Printing & Copying

By Harvey Hirsch
Creative Director/President
Media Consultants/DD3

I had another sleepless night last night. What keeps me up? I suffer from Graphic Schizophrenia. Never heard of it? It is a complication of Legacy Marketing and the limited thinking that it creates. Only a good Variable Data Printing (VDP) treatment can alleviate the symptoms. I’ll explain.

That was then…

I’ve been in marketing for around 30 years, providing creative campaign development, management and content for my clients. My thinking and strategies were based on the marketing programs of the ’60s. You know, that’s where mass communications theory was coming into its own and we were taught that you had to contact as many people as possible for as little as possible. Keep your CPMs low, and try to generate an average response rate.

This worked for a long time. I made a good living, got to work with great clients, even won a few awards. Over time, however, the response rates started to slip. As more companies got into direct marketing, my universal prospect was bombarded with more messages every day, making me work harder just to keep my responses stable. The cost of generating a lead was increasing faster than that of Kuwaiti Crude.

When the mass communications technologies such as newspapers, trade publications, TV and radio failed to supply enough business, most of these companies developed direct mail programs as the only affordable solution for new business development programs. This thinking stemmed from the case studies of the past. The big agency-type thinking that trickled down from Madison Avenue to regional communications boutique shops and smaller agencies. Nothing earth-shaking, just your basic communications theories of the ’60s being applied. And it’s still controlling over $3 billion every month!

This type of thinking affects printers more than they know. It’s basic. Nobody gets up in the morning and says “I’ve got to print 40,000 brochures.” They get up in the morning and think “I’ve got to sell something to somebody!” and maybe I need a brochure/folder/poster/mailer and email campaign to do it.

Only when somebody decides they have something to sell do the wheels of commerce (and printing) spin. Even today, a salesperson needs a graphic support mechanism to help them convert a suspect to a prospect. This powerful, free-enterprise need makes work for writers, graphic designers, platemakers, printers and mailing houses. This is the way it has been since the heyday of the 60s and in most cases it still is the way to go before companies realize it’s just too expensive to perpetuate.

But not for me! I drank the 1:1 VDP KoolAid back in 1999 when I started getting involved in the launching of a new printing technology. This system had a straight paper path and could handle a wide variety of card stocks but, more importantly, it could merge data to personalize each piece of paper. Now, that doesn’t sound like much today, but in 1999, that was a big technology shift.

In launching this product I got to play with it and became so addicted that I had to purchase one, then two, then 5. Yes, my Jones was so powerful that I needed access to this technology– badly. This is when I first started exhibiting the early signs of Graphic Schizophrenia.

Key symptoms
Graphic Schizophrenia is where you are caught in the dilemma whereby you will do anything you possibly can to help a client generate new business as long as it fits on a 12 x 18-inch sheet of paper. Oh, my God! It took over my conventional thinking and I actually became a digital print provider. Not only did I become a VDP believer, I became a disciple –even an evangelist!

It took over my conventional thinking and I actually became a digital print provider. Not only did I become a VDP believer, I became a disciple—even an evangelist!

Bad enough that I now had to design my own programs for a 12 x 18-inch sheet, my new paradigm was that everything had to be personalized, versioned, and because of my background in direct mail, had to generate attention in nano-seconds.

Why do we push ourselves to extreme pressure? I don’t know. I guess that perhaps for whom the gods will destroy, they first make creative. There I was, at a crossroad. One road led to a comfortable retirement where the biggest decision I would make was whether to roll to the right or left in order to get more sun on my back. The other road led to learning how to master this new fangled, data-driven, toner encrusted, green button technology. I never thought that it would make me a VDP addict and a Graphic Schizophrenic. And it’s highly contagious!

The other road led to learning how to master this new fangled, data-driven, toner encrusted, green button technology.

The Rx for the Ailment
Treating this disorder involves changing the way you think about communications and solving the client’s need for new business. It requires an understanding of the new communications paradigm of relationship building touches instead of a one-way, one-size-fits-all static message that turns most of them off. Learning how to cope with this requires more than just an open mind, a fat wallet and a lot of time on your hands. It requires a commitment to education for yourself, your production team and most importantly, your clients.

Treating this disorder requires a commitment to education for yourself, your production team and most importantly, your clients.

Fighting the long-term effects of Legacy Marketing is not easy and you might need professional assistance. There are many companies still applying this obsolete technology to their new business programs and shifting them to more profitable 21st Century Relationship Building programs is not easy. They’ve read the white papers. They’ve attended the On-Demand show. Hell, some have even gone to the VDP Conferences and sat in on classes. But how many have truly embraced this radical new philosophy?

Many print providers—acolytes of VDP who have plunked their sheckles down to install iGens, Indigos and NexPresses—have barely used them for VDP. Most of the time they’re running “I needed it yesterday!” jobs. Some only merge mailing information to avoid ink-jetting or placing a sticker on the product. And, a select few, actually provide versioned, short-run, targeted marketing pieces with internet and mobile support for their discerning, educated clients.

If you are looking for a fun new hobby you and your child can both enjoy, try getting them involved in creating a digital photo album for their favorite pictures. You can spend quality time together while teaching your child the basics of photography and computers.

The best way to get your children interested in a digital photography hobby is to start your own online digital photo album. Be sure to work on it for a short time each day somewhere in plain view of the kids. Most children will take an interest in whatever their parents are doing, especially if they see pictures of themselves or interesting colors or clipart images on your screen. You can begin by asking their opinion of different options when you are editing your photos. This will make them feel like they are involved in the process of creating your digital photo album. Make sure you show them the finished product so they can see how their choices affected the results.

Once your children have shown interest in getting their own digital photo album, it is time to sign them up for a free account on your photo sharing site. Never include any real personal information when creating an online account for your child and use a password that is totally different than any of your other ones. It is not advisable to let them use your account because they may accidentally delete your existing digital photo albums, especially if your children are young and not accustomed to using the computer yet. Of course, be sure you have your own backup of their image files before allowing them to upload the pictures to their photo albums.

Kids will have a lot of fun adding clipart and other neat effects to their photos. Depending on the child’s age, you may have to help out with the editing part of their digital photo album. Remember that this is their project and let them have total control over what changes are made. You should have a backup copy of the photos they are using, so it will not matter if they make a change that comes out looking awful. If you cannot undo the change with the photo editor, simply re-load the original file and let them try it again from scratch. Let your child’s imagination run wild and encourage them to experiment with different colors or things like wind effects.

After they have their digital photo album customized to their liking, you can show your child how to share with the family. Most photo sharing sites have a “share this” link they can click to send an email with a link to a specific photo or album. Of course, you do not want small children bombarding your family’s inbox with emails, so it is best if you supervise this process. If your child wishes to share a lot of their photos, have them send a link to the entire album instead of sending each picture one by one.

by Harvey Hirsch

Ever since I became a VDP practitioner, I have had one epiphany after another. It’s not enough to just think out of the box (or envelope), you’ve got to constantly prove yourself to your clients. This incessant verification and accountability process is implemented because in today’s business world, the life cycle of the average CMO is a mere 18 months. Nothing seems to be working for them and impatient Presidents and BODs have installed revolving doors in that particular office. Being a curious fellow, I have a theory that I would like to share, here and now.

Having spent most of my adult life creating new business development direct marketing programs for companies, I operated under the guidelines of mass communications that were formulated in the 60’s. Keep your CPM’s as low as possible and try to generate the average response rate.

This thinking was built around the products of the offset printing technology and helped create an entire industry. With the advent of digital presses and more robust front end controllers the information age was born and its first offspring, VDP, began toddling around.

The problem for the majority of “want to be” users is that the creative strategists have not grasped the intricacies of data warehousing, data management and most importantly, talking to each prospect as an individual. They are still functioning under the vestigial technologies and the legacy marketing tactics that simply cannot deliver for them anymore, for instance, the static, one size fits all pitch.

This legacy strategy thinking process costs US businesses over $30B per month in marketing communications of which close to 99% fails to achieve its planned goals. And, in an age where every marketing dollar must return at least a break even control, it has set off a cascade of negative side-effects. The biggest of which are the failures of many industries to literally stay economically viable.

You can see the immediate results of this side-effect in both, the printing industry and the creative content providers (Advertising Agencies).

The printing industry has been under stress for the past few years with 4,500 print shops going out of business or merging over the past 2 years alone. Recently some of the largest print providers have posted losses so staggering that they too may not see solvency. Paper mills are closing and consolidation is taking place at a speed never before experienced in this industry.

Is the blame on commoditization of products? Off-shore out-sourcing? Or something more insidious? Has offset simply run its course and now is on the verge of obsolescence? Or, is it the thinking and strategies that offset has spawned that has run its course and now has turned on its practitioners?

Before you reach for your sword to kill the messenger, maybe we should look at what has evolved over the past 10 years alone with regards to the emerging technology of VDP and the way the creative strategists, who feed high on the food chain, have virtually ignored it.

After residing in this industry for the better part of 30 years, I have seen, time and time again, the knee-jerk reaction of my contemporaries who, when faced with an assignment, go right to “the brochure in an envelope” solution. This, they can get their arms around. They will be able to sell it easy, make a boat load of money because printers will sell it to them for less than they did 10 years ago, and the client’s expectation of results will be small. It’s safe, and their current stable of creative support staff can get stock photos and boilerplate copy into this format quickly, so client billing is optimized and sweet profits are assured.

Traditionally, the agency business is based on “The Big Idea” and “Branding” programs and the brochure is the lynchpin. It’s left to the direct marketing and sales promotion specialists to ask for the order and generate the sales conversions necessary for the client to actually stay in business. This has been the pecking order of creative agencies over the past 30 years.

I’ll admit that for years, I too followed this mantra. It was the mainstay of my existence and helped my company stay economically viable. But then I sampled the results of some simple data-enhanced programs and became an acolyte of this emerging technology. Here’s what got my attention.

On a good day, using all of my marketing and copywriting experience and with the best offer my client would allow me to fabricate, I was able to generate, on an average, a 5%-8% response rate in lots of as few as 15k units. With most average response rates in listed at ½ of 1%, I was always able to generate more than average. Working with what essentially is a static pitch, this type of response allowed me some semblance of fame and reverence from my peers.

One of the reasons I was able to achieve these higher than normal response rates is that I always added a bit of entertainment by employing die-cutting and hand assembly to hook my intended prospect and get them to interact with my mailer. This created a dimensional look that helped the mailer get opened and the message read and acted on.

Even today, this medium of direct mail is the mainstay of marketing for thousands of companies seeking to generate a sale. But at what cost?

In my NY Metro marketplace, where the usual mailing piece is composed of a 2-color letter with a full color sell sheet folded and placed into a #10 envelope at a cost of $1.45 each in lots of 10k, the average response has dropped from the ½ of 1% to less than 1/10^th of 1%. This translates into a lead generating cost of around $1,500 for each respondent. This is not a sale, merely the opportunity to talk to a prospect. Yet, at this steadily, response dropping rate, you would think that clients are clamoring for anything that will boost this meager hit rate.

Sadly, the truth is that most companies and creative firms have not even set aside a portion of their current marketing budgets to test the power of this 1:1 technology and only 10% of print providers are even in the game.

If the information I glean from the industry press is accurate, almost 90% of all digitally produced print product is made just in time, using on-demand production requirements, with little or no personalization. This tells me that both clients and “Creatives” are not thinking about personalization and that they look at digital as just a way to trim production times or worse, bailing them out for failing to make deadlines. What a waste.

It almost seems that it’s too much trouble to change this antiquated paradigm in favor of putting out a piece that is personalized, versioned and created for the needs of each prospect, yet alone trying to “up” the response rate. Is it poor planning when not enough time has been set aside for projects, or are the marketing people simply expecting to fail and don’t want to expend their brainstorming time? I can’t figure it out, but it’s endemic.

I have sat in on meetings where the client has stated that they have mailed out 30k pieces at $1 each and got no response, yet they have not reached that tipping point of frustration whereby they will even consider a versioned 1:1 product, even in a short-run.

With creative people, I have found them totally at sea when speaking with them about developing personalized programs for themselves and their clients. They’re so picky about the quality not being up to offset that they cling to this as a reason to not even consider using digital. So much for thinking out of the box.

Here’s what I know after 8 years of working with 1:1, mutli-channel, 21^st Century products and strategies: If you’re not starting programs today, if you’re not thinking about how your data is going to be needed, if you’re not migrating into the VDP arena, I, and marketers like me are going to eat your market, your clients and your lunch!

The campaign testing that I personally have been involved in has shown me that the cost for generating a sales prospect can be 1/10^th of what it currently costs using vestigial technology. It also proves that keeping a customer is less than 20% of the cost of generating a new one.

Consider this your wake up call.

In November of 2007 I was the advanced track presenter at the PIA/GATF’s VDP Conference, in January, 2008 I was the featured presenter at the IAPHC mid-winter meeting in Las Vegas and in Feb, 2008, the Keynote for The GOA’s personalization conference. In all cases, the big topic discussed by attendees was survival! Survival of their businesses, survival of an industry and the survival of industry associations. People are loathe to change, even when it’s forced on them. Better the devil known than the one not known, I guess. Use whatever analogy you want, and whatever excuse you can come up with, the answer is still going to be to change the way you currently do business if you expect the results to change.

If you’ve reached this part of my rant, you’re probably waiting for me to get to my point, and that is this…while you’re rearranging the deck chairs, your ship is sinking!

You may still be floating but you will need to get into a digital life raft rather sooner than later.

The nano-second I, and implementers like me share our experiences with the industry, your clients are going to flock over, for their survival depends on it, and you will go the way of the Dodo. This technological sea-change is creating a small yet expandable ground-swell of demand for better results now, from clients. If even a small percentage of the articles I’ve read in various industry publications come to fruition, 1:1 multi-channel communications technology will become the primary force for new business development programs over the next few years. So, if you haven’t initiated one for your own company now, you’re probably at least 9 months away from incorporating a policy and system that works for your own company.

If you provide creative content or print, you may find a 12-18 month phase-in. This lead time is normal in the development and implementation process, and the clock is always ticking.

If you are not considering migrating into the future, for any reason, can I have your rolodex? I’d be happy to contact your clients and help them get new business more efficiently and cost-effectively, and even give you a share of the billing!

Seriously, just removing printing or graphics from your name or telling everybody that you’re a marketing communications company doesn’t make it so. If you are still strategizing programs based on 60’s thinking it’s just a matter of time before I, or someone like me is contacted by your client, who is so frustrated with the poor response rates that they are willing to try anything that will generate a reasonable response. And then, you will be faced with that ugly bit of reality that faces the practitioners of every industry on the cusp of change…adapt or retire.

Sveiki! Esmu beidzot saņēmies un uzstaisījis jaunu video! Šim vārds ir “Copying”! Tur mans brālis ar savu draugu pārkopēja vienu bildi.Viņi atnesa projektoru un sāka kopēt es tikmēr to visu nofilmēju.Tur arī var redzēt pavasara Archiimedia intro.Ir jau idejas par jauniem video. Tā ka gaidiet!
Video URL-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qiw5E5bHZ5k

Digital printing has many advantages. Technology in the industry has made it affordable for everyone to print high-quality color prints. Cost is not the only factor, here are some reasons why digital printing is so great…

• Quick turn times.
• No minimums Traditional printing can be too expensive if you need a small quantity.
• No need for extra inventory Electronic files can be used to print more materials very quickly - no more outdated material.
• Updates and last minute changes  Documents are printed from electronic files that can be revised and updated easily
• Customization Each individual print can be customized with the use of a database. Allow you to personalize your printed pieces.

March 25, 2009

For Immediate Release

 Tampa, Florida – Direct mail still works; in fact, it continues to be one of the most effective kinds of print advertising. 

And in today’s economic climate, a personal touch can bring business through your door.

            This month The Print Concierge is rolling out a new technology that combines direct mail with that personal touch, and turns a direct mail campaign into one-on-one personal communication with your customers.  The Print Concierge, owned by Devin Herz and Lee Weiner, already has a strong reputation for developing personal relationships with their own clients, and helping those clients develop lasting relationships with their customers.  The goal of The Print Concierge, said company CEO Lee Weiner, is to help every client succeed at his own business; with this new technology they are taking their ability to meet that goal to the next level by personalizing their clients’ direct mail campaigns.

            “We’ve built our business on fast and creative service, and on exceeding our clients’ expectations,” Weiner said.  “Now, by using each client’s customer database, we can create direct mail pieces that target each individual customer.”

This technology—called Variable Data Printing—is aimed at helping clients build relationships the old-fashioned way: one customer at a time.  No more stick-on address labels or typed in addresses; The Print Concierge designs a direct mail piece for the client, and then prints the piece with each customer’s name and address on a single copy to be mailed out. 

“We’re using a new Canon 7000 Digital Image Press,” Weiner said.  “It allows us to create on demand digital documents, so we can prepare exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.  For instance, let’s say we’re doing a direct mailing for an auto dealer.  The piece would address each customer by name, say something like ‘we know you have only three months left on your current car’s warranty,’ and show a picture of the customer’s specific car.  Then it would invite the customer to come in and look at new cars.”

Both the text and the images on the direct mail piece are variable and can be personalized.

“For instance, let’s say the direct mail piece uses a beach scene,” Weiner said.  “We can show each customer’s name written in the sand.  Or we can spell the customer’s name out in the clouds.”

Recently The Print Concierge created a direct mail piece that focused on tropical fruits for a major grocery store chain.

“We made a ‘clip font’ out of little slices of star fruit,” Weiner said.  “Every name that the direct mail piece referenced from the database we used was spelled out in star fruit.”  That project led to another Variable Data Printing mailing that featured flying strawberries spelling out customers’ names.

            With today’s new printing technologies, the possibilities are endless, and the upside potential is enormous.  To find out what The Print Concierge can do for your business, contact Devin Herz or Lee Weiner at 1-866-994-9933, or find them on the Web at www.theprintconcierge.com

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