Multichannel Marketing Powers Print and Digital Success

In a time of increasingly digital interaction, never underestimate the value of good, old fashioned tangible, physical marketing: print, direct mail, promotional products, signage, embroidery/screenprinting. Perhaps because of the hype and excitement over the digital revolution in progress around us daily, we jump to a conclusion that print or more traditional communications are no longer effective. That is a marketing mistake.

Multichannel and/or cross channel marketing is truly a no-brainer. Why not utilize multiple channels in various strategies to reap the most benefits from your marketing budget? Along with your website, mobile apps and social media, configure a direct mail campaign and promotional product giveaway to drive home your message. Join virtual with the actual. Digital and Tangible.

Pig promotional product and direct mail campaign — In sponsoring a local River Race event, Carolina Mountains Credit Union branded their promotional product mascot and utilized a matching direct mail postcard to support their online marketing efforts.

Here are a few convincing facts on integrated marketing:

45% of consumers over the age of 65 have no internet access in their homes. If seniors are in your target market, you must look beyond online contact.
92% of millennials say direct mail – not email or online marketing – has the most influence when making store choices
the physicality of print, signage or promotional items impacts consumers in a way digital communication cannot replicate.
the response rate of direct mail is 10–30x that of email.
promotional products are often perceived as gifts, which they are, and tend to be held onto longer. The more useful or unique, the more they are valued and continue to represent your brand. Also as the world becomes more digital, the more a physical promotion stands out from the crowd.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

February 25, 2014

Can Your Logo Multitask? Design With Versatility in Mind.

The story may be true or may be apocryphal, but either way it illustrates a good point: The logo below was Apple’s logo until the day Steve Jobs decided they needed to order embroidered polo shirts.

That logo would never work well stitched at a small size onto your work shirt. Is your logo up to the demands of integrated marketing? Does it fly as well in print as online, stitched onto clothing, 10 feet wide on outdoor signage? While your goal is one unified brand image, that does not necessarily mean you will only have one logo for all purposes.

The logo design you tweaked and approved back on day one is really put to test when you begin to market across different media. Initially, many folks think of their logo only in terms of how it will appear on a card, letterhead or envelope – or perhaps how it will appear in full RBG color on their website home page. But when you begin to explore other marketing needs, the very design of that logo may prove to be limited, to not carry the same impact. For instance, a logo design may look great in full color, but when the day comes you need a solid white logo reversed out on a dark background as an awning over the front doorway entrance, the limitations of the design become apparent. Many times, more complex designs look great at a large scale but then don’t work well if you try to imprint them onto small promotional objects or on websites. Balance is also important – a logo with one oversized element may look fine onscreen, but when printed at a small scale the type can be illegible due to the difference in size with the larger element. The logo that looks great in full color on your website will need to work just as well embroidered on company uniforms, imprinted onto promotional keychains or ink pens, and embossed onto a formal letterhead. That initial design process needs to include the logo in all its variations.

Many brand images are designed with some built in variety to accommodate varying layouts and usage needs: for instance, your designer should offer you a “wide” version, a “tall” or “stacked” version, a version with and without a tagline or company “motto”. This set of logos will allow versatility in your marketing without altering the impact and unity of your brand image. Likewise, your designer can create your logo in the necessary range of color combinations: all black, reversed out as all white on a black or colored background, spot color versions using one or more defined PMS colors, and a full color version as both CMYK and RGB.

Famous brands like Coca-Cola employ a variety of type-styles, logos and brand images to differentiate their products and campaigns.

And the simplest part is often the one forgotten: once finalized, you will definitely want to have control of your brand by having possession of your actual logo… er, logos! Even if you do not have the software necessary to edit or change your logo, you will want to have the digital files in hand and a basic understanding of what file types you need for different outputs. Your designer and printer should be happy to supply you with these files.

Files… because there is never just one file that works for all occasions. While it is certainly not mandatory, a logo that begins it’s life as a vector is a happy logo! It can be edited, scaled, redesigned, converted, and proves to be the most conveniently versatile file type. Vector logos can be saved as a native .ai file or an .eps file. These can then be easily converted to other common file types such as .tiff, .jpg, .gif or .png. While you do not have to know all the mechanics behind each of these file extensions, you may be asked to provide specific ones. Your web designer may need a .gif or .png while your t-shirt vendor may ask for a vector file in two spot colors. With just the options mentioned in this post, your final logo set would consist of 30 separate digital files!

So, saving or exporting your logo to exist as different file types is not so difficult (well, if it begins as a vector file!) A well-designed logo will work well in spot colors, full color, reversed or as black and white. A logo that is created as part of a design package including a style manual will have its usage already thought out — work with your designer to ensure the versatility of your logo and brand, and once finalized to understand your different file types for marketing usage.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

January 7, 2014

Acclaim or Blame, Magazine Cover Designs Show the Power of Print

If I had the time, I think I would start a blog just to feature news about dramatic, controversial, catalytic, magazine cover designs. Just in the past recent weeks, the following covers have stirred up online interest:

The New York Post, well known for a penchant for crossing the line with cover headlines, angered many with a cover featuring a murdered Jewish real estate developer and the headline “Who Didn’t Want Him Dead”
The New Yorker captured both the pride and sorrow over the passing of Nelson Mandela with a moving and popular cover by artist Kadir Nelson.
Issues of body image and charges of “fat-shaming” were provoked when Elle magazine featured actress Melissa McCarthy on its Women in Hollywood issue in an oversized coat. A subsequent Mindy Kaling cover also got Elle more online heat as many considered the close-up photo of the actress to be an attempt to downplay her figure, where ‘skinnier’ stars received the full body treatment.
Just being on the first cover of the year seems to have been newsworthy as Seth Meyers graced the cover of Time this January, spawning a number of stories about his popularity and the future of late night viewing.

Major online news outlets often feature stories on current magazine or newspaper covers that either offend, surprise or inspire. Book covers certainly sell books, but magazine and newspaper covers can take extra advantage of the heat of the moment – energized by the immediacy of unfolding events in the news. Indeed, the editorial and design goal of these publications is that priceless viral buzz, and great designers are pushing the envelope of what the public will accept with dramatic and innovative images. While the power of such newsstand pulpits as the popular magazine or newspaper cover was obvious in the pre-digital era, the fact that a printed cover is news today points to a powerful quality of print. An online image can certainly stir emotions and controversy, but why is the printed image even more powerful? How has its authenticity and power crossed the digital divide to remain so effective today amid a sea of online images and news outlets?

One aspect of print that helps to explain this is the physical, tactile nature of print. The image is not just flickering onto a computer or mobile screen, but exists as a hand-held, fixed object. Holding print feels more personal and immediate – otherwise, why would a printed card seem more personal than an e-vite? Why wouldn’t a college graduate just want their diploma sent over as a pdf? Print gives a physical existence to images and messages that digital media does not provide.

Print also turns up, often uninvited, in our daily lives. It is waiting for you at the grocery store checkout, it’s image and inherent message is talking to you from the airport newsstand, coffeehouse table, doctor’s office waiting room. That physical quality of print combined with concurrent digital, online exposure is the core of successful marketing today: integrated marketing that takes advantage of both newer AND older technology.

Ink on paper, great photography or illustration and powerful design – these covers excite, enrage, encourage, offend, inspire and influence. And they certainly do sell. Check this link for a compilation of some of the most controversial covers of all time… or this compilation that shows how today’s controversies often fade very quickly to become “no big deal.”

For a superior article on the thought, design and evolution of magazine cover art and text, read this article at Salon.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

December 30, 2013

ImageBlog’s 2013 Print and Design Year in Review

End of the year reflection time – which means of course a Top 10 list, right? Imageblog is our online newstand of conjecture, knowledge, experience and opinion about the world of print, design, marketing, technology and sustainability. Looking back at 2013, it was a year of growth. We were excited to feature our first guest blog authors, and hope to bring you more of that in the future. Below are articles we featured in 2013 that covered events unique to this year – changes, updates, memorials, anniversaries, and historic firsts. This list hopefully highlights some of the unique events of the past year:

USPS Issues First-Ever Global Forever Stamp
Just like the popular domestic first class mail Forever stamps, the USPS began offering a Forever stamp for international mail in February of 2013. For $1.10, you can send a one ounce letter anywhere in the world. The great circular design of the stamp is eye-catching and popular with philatelists.
Boston Magazine Cover Highlights the Power of Print with a Moving Tribute
After the tragic terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon in April, many newsstand covers featured stunning and moving photography and design memorializing that day. One we liked the best for its design, color and ability to capture the personal side of such an event without capitalizing on any tragic images, was Boston Magazine’s image of the shoes of actual Boston marathon runners forming a heart. Even better, proceeds from the sale of an accompanying poster go to benefit the One Fund–Boston, which has raised millions to help those affected by the attack.
“Pencil to Pixel” Exhibit a Great Success
British firm Monotype’s “Pencil to Pixel” exhibit in New York provided a museum setting exhibition for typography lovers in May of 2013, following an initial run in London in 2012. The rich show highlighted the craftsmanship and design behind well-known typefaces of the past and present.
Coke Gets Personal with VDP and Integrated Marketing
Variable Data Printing (VDP) and Integrated Marketing techniques continued this year to bolster the power and profitability of print advertising in an increasingly digital age. Coke experimented with personalized bottles in some foreign markets, as consumers begin to notice and expect individualized content in all forms of marketing.
TCM in the Spotlight with Awesome Graphic Design
ImageBlog took a look at the great graphic design work produced over at Turner Classic Movies on their website, on air productions, print materials and marketing collateral. Nothing’s more inspiring than great design and TCM and the charles s. anderson design co. are doing a world class job.
20 Years On: Newsweek Prophetic 1993 Vision of the Future
A 1993 cover story from Newsweek offered a surprisingly accurate look ahead to today, contemplating the coming “interactivity” in the world of marketing and the resulting ethical dilemmas that might arise. An interesting read, but perhaps the most interesting part is that Newsweek did not foresee their own 2013 about face: first halting print production in favor of an online-only version at the end of 2012, then reversing course and planning a return to weekly print in 2014.
1931 Frankenstein Poster Sets World Record
The only confirmed known insert poster of the 1931 Universal movie “Frankenstein” sold for over $262,000 dollars – over 5 times the estimated amount. Print is valuable!
New Help for an Old Question: What is that Font?
As just one example of the innovative ways technology is providing great solutions, we highlighted three online sites that help solve a problem designers and prepress departments have always struggled with – identifying a mystery font! Sooner or later, you’ll have the same problem and here are some great online resources.
The World’s Most Expensive Printed Book is Sold
The Bay Psalm Book now holds two world records: it is the first book printed in British North America and now the most expensive as well, having sold at auction for over $14 million! You can peruse the book yourself with the digital copy that is now available online for free, courtesy of the Old South Church in Boston.
Cyber Monday: an Ongoing Evolution
The busiest online shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday continues to evolve as technology and social media change. Small players are now part of the game and the line between brick & mortar stores and their online enterprises gets blurrier. This day is a phenomenon that surely represents trends that will continue to define the changes in print and marketing in the year ahead.

Here’s hoping you will find some interesting topics in our list, or some useful information about print, design and marketing for the year ahead. Thank you for stopping by!

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with all your marketing needs. the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files.. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

December 20, 2013

Cash at All Costs: Small Business Trends for 2014

The U.S. economy is wrapping up 2013 with a piece of good news. November job growth cut the unemployment rate to 7 percent, the lowest it’s been in five years. Higher-paying industries including manufacturing and construction added more jobs, and hourly wages rose incrementally. Small business owners and prospective entrepreneurs are encouraged by the overall direction of the economy, and small business success goes hand-in-hand with the economy’s overall success. A positive jobs report means more opportunities for small businesses in 2014.

Small businesses will look to capitalize on growing trends in the upcoming year. Expect small business to become more mobile and look for unconventional sources of capital.

Mobile Credit Card Processing

Business was on the go in 2013, and it won’t slow down it 2014. Cash-only small businesses miss out on potential revenue because they don’t accept credit and debit cards, but smartphones are changing the game. Mobile credit card processors enable small businesses to accept credit cards anywhere. These card readers connect to a corresponding app to turn any smartphone into a credit card processor.

Square, Intuit and Paypal are among the companies that offer free credit card readers. Providers usually take 2-3 percent of the transaction cost. That’s a small price to pay to accept credit cards. Intuit’s mobile program even connects to its popular Quickbooks service, so users can automatically track these mobile transactions on the popular accounting platform.

Research firm Forrester forecasts mobile payments to reach $90 billion by 2017. Next year figures to be a major step forward for mobile credit card processors. Small business looking for a leg up on the competition would be wise to get on board.

Maximize Assets

In a rough economy, consumers get creative to earn extra revenue. AirBnB is a online home and apartment rental platform on which users can list available homes and rooms. Many owners stay with their guests throughout the agreement. It’s an unconventional model, but it provider property tenants with extra income and travelers with inexpensive shelter. Zipcar is a similar service in which users rent their automobiles.

Small businesses looking to boost their revenue will look to utilize their assets in similar ways in 2014. Perhaps that means renting a copy machine out to businesses that have high-volume printing jobs or renting out delivery trucks. These revenue add-ons could keep small businesses afloat through lean months.

More Crowdfunding

Venture capitalists aren’t exactly shelling out dough for every interesting idea, but that doesn’t mean startups won’t succeed in 2014. Crowdfunding is the latest trend in fundraising. Crowdfunder and Kickstarter are among the prominent crowdfunding platforms.

Crowdfunder consists of more than 40,000 investors and entrepreneurs, according to the company website. In this model, startups offer future incentives in exchange for donations. This might mean the earliest version of a product once its out of production or access to a blog that documents that journey.

Kickstarter, meanwhile, has successfully funded more than 53,000 projects. Expect that number to grow substantially throughout 2013.

Dana Hudson

Dana is a New York native and small business consultant with a penchant for social media strategy.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

December 10, 2013

5 Innovative Tech Tools for Small Business Owners

The advancement in digital communication technology tools has made it easier for companies to reach their target audiences and beyond, with small businesses and startups gaining the ability to impact the public at a minimal cost. While you may have a team of tech gurus, or may be one yourself, you’re still likely to be overwhelmed by the range of available technologies to help grow your business. From apps for your smart device to safe virtual file exchanging services, there are numerous tech tools designed for the small business owner on a tight budget. Here are five essential tech tools that every company like yours can benefit from.

Appy Pie

Mobile applications are a dominant force within every industry, leading many tech-savvy business owners to believe that signing on to the mobile app phenomenon is a must. Imploring the assistance of a mobile application may be unnecessary for the advancement of your company. And before you hire developers, or you attempt this endeavor yourself, don’t invest in an expensive mobile app before you investigate more affordable options. Appy Pie is a mobile app maker that allows individuals without much technical expertise to create custom apps for their businesses. It also provides small businesses with a test run before they spend money on a full mobile application. Ranging from $12 to $40 in price, this cloud-based service enables you to do everything from viewing your app stats through Google Analytics to helping you design and publish custom apps that your customers can download on iTunes and Google Play.

Crushpath

Promote your business with this app that enables you to construct a simple, one-page website detailing information about your business then sharing it with potential customers and clients through email or on social media. For less than $10 a month, users can create custom-made pitches based on their desired outcome, whether it be promoting a specific product/service or reaching out to a certain segment of your customer base. Crushpath sites are also viewable by anyone who searches for your company online, which helps you generate and keep track of leads even when you’re not actively promoting your business.

ShareFile

With customized business solutions for professionals in over 30 different industries, ShareFile offers companies solutions for transferring and sharing files safely and securely in a custom-branded, password-protected space. Send large files via email, arrange secure file transfers, and coordinate a collaborative arena for project-related files by using tools like the Virtual Data Room. ShareFile’s best attribute is that it can be used on smartphones and tablets on Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows mobile applications. What’s more, ShareFile users can download and use these mobile apps for free.

Slide.ly

Maximize your social media presence with an app that will grab the public’s attention visually. With Slide.ly you can create unique slideshows and share them on popular social media sites. Simply choose your photos from your Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, or Google Images account, pick some theme music, add special effects, and then share your slideshow on your company’s social media pages. Slide.ly is a free and easy way to promote products and services and engage with customers and clients.

TinderBox

Create, manage, and track everything from sales documents to your company’s marketing strategy with this web-based proposal writing program. TinderBox helps keep your employees on the same page and provides you with the ability to streamline contracts, proposals, and other significant company documents in order to ensure that you’re sending a uniform message to clients and customers. You’ll be able to write, make edits, organize, approve, and disseminate your documents no matter where you are.

Author bio: Greg Richards is a tech blogger who writes posts on the latest news and reviews products in the industry.

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

December 2, 2013

The Rapid Evolution of Cyber Monday

My inbox was full of Cyber Monday reminders today.

The idea of “Cyber Monday” as a sales event has proven in just eight short years to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. When it began in 2005 – at least that’s when the term was coined after online retailers noticed a spike in online sales on the Monday following Thanksgiving – there were 9 other days of the year that saw greater online purchases. Still, the growing event inspired great sale prices, giveaways and free shipping. As the catchy name and phenomenon caught on among retailers creating a double whammy with the already successful Black Friday marketing push, the event has now finally lived up to its name by becoming the #1 online shopping day of the year. Sales are estimated to hit in the area of $2 billion for 2013.

While the concept of Cyber Monday has now lived up to its name, the phenomenon is still changing. Below are a few significant ways:

Cyber Monday is becoming Cyber Week: Why limit such an effective promotion event to just one day, when shoppers will be selecting their purchases for the holiday season online for several more weeks? Retailers are catching on that the windfall of a Cyber Monday need not be limited to one day of bargains.
The line blurs between Online and Brick & Mortar: Most brick and mortar retailers are now online as well, becoming increasingly savvy and profitable with their online business. The idea of Cyber Monday being a profit-maker for just the online-only retailers like Amazon is a thing of the past. Integrated marketing now connects in-store and online specials in increasingly creative ways.
High speed internet changes things: Why did the Monday following Thanksgiving originally show such a spike in online sales? Because people came to work to do their shopping! Back in 2005 and before, most homes had slower dial-up internet connections so folks waited until work resumed to order online. Also, the workplace afforded the privacy away from family members to do their shopping. Today, with high speed internet everywhere and the prevalence of smart phones, waiting for a workday to shop makes less sense.
It’s not just for the big players anymore: Small businesses are coming into their own online, with the ability to offer specials and promotions through their interactive e-commerce websites. The large sales figures for online shopping no longer need to be just the windfall of the large corporate retailers.

Here’s a link to a great infographic on the history of Cyber Monday.

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

July 11, 2013

Multimedia Graphic Design Done Right: TCM Spotlight

Classic movies and classic graphic design – both sources of inspiration, and no one does it better than TCM. Their commercials, program intros, event branding, website, print publications and products all are branded with the same retro, distinctive TCM style. This unity of great design across platforms and media is a basic goal for any successful marketing, regardless of a company’s size or budget. TCM is well worth a look if you need a little inspiration.

Turner Classic Movies is the cable/satellite channel owned by Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time/Warner. The TCM logotype, which sets the graphic tone for all the consistent branding TCM does so well, was created by the charles s. anderson design co. of Minneapolis, MN. This world class firm holds a client list which reads like a Who’s Who of great branding and marketing success. (They also maintain an incredible royalty free image library of highly curated pop culture artwork, a great resource for any designer, called csaimages.) Their website relates the story of how the original TCM logo design was created with 30 different icons to represent the multiplicity of the movie industry and its ever-changing nature as a medium. When presented to Ted Turner, he wanted to know “which one is the logo?” The answer: all of them! “But which one?”

The multi-faceted approach of that original design sets the standard for the cross-platform, diversified branding of TCM that maintains the same look, feel and tone across it’s print media, television production, expansive website and product creation. The tone is distinctly retro, but with a modern, polished, and high-tech flavor. Having open access to one of the world’s largest, richest film libraries for your inspiration and imagery is a resource of which any graphic designer can only dream! But the folks at TCM consistently use those images in a fresh, larger-than-life way to maintain the thematic look of their brand without exploiting or tarnishing the classic films from which the images are appropriated. That, in itself, is a tough task and speaks to the integrity of the TCM design process. For example:

The first half of the clip above demonstrates this balance well – a humorous look at the man on the street’s reaction to the iconic image of Sue Lyon in Stanley Kubrick’s classic film “Lolita.” The second half of the clip sets a perfect film noir mood, creating an homage to American artist Edward Hopper’s famous painting “Nighthawks.” This is smart marketing that know’s its audience and upholds the value and integrity of its film archive.

Studying how the big players excel is valuable instruction for the rest of us. For those of us who cannot afford the guidance of a charles s. anderson design team and don’t have the budget of a Ted Turner, a few takeaways are:

Develop and know your image. Be sure, at the most basic level, you understand and control the “look” of your brand – what it stands for, how it will represent and how you want the public to perceive your business. This begins, typically, with a basic logotype and then expands throughout all the activities of your enterprise.

Respect yourself. Your passion for your work should show through in your business’ design and marketing efforts. Work with a designer and printer to create marketing material that inspires you, makes you feel proud of what you do, and represents quality.

Work to maintain consistency of your brand in all the ways the public encounters your business. The design and flavor of your print materials should be a consistent match to any representation of your business that your public will see. Consider all the areas this might include: signage, website, direct mail, social media, print/tv/radio/web advertisements, employee uniforms, retail spaces and lobby decor, promotional products as well as the actual goods or services produced and supplied.

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

May 20, 2013

Blow-In Some Creative Direct Mail Ideas: What Catches Your Eye?

Blow-ins and Bind-ins: ever thought about why those insert cards in your direct mail work? If they didn’t, they would not be showered with so many. “Blow-in” cards (as bindery machines blow the inserts into the printed pieces during manufacture) are most famously successful for magazines and newspapers to advertise their subscription offers. Their size makes them perfect as business reply mail, coupons for in-store and online sales, or to call out special offer from within the larger print piece. “Bind-in” cards stay attached to the piece, usually with a perforation to allow removal.

Normally inserts prove bothersome by falling out inconveniently and making me stoop to pick them up, or as I browse the rest of the magazine or catalog I am trying to keep them from falling out again. Bind-in cards annoyingly cover up part of the page that I want to see. These “aggravations” are in fact part of the reason insert cards work for marketing – they force us to stop and potentially, in those extra precious seconds, notice the name or information on the card.

I recently received a catalog from Pier 1 imports, and while several blow-in cards came falling out, the one above caught my attention above the others – and prompted me to think about why. It is actually a bind-in card, but three things, in retrospect, stood out enough to make me stop and look at it, flip it over and see what it was about:

The design: specifically the colors. Like the type, they are loud but pleasing. The designer knew the visual had to stand out in front of a busy page full of advertised merchandise, and this design does.
The die cut: that icy pitcher of tart lemonade looks like it could almost be lifted off the page. Maybe I was thirsty at the time, but it made me take notice, and the outlined shape caught my eye over all the other rectangular inserts, which I totally ignored.
The anonymity: If the front of this card had the company logo emblazoned on it, I think my initial reaction would have been to assume I already knew what it was pushing and need not look any further. Because it looked more like a big flavorful offer for lemonade, I flipped it over and saw an offer for $50 off a purchase at Pier 1. Good marketing.

When you are planning your print marketing, take a few minutes to think about the ways direct mail or other advertising has influenced you, caught your eye, or directed your behavior. Pick up your stack of mail today and notice which piece attracts your notice the most – then try to state three reasons that particular item got your attention while others were bypassed. Learning to incorporate those sound and creative ideas into your own promotions can make your marketing dollars do a lot more work for you. Creativity will get you noticed.

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

May 14, 2013

Share a Coke with Your Name on it: Getting Personal with VDP and Integrated Marketing

Update:

After success in Australia, South Africa, the UK and dozens of other countries, Coke is finally releasing personalized Coke in the US this summer of 2014 – and it seems to be a social media hit (at least judging by my Facebook newsfeed.) 250 of the most popular names for millenials and teens will be found on 20 oz. bottles of Coke, Diet Coke and Zero. You can check online to see if your name will be on the bottles, and you can personalize virtual bottles to share via social media as well. But don’t get too creative – to avert potential viral disasters, the website will not generate any name not in their approved database! 😉
So why not get variable?

(The following article was first posted in 2013.)

Variable Data Packaging? — (Source link: www.marketingmagazine.co.uk)

V ariable Data Printing is a proven catalyst in effective marketing – when properly executed, research indicates that response rates can be increased by as much as 30% with VDP. Now corporations are discovering creative new ways to combine personalized content with both online and print communications for a truly integrated marketing outreach. With the dominance of social media, consumers are beginning to expect (or in marketing-speak, “demand”) a personally targeted appeal from their advertisers. And who is more successful at branding and effective marketing than Coca-Cola?

But, VDP packaging? Well, in a way…. In Australia, and now the UK, Coke is putting out millions of bottles bearing, rather than their iconic logo, 150 names as a way to “personalize” their packaging. Coke enjoys such a universally established brand recognition that they can even remove their logo from their products and still count on consumer loyalty. The campaign is called “Share A Coke”, and as a truly integrated concept, it combines the product packaging with an online site where you can create a “virtual personalised Coke can” if you are unable to find the name you are looking for among the 150 choices. Outdoor ads, and social media also drive the campaign. The video below shares how Coke anticipated the buzz generation on Twitter to further build consumer interaction:

After a successful run in Australia, Coke is repeating the project in the UK. Now, a true VDP product packaging would require the Coke bottles to be printed with the customer’s name before rolling out of the vending machine – an expensive proposition – but the success of this semi-VDP approach highlights some important ideas:

the power of variable data personalization in affecting consumer choice,
an increasing consumer expectation that we can share a personal interaction with what was previously an unreachable corporate entity when it comes to our consumer purchasing power. The buzzword is “engagement,” and consumers are realizing their new role involves more than passive consumption, but can also include interaction and influence.
the value of finding ways to initiate the power and outreach of social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to your marketing advantage

Share a Coke campaign — Image Source: thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.