Print Blog: communicate, motivate, educate, enhance, celebrate, animate, and promote with print and promotional products

Pocket folders; product packaging for the information age

Product packaging is big business and an important way to keep your brand visible, mobile and in front of your target market. I sent flowers to my wife for mothers day and she was almost as impressed with the package as she was with the flowers.

I ordered from proflowers.com they were having a special and I heard about it on the radio. The flowers showed up in a very elaborate full color box with the proflowers logo emblazoned on the side. Inside there were compartments for the flowers, the vase, and the plant food, I remember thinking "man that box / package must have cost as much as the flowers". I heard my wife talking to a friend and she spent more time talking about the really nice box than she did about the flowers themselves, which when you think about it is exactly what proflowers wanted.

Proflowers uses their product packaging to create repeat customers and generate referrals, they want you to remember the flowers, but  they really want you to remember where they came from. I noticed the same thing last night when we ordered pizza from The Upper Crust (great pizza by the way) the box had their logo, locations and contact information printed across the top. Just like proflowers they know the box is going into the trash, but they also know the value of creating multiple impressions of their brand and they're willing to spend more to make sure the client remembers where the product came from.

Today is the information age, how can you create a package that will be remembered if your product is information. Pocket folders are the solution; well designed colorfully printed custom pocket folders present your information in a professional manner that will be remembered.  Insurance companies, consulting firms, financial services firms, lawyers, title companies, travel services firms, and real estate companies are just a few whose primary product is information, and pocket folders are a perfect way to package their product so their brand is remembered.

Pocket folders are not just presentation folders, they include portfolio folders, accordion folders, document holders, and even totes or boxes. Any of these products can be customized and printed to create a professional and memorable package for all kinds of information. Features such as business card holders, tab dividers, Velcro or bando closures, and special die cut pockets can be added to create a professional package that is functional, useful, and will promote the brand.

Pocket folders to package information have a real advantage over packaging for consumer products, they are less expensive and they don't get thrown away. As nice as the proflowers box is we threw it away right after we opened it. When your product is information such as an insurance policy, marketing information for partner companies, financial documentation, or real estate documents, the pocket folder becomes part of the information and is put away for future reference, not thrown away in the trash.

Product packaging is a great way to promote a brand and create referrals, custom pocket folders are a great way to package information. If your product is information take a lesson from successful consumer products companies and package your product in a pocket folder that will be remembered.

 

Real Estate Marketing; professionals get results

You know the old saying "if you want something done right do it yourself"; maybe that was true in the past but in these complicated times it should be changed to "if you want something done right hire a professional".

In the last few months I witnessed how much difference a professional can make in real estate marketing. My neighbors, right next door, decided to sell their house. Everyone knows the real estate market has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, and they decided they could save some money and sell the place themselves. Fortunately our area has not been hit as hard by the real estate slump as some other areas, there's not a lot of inventory and steady demand, so they figured they'd be able to sell it on their own fairly quickly.

The owners put it on the market, tried to do some marketing, told all their friends and neighbors it was available and even let the the local real estate agents know they could earn half a commission if they sold it to one of their clients. They had a few showings and some interest from local people, but no offers. It went on like this for 3-4 months, interest but no offers.

Finally the owners decided to hire a real estate professional. The new brokers came in and immediately put together a professional marketing package, including pocket folders, data sheets, signs, flyer's and other printed marketing material.  The brokers convinced the owners to do a little cosmetic work, clean the place up, and do a little staging. The property was listed in MLS,  all the agents in town were notified, and  the first open house was scheduled for last Saturday.

they had the first open house, received multiple offers and ended up accepting one for over the asking price. I watched them try to sell it themselves for 3-4 months without success, after hiring a professional real estate agent they got results and offers in just weeks.

I don't know if it was the professional printed material and document folders, the sign out front,  the advertising for the open house, the staging and professional presentation, or a previous conspiracy among all the local brokers to steer clients away. What I do know is when the professionals came in they got results, without lowering the price. As a matter of fact they raised the price to cover the brokers fee and still got an offer over the asking price.

So much for doing it yourself in today's day and age if you want real results, it pays to hire a professional.

Brochure printing; secrets that save money, volume 2

Brochure printing can be an expensive undertaking but not if you know the secrets to saving money. For brochure printing in small  quantities, say 1500 or less, think digital and think savings.

Full color makes your brochure more effective, if you're making the investment in brochure printing think about your objective. Why are you creating this brochure; to promote your brand, to outline benefits of your product or service, to give instructions, to answer questions, to  provide information, to create more revenue, to support sales efforts, to market your product or service? An attractive full color brochure can accomplish any of these goals and more, but remember the brochure itself can also say a lot about your company.

Before anyone reads a word of content your brochure sends a strong message. Make sure the message is, we're professional, we care about our brand, we care about the image we present, and we don't cut corners. Digital brochure printing allows you to create a brochure that sends this message at very reasonable cost.

Traditional offset brochure printing requires film and plates for each color. Unless you need a large quantity of brochures the cost of the film and plates can can significantly increase the per unit price of each brochure. With digital printing these costs don't exist allowing you to create a full color professional brochure without spending a bundle.

The next time you're involved in a brochure printing project that doesn't require large volume, remember the digital option and ask about it when requesting quotes. Not every printer has digital equipment so make sure to ask, is their quote based on offset printing or digital printing. If the answer is offset make sure to get a digital quote as well, chances are you'll save a lot of money on a high quality professional brochure.

 

 

Desk Pad Calendars; space available, on your client's desk

The battle for eyeballs and impressions continues daily. Banner ads, billboards, Internet, newspapers, television, direct mail; businesses everywhere battle to keep their brand in front of clients and prospects.

The other day I saw a truck driving through the city with a huge sign on the back. Not a sign painted on the side of a truck carrying freight, a sign truck, the entire back of the truck was a huge billboard, the truck drove around the city exposing the sign to as many people as possible. It's only purpose is to be a mobile billboard. Effective? who knows, environmentally friendly, I think not, inexpensive, I doubt it.

Is it effective? What does it cost? Are the right people seeing the message? can you measure it? is there a return on investment? does it work for B2B companies?

I know a guy that works at a big electrical supply company they spend over 1 million dollars per year to be the official electrical supplier for the local baseball team. If you follow the team you know their name and what they do, I know who they are and if you ask me tomorrow I can tell you the company name right away. The problem is I don't buy electrical supplies and neither do most of the hundreds of thousands of people that see their message day after day.

What if they could lease space right on their clients desks for less than a penny a day, in effect put a billboard on the desk of the people that buy their product on a daily basis. What if they could rent space on the desks of 10,000 clients and prospects for a tiny fraction of what they pay to sponsor the baseball team? A desk pad calendar can do exactly that. A colorful high impact desk pad calendar will stay on a client or prospects desk, be seen and get used every day of the year.

The idea of effective marketing and advertising is to be in front of the the right people (buyers) at the right time (when they need to buy) A desk pad calendar is one of the few marketing tools that can pretty much guarantee that result.

                                

Its something to think about if you're a B2B marketer. Impressions matter; the more your brand is seen the more it's recognized leading to increased market share. If you're looking for a tool that will stay in front of your target audience day after day then low cost, full color, high impact desk pad calendars  are worth consideration.

Envelope printing; want to save some real money?

I was throwing away an envelope the other day and the postmark made me stop; the postage was $0.83; not that big of a deal if I was the only one receiving the letter but it was a form letter that probably went to thousands of people. $0.83 multiplied by thousands turns into real money pretty quick.

It was an oversize envelope, 9x12 with a window. As someone who knows a lot about envelope printing I figured it must contain a bunch of information, but no it was a single page letter.  The envelope alone cost about three times what a standard #10 envelope costs. when combined, the cost of the over sized envelope and the additional postage, added almost $1.00 per mailed piece.

We talk with people every day about envelope printing,  these days everyone is looking to cut costs, and most see envelope printing and envelopes as a commodity.  It's true you can get envelopes from hundreds of envelope printing companies and frankly there's not much difference from one envelope to the next. If you can save a penny per envelope or even half a penny why not do it. But if you want to save some serious money focus less on the price of the envelope printing and more on how the envelope will be used.

Postage is one of the biggest costs especially since the postal service went from a weight based rate system to a size and shape based system about a year ago. Under the new system using the wrong kind of envelope can double the cost of postage.

In this example one simple step would cut the cost by more than half, use a different envelope.  A standard #10 envelope would do the same job as the oversize envelope at about 1/3 the cost, and the postage for a #10 envelope at first class rates is $0.42 instead of the $0.83. If the mailing goes to thousands of people that's some serious money.

There's more to the cost of envelope printing than just the envelope. You can create some some real savings by thinking about how the envelope will be used and considering all the factors involved, especially postage. For more information on postage rates and the new size and shape restrictions visit www.usps.gov  

 

Promotional Advertising; taken to the extreme

Promotional advertising and promotional products are all about putting your message on products that people use, and will see again and again. Usually it's targeted advertising, using specific products for a targeted market and maintaining control over who gets the promotion.

These days as advertisers struggle to find new ways to communicate their message some are getting really creative, particularly when it comes to mass marketing. I thought I'd seen promotional advertising in just about every place possible. There are advertising posters in the subway, city buses wrapped in full color advertisements, logos and messages on the boards at hockey games, and even advertisements at the toll booth as you drive through, but here's one I never thought of escalator advertising.

                         

It makes sense, if the idea is to get your message in front of as many people as possible then put your promotional message where the people are. People ride escalators and when doing so they aren't engaged in much else, so chances are they'll notice the message and remember it. There's also the cool factor, particularly if you've never seen it before, that's one of the first things I thought when I saw this photo, "wow thats kind of cool".

For B2C marketing and advertising this is a great idea especially if the escalator is in a mall and the store doing the advertising is in the same mall, they can even change the advertisement on a regular basis. But what if you're a B2B company not interested in promotional advertising to the random masses but instead to companies and individuals that you know are likely to have an interest in your products and services.

If that's the case then useful promotional products with a high perceived value, especially those tied to a specific call to action are far more effective.

What to you think?

Brochure printing, secrets that save money. Volume 1

Brochure printing can be an expensive endeavor particularly if you don't know some of the many ways to keep costs down. Keep the following secrets in mind the next time you're involved in a brochure printing project, or any printing project for that matter.

Work with an independent professional. Don't go to the local printer that produces your other printed products like business cards and stationary, unless you know they have the right equipment for your project. Instead work with an expert that can find the right equipment to produce your specific brochure printing project at the lowest cost.

The right equipment is key. The most important factor in keeping your costs down is producing your brochure on the right equipment.  All print shops are interested in keeping their equipment busy, if you ask for a quote they'll give you a quote based on using their presses. They won't tell you that their equipment is not very efficient for the specific brochure printing project you have, or that the guy in the next town has a press that can run the job at twice the speed and lower cost.

An independent distributor or even a print broker doesn't have any equipment to keep busy and has no conflict of interest. They earn their money by matching your brochure printing project with the most efficient equipment that can produce your brochure at the lowest cost. Unless you're a professional print buyer working with an independent expert can provide big returns and ensure you get the quality and service you need at the lowest cost.

Press size is a perfect example of this concept. If your brochure printing project is four color on both sides of each page you want to find a press that can produce as many pages as possible in a single pass. If you have a 12 page brochure and can produce all 12 pages in a single press run the cost will be almost half of producing your brochure printing project on a press that can only produce 6 pages in a single pass. Essentially the job is produced in one press run instead of two.

Have your designer talk to the printer before starting the design. if you're working with a designer make sure they talk to the printer before they come up with the design. Most designers are focused on the creative marketing aspects of your brochure printing project, not the production details. A quick conversation with the production facility can ensure the designer understands the requirements of the production equipment and can create the design around those requirements. Taking this step in advance can save time and money by preventing last minute corrections to meet production requirements.

Page count matters. Understand how the number of pages impacts the production and the price. For example a 12 page 8 1/2 x 11" brochure is created by using three 11 x 17" inch sheets printed on both sides and folded over to create the 12 pages. If you create a 13 page brochure suddenly you have 3 blank pages. Understand this at the design stage and you'll save time and money instead of changing it after the design is well under way.

Pricing on brochure printing can vary within a wide range, understanding the secrets behind the costs can save you both time and money. Watch for our next installment Brochure printing secrets that save money volume 2 for more valuable secrets that will  pay dividends on your next project.

 

 

 

 

Printing promotes; take a lesson from the leaders

So I'm sitting on an airplane enduring a long painful flight and I find myself staring at the napkins they gave me with a drink. Staring back at me is the airline logo along with some message about how great they are, and I'm thinking why put their logo on something that very soon will be in the trash. I mean I know what airline I'm on, I know where I'm going and how I'm getting there.

Then it hits me, not like a ton a bricks but subtly more like a raindrop when it's not raining, branding, brand recognition, and more branding.  Keep your name in front of as many people as possible as many times as possible and they will remember the brand. As I look around I realize the brand is everywhere, they have a magazine with the brand; blankets with the brand; even the air sickness bags, and these are definitely going in the trash immediately after use.  You see the brand so often you don't notice it, but the point is you do notice it, you're just not aware of it at the time.

The smart companies, the big one's everyone's heard of understand the power of promotion and they do it every chance they get. I guess that's why everyone's heard of them.

These companies use print to promote their brand wherever they can. Think about the last time you visited a Starbucks every napkin is printed with their logo even though the life of a napkin can be as short as the 10 seconds it takes you to pull it from the holder, wipe up the milk you spilled at the condiment counter, and throw it in the trash. They even print their name on the paper covering the straws, and they have two designs at that, green for the smaller straws and black for the larger ones. Straw packaging; now that is something that goes directly into the trash within seconds of you touching it.

You've got to wonder, it must cost more to have the brand printed on the straw packaging, can it possibly be worth it to pay extra for an item with a 5 second lifespan? Clearly it is; you may think you don't notice it but you do and that's the point. These big companies are smarter than I am and they've probably paid big money to study the return of printing the brand on these throw away products and they've figured out it's worth it.

Printing promotes the brand and allows you the flexibility to do it in all kinds of places. Business cards, presentation folders, brochures, product packaging, marketing material. You name it you can print on it and you should. Take a lesson form the market leaders and never miss an opportunity to print your brand any place customers and prospects can see it.

Promotional advertising; the only advertising you truly control

Effective advertising is all about getting the right message in front of the right people at the right time. Traditional advertising or mass marketing can get your message in front of a lot of people, the problem is it's expensive and you have very little control over it. A lot of people doesn't necessarily mean the right people or the right time.

Numerous studies have shown that for advertising to be effective it must be repeated over and over. Its all about exposure, people must be exposed to a message numerous times before it sinks in. If you're a big company with a huge budget perhaps you can afford  to create multiple impressions using the traditional mediums of television, radio, newspapers and pay per click, but what if you don't have the big budget and even more important if you're a B2B company how do you make sure you're message is in front of the people that matter.

Thats where promotional advertising comes in, its the one medium you can control. With promotional advertising you control the product and the audience, because you decide who the product is given to and for what purpose. Most importantly, if you print your message on an appropriate product, and give it to the right person, it will be used over and over. Promotional advertising, when done properly, creates residual impressions reinforcing your brand day after day week after week.

If you create a useful product with a relevant message and give it to the appropriate people, the chances of it being used and thus creating multiple impressions sky rocket. Think about a simple product like a printed mug, if you give a prospect a high quality mug printed with your logo and message how often do you think that message will be seen; once a day, twice a day, six times a day? and just think if it becomes a favorite those impressions multiply day after day.

A year ago a local bank started calling with the goal of capturing our banking business. At one of the  first meetings the contact gave me a nice, but not too fancy, branded pen set, two pens in a nice box with the bank logo printed on each pen. At the time I had no intention of changing banks but those pens stayed on my desk and each time I used them I thought about the bank and the rep who'd given them to me. When the time came the pen set was on my desk, like a billboard, reminding me I had another choice and today that bank has a happy new customer.

Promotional advertising works, it's extremely cost effective, and it's the only advertising you truly control. With promotional advertising you decide  exactly who the target is, what message you want them to receive, and how you want them to receive it. When you do it right your message is seen again and again increasing your brand awareness and ultimately your market share.

 

Print media is dead, but printing is alive!

The Rocky Mountain News published its last issue on Friday February 27th 2009, just two months shy of its 150th anniversary. In San Francisco the main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is on its last legs and may shut down leaving San Francisco without a major newspaper. Today I watched a video HubSpot TV - Print Industry Crash with Paul Gillin that spent 20 minutes talking about the fact that newspapers are dead.

I'm a customer of HubSpot; they offer an awesome Internet based inbound marketing platform that helps you get found on the Internet. It's very cutting edge stuff and they're all about the Internet, social media and search engines, everything they do is on the Internet. At HubSpot they twitter and tweet, get linked, Digg, blog and stumble, if it's happening on the Internet the people at HubSpot are involved one way or the other.

The funny thing is yesterday, Friday afternoon, I received a package from one of the support people at HubSpot thats been helping me with an ongoing technical issue. Inside the package were a bunch of printed products promoting the HubSpot brand. They sent me a T-shirt with their logo on it, a printed mug with their logo on it, a bunch of logo pens, a bumper sticker with their logo on it, another sticker, and a nicely designed note card thanking me for being a customer.

Old technology meets new technology, printing and promotional products equal branding and name recognition. Here's a new company completely focused on the Internet using the old technology of printing to promote their brand because it works. Printing and promotional items are are a proven way to get in front of customers and prospects and more importantly stay in front of them, this is true no matter what kind of company uses them. I'll use that coffee mug over and over again creating multiple impressions of the HubSpot brand in my mind. It's an unbeatable way to create frequent exposure at a very reasonable cost.

Anyway thanks for the "swag" HubSpot, and thanks for confirming what many of us already know, printing is alive and one of the best lowest cost ways to create exposure for your company and your brand. Now all I need to do is get HubSpot to buy all their printing and promotional products from Dataguide.