For almost two decades I have been promoting the use of PDFs when dealing with customer files. Today most customers know what a PDF file is and successful printers use a PDF workflow to save time and money.
The PDF file format not only changed the print world but it has become one of the reasons that printed material can now be easily transferred over the Internet. PDF has been around since 1991 but wasn’t embraced by the prepress world until 1996. If you want to trace the history of PDF and how it has evolved over the past 20 years, visit Prepressure.com and read the history of PDFs. It is also a good tool to help train sales people as to why PDF is important. http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/history.
Just because a customer knows what a PDF is doesn't mean that the PDF a printer receives from the customer will print properly. Printers still need to educate their customers about how to create a PDF file that means print industry standards. The easiest way is to have the customer use a software system such as Adobe Job Ready, PagePath's PDF2U, Global Graphic's Jaws or Prismatek's PrintThat. If customers want to create their own PDF files, printers should be supplying a custom Job Option for Acrobat.
It is hard to believe, but there are still printing companies that don't have a PDF workflow or use PDF files to help them cut costs and time. As the print world gets more competitive, the company's that have embraced this 20 year old technology will succeed.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Top 10 Errors in Design Files
If your CSR staff is checking customer files,you might want them to look for the top 10 mistakes Adobe reports are usually made in a graphic design file.
1. The resolution of images is too low.
2. Fonts are not embedded in the PDF.
3. The wrong color space is used.
4. The information about trim or bleed are incorrect.
5. There is an inconsistency with the native file. The original page, as viewed in QuarkXPress or InDesign or whatever other application looks different from the PDF. Hairlines might be different or gradients have changed.
6. A spot color is misnamed or it is accidentally converted to a process color.
7. Images are compressed too much. This causes a quality loss and in some cases artifacts appear inside or around the images.
8. The page size is incorrect.
9. There are problems with transparent objects.
10. ICC profiles are missing or incorrect.
One of the reasons why many of these problems go undetected is that users will make proofs from their lay-out, check the proofs and then create PDF files. The PDF files don't get reviewed. It would be far better if designers created PDF files and then made a proof of these files. This way the consistency between supplied file and proof is much better.
All printing companies should be preflighting PDF files with Acrobat, Enfocus Pitstop, Markzware and other similar programs.
It takes time to check files to assure they will print properly. Rushing jobs through and skipping preflighting procedures won't save any time if you have to reprint the job.
1. The resolution of images is too low.
2. Fonts are not embedded in the PDF.
3. The wrong color space is used.
4. The information about trim or bleed are incorrect.
5. There is an inconsistency with the native file. The original page, as viewed in QuarkXPress or InDesign or whatever other application looks different from the PDF. Hairlines might be different or gradients have changed.
6. A spot color is misnamed or it is accidentally converted to a process color.
7. Images are compressed too much. This causes a quality loss and in some cases artifacts appear inside or around the images.
8. The page size is incorrect.
9. There are problems with transparent objects.
10. ICC profiles are missing or incorrect.
One of the reasons why many of these problems go undetected is that users will make proofs from their lay-out, check the proofs and then create PDF files. The PDF files don't get reviewed. It would be far better if designers created PDF files and then made a proof of these files. This way the consistency between supplied file and proof is much better.
All printing companies should be preflighting PDF files with Acrobat, Enfocus Pitstop, Markzware and other similar programs.
It takes time to check files to assure they will print properly. Rushing jobs through and skipping preflighting procedures won't save any time if you have to reprint the job.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Is A Black Hole Sucking Away Your Future
Is your prepress department ready for the future? The role of the prepress department will expand and evolve as more services are added to the arsenal of products sold by printers. But before any printing company can add services, it has to be sure that the prepress department can handle the services now being sold.
Typesetting, design and file output are the standard services now offered by most printing companies. If you look closely at most financial statements, you’ll see that the prepress department is losing money because the printer isn’t charging enough to cover the department’s cost. As John Stewart says, prepress is a black hole.
To survive the future, the typical printers will have to attempt to reinvent themselves and offer more cross media services. Most of these services will be computer and Internet based so the logical department to produce the services is the current prepress department.
Print owners need to make sure their prepress department is making money today. Typesetting, design and customer file output should be profitable and not considered loss leaders. Printers can do this by using outside design and typesetting services to supplement the work produced in house. Printers can set standards for customer files and use the automation and workflow tools that come with most digital presses and direct-to-plate systems to cut production costs and increase profits.
It will be very difficult for a printing company to add additional services if the prepress departments are already losing money. If a prepress department is inefficient now or the prices charged for the service too low, then there will be no way to add other services to offset the current losses. If it isn’t profitable now it is never going to be.
You have to get ready for the future today. Make sure your sales people are charging fair and profitable prices for design and typesetting. Printers shouldn’t be giving away design work just to get the printing job. If you can’t produce it profitably in house, then use an outside vendor.
Automate now. Require customers to provide PDF files that are constructed according to your specifications. Use the hot folders and workflow systems that come with your equipment. Make the prepress staff learn how to use the tools properly.
It is up to the owner to make sure the changes happen. The owner needs to lead and make sure pricing for prepress tasks is correct and profitable. The owner has to make sure the staff is using the tools available to be more efficient. Printing is more competitive and as printing evolves it will be harder for the typical print shop to survive. You can no longer afford to live with a “black hole” in prepress sucking away profits. Unless you plug the profit leaks now, you won’t be able to add the new services that will be required to stay in business. The black hole may not just suck away prepress profits. It just might suck away your future.
Typesetting, design and file output are the standard services now offered by most printing companies. If you look closely at most financial statements, you’ll see that the prepress department is losing money because the printer isn’t charging enough to cover the department’s cost. As John Stewart says, prepress is a black hole.
To survive the future, the typical printers will have to attempt to reinvent themselves and offer more cross media services. Most of these services will be computer and Internet based so the logical department to produce the services is the current prepress department.
Print owners need to make sure their prepress department is making money today. Typesetting, design and customer file output should be profitable and not considered loss leaders. Printers can do this by using outside design and typesetting services to supplement the work produced in house. Printers can set standards for customer files and use the automation and workflow tools that come with most digital presses and direct-to-plate systems to cut production costs and increase profits.
It will be very difficult for a printing company to add additional services if the prepress departments are already losing money. If a prepress department is inefficient now or the prices charged for the service too low, then there will be no way to add other services to offset the current losses. If it isn’t profitable now it is never going to be.
You have to get ready for the future today. Make sure your sales people are charging fair and profitable prices for design and typesetting. Printers shouldn’t be giving away design work just to get the printing job. If you can’t produce it profitably in house, then use an outside vendor.
Automate now. Require customers to provide PDF files that are constructed according to your specifications. Use the hot folders and workflow systems that come with your equipment. Make the prepress staff learn how to use the tools properly.
It is up to the owner to make sure the changes happen. The owner needs to lead and make sure pricing for prepress tasks is correct and profitable. The owner has to make sure the staff is using the tools available to be more efficient. Printing is more competitive and as printing evolves it will be harder for the typical print shop to survive. You can no longer afford to live with a “black hole” in prepress sucking away profits. Unless you plug the profit leaks now, you won’t be able to add the new services that will be required to stay in business. The black hole may not just suck away prepress profits. It just might suck away your future.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Will Graph Expo Hold The Future?
How relevant will this year’s Graph Expo be to most quick and small commercial printers? As printers prepare to descend on Chicago, they are pondering the questions about the evolution of printing and where it will be over the next decade. Will the trade show offer a “killer app” to drive customers to printing? Will there be a new development exhibited that will eliminate production problems and guarantee profits? Will printers see the future when they walk the floor of the expo?
Graph Expo will only be as relevant as the attending printer makes it to be. Everyone knows the industry is changing. The printing pie is shrinking and the shift of work from offset to digital is well documented. Printers shouldn’t expect to see solutions jump out and grab them as they walk by a booth, but if the printer has a plan, then he or she should begin to get an idea of where the industry is going.
You should see a lot of interest in booths featuring products that expand a printer’s role in the communication process. Web-based products that allow printers to integrate a customer’s printed message with the Internet should get a great deal of interest. Any booth that has anything to do with automating the order entry and prepress process should get a lot of traffic. Products that make it easier for a customer to order should also gain wide attention.
In reality, a lot of the industry-shattering booths will be overlooked. Printers will gravitate toward “big iron” and traditional print processes. The real action will be in the booths along the edges of the trade show floor where “the next big thing” will be trying to gain some attention.
I suggest you go to Graph Expo with a plan. Look for products and services you aren’t using now. Look for things that you don’t usually see on the trade show floor. The big innovations will be in the small booths. There is where you are going to find the future of printing.
Graph Expo will only be as relevant as the attending printer makes it to be. Everyone knows the industry is changing. The printing pie is shrinking and the shift of work from offset to digital is well documented. Printers shouldn’t expect to see solutions jump out and grab them as they walk by a booth, but if the printer has a plan, then he or she should begin to get an idea of where the industry is going.
You should see a lot of interest in booths featuring products that expand a printer’s role in the communication process. Web-based products that allow printers to integrate a customer’s printed message with the Internet should get a great deal of interest. Any booth that has anything to do with automating the order entry and prepress process should get a lot of traffic. Products that make it easier for a customer to order should also gain wide attention.
In reality, a lot of the industry-shattering booths will be overlooked. Printers will gravitate toward “big iron” and traditional print processes. The real action will be in the booths along the edges of the trade show floor where “the next big thing” will be trying to gain some attention.
I suggest you go to Graph Expo with a plan. Look for products and services you aren’t using now. Look for things that you don’t usually see on the trade show floor. The big innovations will be in the small booths. There is where you are going to find the future of printing.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Make A Call Today
Many of the printers I work with on a daily basis are reporting increased customer activity as schools start around the country. It is always good to hear about a bump in business, but it doesn’t overshadow the news of the demise of other printers. Printers continue to close their doors because they just don’t have enough business. There is still printing to be had out there, but you have to work harder to get it.
One basic task that will help quick printers survive is having sales activities. Customers need to know where you are and what you do. The only way that will happen is if you tell them. Printers have to get on the telephone and out of their offices to ask customers for their printing business.
How many sales calls are you making a day? A printer could increase sales if he would just call customers about reprinting the jobs that the printer already has on file for the customer. Most printers use computerized pricing programs that have a built-in tickler file. When you enter the original order, the CSR puts in an expected repeat date. The printer can then run a weekly or monthly report about what jobs are due to be reprinted. Printers I work with report that almost 20% of their sales volume comes from repeating work from existing customers. The regular call also uncovers things about the customer that the printer needs to know to keep the business. Making regular calls can let a printer find out if a print buyer has changed or if any other changes have happened with the customer. Printers who are sitting back and waiting for the customer to call them are waiting and waiting.
The same thing holds true with estimates and quotes. Printers constantly provide customers and prospects with prices. Successful printers follow up on the estimates and quotes to find out if they have the job. The calls also allow a printer to find out why he didn’t get a job. How many estimates do you have sitting in your computer right now?
Not only are these tasks simple, they give you a reason to call the customer. Study after study shows that most companies lose customers to inattention. If you aren’t reaching out and touching your customers on a regular basis, they may end up taking their business somewhere else. You want to be the first printer a company thinks about when they have a printing job to order.
The computer also has other good sales information. Have you compared your top 25 customers this year to the top 25 customers last year? Have you looked at who is buying more? Have you looked to see who is buying less? This list will show you which customers you need to be talking to and with who you may have to rebuild a relationship.
Printers have a ton of information on their computer that will make them money. The only thing a computer can’t do is make the call to the customer. Owners who make the call are going to be the ones who are still standing when the economy turns around.
One basic task that will help quick printers survive is having sales activities. Customers need to know where you are and what you do. The only way that will happen is if you tell them. Printers have to get on the telephone and out of their offices to ask customers for their printing business.
How many sales calls are you making a day? A printer could increase sales if he would just call customers about reprinting the jobs that the printer already has on file for the customer. Most printers use computerized pricing programs that have a built-in tickler file. When you enter the original order, the CSR puts in an expected repeat date. The printer can then run a weekly or monthly report about what jobs are due to be reprinted. Printers I work with report that almost 20% of their sales volume comes from repeating work from existing customers. The regular call also uncovers things about the customer that the printer needs to know to keep the business. Making regular calls can let a printer find out if a print buyer has changed or if any other changes have happened with the customer. Printers who are sitting back and waiting for the customer to call them are waiting and waiting.
The same thing holds true with estimates and quotes. Printers constantly provide customers and prospects with prices. Successful printers follow up on the estimates and quotes to find out if they have the job. The calls also allow a printer to find out why he didn’t get a job. How many estimates do you have sitting in your computer right now?
Not only are these tasks simple, they give you a reason to call the customer. Study after study shows that most companies lose customers to inattention. If you aren’t reaching out and touching your customers on a regular basis, they may end up taking their business somewhere else. You want to be the first printer a company thinks about when they have a printing job to order.
The computer also has other good sales information. Have you compared your top 25 customers this year to the top 25 customers last year? Have you looked at who is buying more? Have you looked to see who is buying less? This list will show you which customers you need to be talking to and with who you may have to rebuild a relationship.
Printers have a ton of information on their computer that will make them money. The only thing a computer can’t do is make the call to the customer. Owners who make the call are going to be the ones who are still standing when the economy turns around.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Listen before you sell
Quick printers have a lot of technology at their fingertips, but it isn’t worth much unless customers need it. PDF files can automate the workflow, but printers don’t tell customers the benefits or how to use it. Online ordering is easy to provide customers, but how is a customer suppose to learn about it? Printers buy technology because they think it will increase their sales. When it doesn’t, the printer is disappointed and disenchanted with technology.
The problem is that printers aren't listening to their customers. Printers are just telling them about technology and hope the cutomer is interested. They should be trying to find out what their customers need and what they want. The printer must find out the benefits the customer is seeking from a printer.
To be successful, printers are going to have to improve their listening skills. I’ve been helping a number of quick printers dissect their sales call and the recurring problem is that the printer used the first sales call to talk about his company and not find out the needs of the customer. The printer is so afraid that he won’t get the chance to talk to the customer again he hits the customer with everything he has. This leaves the customer confused and the printer looking like, well, just another printer.
Cool technology will get you in the door. Statements such as “we can make your ordering easier using the internet” or “we can help you avoid problems submitting your files” can get you in the door. Once you get there, you need to just listen. Ask questions. Find out what the customer needs. Find out his pain. Asking questions and listening will help you build a solid foundation for the relationship.
The standard practice of many printing sales people is to list what they do and hope the customer has a need. If you will take time to learn about the customer, then you can begin using your experience to solve problems and offer benefits for using your company. Don’t start selling until the second appointment when you know something about the customer and really can help them with their printing needs.
The problem is that printers aren't listening to their customers. Printers are just telling them about technology and hope the cutomer is interested. They should be trying to find out what their customers need and what they want. The printer must find out the benefits the customer is seeking from a printer.
To be successful, printers are going to have to improve their listening skills. I’ve been helping a number of quick printers dissect their sales call and the recurring problem is that the printer used the first sales call to talk about his company and not find out the needs of the customer. The printer is so afraid that he won’t get the chance to talk to the customer again he hits the customer with everything he has. This leaves the customer confused and the printer looking like, well, just another printer.
Cool technology will get you in the door. Statements such as “we can make your ordering easier using the internet” or “we can help you avoid problems submitting your files” can get you in the door. Once you get there, you need to just listen. Ask questions. Find out what the customer needs. Find out his pain. Asking questions and listening will help you build a solid foundation for the relationship.
The standard practice of many printing sales people is to list what they do and hope the customer has a need. If you will take time to learn about the customer, then you can begin using your experience to solve problems and offer benefits for using your company. Don’t start selling until the second appointment when you know something about the customer and really can help them with their printing needs.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Prospering Only A Mouse Click Away
With all of the doom and gloom, it is nice to work with CPrint International and be with quick printers who are making money and moving forward. You need to click here at www.cprint.org to find out how a printer can prosper in these tough times.
As technology director and a consultant with the franchise, I get to see the work people are doing every day to make it through these tough economic times. The CPrint affiliates have their financial information in order so they know how they are doing. They have an organization in place so they can easily get the work through the shop. They are developing their selling machine so they can keep pouring leads into their sales funnel and build their business.
Printing is in the middle of an evolution. Print and the Internet are starting to merge as a new communication tool. The types of printing people buy and how they buy it is changing. Only a strong business will be able to evolve into whatever a printer will become in the next few years. CPrint is focusing on helping companies be able to withstand adversity and be ready to take advantage of new opportunities.
I'm just back from a speaking event where a CPrinter was training his customers and market about mobile marketing and the effect it will have on printed materials. I just visited another CPrinter who has married print with web technology that helps his customers get more sales leads. Printing has become more than just putting ink on paper.
If you are a printer you will want to know about CPrint International. You need to visit www.cprint.org and hear what CPrinters have to say about the organization and how it changed their life. You will want to sign up for CPrint Tips, an electronic newsletter that gives printers the information to make it through these tough economic times, at www.cprint.org/features/tips.html. It is free and can give you ideas to help make you money.
CPrint is a great way for an independent printer to join a franchise that provides a business model that works and will help a printer prosper. If you want to be successful and continue to grow, find out more about CPrint today.
As technology director and a consultant with the franchise, I get to see the work people are doing every day to make it through these tough economic times. The CPrint affiliates have their financial information in order so they know how they are doing. They have an organization in place so they can easily get the work through the shop. They are developing their selling machine so they can keep pouring leads into their sales funnel and build their business.
Printing is in the middle of an evolution. Print and the Internet are starting to merge as a new communication tool. The types of printing people buy and how they buy it is changing. Only a strong business will be able to evolve into whatever a printer will become in the next few years. CPrint is focusing on helping companies be able to withstand adversity and be ready to take advantage of new opportunities.
I'm just back from a speaking event where a CPrinter was training his customers and market about mobile marketing and the effect it will have on printed materials. I just visited another CPrinter who has married print with web technology that helps his customers get more sales leads. Printing has become more than just putting ink on paper.
If you are a printer you will want to know about CPrint International. You need to visit www.cprint.org and hear what CPrinters have to say about the organization and how it changed their life. You will want to sign up for CPrint Tips, an electronic newsletter that gives printers the information to make it through these tough economic times, at www.cprint.org/features/tips.html. It is free and can give you ideas to help make you money.
CPrint is a great way for an independent printer to join a franchise that provides a business model that works and will help a printer prosper. If you want to be successful and continue to grow, find out more about CPrint today.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Mobile Marketing Means Printing Dollars
Mobile marketing is the new buzz word for marketing companies and it is one of the first new technologies to actually generate printing. In mobile marketing, a smartphone becomes a “third screen.” It joins a television and computer screen as a primary way for a user to access information. Experts predict that there will be more smartphone users access the Internet in the next 36 months than computer users. Printing will be the way that information is driving to smartphone users.
QR (Quick Response) codes make it easy for smartphone users to get to a particular web site or digital information source. The smartphone user simply scans a printed QR code and his web browser is directed to a web site. QR codes can also be used to send email messages or automatically update contact information. No matter what it is used for, it all starts with a QR code that is printed on something.
Quick printers need to know how to create and print QR codes. Any customer with a web site is a possible user. Since most businesses want more “eyes” on their web site, a business will want to print a QR code on every printed piece a customer might see.
The mobile marketing/QR concept is new to North America, but it is big in Asia and Europe. Printers who can bring this new technology to their customer should at least get to reprint all of the marketing and customer communication pieces a customer might have.
Finally, the Internet has given us a computer whizbang feature that will cause customers to buy more printing.
QR (Quick Response) codes make it easy for smartphone users to get to a particular web site or digital information source. The smartphone user simply scans a printed QR code and his web browser is directed to a web site. QR codes can also be used to send email messages or automatically update contact information. No matter what it is used for, it all starts with a QR code that is printed on something.
Quick printers need to know how to create and print QR codes. Any customer with a web site is a possible user. Since most businesses want more “eyes” on their web site, a business will want to print a QR code on every printed piece a customer might see.
The mobile marketing/QR concept is new to North America, but it is big in Asia and Europe. Printers who can bring this new technology to their customer should at least get to reprint all of the marketing and customer communication pieces a customer might have.
Finally, the Internet has given us a computer whizbang feature that will cause customers to buy more printing.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Quit complaining and sell something
Does anyone have anything positive to say about the quick printing industry? Many of the quick printers I talk to have a negative attitude about quick printing industry. They lament the changes and talk about how their customer base is shrinking. They point fingers at competitors such as Staples and Office Max or FedEx and the UPS stores and say those businesses are taking their customers with cheap copies. They complain about lazy employees who won’t do anything or equipment suppliers who keep the costs high. Everyone is out to get them.
I can’t agree. Most of these complainers are business owners who are in charge of their own destinies. They just fail to do the basic business functions any business needs to do to survive. They don’t maintain adequate financial records to know how they are doing. They don’t make sales calls. They think making a delivery of a completed job and asking if there is any other printing is a sales activity. They don’t train their employees. They don’t take advantage of the technology they have.
You can still make money in quick printing and there are printers doing just that. Those printers get out and talk to customers and prospects. They use the technology they have available. They make it easier for customers to buy printing. The successful printers are proactive and get in front of customers with ideas and solutions that can be provided by a printed piece.
If you are a quick printer, I have one question: how many sales calls have you made this week? If you aren’t out asking for new business then you will probably be one of those people who is complaining about the printing industry. If you are talking to customers and learning what they need, you are going to have a better attitude because you will find out there are businesses buying printing. You just have to ask for make a sales call and ask for their business.
I can’t agree. Most of these complainers are business owners who are in charge of their own destinies. They just fail to do the basic business functions any business needs to do to survive. They don’t maintain adequate financial records to know how they are doing. They don’t make sales calls. They think making a delivery of a completed job and asking if there is any other printing is a sales activity. They don’t train their employees. They don’t take advantage of the technology they have.
You can still make money in quick printing and there are printers doing just that. Those printers get out and talk to customers and prospects. They use the technology they have available. They make it easier for customers to buy printing. The successful printers are proactive and get in front of customers with ideas and solutions that can be provided by a printed piece.
If you are a quick printer, I have one question: how many sales calls have you made this week? If you aren’t out asking for new business then you will probably be one of those people who is complaining about the printing industry. If you are talking to customers and learning what they need, you are going to have a better attitude because you will find out there are businesses buying printing. You just have to ask for make a sales call and ask for their business.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Print Industry Still Here
Quick Printing Editor Bob Hall recent comments about offset being at the crossroads are correct. Printing is changing and the equipment used to produce the equipment is changing. But just because the amount of offset sales dropped doesn’t mean the end for the printing industry.
Many quick printers build their business on providing convenience printing for the printed material needed to run a business. The desktop computing revolution has eliminated that work. No longer does a business stop by to get copies. Almost anyone who owns a computer has a printer attached that can take care of those needs.
There is still money to be made in printing serving the small business customer. The printing shift is from functional forms to sales material. Printing is still the most powerful and cost effective way for small businesses to reach customers. With the new technology, especially in color, printers can produce high quality work that can be used to help a business sell something to someone.
I’m not talking about developing a marketing and advertising program for a business. I’m talking about reproducing the basic sales material customers need to sell their products and services. It doesn’t require a marketing degree or advertising savvy. All it requires is a printer talking to a customer and letting the customer know what a printer can do to help his business.
The printers who are going to success and grow their businesses are the ones who actually get out and talk to customers about printing and stop waiting for customers to call them because they mailed out a postcard a couple of months ago.
Many quick printers build their business on providing convenience printing for the printed material needed to run a business. The desktop computing revolution has eliminated that work. No longer does a business stop by to get copies. Almost anyone who owns a computer has a printer attached that can take care of those needs.
There is still money to be made in printing serving the small business customer. The printing shift is from functional forms to sales material. Printing is still the most powerful and cost effective way for small businesses to reach customers. With the new technology, especially in color, printers can produce high quality work that can be used to help a business sell something to someone.
I’m not talking about developing a marketing and advertising program for a business. I’m talking about reproducing the basic sales material customers need to sell their products and services. It doesn’t require a marketing degree or advertising savvy. All it requires is a printer talking to a customer and letting the customer know what a printer can do to help his business.
The printers who are going to success and grow their businesses are the ones who actually get out and talk to customers about printing and stop waiting for customers to call them because they mailed out a postcard a couple of months ago.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Why Print?
Sometimes printers have a hard time trying to think about what to talk to customers about instead of "you don't need any printing today do you" sales calls. Printing is still one of the most effective and economical ways to reach customers, and if your customer sells something to someone, then they should be using print to touch their customers.
If you are looking for reasons print is important, look no further than the “Why Print” brochure available free from the Print Council. The Print Council produced a 24-page marketing brochure demonstrating the extraordinary value and effectiveness of print communications. Entitled "Why Print?, The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper", the full-color brochure is the first in a series of materials The Print Council makes available to printers to influence media decision makers' appreciation of the value of print.
Printers are encouraged to download and use any or all of the materials provided in their own marketing materials to underscore the power of print communications.
The Print Council is a business development alliance formed by leaders in the graphic arts industry whose goal is to influence and promote the greater use of print media. Download the artwork for the brochure at the Print Council's web site.
A 24-page brochure may be overkill, but the information is invaluable. You will find facts and ideas to support your blogging efforts, articles for your company newsletter, post cards and much more. You don't need to give all the information away at once. Each of the 10 reasons can be a separate discussion. The information in the "Why Print?" brochure should become part of the list of benefits you tell you customers about during a sales call.
If you are looking for reasons print is important, look no further than the “Why Print” brochure available free from the Print Council. The Print Council produced a 24-page marketing brochure demonstrating the extraordinary value and effectiveness of print communications. Entitled "Why Print?, The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper", the full-color brochure is the first in a series of materials The Print Council makes available to printers to influence media decision makers' appreciation of the value of print.
Printers are encouraged to download and use any or all of the materials provided in their own marketing materials to underscore the power of print communications.
The Print Council is a business development alliance formed by leaders in the graphic arts industry whose goal is to influence and promote the greater use of print media. Download the artwork for the brochure at the Print Council's web site.
A 24-page brochure may be overkill, but the information is invaluable. You will find facts and ideas to support your blogging efforts, articles for your company newsletter, post cards and much more. You don't need to give all the information away at once. Each of the 10 reasons can be a separate discussion. The information in the "Why Print?" brochure should become part of the list of benefits you tell you customers about during a sales call.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Will QuarkPromote.com Help Printers?
Quark has launched QuarkPromote.com (www.quarkpromote.com), a new online web-to-print service that hopes to send online customers to local printers. The special web-to-print service is aimed at small businesses so they can create their own marketing materials that can be picked up at a nearby neighborhood printer or received by mail in just a few days.
Customers go online and use a special online application to create the file. The customer’s order then goes to a commercial printer. Quark is saied to be partnering with franchises such as well as independent printers.
Quark isn't doing the printing and hopes to help printers get more business. The local printers can select to be either a "print by mail" or a "pick up at a neighborhood printer" provider. In both cases, the output provider is determined by the zip code the customer has provided.
According to Quark, if the customer wants the order delivered by mail, the zip code is used behind the scenes to find a prints-by-mail provider in the region. The customer is not provided the opportunity to choose the printer and there is no relationship between the provider and the customer. Packages are shipped blind to the customer.
In the case of neighborhood printing, the zip code is used to display a list of printers near the customer. Matching shops are displayed on a Bing map and in a list. The customer chooses a shop and then completes a typical online ordering process. Prices, included shipping, are set by Quark. The customer also has the option of choosing a printer at a location other than their own if it is more convenient.
Quark offers a webcast for output providers on how the Quark Promote programs work. Send an email request to enrollments@quarkalliance.com to see the webcast.
Is this a good program for printers? It is if you are a printer who doesn't want to don't want to talk to customers or try to sell anything. Pricing is controlled by Quark and orders by mail is transparent to the customer. The only real selling opportunity will come if the printer elects to pick up the job locally.
The program is still new, but I haven't seen any money being poured into marketing the program to consumers. Until that happens, it will just be a feel-good program to make printers think they are really part of the web2print world.
My advice is for printers to get out and actually talk to customers and be proactive in selling. Don't wait for a customer to go to a website to pick out templates. Get out there and find out the customers' printing needs.
I do recommend that you take advantage of the QuarkAlliance.com program. Former Adobe ASN members can get a free copy of QuarkXpress 8 when they sign up. The offer is good through June 2010.
Customers go online and use a special online application to create the file. The customer’s order then goes to a commercial printer. Quark is saied to be partnering with franchises such as well as independent printers.
Quark isn't doing the printing and hopes to help printers get more business. The local printers can select to be either a "print by mail" or a "pick up at a neighborhood printer" provider. In both cases, the output provider is determined by the zip code the customer has provided.
According to Quark, if the customer wants the order delivered by mail, the zip code is used behind the scenes to find a prints-by-mail provider in the region. The customer is not provided the opportunity to choose the printer and there is no relationship between the provider and the customer. Packages are shipped blind to the customer.
In the case of neighborhood printing, the zip code is used to display a list of printers near the customer. Matching shops are displayed on a Bing map and in a list. The customer chooses a shop and then completes a typical online ordering process. Prices, included shipping, are set by Quark. The customer also has the option of choosing a printer at a location other than their own if it is more convenient.
Quark offers a webcast for output providers on how the Quark Promote programs work. Send an email request to enrollments@quarkalliance.com to see the webcast.
Is this a good program for printers? It is if you are a printer who doesn't want to don't want to talk to customers or try to sell anything. Pricing is controlled by Quark and orders by mail is transparent to the customer. The only real selling opportunity will come if the printer elects to pick up the job locally.
The program is still new, but I haven't seen any money being poured into marketing the program to consumers. Until that happens, it will just be a feel-good program to make printers think they are really part of the web2print world.
My advice is for printers to get out and actually talk to customers and be proactive in selling. Don't wait for a customer to go to a website to pick out templates. Get out there and find out the customers' printing needs.
I do recommend that you take advantage of the QuarkAlliance.com program. Former Adobe ASN members can get a free copy of QuarkXpress 8 when they sign up. The offer is good through June 2010.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
QR Codes Next Big Thing
A bar code called Quick Response or QR Code is expected to begin having an impact on business information in the coming year and printers will have to know how to print it properly on customer’s material.
Printers already print bar codes. The new QR Code (or 2D Code) contains information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, where a bar code contains data in one direction only. QR Code holds a considerably greater volume of information than a bar code. In Japan, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera and access additional information about the product. Initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).
QR Codes storing addresses and URLs (web addresses) are expected to start appearing in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.
For instance, a menu may include a QR code that links to a page with nutritional information. A business card may include a QR code that links to a web-site, blog or social networking site. The ability to direct a consumer to specific information will tie printed material closer to the Internet.
The QR codes are expected to start popping up in North America in the coming year as mobile phone companies add the software to their cameras. Printers should expect to get inquiries from customers soon.
Printers already print bar codes. The new QR Code (or 2D Code) contains information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, where a bar code contains data in one direction only. QR Code holds a considerably greater volume of information than a bar code. In Japan, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera and access additional information about the product. Initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).
QR Codes storing addresses and URLs (web addresses) are expected to start appearing in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone's browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.
For instance, a menu may include a QR code that links to a page with nutritional information. A business card may include a QR code that links to a web-site, blog or social networking site. The ability to direct a consumer to specific information will tie printed material closer to the Internet.
The QR codes are expected to start popping up in North America in the coming year as mobile phone companies add the software to their cameras. Printers should expect to get inquiries from customers soon.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Automation Requires Standards
It is impossible to automate any task without standards. In the printing industry, many smaller printers have been trapped in thinking they had to be a job shop and take any job that came in the door, no matter what. This type of thinking has allowed web-based printers such as Vistaprint and Printingforless to carve out a good business because their business model is built around standardization for automation.
The printing industry has a number of standards already in place, but it is up to individual companies to use the standards and require their customers to follow them. Two of the most important standards are GRACoL 7 and G7. These are standards that many printers are implementing to make sure that the printing meets the requirements of customer and the printing quality is consistent.
One good overview of the subject can be found at:
More specific information can be found at:
GRACoL: http://www.gracol.org
G7 Process: http://www.gracol.org
SWOP: http://www.swop.org
IDEAlliance: http://www.idealliance.org
ISO: http://www.iso.org
In addition to those standards, you also need to be aware of the PDF and JDF standards. The standards set by the Ghent Workflow Group (www.gwg.org/) are what are used by GRACoL and G7.
Interestingly, the GRACoL standards at basically the same standards relating to customer files and PDF files that CPrint® International (www.cprint.org) has been promoting for years. The “big” printers and those who work with high end color for agencies have been promoting these standards to customers for a number of years.
Printers who institute standards and then require their customers to follow them will be able to automate in the coming years and see their sales per employee rise dramatically.
The printing industry has a number of standards already in place, but it is up to individual companies to use the standards and require their customers to follow them. Two of the most important standards are GRACoL 7 and G7. These are standards that many printers are implementing to make sure that the printing meets the requirements of customer and the printing quality is consistent.
One good overview of the subject can be found at:
More specific information can be found at:
GRACoL: http://www.gracol.org
G7 Process: http://www.gracol.org
SWOP: http://www.swop.org
IDEAlliance: http://www.idealliance.org
ISO: http://www.iso.org
In addition to those standards, you also need to be aware of the PDF and JDF standards. The standards set by the Ghent Workflow Group (www.gwg.org/) are what are used by GRACoL and G7.
Interestingly, the GRACoL standards at basically the same standards relating to customer files and PDF files that CPrint® International (www.cprint.org) has been promoting for years. The “big” printers and those who work with high end color for agencies have been promoting these standards to customers for a number of years.
Printers who institute standards and then require their customers to follow them will be able to automate in the coming years and see their sales per employee rise dramatically.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Find Customers and Build a Brand with Search Engines
Everyone is talking about having a "brand" for their company. A brand is the collective consumer perception of a company, product or service that is uniquely your own. This brand is shaped through the brand identity and its marketing execution as well as by personal or corporate experiences with the brand, by word of mouth and by the media.
The general public can get an impression of your company from a number of places. One area that many printers overlook is the Map areas of many search engines when they are branding their companies.
Successful quick printers use the various mapping programs provided by the different Internet search engines to find more customers. For example, you can go to www.maps.google.com and enter your address. Then use the Search Nearby to seek out businesses that need printing. Type in "Associations" and see how many are close to you. How about marketing companies? Training companies? Any type of business that might buy printing? You’ll get a list of businesses and can easily get contact information. There isn’t any excuse for a printer so say, “I don’t know who to call on.”
Your customers are also using the same search engine maps to find out information about you. You will also want to make sure you visit Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com and others to post information about your business. For instance, Google gives businesses a free listing on Google Maps to make it easy for customers to find you. Any business can use the Local Business Center to create a free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they'll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos of your storefront or products. It's easy, free, and you don't need a website of your own. Go to www.maps.google.com to sign up. Bing, Yahoo and other search engines offer a similar service.
But don’t forget to check the reviews for your business online to help protect your brand. Google, Yahoo and Bing allow visitors to post comments and reviews about local businesses online. You might be surprised what customers are saying about you online. Sadly it is usually a customer who had a problem who takes the time to post a poor review. You might want to suggest to your better customers that they can post a review for you at the different search sites. It might offset any bad reviews.
The Internet can give customers a perception of your company. You want to make sure the face you are showing to the world is the face you want them to see and you don't have people talking behind your back.
The general public can get an impression of your company from a number of places. One area that many printers overlook is the Map areas of many search engines when they are branding their companies.
Successful quick printers use the various mapping programs provided by the different Internet search engines to find more customers. For example, you can go to www.maps.google.com and enter your address. Then use the Search Nearby to seek out businesses that need printing. Type in "Associations" and see how many are close to you. How about marketing companies? Training companies? Any type of business that might buy printing? You’ll get a list of businesses and can easily get contact information. There isn’t any excuse for a printer so say, “I don’t know who to call on.”
Your customers are also using the same search engine maps to find out information about you. You will also want to make sure you visit Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com and others to post information about your business. For instance, Google gives businesses a free listing on Google Maps to make it easy for customers to find you. Any business can use the Local Business Center to create a free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they'll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos of your storefront or products. It's easy, free, and you don't need a website of your own. Go to www.maps.google.com to sign up. Bing, Yahoo and other search engines offer a similar service.
But don’t forget to check the reviews for your business online to help protect your brand. Google, Yahoo and Bing allow visitors to post comments and reviews about local businesses online. You might be surprised what customers are saying about you online. Sadly it is usually a customer who had a problem who takes the time to post a poor review. You might want to suggest to your better customers that they can post a review for you at the different search sites. It might offset any bad reviews.
The Internet can give customers a perception of your company. You want to make sure the face you are showing to the world is the face you want them to see and you don't have people talking behind your back.
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