Books… From Analog to Digital

InfoTrends recently completed its 2010–2015U.S. Digital Production Printing Application Forecast. Print is driven by applications, and digital production printing is no exception. Demand for specific applications changes over time for a number of different reasons, including growth in usage, electronic replacement, and shorter runs. This study explored 28 specific application segments and measured digitally printed application volume changes in A4 (U.S. letter-sized) equivalent impressions.

The top three production digital print applications in theU.S.will be direct mail, books, and bills and statements. Combined volumes for these applications are expected to exceed 270 billion impressions. Book printing is expected to account for a 16.6% share by the end of the forecast period (94.5 billion impressions).

In terms of pure pages, the book market is expected to show the biggest gain. Its share is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% between 2010 and 2015, representing over 45 billion pages by the end of the forecast period.

Inkjet and digital printing will aggressively begin to displace analog offset printing of books. Improvements in continuous-feed inkjet printers will fuel the shift to digital printing within the book market. Every aspect of inkjet – speed, quality, and format – will see significant leaps in performance during 2012.

Publishers Will Respond!
Digital printing is destined to grow in volume at the expense of conventional printing for the book market. In an uncertain market, publishers are beginning to embrace digital because it enables shorter runs. Shorter runs reduce the amount of unsold books, reduce storage costs, allow reprinting in smaller batches, and offer the opportunity to print specialty books for niche markets, including self-published books.

There is much confusion about how consumers want their content delivered, but digital printing will provide the answer. Publishers understand the value proposition, and everything links to dollars and cents.

The Bottom Line
Technology keeps changing and publishers, authors, and printers are feeling the effects. Although print isn’t going away, ebooks are here to stay. Publishers need partners with technology and service offerings that will help content move seamlessly between traditional book printing, on-demand digital printing, and electronic distribution.

Over the years, much has been made of the fact that digital presses can only run pre-approved stocks, thus “limiting” creative options. These complaints have come primarily from the graphic design community.

Although technically there are still limitations, I think most of us would agree that this is more of a printer’s issue than a design issue. As I wrote in “Digital Printing: Transforming Marketing and Print Management“:

In practice, these limitations are only valid in unusual cases. If a designer wants a specific stock from a specific manufacturer, there is a chance it might not be on the list of approved stocks, although the list is always growing. But if you only want a specific shade and finish and aren’t looking for something crazy like recycled confetti flecks, chances are, you’ll have quite a few options to choose from. For the overwhelming majority of business and marketing applications, the availability of stocks is a non-issue.

Where stocks remain a challenge, of course, is in magazine and catalog publishing, which rely heavily on coated stock. The range of coated stocks is still more limited than uncoated, and because of the traditionally heavy coverage on these products, magazine and catalog publishing requires careful vendor selection and a focused, dedicated effort to establish a workflow that meets the requirements for production quality, substrates, and speed.

I’m loving the interaction that my posts on the “where are we in the digital print evolution” is generating. So where do you — personally — still find challenges with substrates? What’s on your wish list for paper and digital press vendors to provide? How does high-speed inkjet change the equation for you?

The U.S. Postal Service is under siege, but it’s fighting back with new services and PR. Since the first of the year, news streaming from the USPS has been flat-out and rolling.

• On January 25, the USPS announced its popular “2nd Ounce Free” pricing in which businesses mailing First-Class Mail automation, presort can mail letters weighing up to 2 ounces at the 1-ounce postage rate.

• On January 27, the USPS touted its Express Mail Flat Rate Box. Ideal for consumers and small businesses selling merchandise online, the Postal Service’s Express Mail Flat Rate Box provides overnight delivery — up to 70 pounds — almost anywhere in the country for $39.95.

• On February 16, the Postmaster General released his five-year plan for “returning to profitability and long-term financial stability.” As reported by the Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association, the plan included the following options:

- $20 billion reduction of annual costs by 2015.
- full repayment of a $12.9 billion debt owned by the Postal Service to the U.S. Treasury.
- provision of employee health benefits independent of federal programs.
- transition to a national five-day delivery schedule.
- aggressive pursuit of its mail processing, retail, and delivery options.

• On February 24, we learned that the Postal Service “saved more than $34 million dollars and generated $24 million in 2011 by reducing energy, water, consumables, petroleum fuel use and solid waste to landfills, conservation efforts encouraged by the Go Green Forever stamps.”

• On March 7, the Postal Service edited its plan to consolidate its mail processing network, announcing that the plan also would include a suspension of the consolidation efforts during the election mailing season. The switch, said USPS, was “in order to avoid any adverse impact on the November election,” but the suspension also bought time for opponents to gather forces against post office closings, etc.

• On March 20, “The U.S. Postal Service REunveiled a new integrated marketing campaign to promote easy-to-use and affordable direct mail and shipping services to America’s small businesses.” For about 15 cents apiece, the so-called Every Door Direct Mail service works directly with small businesses locally to help them prospect new and existing customers without the need for names or address.

• On March 30, The USPS announced its intent to allow commercial mailers to include logos, trademarks, brand images, and other kinds of marketing designs in the permit imprint indicia area.” The plan, which must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, is earmarked for June 24, 2012 release.

And then things picked up at the National Postal Forum.

• On April 2, the USPS announced the unveiling of gopost, the first automated electronic parcel locker for receiving and shipping packages. If you’ve seen it outside your local post office, you know it does look very cool.

• On April 3, “Postal News” announced the launch of its latest redesign of the Click-N-Ship online tool, designed to make it easier and faster for customers to manage and ship their domestic and international packages. “Customers using Click-N-Ship will see a cleaner, more streamlined design that reflects the features of usps.com,” the press release said.

• On April 4, the U.S. Postal Service honored Connecticut-based creative and marketing services firm, Sibley Smart Copy, with the 2012 Deliver magazine Marketing Achievement in Innovation and Leadership (M.A.I.L.). Hey, good copy works!

And, last but not least …

• On April 2 at the National Postal Forum, the Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe, told attendes in his keynote address, “As an industry, we have to retain what differentiates mail and physical delivery, and bring it into the future. It’s astonishing how much is changing in the ways people communicate. Mail has to be a part of these changes … Where we start is with the idea of delivery.”

Mr. Donahoe discussed the four core business strategies of the Postal Service:

- “Strengthening the business to consumer channel;
- improving the customer experience;
- growing the package business;
- and continuing to become leaner, faster, and smarter as an organization.”

“We have left nothing off of the table in terms of rethinking how we perform our core function of delivering,” he said. “The best way forward is to embrace the potential of change. As an industry, and as individual businesses, we need to think about the rewards of a more dynamic future.”

Eddie Woods’ April 12 blog has more details from the Postal Forum. Check out his report here.

Some of these benefits obviously accrue directly to consumers. Other programs and services support the mailing industry, while options like Every Door Direct Mail appear to put the industry in competition with the postal service itself. As such, all efforts are aimed at survival. To which we can only say, “soldier on!”

It truly is a whole new world for book publishing. No matter where you are – at the beach, on an airplane, or in the subway – you will see people with their Kindles or iPads. There are headlines in every magazine and newspaper about Google’s Publishing platform, tools from Apple that threaten the text book market, Amazon’s success with ebooks, and predictions of the demise of the publishing industry as we know it.

While the transition to digital is not moving at the same rate for all publishing segments (Trade, K–12, Higher Education, Professional, and Scholarly), it is generally believed that ebook sales will account for a substantial portion of trade revenues within the next five years. Just a few years ago, traditional companies were more frightened of this transformation than excited about the opportunity. Today, this has reversed. Printers, publishers, booksellers, distributors, and agents have embraced the new technologies and are retooling their businesses to accommodate a world of digital and printed books.

The Good News… Book Sales Are Up!
In August 2011, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) released the U.S. BookStats. This is considered one of the most comprehensive statistical surveys conducted in the modern publishing industry. It is focused on capturing size, scope, revenue, and expansion across multi-platform content and sales distribution channels. Net sales for publishers increased to $27.94 billion in 2010, representing a 5.6% increase over 2008. Publishers sold 2.57 billion net units in 2010, marking a 5.6% increase over 2008. Growth hit all segments. Higher education was up 18.7%, with sales reaching $4.55 billion in 2010.Sale of trade books grew 5.8% to $13.9 billion, partly fueled by ebooks. One of the strongest growth areas was adult fiction, which saw a revenue increase of 8.8%. While ebooks represented only .6% of the total market in 2008, this share had risen to 6.4% by 2010. A September 2011 Harris Poll indicates that one in six Americans (15%) currently uses an eReader, while another 15% plan to purchase one in the next six months. At the same time, however, this also implies that 70% of the market does not own an eReader and has no near-term plans to acquire one.

The key message is that eReaders are definitely here to stay, so the printing and publishing worlds must change with the times. There will always be a place for hardcover and paperback books, but recent developments will demand a huge transition for book printers and publishers alike. How businesses adapt will determine who is left standing five years from now.

Check back next week for Part 2 of this post!

It’s been interesting to stir up conversation here and on other discussion boards about the current status of toner versus offset print. My first post on the topic on Digital Nirvana, about the visual differences between the two, generated a lot of responses. Lots of people wanted to chime in on that one. The second post, on the remaining design limitations of digital presses, didn’t generate comments at all. (What’s up with that?) So let’s try again.

Let’s look at bindery and post-processing.

Here are three of the remaining issues I still hanging “out there” as they impact marketers directly. Please chime in and let me know what you’re still seeing.

1. Toner is not as inherently “tough” as offset ink, so documents printed with toner may be more likely to scuff or mark during post-processing. In these cases, the value of the larger application needs to be weighed against the impact of any minimal marking that might occur.

2. Cracking across the fold can still be an issue in some digitally printed applications, especially when the toner coverage is extremely heavy. While this can be vastly minimized or eliminated through the use of optimized post-processing steps, such as running the job through specialized creasers before folding, the issue itself is still rumbling around.

(Question: Do you see clients requiring heavy post-processing predisposed to looking into working with printers with digital presses that use polymerized toner?)

3. Issues with insertion, collation, and scoring, which are handled differently on digital presses than offset presses. This continues to impact  the cost-effectiveness and productivity of projects such as books, catalogs, and newsletters.

These are the three I still consistently hear people talking about. What’s your experience?

Over the past month, I’ve provided a bit of an overview on what inbound marketing is and why it’s important to your business.

Today, I’d like to chat about some of the specific tools and techniques that you can use to succeed with your inbound marketing efforts.

Your Blog

When you set inbound marketing into motion, you will soon find it is a strategy that thrives on consistency.  The most powerful tool in your arsenal is the Blog on your company’s website. You control how much information you disseminate, what information you provide and how often you distribute that information. Ideally, your blog will consist of multiple short (but not too short) articles on relevant topics that set you up as an authority in your field.

The goal is two-fold:

• You get readers who learn to seek you out for your expertise.
• You get others to link to your material…thereby bringing more readers who will learn to seek you out for your expertise.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral part of inbound marketing. You don’t have to become an expert in SEO yourself, but you do need to know what the right keywords are and how to use them effectively. The goal is to increase your search rank. You want to be on that first page of Google and bing results when internet users search for your keywords.

The great thing about SEO is that it is something that can be tweaked and worked on to help your visibility. Over time, you will be able to determine what your effective keywords are – what words are bringing visitors to your site. And you will be able to track links leading to your site.

You can also track links from within your site. Perhaps your current blog post has a hyperlink to an older post on related material. Instead of using a direct link, you can use a tool that will allow you to shorten the link and also see the traffic reports on that url. For example, we use ilnk.me and get a special shortened url. Later we can obtain the information on how often the link was clicked, the highest traffic times and so on. Remember, information is power and you want that information to know what is working and what is not.

Social Networking Platforms

A bit overwhelmed by all the social media platforms out there? Start with two. Perhaps it’s Twitter and Facebook. Maybe it’s LinkedIn and YouTube. But start with two and build from there.

Don’t assume more is better.

You should only have as many social media profiles as you can manage to maintain. And while your main goal with social media may be to promote your brand and distribute content, don’t forget that these platforms are interactive. They invite a conversation with the internet visitor. That’s something you never want to lose sight of.

The Online Marketing Audit

Yes, you’ve got a business to run. But even if you use tools to automate as much content as possible, you should schedule regular “check ups” on each platform to make sure there isn’t a question or comment lingering.

Also, the technology behind online marketing can change quite frequently and at a faster pace than traditional media.

Thus, having an online marketing audit conducted regularly may help alert you to new features that you should be taking advantage of to promote your business.

Integrating Inbound Marketing into Your Sales Process

The reality is – visitors are not customers. It’s up to you to turn them into your customers.

As you integrate the SEO aspect with the content and the social media visibility, you will find that you will get those visitors.

In order to turn them into customers, you need to cultivate them into leads. Content can also play a big role in that! Your company should have a stash of content in hand that can support the Sales team at each step in the buying cycle.

Whether you are trying to convert a visitor into an inquiry, an inquiry into a lead, or a lead into a sale, you will need specific content to help move people through each step.

By doing that, you will be working to ensure that your inbound marketing efforts prove to be a success!

When to use which one, and the need for flexibility!

Every day we hear about tools and programs for improving operating performance. There are many of them, with more versions coming out all the time. They include TOC, Lean, Six Sigma, ISO, CMM and BPI/BPM. Some, such as Six Sigma and ISO, have rigorous training and certification programs which are major projects to undertake in themselves. What is a company to do to understand which to choose, and possibly even when?

The answer to this question requires an organization to clearly define goals, timing, and the rationale for beginning at all. Is there a specific issue, or is there a client/industry mandate, or is the business looking to establish a base for optimizing performance overall? A comprehensive overview is impossible in a short piece such as this, so I anticipate this distillation may provoke some lively feedback and discussion.

TOC – Theory of Constraints

• Focus: identify constraints or limitations for a task or process
• Action: eliminate the constraint
• Results: maximize the throughput
• Limitation: usually targeted to a single task/function

“Build it and they will come.”

LEAN

• Focus: eliminate waste, operate just in time
• Action: make to order, optimize single piece flow
• Results: rework eliminated , reduced inventory, reduced floor space, reduced cycle time
• Limitation: difficult in a project oriented business more effective with ongoing production

“Don’t build it until it is needed.”

SIX SIGMA

• Focus: variation in a process, tracking error/incident statistics and cause
• Action: DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
• Results: find and eliminate sources of variation, can help with complex problems due to structure
• Limitations: rigorous, statistical intensive approach, can lead to analysis paralysis; cost for six sigma training and certification can be high.

“Build it exactly to customer specification.”

ISO

• Focus: documenting the process
• Action: document the existing process in detail in a structured way, and audit compliance to the documented process
• Results: consistent and repeatable process drives highly repeatable outcomes, improved supplier quality
• Limitations: focus is on documentary evidence, so a poor process can be documented and followed and certification still achieved. Corrective action focuses on the documentation. ISO is a costly system if certification is pursued.

“Document what you do and do what you document.”

BPI/BPM

• Focus: define, analyze, and improve cross-functional business process
• Action: map the existing process, define tasks and inputs and outputs for each, identify and remove gaps and overlaps, manage with metrics and link actions to results
• Results: refined and reengineered process with reduced cycle time and cost, and increased first pass yield.
• Limitations: requires top down support to be truly effective, scope of process needs to be clearly defined, must apply the appropriate problem solving tools and project management skills

“Manage as an enterprise around meeting overall corporate goals; use the right tools as applicable.”

Companies need to have a clear understanding of their goals and needs, and a measure of their tolerance for change. The urgency for improvement is another critical factor. Finally, consider what skills you need to add, and/or assistance you may require to most efficiently and effectively address your needs and the tool you choose. This can reduce the time to achieve results and improve the probability of success.

Is the concept of combining a transaction-based document with a promotional document realistic?  In theory AND in reality! When I first entered this industry in 1985 as a programmer and attended Xerox’s training programs, Xerox was lauding transpromo THEN, as the wave of the future. Here we are 27 years later and transpromo is still being promoted.  What does it take to make transpromo work? The answer is simple – DATA and INTEGRATION!

Let’s tackle the first aspect, DATA.  For the longest time, the print industry has struggled to track, capture and manage consumers or investors tendencies.  In the 80’s, databases were in their infancies and to build one, manage the intricacies, intra or inter-record relationships and extract the data practically took a mainframe computer or at least a mini-computer. Not to mention understanding the complexities of and INTEGRATING all that data into the print stream.

There’s the second aspect – INTEGRATION.  Frankly, integrating, not to mention building and extracting the data, was beyond the scope of printing an invoice or statement.  Third party outsourcers or even the largest processors were having trouble developing and launching the transpromotional document.  Instead, variable messaging was launched as a step in a forward direction.  Simply stated, variable messaging involved keying on data elements within the print stream and changing the message content to the targeted audience – the end recipient.  It didn’t go far enough and transpromo lingered.

Fast track to the present.  The PC or personal computer has been in existence for over 20 years, software integrators have become more sophisticated making databases prevalent in every aspect of our life and third party processors are beginning to understand the power of data.  Data is at everyone’s fingertips and solution providers are working with their clients in building analytic models of their consumers, their buying trends and overall demographics. But transpromo still lingers, why?  In the biller space, the solution could be as simple as getting the marketing department to work with the accounts receivable department.  The complex answer is most likely, determining what message to integrate into the transactional document.  While data is prevalent in everyday life, billers are still struggling with what message fits best within their image and specifically which message targets the end user.

Transpromo is a real achievable target and integrators are working behind the scenes to implement sound solutions.  But in looking at the third party landscape, I think it’s important (at least from an old programmer’s point of view) to identify those firms that understand both sides of the equation – the marketer and the biller.  Integrating a sound solution will most likely drive revenue, increase your consumer’s product awareness and promote social awareness, but a failed solution will end up being just a fancy way of launching variable messaging.  Is it worth it? I think so.  In today’s competitive landscape, I think it’s important for firms to build consumers or customers for life and with transpromo and variable message you have a chance to effectively achieve that goal.

This post was generously provided by SourceLink and written by Tim Furr. If you are looking for another marketing services provider blog… check out SourceLink! 

Years ago, I remember writing about the design limitations for those wanting to output on digital presses. Over the years, many of those limitations have been addressed and I don’t find myself talking about them anymore. Or maybe it’s that, plus the fact that marketers don’t care about any remaining limitations as much as they used to.

What do you think? I’d love Digital Nirvana readers’ input on this issue.

To get you started, here is the section that acknowledges that issue from my CSR/marketing/sales staff education primer “Digital Printing: Transforming Marketing and Print Management.”

The technology used to drive digital presses has, in the past, made for some limitations in graphic design. Some presses (especially older presses) have tighter registration than others, for example, which could be a challenge if you need to match hairlines across the fold. Digital presses have also been notorious for having difficulty with large areas of solid color and with vignettes and other subtle gradations.

With the newer generations of presses, however, this is far less of an issue that it used to be. In fact, there are many who would argue that these issues no longer exist. Newer presses have largely overcome traditional design limitations, and especially in publishing, the issues of registration and halftones have been remedied. Still, every press is different, and even if your digital printer is working with an older machine, its prepress and design staff can often help you overcome these challenges with workarounds.

Thus, as with print quality, these and other design limitations are really a non-issue in most cases. If you have settled on digital output for your next print job, talk to your service provider about any accommodation your designer might need to make, if any.

Do you agree with what’s written? Are there still design limitations that bug you or your clients? If so, which ones?Last time I asked a question like this, it generated a terrific discussion. Let’s get it going again!

Also, for those who observe, I wish you deep blessings on this Good Friday — a day we call “good,” not of its own accord, but because of the joy that followed three days later.

Smulsh. That’s what I’m getting from the new Google search.

When I checked the ranking of my website, Home Invasion News, on Google, first I searched the generic term, “home invasion.” Wow, my “Faces of Home Invasion” graphic showed up second on the list … followed by pages of hits for a variety of articles I have posted to the website.

But, wait .. something is wrong here. Several months ago, my site was appearing on page five. With serious nurturing it gradually climbed to page two. But, page one — and in the number two spot? What’s up?

It’s called Search Plus Your World, Google’s approach to making my search much more personal. Now Google finds both content that’s been shared with me privately, plus matches from the public web — all mixed into a single set of listings.

Well, wait. Let’s let Google explain this: “Search has always brought you information from across the web. Now, search gets better by including photos, posts, and more from you and your friends. When signed in with Google+, you’ll find personal results and profiles of people you know or follow. You can even expand your world by discovering people related to your search.”

I never asked for this and I don’t want it.

Online research — a serious function of what any writer does for a living — is not about connecting with friends in any way and shouldn’t be. When I’m researching, I don’t want to give my friends’ voice or opinions any greater weight than any other voice — and I certainly don’t want my own voice chiming in.

This meshing of research and friendship appears to be part of a larger trend to “groupthink.” Plenty of brainiacs are complaining about it. A January 13 article by Susan Cain in the New York Times decries “The Rise of the New Group Think.”  Jonah Lehrer’s January 2012 article in The New Yorker is even titled ”Groupthink.” In a comprehensive discussion, Lehrer cites extensive research applauding the lone thinker. Read more here.

So, Google, maybe you don’t know what I want better than *I* know what I want. And maybe my “friends” and “circles” don’t know squat, either.

Search Plus Your World has been hit with the backlash, of course. An outfit called “Focus On the User”  has created a new tool — a bookmarklet that works in your browser — called “Don’t Be Evil.” This tool presumably incorporates the data from Facebok and Twitter that Google’s new browsing tactic excludes. Not so coincidentally, perhaps, “Don’t Be Evil” was created by the engineers at Facebook, Twitter, and My Space — whom in and of themselves are “evil.” But I installed it just the same.

Presumably, there’s another way to get rid of the new google search. Simply “sign out” of your Google account. Note: You may not be aware when you are signed into the new Search Plus Your World. I wasn’t. Here’s how you’ll know: If you do a Google search,you’ll see a bar at the top which displays “x number of personal results plus x number of other results. You’ll also see your photo in the search bar. Click on that photo in the top right-hand sign of your bar and select “Sign Out” from drop down.

Sigh. Is this just me resisting change? Quite possibly. Check out this blog written by an 18-year old . As Jeremy Liu puts it, “Google’s not evil, the company is simply growing out of old ideas and moving forward in a manner that can’t fit old molds anymore. Until we recognize that, we’ll all be living in a world that won’t even exist anymore.”

Welcome to Planet Smulsh.

I’ve written several posts about the QR Code trademark issue — that while the industry is using QR Codes to refer to all 2d mobile barcodes, in reality, this term is trademarked and refers only to the open-source codes created by DensoWave. The issue is much like the one for PURLs, which is also a trademarked term. We can call these URLs personalized URLs, but PURL is a term trademarked by Nimblefish.

The fact that QR Code is trademarked is annoying because it raises the issue, what do we call these codes? Right now, the clearest way to do this — at least to me — is “QR and other 2d mobile barcodes” because people associate these codes with the term “QR Code,” but yet the category is more inclusive than just this one type.

I’ve successfully relatively ignored the issue for some time, but this morning, I updated my brandable “best practices” white paper for QR and other 2d mobile barcodes (http://bit.ly/HUe1q2) and had to go through the entire thing and adjust the wording from start to finish. You know the end result? I removed half the references to QR Codes and made them simply “mobile barcodes” or “these codes.”

Ironic, isn’t it?  DensoWave wants to enforce its trademark to protect its name, but in order to preserve accuracy the way DensoWave desires, I had to actually remove many of the references and water down the reference I did leave in there by adding the additional language.

But . . . isn’t that what DensoWave wants?

Today I’ll show you this week’s fold: the Lady Liberty Self-envelope Mail piece. This sophisticated self-mailer was created by Structural Graphics in Essex, CT. On the outside, it’s a simple direct mail envelope but opens to reveal an L-format pop up that is illuminated by metallic gradient hidden behind a broad-side fold. Simple, yet classy!

Watch for yourself!

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VE51wjRCFNc

Next time you’re having a conversation with a client about the value of continuing to use print in their media mix, you might want to throw in some data from Harris Interactive. Its Harris Poll, conducted of 2056 adults in February 6-13 2012, found that while smartphones could be used to replace many print-related activities, such as carrying airline tickets or using printed coupon, they aren’t.

Only 5% of Americans say that they have scanned their phone for admission to a movie or as an airline ticket, and fewer say they have done so to pay for clothing or electronics (3%), admission to a concert, live theater or performance (3%), to pay for a convenience item such as coffee (3%) or something else (7%). Two in five say they have never scanned their mobile or smart phone for any reason (40%) and slightly more say they do not have a mobile or smart phone with this capability (45%). Although Echo Boomers, aged 18-35, are most likely to have scanned their phone for all of the items listed, even they are not doing this at remarkable rates (between 5% and 10% for each item). [1]

Harris Interactive also asked these adults, not just what behaviors they were willing to engage in with their smartphones, but also their comfort levels with using their phones this way (whether they had actually done so or not). Levels of discomfort using phones for purchases, scanning tickets, and a variety of other activities remains quite high.

When the research firm looked at those who are comfortable with the various items, it noticed several trends:

• There is comfort in youth – younger adults are more comfortable than those older with each item listed;
• Men are more comfortable with each item than are women; and
• Those who have scanned their smart phone for any one of a number of reasons are more comfortable with each capability than are those who have never scanned their phone, or do not have a phone with that technology.

The last one is particularly interesting for those pushing QR Codes and other 2d mobile barcodes, especially to boost the relevance and interest in print. If you can get them to scan the code just once, people are much more likely to continue to do it. That means really focusing on the incentive and call to action, especially the first time out.

In my last article, I discussed the growing importance of understanding inbound marketing.  Yes, it is a popular topic in the worlds of business and communications today… but for good reason: an effective inbound marketing strategy can truly help your organization grow!

Today, I’d like to discuss a bit about how to move forward with building and executing an inbound marketing strategy.

At the Core is Your Website

You already know that the internet is a terrific playing field. It’s the great leveler in that any business can have a web presence and in many cases the internet reader would never know whether a business is a mom and pop shop or a million dollar company in a penthouse suite downtown.  Any business can and should have a good-looking, easy to navigate website that appeals to its target market. This website becomes the base for your inbound marketing strategy.

Reaching Your Audience

Of course, you need to decide how you will provide information to your target market. Blogging or regular article posts should be a given. If you don’t have a blogging platform built into your website, you should have that added. Then you can schedule your posts. Will they be weekly? Daily? You want consistency and timeliness. So you should establish a schedule that you know you can keep.

Creating Content

Then you need to create a list of blog topics. What kind of information do you want to provide? Think about what is relevant to your target market. What will they want to read? What will establish you as the expert?

Not a writer? Not to worry. You have several options. Look to someone within your company or perhaps a trusted colleague. You can also look into ghostwriters to write the content for you. You want someone to write for your company with a voice that fits. Not everyone is a wordsmith. And that’s okay. An outsider can write in your voice and your posts will still be relevant and authentic.

It’s tempting to buy a bunch of articles that are touted to be laden with key words and optimized for the search engines. But these articles can be found all over the net. And you’ll lose your authenticity if the internet reader figures out that your information is not yours.

The Multi-Channel Marketing Approach

Start thinking about how you can provide information that utilizes other mediums. How about some audio files that are chock full of tips? Or what about getting a guest spot on an internet radio show? An audio question and answer session can be provided as a downloadable link on your website or posted on your social media profiles. (Learn more about inbound marketing tools and techniques such as social media platforms here.)

Humanize Your Brand

Don’t forget that amidst all this information dissemination, you need to portray your business personality. It’s okay to have a post that isn’t all business. Want to post a shout out to a customer? Do it. Want to whip up a quick video clip showing a couple minutes of your employees hard at work? These sorts of things make you only that much more real to your target market. And it can give you a definite edge. So as you implement your inbound marketing plans, don’t forget to show your target market a bit of personality here and there.

I haven’t stirred the pot in awhile, so I thought I’d take a few swipes around the edges today. I’m currently updating my customer education primer, “Digital Printing: Transforming Document Management and Marketing” and would like input from Digital Nirvana readers on what you believe to be the most important visual differences between digital and offset printing.

Here’s what I wrote. What do you think?

Visual differences from offset

This might sound like a big “duh!” so why mention it? The issue of offset versus digital quality has dogged this marketplace for more than a decade, so it’s necessary to at least give it a nod. Yes, digital quality is not the same as offset. It’s close, but not identical.

For extremely high-end jobs, such as annual reports, the choice is almost always offset, regardless of run length or price, but few applications fall into this category. Even many commercial photo books are now being produced digitally. The output won’t be identical to high-end sheetfed, but there are digital technologies that get awfully close. Some practitioners claim that, in some cases, digital production quality is actually superior.

In terms of appearance, one of the most basic differences between digital and offset arises because most digital presses apply dry toner on top of the paper, while offset uses liquid ink that soaks into it. Thus, sheets printed with dry toner can have a slightly brighter, glossier appearance (unless the sheet is coated, in which case the coating masks any differences in gloss between the two). If you run your finger across the top of the sheet, you may feel a slightly unevenness that comes from the differing layers of toner. In the sheetfed market, HP Indigo presses are distinguished by their use of a liquid toner that soaks into the paper much like ink. This gives the prints a more offset-like appearance.

In the high-speed, high-resolution inkjet market, one of the issues is color saturation. More water in the inks means greater challenges with drying, especially with high percentages of ink coverage. In the lower resolution (lower ink coverage) transpromo market, this is not an issue. But in the textbook market, this is why we’re seeing these presses used more heavily for higher education than for the more graphics-heavy K–12 textbooks. The imaging technology of the high-speed, high resolution inkjet machines (as opposed to the lower resolution transpromo machines) is still being refined, but certainly, the issues of heavy ink coverage and dry time will be addressed over time.

There are other subtle differences between digital and offset, such as scattering of toner around the edges of text, but marketers—and consumers—are unlikely to notice them unless they know what they are looking for and are looking through a loupe.

Keep in mind, too, that “difference” doesn’t mean “bad.” There are those, even experts in the printing industry, who actually prefer the appearance of digital print for some applications.