Print Communications: Leader of the Pack
Businesses everywhere use a variety of media to reach their target audiences. Though budget constraints will impact your plan, every marketing mix is designed to meet a range of objectives: boost sales, generate leads, strengthen relationships and build brand identity.
The choices available to today’s marketers seem ever-growing, from traditional television, radio and print advertising to a multitude of electronic opportunities including Web sites and e-mail. While each has its place in a comprehensive program, direct mail remains the most personal and effective way to reach your customers and prospects.
E-mail, for example, can be inexpensive to create and distribute. Just don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s the best or only way to market your product or service.
People choose direct mail and other print vehicles over e-mail because they are more dependable and are viewed as more authoritative. Nothing can replace well-designed print marketing because nothing else is as portable, personal or reliable.
While Web sites, another component of e-marketing, can be relatively inexpensive to create and maintain, existing is not enough. They need to be promoted so potential customers will visit them. Print communications are an excellent way to direct prospects and customers to a Web site.
When you can do it, a broad mix of media will provide you with the widest range of opportunities to communicate with your audiences and to make a lasting impression.
As always, you must determine your communications objectives to choose the most effective strategies.
5 Ways to Maximize Your Message
- Be consistent in portraying your company’s identity.
- A single graphic look and a uniform writing style add value and strength to your company’s identity in all visual media.
- Type, color and images should be consistent throughout for greater memorability.
- Use print communications (flyers, ads, brochures, direct mail) to provide support for e-marketing. Ask your customers for their e-mail address in your direct mail pieces via a business reply card or when they respond to a free gift or special offer. Similarly, with the customer information you gather online, plan targeted mailings as follow up.
- Coordinate your delivery schedules so your communications complement one another rather than compete for attention.
What Color Can Do For You
When you hear the terms, four-color or full color process, it means you are able to produce any color combination. Four-color process is a system where an image is separated into four different color values with the inks cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black to reproduce the original color image.
If your budget prohibits this quality of color reproduction, be aware that many cost-effective opportunities exist to add “punch” to your printed materials. Designers often manipulate color to create interest and variety from a single image. Following are a few terms to help you know your color options.
Glossary of Terms
- Spot color - Adding one or more single flat colors to a printed piece. You can also create monochromatic (single color) photos.
- Halftone - A pattern of dots of different sizes used to simulate a continuous-tone photograph, either in color or black and white.
- Duotone - Created by printing a photographic image in two colors. They often possess greater depth and warmth than photos printed in one color. Most are printed using a hue naturally dark in color (i.e. black or blue) and a naturally light hue (i.e. gray or yellow).
- Tritone - A halftone using three colors to produce more contrast and detail than a duotone.
- Mezzotint - Computer-generated reproduction of an engraver’s method which creates various textures and patterns to create artistic effects.
- Posterized - The color palette of an image is manipulated and recreated using only flat colors.
- Traps - Trapping is a term that describes the method used to make two colors fit together perfectly without any white gaps between them.
- Screens - Varying the screen percentage can give you the illusion of printing with multiple colors. For example, a 50 percent screen of a solid red creates the illusion of pink.
Ten Ways to Cut Your Printing Costs
- Stick with standard finished sizes to reduce paper waste and minimize your costs.
- Be careful when using bleeds, that is, color or images that run to the edges of the paper. Sometimes they require larger sheets that need to be trimmed, resulting in higher costs and longer production time.
- Use color to print a large quantity of “shells.” Then, customize the text as your projects come up throughout the year with one color of ink.
- Similarly, spread the cost of color between several jobs. For example, design a series of brochures that share the same colors, and print them at the same time. It can be cheaper than paying separate setup charges for each.
- Before placing a special order, ask if there is a paper stock in inventory that might be right for your project.
- Choose the right type of binding. Saddle stitching (stapling the piece along the center fold) is one of the least expensive and most popular types of binding.
- On larger quantities that are printed on two sides, lay out both sides on one larger sheet. This is called printing “two-up” and can reduce costs by about 25 percent since press time is cut in half.
- If you are designing your materials on computer disk and/or providing a digital file, make sure your printer outputs a sample to check the accuracy of the layout and any color separations. In addition, make any revisions before you turn your layout or digital files over to the printer. Revisions are costly once a job is in production.
- Consider digital color output. Though printing small quantities (under 400) of a full-color brochure is usually cost prohibitive for many organizations, consider short-run digital printing instead. If set up correctly, your project can be output directly from your digital files and the press time is cut in half.
- Avoid rush charges. Find out what length of time is required from your printer for production, printing and added processes like folding and die-cutting. Stay on deadline to avoid rush charges, which can be as high as 50 to 100 percent above the normal quote.
Web Site Designer
Located in our Vancouver office, the Web Designer is responsible for the design of various customers and marketing websites. This includes the visual design and execution of existing and new websites, email templates and online advertising. Additionally, the Web Designer will assist with offline marketing projects when necessary.
Our ideal candidate will have a post secondary degree and/or certificate(s) in Interactive Media or Web Design, art/design or equivalent with a minimum 3+ years as a web designer (web development experience an asset). XML and ASP.NET; Javascript and Actionscript are required. You must have proven ability to hand code standards compliant XHTML (no WYSIWYG) and CSS and a high aptitude with industry software applicants (Photoshop, Illustrator) and web browsers in a cross-platform environment. InDesign and Quark are an asset. Animation and interactive design are required (GIF, Flash, Javascript, Quicktime, PDF) and experience with email marketing and banner campaign development and design.
*Along with your application, please provide URL’s of websites that you have worked on and tell us about your role in development/design
If you’re interested in this job opportunity and meet the qualifications, please email your resume and a brief one or two paragraph overview on why you feel you are the right candidate for this great opportunity to HR at printing604 (at) yahoo (dot) com or fax it to 604.681.5036 and refer to position “Web Site Designer” in your email subject line. Our website: www.allegrapress.com. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Home Based Telemarketer Wanted
You will be calling potential clients on our behalf to generate sales leads for our sales team. We are looking for a Top-Notch experienced telemarketer - no armatures please. You will work both on your own and/or with contact list provided by us. You will target corporate executives during regular daytime hours of 8:00am-5:30pm, and your goals will be to extract a few key points of information and book a qualified sales appointment for sales rep.
If you’re interested in this job opportunity and meet the qualifications, please email your resume and a brief one or two paragraph overview on why you feel you are the right candidate for this great opportunity to HR at printing604 (at) yahoo (dot) com or fax it to 604.681.5036 and refer to position “Home Based Telemarketer” in your email subject line. Our website: www.allegrapress.com. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Green Can Be Good For Business
Most of us are making a conscious effort to practice environmental responsibility. At home, plastic recycling bins are a common sight in communities large and small. In the workplace, some businesses do a little better than others with eco-friendly practices including recycling, waste reduction and reducing energy consumption.
Just how much waste can one small business generate? Paper alone accounts for about 70 percent of office waste – and on average – the typical office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year. This does not include the variety of printed promotional and sales items a business might generate.
What happened to the vision of a “paperless” office? While technology has moved many files onto a variety of hard drives and flash drives, what’s in those files often ends up as printed brochures, reports, presentations, memos and mailers.
Look around your office. There are a number of ways that any small business can start going “green” with minimal effort. Not only will your business be kinder to the environment, it can make an impact with customers as well. Studies show that more people are seeking out socially conscious products and suppliers. What can your business do to go green?
Push good paper.
If you have to push paper, push the good stuff. Check paper content to see what it’s made of and how it was produced. Use paper wisely to get the most from each sheet.
- Buy from a company that uses raw materials from scientifically managed forests.
- Use post-consumer recycled papers with fibers from reclaimed papers. The use of virgin and old growth forests is destroying habitats and communities around the world.
- Buy paper that is “bright enough” and doesn’t use chorine or other chemicals to add brightness.
- Use lower paper weight which uses less fiber.
- Print or copy on both sides of each sheet.
- Carefully consider the size of a document, and use half sheets when possible.
Think before you ink.
Plan printing jobs carefully. Before you print your direct mail piece or new product flyer, consult with your printer to find economical, efficient and “green” ways to produce effective marketing materials.
- Communicate early on with your printer and stress the importance of using environmentally preferred options.
- Request recycled paper with a high level of post-consumer content and use soy- or vegetable-based inks. Avoid inks containing heavy metals and ask about ways to reduce ink coverage in your design.
- Avoid chemical coatings and lamination to add sheen or gloss. A water-based (aqueous) lacquer coating is often the best choice.
- For projects that require binding, ask for water-based, non-chlorinated glues that can be recycled.
Choose friends wisely.
If you are marketing to cultivate business, choose your targets wisely. Not only will you be doing your part to reduce “junk mail,” but you will save your company money by not mailing to unlikely targets.
- Keep mailing lists updated and delete duplicates.
- Be selective and target specific audiences instead of sending out “shotgun” mailings.
- Track and measure responses to trim lists even more.
Visit Cyberspace.
Of the 70 percent of office waste that is paper, nearly one-third is computer printouts. Instead of producing hard copies that most likely will end up in the trash, rely more on your technology.
- Use e-mail and voice mail to communicate with colleagues.
- Proofread documents on your computer before printing.
- Save documents electronically instead of in hard copy.
Recycle and reuse.
In purchasing supplies for your company, consider recycled and reusable supplies when possible. This will not only help the environment, but can save your company money in the long run.
- Use ceramic instead of paper coffee cups.
- Consider purchasing refurbished office equipment.
- Use rechargeable batteries.
- Buy remanufactured fax, ink jet and toner cartridges and return them to the suppliers for recycling.
- For items you use a lot of, buy in bulk; for items you use little of, buy only what you need.
- Reuse shipping containers and packing materials.
- Print on both sides of the paper when you can.
- Re-use the back sides of paper for scratch pads.
Finally, let your customers know what you are doing. As more shoppers look for green, this could be an added selling point for your company.
SIDEBAR:
How to get your company to go green:
- Get management to adopt an environmental policy.
- Create a “green team” and appoint a coordinator.
- Conduct a waste assessment.
- Develop and implement a recycling program.
- Train and educate employees.
- Monitor and measure results.
- Share your success with customers.
Allegra Print & Imaging
To compete in today’s marketplace, you must partner with ‘can-do’ people. People who know your business. People who share your strategic goals and dedication. People who can provide the skills to help you succeed. Otherwise…you might as well turn off the lights and lock the doors. You’re history.
Our graphic design services, desktop publishing capabilities, print and imaging facilities can help you at every stage of a project, from development through production, and deliver total print management that will give you a competitive edge.
Our Vision
To build a progressive network of the best print and graphic communications providers.
Our Mission
To enhance the value of the businesses we serve.
Our Core Values
Respect for the individual – We welcome and value individual differences and treat others with courtesy and fairness.
Go the extra mile – We are committed to going above and beyond to serve the needs of our franchise members as they do for their customers.
Quick to respond – We pride ourselves and are dedicated to getting back to our franchise members in a timely manner.
Attack the market – We see the great potential our industry offers and are taking advantage of its growth opportunities through implementation of our operational, marketing and technology programs. In addition, we are actively seeking printing businesses to acquire.
Aim high and play fair – We have a clear vision for our future and strive to inspire and lead each other and our franchise members toward accomplishing that vision with integrity, honesty and fairness.