Archive for the ‘Printing Insights’ Category

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Fourth Question to Ask a Web Designer

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Will my site be user friendly and will I be able to make simple changes in it?

This is a big one.  I have heard so many stories.  We have helped so many people.

Somebody  built their site and it is hosted on some server.  In order to make a change to their website they must call somebody, maybe receive a call back in a couple of days and then pay $125 a hour for a change to be made in maybe two weeks.  The speed of the internet.

Make sure you ask your website designer if you will be able to make simple changes yourself.  Will you be able to update things like calendars, adding new events and removing past events?  Will you have to pay to do that or have it done?

We had one client, a theatre company, that had their site designed and hosted at a site that required knowledge of html in order to make changes.  We helped them out by keeping their play schedule up to date without incurring the time delay of working with the hosting company and the $125 per hour charge.

So ask whether you will be able to make simple changes, like updating a calendar or changing event descriptions without knowing html.  Will you have to pay when you make changes?  Will you have to pay a monthly maintenance fee in order to have the designer make such simple changes?

I was talking with a local Sonoma county winery that had subscribed to an  ecommerce site.  The ecommerce provider had offered to design and host the website in exchange for the ongoing business.  It quickly became clear that they were not interested in the web site, but the ongoing ecommerce business.  Calls about the website were returned days later and changes took multiple contacts to accomplish.  Trying to keep the website updated was frustrating and time consuming.

So you may not want to do anything with your site after it is up and running, but chances are you will want to add some products, change some descriptions and make improvements.  Find out before the site is made how those changes will be made, by whom, how quickly and at what cost.

These become very important matters after your site is up and at that point little can be done to change the procedures.  It is easy to overlook this question when you are just looking at getting your site up, but having a site that is costly to change, add pages to or keep updated can be a major frustration.  Call us today to talk about the user friendly website that we can build for you.  707.528.0288

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Getting Financially Fit:
Business Solutions with Printing

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Get financially fit.  Go for a bigger piece of the pie.  Can I king-size that.

Many businesses have experienced new competitors coming in a taking away some aspect of their traditional market.  Is seems like every time we turn around some is doing some part of what we used to do.

In the printing industry we experience this by mailing houses purchasing folding equipment and virtually “giving away” folding to get the mailing job.  Or even putting in copiers to produce the piece and then do the mailing.  So a business that used to be a partner is now a competitor.

This is becoming more and more common.  What’s a person to do?  Go expand your reach.  A few years ago at Ajalon we saw this happening and decided to expand into letterpress printing, which is actually the type of printing that was commonly being done when Ajalon started over 50 years ago.  Today the letterpress printing is helping to fill in when traditional printing gets light.

This is where keeping in touch with your clients comes in.  If you start something new, let them know.  Send out a post card to announce your new service or product.  For a carpeting business it might be going into tile cleaning as well.  Put together a brochure on your new service and send it out to your customers.

Often we actually perform many services in our business that even our good customers don’t know about.  A jewelry store sells jewelry right?  Well they may also clean jewelry or give appraisals for estates.  Remind your customers of the full extent of your services.  Regularly mention these lesser-known services in your newsletter, maybe each month having a spotlight on a new area.

Another way to increase your business is to help your customers increase theirs.  One of my vendors recently created a website add on that will help me attract more business and help them gain a larger market share.  So spend some time thinking about how you might be able to help your customers gain more business.  This will certainly increase good will and will help maintain loyalty.

We donate to non-profits that we print for and help them in their fund raising.  This strengthens them and we feel good helping someone that we are closely involved with rather than just some vague charity.

Here at Ajalon we love to strategize and plan marketing and advertising campaigns.  We have been doing this for years.  We would love to sit down with you and help you feel more in control and powerful about the future of your business.  We you have a plan and work your plan, you can genuinely feel hopeful and confident about your future, rather than just having wishful thoughts.

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Stay In Touch with Your Clients

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Stay Alive. Stay in touch with your clients.  Don’t let anyone drive a wedge between you and your customer.

Our customers are feeling pressure like never before.  Many are scared and looking for any help they can get.  They are looking to cut costs anyway they can.  So now is the time to stay in touch with them.  Your customers may have been loyal for many years but if someone comes in front of them and you have neglected your relationship they may forget your years of service and move on.

I know because this has happened to me recently.  A long time client sent out a large job to another shop, right in the midst of us doing other, smaller jobs.  Ouch!  Many businesses are trying to buy business by being very aggressive in price cutting.  It is difficult to protect completely against this but the best prevention is to stay in touch with clients.

One of the best ways to stay in touch is with a newsletter.  There are many forms of newsletters, from the very simple to the very elaborate.  A client of ours that sells a premium product stays in touch with their customers through a regular mailing of a simple one-color newsletter.  The quality of their product speaks for itself and there is no need to put a lot of puff and circumstance in the newsletter.

Another fine way to keep in touch is with postcards.  Postcards are quickly and easily read.  There is no need to open an envelope.  Their postage is less than a letter and there is no stuffing and licking involved. And it seems that postcard are tossed in drawers and kept around more than letters.  I know I use them for bookmarkers.

In addition to using postcards on a regular basis to promote seasonal or special events postcards can be used to thank customers for business. You can get a stack of postcards made for your business and keep them handy to send out after a job is completed, sending a handwritten note saying thank you.

Contests are another was to stay in touch and help you be top of mind with your customers.  One of our clients uses a postcard to announce a contest that he has each year about this time rewarding all his customers of the years with an opportunity to win a vacation get away.  What a great way to stay in touch and say thank at the same time.  And all for a little more than quarter postage.

It is the holiday season and cards can keep you in front of your clients.  And it can be helpful to think outside the box here.  If everybody is going to be sending holiday cards, send yours before or after the rush.  At Ajalon we have sent out Thanksgiving cards rather than December holiday cards.  Our cards come before everybody has become ho-hum about all the cards.  We have also sent out a Happy New Year card in January, after people are back from the holidays.  This assures us of standing out and being noticed.

At Ajalon we have the ability to meet what ever you want in terms of newsletters or cards.  We can produce short runs digitally or print thousands of newsletters, all economically.  We have templates of pre-designed holiday cards that we can personalize and even address the envelopes for you.  Or we can custom design something that you want done if you have a vague idea of what you want or if you have a clear idea in your mind.

When you want to stay in touch with your clients, remember Ajalon is here to help.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Buyers Seek Print

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Everything Goes Better with Print

Use Business Printing to Jump Ahead of the Pack

The success of retail websites means printed catalogs can be relegated to buggy whip. Or so says the conventional wisdom. But, recent research indicates otherwise. Online consumers who received a printed catalog from any given retailer were nearly twice as likely to make an online purchase at that retailer’s website. The finding comes from a comScore survey based on 6,400 responses from online shoppers.

I know this is true for me. One online retailer that I buy from sends me catalogs. I do my shopping in the catalog and then when I am ready to order I go online. The site is a good one but there are so many items I might not find what I want just searching online. It is faster and gives me better results sorting through choices before I go online.

The Direct Marketing Association conducted a field study in 2005, scoring the primary channels for generating orders, the research found that 60% came from printed catalogs, 24% were inspired by retail settings and only 9% arrived via Internet. The percent of sales by channel also showed print’s pulling power. Paper catalogs accounted for 42% of sales, retail 20%, websites 26% and other channels 12%. In a 2006 study of newspaper readers sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, 78% reported that they use newspaper inserts to plan shopping and 76% say that these inserts have helped them save money.

What can be seen from this is that if you’re not using print, you’re missing out on big numbers. In today’s business climate you certainly don’t want to ignore the Internet and what a website can do for your business. Just don’t ignore print. You could be throwing away sales.

It could be similar to a salesman making a call on a client and not leaving behind any printed materials. The time and energy of the sales call could be lost. By leaving behind a presentation folder with a well presented cover letter on company letterhead and a full color brochure, a more lasting and professional impression is made.

It is always wise to have printed materials on hand when meeting with prospective clients and this means offering something even if they are coming to you in cyberspace. It is very common when visiting websites to be offered the opportunity to get an e-book, which can of course be printed out, or even to receive a printed sample in the mail. Experienced Internet sellers have discovered that offering something beyond pixels pays off.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Print Plays Well with Others

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Print plays well with others

Well coordinated use of printed business material increases response rate

Printing can tie it all together

Sure, the Internet is cool. What’s cooler is using a printed direct mail campaign to draw prospects to a personalized website, then following up with a printed thank-you card or closer.

We have looked at how printed forms are seen as real and permanent. How a business card is an easy, portable way to carry your information around so that you can share it.  A business newsletter can be a very cost effective way to keep in touch with your clients. Beautiful words and images can attract more people to your services.

All this does not mean that you cannot or should not use other media to reach our audience.  We learned in kindergarten to get along with others.  Business printing was a very good student in kindergarten.  No other media cooperates with all of the others  as well as printing.

Yes, the World Wide Web provides a real-time interactive environment, but so do the telephone and the television. Print enhances the impact of all of those media by providing your client’s prospects with an extra dimension. One that’s friendly. One that’s warm. One that’s inviting. And, one that they can’t very well ignore because they’re holding it right in their hands.

Consider the 2003 research published in the Journal of Advertising Research, which examined the advertising impact on weekly sales of a pizza franchiser. It found that the best combination of media in driving sales is direct mail and national TV advertising used together. The print/broadcast duo doubled the impact of using any one medium alone.

An American Business Media study adds more insight into the effectiveness of combining print with other media.

According to that research, B-to-B magazines were viewed by prospects as trustworthy and objective, websites were seen as the place where they received timely information, and trade shows were viewed as the place for interactions and to improve their awareness of alternatives. That must be why smart marketers are using all three outlets to maximize their ROI.

Big advertisers know this.  How many times have you seen something on TV or heard it on the radio and then you get a printed piece.  And then you make a buying decision.

Brochures or printed invitations to an event make it seem more real and businesslike. When you receive a business letter printed on professionally prepared letterhead with an accompanying envelope, you feel more secure in responding.

When I receive a phone call about a product or service I ask them to send me something.  When I receive a printed piece from them I trust them more and am more likely to do business with them. Printing can increase the value of any other form of advertising you do.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Print is Beautiful

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Print is beautiful

Paper and Ink Create Striking Images

Lovely to look at and hold

Print is beautiful.  This is probably number one with me, and I dare say, most of the people working in the printing industry.  An email is no match for holding a printed letterhead in your hand and reading the message.  A well-printed envelope gets more attention than a “You’ve got mail” message.  And exchanging business cards that you can see and feel is more memorable than sharing electronic data.

I have covered how printing makes communication more permanent and meaningful. Printed brochures and postcards are definitely portable, have many lives and can pass through many fingers.  And printed material is often a very cost effective way to reach your market.

But I get more excited about beauty than simple practical things.  I picked up a number of catalogs of outdoor equipment this last weekend.  The items for backpacking and climbing are essential for safe travel in the backcountry.  But I love to look at the pictures, to see the well designed items and to see the wilderness that they are used in.  It is the beauty that is presented to me that really attracts me.

Print is beautiful and printers continue to consider every job they do a personal masterpiece. One of the satisfying parts about the graphic arts is that we do get to make things that are lovely to look at and to hold.   And with print the image is not some illuminated pixel but real pigment that binds to paper.

Photos can jump off the page. Special effects can be used that draw the eye to the printed content, and a new generation of papers and substrates make readers want to touch and feel your message. You can’t get any closer than that. The beauty of print will enhance your product or service, giving it a special appeal of its own and an extra tangible dimension that no electronic media can impart.

Our clients use catalogs, program guides and brochures to give their prospects an experience of the beauty that can be theirs if they engage their services.  Our client who leads trips around the world draws us into a world of exotic, beautiful animals and places with photos and words.  The YMCA program guides excites people to join in the fun and fitness through the beautiful descriptions and pictures.

It is always a blessing to have beauty in our lives and printed business material can definitely contribute to that.  The beauty displayed on a rack card can lead a person to further enjoyment on their vacation.  A newsletter describing the work that you can bring beauty and blessing into its readers lives.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Print Drives a Higher Return on Investment!

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Print drives a higher return on investment.

Printed materials help a business make more money.

Print is valuable because it gives piece of mind.

We are all in business to make money.  When you wisely choose the proper form of printing, whether it is digital or offset, you are often choosing the best way to keep costs down and profits up.

We have discussed how business printing is permanent and for keeps, making it a valuable part of your marketing message.  We have seen how it is portable and can be referred to many times in many different settings. This leads to catalogs and flyers being a wise choice when considering how to best reach your prospects and convert them to customers so that your business is more profitable.

Printing is particularly persuasive as direct mail. According to research by the Direct Marketing Association and the Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates, print’s performance through the mail can be measured in dollars and cents.

The DMA researchers found that U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail marketing to earn $2,095 worth of goods per person, scoring a return on investment of 13 to 1. Why? Because people gravitate toward print. A total of 38% of households surveyed by the U.S. Postal Service in 2006 found direct mail pieces interesting. That study also found that 85% of mail is either read or visually scanned by recipients.

And direct mail is also a great way to expand business relationships and keep customers loyal. A study by the Rochester Institute of Technology Printing Industry Center found that 67% of respondents like getting mail about new products from companies they do business with.

Using newsletters and flyers can be one of the most economical ways to reach and stay in touch with your customers and prospects.  Of all of the various media, print is still the cheapest.  Have you checked out how much it costs to advertise on the radio or TV lately?  And once your message has aired it is gone and not easily retrieved and dependent upon a person’s memory.  We are bombarded with thousands of messages a day and if it comes to us in a printed form it has a permanence that can make it more profitable than using other media.

When you want to reach a local market and touch local businesses here in Sonoma County there is no more valuable way than using printed material like rack cards, door hangers or postcards.  Radio and TV broadcasts are precisely that:  broadcasts.   They reach a wide audience but they are expensive.

When dollars are tight and you want to build up your profits the precise targeting of printing can be a very cost effective approach.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Printing Can Help You be Profitable because it’s Portable

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

A discussion on how business printing can help you prosper.

One of the positive characteristics of business printing is that it is portable. When you hand a business card to a prospect anywhere in the beautiful Sonoma County wine country that person can take it with them. A printed postcard can be easily carried around.

When you want to have a record of the work that is going to be performed, you want a written business form. Even a quick list on a notepad is more lasting than trying to remember something. The old adage that “the most faded pencil note is better than something committed to memory” is still true today.

When a person receives from you a handwritten note card they have something they can keep and carry around. An email is hard to get out of your computer. So business stationery and brochures that are printed are far more permanent and portable.

Long after their iPhone battery is drained, people will still be reading what you send them in print. Print is the ultimate in portability and playability. My daytimer is a resting place for the many printed announcements and reminders that I receive. I know they are there and can be referred to or used to remind me of an upcoming event.

People can pick up a magazine at a newsstand, buy a book on the fly or grab your brochure from a trade show exhibit. There are no compatibility issues, no need to keep anything charged, and never a worry about screen glare. When a prospect picks up your event marketing materials they have something they can take with them and browse at their leisure.

You can fold print, stuff it, clip it, even scratch-and-sniff it.

Print can be carried and consumed anywhere, at anytime: on trains, planes and automobiles. Take it to bed, to the beach or to the bath. There’s no need to boot it up or power it down. Print is always there and always ready to instruct, inform and entertain.

Print is interactive. Personalized magazine bingo cards let readers send for more information with quick check offs. Or, combine media and use a direct mail campaign to drive prospects to a personalized website where they can tell you their aspirations and expectations.

So we can see that business printed materials are very portable and can help you stay on the radar of all your local business prospects. When you give a person something printed you don’t have to worry about whether they have wi-fi or are computer literate. They have something they can read and take with them.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

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Why Print is Green

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Some eye opening facts about how printed pieces actually help save the planet!

I am a printer and I don’t make any apologies about that. Some facts I recently came across opened my eyes and showed me how printing is green. We’ve all heard about all the trees that are cut down to make the Sunday edition of the New York Times, and printing has received some bad press about its impact on global warming.

However, when all the factors are considered, a printed piece is actually greener than your computer screen. How?

  • There is actually 20% less CO2 used by a person reading a daily printed newspaper versus spending 30 minutes a day reading Web-based news.
  • The typical person in the United States uses 440 pounds of paper each year. It takes 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce that much paper, which is equivalent to powering one computer continuously for five months.  So all the paper you use in a year does not take as much energy to produce as running your computer.
  • Paper is a renewable resource, and can be recycled. For over 20 years we have been recycling all our paper waste, thus saving thousands of trees that might otherwise have been cut down.

At Ajalon Printing & Design we use Forest Certified Council paper. This means that the wood is from a well-managed forest, so that you can be confident that responsible forest practices are being rewarded, benefiting people and nature, around the world.

Paper and printed communications have been around for a long time and have practiced sustainable and responsible practices for many years. The electronics industry, up to now, has had less experience looking at the total environmental cost of its products.

The mountains of discarded computer screens and electronic circuit boards are just beginning to be dealt with and their impact acknowledged. CBS 60 Minutes recently aired a jaw-dropping segment about how much of our e-waste is really being recycled.

When we print your business cards or brochures we are always looking for green, sustainable practices that save you money. The many loyal, local companies that look to Ajalon for their business printing needs can be confident that they are supporting a green environment.

Want to learn more? Here are some helpful links:

American Forest and Paper Association – lots of facts on paper and recycling statistics.

International Paper – Pixels vs. Paper and other brochures from its Down to Earth series.

Mobile Marketing Association – offers case studies that show print, text messaging, and website used effectively.

The Print Council – download a compelling document outlining 10 ways can grow your business.

Print in the Mix – a continuously updated site with news and research on printing as well as case studies.

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The Virtues of Patience and Perseverance

Monday, September 21st, 2009

I was hiking Saturday on a trail that was new to me and encountered something really striking. I was climbing on the Oat Hill Mine Road trail which begins at the town of Calistoga in the northern end of the Napa Valley.

I came upon many instances of where the wagon wheels had created grooves in the stone!

Oat Hill Mine Road

It was nearly unbelievable to think that wagons could come down that road so often and so consistently in the same path that a groove would be created.

The road was begun in 1873 and officially opened in 1893. It is less than 20 miles long so it was a rather slow process and definitely hard going through the rocky terrain. It was built to give better access to a mercury mine in the mountains.

The words that came to me were patience and perseverance in all aspects of this endeavor. It is hard to think of a road taking more than a year to complete each mile. The circumstances of the work project are not known but it is clear that the going was slow and yet there was a committed determination to getting the job done. Someone really wanted it done to not be deterred by it taking 20 years to complete.

Then the wagons. How many trips needed to be taken to start wearing a groove into the solid stone? How many loads of ore were hauled down the mountain, wearing away the stone?

Patience and perseverance are certainly qualities that I recognize as necessary in a printing business. There is no hurrying good work. I have found that when I have tried to cut corners many times I end up spending more time doing it the ‘fast and easy’ way, rather than just doing it the right way the first time.

And there are many times when something isn’t going right that there is an impulse to just quit or give up for today. Often because of deadlines, the later option is not really possible.

So at Ajalon Printing we know of the patience and perseverance that is required to produce the printing that will satisfy our clients, whether it is something simple like business cards or keeping all the elements of a full color catalog together and in order so that the project is completed on time and on budget.

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