GrowYourBiz

What are your customers buying criteria?

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (GermanSacristan) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:00:00 EDT

Is it service, quality or price? What about trust? But isn't trust related to service and quality anyway? And when you think about it these sound like the buying criteria of a commodity business. So how well do you meet your customer's buying criteria and are you interested in challenging or changing your approach?

Service has, is and always will be extremely important. If you miss a dead line it can cause a lot of harm to your customers. But does great print quality and low price per print guarantee success for your customers/print buyers today?

Good printing quality among other things is imperative to attract consumer's attention. But is this enough today for your customers to make a sale? Time was something we all had more of in the past: Consumers had more time and an attractive document did stay longer in their hands. Marketers also had more time and often did not have to achieve relevance in the first page of their marketing document as long as it was attractive. In some cases consumers responded because a relevant message appeared in page 10, 15, etc. It was almost like consumers felt guilty throwing away a high quality document without glancing through the pages "if it is pretty it must have something relevant for me". But what is in the consumer's mind today? "Very pretty but its not talking to me, so quick - into the bin" So if printing quality is imperative but not enough on its own, what else are you going to do for your customers?

Price? Does a lower price per print guarantee better business results for your customers/print buyers? In the past it probably did. Lower price per print = Buys more impacts = More responses = More sales. However it is much harder for your customers today to achieve relevance. They can flood the market with promotional documents simply because they bought them at a lower price, but this will still not guarantee they will get a response. In most cases today the quality of the impact is more important than the quantity of impacts. Now I am not just talking about quality of the output but most importantly about the quality of the outcome.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng

Anatomy of a brand campaign

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (ChrisPayne) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:00:00 EDT

Starting this month and continuing throughout the year, we're rolling out our new graphic communications campaign with the theme "It's time for you AND Kodak." It's one of three pieces in the overall "It's Time for Kodak" campaign and focuses on inclusiveness and partnerships, using the word "and" prominently in the ads. Through this theme, we hope to demonstrate that when you work with Kodak, there are no compromises.

The main brand ad shows how graphic communications touches everyone, everywhere, and is an important part of our daily lives. It shows the different market segments that we are involved in—packaging, commercial printing, publishing, data-driven communications and enterprise marketing. This imagery will be reflected in all our upcoming graphic arts communications:

As the theme of our flash-based web enhancement at www.kodak.com/go/connect
In print ads running in Graphic Arts Monthly and Printing Impressions
In online ads, including a first of its kind toolbox, which directs visitors to a number of different communications tools such as this blog and Kodak channels on social media outlets such as Twitter and YouTube. See the toolbox now at www.whattheythink.com and www.printplanet.com.
In collateral, individual campaigns and tradeshows.

Next month, we'll talk about how this theme ties in with PRINT 09, and how we're working to help customers capture growth opportunities in a tough market.

Statement Design 200 - It's Time for the TransPromo BAM!

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (PatMcGrew) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:00:00 EDT

For several posts I've talked about the examples of communication that have arrived in my own mail box. Some were from financial service providers and some from government entities, all in need of extreme makeovers. This time let's go to the next level and talk about what really changes the game for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are a small business, a home-based business, or one of the largest enterprises in the world, we have something for you!

Let's start with the SOHO businesses. You might hope there is nothing you need to do but invoice for your services or products, tend to your web page, and get out of the way while the money pours in. It rarely works like this, so how to you get to BAM? TransPromo! Really!

Look at the invoices, packing slips and other statements you send to your customers. Even if you generate them in MS Word or out of QuickBooks (or other favorite program), you can use these documents to tell your marketing story! Especially if you are using your ESP 9 or other Kodak All in One printer for your printing, you can integrate color, images, and targeted messages to your customers to cross sell and up sell!

If you are using a billing service, check with them to see if they would accept a library of marketing files to be added when the bills go out!

For larger businesses using higher volume printers like the Kodak DIGIMASTER for billing, TransPromo in black and white can be incredibly effective if you tune your messages to your customers needs and spending habits!

And, for the largest businesses, data-driven conversations on the bill or statement should be an integral part of your customer communication program!

Have questions? Drop me a line! I have lots of examples!

Customer & print samples speak to the NexPress SE Class superior output quality, amazing applications, more profit potential

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (GregGresock) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:10:35 EDT

We recently announced the new Kodak NexPress SE Digital Color Platform at the Print' 09 Media Days. Reflecting on the words in the press releases and looking at the competitive samples that we shared with the media, it is clear that all leading digital press suppliers are providing products with outstanding quality and performance. This is true in comparison with each other and with the benchmarks of offset and even photo printing. All the leading suppliers have been investing diligently to tackle the great influx of new digital pages over the last three to four years. Unfortunately, we all seem to be using the same words to describe our products- 'great quality, best productivity'- and so how do print providers begin to sort through their options?

From a customer communication view, our challenge is to move beyond the sameness of the words to demonstrate why the NexPress SE Class is such an innovation in print quality, productivity and capability. Proving the point with print examples is one very effective means. We did just that at the Print '09 Media Days and you'll see the samples again at Print '09. The reactions from those in attendance ranged from surprise at the boldness of laying our samples side by side with competitors to clear pleasure at viewing the hard evidence that we mean what we're saying about quality and capability.

Looking at one print and not an entire print run, however, can be a misleading exercise. That is where the words and comments from our customers speak for us. SE Class components were part of an extensive field trial worldwide and through the use of video shorts, we're beginning to capture customer testimony about the quality, productivity and flexibility they now see. The result is more compelling than some wordsmithed PR piece. While polish may be lacking, the sentiments are genuine. Combining real-world print samples and technical analysis with real customer feedback is a potent mix.

The goals of the SE Class solution are to help our print customers achieve greater profitability by delivering unique and differentiated applications with unconstrained productivity at an offset class quality and capability level. As digital printing press buyers evolve and mature from innovators and early adopters to the early majority, the reasons for buying a digital press are changing. These repeat and new customers are now purchasing solutions first and foremost to achieve profitability- not just to be the first shop with a digital gizmo. Productivity is essential to profitability, but productivity is much more than speed. Productivity is reliability, print quality, throughput, uptime and, most importantly, application range. More, high value applications mean more revenue opportunity and more margin for our customers.

The SE-class strengthens these NexPress benchmark advantages against other offerings on the market while retaining the unique capability to print a wide range of profitable applications. One look at the samples of our award-winning Kodak NexPress Dimensional Printing and you can easily see what we mean by 'unique and differentiated'. In addition, our standard Clear Dry Ink provides in-line, full speed coating and watermarking and, with the Kodak NexPress Glossing Unit, creates beautifully glossed material without the waste and recyclability concerns of lamination of other coatings.

What do you think about the first model from the SE Class lineup?

Where in the Flexo World is Dr John? Issue 1 - Colombia

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (JohnAnderson) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:23:27 EDT

Since joining Kodak at the end of 2007, a key part of my role is evangelist for flexo, internally and externally of Kodak, and globally to grow the flexo industry. To date I have been to Europe, North, Central, and South America plus Asia. As I travel all over the world visiting Flexo printers and trade shops, as well as other packaging printers, I learn a lot that people like me to share.

It has been suggested that as I do this I could share my findings in a blog series titled "Where in the Flexo World is Dr John?"

The latest trip was to Colombia, my first to South America and now completing a full count for continents visited except Antarctica. In the current economy, Colombia was a real surprise. There are a few reminders of their troubled past, like each motor bike rider is required to have ID vests, but the country has had 8 years of stable government. Everywhere you look there is construction, investment, and signs of growth (they did not take the bad loans as in the US) and their economy is only a little soft, but doing very well.

What we saw at every printer visited were new investments, many presses less than a year old in every site, the newest and most advanced technology, and a client list of who's who for the top packaging brand owners. They also are keen to listen and learn more to improve the print quality they can achieve. They employ many engineers, and apply total quality management and preventive maintenance throughout their operations. They are often self sufficient operations, with film blowing or ink manufacture operations.

There are some of the best analog printers we have ever seen, achieving resolutions and results that mean that going to traditional LAMS digital plates will be a clear step backwards for them.

It is clear that much of the print is for local use, but increasingly it is for export to the US and Europe, and with the investments they are making now, there is the potential that as the world economies recover and demand increases they will take high quality print from other countries in the Americas, and become a major export force, like Turkey does in Europe, especially flexible packaging.

This is a country Tom Kowalski and I look forward to returning to very soon and continue to learn more before extending our introduction to Latin America with Walter Murillo, with a trip to several of the southern cone countries soon.

Two personal lessons from Bogota is that in traffic red lights and stop signs are only optional, but a U-turn will get you a special spot fine from the police, and yes you really need at least 3 hours at the airport for international flights.

Digital Asset Management Symposium - Kodak and Aprimo

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (JenniferBergin) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:18:21 EDT

Henry Stewart held it's annual Digital Asset Management Symposium on June 1 & 2nd in New York City at the NY Hilton. There were over 300 attendees at this years event to learn about solutions, best practices and network with peers in the corporate marketing, publishing & broadcast markets. Kodak's Marketing Workflow Solutions team was there with our partner Aprimo to talk to corporate clients about Marketing Asset Management, Digital Workflow, Brand Content Management and Enterprise Marketing Management Solutions.

Much Ado About Chemistry - Agfa, the cat's out of the bag...

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (DerekAwalt) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:05:20 EDT

In the Grow Your Biz blog post, "Your Chemistry Free Plate Requires Chemistry", I challenged Agfa's "chemistry free" messaging claiming that Agfa's "chemistry free plates" were neither free of chemistry nor is the chemistry itself free. The posting triggered many to ask and a few to pose the question on PrintPlanet.com, "what chemicals are in that 'chemistry free' solution?" Agfa replied with "Agfa rolled-out the Azura implementation with the preservative gum as the only 'chemical.'" Our point exactly...

Just this week, Simon Nias of PrintWeek reported that "Fujifilm will replace 'misleading' chemistry-free tag with 'low-chemistry' for plate ranges". Kudos to Fujifilm for challenging the credentials of "chemistry free"..

Agfa - the cat's out of the bag. It's your turn to revamp your misleading marketing slogans and be honest to your customers.

How print on demand gets done...

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (KristaGleason) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:00:00 EDT

An author named Patricia Gallagher recently contacted us because she was "in a bind." She was scheduled to do a book signing in less than a week and her printer wasn't able to fulfill the order in time.

Patricia googled "print on demand," found Kodak, and called us. Our team connected her with a local printer, Alcom, located less than a half hour from her house. Alcom was able to turn the job around in less than two days, and far exceeded the customer's expectations.

Alcom printed the book using a KODAK NEXPRESS 2500 Digital Production Color Press with WATKISS Booklet Maker, KODAK NEXPRESS Glossing Unit, and KODAK DIGIMASTER EX150 Digital Production System in their new digital book factory.

I share this story as a thank you to Alcom, a valued Kodak customer that deserves all the credit for this successful outcome. Kodak only succeeds if our customers succeed, and we commend Doug Yeager, COO; Rodger Weyman, Manager Prepress Digital Print; Sharon Tucker, Marketing Manager; Allyson Dorn, Production Planner; and the entire Alcom team on a job well done.

Thank you Patricia for putting your trust in Kodak and our customers and letting us share your story.

Dear Doug, Rodger, Sharon, Allyson, and Krista:

I am still pinching myself to make sure this is all real. How could I really have this beautiful book in my hands when just three short days ago, I was at a total loss about what I was going to do?

For a mom who is very low-tech and was just googling around on the Internet to have come across something about a Kodak NexPress printer, how I even got my call transferred to Kodak Public Relations and then to Alcom is unfathomable. The whole scenario happened, with one blessing after another, and within 48 hours, I had a van loaded with the highest quality book, with a beautiful cover and very classy paper stock.... all that I could wish for!

I know that all of you worked so hard to make this happen. I can't even imagine what it took for all of you to do it, but you did. Your ingenuity in handling the flap and photo concerns was so innovative. The book just looks STRIKING to me.

Everyone in my family loves the book. The cover is so attractive with the high gloss finish. We will be so proud to bring the books with us on Monday night.

One thing that struck me as so unusual in these stressful times - there seemed to be no "grumpy people" at Alcom. Everybody who I met while there, even a couple of employees in the parking lot and the receptionist, said that Alcom is the greatest place to work.

I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

With gratitude and admiration for all that you do to help your customers,

Patricia Gallagher
Worcester, PA

Statement Design 111 - Forms that Fail!

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (PatMcGrew) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:00:00 EDT

This is another tail from my post box, again related to a mailing from a government agency. This time it is the Internal Revenue Service and the notice is a review of a 2007 tax form filed by a family member. The notice in question claims to be a CP2000 notice, but I have no idea what they think that means.

I am picking on this notice for several reasons.

It claims to have been mailed on the same day it was received. Neat trick!
It provides a telephone number to call for assistance, but if you call the number (and I did) there is no way to get to a person. The assumption of the IVR system is that you don't understand something on the document, not that you have a question about how to get the correct information into their hands.
It doesn't provide a way to respond to what must be a common situation.

Let me say that in terms of design this document gets high marks. It is well formatted, the text is readable, and key areas have navigation hints that make the form easy to follow. Where it falls down is in information content. And, as we know, style without substance is simply not acceptable!

It starts by highlighting when the response is due. Well formatted and easy to understand.

It then tells me why I am getting the notice, and provides a box with proposed changes to the tax filing. My quarrel here is that it assumes they are right. In my case, we don't agree with their proposed changes and this is where it starts to go off the rails.

The next item tells me what steps I should take. I should review the tax filing, compare the return to what they have provided, determine if their information is correct, complete the response form, and complete and return the payment plan. Wait! What was that last item? What if I don't owe anything?

The response form is easy to read and navigate, starting with Option 1: Agree with all changes. Option 2 is that I don't agree with some of the proposed changes, and Option 3 is that I don't agree with any of the changes. I don't agree, so I mark that.

Going on to the next step I only have three options: Pay in Full, Partial Payment and Payment plan. None of these apply! There is no option for my situation, which was a missing dividend form which will cause us to submit an amended 1040.At that point they will actually owe more money back to my family member.

The moral to this story? If you are sending notices to your customers and they need to take action, be sure you give them the ability to select all appropriate options. Allow for the exceptions where a checkbox will not do. Last time I talked about ensuring that the basic "What, Why, Who, When, What to do next" information is covered and that the customer is given appropriate means to communicate. It's more important now than ever!

Need to know more? Let me know!

Efficiency Revealed: The Magic of GUA and Kodak

undisclosed@growyourbiz.kodak.com (JonathanGhent) — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:50:28 EDT

Coming up with a theme for an event can be an arduous process. It usually starts with a brainstorming session where a group of creative people compile a list of ideas and engage in healthy debate (or not!) until one idea emerges as the winner. Sometimes it's a spirited and contentious discussion. Other times, not so much. It's been my experience that the amount of time and effort spent deciding on a theme is inversely proportional to the amount of work that awaits the brainstormers on their desks at that particular time. I won't mention any names. We all know how that goes.

With this in mind, when I first read the theme for this year's Graphic Users' Association conference, I was a little bit skeptical. The theme, Efficiency Revealed: The Magic of GUA, sounded innocent enough. With the conference being held in Orlando, it made sense to have a connection to the whole "magical" thing. After all, it is the home of Disney and the NBA's Orlando Magic basketball team. But then I arrived at the conference. I learned more about the GUA and its mission. I listened to the keynote speakers. I met Kodak customers and began to understand the breadth and depth of knowledge sharing taking place at the conference. And a funny thing happened. I became a true believer in the very theme that I was hesitant to embrace just a few days earlier.

Not that I had any reason to doubt Kodak in the first place. As far as "trusted guides" go, it doesn't get any better than Kodak. And that, for me, was the biggest take away from the GUA conference this year: that Kodak listens to its customers and depends on their collective voice to drive the efficiency and innovation that separates us from the competition. That knowledge is power... knowledge shared is empowerment (the tagline from the GUA theme).

So here's to Efficiency Revealed in the form of the GUA conference... a true team effort, as Kodak and its customers join forces to leverage the Magic of the Graphic Users' Association, one of the greatest organizations of its kind.

View the new GUA 2009 conference recap video: