Is print dead or just dying slowly?

This would have to do with how you define “Print”

If you take a look at traditional print such as litho, web etc then yes the market is shrinking.

In today’s market people’s expectations are changing, people expect to have their print in their hands in two to three days rather than the two to three weeks we used to expect. And because of this, digital print technology is increasing rapidly; think of the increase in vehicle/ building wrapping as well as large format/digital billboards and the movement from paper to electronic print.

Unfortunately, at the moment digital paper print still has many limitations, such as size and the lack of multiple finishes and I still only think of digital as an alternative for litho for when run size and cost are an issue, but as technology progresses then quality and cost will become less of an issue.

Twenty years ago our high streets were inundated with record shops and who would have thought then that they would disappear as if over night. The same is happening with print, even in the early days of computers we would wait weeks to see our masterpiece in print now it can be a matter of hours if not minutes and as print becomes more versatile we will find more ways to represent ourselves using the new technologies.

With regards to the change over from traditional to electronic print I don’t think we will be losing traditional print just yet, but as electronic print becomes the norm, seeing your product in a glossy brochure or magazine will seem like something out of the ark to the younger generations who have been brought up purely on electronic print.

So is print at the end of its lifecycle? Print is morphing and changing and as long as we all move with the times we will be fine.

Electronic or physical print?

About three weeks ago I asked, via LinkedIn, the following question:

Do you prefer to read your books or magazines electronically or to have a physically printed item?

Now this is a bit of a controversial question, as I obviously work in the print industry but the results were staggering and have helped me take a big sigh of relief when looking at the future of print. I was amazed at the number of responses I received and the strong feeling from everyone regarding their reading habits and to find that 75% of respondents still prefer to read their books in hard copy is music to my ears. I do, however, feel that over the next couple of years these statistics will change dramatically and is definitely a question to ask again next year.

Now the reason why I asked this question was because late last year my mobile phone company offered me a sparkly new smart phone on renewal of my contract (I love it) and being an avid reader my whole life I quickly found a great free Ebook app. I typically have two books on the go at any one time but if you’d asked me this question 12 months ago I would have emphatically said no, I will not give up my hard copy books for an electronic version. This changed, however, after downloading a couple of free open source books (I had made a promise to myself to read more of the classics) and I found myself reading predominantly Ebooks, so much so a couple of months ago I invested in a 7” tablet EReader. Now, whenever I have five minutes to myself I find myself reading, in the doctors surgery or waiting for appointments no more lugging books around for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love reading magazines and newspapers in hard copy, getting them through the door, the smell of the print (I know, I know, I am a print geek after all) and then flicking through the pages until I find an article I am interested in - there is no way a phone, PC or tablet is going to be able to replicate that, so as you can tell I am currently in the both category but this may change J

I thought you might like to read the best of the responses to the question.

Carlos Gutierrez

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/carlos-gutierrez/b/826/2b9

Personally I prefer to have them physically printed but I do believe that the electronic world is catching on very fast in the sense that devices such as the kindle and a number of ebook readers have come onto the market. This makes storage of books etc a lot easier that carrying around bulky books, another thing that these manufacturers have realised especially with the kindle is that the screen doesn't resemble that of a computer making a more viable alternative to books as after sitting at a screen 8-10 hours a day the last thing I want to do is come back to a screen to read a book.

Kathryn Thomas-Daniels

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/kathryn-thomas-daniels/27/602/82a

I prefer a printed copy, also there is something about an old book, it may be the mystery or the romance? but it tells a tale, the smell, the turned corners, the coffee stains on the back cover! to pass a book on is a good gift to share.

Lee Clouse

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lclouse

I love the Kindle for reading books--I actually think I read faster on it. Magazines look great on an iPad. Newspapers, for no reason whatsoever, I like the print version. Seems arbitrary, I know. It's very interesting to see that most every answer here prefers print. That is definitely contrary to what we are being led to believe

The Effective Use of Leaflets to Market your Company

Leaflets are type of open letter which can be circulated in a number of ways and they are a great cost effective way to get your message across to your future clients.

I have put together a 10 point check list of what you need to think about before you even start putting your ideas onto paper.

1. What are you selling and to who? Who is your target market in this instance, you will need to narrow this down so your company's message is clear.

2. How do you intend on getting your information to these people. By hand, post, through the door or left at various venues etc.

3. Who is going to be reading your leaflet - you need to design it with this in mind. There is no point in writing your text at graduate level if it is going to be read by average Joe Public.

4. Decide on your paper stock, if your target audience is upmarket you need to be thinking about using a high quality, heavy gloss or silk paper/card, if downmarket then a lightweight, cost effective paper will do.

5. When deciding on what is going to be in your leaflet always give a thought to what is the end benefit to your customer.

6. When designing your leaflet always use AIDA

• A - Attention - you need to grab the attention of the person reading it.
• I - Interest - once you have their attention you need to sustain that by keeping them interested.
• D - Desire - now you have their interest you need to get them to desire your product. Use customer testimonials, case studies etc.
• A - Action - always have a call to action, such as a specific offer, discount or maybe a voucher.

7. Reflect your brand identity throughout your leaflet, making sure that your brand is clearly recognised. Potential customers typically need to have seen your customer's message 6 times before they will buy from you.

8. Do not be afraid to leave white space - too much information and your may lose your message, it will also make it difficult to read and is therefore much more likely to end up in your potential clients recycle bin.

9. Don't use jargon.

10. Remember to leave room for your contact information, telephone, email and web address.

With the increase in digital print it is much more cost effective these days to target your leaflets to specific markets. There is no point in producing one leaflet in their 1000's if only a quarter of them are going to be of interest to who you are handing them out to.

Always keep your target market in mind at all times and design your leaflet to that specific market.

Print Perception

During the 10 years plus I have been working in print I have had the pleasure of working with people who totally understand the print process but on the other side of the coin are the people who do not. Don’t get me wrong I am not putting anyone down here, in my opinion you have to be a little odd in the first place to find print interesting but in the same way I think it is odd that people find crunching numbers interesting, hence why I outsource my accounts.

I don’t expect everyone to be an expert at print but there are a number of printers that do, they set tight criteria of how artwork must be set up and if it is not exactly correct then they will not accept it. Others will take your artwork and charge you a fee for getting it print ready. 'Hey' I hear you say, 'it printed ok on your office printer so why do you need to pay someone to get it “print ready” for you?'.

Unfortunately when Microsoft were designing their suite of packages they set their criteria for viewing on screen, and what you see on screen is light which is produced in RGB (red green blue) but when it comes to print your artwork will need to be CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and keyplate black) and unless you have a professional program such as photoshop or adobe indesign you will have some difficulty making that conversion.

Next, if you have any images that touch the very edge of your paper you have supply your artwork with “bleed” which is usually 3mm on all edges (even the edges where images don’t touch the edge). This is so your document can be printed oversized and then trimmed down to the correct size so that there are no white edges around your final printed image. If you have one of the above professional program or you are getting your artwork professionally designed your artwork should always be supplied with crops (these are a pattern of lines indicating to the printer where to trim (crop) your design) and bleed (minimum 3mm all around).

If designing yourself make sure all artwork, text and images are at least 300dpi (dots per square inch) this can be quite tricky to check unless you have a professional program (see above) so it pays to be friendly with your printer or print manager so they can check this for you.

Finally before sending your artwork to print, check, check and check again for typo’s. If you can get someone else to proof read it for you all the better as a fresh set of eyes on the artwork are always worth it. If you are using a professional graphic designer don’t presume that he is going to spell check your work for you, he or she will send you a proof before it goes to print and the onus is on you to ensure that all names, telephone numbers, spelling and grammar is correct.

Here’s a little horror story for you:

A few months ago I met a guy at a networking meeting whose marketing leaflet, when it came back from the printers, had over 20 spelling and grammar errors - he was not a happy bunny. There was no way anyone would accept the leaflet as a serious marketing piece so he had to bin all 5000, a very expensive mistake for a fledgling business. He had used his computer spell checker rather than proof reading the text himself and words such as unformed rather than uniformed and there instead of their had crept in.

Alwasy remember, it is not the graphic designer or the printers responsibility to check your work for spelling and grammar errors it is yours.

If you liked the above article and have some questions relating to print please drop me an email to jo@morganpm.biz or give me a call on 01443 472565

Presentation folders are extremely cost effective to produce, and presenting something to your client that looks professional and organised will speak volumes about your business before the folder is even opened. They are an excellent marketing tool but can be used for many other purposes within your business such as company handbooks or for business seminars.

Do you have a lot of marketing literature which is relevant to specific markets? Then a presentation folder is the way forward. You can select which marketing material you need dependant on who your target market is and if your company literature and marketing materials constantly require updating a presentation folder is the ideal way to keep your print budget down. By printing short run up to date folder inserts you can save yourself considerably on brochure printing costs.

These days image is key and information contained in inserts, flyers, leaflets, brochures etc which are presented in a neat, professional manner will grab the attention of your potential client and give them a sense that your company has their effects together and really knows what they are doing.

There are many different types and style of presentation folder available and they can be customised with your company logo and information. Have a chat with your graphic designer or print manager as they will be able to help you with the various options available to you from pre-manufactured and assembled, to flat and ready to fold. They will discuss with you the different finishes available from matt/gloss lamination, to embossing and spot uv etc. but always remember, these additional finishes can increase your folder cost considerably, they look great but before adding these on always consider who your potential client is whether what they will bring to your company is worth the additional cost.

And lastly, presentation folders retain a large quantity of your business information within them as well as printed on them so always ensure that your contact details are clearly shown on all literature.

Recycling Paper around the Office

As a print manager it is strange that I am always babbling on to people about how to save paper, you would think that would be the last thing I would be passionate about.

As much as I like to see words and pictures actually printed rather than on screen and to be able to hold a magazine or brochure and read at my leisure I am still concerned about how this paper is disposed of.

I have written a previous blog about the affects of paper in our landfill sites and would like to see that reduced significantly; so I have put together the following hints and tips to enable us to be more eco friendly with our office paperwork.

1. Re-use. Turn your scrap paper into note pads by stapling or bulldog clips. If you have printed something that you no longer require, keep it in a box on top of the printer so non essential office information can be printed on the reverse.

2. Organise your office, pool together all office supplies before submitting your next stationery order, you may find that you do not require everything on your list.

3. Opt for a supplier who is committed to providing a choice of environmentally friendly products and will take back packaging for reuse.

4. Choose paper and wood products which are FSC certified to guarantee they come from certified sustainable sources.

5. Re-use envelopes, cardboard packaging and especially jiffy bags as these usually have a high plastic content and are not suitable for recycling.

6. Set your printer to double print so that both sides of the paper is used.

7. For all internal mail use reusable envelopes and provide clearly marked storage containers for these, cardboard and jiffy bags.

8. Provide recycling bins around the office for all paper and plastic.

9. Reuse shredded waste as packaging material

10. Encourage all communication to be made by email and ensure that they are only printed if absolutely necessary.

Brochures the Why? What? Who? How?

Why?

Most companies these days have a website so I can hear you asking why do I need a brochure? A website cannot replace the immediate visual impact of placing a brochure into a prospective clients hands.

A well designed brochure will give your company credibility, clients like to see that a company has invested in itself and a well written and presented brochure will show just that.

As all of us business owners know, it is extremely difficult to get in front of your prospects and so most of our contact is made over the phone or by mail. A cover letter to a prospective client will only present a fraction of the information they require and whereas a letter may be read quickly and binned a brochure can contain all the relevant information and is typically kept by a prospect to be looked over at a later time.

What?

What is the purpose of my brochure?

Firstly, you need to define what your brochure should be doing and then carry out some research.

Do you need one or many? Are you going to have one brochure listing all your company’s products or a separate brochure for each product?

Who?

Who is going to be receiving your brochure? Are they for new or existing customers?

Is it for a specific campaign or for general use throughout your business?

You may require an initial lightweight sales brochure to draw in new customers and then a heavier information led brochure for requests for further information.

If you decide on two or more they will each need to be targeted to the different audiences because if you send out the wrong brochure you are just wasting your money.

How?

There are many thoughts on the best way to go about producing your brochure, the first is to employ everyone you need from copywriters, to marketing experts, to graphic design agencies and stock photo libraries but if your budget won’t allow for that you will need to decide what you can and can’t afford.

Have a look at some online brochures, speak with graphic designers/graphic design agencies and get some ideas of the price for design and print. If design does not fit into your budget there are many online templates which may be of help to you.

Always know who your target audience is and what message will get their attention. Find out what type of brochure and level of sophistication is crossing your target audiences desks, there is no point in sending out a tri-fold leaflet if your competitors are sending out glossy 32 page brochures, with matt laminated and spot UV cover.

Early research will save you time and money when it comes to getting down in writing what you want to say and you know your company better than anyone else. Take a look at your competitors, how are they selling themselves and is it effective? What approach have they taken and does any part of it jump out at you?

Do some customer analysis – think about what your customers want to know and then answer this in a logical sequence, speak with your existing customers and find out why they bought from you. Any testimonials are always great to include in your brochure.

For the front cover, think of the benefits of your product or thought provoking statements which will motivate your prospect to pick up your brochure and read it.

If you are using the one brochure for many products ensure you have a contents page as your clients will not want to be wasting time flicking through your brochure to find the relevant information.

Remember AIDA see previous post on “How to utilise your leaflets effectively”

Attention – Interest – Desire – Action

Ensure that you have included all key information in your brochure, your mailing address, telephone numbers, email address and website and get someone else to proof read it.

Do not include any information which is likely to change in the next 12 months, there is no point in spending several hundred possibly thousands of pounds if the information becomes obsolete before you have managed to distribute them all.

Have an idea of your print budget and how many your require and then with the help of your printer/print manager you can work out what you can achieve for your budget.

Remember you don’t have to have a standard size, depending on your budget you can change the size of your brochure to make it stand out from the crowd. However, if your brochure is going to be mailed out anything of an unusual size will cost more in envelopes and postage than a standard size brochure and so must be taken into account when working out your budgets.

Always ensure that your graphics are the highest quality possible (at least 300dpi – dots per square inch) so they will print satisfactorily. Make sure your text is enthusiastic and stay away from clichés, technical jargon and crowded text.

Use the right paper, if you are unsure ask your printer/print manager for some samples.

A brochure is not the end of your marketing material but should be used in conjunction with other advertising material such as direct mail, online promotions or as a tool by your sales people. A brochure will not close the sale; that is for you to do, so always remember to follow up sending out your brochure with a call.