Okay…I’m up on twitter and you can follow me at AG_US333.
Copies vs. digital prints
Okay…we’ve all seen it…advertisments for $.29 color copies, right? Well, just keep this in mind…there is always a disclaimer and here it is: “Must be 100 copies, off the glass only, 20/24# paper”. What does that mean and why should I care. First of all, we live in a digital world — not a paperless world, but a digital one. That means that whatever you want copies of you probably have digitally, so why would you make a copy on your printer and bring it in to make a copy of a copy. You end up getting copies with poor color, so if you have the digital version of it, you should be getting digital prints from a digital original. I can continue to go on about the type of paper you are using, etc., but I’ll save that for another time. For now, always insist on sending a digital file, bringing in a USB drive, CD, etc. to make sure you have the best image and color possible.
PURL Campaign
I’m pretty excited that our first internal PURL campaign got mailed today. This is starting with a multi-dimensional piece to have a higher rate of being opened — don’t you always open packages that you receive? In the piece is a premium and a card directing the person to a Personalized URL and if they fill out the information they get entered to win a 50″ television. In addition, if they make an appointment to speak with me or my account executive they receive a $20 Visa gift card. This is a three month campaign so check back here to see the results.
USPS Raising Rates
On February 13, the U.S. Postal Service approved new prices for mailing services, including a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail stamp to 44 cents. The new prices will go into effect Monday, May 11.
So, what does that mean for you (besides the fact that you will spend more money on postage)? You need to take a good look at your mailing lists to see who is on it — you can be much more effective with a targeted mailing campaign then just mailing something to everyone. I am a strong believer in spending more money on a creative — maybe three dimentional piece — and mailing it to fewer people. You will probably end up spending about the same amount of money, but you will have a much higher ROI because there is greater likelyhood of it getting opened and responded to.
Another thing to remember is that using software to dedup, run through National Change of Address, and then presort at the lowest possible rate will continue to ensure you are saving the most amount per-piece and not paying $.44/piece.
Hello world!
Welcome to AlphaGraphics of Bannockburn’s Blog. I started this blog with the hopes of helping companies with their marketing and visual communications. My intention is to post relevant articles, ideas and links to help people market their companies. Especially now more than ever it is important for companies to stay visable. I welcome any responses and posts and hope that you find this site a useful tool for your business.
