Local versus Online Printing: Make Sure You Know When to Use Which

I was reminded of writing this post as I looked at my baby announcements today to file in her baby book. It was delivered to me via online printer with the crop marks still on it. Which brings me to the point of when to choose an online printer versus a local printer.

First, I believe in paying a little extra for a relationship and some common sense, so whenever I can, I will always try to get it done local. I wish it were for morally superior reasons, however, when it comes to complex print jobs (and in the online world, pantone colors can be considered 'complex', so can bleeds).

For example, if I had printed the baby announcements locally and spent $100 more (I know that's not 'just $100' anymore, hence the online printer...but I'm digressing. If done locally, I would have received a proof, or even better, a phone call with a REAL PERSON in prepress asking me to remove the crop marks. PEOPLE know to make this judgement call, COMPUTERS don't. Any good sales rep in my opinion would look at the file and ask me to re-send.

With an online printer, the prices are usually much cheaper for standard items such as business cards, letterheads and postcards. That's why it's so easy to use them, along with the fact that you can upload at 3am and track your delivery. There-in lies the double-edged sword: cheap and easy, yet the lack of the human element makes it a risk in my opinion, a risk that you have to decide if it's worth taking.

Obviously the client and the nature of the piece determine which vendors you will use. For me, if I'm going to send something to an online printer, it has to be coated (gloss) stock, and a standard size item on their website. Anything "custom" to them -- run, run as fast as you can. Trust me.
If it's full color process (CMYK) or 2 pantone colors on coated stock and standard size item, I don't mind online printers.

If there are pantone colors, more than 2, and if any of them are metallic, and/or I'm using uncoated stock (which I LOVE), then I'll want to trust the local printer. They are here to call me if they think something looks off. They are here if they want me to see it on the actual press before they start printing. They are here because they value relationships too. If you have a rep that values your business in the long-term, and a mistake is made, you can usually find a compromise that satisfies both parties. Anything that is complicated to you, as the designer, will definitely be complicated to an online printer.

And I'll leave it at that.

Social Marketing Example: Roxy

Everyone knows in today's climate of ad harassment, word of mouth is everything. Hence a new marketing catchphrase 'social marketing'. Well, I want to illustrate how that is done wisely. Love what Roxy, a brand of clothing for girls, accomplished this.

What do you and a brand like Roxy have in common? The need to connect with their customers on an ongoing basis, and in Roxy's case, have them advertise their clothes. Instead of going the traditional focus group route, they started an online community of over 900 girls. These girls were handpicked in stores across the country, deemed by Roxy as the trend-setters among their peers. Genius!

The first sell was to the girls, already fans of Roxy by being in the store. Roxy upped the ante by offering the girls exclusivity--making them feel important by allowing them to provide direct feedback on the clothes and get exclusive discounts on stores. The girls that are chosen by Roxy receives a welcome package which includes the latest clothing designs.

Now Roxy can get immediate responses to surveys--if Roxy poses a question on the message board, she'll get responses in minutes. They have over 300 active members who post several tims a day. Can you imagine having enough reponses to where in the SAME DAY you can go back to your uppers and enable them to make quick decisions?

Love this marketing initiavive for these reasons: feedback from a qualified team of customers (on trends, etc), lightening quick word of mouth marketing for this age demographic, and mainly that Roxy has made them feel important, and hence they are ACTIVE 'brand ambassadors'. It's a win-win (Roxy gets the info they need, their brand ambassadors get great discounts) that is a great marketing strategy for today, and can be applied to many industries now.

SEO More Important to Small Businesses

Small businesses are used to getting buried in search results. Many small businesses don't know that a call to their agency can improve their standings by using a process called Search Engine Optimization. Especially for retailers selling online, getting on the first page of Google can prove tremendous results in sales.

Some easy changes you can make now:

*Yes, you have a catchy domain name, but does it tell people exactly what you sell? The reason being, search engines look for keywords in a domain name that are related to the products or services a user is searching for.

I, personally disobeyed this rule. When I'm stuck on something, that's it. I've wanted to use the name 'Rock Candy' since I was three years old. Always trust your instincts. I think through branding and more clever ways to optimize SEO, you should pick the name you want versus a name based on what Google will do. The easy road is not always the best one.

But if you are selling something such as baby gifts for example, having those words as part of your domain name will help SEO instantly.

*Also, I said I would never blog. I thought it was something narcissists did, until I tried it. And maybe I'm still a narcissist, who knows. But I learned that if you make your blog useful, people will come back. But mostly, people usually don't have time for reflection in our crazy world. When I blog, and think about a topic I knew nothing about when I first started in the industry, it just flows, and even I learn something that relates to the value of the services I provide. Look, you own your own business. Do what you are good at and trust the experts to do the rest. People aren't taught SEO in college, so don't feel like these are things you should know--seek help and you can find the time to do what you love. This just happens to be what I love (and yes, I seek therapy).

So try blogging--Google actually "sees" activity. Keep your blog on your own web site so that keywords in your blog give your rankings a boost. But don't just blog to blog, make it relevant, because when people comment that counts as "activity" to a search engine like Google.

Work with your agency to have them improve your SEO--they will check out more than what I just mentioned, including the keywords in the text, titles and coding on your site to make sure you get top billing.

That's all for today.

Direct Mail: Your List is EVERYTHING

Recently, I was thinking about doing a direct mail piece for my own business. A few weeks into working until midnight, I thought to hold off. But it got me thinking, after handling/advising clients about HOW to best send out a mailer, the most important part wasn't being discussed. You can mail all day, waste all the postage you want, but if you don't reach the right demographic, your chances of making a sale or generating interest in your product/service is basically nil.

It's always best to use an agency (like mine) when garnering new business. But the more information you have (and they don't always ask for it), the better list you get. For example, if you own a new restaurant, best to target certain zip codes first. Seems obvious right? Well, how about if you target those zip codes AND reach people within a certain income range or age? Always think about what you want in these categories: Age, Income, Homeownership, and Home Market Value.

Zip codes: You can give your list broker the zip code for your restaurant, but also give them a radius of 5 miles (for example) to work within. Remember, after you get a number of targeted address from your agency, you can always change the radius to either increase or decrease the number of mailers you want to send. Better to work with more and narrow it down.

Now, let's go beyond age, income, home value and home ownership vs. renter--we can help you further target your list in relation to lifestyle (magazines they subscribe to for example), household size (children or no children) and marital status.

You can always combine this new targeted list with your own database depending on what your pitch is.

Let your agency do the legwork--the amount postage is these days, you can't afford not to.