businesses. In general, individuals purchase products or services to satisfy a basic need, to solve a problem or to feel good while businesses purchase to increase revenue, maintain the status quo or decrease expenses.

If your target market is individuals, learn to describe them with measurable characteristics such as age, gender, level of education, income, marital status, ethnicity, and family status. The corresponding characteristics for businesses are number of employees, annual sales volume, location and years in business.

Selecting the promotion method

For a promotion method to succeed, it must first reach the target audience. This sounds simplistic, but is often overlooked by businesses that haven’t adequately profiled the target audience. It is important to change your perspective from the business owner or sales manager to the target audience – simply put, to sit in their chair or walk in their shoes.

Begin by asking yourself how your target audience accesses information. Are your customers and prospects more likely to seek information using traditional media like reading newspapers and magazines, watching television, reading newsletters or responding to a direct mail campaign? Or do they seek information by reading e-mail, searching the Internet or reading blogs? You’ll need to set aside your personal biases – though you may be intrigued by social media such as Twitter and Facebook, if your target audience isn’t, then a promotion using these methods will not be effective.

Keep in mind that no single promotional method works all the time for every target audience, so rotate several methods and vary your approach. In addition, use promotions regularly. Over time, consistency and frequency will influence the buying decision more than the specific type of promotion.

Promoting on a budget

No matter the size of your business or organization, it needs to have a budget for promotions. Pick a time period – we recommend quarterly, semi-annually or yearly – and commit both a sum of money and some time for a designated person to manage the promotional effort. It takes both a budget and someone to manage the budget to ensure a successful promotion.

Promotions don’t have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time. A simple way to start is by targeting your best customers and introducing them to products or services you offer that they may not be using. Here are seven ideas for promoting on a budget.

1. Send a monthly informational newsletter. That’s what we do! In fact, we send both a printed and digital version that gives us a chance to demonstrate our expertise, introduce you to new technologies like QR codes, and remind you of the full scope of services we offer.
2. Highlight the specific products and services that represent what you do best. Develop a series of post cards, flyers or mini-brochures that showcase the things that provide the majority of your sales. These are the things that, because of equipment or skills or experience, you can offer a true competitive advantage to buyers. The series can be distributed individually or as part of another communication.

3. Follow up a purchase with an additional offer. A customer who has just made a purchase is an excellent candidate to make another one right away. This is especially true if the customer receives an offer with additional value attached – a discount coupon or a buy one/get one promotion. To create urgency, include an expiration date for the offer.

4. Target past customers. Revive an old relationship by contacting past customers. There may be a negative reason (such as a bad customer service experience) that explains why a customer became inactive, but don’t worry about it. Something may have changed within the past customer’s company that again makes them a good candidate for your promotion.

5. Put a sticker with teaser copy on an outbound envelope. Teaser copy – a few words that creates interest – is often printed near the address on the outside of an envelope or a self-mailer. Teaser copy is just what its name implies: something that teases the reader to open an envelope or keep reading. If the teaser copy is printed on a sticker and affixed to the envelope, it becomes dimensional and attracts even more attention.

6. Offer a guarantee. Changing suppliers presents some prospects with a risk factor they may be reluctant to deal with. This is true even if the current supplier is not performing well. Alleviate the anxiety and eliminate the risk by offering a guarantee to your prospect.

7. Self-promote. Get the word out about your company’s accomplishments. When you win an award, land an important new customer, expand your capability or capacity by adding equipment or staff, let everyone know. People like to do business with successful people. Use a press release directed to the business editor of your local newspaper to announce something you are proud of. Add a line to your e-mail signature and announce your accomplishment on your web site.

Promotion builds business

Regardless of the size of your budget, it is important to continuously promote your business. At PaperGraphics Printing  we've been helping businesses, organizations and individuals with promotions to customers and prospects for 42 years. To brainstorm promotional ideas to help your business or to get started with your promotion, contact Dennis Smith at 254-773-7391 . We’re ready to help.

PGP Tip: How to Develop a Great Logo

How to Develop a Great Logo

An organization or business logo, whether a graphic symbol or a distinctive typeface, is a visual way to instantly identify the entity. When used on signs, in advertising and on marketing materials, it is a shorthand way for its customers and prospects to recognize the business or organization.
Logos come in four forms:

• font-based: composed of type only. Examples are Coca-Cola, Google, Louis Vuitton.
• symbol-based: an icon commonly associated with the type of business, such as scissors for a beauty shop or a tree for a gardening service.
• abstract graphics: a symbol created for the purpose like the Nike swoosh, Twitter bird, and Olympic rings.
• combination: a mixture of type and either a symbol or abstract graphic. Examples are the Lacoste alligator+ font and Chanel double C + font.

We cite these examples because they are well know, made so by their advertising budgets that use the logo in global ad campaigns. But it is good design that makes these logos memorable and identifiable.

Logo design principles

In 2009, Smashing Magazine, a website and blog resource for web developers and designers, offered five principles for effective logo design:

• Simple. Milton Glaser, the designer who created the I Love New York logo, touts simplicity as a guiding design principle. A simple design is quickly and easily recognized. Ideally, the viewer see the logo and immediately understands what it represents.
• Memorable. Paul Rand, the designer of the IBM, UPS, Westinghouse and ABC logos, observed that logo design must be distinctive, memorable and clear but does not have to illustrate what the business or organization does. (For example, the ABC television network logo does not include a television set or broadcast tower.)
• Enduring and timeless. To be enduring, a logo needs to remain current-looking for several decades, a quality called forward looking. Using colors and fonts that are the latest trend is the opposite of forward looking. Milton Glaser's I Love New York was created in 1975; its clean lines, simplicity and neutrality have given it staying power.
• Versatile. The logo must work in a variety of sizes (ranging from business card to outdoor signs); in color and black and white; in print and on the web; and on signs, vehicles, clothing and advertising specialty items. 
• Appropriate. The typeface, symbol and colors used for the logo must be appropriate for the type of business or organization. A law firm or technology company needs a more formal-looking logo than a children's clothing shop.

Technical considerations

Besides great design, a successful logo follows technical principles to achieve distinction. Understanding and honoring these technical aspects improves the chances of creating a great logo that is easy to work with in all situations.

Simple

A simple logo does not try to do too much. The logo does not have to represent the company's products or services ( the Nike logo is a swoosh, not a shoe) or reflect its company history. It also does not have to be a visual representation of the company's tagline.

A good practice aimed at keeping a logo simple is to begin designing in black and white. Color can be added later, after the basic design is established. Another tip is to turn the logo upside down so its shape becomes more apparent and reveals possible flaws.

Over time, most logos are redesigned and made simpler. To keep an initial design as simple as possible, subtract anything that isn't essential. And if in doubt, leave it out.

Memorable

A memorable logo is one that is original and doesn't borrow from others, either by imitating or copying. Although it is possible to use clip art as a starting point, this is not recommended. Besides the possibility that others may be using the image, the conditions of sale of some clip art companies forbid using their images in a logo.

A memorable logo is devoid of cliches (a globe to represent international or a light bulb for ideas) and may use only type without a symbol or graphic.

Enduring and Timeless

To create a logo that will last for 20 years without appearing dated or stale, choose a typeface that is simple and legible. This is especially important if the business name is unusual or unfamiliar. Use no more that two fonts in the logo design and avoid gimmicky, currently-fashionable or trendy fonts.

If the logo features both an image and a tagline, construct each of these elements as a separate piece of art- in other words, don't overlap on entwine them. This will enable using the elements separately as well as together.

Extend the life of the logo by creating some elements that are enduring and others that can be subtly refreshed, modernized or adapted for future visual formats. When the logo design is complete, consider protecting it by applying for a trademark or service mark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Versatile

For today's multi-media marketing requirements, a logo must be versatile so it will work in print, on the web, and on other items like apparel and advertising specialty items. This means it must reproduce accurately in all three color spaces: PMS Pantone Matching System for one and two color printing. CMYK cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the four-color process colors for full color printing; and RGB red, green, blue for the web. The logo may also need a version to use on a dark background, over photographs and in gray scale or black and white.

The aspect ratio (the relationship between the height and width) determines the shape and orientation of the logo-square, horizontal or vertical. A logo that is too tall and thin or too short and wide will present layout problems on artwork. Square and circle shapes are pleasing and adaptable to many design layouts.

Logos need to prepared in two file formats: vector and bitmap. The image in a vector file consists of a set of points, lines, curves and shapes based on mathematical expressions to represent images, making it very easy to alter the size. In addition, vector file formats can be output at the resolution required for the output device (such as 300 dots per inch or dpi), ensuring the best quality reproduction in print. Two vector file formats are EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) and AI (Adobe Illustrator). 

For websites, blog layouts and social media, a bitmap file format is required. This format creates images using pixels. Low resolution bitmap files (such as 72 pixels per inch or ppi) are much faster to load on the web. JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG and PS (Photoshop) are bitmap file formats.

An EPS file can be converted to a bitmap file with relative ease. However, a bitmap file must be redrawn to convert to EPS. Because of this, it is generally better to create the logo as a EPS file first.

Appropriate

Type, symbols and graphics have distinctive characteristics and should be matched to the brand image. For example, us big, powerful slab fonts to signify strength; serifs or scrip fonts to imply class, style and elegance; italics or slanted fonts to suggest movement and forward thinking.

Negative space- the space around and between an image, such as the arrow hidden in the FedEx logo- can also be used to define a brand characteristic.

Evaluate your logo

If you have never evaluated your log using the design principles discussed in this issue of PGP Tips, we suggest you do so now. If you find a few areas that need attention, give us a call. We can help with refreshing the logo or redesign. Contact us at 254-773-7391.

                            

PGP Tip: Using New Media To Communicate

Using New Media To Communicate

The term old media and its companion legacy media refer to traditional ways of communicating with customers. Printers are generally considered to be part of old media, along with other paper-based industries like newspapers, magazines, and books as well as radio, television and movies. In contrast, new media is digital and includes the Internet, websites, and most computer-based forms of communication.

New media is exciting because it brings new tools to the process of communicating with customers, tools like full-color digital printing, with highly personalized sales messages and interactive outreach. New media also empowers prospects and customers to quickly and easily find reliable information about products, services and vendors.

At PaperGraphics we present our customers many ways to help you take advantage of new media to communicate with your customers and prospects. We recommend that you add these to your sales and marketing activities rather than replacing what you are already doing. This is because we firmly believe that new media is not replacing old, but adding to available communication possibilities.

QR Codes

One of the more exciting examples of new technology is the QR code. QR stands for Quick Response, aptly named because the contents of the code can be decoded at high speed by devices including mobile phones equipped with a camera, net books and laptop computers, desktop computers, cameras and televisions.

QR codes are the new way for customers and prospects to reach a web page, a location (using geocodes) or obtain information about products and services. Add a QR code containing contact information to your business card and someone can add you to their contact list by reading the QR code with their cell phone or computer. Add a QR code to individual products on your web site and enable customers or prospects to download product details and a phone number for ordering, or link to a YouTube video.

QR codes were developed in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso-Wave as a way to track parts in vehicle manufacturing. The code is a 2-D symbology because it stores information both horizontally and vertically and thus is able to hold much more data than a one-dimensional bar code.

The typical barcode holds a maximum of 20 digits, while a QR code can hold up to 7,089 characters. In addition, QR codes take up about one-tenth the space of a bar code. This ability to hold a great deal of information in a small space is what makes QR codes so valuable for sales and marketing.

QR codes are quite common in Japan and their use is growing in Europe. In the United States, QR codes are just beginning to appear but are expected to spread rapidly. A QR code may be applied to many substrates – paper, plastic, even cloth – and on many surfaces, including curved ones – walls, floors, billboards, t-shirts. About the only limitation is ensuring that the QR code is of sufficient resolution to be read by the mobile phone or other device.

An example of how QR codes are being used is the Google program Google Places, a way for businesses to manage their presence on Google. Any business that is selected by Google as a Favorite Place receives a window decal that includes a QR code that takes the viewer to the Google Place Page for the business. Google has already distributed 100,000 Favorite Places decals and is planning a second round of 50,000 more.

With Google promoting QR codes, they are likely to become very important in search marketing. Google suggests that if your web site contains a QR code, search engines will see a new image and index it, and might in the future index the content in them.

Many mobile phones, including iPhone, Blackberry, Motorola Droid and any phone that runs on the Android operating system, have application software available for scanning QR codes. Some phones may have the app already installed on the phone; if not, it can be easily downloaded and installed. One feature is necessary, though – the mobile phone must have a camera. After reading the QR code, a phone with a web browser can connect to a URL, download an MP3 file, dial a phone number or send an e-mail.

QR codes have other uses besides marketing material. An educational organization can direct people to reference or training materials. An online product catalog can use a QR code to provide complete product specifications. Retail locations can use QR codes to provide additional information – such as a restaurant providing nutritional information for items on the menu. A QR code on a direct mail piece can take the recipient directly to the web site of the business offering the product or service.

Variable data printing

High speed copying in both black and white and color has been a standard service offering of PaperGraphic Printing since the early 1980's. Once digital printers began to replace analog copiers, the possibility of variable data printing (VDP) was realized.

VDP enables various elements of a document – text, graphics and images – to change from one page to the next with no degradation of print speed or quality. From a production standpoint, VDP is a continuum from the simplest mail merge (changing the name and salutation of a letter) to versioning (customizing the document for a defined group rather than for a specific individual) to 1-to-1 printing where each document is completely unique. An example of simple VDP is a post card that is printed with the name and address of the intended recipient. If the photograph on the post card and part of the sales message changes depending on the demographic characteristics of the recipient, that’s versioning. If the post card contains a photograph of the recipient as well as text with personal information, that’s 1-to-1 marketing.

VDP requires three things: a document template containing all the information that stays the same from page to page (the static data), a mailing list containing addressing information and recipient characteristics, and a database containing all the information that changes from page to page (the variable data). The static template also indicates the location of variable data elements within the document.

VDP has many applications: 1-to-1 direct marketing, customer relationship management, explanation of Benefits forms and other insurance documents, catalogs, promotional material and lots more. Its popularity is based on two advantages: for advertising and marketing material – particularly direct mail marketing campaigns – response rates generally rise as the level of personalization goes up. And for informational documents such as insurance benefit booklets, VDP allows a booklet to be created that contains only the information pertinent to the insured person – no more and no less.

Call us for QR codes and digital printing

We invite you to call us to discuss how QR codes and variable data printing can benefit your business or organization. We’ll help you generate a QR code that is appropriate for your intended application and add it to business cards and marketing materials – either now, or at the next printing.

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.

8 Ways to Save Money on Printing

 8 Ways to Save Money on Printing

What's you company's budget for printing? Is it a measurable part of overall expenses, or such a small amount that is doesn't even have its own line item? Whichever it is, we'd like to offer eight ways to make the budget dollars go farther.

#1: Order the right quantity.

There are three elements that determine the cost of every print job: preparation; paper; and production steps. The cost of preparing to print (gathering files, adjusting image placement and creating press plates or printable digital files) is a fixed cost incurred each time a job is printed. (Note: preparation costs are different from the initial cost of design or the cost to make changes on subsequent printings.) Two orders of 500 will incur two preparation costs, whereas one order of 1000 will incur just one. On the other hand, if you order 1000 to save preparation costs but end up not using 400, then you probably haven't saved any money.

So how do you know the right quantity to order? We recommend a 3-6 month supply of anything that isn't subject to change or that changes at a predictable time. You can determine whether you are following this guideline by asking us (we keep a history on each job we print for you) or by looking at your past invoices. If placing an initial order where you are unsure of how long the printed piece will last, ask us to quote more than one quantity so you can compare unit cost.

#2: Order before you run out.

Seems obvious, doesn't it? But if it was so easy, then there would never be emergencies or rush orders. What's needed is a reliable reminder system that provides an alert when the supply of a particular item gets low. For companies that use a central supply system, taking a monthly inventory could work. But for decentralized supply, something different is needed.

Because we don't like emergencies any more than our customers do, we have developed a reliable reminder system that is a part of the order history we keep for each job. When we enter an order, we simultaneously predict the reorder interval based on what the intervals have been in the past. Once a week we get a report of expected orders, and can contact you with the information. This isn't an automatic reorder; you still get to determine whether it is time. But it will prompt you to go check your supply and avoid the surprise of running out.

#3: Let us choose the production method.

In most cases, we have several ways that we can produce your order. For example, we print using both digital and offset equipment. Years ago there may have been a discernible difference between the two, but that's no longer the case.

Here's another example: if the size of the finished printed product is smaller that the press sheet, we may prepare the artwork so that more than one image is printed on the press sheet. This method, called imposition, reduces the number of press sheets needed to produce the finished quantity, saving press time and paper costs-- most of the time. For a very small quantity, the cost of imposition may exceed the savings in press time and paper.

The final word: let us use the best production method based on the specifications of the job, the time frame to produce it, and your budget.

#4: Understand how design affects cost.

The design of a printed piece has a great influence on overall cost. Designs that incorporate features such as a bleed (i.e., the extension of an image to the edge of the piece), multiple post-press processes (i.e., cutting, folding, binding) or embellishments (die cutting, foil stamping or blind embossing, for example) require extra press sheets to accommodate the need for setups on each subsequent process. The amount per process varies, but is usually figured as a percentage of the number of finished pieces with a minimum amount. With enough post-press processes involved, the number of press sheets needed could climb to 120% to 150% of the finished quantity.

#5: When doing you own design work, submit a print-ready PDF file.

This requires more than just saving a file as a PDF. Print-ready means that all we have to do is receive the file, check it for print readiness, and create press plates or a raster image. Here are some of the things that prevent a PDF from being considered print ready:

• Photo resolution that is too low to produce a good quality image
• Images that bleed have not been extended beyond the trim line
• No adjustment has been made to panel sizes to ensure a flat fold
• Text and images have not been shifted left and right to allow for drill holes or booklet binding.

We do check for these flaws and will notify you if they will compromise the finished print product. You can make the corrections yourself and resubmit the file, or we will provide a cost to make the corrections for you.

#6: Allow enough time for the job to be completed using our normal production standards.

We pride ourselves on having jobs ready at the promised time. We carefully manage the production process by setting interim due dates- the date each step in the production process has to be completed to meet the promise date. Rush jobs disrupt the normal manufacturing flow, so we reserve the right to charge extra for the disruption. Before we agree to take a rush job, we will provide a quotation so you can determine whether the added cost fits within your budget.

#7: Provide inputs by the date requested.

By inputs, we mean something that is necessary for the job and only you can provide. Examples are text, photos and other items when we are providing design services; return of proofs with comments or authorization to proceed; a mailing list; a postage deposit. This is closely related to #6, as the interim due dates for production steps depend on having your inputs available at the needed time.

For projects that have many steps- such as an invitation package or a direct mail marketing campaign- and also have a firm deadline, we will be happy to provide a timeline that clearly states the interim due dates for you inputs and also shows you the steps in the production process. This is our way of helping you help us meet the promised due date.

#8: Avoid surprise or hidden costs.

We don't like surprises- especially those that upset our customers, such as add-on costs that appear on the final invoice or aren't mentioned until after the order has been placed.

Our policy is to provide a written quotation as soon as the job specifications are firm. As part of the quotation, we describe the job specifications in plain English so you can verify that we understand what you want done. Our quotations include all the costs of the job- design, printing, tax, shipping, special delivery or handling, postage- whatever elements are applicable. As long as the specifications don't change, the final invoice will always match the quotation, with no surprises or hidden costs.

Ensure that you get the best price.

We don't always have the lowest price. But we always have the best price-the price that represents the balance of job specifications, production time, quality and on-time delivery. If you are not experiencing this level of performance with your current printer, we invite you to contact us at 254-773-7391 or dennis@papergraphicsltd.com, to discuss how we can be of assistance to you.

PGP Tip: Increasing Sales With Direct Mail

Increasing Sales With Direct Mail

Today I am going to share with you a few quick tips and tricks for getting your direct mail message read and increasing the overall effectiveness of your campaign. This is a message you will want to archive and pull out when it’s time to plan your next project.

Direct Mail Tips & Tricks

In direct mail marketing, the response rate is the percentage of recipients who respond to the mailing. Response rates can vary widely by industry, though the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in a study of 1,122 industry-specific campaigns determined that the average response rate for direct mail is 2.61%. The response rate is often used as a measure of the success of a direct mail marketing campaign.

Before beginning any direct mail marketing campaign, it is a good practice to determine the break-even response rate – the number of respondents to the campaign that must buy to yield enough profit to cover the cost of the direct mail campaign. If the break-even response rate is very high, then the campaign can be restructured to lower the cost and therefore lower the break-even response rate to a more achievable level.

In general, the overall response rate is higher when a smaller target audience is contacted multiple times versus a larger target audience contacted once.

Communicating with your customers

If your organization is a nonprofit that needs to communicate with alumni, members or donors, you’ll be interested in the results of a survey commissioned by Pitney Bowes in 2009. Conducted by International Communications Research, the survey included approximately 1100 U.S. college graduates who were asked about their preferences for receiving information from the school they attended.

The survey found that 54% of respondents have a strong preference for direct mail. Less than half that number – only 23% – chose e-mail as their preferred method of communication. Respondents also indicated that they are less likely to discard or ignore direct mail that includes messages about fundraising and donations for their college or university. The alumni also prefer print mail for correspondence and news from their alma mater – 57% indicated a preference for mail versus 31% for e-mail.

Q&A

Q. Is direct mail bad for the environment?

A. Contrary to what you may have heard from proponents of various “Do Not Mail” coalitions, direct mail is an environmentally responsible way to advertise. Yes, trees are harvested to create the pulp from which paper is made. But the harvested trees are grown specifically for that purpose on tree farms known as managed timberlands. The trees are an agricultural crop, like vegetables on a farm; the trees are not cut down from neighborhood parks or wilderness areas. America’s forestry and paper industries plant more than 4 million new trees each day (or 1.4 billion per year) – that’s three new trees for every one harvested.

Recycling is another reason not to fear direct mail. Paper is one consumer product that is fairly easy and inexpensive to recycle. After first use, paper products can be made into corrugated boxes, packaging, newsprint, tissue and event writing paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, annual recycling rates for advertising mail have increased seven-fold since 1990. In 2008, 57.4% of all the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling. This is the equivalent of nearly 340 pounds of paper for each man, woman and child in America. The paper industry has set a goal of 60% recovery by 2012.

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 or reply to this message to set up a no obligation consultation where we assess your current situation and offer a plan of attack that works for your budget.