Tag: printing
Three Ideas of Calendar Printing
Are you a part of a church or a non-profit organization? One way to bolster awareness of your cause, raise money for your organization, and stay in touch with your donors is to print an annual calendar. Here are three suggestions for calendar printing and calendar design for non-profit organizations.
1. Decide what type of calendar you want to print.
There are a number of different ways to print a calendar. For example, you might want to print a one-year calendar on a 6” x 9” or 8.5” x 5.5” postcard. These are convenient because you can print a calendar on one side and print mailing information and your message on the other side. You can print these in large quantities because they are inexpensive to produce, then you can easily mail them to your donor list.
On the other hand, you might want to print something larger that members or donors will want to post on their fridge or wall. You could print an annual calendar on an 11” x 17” sheet of paper, like a large poster. Alternatively, you could print a more traditional, 12-month wall calendar. This is by far the nicest type of calendar, but it’s also the most expensive to produce.
Marketing and Consultative Selling
Although the use of marketing has increased in the Printing and related Graphic Arts industries over the last ten years, it is still not practiced to the degree it should be. There is no other industry with annual sales over $130 billion that employs so few marketing tools.
When printing companies do prepare a marketing plan and execute promotion programs, all too often it is done ineffectively, without proper measurement, or follow up. Is it any wonder that many of these companies abandon their marketing efforts complaining that marketing does not work or is not necessary in the printing field.
Unfortunately the “good old days” when a printer could simply purchase a new press, fill it with work and make a profit are long gone. Competitive pressures and the inherent challenges of over-capacity in the printing industry, require a more strategic approach.
More that ever, the printing industry must embrace the disciplines of marketing. Most important, printers need to do a better job of positioning themselves through differentiation strategies. What good does it do to invest money in sales materials, advertising, or any form of self-promotion that do not clearly communicate how the company is different or better than the competition?
Why Print – Part 3 of 5
Continued from previous post: Part 2 of 5 on Why Print
Buyers seek print.
The success of retail websites means printed catalogs can be relegated to the doornail file. Or so says the conventional wisdom. But, recent research indicates otherwise.
Online consumers who received a printed catalog from any given retailer were nearly twice as likely to make an online purchase at that retailer’s website. The finding comes from a comScore survey based on 6,400 responses from online shoppers.
The reason for the sales windfall: consumers seek print when they’re ready to buy. That’s a fact supported by a 2005 field study by the Direct Marketing Association. Scoring the primary channels for generating orders, the research found that 60% came from printed catalogs, 24% were inspired by retail settings and only 9% arrived via Internet.
The percent of sales by channel also showed print’s pulling power. Paper catalogs accounted for 42% of sales, retail 20%, websites 26% and other channels 12%.
In a 2006 study of newspaper readers sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, 78% reported that they use newspaper inserts to plan shopping and 76% say that these inserts have helped them save money.
Why Print – Part 2 of 5
Continued from previous post: Part 1 of 5 on Why Print
Print is interactive.
Personalized magazine bingo cards let readers send for more information with quick check offs. Or, use postcards and use a direct mail campaign to drive prospects to a personalized website where they can tell you their aspirations and expectations.
Print drives a higher ROI.
Printing is particularly persuasive as direct mail. According to research by the Direct Marketing Association and the Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates, print’s performance through the mail can be measured in dollars and cents.
The DMA researchers found that U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail marketing to earn $2,095 worth of goods per person, scoring a return on investment of 13 to 1.
Why? Because people gravitate toward print. A total of 38% of households surveyed by the U.S. Postal Service in 2006 found direct mail pieces interesting. That study also found that 85% of mail is either read or visually scanned by recipients.
And direct mail is also a great way to expand business relationships and keep customers loyal. A study by the Rochester Institute of Technology Printing Industry Center found that 67% of respondents like getting flyers and postcards about new products from companies they do business with.
Print is beautiful.
Why do they call it the graphic arts? Because print is beautiful and printers continue to consider every job they do a personal masterpiece. And now, advanced printing techniques, like high-fi color and advanced screening, make their work more appealing and more compelling.