Variable Data: Printed just for YOU

Recently, at the end of a particularly frustrating week, my wife and I visited a favorite local jewelry store. Given that we were in a bad mood, it came as something of a surprise when Melinda spotted something attractive and modestly priced. To make a long story short, we walked out of the store happy and satisfied customers. The more interesting part of the story however, from a printing point of view, arrived a little more than a week later.

In the mail came a beautiful card from Pandora thanking Melinda for the purchase. The card was remarkable in that her name was incorporated into the printed design, both outside and inside, and that it arrived so soon after the purchase. This is an example of what the industry calls "Variable Data Printing", and I'm going to call "Personalized Printing".

I'm sure you've all seen cards like this, and Melinda said it was no surprise that Pandora could produce something creative and clever. The point of this post is that variable data technology is available at the local level, and does not have to cost a fortune. The key to cost effectiveness can be as simple as thinking small, and insuring your list is extremely fine-tuned; for example, people who made a purchase, registered for an event, or sent your organization some money.


One question that comes to mind is "why market to someone who already made their purchase"? The answers are manifold: To reinforce your brand; lay the groundwork for their next purchase; and fight a rear guard action against competition and brand dilution. All this can be done for an up-front single fee for the layout, and a per piece rate of about $3 including the card, an envelope, and postage.

The mechanics of this process could not be simpler, because once the layout is developed all that's required is to email a data file for each mailing and get back to more important tasks. The file could contain as few as 10 names or as many as 1,000. Once the project is in the hands of a qualified printer your worries are over.

Most importantly, with the production handled off-site the mailings will go out quickly and regularly no matter how busy your enterprise becomes. This is how our card came from Pandora so quickly; our name was part of a batch sent weekly by the retailer and that whole process took the local people maybe five minutes and cost them nothing. This is nimble work indeed; getting a personalized message from a large company within such a short time.

Once you begin thinking about "Personalized Printing" the list of good ideas, beyond Thank You cards, is almost overwhelming: book covers, packaging, direct mail just to name a few. The results reported by marketers are overwhelmingly positive. These are all examples of how our industry is offering cost effective and environmentally responsible ways to reach exactly the people you need. You'll be hearing a lot more about this from Your Friend in the Printing Business.

With Best Wishes as we head into the Holiday Season,

Hugh Butler

Person to Person Communication

I recently discovered a remarkable device on my desk. It's similar to a cell phone, only much larger and attached to the wall by a wire. (This may explain why, unique among my desktop objects, I have never misplaced it.) I've used it several times lately to communicate with people without the need for email. Someone even told me a joke while we were talking and we both had a good laugh.

People should reach for this handy item more often, if for no other reason than a sense of frustration while surveying the current landscape of electronic communication. It seems as if staying current with the myriad of electronic message sources could become a full time job. Perhaps, if a picture is worth a thousand words it may be that a conversation is worth about six emails.

I have been writing this blog for about three years. It's tied to my facebook page and I send out about 600 emails when I update it. It's RSS, facebook, and Twitter friendly and I enjoy the nexus it provides and the feedback I get. A year ago I felt up to date social media wise, but lately that universe is getting incomprehensible. Does anyone besides me feel that way?

In this renewed spirit of "person to person" communication I have gone around the next logical corner (as opposed to around the bend) and printed some Graphateria note cards. I tell people all the time that printed material works because it cuts through the electronic clutter and arrives "in person". If this advice is good enough for my customers why not for myself?

At any rate, our shop has some new services to offer, and some new accounts. I think they deserve a thank you note...or at least a call. Email can be so, you know, virtual.

Hugh Butler
Your Friend in the Printing Business

Do You Know These People? Of course not, and neither does anyone else.

What is the first thing you notice about this picture? People see thousands of images every day and intuitively sort them. What pile does this one go in?

My first reaction is that no meeting of business people actually looks like this. Beyond that I don't know what to make of it, because there is no real context and it could have been taken anywhere. For me, this image would go into the "void" pile.

If you are trying to convey a sense of presence for your "brand" why limit yourself to sterile and generic images?

The answer, of course, is that they are low cost (or free), of reasonable quality, and easy to obtain. The problem is that your material will look just like everyone else's. Remember; people are constantly sorting the images they encounter, and dismissing those that are uninformative. The general public has become exceedingly image savvy and they know phony when they see it.

A modest additional investment can dramatically increase the impact of your marketing material, digital or printed.

The investment is to have a local photographer spend an afternoon with you to build a library of your own images. This is not free, and involves an investment of time as well, but the quality will be excellent and the connection to your organization will be direct. People will notice this, and have a better sense of who you are and how you relate to them...which is what you're trying to accomplish in the first place.

The two images below (from separate jobs) sum up what I'm trying to say; one says indisputably who the people are and ties them to their pet-related business. The second conveys a sense of community, because anyone in Tallahasse knows it was taken at the beloved Maclay Gardens, and a sense of motion because the orchestra was moving to temporary quarters.
(Click on image to view full size.)



My good friend Michael Calienes explores this topic with more experience and perspective than me here. I recommend his blog and this post wholeheartedly. (At the end of his post he lists several Tallahassee area photographers.)

There is always a role for high quality, carefully chosen stock images in that they can provide an idealized notion of what you want to look like, but they can't do that by themselves. Such images must be an integral part of a strong, coherent layout. My point is that using generic pictures as a crutch or shortcut is just plain selling yourself short by telling only half of your visual story.

The extra effort can help you win the message race in the mailbox or inbox...Remember; People will notice!

Hugh Butler
Your Friend in the Printing Business

Acknowledgments: Per the terms of use for the free image at the top of the page here is the contributors link. The image of the two ladies and Mojo the dog was taken by Robin Adams. The TSO cover layout was done by Rob Gelhardt.

What it means when we say "Off to our Conference"

When I took this job in 1993 I had never worked with an association. I had been to conferences, (my wife, Melinda was President of the New Hampshire Telephone Association), but never knew the inside story. Then I moved to Tallahassee.

As a new sales rep, on the advice of my new boss, I joined the Tallahassee Society of Association Executives (TSAE), went to see anyone who would give me an appointment, and eventually closed the deal to print some conference material. My customer was a very nice young woman we'll call Christy, because that was her real name.

I, and almost every association I have worked with since, owe her a lot.

I owe her a lot because, as she related the timetable for her project, she must have sensed a certain inattentiveness on my part; it was clear I did not understand what her world would be like when this deadline approached. She didn't want anything else to worry about, so she stopped and took a moment to straighten me out.

She related the myriad details which surround conference planning and the consequences of things getting out of control. She shared the stress she and the association staff experience when there was no time left to fix problems. She mentioned that for them, unlike us as a vendor, packing the truck was just the beginning, and that they would be working twenty hour days until the last member checked out and they had to pack the truck all over again. It was one of the most frank and concise ten minutes I've ever spent with a client.

I think about Christy often, and mostly during this time of year as we send one client after another off to their conference. I am always amazed at the skill, dedication, and true good humor our association friends display as they go about this critical part of their year. There always seems to be a good idea to squirrel away for next year to make the process even smoother.

So, to all the TSAEs, FSAEs, CMPs, CAE's and SGMPs out there; have a safe trip, and take a well deserved break when you get back!

Hugh Butler
Your Friend in the Printing Business

The Deal You Make

People doing business can make an agreement about almost anything. If a problem occurs one party may be entitled to a remedy because the other side didn't hold up their end of the deal. Make sense so far? Of course it does.

Not so fast. What happens when an agreement is made that does not contain important information, or is based on differing assumptions? Nothing good, I assure you. This is often the only time that people examine closely what they agreed to in the first place. Consider the following:


Hadley v. Baxendale 1854
Mr. Hadley, a mill owner in jolly old England, needed to ship a certain part away for repairs, and contracted with Mr. Baxendale for the transport. The part failed to arrive at the repair shop by the agreed date, and Mr. Hadley sued for lost profits because his mill was idle in the meantime. Mr. Baxendale maintained he was not responsible for the "consequential damages" of the delay because he did not know, and was not told, that the mill would be idle.

The Court of Exchequer Chamber, led by Baron Sir Edward Hall Alderson, (picture left), found on appeal that Mr. Baxendale was not liable for the "special" damages because they were not contemplated within the original agreement. You might call it the "I don't have a crystal ball" defense.

So much for legal trivia; but I will confess that Mr. Baxendale comes to mind from time to time in my dealings with printing clients. Here are some issues which sometimes lead to misunderstanding, (or what I refer to as "agreement via post-mortem"). Please note that these are all firsthand accounts of actual events.

QUANTITY

• Customer Said: "I need 10,000".
• Customer should have said: "My mailing list has 9999 names.
• Discussion: Be aware that, on occasion, print runs come up a little short. Standard practice is to pro-rate the invoice amount down by the quantity short, (up to about 5% at which point we need to back to press). Many people think this is just hogwash, but our entire industry disagrees. This tiny bit of flexibility saves the print-buying public an enormous amount of money because the alternative would be to overrun every single job.
• Suggestion: If your quantity is critical specify "No Unders".

PROOFING

• Customer Said: "I have to make changes but I don't need to see another proof".
• Customer should have said: "Don't make another proof because I don't want to pay for it, and I'm too busy to look at it anyway. If anything goes wrong, however, I'll make you print the job over again at no cost".
• Discussion: When you choose not to see a revised proof you are deputizing someone else to check the work, but the responsibility for approval stays with you and you will have to live with their decision. If you are unwilling to take that chance why would you expect the printer to do so?
• Suggestion: When in doubt go for the proof.

USE

• Customer Said: "I need some stickers".
• Customer should have said: "I need some parking stickers for outdoor use, (in the Florida sun and rain), which need to last for an academic year without peeling or fading.
• Discussion: It's almost impossible to give the printer too much information about how your printed item will be used. Chances are that the more you tell them, the more the printer will be able to suggest appropriate stock, inks, and finishing.
• Suggestion: In addition to verbal specs, a sample you can provide, which would meet your needs, is invaluable.

DUE DATE

• Customer Said: "Can I get them by Friday"?
• Customer should have said: "I need them on Friday at noon, when my Chairman will be at the airport boarding a plane to New York. If they are not in his briefcase I'll lose my job".
• Discussion: He really needed them Thursday at noon, for sure.
• Suggestion: This one needs no elaboration.

PAYMENT

• Customer Said: Well, nothing, actually.
• Customer should have said: (and eventually did) "If this campaign isn't successful we won't have the money to pay you for the printing".
• Discussion: Beyond the obvious, let me add there is nothing more aggravating than having a customer pay slowly for a rush job.
• Suggestion: This one also needs no elaboration.

DELIVERY

• Customer Said: "I need them next Wednesday".
• Customer should have said: (and eventually did) "I need them next Wednesday in Orlando".
• Discussion: Final delivery is the most often overlooked piece of information in a printing order. Be aware that any loose end in the order opens the door for mistakes and misunderstandings later.
• Suggestion: State your requirements clearly regarding when they are needed and where. It's not uncommon for the cost of express freight to meet or exceed the actual cost of the printing if something goes wrong.

Remember: Mr. Baxendale did not know the mill would be closed because Mr. Hadley never told him. If Mr. B. had bargained for, and accepted, that "special risk" I'll bet the part would have arrived on time. It's all about the deal you make.

Many people unknowingly withhold information because the prospect of trouble intimidates them, and the result is that they neglect their obligations as a buyer. By the same token, many printers take it for granted that every print buyer is an expert, and fail to ask questions which would clarify what needs to happen. In the middle, between these two limited perspectives, is where the problems live.

Remember: none of these issues are difficult if they're discussed before the fact. Get your cards out on the table and ask questions until you're satisfied. Don't let your project become an episode of CSI: Printshop.

With Best Wishes,

Hugh Butler

Your Friend in the Printing Business

QR Codes, or 'I always wondered what those were'.

Have you seen one of these yet?


Maybe it was at the end of a magazine article or on a Realtor's sign. Maybe it was on a business card or brochure. If you have a smart phone with a camera, and a barcode reading app, these little squares can become interactive in a digital way. Even non-geeks may think this is pretty nifty.



QR (Quick Response) Codes, originally developed for parts tracking in manufacturing plants, can easily be encoded with web links, address book listings, or plain text. Once created, and included as part of a layout, they give people the opportunity to read the code with their phone and instantly access the associated content. That means they can jump to the web link, see and/or save the address book listing, or just read the text.

Here are the "Whys":

• First, we acknowledges that people have incredibly short attention spans, and are not likely to enter a web address manually or write down contact information to input later. A "snapshot" of the information overcomes this problem.
• Second, and quite importantly, these codes appeal to certain very distinct portions of your overall market. Adding this functionality to your campaign signals that your message is relevant to them, and will establish right away you're on their wavelength. Of course, the actual relevance is up to you to establish. More on that below.
• Third, on a large or small scale the QR Code itself can be incorporated into the media. (Click on photo below to view full size.)
  

Here are the "Hows":
The easiest way to generate QR Codes are the multitude of online sites available, both free and by subscription. Here are three I found in less than five minutes:
http://qrcode.kaywa.com
http://zxing.appspot.com/generator
http://www.qrstuff.com

The process usually involves three steps; choose the type of information (web address, address book, text), enter the specifics, save the resulting image to your disk. Voila! The image is ready to place in any format you need. One happy feature about these images is that they are quite binary and have no diagonal lines, so even a tiny file (like 12 kb) will function properly. This is good news if small file size and quick loading are a priority.

The field of uses for these little codes is wide open, and any agency fluent in digital media (like our friends at Taproot Creative) can help you tailor benefits unique to your situation. A few caveats occur to me however:

• Be aware that people snapping a web link code may be skeptical if it looks cryptic. If your company name is included in the visible link (you see the address before choosing to go there) they will be reassured the destination is legit.
• A little tag line under the code saying "smartphone compatible" may help the uninitiated understand what they're looking at. Some phones come equipped with a barcode reader and the owners are unaware of its' existence. Help them learn!
• Be double sure the landing page (if that's what you encode) is smartphone friendly. Nothing says "loser" more clearly than sending a tech savvy customer to a non-functional site.

I hope you clever folks will bring us some interesting projects containing these codes. The USPS is so enamored of them they are offering mega-mailers a discount this summer for mailings displaying smartphone compatibility. Anything that will strengthen the links between the elements of your campaign, and do so at virtually no additional cost, is a winner!

In sum, let me just say: