In case you haven’t been affected by it yet, printers paper is in short supply. This troublesome fact is good to know, because before you get too far planning an upcoming marketing communications program—be it for a large direct mail campaign, a major collateral roll-out or a deadline-driven conference or trade show—you’d better do it well in advance to ensure that the proper paper is available to best meet your needs.

Where has all the paper gone, you ask?

The answer is not so cut and dry. In fact, there are several key reasons for the shortages. They include, stronger demand for paper. In addition to marketing communications, paper is used for a myriad of products such as household tissue and medical wipes as well as for things you might not think of like plastic substitutes, clothing, and biomass for energy. Another cause for these shortages is reduced production capacity. It’s not been largely reported, but profit margins at pulp and paper mills are getting squeezed quite badly, forcing a growing number of them to close, and others to search for ways to improve their margins or to look into other manufacturing options that can help them be more profitable. Transportation challenges are also adding to shortages. You may have read in newspapers or seen on TV that the trucking industry is under siege. The reason for its troubles is that it’s suffering from a terrible shortage of drivers; one that threatens more than just the paper business.

There’s a simple enough solution at hand.

If lack of paper wasn’t bad enough, shortages are driving up costs. So, what are marketers to do to ensure project success and control budgets? The most effective solution marketers have to limit their exposure to increasing paper shortages and rising costs, is to partner and coordinate with a printer with the expertise to best mitigate these very real problems.

Just recently, two of our clients were in the early stages of initiating a couple of major projects requiring a large amount of paper with a fixed deadline dates. One was for a large print direct mail campaign, and the other was for an important conference with an unmovable deadline date. Thanks to our awareness about paper, we made sure we preordered the appropriate paper stock. This assured that both projects would meet their schedules, and do so without negatively impacting their budgets.

We’ve found that too often project managers spend a great deal of time making sure their message and design are perfect, and they don’t contact the printer until the very end. In the past, printers could more easily make up the time, but with current shortages, it doesn’t always work out so well. Please remember, if you have an important printing project coming up that must happen on a particular schedule, don’t wait until the last minute. Otherwise waiting to the very last minute could cost more than just a price increase. Your printer may not be able to meet your deadline needs.

Best of Days to You

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Print Buyers Beware: where has all the printer’s paper gone? appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

The transformation of corporate printing

Even though the corporate printing landscape has changed greatly over the years, buying print is still an important business function. What does the job entail? Dealing directly with your chosen print supplier to solve problems and negotiate price remain the two most important jobs for many buyers. So it is not surprising, that most buyers prefer to deal with printing services they feel comfortable with, who solve their individual needs. And in our experience, many marketers, designers and event planners prefer to work with as few printing companies as possible. This seems to hold true whether the buyer’s printing knowledge ranges from very little to several years or even decades.

Activities related to corporate printing

Because corporate printing companies have added so many capabilities over the past twenty years, buyers must look to them to make sound recommendations. Recommendations about print-related activities such as G7, online global fulfillment and digital variable data printing are just a few. Besides the aforementioned services, more and more printing companies bring additional aspects and knowledge to the table, like database capabilities and multichannel support as well as others that I’ve written about in past blogs and newsletters (see below).

• Why printing companies are adopting G7
• Printing and global fulfillment services. We’re not in Kansas any more
• Digital Printing Ain’t What It Used To Be
• Variable data printing
• Don’t let Big Data Growth overwhelm your business
• Multichannel Marketing Solutions

With so much going on, it’s easy to see that corporate printing is a lot more than just ink on a page. It’s more about marketing. That is why print buyers need to choose their partners accordingly and with care.

Corporate printing is making a comeback

The medium of print has changed greatly over the past couple of decades, resulting in a renewed interest in and support for it.  Which is a good thing. After all, print now offers buyers many more elements and opportunities than it did in the past. In addition to the marketing components that are now a crucial part of print services, buyers also can turn to corporate printing companies for creative and innovative solutions. Many imaginative solutions are now possible thanks to the different papers, inks, finishes and formats that are now available. These advances can help open up a world of great eye-catching and sales-generating ideas for print buyers and the companies they represent.

All this makes it clear why print buyers need to partner with the savviest of corporate printing companies, if they want to get the most out of this reemerging medium. And I mean any print buyer, whether those just starting out or even those who feel they are well versed in printing options.

Best of Days to You

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Corporate printing and those who buy it appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

Today’s digital print delivers finishing touches

Some of the biggest advancements in digital printing center around finishing, starting with paper widths. Many of the current continuous digital printing presses go beyond the usual 20-inch paper width, with some handling paper widths of 30 to 40 inches. However, it’s important to remember that when a job calls for these wider widths, the finishing system employed must be able to cut, slit, fold and cut again to produce the proper sheet size set or book block to be handed off to the stitcher or binder. And — because it seems that virtually every job, digital or offset, needs to get printed as fast as humanly possible– the presses used must be able to switch formats and sizes in record-breaking time as well.

Inks and surface finishes with digital printing

Some digital presses give buyers of printed materials hundreds and hundreds of different substrate options from which to choose. Some also can create matte finishes that rival those once possible only with offset presses. Besides matte finishes, some of today’s advanced digital printing presses allow for the application of print coatings such as varnish, aqueous, UV and soft-to-the-touch coatings. These coatings serve several important purposes. Some are primarily used to protect the printed piece from moisture, scuffing, scratching, smudges and fingerprints, while others are chosen to achieve a specific visual look or tactile effect.

Grown up and ready to get to work

Today’s digital printing offers so many advancements that buyers of print need to carefully consider digital capabilities before going with a particular commercial printer. I trust that what you’ve read helps give you perspective about what to look for when it comes to digital printing.

Best of Days to You

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Digital print has sure grown up appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

A few years ago, I wrote a Newsletter called “Why G7 matters when shopping for commercial printing services” on the important subject of G7, which helps printing companies deliver a repeatable color product as efficiently as possible. G7 accomplishes this by enabling a high level of efficiency and predictability through standardization and process control practices. This in turn allows printers to offer buyers consistency in 4-color printing.

The subject of G7 is so important that I’m writing about it again. It’s even more crucial because many marketers are selecting printing companies with various types of presses printing on a growing number of substrates. These must all conform if buyers hope to get print consistency in color. Another reason why I believe G7 is critical is because I run into more and more businesses that need marketing materials printed overseas. When you stop and think about it, various types of presses and numerous types of substrates all being printed around the world is a recipe for inconsistent color printing. This can do tremendous harm to the integrity of a company’s brand.

A refresher course on G7

The name G7 stands for “Gray”, plus the 7 primary and secondary solid ink values: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black (CMYK), and Red, Green, and Blue (RGB). These 7 elements must be controlled by printing companies in order to precisely control production color. As I just stated, G7 creates more consistent printing conditions across different printing machines, printing technologies, and materials. For buyers of print, especially those doing business across the globe, that means greater sourcing flexibility across the print supplier base. For printing companies, that means greater flexibility in selecting the right tools and processes to meet the client’s price and performance requirements.

G7 has been around for over a century

Gray scales, which is what G7 is all about, is a system that’s been used in photography for more than 100 years. As the world’s first gray management system, G7 ensures consistent neutral tonality and gray balance. Today, it’s used for a range of printing types such as offset, flexo, gravure, newsprint, wide format, inkjet, digital, screen printing and dye-sublimation. Basically any CMYK printing process.

For better consistency go with printing companies that are G7 certified 

Benefits for print buyers include easier and cheaper file sharing between different print sites and technologies. There’s also less danger of accidental re-purposing with G7. And, of course, print buyers get the most consistent repeatable work. As great as G7 is, it doesn’t guarantee perfect color. Frankly, nothing does. And, it won’t compensate for inconsistent materials, unstable processes, bad process control and limited color gamut, either. But it still is the best system buyers of print have to get the highest quality product from printing companies.

To learn more about G7 visit http://www.idealliance.org/ and The Official Directory of Idealliance Certified Experts, Professionals and Qualified Masters http://services.idealliance.org/PROD/iCommerce/G7/Directory.aspx

Best of Days to You

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Why printing companies are adopting G7 appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

It wasn’t that long ago that there weren’t many media buying choices. There were print, broadcast, direct mail and outdoor. Today, there are so many that marketers are like kids in a candy store, grabbing up everything in sight. All the available choices make it tempting to buy too much. That can turn out to be a disaster.

I recently read something on the subject of media buying in today’s complex world of integration that caught my attention. It pointed out that just implementing all of the new media choices won’t ensure success. What you need is a team of folks within and outside of your company who are committed and knowledgeable in all of the new ways of creating and delivering content. Because if you simply throw money at what everyone else is buying, your marketing campaign is destined to fail.

Team members, each with specific skills

Your team needs to be comprised of members who know their part of the media buying equation really well. No one person can be an expert on every type of medium out there. There just are too many. I know from experience that it often makes sense to add email and other digital media to tried and true offline media choices such as direct mail. In fact, not long ago the Direct Marketing Association conducted a study looking at what forms of media marketers were integrating into their campaigns. It found that nearly four out of five respondents said email. The study also found that more than three out of four companies also use direct mail.

Perhaps the most interesting finding of the study was that with so many media buying choices, over 80 percent of the businesses surveyed said they relied on integrated marketing. This last number has grown over the past several years with marketers turning to more digital media solutions such as email, online video and search engine marketing. As for the future, a large percentage who were queried said that they would use more integration by increasing the use of digital media in the aforementioned forms as well as others like URL/PURLs, banner/popup ads, and mobile apps. Yes, the world is moving at a rapid rate, but why get off when you can enjoy and profit from the ride?

The best media buying team can make the difference between success and failure

With all of the integrated media choices out there comes an increased risk of failure. That’s why it’s so important to put together a team of inside and/or outside experts to help ensure proper integration and, along with it, greater success!

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Media buying in today’s complex world of integration appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

What’s in it — business travel — for you?

A decent percentage of the money spent on business travel is allocated to companies exhibiting and professionals attending industry conventions, corporate events and conferences.

That’s great news for everyone concerned, because exhibitors and attendees both benefit from business travel connected to these types of activities.  Exhibitors benefit because they are able to get in front of businesses and professionals that can use their products and services. Attendees benefit in many ways as well. Here are a few of them:

• Gain knowledge and exposure to new trends, products and resources that are available to their organizations
• Stimulate new ideas and creative ways to support their businesses
• Get a better idea of what their competition is up to without having to go to great lengths, since some of this business information is difficult to obtain
• Get in front of members of the business press who are attending trade shows, and inform them about their businesses
• Meet others in their industries whom they can lean on, learn from and with whom they can possibly do business
• Plant seeds that may blossom into strategic alliances, and ferret out leads from potential customers
• Elevate their knowledge of their industries so that they can better support their clients and customers

Business travel can help your business take off

Business travel, whether it’s for meeting with clients or pitching new accounts, or exhibiting or attending trade shows, is good for business. So book your flight and hotel, pack your bags, and give your business the lift off it deserves!

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Business travel is flying high appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

If you are event planning, did you know that ‘Event Coordinator’ was recently ranked as one of the most stressful jobs for 2015 by website recruiter CareerCast? If you’re in that business, CareerCast isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know.

Here are some gripes you’ve probably felt, but have never put into any particular order. They’re the 16 things that drive meeting planners bonkers, some of which I’m going to mention here. The list came about when the Destination Marketing Association International’s (DMAI) empowerMINT team decided to run a “Meeting Planning Madness” tournament this past March, which gave meeting planners the chance to vote on what details of their jobs drive them absolutely nuts.

The results offer insight into the causes of stress for professionals who do event planning, which is good information to know for destination marketing organizations, hotels and venues. After all, understanding the causes of stress is critical for organizations if they want have a better working relationship with meeting professionals.

And the winner (or is it loser?) is!

• Waiting for others to make decisions

And the runner-up is!

• Stakeholders who think they’re “planners”

Here are a few more maddening things that received votes in the tournament—

• Champagne taste on a beer budget
• Inadequate response to my RFP
• Meeting room changes
• Now who’s my contact?
• Not getting paid enough
• Extensive travel demands
• Being called a party planner (ouch)

Okay, so you know what stresses you out, now for something good!

Never overlook or underestimate the help of the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). They not only know the lay of the land, but they are there front and center to offer you assistance. They can help in many ways. For example, they can help you with both event and off-site selection support. Attendance promotion is another area where your CVB can help by providing you with maps and general destination information, logos, destination videos, and photo albums. All of which can be put to good use by you to build awareness and create excitement about the location of your event.

The help doesn’t end there, either. The CVB can make invaluable introductions for you to some of the political and business movers and shakers in and around where your event is going to be held. They can also inform you about any local groups that may be appropriate for you to team up with, to add another dimension to your event. Continuing in this vein, the CVB can give you local media lists and connections to help you build upon any public relations efforts you are planning.

Add to your staff, but not to your budget.

The CVB is like having another person on your staff. And all the service and attention you gain from this important relationship is free. The help of the CVB may not eliminate all of the stresses of event planning, but it surely will make your work a little less maddening

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Event planning doesn’t have to be maddening appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

Direct mail marketing has has been around a long time, but it has evolved. You do things differently today compared to how you did them when you were younger. It is only natural that mail marketing has evolved.

One thing that has not changed is that direct mail marketing is fundamentally the same today as it was when it was first introduced. Businesses today are still sending out catalogs, postcards and letters, just as they did in the late 1800s. However, over the last decade or two, technology has caused businesses to make some significant changes in how they use mail marketing. And these changes have worked better for companies that embrace the concept and results they obtain from direct mail marketing.

Spray and pray gives way to zip codes

In the old days of direct mail marketing there were no techniques like personalization, rotating offers or target audiences that businesses could use to their advantage. There was only sending out your message to anyone and everyone. This approach was called, “spray and pray.” As much as businesses prayed, they paid too much for low response rates. What changed this blanket approach to direct mail marketing was the advent of zip codes. With them businesses could at least zero in a specific geographic location.

Next up, relational databases

Sending out mail to a specific location was well and good, but what about homing in on a target audience instead? That advancement in direct mail marketing came about in the 1980s when technology gave marketers the capability to create relational databases that allowed them to more finely target individuals.

Again, this was pretty good, especially when compared to “spray and pray” and zip codes, but it pales in comparison to what we have in our marketing toolkits today.

Technology is really taking over

Today, more and more businesses are adding personalized or generic URLs to their direct mail marketing campaigns in order to improve the viewer experience. The more tech savvy businesses are also utilizing mobile landing pages with targeted and relevant information. The better the information and offer, the better the results. Which is why as marketers you must do everything you can to make sure the correct message gets to the correct person at the correct time. You must also use the correct channels to correspond with your direct mail marketing efforts, too. These channels include email, mobile and social media to name a few.

Mobile has everyone on the go

There is no denying it; mobile marketing is exploding in popularity. There are few people, young or old, who do not own or use a smart phone. Mobile can work alongside mail marketing with a host of burgeoning technologies such as QR Codes, augmented reality (AR) — just think of the Pokémon Go phenomenon–, Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). All these changes make the days of old seem just that: O-L-D!

Mail marketing connects the old with the new

When done correctly, direct mail marketing can become the entry point to all of these exciting ways to connect and engage with customers and prospects. It can seamlessly link to all of today’s marketing channels, making direct mail marketing the ideal physical link with the digital world.

I can’t say enough about direct mail marketing

Okay, have I made my case for the relevancy of direct mail marketing? I hope so. When the versatility that direct mail has shown over the years is combined with modern technologies, marketers have a combined medium that will serve them well for years to come. When all is said and done, direct mail is without question the most effective way to integrate offline and online marketing.

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Questions about direct mail marketing persist appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

Both offset and digital printing give you a quality finished product. So why should you choose one over the other? You don’t, if it is a print job where thousands of impressions are needed. Then, offset is likely the better choice. But if variable data printing (VDP) or on-demand printing play a big role in your marketing campaign, then going digital makes more sense.

VDP lets you customize and personalize your direct mail marketing campaigns. With it you can create direct mail pieces that are not only arresting, but that also appeal to your target audience. Digital is also ideal when the print job calls for the pieces to be created in smaller quantities. It is a lot like just in time manufacturing, only instead of widgets it is all about turning out printed pieces on an as needed basis. On-demand printing became a viable way to go after the birth of digital printing because it became economical for businesses to print marketing materials in smaller quantities.

So you see, it is the requirements of the project that determine which press to choose.

Ins and outs of digital printing

Should your print job require (VDP) variable data printing or on-demand printing, then digital is the way to go. But there are also additional things to consider when getting a job ready for a digital press. Below are 5 important things to keep in mind when you are designing for a digital printing.

Color is front and center

When going with digital, always color correct your images in the RGB color space before converting to CMYK. That is because when images are converted from RGB to CMYK, a lot of information regarding color is lost in the switch. As a result you have fewer colors to work with. Another point to consider is that when your images are converted from RGB to CMYK, you create the black separation. This cuts down on the amount of CMY in your images. Having less CMY in your separation makes it far more difficult, if not impossible, for you to make color adjustments to your images. Please note these considerations should you choose to go digital.

Testing, testing one, two, free

The digital world is a place where many things can be had for free. Fonts fall into that category. Free fonts can be yours just for the taking or should I say, just for the downloading. But please be aware some of them contain restrictions that block you from using them when creating PDFs and for printing. If you do not test them beforehand, you run the risk of not finding this out until you have finished designing your job. That is not only a drag, it is also a great waste of your time and efforts. So test before you leap. Testing fonts is easy. All you have to do is activate the font on your system. Next, create an InDesign or QuarkXPress document with that font. And lastly, export the page and try to create a PDF. If the PDF is created without any warning messages popping up, then your free font is ready to be embedded

Solids don’t always hold together with digital

Offset presses use inks. That allows them to reproduce solids evenly. Digital devices use toner, which has a tendency to make solid areas print unevenly. Why is this? Ink is a liquid that is absorbed by the fibers of the paper. Conversely, toner is applied dry, and therefore is not absorbed. It is fused to the sheet using a combination of heat and fuser oil that creates a bond. A lot of things, like how the toner is applied, and how evenly it was fused to the paper, determine how evenly solids are printed. Before you leave your design job to chance, try applying a filter such as Photoshop Add Noise or Texture to any of your large tint or solid areas. You can also break up your large color areas with elements like text, images or illustrations.

Fold them and weep

Remember how we just discussed that toner is fused to the paper surface as opposed to being absorbed like ink? Besides uneven solids, how it is applied can make it prone to cracking along folds. Yes, it is one more thing to worry about. The best way to get around cracking is to use thin lines, rules and headline text across any folds. This way the cracking is limited and far less visible. If, on the other hand, a large solid area is a must for your design, instruct your print service provider to score the printed sheets before they are folded. This will help to limit any unsightly cracking that occurs in the final folding.

It is not all black and white

In any discussion about color, fonts, solids and folding, it is important to stress that digital presses have improved greatly over the past few years, but not every digital press is the same. This is why it is important to discuss your project in detail with your printer before you begin designing. That way you can make sure none of the issues I brought up regarding digital print design turn into problems for you.

Yes, there are a number of things to consider with digital print design. But if your job requires (VDP) Variable Data Printing or on-demand printing, then the advancements made to digital printing in the 21^st century assure you the best solution at the most affordable price.

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post 5 tips on digital print design when you need digital printing appeared first on Ferrante Associates.

I know it is somewhat hard to believe, especially with the new hi tech and digital ways to reach out to customers. But printed catalogs are on their way back. And it is not a passing fancy or fad, either.

Print remains an integral piece of an omni-channel marketing strategy

Printed catalogs serve a powerful marketing purpose today just as they did in days gone by. Only these days, instead of a humongous, backbreaking printed catalog to lug around, catalogs are thinner and more focused. And they can be a valuable tool in a business’ marketing kit.

The Internet caused marketers to shelve printed catalogs for a time, but many major brands  saw sales drop after reducing the number of catalogs that they sent out. It did not take them long to figure out that fewer catalogs meant fewer sales. They determined that catalogs could still be a crucial part of the buying process, as long as they were included within an omni-channel marketing effort.

Printed catalogs are faster and smarter than ever

These slimed down, more focused catalogs are not only more effective in selling, but they are also less expensive to produce. On top of that, by their very nature, printed catalogs help to create a special, tactile bond with consumers with unique photos and drawings, and using the very latest printing techniques. Catalogs hang around the home or office a lot longer than a message on a smart phone or tablet. People enjoy thumbing through them and buying too. They are also an effective way to point out Internet deals and prompt final purchases.

There are a few more things that are bringing printed catalogs back into the marketing mix. New advances in printing help to produce better image quality, make printing more cost efficient, are more conducive for short runs, and allow personalization and quicker project turnarounds. All of which work in favor of printed catalogs – and the businesses that use them.

Best of Days to You,

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.

The post Printed catalogs are back with a vengeance! appeared first on Ferrante Associates.