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Print On Demand is a term that has been thrown around for some time now. It typically relates to online internet purchasing, where a client can log into a website, load or choose artwork, sometimes allow text information to be inserted and then print and ship to the client. This is a great source for those that do not need personal service.
There are some drawbacks, such as the aforementioned lack of service. A lot of POD outlets provide very little or no customer service, and rightfully so since they tend to have to sell their product at razor-thin margins.
Sometimes there are stipulations such has having to buy a minimum amount of stock (i.e. shells) that is printed with basic information, with variable information to be inserted online later and printed again. Also, with products such as business cards, it is very common for a client to have to enter information and place an order for each card needed, rather than being able to enter and print multiple cards at a time.
People seem to like the ‘whiz-bang’ features of Print On Demand. Most online sources have a function where a template proof appears on the screen, and when information is changed, the changes take place in real time as you are viewing the proof.
Check out ProjectCenter’s services at www.makepapereasy.com.
For a Consumer Data Mailing List, there are multiple geographic selections to choose from:
Zip Code, Zip Range, Carrier Routes, Radius, City, State, County, Multi-Location Radius, Area Code, Phone Prefix, DMA Code, Census Tract, CBSA.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
There are printers in the industry, typically in the commercial space, that will tell a broker that they “work with brokers”. What they don’t tell brokers is that it won’t stop them from calling broker’s clients directly. This tactic is called ‘poaching’, which is a despicable approach to business. Not to mention, it condones a bad reputation of the entire broker community, which is not a surprise when you consider the direct model of print business.
As an example of how disloyal and diabolical these printers can be, there is a local Phoenix printer that, at one time, went so far as to recruit all the best print sales people in the area, offering higher salaries than the competition. All those sales people brought their clients with them, and after a year, the printer fired most of the sales staff in an attempt to retain the clients.
This is definately the kind of company that brokers need not deal with. Should a broker need to do business with a direct-model printer (maybe they have an offering that no one else has), then definately get a non-compete written up by a lawyer.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
Business mailing lists typically only have a 80% accuracy rate. This is due to the fact that most business data is voluntarily offered by the businesses to D&B, rather than a company pulling information from a database.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
When using the household income variable while running an Occupant List (a basic list of all addresses in an area), be sure to know that the general minimum should be 70k ($70,000) for the list to provide thorough information. If a client is looking at a household income of less than $70k, then it is best to run what is called a Consumer List.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
Some clients may have heard a broker or printer mention an iGen in the past, along with many other names in the industry. An iGen, or what is currently known as the iGen3, is a digital printing press (http://www.xerox.com/digital-printing/digital-printing-press/color-printing/xerox-igen3-110-90/enus.html).
Orginally, the iGen was meant for copy shops, that were consistantly running upwards of 5 color copiers at a time, and were looking to consolidate. That said, the iGen has a reputation of being a souped-up color copier, but with fast speeds, no set up (which means no minimum quantities), and better quality print than a copier.
With these attributes, the iGen has become a very popular solution for short-run (less than 1000 units) print and variable data (personalized printing) projects. Real Estate firms and Title agencies love this print offering, because these sort of companies are based off the individual, and individuals don’t necessarily have the money to dish out for large-quantity print work. At the same time, the competitive nature of their businesses does not give them time to wait 3-5 days for a print job. The iGen has become a great solution for these situations.
The iGen is most commonly used to print brochures, books, flyers, postcards, newsletters, catalogs, manuals, Point of Purchase materials, sell sheets and more.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
A Real Property Data List is an extensive list of verified homeowners, and is compiled from county and assessor files. Like the Occupant List, the Real Property List is determined by area.
There are chargeable selections to choose from such as Total Loan Amount, Loan to Value Range, 2nd or 3rd Mortage, Loan Amount, Loan Date, Loan Interest Rate Type, Loan Lender Type, Owner Type, Housing Type, Home Purchase Date, Home Purchase Amount, Available Home Equity, Home Market Value, Delinquent Tax, Delinquent Tax Year, Square Footage or Lot Size, Number of Bedrooms, Number of Units, Year Built, Length of Residence, Fireplace or Garage, Pool, Heating & Cooling System, Age, Gender, Marital Status, Estimated Household Income, Age of Children, etc.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
It is very common for clients to push for sooner-than-expected project completions. This can be directly correlated to insufficient planning, which can be directly correlated to an unintended lack of printing awareness.
Let it be known that, as a general rule of thumb, simple offset print jobs take 3-5 days to process. This 3-5 days would include the printing process and delivery, but does not include designing, prepress designing, mailing, or finishing services such as folding, binding, foiling, embossing, etc.
As for designing, there can be no general estimated time given. Each project is treated separately and requires an individual estimate. Prepress designing, which includes the proofing process, can take as little as 1 day if the proof is approved in an immediate manner.
For each finishing service provided, it is suggested to add 2 more days to the project.
For mailing services, if the mailing list is provided in a prompt manner, adding 2-3 days to your project is customary.
Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.
Specialty lists are available to clients seeking to get ahead of their competitors. These lists include New Movers, Pre-Movers (people that have put their house up for sale), New Homeowners and New Borrowers.
Have you ever received a printed marketing piece in the mail that is specifically personalized with your name?
Welcome to Variable Data, a process by which each unit of a printed material has revelent information pertaining to each person receiving the mailing. Most commonly, the receivers name will appear in the artwork. Other examples might be birth dates, addresses, a reference code, etc.
This process is done the combination of excel spreadsheets, artwork and mailing software.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
A Consumer Data List is a list that provides information on non-business related people. As the name would suggest, this data is best used when businesses are trying to get the attention of the consumer.
Some of the free selections that can be made to fine-tune a list:
-Age
-Income
-Gender
-Marital Status
-Households with children
-Age & gender of children
-Households with seniors
-Homeowner or renter
-Home value
-Year home built
-Length of residence
-Verified homeowner flag
There are other chargeable options such as Date of Birth, Education Level, Occupation, Number of Children, Investors, Net Worth, Ethnicity, Religion, Email Users, Housing Type Detail, Home Purchase Date, Loan to Value Range, Available Home Equity, Hobbies & Interests, Ranking Invitiation to Credit Approvals, Credit Card Users, New Bank Card Issued, Mail Order Buyer, Types of Retail Purchases, PC Owner, DSL/High-Speed User, New Parent, Recent Mortgage Borrower, Recent Home Buyer, Child Nearing High School Graduation, etc.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
An Occupant Data List is simply a list of all addresses within an area. Occupant Lists typically do not include names, and are usually used for the purpose of saturating an area with printed marketing materials.
Common selections available for Occupant Lists are as follows:
-Radius by distance or drive time
-Dwelling type (single-family homes, multi-family, trailers, businesses)
-Route type (city, rural, p.o. box)
-Median income
-Median home value
-Percentage of households with children
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
All business mailing lists are compiled through D&B data. Although not the most concise of lists, it is still a great tool for marketing purposes.
Some free options to help tailor a list are:
Employee Size
Sales Volume
Year Started
Headquarters or Branch
Minority Owned Business
Other options with a premium are Exact Employee Size, Exact Sales Volume, Franchise, Cottage Industry, Import or Export, Owner’s Ethnicity, Women Owned, Small Business, Gender of Contact, Legal Status, Owns or Rents, Public or Private, Square Footage, Subsidiary, Phones, Contacts, Job Titles, Franchise Name, Fax Numbers, etc.
Check out ProjectCenter’s website at www.makepapereasy.com.
www.IHeartPrint.com just made mention (http://www.iheartprint.com/2008/01/03/lang_en-my-5-print-related-thoughts-for-2008-lang_en/) of ProjectCenter’s blog (projectcenter.wordpress.com), saying that that companies like ProjectCenter “are proving that it’s worth [it] to share knowledge and engage conversations”.
ProjectCenter would like to thank www.IHeartPrint.com for this compliment.
We would also like to thank others (i.e. www.unioncopy.com) that have been sharing our posts to the public. We really appreciate your help.
As always, we greatly welcome your comments on our blog, and hope you will take the time to do so.
Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.
ProjectCenter is starting a marketing campaign to increase revenue. The campaign is to last 6 months and is focused on businesses within a 2-mile radius of our main location. Currently, the mediums we already have in place are: face-to-face sales visits, emails, postcard direct mailings, transit shelter advertising and bus bench advertising.
We are accepting comments as to what other mediums, or marketing ideas, might help us with the above mentioned criteria. We welcome your feedback.
Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.
Mail marketing has become a common business practice to promote products and services. These mailing tips will improve your results:
1) Create a targeted mailing list that includes the group most likely to buy your products or services.
2) Design the marketing product with the goal of creating an emotional reaction. People buy based on emotion and shop based on logic (warning: too many facts and figures may prevent a response to your piece).
3) Design the marketing product with an action item, such as ‘Call us at 602-252-6655′, or ’Check out our website at www.makepapereasy.com’, etc.
4) Create the marketing product to be quick to read, with a clear message.
5) Time your mail to arrive on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, which are the lightest mail days (less competition).
Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.
It is very common for clients to send mailing lists, in excel format, that have extraneous information (i.e. email addresses, account numbers, etc.) not needed for the labeling of the printed materials. This is not too big of an issue if it is a long-term client, because a good broker probobaly knows what is needed and what is not. Even with that said, it is still a good idea to keep the mailing list as clean as possible, to reduce the risk of poor results.
An incident happened to us where a client had all kinds of information on a mailing list, which we eliminated in the past without issue. In this case, there was information that was needed, and subsequently, mail ended up getting returned. Although that wasn’t a great experience, it forced us to always provide a proof of the label information before mailing any product, for all future mail orders (does your broker provide mail proofs???).
It isn’t absolutely necessary to prune your mailing list, because the mail house should be able to provide that service and provide a proof, but if you can limit the risk, why not do so?
Want to suggest a topic? Want to contribute? Contact us at www.makepapereasy.com
