Full Color Printing News

Driving sales up in a down market

Businesses today face increasingly difficult decisions with their advertising budgets due to low sales and reduced customer response. It is very typical to see businesses stop advertising when the economy is down and cash flow is tight. I recommend my clients never stop spending altogether in a down market, but rather adjust how and where they spend.

Companies that stop spending altogether in a down market are forced to start fresh when the market improves. On the contrary, companies with the wherewithal to adjust their spending will weather the down market, having an edge over the competition by being aggressive sooner when the market does improve.

With so many options to a business owner it is not easy to decide how to adjust spending. That’s why traditional media like direct mail are back in style in such a big way.

Once you determine direct mail is right for you the next step is to choose a firm to work with who can help you with your campaign. A successful direct mail campaign includes several factors including design, offer, target, cost, etc. I spoke with national full color printing and graphic design company Preferred Print on the subject.

I first asked what trends were emerging in the full color printing industry and what has been successful for his customers. “…companies are realizing old faithful always delivered in the past, and are turning back to direct mail in droves. Let’s face it…in today’s market the security of a steady predictable conversion rate is more important than ever…”

When asked about customer success they said “it is important to our customers to have their campaign handled by one shop. By handling all aspects of the campaign from graphic design, full color printing, as well as the prospect mailing list needs and postage it keeps their costs down.” He added ”I had a recent customer mail 5000 full color postcards to a targeted list and picked up new customers worth $60,000 in total sales.”

When designing a direct mail campaign, full color printing is better than not. A postcard in full color is more impactful and is proven to get better results. Design your mailer around the goal of the campaign and the audience, as well as the product. Next you need to decide what type of mailer to use.

Postcards allow your message to have immediate attention and are especially useful for announcing new products or services, special offers, and lead generation. When deciding what size post card to use it is important to remember the most expensive cost is the postage, not the printing. This means you should opt for the larger format like a 6”x11”, since the printing costs are similar. It is typically the largest piece in the mailbox and commands attention. “We have seen big changes in our customers results when moving to a larger format, as much as 100%-150%.” says Mark Murray of Preferred Print.

That translates to real numbers. On 5000 4”x6” post cards with a total cost of $1445 for printing, and postage with a .5% response is $57.80 per lead. With the same campaign on a 6” x 11” post card total cost is $2095 with a response of .5% at $21 per lead. Obviously, results vary but the fact remains the small additional investment typically results in a marked increase in overall campaign results.

Brochures and Sell Sheets are better suited to share lots of information you can’t fit on full color postcards by having more space to convey the message visually and verbally. An 11” x 17” tri-fold brochure is great for getting your message out in a newsletter format and has good responses with the right design, plus you don’t need to use an envelope saving even more.

Finally, the most critical component is the list itself. This will make or break your campaign. “By properly targeting the people in the right stage in the buying cycle the conversions can be staggering. As an example, targeting a list of consumers for automotive lease can garner a typical .5% response. However, by targeting people in the last 3-6 months of their lease, our customer tripled their response by getting their prospects at a time they were already looking to make a move.” This can translate to virtually any industry; it simply requires working with the right partner.

For more information on full color printing or to discuss a direct mail campaign for your business contact Mark Murray with Preferred Print @ 800-329-0005 or visit http://www.preferredprint.com/

I think one or more challenging things to figure out over the last few years is what type of machinery would one by when trying to leverage themselves in the full color printing arena. It is been my experience over the past 20 some odd years in this arena of full color printing.  That is been more challenging over the last five years actually picked a piece of equipment that you might be able to use the next 10 or 15 years.  By riding out that equipment until it is completely paid off, and you’d be able to leverage it out and purchase another piece of equipment. The problem is when you go to buy a piece of commercial printing equipment and it ends up being outdated within three to five years, if you’re lucky. The use disadvantage.  I piece of equipment, it’s probably worth 35 to 40% less than what you paid for. I have to tell you that this makes it a very challenging situations you looking to leverage out of one piece of equipment into another. I wish I could give you some type of a silver bullet or a magic wand that would make you immune from these choices, but the truth is that I can’t. My advice to you before you purchase any of this equipment that you do the due diligence to make sure that nobody is coming out with a piece of equipment that on making your is obsolete with the next three years. A lot of companies have made the decision to make the goal of the commercial printing industry is brokers.  Rather than commercial printers themselves. One of the companies that I do some counseling for www.onetwothreecolorprinting.com this company has made a decision to outsource all of its 12 and three color printing rather than trying to print in house for the simple reason that what they can actually buy cheaper from a company that’s been around for 20 some odd years.  And that owners will or equipment outright selling offset printing to the trade only that it would be for them to employ a commercial printing mechanic to produce their work internally.  The other thing that’s important in my opinion is to find a niche within the commercial offset printing industry.  Such as there is some companies out there that specialize in all they do is full color business cards. Some companies may specialize in just doing catalog printing. Other companies will put all their aphids and marketing in two producing just full color flyers. Some of these companies won’t even have their own graphic designers on staff, everything needs to be sent to them and what they call art ready, and/or artwork supplied. In my opinion.  I think your best taking a specific niche and doing some direct mail marketing and marketing and promotion to those groups of people.  Some other companies not only will they go after a niche market as far as product is concerned.  But they will also go after specific industries like just printing for Christian churches. They will go after the financial institutions and looked to be a specialist in that particular industry.

You’re looking to do something like a full color brochure.  You don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it.  Call preferredprint.com.  This company has been around for are in excess of 10 years and I’ve always been very happy with the work that they’ve done for me in the past as well as the work for my clients that have referred to them.  Their graphic designers are well-equipped to basically handle all of your needs from logo design as well as and not limited to catalog design, brochure design, pocket folder graphic design. I will leave you there direct URL this will bring you directly into the brochure page for www.preferredprint.com the full color brochure or link is : http://www.preferredprint.com/color-brochures-printing_15.htm definitely give them a call and let me know what you think. By the way some people who refer to this as a full-color flyer. Remember when it comes to full color printing or commercial printing.  The difference between picking the company that might be $100 cheaper versus a company that would give you a highly professional finished product can make the difference between a promotional campaign that is successful all promotional campaign that goes in the toilet.

I have been around and involved in the full color commercial printing industry for well over 25 years.  I guess this makes me what they would call a trained professional after all I have been earning well over six digit personal income and have created and business tens of millions of dollars over the last 25 years. Some years ago when I first was introduced to the full color printing market place as a person purchasing full color printing for my own events. I started out as a nightclub promoter and I would order for color printing from a commercial printer located in Manhattan.  Over near Spring Street and Van Damme. The thing I was able to find out, back then was how form printing worked, better known as gang run printing today.  Nowadays, almost all a full color printing that you purchase on any given day is done by a gang run printer. Back then, very few printers were actually involved in production in this way.  And if you want to buy something like 5000 full color postcards you’d end up paying someone area for upwards of 700 to well over $1000 for 5000 full color postcards. Now for product is even more superior than that, based on technology in the sheer volume and competitiveness of this particular industry the commercial printing industry.  That same product can be easily purchased phone anywhere in the area of $150 to someone area of $325, which I have to tell you this is significant discount from where once was. One of the companies you have heard about from me many times before is www.preferredprint.com This company offers a variety of full color printing at virtually wholesale printing prices.  It’s a definitely worthwhile time to give them a hard look to see what they have that minefield to help you in the future your commercial printing needs.  So whether it’s 123 color printing or something that may be a bit more coarsely such as full color catalogs, full-color brochures, full color business cards, full-color letterheads in envelopes.  They also dual wide variety of promotional products, and I know that they also carry a full line of mailing equipment.  So they’re able to fulfill all of your direct mail and marketing needs.  They also have a full staff of graphic designers.  I believe that the Rall running state-of-the-art G5 Macintosh computers.

One of the websites that I would like to showcase that offers full color custom labeled water bottles is www.preferredprint.com I had sent some customers that were looking to do a trade show.  Not that long ago over to them and they were very happy with not only the quality of the label that was produced by the graphic designers at preferredprint, as well as the water itself. My client had said that they were very impressed with the quality and taste of the water. I believe the client actually created not only label with their logo on it, but they also had a coupon on the side of a label that was a $500 coupon for anybody who handed in the label with the purchaser of the new job. The link to go to the page directly is http://www.preferredprint.com/custom-label-bottled-water.html this will actually bring you directly to the page that does all information necessary for you to order a custom water bottles directly.

The fact is that business forms of all letter known as NCR forms of been around for some time now. Basically the ends your form has come along and found its age and businesses as a result of systemizing companies and making it easier for people to keep up-to-date records and accounting ledger’s. Basically how the business form works is as customer as well as the salesperson writes out this form is actually transpose through three different sheets, and one writing. Basically these cells personal goals through check out all the different pieces and then have the client signoff on, and they’ll be three copies Topkapi goes to the company and the middle she is then given to the customer and the goal sheet usually is used for some accounting purposes, and finally. Many companies still use these in what they call consecutive business forms.  You’ve seen these and no doubt when you’ve gone to purchase flyers or any type of thing like Home Depot special orders where it’s called the doc matrix printer actually prints very fine little dots.  Which one are all put together creates sentences and words. There is deftly been a significant shift in businesses are are using the business forms or NCR forms most people call them to the. The other thing I would like to add is that most of these business forms.  In regards to the printing only have the company’s logo on their usually in a black-and-white one color format. It is very seldom that you would see a business form with a full-color and/or logo on it. Most of the layouts for the business forms are generally done by typesetters and not graphic designers.  This is also another good thing from walking promotion because as these three copies circulate it actually helps you get your branding and name out there and to the public more more as the sheets are circulated throughout your community. www.preferredprint.com is a wonderful place to go to researcher business forms.  I will give you a link that will go directly to the business forms page http://www.preferredprint.com/color-ncr-forms-printing_9.htm please feel free to go him to arouse around and see if there’s something that catches your fancy.  A very competent staff air and if you have any questions please give them a call.

One of the things that I’ve noticed from being the full color printing industry for many years is that a lot of client selects we just take their old for lack of a better word crappy designs.  Brochures that they have not made up back in the 1980’s and then go and spend thousands of dollars on having these things reprinted. If you’re going to go out and buy a brand-new full-color brochure or a full-color postcard full-color rack cards and US spend tons of money on full-color letterhead and envelopes.  It’s in your best interests to have a professional graphic designer re work and all of the graphic design and maybe even your logo if it needs a facelift.  If I’ve said it once I say it a million times.  The integrity of your graphic design will ultimately make or break your whole entire campaign.  It’ll make or break every single piece of marketing material that you have higher a quality graphic design firms to take care of all your graphic design needs.

One of the things that I counsel my full color printing clients on doing on a regular basis is doing direct mailers using jumbo postcards. When I speak of jumbo postcards on talking about the biggest possible postcard that you can Mal before the postage increase.  The sizes postcard is 6.5 x 11. This is the biggest letter size pieces that you can mail out before they charge you for what they call flat, which is a lot more money and postage.  You’d be surprised how many clients.  I meet have a vast databases of potential clients and existing clients are they done business with over two years that they’ve been in business themselves.  And they never In that marketplace. So fine that we as companies always spend time in getting new business and we don’t work with the business you are a have. The one thing that also impress upon my clients is that it’s very important for them to have the piece designed by professional graphic designer. I always tell in the integrity of your design will ultimately make or break your home mailing campaign.

Things you don’t see a lot of people doing anymore nowadays is to me, leave behind a nice pen.  I think you’re going to see a big come back at the level of promotional products. I know that even my company and another to full color printing company specializing in commercial printing as well as graphic design and web design.  On looking to create a nicely behind so when I go out to see potential clients I can put something on the deaths that they will have for many years to come.  I guess the big trick is to figure out a way to do this and still keep the course per unit down.  But yet still having a value to the client that they see that value and then has them hold onto it and also talk to it and show the friends and family members, as well as colleagues. Another thing that is a pretty cool leave behind is to come up with a creative marketing piece.  Usually I tell people good way to do this is to use something that has to be die cut it as well as may be some foil stamping and a boy saying something that people don’t see every day anymore.  It obviously helps if you have a talent a graphic designer to help you come up with a creative side of your marketing pieces.  Sometimes this can be something as simple as a really creative full color business card.

I’d been in communication with preferredprint.com talking to them about the latest and greatest in full color printing technology.  And I guess they as most companies that offer a full color printing and graphic design services have told me how they started to move into new product lines. I know that they’re now doing things like building big e-commerce website. As well as doing search engine optimization, which there is been a tremendous amount of growth in the last year. One of the things that they were Tony that they’re about to start doing on their full color printing website was debuting one of the newest plug-ins for e-commerce and regular HTML websites in the last year. They’re calling it website videos. Website videos are very interesting medium and marketing concept for your average humdrum website. It allows potential customers to come to your website and actually have a little commercial about the products and service you are offering. And if any company needs to cut down on the terms and jargon and getting out to the clients in layman’s terms, it’s a commercial printing industry.  I know what this website video commercial they’re going to pushing very seven products like postcards, pocket folders, graphic design services, letterhead and envelope, and many more products to say the least.