Margie Dana

Direct Mail Hits & Misses for Commercial Printers

Too often, commercial printers confuse announcements with marketing. These two things are not synonymous. They have different purposes.

An announcement shares news – an equipment purchase, an award won, maybe a new CEO or a move to a bigger facility. These are typical examples of news you’d cover in a release. They also fit nicely into a newsletter or can be sent in an email that identifies the content as news.

A direct mail piece intended to help market a service or product can’t be just a news item. You can’t simply excerpt bits of a news release, package it as a postcard or brochure, and mail it to prospects with the expectation you’ll get business from it. The copy has to change.

Ideally, an effective direct marketing piece gets inside the head of a potential customer before the copy’s written. Its message addresses one key point from the recipient’s perspective: why should I care?

Numerous times a year I receive colorful postcards from a local trade printer – Braintree Printing in Braintree, MA. Sometimes they send a 5 x 8” postcard. Sometimes, it’s 6 x 9”. Always, the postcard is interesting and fun. And they’re never selling equipment; they’re giving me an answer to a problem or a need I have or may one day have.

My favorite postcard from Braintree Printing

My favorite so far is the card that said, “MARGIE, TRY AND TEAR ME!!” The copy explains that with a certain sheet of paper (Mohawk Synthetic, Premium Polyester), I could get things printed that are totally tear resistant. What did I do immediately? I tried to tear it. I couldn’t.

It’s a great example of a direct mail piece from a printer. I look forward to receiving these postcards.

Another postcard from Braintree Printing was printed on 24 pt board, and that’s what they were trumpeting – or promoting – on this piece, the fact that they can print jobs for me using this paper. It worked well because it put a sample of the sturdy stock in my hands. The copy gave a short list of perfect applications, including signage, packaging, and POP, so that I could relate.

I save all of their postcards so I can follow the marketing trail and learn from them. I also like that these pieces are all personalized and use my first name in the design.

Compare that approach – addressing an issue, desire, or problem your market may have – with a direct mail piece from a printer that features a new press. Using a photo of the press is a mistake if you’re trying to impress a print customer. There’s nothing clever or interesting about it. And listing the features, straight from the manufacturer, doesn’t speak to my needs as a customer.

It is an example of an announcement that thinks it’s a marketing piece. It is not.

Unless the mail piece tells me immediately what the new press can do for my print jobs that I care about, it’s not working.

Bottom line? When creating a direct mail campaign for your print customers, always put yourself in a customer’s shoes and focus on answering this question: Why does this matter to me and how might it help my company?

Don’t confuse an announcement with a marketing campaign.

The first one says, “Look at us!” A good marketing piece says, “Here’s looking at you.”

21 Essential Blogging Tips for Business Owners

The word “blog” is short and sweet and on everybody’s to-do list. Writing your own blog seems deceptively easy.

Marketers (myself included) throw the “B” word around with abandon these days, telling business owners to identify a specialty that can be written about and, in true Nike fashion, “just do it.”

I fear we’ve oversimplified the act of blogging.

While I know that a business blog for a printing company or any company is a highly effective inbound marketing tool, there are some rules of thumb you should deal with before launching your own blog.

You need commitment. Good blogs have longevity, so planning your content and schedule is the very first step. The planning stage is critical. Involve your management and creative team.
Be specific with your blogging topic. What is it you’re passionate about – and familiar enough with – so that your blog has the longevity it needs? Good blogs have a focus.
It must be search engine optimized. You need to know what words or terms people use to search for your company and your expertise, so that your blog reflects these key words and includes them.
Professional writing and compelling content are a blog’s cornerstones. Business blogs reflect on the company, not only the blogger. Bad writing won’t win you followers. If this means you outsource your blog, then do it. I do not believe a blog has to be written from the inside. As long as there are guidelines for and strong communication with your external blogger, you’re fine. See my previous post about this.
It needs to be regular. A blog isn’t an occasional post; it requires a schedule. Just imagine you’re publishing a weekly newspaper. Establish deadlines and respect them.
A blog is not promotional. The blogs that annoy me aren’t blogs at all. They’re ads masquerading as a blog. Your blog is not the place where you announce a new acquisition (like a piece of equipment) or an award you’ve won. Those are news items.
It’s not about you. See #6. Although business bloggers certainly put their own experiences into their posts, they write to educate and inspire, not crow.

Who are you writing for?
A blogger knows her audience. Who are you writing this blog for? Keep your audience in mind every time you write.
Encourage comments – and reply to them. Since they live on the Internet, blogs are social by nature. Make sure you have commenting functionality and that it works. If there are technical issues with it, you’ll turn people off and rob yourself of feedback. Reply to comments quickly.
Have social sharing buttons that work. Your blog will only be an effective marketing or branding tool if it can be shared. You’d be surprised how often I come across blogs that lack sharing buttons. Read what Melissa Leiter has to say about social sharing.
A blog’s headline matters. I always rewrite my blog’s headline before publishing it. Start with a working headline and revise it as you write. Because the headline often determines what people click on, yours always has to capture interest. A recent post of mine dealt with headlines for emails. The same rules apply for blogs. I learned these tips from Nancy Harhut of the Wilde Agency; check them out.

Links add dimension to your blog.
It’s ok to link. An old way of thinking was that you should never use links, for fear of losing readers who wander off to other sites. Today, it’s smart to show examples of some of the points you’re making, and more than that, to indicate that research was involved. Plus, it’s social.
Keep a list of future blogging topics. Oftentimes your ideas for content come to you out of the blue. To avoid losing them, write them down in a handy notebook or in a folder on your computer. Dump every related thought and idea into this notebook, then flesh them out when you sit down to write.
Leave room for spontaneity. While it’s smart to have a calendar of blog topics, you’ll often come up with new posts that are timely. Don’t be afraid to interrupt your scheduled posts when this happens.
Add a visual to every blog post. Posts with visuals are more interesting and get more attention. I haven’t found a better post about the value of visuals than this one from HubSpot, one of the leading Internet marketing firms.
Take the high road, always. Your business blog may be your personal opinions about your specialty, but it shouldn’t veer into complaining about competition or airing your own political views.
A blog is not a novel. Don’t feel that you have to write a book. Short posts are fine. I always say a few hundred words are perfect.
Speak in your normal “voice” as a writer. Write as if you’re speaking to one person. Keep your sentences short.
Don’t dash off a blog in haste. It should take you at least an hour to write, revise, proofread, revise again, craft a great headline, and upload. This goes for spontaneous posts as well as scheduled ones.
Read it aloud before posting it. Edit accordingly until it sounds natural. Delete extraneous words.
Learn from other blogs. Sign up for a blog or two – these are the best in class. You’ll keep learning ways to improve your own blog.

Have I left off any key points about the makings of a good business blog? What makes yours so successful?

Margie Dana & John Zarwan Launch New Study: How Do Print Buyers Work with the Paper Industry?

BOSTON, MA and CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI Canada – July 23, 2014 – Margie Dana is teaming up once again with industry consultant and researcher John Zarwan to develop a profile of how today’s print buyers purchase paper for commercial printing. Having surveyed hundreds of professional print buyers across the country in 2013 for their report on The New Print Buyers, they are now taking a look at buyers’ relationship with the paper industry.

NPTA, the National Paper Trade Association, is a sponsor of this study.

“This study and the information we receive will allow us to better understand how the end user is sourcing and making decisions about paper at a deeper level than we have had before,” said Travis M. Mlakar, NPTA Chair and President of The Millcraft Group. “The depth of knowledge contained the report will be valuable to ALL NPTA members.”

Dana and Zarwan developed the online survey to focus on how today’s print buyers source their paper. How many of them buy paper directly? How many have programs set up with their printers, mills or merchants? Where do print buyers learn about trends in paper? On whom do they most rely for paper insights and intelligence?

The team will collect and analyze the data over the next two months and write the final report, which will be available for sale from their web sites and from other partners.

“We’ve been wondering where print buyers get most of their information about paper, and whether they feel that the paper industry is providing what they need to do their jobs well,” said Dana. “This study should shine a light on this issue – as well as many others. John and I are excited about our second study and thankful for NPTA’s support as the association representing the paper distribution channel.”

NPTA members will receive a copy of the report as part of their membership.

Print buyers, designers and marketers are eligible to participate in this short survey; printers, brokers and other service providers are not.

Survey participants will be eligible to win one of five complimentary tickets to NPTA’s Paper School this September 30^th at Graph Expo in Chicago.

Paper School is a half-day program that teaches the most important topics in paper and provides each attendee with a strong foundation of knowledge to build on. Five classroom sessions will be taught by paper industry experts from top paper mills. Paper School attendees will also receive complimentary access to the Graph Expo show floor.

The Print Buyer & Paper Survey is accessible to those who are eligible at this link.

About Margie Dana

Long regarded as a print buyer expert and trade writer, Margie Dana launched her new business in 2013 as a marketing communications strategist with a specialty in printing and print buying. She is a sought-after presenter at trade shows and conferences and still writes her popular Print Tips blog each week. For details on her services and to sign up for her weekly blog, visit margiedana.com.

About John Zarwan

J Zarwan Partners works closely with a select number of companies, guiding them to develop and implement more effective and efficient business strategies. Their clients, which include commercial printing and packaging industry leaders, benefit from his extensive experience in addressing and managing change; market strategy and implementation; product planning and positioning; and market research. John Zarwan, founding partner, has been in the graphic arts, printing, and digital media industry for 30 years and is internationally recognized for his knowledge and insight on trends in the industry. He has spoken at major industry events and conferences around the world, and his articles on print markets and technology have appeared in various print and web journals. For more information, go to: www.johnzarwan.com.

About NPTA

The National Paper Trade Association, founded in 1903, is the association for the $50-billion-plus paper distribution channel. The mission of NPTA is to actively support the success of member firms through the delivery of networking, education, advocacy and industry trends focused on the health of the paper distribution channel. For more information about NPTA, visit www.goNPTA.com.

For More Information

Margie Dana

Margiedana.com

John Zarwan

J Zarwan Partners

E: http://www.johnzarwan.com/contact.htm

Vickie Crews-Anderson

NPTA

10 Things Every Print Customer Expects

No matter where a print customer works (company, organization, or agency), what umbrella they stand under (marketing, production, design, or procurement) or how much experience they have, they share some common expectations from their printers. I’m not referring to the obvious – of course they expect excellent print quality, pricing, and on-time delivery.

Regardless of how much or how little they spend on print every year, print customers prefer to work with printers who have certain qualities and who handle their accounts in particular ways. They want reps who are honorable businesspeople, who accurately represent their companies, and who can be trusted to do what they say they’ll do.

These are the qualities I’m singling out. This is my list of 10 implicit expectations that all print customers have:

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. They expect and deserve respect for their knowledge and job responsibilities. Whether you’re speaking with a new buyer or a savvy one, printers should never patronize customers or condescend to them.
Honesty. Integrity. Professionalism. These 3 personal qualities will get you far if you possess them, or sink you like a pair of cement shoes if you don’t.
Collaboration. Developing a print job is a process that often involves multiple stakeholders on the buyer’s side. Customers welcome print partnerships that are collaborative. Decades ago, it may have been about Getting the Sale. Not anymore. Help your customers by providing expertise. Listening is a big part of it.
Appreciation of the ROI of print and its place among digital media. Today’s sales reps have to speak to broader communications issues, help clients measure print’s ROI, and converse intelligently about other marketing channels. How will you address (and solve) customers’ web-based communications needs? Print doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Creative ideas & suggestions. In my mind, if a printer doesn’t make suggestions and offer ideas that make my job better in some way (Quality? Efficiency? Format? Cost-effective? Easier to mail?), that’s an open invitation for your competitors to swoop in and take your client right out from under your nose.
Strong communications. There’s no excuse for not keeping in touch with clients, particularly with an active job. Response time matters. Take your pick (or better yet, check with your clients to determine which channel/s they prefer): phone, text, email.
Forget your daddy – who’s your back up? Customers assume there are people on your team to watch over their work in your absence. This means when you leave for a day, a long weekend, a week or even longer, they know their work won’t suffer or be ignored.
Instant everything. Print customers are no different from other customers in this regard. Fast response to their queries, fast turnaround on RFQs, fast proofs, fast delivery. You name it; we want it now.
Extreme value. Value’s a funny, squishy term, isn’t it? But as customers, we all know when we feel we DIDN’T get the value we expected. To help make sure you’re delivering value to your customers, ask them at the outset what they expect from you/your company – and how they define a successful relationship. It will not be the same for everyone.
High level of technical expertise. Customers presume their reps understand the manufacturing processes they’re representing – enough to help guide their decisions and make recommendations that will ensure success. This encompasses all of the parts that make up the whole: prepress, press, formats, paper, post-press/finishing, mailing and fulfillment. (Tall order, right? That’s why your team is important.)

Here’s the tricky part: these are implicit expectations. We customers presume you’ll deliver on all of them. Will you? Does this list represent some of the qualities you strive for as a print rep? What else can your customers expect from you – and do you make them known when meeting a prospect?

If I Trained Print Sales Reps

iStock image

Always a buyer, never a seller of print – that’s me. I really don’t think I could get hired to sell printing – I’m not fluent in print manufacturing. If nothing else, a print salesperson must know how commercial printing is made. That’s the least I’d expect from a rep who came knocking on my door.

Over the years while I was a print buyer, I counted on my reps to guide me, educate me, steer me toward success and away from a printing disaster. They were my eyes and ears at the printing plant and in the graphic arts community at large. They shared local industry news, invited me to paper shows (those were the days!), stood by my side at press OKs, and made recommendations about paper, inks, finishes, packaging, and shipping. They were the experts. I relied on them and trusted them.

I’m sure I’m missing the heart and soul of training protocol, but if I had the chance to train sales reps, here’s what I’d focus on:

Think like a customer. I’d talk about what buyers, designers and marketers are going through in 2014 and what they’re looking for in their printers.
Do your homework. Don’t ever do such a cold call that you haven’t searched for a prospect on Google and LinkedIn, looked at the company’s web site, and come up with a good grasp of what materials and services a particular company or organization might need.
Customers are all different. Some have decades of experience; some have none. Some are print buyers, full stop. Most have other responsibilities. Some are graphic designers and others are marketers. Don’t assume anything about a prospect. Get to know them individually.
Listen more than you talk. It was a salesman named Duncan who taught me this. One of the least attractive sales tactics is when a salesman launches into his or her pitch, doesn’t come up for air, and is hell bent on leaving your office with a job. That doesn’t work.

Just listen.
Ask prospects and customers what they’re looking for. See #3. Everyone will be different. To some, low price rules. To others, speed matters most, or the latest technologies. It all depends on the individual.
Acknowledge the preconceptions that customers have. There’s a ton of misinformation about the printing industry floating around, and I’d spend time discussing this with the reps.
Be available. When you begin working with a customer, he or she will expect you to be available by email, phone, even texts. Respond quickly.
Introduce your CSR personally. If your CSR will be doing most of the client work, your customers need to know this person. Customers don’t expect you to do all of it yourself, and a strong team is a strong asset. Work it.
Be transparent. Customers need to trust you. Should they find out you’ve been hiding something related to their account or keeping something significant (and relevant) from them, the relationship will be over.
Keep in touch. Don’t disappear from their radar once a job is delivered. Keeping in touch occasionally is smart, unless you’re told otherwise. This doesn’t mean that you only get in touch with the intent of selling; share something relevant, interesting, and potentially important to your customers.
Bring them new ideas. Never forget you’re the manufacturing expert. Share samples of great stuff you’ve produced for other clients, or email them links about new applications or technologies that could benefit them.
Be social. Even if you don’t use social media for business, you have to keep up with the popular sites and tools. You don’t want to be seen as stuck in the past. Find out if and how your customers are using social media for business.
Offer to give a plant tour. It’s hard to get customers out of the office, but you should extend this offer. It will open up the dialogue between you and give them more education about your company.
Visit major portals like PIworld.com and Whattheythink.com daily. Your professional education is an ongoing one. Hopefully, you have access to trade publications at your company. You can always access most of them online as well.
Check out your local direct marketing associations. Lots of marketers are directly connected to print campaigns and have decision-making responsibility for choosing print. Familiarize yourself with local trade groups. Are there events you should attend? Should you (or your company) join a group and become active?
Remind yourself that customers need to know about all you offer. Even if a customer’s only ordered one product type from you before, you need to keep customers informed of all you can do.
Don’t let them see you sweat. Salespeople are part actors. We customers like to believe you have it all under control, even if you don’t. Exude confidence and poise. Be positive.
Be a person of integrity. It’s the #1 quality customers seek in a print rep. If we find you’ve been dishonest, you’re history. Plus, we’ll tell our friends.

Be honest like Abe.
Do what you say you’ll do. This is all about professionalism. You’ll gain customers’ trust and develop a business relationship that will help your career.
Become a resource for other things. Customers appreciate sales reps who help them in other ways. Maybe they need things like graphic design or web site development, copywriting or video services – and you don’t offer them. You probably have referrals to give them. Be generous in this way; it will help you in the long run.
Follow up to bids you don’t win. Find out why you lost a job; it may not always be obvious. If nothing else, it shows you’re interested.
Keep an eye on the competition. Who do you lose work to, and why? What do they have that you don’t? In what ways do they outperform you and vice versa?
Ask customers what they expect. Keep notes. Everyone will have a slightly different answer. Let them know you’re paying attention. This isn’t a “once and done” conversation. It should be ongoing.

A rep is the face of the company. The relationship between a sales rep and a customer is more important than anything else. Start off strong by listening to every new customer. What makes them unique? How can you serve their account so that they’ll never want to leave you? It’s about what they need, not about what you need to sell them.

14 Surefire Public Speaking Tips

Speak easy. You can do it!

A great way to share your expertise is by public speaking. I pay particular attention to sessions delivered by people in the printing industry, as it’s a specialty of mine. When I attend such a talk, I imagine what other audience members think of the speaker and whether the session is soaring…or boring.

Let’s say you’re presenting to a local business group, like a Chamber of Commerce. Maybe you’re presenting to a customer group. Or perhaps you’ve hit the jackpot and are speaking to an audience of marketers and other print customers at a major conference. In recent years, I’ve seen more printers present at events hosted by groups like AMA and DMA. To them I say, BRAVO! But regardless of the group, the advice I’m about to give is solid.

As someone who’s done public speaking for nearly 20 years, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. I trust I’ve improved with time. Today I want to share 14 tips I’ve learned over time. They apply to anyone who’s giving a speech.

Know your audience. This is #1, because if you don’t know who’s in your audience, you could be in serious trouble. Find out before you say “yes” in fact. Keep in touch with the event producers, as people register to hear you. Ask the host to describe the audience: who they are, what they know, their level of sophistication/experience, etc. Your presentation must be tailored to them.
Respect your time-slot. Whether you have 30 minutes or 130, plan to use your time well. If you’re building in time for Q&A, leave room at the end of your presentation or allow “breathing room” during the presentation itself. Write for the amount of time you’re given – but be prepared in case you need to cut it short (you will rarely if ever be asked to go longer).
Practice until you know it cold. Time yourself. (I love that you can do this in PowerPoint.) Not only will you know if you have enough or too much material for your allotted time, but you’ll also get more comfortable with your presentation and with speaking aloud. The last thing you want to do on stage is to read your presentation from the slides.
Spend a lot of time writing a strong introduction. People remember how you begin your presentation, so devote a lot of time working on your introductory remarks. Using stories is a great idea. People are interested in stories. Spend more time on the intro than anything else you have to say. It sets the tone, and it should make people sit up and want to hear more. For me, it’s always the hardest part to write.

Entertain them AND enlighten them.
Channel your inner actor. You have to be entertaining. This means moving around comfortably, not standing still behind a podium. Smile. Engage with your audience. Modulate your voice to prevent the snoozy monotone.
Make your presentation focused. It needs an objective, which will guide everything you write and say. It needs a beginning, middle, and end. The content must flow in a natural order. Give your audience a sense of what they’ll be learning from you. This roadmap helps prepare them.
Don’t clog your slides with content. Crowded slides are illegible and annoying. Cover more ground with what you say, not what’s on the screen. Use lots of visuals to help tell your story.
If you don’t know PowerPoint well enough, hire a pro. It will make a huge difference. I have a go-to designer when I need help with layout, images or my template.
Add a brand ID to each slide. This isn’t blatant selling; it’s smart. I’ve seen slides where no mention of the speaker’s company is visible. A tasteful logo and small URL work just fine.
Add Twitter hashtags to your slides. Here are my two thoughts on this: 1) if you’re presenting at a trade event, the event has a hashtag (I hope), and it should appear on every speaker’s slide – small and tasteful will do; and 2) if you have your own Twitter account, add your hashtag as well. Don’t you want folks to find and follow you?
Act like a Virgo and be super-organized. Be prepared for emergency situations. You’ll probably use your own laptop, but put your presentation on a thumb drive as well, and also send it to your host just in case. Pack extra batteries. I always bring my own remote slide advancer (with batteries), so I’m not tethered to my laptop when speaking. If you’re a Mac user as I am, be sure the event producer has the right cable for your laptop. I learned this too late – and my presentation started 20 minutes late as the technician scrounged around for the right cable.
Leave a little something behind. Often, your host will require and/or provide handouts of your presentation. If not, offer to send audience members a PDF copy of your presentation. Have business cards with you and any other materials that might make you memorable.
Get there early to set up and test your equipment. Make sure the audio works. Make sure the cables are there (not every host will have a cable for a Mac, see #11 above!). Mac users should also bring their own adapter for the projector, BTW.
Concentrate on relaxing. Oxymoron-ish? Maybe so, but the best speakers seem totally comfortable. Their pace is good. They smile and react to questions easily. They exude confidence. They are masters at whatever they’re talking about. It may take time but it makes a difference to your audience.

So if you have an upcoming presentation and you’re not yet an accomplished public speaker, these 14 tips will help.

Giving a presentation may be the first and only time audience members hear about you and your company. You need to be prepared! Make it your goal to be excellent, entertaining, and memorable.

Monthly Archives: July 2014