Looking for a More Lucrative Revenue Stream?
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012A recent InfoTrends study entitled The Evolution of the Cross-Media and Marketing Services Provider reveals 58% of the 280 print service providers surveyed are offering cross-media services. There’s no doubt that the cross-media market is dynamic, growth-oriented, and a major contributor to the future of the printing industry. The marketing executive is the key decision-maker…
How does today’s Corporate Marketing Team support their growing distribution force?
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011Distributed execution through technology… With today’s digital and production technology providing endless opportunities for variability and personalization, keeping brand consistency and even regulatory compliance has become a unique challenge. This is particularly true when your product or service is offered by way of captive or non-captive agents, franchises, dealers and re-sellers. These “representatives” want and…
What will the future of direct mail look like?
Monday, October 31st, 2011We all understand that the digital age plays an important role in marketing communications, but a unique transformation is taking place where the miniaturization of consumer-level technology is driving new types of channels of communications. So I was considering how direct mail will look in the future. The conventional method of messaging with personalization will…
Is Digital Print Part of Your Solution?
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011I only ask because in today’s marketing strategy digital print is only one piece of the magic formula and it’s effectiveness is dependent upon many other factors. It really starts upstream with market research and understanding the audience in order to drive the desired results. Next we need to figure out how to connect the…
When Implementing Your Next Email Campaign, Think Direct Mail
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011This post was generously provided by Sourcelink. We’re all familiar with the phrase “cutting through the clutter,” particularly as it applies to direct mail marketing. But that same mind-set works with your email marketing campaigns, as well. Think about it, how many promotional emails do you get in a day and how many of those…
Why should we care so much about data security?
Monday, August 1st, 2011As I regularly share with employees there are two main ways I think about this question. First is being a good corporate citizen and recognize that we have a responsibility to secure the data we are entrusted with to protect the privacy of individuals. According to ITRC more than 35 million data records were compromised…
Segmentation Strategies
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011There are numerous requests these days involving segmentation. With the onslaught of digital print and other media, companies are starting to take personalized communication seriously. One of the most common questions I am asked is what to segment on. Some companies just want to take a basic demographic approach related to consumers. Others are focused…
Océ Press Go! Webinars… Are They Worth It?
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011If you’ve visited this blog before, you’ve likely noticed the advertisement on the top right inviting you to “Watch an Océ Press Go! Webinar”… at least the marketing department at Océ is hoping you’ve noticed it. But what exactly are these webinars and are they worth your time? I asked myself that very question and…
Wide Format Means Big Opportunity…Selling it Right
Monday, June 6th, 2011The wide format printing business is unquestionably a great business opportunity for commercial printers, quick printers, and graphic arts firms. You can still get an excellent profit margin if you produce good work, develop your customer account base, and deliver the goods reliably. Because the wide format digital printing market is also highly fragmented, there…
A Direct Marketing Lesson from Dwight K. Schrute
Thursday, May 5th, 2011By Liz Swanson If forced to watch only one show for the rest of my life, without a doubt, I would choose “The Office.” I love Michael’s eternal quest for love; I love Angela’s obsession with her cats; I love Creed’s sketchiness. I wish I was a Pam, but alas am probably closer to a…
The Dark Side of Direct Mail
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Recently, Boston.com posted an article about a direct mail campaign that went out to an unknown number of National Grid customers from HomeServe USA, an insurance company that sells coverage for furnace and plumbing repairs. Just read the comments to the article to get a sense of how duped some customers felt.
Making Print Consistent with Online Experience? Priceless!
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011I work at a company that is heavily focused on the online user experience for consumer and corporate identity risk management services – and I’m also a print guy. You might think that print wouldn’t be that important of a competency for us, but you would be wrong. Intersections Inc. (www.intersections.com) is recognized as the preferred partner of major financial institutions providing custom identity management solutions. Clients leverage Intersections’ identity management solutions, offered under their own privately branded labels.
Obstacles of Digital Check Printing become “Everyday Non-Issues.”
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011By David Smith In the past, and for many companies currently, check printing has been slow and expensive. Checks required special stocks, MICR printing – often on dedicated machines or slower mixed-use machines. When checks are only part of the mailing, this often means a separate matching step that further slows down the process. Ideally,…
Digital Inkjet: The Paper Challenge
Monday, October 25th, 2010By Jack Miller, Principal Consultant, Market-Intell In the world of digital print and paper, “nirvana” is a press that is capable of producing offset quality at a competitive cost on the same papers that printers use on their offset presses. For the most part, coated and uncoated offset papers run reasonably well with toner-based digital laser printing,…
Who told Franklin to “Go fly a kite?”
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010By T. J. O’Hara Remember me? The industry heretic? The guy who’s not willing to accept that fact that margin erosion can’t be overcome? Heck, if you’ve read the political satire in my blog and books, you know that I even think our current political process can be fixed. Talk about being an “eternal optimist!” …
