The Value of Print - Part 2

(continued from 12/20/10 post)

E-mail marketing
Due in part to its low cost, the relative ease of conducting a campaign, and the growing availability of e-mail lists, e-mail marketing is increasingly seen as an alternative to direct mail marketing – especially to reach the under-30 year old demographic. However, recent research suggests that digital marketing may not be living up to its original promise. In a survey conducted by Harris Interactive in July 2009, of 2,265 U.S. adults age 18 and above, a majority of respondents stated that printed media is easier to read than the digital equivalent (though they did prefer the immediacy of the digital media). Of those surveyed, 68% said they felt more comfortable when they have something on paper rather than on a computer screen.

One problem with e-mail marketing is deliverability of the message. In February 2010, the president of Return Path, an e-mail deliverability company, commented on deliverability. “Almost 95% of email messages at one point in 2009 were classified as spam, according to a recent study,” said George Bilbrey, President, Return Path. “As ISPs battle the onslaught of spam, the risks increase that legitimate senders will find their emails mislabeled as spam or junk and not reach consumers’ inboxes.”

Return Path also found that for the first six months of 2009, 20% of consumer e-mail ads sent by their Mailbox Monitor system were undelivered. Of those, 3.3% were sent to “junk” or “bulk” e-mail folders and 17.4% were not delivered at all. The undeliverability rate was even higher for business e-mail addresses, particularly those protected by spam filters. On average, only 72.4% of commercial e-mail is delivered.

Combine direct mail with e-mail marketing
The best strategy for communicating with customers and prospects is to use a combination of direct mail and e-mail marketing. According to an Ipsos survey conducted in 2007, 67% of respondents performed online searches for more information on a company, service or product after receiving an “offline” message.

Results from ExactTarget’s 2008 Channel Preference Survey supports the strategy of combining direct mail with e-mail. Respondents in that survey gave direct mail a score of 3.9 (out of a possible 5) as an acceptable marketing method and gave e-mail a score of 3.7. Three-quarters of respondents (75%) said they made a purchase because of a marketing message received through direct mail, and 65% said they made a purchase because of an e-mail.

Print is here to stay
Despite the pace of change affecting printing, it remains a proven way to communicate with customers and prospects. Direct mail marketing, when combined with e-mail, is more effective than e-mail alone. And the affordability of full color means that direct mail pieces can be eye catching and appealing to the target audience.

The Value of Print - Part 1

Much is being made today of the decline of printing. Newspaper and magazine subscribers are dwindling; e-books are gaining in popularity; online advertising is replacing print; and printed products are being assailed as environmentally unsound. So does printing have a future? Does it have a present? We say unequivocally: yes!

Businesses and organizations know that printing is not about the ink on the paper; it is about the target audience’s reaction to it. As author, journalist and marketing consultant Cary Sherburne says, “It is not about print; it is about the most effective way to achieve the business objective associated with any given customer communication or campaign.”

Print is not dead or dying, though it is changing. We’ll share with you why our outlook on print is so positive.

Affordable color
One beneficial change in printing is the new affordability of full color printing. Improvements in digital printing equipment such as the paper feed system, lower toner fusing temperature and polymerized toner particles have resulted in output that rivals offset printing for color fidelity, image resolution and the range of papers that can be used. And because digital printing requires almost no makeready, there are minimal fixed costs associated with each job. That means full color printing is now affordable in quantities as low as 100 prints, as well as in variable data printing applications such as versioning and one-to-one marketing.

Affordable color and the ready availability of stock photography means that small businesses and organizations can now realize the benefit of having corporate identity and marketing materials designed and printed in full color and illustrated with photographs. The effectiveness of informational material such as instruction sheets and training guides can be increased by incorporating color. Membership communications like newsletters and event invitations can be more visually appealing by printing in full color. Booklets and catalogs can now have full color covers (and maybe even full color interior pages). Depending on the design and the stock requirements, it may even be possible to print business cards digitally on demand, eliminating the need for imprinting on masters or shells.

Direct mail
As the amount of advertising on the Internet has grown, conventional wisdom has declared that direct mail marketing will disappear as a way of reaching customers and prospects. To us this sounds a lot like the now-debunked predictions about the paperless office. Every year since 1987, the United States Postal Service has conducted an annual study called The Household Diary Study. In 2008 the study included 5,312 households who completed a seven-day household diary of mail received and sent for all 52 weeks of the study year. Here are some of the study results:

• Advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received – an average of about 16 pieces a week.
• 79% of households said they either read or scanned the advertising mail they received.
• One in three households said they made one or more purchases as a result of receiving the advertising mail.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion that direct mail is “junk” mail that is immediately discarded by recipients, a majority of respondents in the 2008 Household Study reported paying attention to the advertising.

In another 2008 study, the DMNews/ Pitney Bowes survey, 1000 American consumers (split 50-50 between men and women) age 18 and up from ten major metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix and Seattle) were surveyed regarding the direct mail marketing pieces they receive. The survey findings:

• Nearly 94% of consumers surveyed reported taking action on promotional offers and coupons received via direct mail.
• 20% of consumers reported that more than 10% of the offers or coupons they received by mail led to a purchase.
• Almost 40% of respondents said they had tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
• Nearly 70% of respondents said they renewed a relationship with a business because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.
• Respondents stated that information received via direct mail often led to contribution to a non-profit organization for the first time.

The surveyors concluded that “direct mail induces consumers to touch the offer – recipients of mail are receiving, sorting, reading and using direct mail to make purchasing decisions.”

In March 2009, Bredin Business Information (BBI) published the results of a survey of 50 small to medium business marketers and 741 principals of US-based businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Marketing to SMBs in 2009 revealed that 43.6% of the 741 businesses said they rely on direct mail, including letters and post cards, for information on products and services. 

(to be continued 12/27/10)

Is direct mail bad for the environment?

Contrary to what you may have heard from proponents of various “Do Not Mail” coalitions, direct mail is an environmentally responsible way to advertise. Yes, trees are harvested to create the pulp from which paper is made. But the harvested trees are grown specifically for that purpose on tree farms known as managed timberlands. The trees are an agricultural crop, like vegetables on a farm; the trees are not cut down from neighborhood parks or wilderness areas. America’s forestry and paper industries plant more than 4 million new trees each day (or 1.4 billion per year) – that’s three new trees for every one harvested.

Recycling is another reason not to fear direct mail. Paper is one consumer product that is fairly easy and inexpensive to recycle. After first use, paper products can be made into corrugated boxes, packaging, newsprint, tissue and event writing paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, annual recycling rates for advertising mail have increased 700% since 1990. In 2008, 57.4% of all the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling. This is the equivalent of nearly 340 pounds of paper for each man, woman and child in America.

The paper industry has set a goal of 60% recovery by 2012.

Recycling paper has become popular worldwide

Over 95 million metric tons of paper are recovered each year and made into recycled paper and paperboard. Recovered paper fiber makes up over one-third of the total fiber used to make the world’s paper.

The United States is the world’s leading paper recycler, responsible for over one-third of all the paper recovered in the world.

• More paper and paperboard packaging is recovered for recycling than all glass, plastic, metal and other materials combined.
• 75% of all corrugated material and containers are recovered for recycling.
• 68% of all newsprint is recovered for recycling. About one-third is recycled back into newsprint. The rest is made into other products including cereal boxes, corrugated boxes, books, insulating materials, tissue, egg cartons and animal bedding.
• About 66% of the raw material used to make paper in the U.S. comes from recovered paper that is recycled, and the wood debris left from lumber manufacturing.
• More paper is recovered than is sent to landfills.

Here’s how post-consumer recovered paper is used: unprinted paper becomes toilet and tissue paper; printed white and colored writing paper becomes recycled copy paper; newspapers and magazines are used again for newspapers and magazines; and packaging material like corrugated boxes are used to make recycled packaging materials. Recovered paper can also be used in related products like egg cartons, wall insulation, roofing and animal bedding.

Statistics provided by TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry)

How is ink removed from recovered paper that is being recycled?

There are two ways to remove ink from paper – by washing, by flotation, or a combination.

In the washing process, soaps are added to paper as it is being pulped. The ink dissolves in the water which then can be cleaned and re-used. Ink removed by flotation requires air to be passed through the paper pulp. This produces foam that captures the ink; the foam is then skimmed off.

After de-inking, paper pulp may be bleached to increase brightness. Hydrogen peroxide is the most commonly used bleach as it decomposes into water and hydrogen. Another method is to use inert, harmless brightening compounds.

Not all paper pulp needs to be bleached, and not all recovered paper needs to be de-inked. If ink is not removed from recycled paper during pulping, the ink will disperse in the pulp, discoloring it slightly. For some uses, this discoloration is immaterial.

Ink removed from recycled pulp can be burned to generate energy to run the paper mill, or can be used to make compost or gravel for roads.

QR Codes: Reaching Customers through Mobile Marketing

A QR Code to a video we created

A QR code is the newest technology to help businesses link the physical world to the cyber world and market their product and services. Using Smartphone technology, people can scan a special QR (Quick Response) code and have their telephone connect to a web address, download a MP3 file, dial a telephone number or prompt the email client with a sender address almost instantaneous.

Mobile marketing is changing the way consumer marketing occurs. Instead of a campaign-based approach, it creates a dialogue where consumers are willing to share information and companies are able to make use of that information in a more valuable way. Mobile marketing has the ability to send the right message to the right person at the right time and so trigger a better response rate.

What makes mobile marketing with QR codes different is that it is permission-based. Unlike other forms of mass marketing, consumers need to give their permission before being marketed to. It is also targeted and live. Responses can be processed to give real-time visibility of reaction to specific offers.

Mobile marketing is two-way. Using mobile devices, consumers can not only respond to offers but also request specific types of information or interest (for example, offers related to a brand or a category) as well as sharing information with their peers. It is also considered a more trusted channel than email. Very strict rules have regulated marketing to mobile phones. As a result, unsolicited communication (spam) is not a problem in the same way that it is for email.

Who uses mobile marketing?

Any company selling a product and service can benefit from mobile marketing. Companies use it to extend their packaging. Consumers can access additional information about products through their mobile phone by scanning the QR code. It can be used to deliver content and purchase information. Some companies use mobile marketing to both capture and redeem coupons and discounts.

Consumers use mobile marketing to check whether or not a product is genuine and for reordering. Some consumers even use mobile marketing for mobile self scanning to scan and check prices in local stores.

Many marketing experts are predicting mobile marketing and QR codes will become commonplace in North America as they are in Japan and Europe.

What do you need for mobile marketing?

Consumers need to have a mobile telephone that has a web browser and a camera. The consumer can download a QR code reader application in order to scan and read the QR code. The QR code readers can be found at the telephone company’s App Store and are usually free or available for less than $2. A complete list of telephones that support QR codes and links to their QR readers can be found at http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qrcode-software/.

Your printing company can supply you with the actual QR code. Just provide the printer with the URL address and a QR code can be created and added to your printed piece.

QR Code with my contact information

Why haven’t I heard of it?

You may not have heard about mobile marketing and QR codes because it is brand new in North America. If you will look around you, you will see that QR code use is growing. You will notice them in magazine advertisements. Read the labels on products in the grocery store and you’ll probably see a QR code. Some airlines are using QR codes to replace boarding passes. Target stores are providing coupons and discounts to customers using QR codes.

We recommend starting now

We recommend are customers to start using QR codes now. Because they are new, companies using the QR codes will have a competitive advantage as mobile marketing grows. Younger, upscale consumers are already discovering mobile marketing and you don’t want to be left behind.

If you like a demonstration on how mobile marketing can work for your company, give me a call at (719) 591-0790. We can show you how you can combine printing and the Internet into a low cost solution to help you increase your sales and services.

Using Images In Documents - Part 2

File size
The size of a file is determined by whether it is a vector or raster file and whether it is binary, grayscale or color. File compression is a way of reducing file size without compromising image quality.

There are two compression methods: one (called lossless) keeps all the pixels of the original image but finds more efficient ways to represent recurring patterns of pixels in the file; and one (called lossey) eliminates pixels that aren’t needed to maintain quality.

File formats for printed images
The best file formats to use for images that will be printed are:

• For vector images: .eps (Encapsulated PostScript)
• For raster images: .tif (Tagged Image File Format)

Recall that vector images are constructed from mathematical formulas. This means that they are resolution-independent and can be scaled (resized) and manipulated (flipped, rotated, stretched, cropped, colorized, combined) with ease using programs like Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. This is an ideal format for initial
design of logos and illustrations, and for clip art.

Raster images are composed of rows and columns of pixels (sometimes called a bitmap). Because raster images are hard to resize and manipulate, they are best used at the size and orientation of the original. Raster images can be cropped, colorized, converted to grayscale or monochrome using image editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro. All photographs are raster images.

The .tif file format usually produces the best quality image from a digital camera. The other choice is .jpg (Joint
Photographic Experts Group), a file format that has been optimized for continuous-tone full color photographs by incorporating file compression.

JPG compression looks at blocks of 8x8 pixels and selectively reduces the detail in each block. This maintains the physical size of the image, reduces the amount of space required to store it, but sacrifices the quality of the image. The extent of image degradation depends on the degree of compression (it is adjustable).

If you are editing or manipulating digital photographs, work in .tif format rather than .jpg since each new save in .jpg compresses the file. By contrast, a .tif file uses lossless compression, so there is no loss of pixels.

The file formats .psd (Photoshop), .psp (Paint Shop Pro), .ai (Adobe Illustrator) and .cdw (Corel Draw) are proprietary. They are good to use while editing images in order to have access to all the editing tools in the program. However, after the image editing is complete, save raster images as a .tif file and vector images as an .eps file.

Use images successfully
For maximum effectiveness, any image you use in a document must reproduce well. This requires attention to the file format and adhering to production standards.

Using Images In Documents - Part 1

Imagine a page of text describing a product offered for sale. Now imagine that same page with images of the product added. Even in your imagination there’s a difference – the image adds interest to the page and improves its appearance.

That’s the power of images, whether they are photographs, clip art, illustrations, charts, graphs or symbols. To attract attention and improve reader comprehension, nothing beats an image.

An image has maximum effectiveness when it satisfies these four criteria: the image is worthy of being printed; it is of good quality; it is relevant to the text; and it is consistent with the design and layout of the document. In this post we will focus on what makes a good quality digital image for print.

What is a digital image?
A digital image is an image stored as one of two types: vector or raster. Vector images are lines created from mathematical calculations while raster images (also called bitmap) are created from numerical values – ones and zeros – organized as a fixed number of rows and columns of picture elements or pixels.

Vector images are created by illustration or drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. Raster images are created by digital cameras or scanners and are edited by image editors or paint programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro.

Color in images
The simplest images, called binary images, contain only two colors. Each pixel is stored as a single bit (either 0 or 1). These images are sometimes referred to as black and white or monochrome.

In a grayscale image, each pixel is a shade of gray that varies from black to white. Sometimes called a monochromatic image, grayscale requires 8 bits of storage for each pixel where each bit represents 256 possible levels of gray.

For a full color image, each pixel has 24 bits of storage and can display 16 million colors, shades and hues. This explains why files containing color images are so large.

The two most common color models are RGB (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). RGB color is the color model for computer monitors and the web, while CMYK is the color model for printing. If you are working with your images in the RGB model, you must convert them to CMYK before
placing them in your document.

Image resolution
Image resolution is the amount of detail an image holds, expressed as the number of pixels in the image. Resolution for digital cameras is often expressed as the number of pixel columns (width) by the number of pixel rows (height), such as 640 x 480. For printing, resolution is expressed as pixels per inch (ppi),
meaning the number of pixels in a linear inch. The more pixels per inch, the higher the resolution.

The most important thing to understand about resolution is the relationship between an image’s resolution (ppi) and an image’s print size (actual width and height). For a photograph to reproduce well in print, it must have a minimum resolution of 300 ppi in its print size. Such a file is termed high resolution (hi-res). In some cases we may be able to use a 200 ppi image, but we almost never can use a low resolution (lo-res) file (resolution is below 200 dpi) because there are not enough pixels to adequately represent the image.

Even if a file’s resolution is high enough, it still may not reproduce well if the image resolution doesn’t match the print size. If you ask us to enlarge the image to print in a bigger size than it was originally, the pixels that make up the image will move farther apart. This changes the number of pixels per inch, reducing the  resolution. If the enlargement is significant, individual pixels may become visible, creating jagged edges in the image. This effect is called pixelation.

A return address is an important part of any mail piece. For some types of mailings, it is a required element of the mailing panel, and in general it is a good idea because it allows the USPS to notify the mailer of address correction for first class mail (single-piece and presorted).

Return address legibility is crucial, especially since some letter mail may be redirected to the return address by PARS (Postal Automated Redirection System) if the mail piece is undeliverable as addressed.

The preferred location for a return address is the upper left corner of the mail piece or the upper left corner of the addressing area. If there is a secondary address element (apartment number, suite number, etc.) that must be included on the street address line.

If postage is paid using precanceled stamps or a company permit imprint (indicia), the return address must include the 5-digit or 9-digit ZIP code. ZIP codes must also be used in the return address on all official mail (penalty mail) and on periodicals mail when Address Service Requested is specified on the mail piece.

Here are the situations when a return address must be used;

• Any class of mail endorsed with an ancillary service request (i.e., return service, forward service, address service, forward service)
• Official mail
• Mail using precanceled stamps as postage
• Mail using a company permit imprint for postage
• Priority Mail
• Periodicals mailed in envelopes or wrappers and periodicals endorsed with address service requested
• Package services, except for unendorsed bound printed matter
• Registered mail
• Insured mail
• Collect on Delivery (COD)
• Certified mail if a return receipt is requested
• Express mail if a return receipt is requested
• Detached address labels (DALs)

To safely use images that you have found on the web without copyright infringement, you need to know the  difference between images that are in the public domain and those that are protected by copyright. Here are the  basics:

• All intellectual property (writing, images, illustrations, photographs, etc.) belongs to the person who created it, and that person may impose conditions or terms of usage on anyone else who wants to use the intellectual property. Failure to honor the terms of usage is a violation of the intellectual property owner’s rights.
• After a certain amount of time, intellectual property passes into the public domain. A work in the public domain is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by anyone.

Anything  published before 1923 is now in the public domain. Unpublished works created before 1978 began to pass intothe public domain on December 31, 2002. The absence of a copyright notice on works published before March  1, 1989 puts them in the public domain (with some exceptions). Once an image has passed into the public  domain, there are no restrictions on its use. You can make changes, add color, resize, or even resell the image.

There is a misconception that images available on web sites are in the public domain. Usually they are not.  Images scanned from sources such as magazines, books, greeting cards, coloring books, etc. are copyrighted and should not be used without written permission. Most cartoon characters (Disney characters, for example) are copyrighted.

How Good Is Your Mailing List? Part 2

Software for maintaining a mail list
Since a mail list is really a data base of elements needed to form an address, it is best to maintain it in a software program such as Microsoft Access that is designed for data base management. While it is easy to use the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel to set up columns and tabular displays, it is not the first choice for mail list maintenance. Don’t use Microsoft Word for your mail list even though it has a mail merge function.

Merge/purge and de-duplication
Merge/purge is one method of improving the quality of a mail list. In this process, two or more different name and address files are combined (merged) into one list and duplicate records are identified and deleted (purged). De-duplication (de-dupe) is the same process but using only one list. One of the main benefits of merge/purge and de-duplication is to ensure that a single individual or business receives only one mail piece.

Identifying duplicates requires a set of rules to define what constitutes a duplicate. Addresses can be compared to addresses only; or names to names only; or names and addresses compared. Matches can be exact (meaning every element is identical) or near (meaning Bob Peterson or Rob Peterson would be considered a match to Robert Peterson).

Move update
We are a very mobile population. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that on average, about 1 in 6 Americans move every year. However, some demographic segments move more often – about one-third of renters move each year, compared to about 10% of homeowners, and about one-third of adults in their early 20s.

What this means for you as a mail list manager is the importance of verifying that an individual or business is at the address you have on file. One way to do this is to mail at least every 90 days and to use an ancillary service endorsement (ASE) on the outside of the mail piece. The ASE tells the USPS what to do with the mail piece if the individual or business has moved. Another way is to compare your mail list to the database maintained by the USPS of individuals and businesses who have turned in change of address notices. We provide this service, called move update verification, to our customers; if you would like more information, just give us a call.

Mail list enhancement services
If you have carefully compiled your mailing list and maintained it well, you may benefit from enhancing the list with additional information besides what is required to address a mail piece. A business list can be enhanced with information such as SIC code, annual sales, and number of employees, while household income, phone, gender and other demographic information can be added to a residential list. Data append produces a profile of your customers which can be used as the basis for selecting prospects that match the profile.

Your mail list: a valuable marketing tool
Because your mail list can be a valuable marketing tool, it is worth the effort to compile and maintain a good one. We will be glad to discuss your plans to use your mailing list for a marketing effort, and to provide information on how to improve its quality, accuracy and recency.

How Good Is Your Mailing List? Part 1

We strongly believe in the power of direct mail marketing as a way to build business. Keeping your company or organization’s name in front of customers helps to reinforce their decision to use your products and services; for prospects, it creates name recognition; and for both groups it builds top of mind awareness for your brand.


The success of any direct mail marketing campaign is determined by three factors: the quality of the mail piece itself; the offer; and the mailing list. Of these, the mailing list is significantly more important than the other two. In fact, the Direct Marketing Association attributes 60% of the success of a mailing to the list itself and just 20% each to the mailer and the offer.

The secret to an effective mailing list
The secret to an effective mailing list can be stated in one word: accurate. Accuracy starts with getting the right individuals or businesses on the list – those who have an established interest in your product or service, or those who share the same demographic characteristics. Gender, age, income, level of education and geographic proximity are all examples of shared demographic characteristics.

Another measure of accuracy is the quality of each address. The individual or business name must be complete and correctly spelled; the street address must contain all necessary elements, including secondary information (i.e., unit, apartment, space, etc.) and street suffix (i.e., street, avenue, boulevard, road, drive, way, lane, etc.); and the city and state must have the correct ZIP or postal code.

An effective list has a data field for every unique element in the mailing list, even if it occurs rarely. List managers develop data entry conventions such as using standard abbreviations for street type (St., Ave., Blvd., etc.) and secondary address elements (Ste., #, Sp., etc.), and enforce the standards by not allowing creative data entry (such as entering a company name in the place reserved for the name of a person).

Mail list structure
Maintaining data quality is a function of how the mail list is structured and how fully data entry standards are developed and enforced. It is particularly important that the list have the right number of fields to contain all the name and address information, and to size the fields so there is enough room to hold the information without extensive use of abbreviations or truncating.

The first step in structuring a mail list is to determine the total number of unique data elements and to create a separate field for each one, no matter how infrequently it occurs. For example, if your mailing list contains just one foreign address, you will need to create a country field as well as any additional fields required by the country’s postal system (i.e., addresses in Puerto Rico require an urbanization code). If you want to include a middle initial for an individual’s name, you will need a middle name field and refrain from entering the middle initial into the fields reserved for first name or last name. Similarly, a list that contains both individual and business names will need a company field so that the business name isn’t entered into a field used for the individual’s name.

People’s names consist of five basic parts: prefix (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Rev., Sen., etc.); first name; middle name or initial; last name; and suffix (Jr., III, DDS, Ph.D., etc.)

The importance of maintaining separate fields for name elements in a mail list becomes clear when searching for duplicates in the list. If an individual’s name is separated into its constituent parts in a mailing list, it is much simpler to identify duplicates than if the first name and last name are in the same field.

Print Can Drive Online Activity

As businesses and organizations continue to integrate print-based marketing with online activities, many have discovered the benefit of using a post card to introduce and drive prospects to the web site. And while a post card can be any size, there is one we highly recommend for this purpose: either 4 x 6 inches or 4.25 x 6 inches.

This size falls into the USPS classification of  card  which is a subclass of first class mail. Due to an anomaly in postage rates, it actually costs less in postage to mail a card than a larger post card. And because the smaller card is first class mail, it receives the first class mail services - delivery priority and free notification back to the mailer if the card is not deliverable as addressed.

When designing the card, keep in mind how the letter carrier will present the mail. Most likely, it will be sorted with the address facing the recipient. Be sure you include enough tantalizing information on this side of the post card to ensure that the recipient will turn it over and read your main message.

The content of your newsletter is what attracts and keeps reader interest by providing relevant, informative, entertaining and useful information. One purpose of a newsletter is to lend credibility to your company and to establish your expertise; this can only be accomplished if the newsletter is mainly information, with little or no  advertising.

• Relevant information: To provide relevant information in your newsletter, you must know the target audience. If your audience is diverse, it may be better to publish more than one version of your newsletter so the content can be fully tailored.
• Useful information: Factual articles based on research, or “how-to” tips based on experience both qualify as useful information. To encourage readers to trust the information, keep sales hype, (including superlatives and over-the-top claims) out of the articles.
• Writing style: A good writing style to adopt for your newsletter is the same one used by a newspaper journalist – objective, factual and well-researched. Focus on news that is relevant to your audience, and present it without bias. Keep the language easy-to-read and the sentence structure simple and conversational.
• Call to action: Even though your newsletter isn’t directly selling, it should include a call to action. Emphasize current offers, discounts or other specials of interest to customers and prospects, and make it easy for them to act on the information by providing instructions for what to do if interested.

Newsletter Topic Ideas

If you’re finding it difficult to find topics for your newsletter, we offer these suggestions:

• Interview an expert. Find someone within your company or from the outside to provide an expert opinion on a topic of interest.
• Use guest articles. Ask an expert in a complementary field to write an article.
• Share your knowledge in “how-to” articles. Write about topics that will help others succeed in using your company’s products or services.
• Generate a numbered list. Everyone loves a numbered list. Use any number you want, from small to large.
• Answer reader questions: Invite readers to submit questions or topics of interest.
• Simplify a technical issue. Explain a technical topic in simpler terms so it is easily understood by the reader.
• Case study: Describe a customer problem and show how your product or service solved the problem.
• Community service: Describe a community project or donation made by the company or organization and its staff and members.
• Employee profile: Provide information about an employee that shows why he or she is outstanding in their job performance.

What Do I Need To Know About Newsletter Design?

A newsletter’s design has a big impact on reader reaction. To be sure your design is successful, remember these three Cs: consistent, conservative and contrast.

Consistency addresses the format of your newsletter. If printing in black with an accent color, select a color palette and maintain it throughout each issue. Use an underlying grid to organize each page. If your newsletter is short (4 pages or less), use the same grid for each page. Use templates and style sheets to control headlines, subheads and body copy.

Be conservative in the use of fonts and graphic elements, especially in a short newsletter. A good rule of thumb is
to limit the number of photos, graphic accents or clip art to one or two per page. Select one font for body copy and another for headlines, and use these exclusively. Stylize the two fonts with italics, bold, and condensed, but do not introduce additional fonts.

Use contrast to direct the reader’s eye and to establish the hierarchy of importance. Headlines should contrast with body copy and with subheads. Drop caps, extra-large initial caps, or an illustrated capital will draw the reader’s eye and create graphic interest. Use white space in the form of gutters and margins to lighten up dense body copy.

Improving the design of your newsletter will pay dividends in reader interest and accessibility.

How Many Images Can I Use With a Page of Text?

A good rule of thumb is to include no more than 3 or 4 images on a single page of text. When counting the  images, include photographs, clip art, charts, graphics, boxes and borders and decorative special effects. One or two key images that support the text will be more effective than a lot of distracting visual noise.

To reduce the number of images, try these tricks:

• Unify decorative special effects by picking one and using it throughout the document rather than changing it on each page.
• Use font size, alignment or color for emphasis rather than clip art.
• Instead of several small photos, enlarge and crop one photo so it dominates the page.
• Collect items that require reader attention into a single box with a background screen.
• If you must include many photographs to accompany one story, arrange them to indicate priority or importance.

Five-Day Delivery: Not a Sure Thing

In late March, the USPS Board of Governors approved the USPS management proposal to drop Saturday mail delivery and to file a request for an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The request was filed on March 30, 2010.

The USPS management proposal does not eliminate all services on Saturday. For example, retail window hours at post offices, delivery to P.O. boxes, incoming mail processing and transportation of mail between plants and network distribution centers (NDCs), and collection and processing of Express Mail would continue. What will be eliminated is collection of mail from blue boxes, delivery to street addresses, and Saturday processing of originating mail.

The postal service estimates that eliminating collection and delivery of mail on Saturdays initially will save over $3 billion annually, even after taking into consideration mail volume that will be lost because of no Saturday collection and delivery. By 2020, savings are projected to be about $5 billion annually. The savings come mainly from lower personnel costs.

To reinforce its proposal, the USPS commissioned several surveys of the public. These indicate that about two-thirds of average postal customers would accept five-day delivery if it meant avoiding postage rate increases and enabled the USPS to return to financial stability. Predictably, the postal labor unions are strongly opposed to the reduction in service.

While the PRC’s advisory opinion is important, the final decision will be made by Congress. Annually Congress makes an appropriation to the USPS and in past years the appropriation bill has included language mandating 6-day delivery. There are some legislators, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois who are opposed to eliminating Saturday delivery because they see Saturday delivery as a competitive advantage of the USPS.

The USPS hopes to implement 5-day delivery in FY2011, but to do so will have to overcome objections by the postal unions, Congress, and some parts of the mailing industry.

Is The Whiteness of Paper the Same As Brightness?

No, these terms are not interchangeable. Brightness is the amount of light reflected back to the reader’s eye, while whiteness refers to the quality (rather than the amount) of light.

A bright sheet increases the contrast between the paper and the ink, which causes colors and photographs to “pop”. Grades of paper – premium, #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 – differ from each other in the amount of  brightness, with premium grade being the brightest. Bleaching paper increases brightness and moves paper up the brightness scale (with 100 being the brightest). Select a high-brightness sheet when your document has lots of photographs or lots of color.

A white sheet evenly reflects all colors of the visual spectrum (though papers inherently have either a warm,
yellowish or cool, bluish hue). In general blue-white sheets appear brighter than yellow-white sheets (though this may change once ink or varnish is applied). If your document has a cool color palette (blues, greens, purples), a cool white sheet will make the colors appear brighter. If warm colors (reds, yellow, oranges) are dominant, they will appear clearer and more vibrant on a yellow-white sheet.

What Is Your Call To Action?

No matter what kind of marketing material you are sending to your mail list, it is a good idea to include a call to action -- a clear instruction of what you want the prospect to do - and something that creates a sense of urgency about taking the action.

Here are some examples of a call to action:

• Call for more information
• Bring in this coupon
• Buy this and we'll include that for free

A call to action can be made even more powerful by adding wording that notifies the reader that there is some risk in failing to act immediately. Expiration dates, a statement of limited supply or scarcity, or a qualifier are all ways to create a sense of urgency.

See what happens if we add a sense of urgency to the call to action:

• This is a limited-time offer - call by next Tuesday
• Coupon will be redeemed for the first 50 people
• Buy this and we'll include that until supplies run out

What Kinds of Mail Lists Are Available?

In the most general terms, there are two kinds of lists: a house list consisting of information about your own customers and prospects; and a rented list consisting of information that has been gathered and offered for use. Here is a description:

• House list: a house list includes the names, addresses and other information for the customers of a business. It may also include the same information about prospects -- people who have responded to marketing efforts or share characteristics with customers. As a general rule, a house list provides the best response rate from a direct mail campaign.

• Rented list: a mailing list that has been compiled from various sources.

Most house lists are compiled by the business of organization itself, while rented lists are compiled from public information sources or from respondents (those who have purchased a product or service or subscribe to a publication or have answered a survey). Some rented lists are privetely owned and require the list renter to meet criteria for list use.

Mail list brokers differentiate between a business list consisting of commercial establishments and organizations and a residential lists of homeowners and renters.

Quick Response Codes

A bar code called Quick Response or QR Code is expected to begin having an impact on business information in the coming year. 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. A 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 are starting to pop up in North America as mobile phone companies add the software to their cameras. And apps are available for nearly every camera phone that doesn't already have the necessary software.
 Are you ready to start touching your customers in this way?

What is a QR code?

QR codes were developed by the Japanese firm Denso Wave as a bar code for inventory. Other uses were quickly developed and QR codes have been popular in Japan and Europe for several years. The technology is now migrating to North America because of the increased use in mobile smartphones.

QR codes have become more popular than the typical barcode as the typical barcode can only hold a maximum of 20 digits, whereas the QR code can hold up to 7,089 characters. This makes the use and diversity of QR code much more appealing than their older counter part, the barcode. QR codes are capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code.

Experts have identified six primary business applications for QR codes. This includes:

1. Extended packaging: consumers access additional information about products through their mobile phone.
2. Content purchase and delivery: digital products such as videos, games and music can be tried and sold via mobile phones.
3. Mobile coupons: mobile phones are used both to capture and redeem coupons and discounts.
4. Authentication: mobile phones are used to check whether or not a product is genuine.
5. Re-ordering: Mobile phones are used to reorder products with orders sent to the supplier in a standard format.
6. Mobile self-scanning: consumers in supermarkets use their mobile phone (rather than a device supplied by the supermarket) to scan products as they do their shopping.

QR Codes: Connecting Smartphones to the Web

The QR code is the latest darling of marketing gurus. QR codes link the physical world with the cyber world. QR codes are a perfect solution to quickly and efficiently bring mobile phone users onto the mobile web.

Many mobile phones or smartphones include a camera and a web browser. The camera in phones such as the iPhone and Blackberry, along with decoding software, can be used to capture a picture of the QR code. The QR code reader transforms the data held in the QR code to a meaningful action for the mobile phone. It can connect to a web address, download a MP3 file, dial a telephone number or prompt the email client with a sender address. This can all be done almost instantaneous.

For marketing purposes, the QR code usually contains a specific URL address. This URL address could be the main page of a website or a page within a website. When the QR code is scanned, the user is sent to the specific URL and can view the URL on their phone’s web browser. The purpose is to direct a user to a website where he can get additional information, access to video and sound, or any other additional information.

The QR code may be applied to any surface that it can be put upon; paper, walls, signs, plastic, elephants. Any surface, that is, that will allow the user to take a picture of the code and run that picture through the decoder process (smartphone application). That will then automatically link the smartphone to whatever landing page has been designated within the code.

The Big New Thing: Quick Response Codes

Every year something pops up that is "hot" in the technology world. This year it is going to be QR Codes. A QR Code is a two dimensional bar code that can be scanned by a mobile phone and direct the person scanning to a website or additional information usually found on the Internet. QR Codes are considered the next big thing for marketing in the US and the QR Codes are starting to pop up on printed marketing pieces.

QR Codes storing addresses and URLs (web addresses) are starting to appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or just about any object that users might need information. Users with a camera phone hardlink or physical world hyperlinks, 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.

A smart phone with a special QR Code reader is required to scan the code. All smart phones with a camera have the ability to read QR Codes and most offer a free QR Code reader app.

Not only can QR Codes be used for marketing material. Educators are using the codes to direct people using training materials to other reference materials. Restaurants are using the codes to provide diners with additional nutritional information. The sky is the limit for uses of QR Codes. Some marketers use the QR Codes on post cards where the code leads the receiver to more information about the product or service on the web.

Snail Mail Still Sells

In a Wall Street Journal story, the president of a company that had used direct "snail mail" for years related what happened when they decided to change to email sales.

 

Amid the recession this company was looking to cut costs. They had spent about $20,000 a year on personally signed letters that offered customers a discount for early orders. Time and money could be saved by switching the advertising program to email.

 

Despite the prevalence of digital media, this company found old fashion direct mail was the key to winning and keeping customers.

 

After swapping snail mail for email last year, this company, a seller city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market, saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.

 

"We realized we had made a huge mistake," said the president of the New York firm.

 

The affordability of e-marketing, along with the explosion of social media and the desire to trim costs in the recession, has prompted many small companies to slash traditional direct-mail budgets. U.S. consumers received about 5.2 billion pieces of direct mail in the third quarter of 2009, a 27% decline compared with 7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a research firm that tracks direct-mail marketing.

 

However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it's not so easy to dismiss.

 

Our New York company president says that at first she blamed the economy for the drop off, until she "started hearing from customers that they never got their 'reminder' in the mail." She quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss.

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #10 Print is everywhere

Print has been the world's favorite medium ever since a little known monk asked Gutenberg: "How much do you want for that Bible?" We're used to being surrounded by print. We're comfortable with it. We want more.

What do the numbers say? Consider a 2006 survey by the magazine Graphic Design USA. It found that 9 out of 10 of the designers polled have worked in print during the last year. What's more, a total of 91% of the respondents' projects involved print exclusively or were comprised of a substantial print component. The survey also discovered that 71% of the designers' total work hours were devoted to print driven projects.

Look at event marketing. It wouldn't be possible without print. Programs, posters, signage of all kinds, special commemorative publications - print is on the scene at ball games, motorsports venues, concerts, shows, fairs, museums, galleries and rallies. Whenever a crowd gathers, print can provide a platform for marketers and a fresh perspective for fans.

There is even evidence that we like print more than television. A study by the magazine Publishers of America found that for 36 brands that shifted ad expenditures from TV to magazines, media effectiveness scores doubled over time.

Those are vital signs of a medium that's vibrant and valuable. That medium is print.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #9 - Print is personal

It's time to put each prospect's name up in lights, literally. Or use a skywriter to put your personalized message to them in the clouds. Or maybe you want to include a photo of the specific product in which they expressed interest. Print can do all that and more because print takes marketing personally.

Using variable data printing (VDP) and one-to-one messaging techniques, you can personalize each and every piece of your print campaign - right down to the specific photos you use and every word of your pitch. Did some one say relationship building?

According to a 2004 report by Interquest, the response rate for customized color direct mail campaigns ranges from 6% to 75%, with an average of 21%. The response rates were, on average, 5.6 times higher for customized color versions than for simple mail merge applications. The more you individualize print, the more individuals you will inspire.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #8 - Print puts them in control

Telemarketing is the crudest form of cold calling and, with the growth in do-not-call lists, its effectiveness has sunk to an all-time low. In fact, a Time magazine poll rated telemarketing number four on the list of the worst ideas of the 20th century. Today, it has gotten to the point that many companies stay away from the phone because they don't want their reputation damaged by overeager telemarketers.

But what happens when we add print to the equation? Send prospects a personalized mailing that introduces the caller and lets them tell you the best time to call. Now you're putting the potential customer in control of the situation. There are no more interruptions at dinner. There is only a positive flow of information between the marketer and the consumer. The bond starts to get stronger, the relationship grows, and the sale becomes a natural progression of the power of print rather than a rude intrusion.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #7 - Print is credible

The phrase, "Get it down on paper" has never been more meaningful. Having words and images that you can examine and hold in your hand, review, show to others and keep in a safe place provides a degree of reassurance that no bit-and-byte medium can match.

People love the speed and scope of the internet, but the web's fleeting nature makes them wonder: Am I getting the fast shuffle here? And what's all this contradictory information? Conversely, our ink-on-paper medium is believable because print is real, print is timeless and print is focused.

An increasing number of marketers are leveraging print's high credibility by using custom publications to get their messages out and absorbed. More than 32 billion custom publications circulate annually in the United States, according to the Custom Publishing Review's 2006 Annual Report. Total expenditures on the medium amounted to $29.9 billion for the year. The researchers also found that 66% of people surveyed read custom publications and that 80% agree that custom publications contain useful information. They are believers because print is the credible medium.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #6 - Buyers seek print

The success of retail websites means printed catalogs can be relegated to the doornail file. Or so says the conventional wisdom. But, recent research indicates otherwise.

Online consumers who received a printed catalog from any given retailer were nearly twice as likely to make an online purchase at that retailer's website. The finding comes from a comScore survey based on 6,400 responses from online shoppers.

The reason for the sales windfall: consumers seek print when they're ready to buy. That's a fact supported by a 2005 field study by the Direct Marketing Association. Scoring the primary channels for generating orders, the research found that 60% came from printed catalogs, 24% were inspired by retail settings and only 9% arrived via internet.

The percent of sales by channel also showed print's pulling power. Paper catalogs accounted for 42% of sales, retail 20%, websites 26% and other channels 12%.

In a 2006 study of newspaper readers sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, 78% reported that they use newspaper inserts to plan shopping and 76% say that these inserts have helped them save money.

The moral: If you're not using print, you're missing out on big numbers.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #5 - Print plays well with others

Sure, the internet is cool. What's cooler is using a printed direct mail campaign to draw prospects to a personalized web site, then following up with a printed thank-you card or closer.

Yes, the World Wide Web provides a real-time interactive environment, but so do the telephone and television. Print enhances the impact of all of those media by providing your client's prospects with an extra dimension. One that's friendly. One that's warm. One that's inviting. And, one that they can't very well ignore because they're holding it right in their hands.

Consider the 2003 research published in the journal of Advertising Research, which examined the advertising impact on weekly sales of a pizza franchiser. It found that the best combination of media in driving sales is direct mail and national TV advertising used together. The print/broadcast duo doubled the impact of using any one medium alone.

An American Business Media study adds more insight into the effectiveness of combining print with other media. According to the research, B-to-B magazines were viewed by prospects as more trustworthy and objective, websites were seen as the place where they received timely information, and trade shows were viewed as the place for interactions and to improve their awareness of alternatives. That must be why smart marketers are using all three outlets to maximize their ROI.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #4 - Print is beautiful

Why do they call it the graphic arts? Because print is beautiful and printers continue to consider every job they do a personal masterpiece. And now, advanced printing techniques - like high-fi color and advanced screening - make their work more appealing and more compelling.

Photos seem to jump off the page. Special effects draw the eye to the printed content, and a new generation of papers and substrates make readers want to touch and feel your message. You can't get any closer than that. The beauty of print will enhance your product or service, giving it a special appeal of its own and an extra tangible dimension that no electronic media can impart.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #3 - Print drives a higher ROI

Printing is particularly persuasive as direct mail. According to research by the Direct Marketing Association and the Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates, print's performance through the mail can be measured in dollars and cents.

The DMA researchers found that U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail marketing to earn $2,095 worth of goods per person, scoring a return of investment of 13 to 1.

Why? Because people gravitate toward print. A total of 38% of households surveyed by the U.S. Postal service in 2006 found direct mail pieces interesting. That study also found that 85% of mail is either read or visually scanned by recipients.

And direct mail is also a great way to expand business relationships and keep customers loyal. A study by the Rochester Institute of Technology Printing Industry Center found that 67% of respondents like getting mail about new products from companies they do business with.


  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #2 - Print is portable

Long after their iPod battery is drained, people will still be reading what you send them in print. Print is the ultimate in portability and playability. They can pick up a magazine at a newsstand, buy a book on the fly or grab your brochure from a trade show exhibit. There are no compatibility issues, no need to keep anything charged, and never a worry about screen glare. You can fold print, stuff it, clip it, even scratch-and-sniff it.

Print can be carried and consumed anywhere, and any time: On trains, planes and automobiles. Take it to bed, to the beach or to the bath. There's no need to boot it up or power it down. Print is always there and always ready to instruct, inform and entertain.

  ©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

The Top Ten Ways Print Helps You Prosper: #1 - Print is for keeps

Who's minding your messages when the screens fade to black? Electronic content comes and goes and when it's gone, your marketing initiative disappears with it. Print, on the other hand, is there for the long run. Think about magazine pass-along rates. They range as high as two to three persons per issue, giving advertisers double and triple bonuses on their marketing investments.

Example: A 2004 BPA Pass Along Audit of Ziff Davis Media's eWeek magazine shows that on average subscribers pass along their printed issue to an additional 3.6 industry decision-makers. So, even the elite of the IT world recognize and benefit from print.

What's more, specific magazine content can be spotlighted and passed along on a one-to-one basis. A Magazine Publishers of America survey found that 24% of readers typically pass an article along to someone else, 23% save the article for future reference, and 13% visit a related website.

In action, print's durability has a positive impact on every message it touches. It says: Your message is significant. That you cared enough to put it on paper. That you are authentic rather than virtual, and you will be there when we need you.

©2006, The Print Council, Washington, DC, www.theprintcouncil.org

Why Print? We've Got Your Reasons.

We all take printing for granted. Perhaps it's because print has been the world's number one communication medium for so long we tend to overlook its impact and power.

That oversight could be fatal to a marketing campaign, a product launch, or a branding initiative that is trying to connect with people. People trust print. They feel comfortable using it. And they can't fast forward past it.

The next ten posts are a guide to the persuasive power that print provides and why you should consider using print in your next campaign. It doesn't have to be the only medium you use. But, you most definitely should consider print whenever you want to persuade, inform or entertain.

The Printed Newsletter: Still Important to You

Why do you still need a printed newsletter? With budget pressures, many groups look to alternative ways to get information to their audience. Some think that if they eliminate a printed newsletter, they can cut printing and mailing costs and still get the information out. But a printed newsletter is still an important communication tool. And for many, the best way to communicate via newsletter is using both a printed newsletter and an electronic newsletter. 

The following are points to consider when discussing how to proceed with your newsletter.

•  Most media experts believe that printing a newsletter can be much more effective than some of the modern trends of sending e-newsletters for both businesses and organizations. The main goal of a newsletter is to build and maintain customer loyalty. Newsletters are a tangible medium. Readers will have more opportunities to focus and understand the message when they sit back and read during their personal downtime. Printed newsletters are small and mobile, read away from the computer, shared with others, and filed away for future reference. Many audiences can still only be reliably reached with a printed newsletter. There is one major advantage of print newsletters over electronic ones is everyone has a physical address, so newsletters will definitely be received. And to date the targeting and demographic information a user can get for physical addresses is superior to that contained in most e-mail address databases.

• If you are considering eliminating a printed newsletter, you need to consider if your audience can be reached online. If the audience is an older demographic, not everyone is using the Internet or so overwhelmed by SPAM that they delete what is not important to them at the moment.

• You will also have to find a way to gather email addresses and keep them updated. This can be a time consuming and costly task. It also may be necessary to train yours audience how to keep the newsletters from being flagged as SPAM. Studies show that the average person reads emails quickly and when they do come across a newsletter in their email inbox, they tend to simply scan it and delete it. With printed newsletters, people are more apt to carry them with them, and read them on their own time, when they can actually comprehend the message that is being communicated. Printed newsletters also never require a certain type of software or connection speed on a computer. Anyone can view the printed newsletter at any given time.

At Some Point In Any Printing Project, The Question of Price Arises

It may be sooner if the project is new and a budget hasn't yet been established. But eventually your printer will need to provide you with the cost.

In order to give you an exact price, your printer needs to have firm specifications for the job - the finished size, the paper, the number of ink colors - and whether the job will require any post-press operations like trimming or folding or special applications like die cutting or foil stamping. They also need to know the quantity to be printed. With this information they can give you a firm quotation.

Before the specifications are firm, the printer can provide an estimate. An estimate differs from a quotation in an important way - it is the best guess about the cost, but it is not considered binding like a quotation. Estimates are useful for establishing a budget or for determining whether the planned project fits within costs that have been established previously. If the estimate exceeds your budget for the project, ask for suggested changes to the specifications that will help bring the two closer together.

What's Most Important in Choosing a Printer?

If you've asked this question before, you may recall advice about selecting a printer based on any number of factors - equipment or price or length of time in business or number of employees or any combination of these and other criteria.

Taken together, these criteria help you predict whether the printer you are considering has the capability and capacity to do your work, and whether you have the necessary budget. But relying on those factors alone doesn't address what we think is the most important basis for selecting a printer - the likelihood that you can depend on the printer.

We suggest something different. Whether you buy printing occasionally or often; whether you consider yourself an expert or a novice; whether you understand printing technology or not; in the end, the most important factor is outcome - did the printing you ordered arrive on time, at the price agreed upon, and to the quality standards you expected. Between the time you placed the order and the printing was delivered, did you worry about the job or were you able to move on to other tasks, confident the job would be delivered as expected?

We suggest that if you had to micromanage the job, that's a sign you're with the wrong printer - even thought the equipment, price and reputation of the printer may appear to be a perfect match with your needs.

Is Direct Mail Dead?

Examining the success of traditional and online media channels in driving purchases, ExactTarget's commissioned 2009 Channel Preference Study found both young and old are still directly influenced by direct mail for the purchase of an item or a service more than any other channel.

The second annual study on the topic of consumers' use of different channels for interpersonal communication and their attitudes toward marketing communications, conducted by Forrester Research for the on-demand e-mail communications software company finds:

Three of four Internet users surveyed say they were directly influenced to purchase an item or a service thanks to a direct mail piece (76%); TV came in second at 67% and email third at 58%. Other influencing variables were: Infomercial on TV - 39%, Phone - 17%, Social Media - 8$, Text messaging - 7%, and Instant Messaging - 5%.

In addition; three-quarters (75% of 25 to 34 year olds have made a purchase resulting from direct mail. An almost identical number have been directly influenced by a tv commercial. Young adults, 18 to 24 years old, are also most likely to be influenced by direct mail (62%), with older consumers even more likely to have made a purchase as a result of this channel. The only exception is for teens, where direct mail-influenced purchases (55%) are second to television commercials (62%).

Across every age group, email is third on the list of channels evaluated (in terms of percentage of consumers who have made a purchase as the direct result of a marketing message), behind direct mail and television commercials. Teens are least likely to have made online purchases through email (36%).