Print Buying Direct

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 11 – 26th August 2009

The Benefits of Doing Your Own Newsletter

If you have the capabilities, or are interested in cultivating them, there are advantages to doing your own newsletter. Many editors value the opportunities it gives them to talk with customers ad other important people in the industry. One editor commentated that newsletter production keeps her up-to-date on the market and the needs of her clients. She sees the results in increased sales.

The skills you develop while producing a newsletter are also useful for other marketing projects. They’re so handy; it may be worth the investment of time and money to get professional training. You can attend seminars for Web publishing, newsletter editing, design and desktop publishing. To improve your writing, you might take a news reporting class at a community college. The skills you use to write powerful editorial copy can also be used for press releases.

A relatively inexpensive investment in computer equipment and training allows you to create your news broadcasts yourself. With the same equipment, you can produce emailing, Web content, proposals, manuals, catalogs and brochures.

Chances are, your organisation has a lot of hidden production you can draw on to help with other steps in newsletter production. An amateur photographer can take photographs at an industry convention; an illustrator may be able to create professional-looking cartoons. Others may be willing to proof read. The more of your staff you involve, the greater the support and awareness of the publication within the organization.

Advantages of Finding People to Do It For You

One problem people in many organisations face is their lack of time, especially those in small business. In the U.S., 85% of businesses have fewer than 20 people. These small businesses need ways to free their employees’ time for day-today business.

If you have more money than time, hiring subcontractors to write and produce your newsletter may be the path to choose. Even if you’re strapped for cash, you mat still save money and end up with a more effective sales piece.

One of the benefits of using subcontractors is that, over time. You may get better work at lower cost than you’d get by doing it yourself. With hourly charges of £20 to £150, this may be hard to believe at first glance, but a professional can often do the same job in a fraction of the time it would take you. This gives you more time for other marketing tasks, easily adding enough to your bottom line to cover the subcontractors’ fee.

The best part of working with subcontractors is that they rely on regularly published or broadcasted newsletters for their income. That means you have people on your production team with an incentive to complete each issue and get the next one in the works.

To be continued…

See our rebranded Print Buying Direct website here

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Our business cards are some of the best in the business – printed in full colour on our £200,000 state of the art digital press – you’ll be proud to hand out business cards that we produce for you. Our business card prices are also very cost effective – 100 full colour business cards for only £10!

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

One of the mainstays at Print Buying Direct is Leaflets. We are experts at Leaflet Design or Leaflet Printing Check out our Banner Stands (pop up banners) only £99. Design service available.

See our partner site Massage Nantwich – for Remedial & Sports Massage – in the South Cheshire area.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 3 – 31/07/09

Every newsletter is published with the hope of generating a flood of responses. But before you can achieve your dreams, you must first set up your marketing goals.
These goals will give you the direction you need when choosing newsletter format, content, design, mailing lists and other elements. This chapter shows you how to set specific goals that can be achieved within the pages or screens of your newsletter. It also shows you how to streamline the promotional efforts of your newsletter with your other marketing projects.

Set Performance Goals
In general, all marketing materials seek to:

• Increase awareness of the organisation
• Sell products, services, ideas and causes
• Maintain contact with clients, members, volunteers, employees or supporters
• Contact prospects
• Reinforce other advertising campaigns

Your newsletter’s goals may encompass the general ones listed above, but they also include specific goals unique to your newsletter. You may be trying to maintain or increase membership of your association. Perhaps you’re lobbying an issue to legislators or community leaders. If you provide a service, such as accounting, you may be trying to find clients fitting a certain profile.
If your newsletter is being used to promote your existing products and services. Include your existing support base in your promotional goals, so that jobs from current clients continue to come in while you’re converting other prospects.

Many publishers think only of existing supporters and exclude prospects. In fact, some organisations send newsletters only to their current donors and volunteers. But your news should also be sent to community members who are not already supporting the organisation.
Think about your specific goals. Why are you interested in publishing a newsletter? What do you expect it to do for you?

What Every Editor Must Know

A newsletter’s objective is stated in its mission statement or statement of purpose. The editor must know of the following:

• What direction(s) are we expanding into?
• What are our long term goals?
• How do we currently reach customers and clients?
• How do customers and clients want to be reached?
• Why do customers buy?
• What is the average time to make a sale?
• How well are we known in the market?
• What are we selling?
• How are we different from competitors?

The answer to these questions ultimately leads to the:

• Newsletter name
• Tagline
• Content
• Response mechanisms
• Layout decisions
• Distribution methods

It’s important that the goals of your newsletter be in line with your organisation’s current short-term and long-term plans.

To be continued…

The Printing House Website Great new user friendly design – We’ve been working hard over recent months to try create a new look and new content for our main brochure site – The Printing House Website – based in Crewe, Cheshire, one of the UK’s leading colour printers. When you find some time, please take a look and feed back to us. Some of the new content includes A Guide to Preparing Print Ready Artwork and information about our Large Format and banner printing service.

We’re a bit sad and are so excited by our new site that we’ve now rebranded Print Buying Direct, Golf Club Centenary Books and School Prospectus Made Easy – let us have some feedback, hopefully you agree they look much cleaner now.

Keep watching all our sites as we are continually adding new content.

To be continued…

See part one of this blog on digital printing here. Also – what does the future hold for printing – part 1

All about the new Printing House Website

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Our business cards are some of the best in the business – printed in full colour on our £200,000 state of the art digital press – you’ll be proud to hand out business cards that we produce for you. Our business card prices are also very cost effective – 100 full colour business cards for only £10!

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

One of the mainstays at Print Buying Direct is Leaflets. We are experts at Leaflet Design or Leaflet Printing Check out our Banner Stands (pop up banners) only £99. Design service available.

See our partner site Massage Nantwich – for Remedial & Sports Massage – in the South Cheshire area.

The markets tomorrow – What does the future hold for printing? – Part 6 – 29th June 2009
Getting smart
More security will be built in to many print products to help brand protection, anti-counterfeiting and to keep ahead of the copiers. Many new products will be linked to the development of RFID technologies like credit cards, smart cards, and other printed security products. Biometrics will in corporated into passports, licences, smart cards and even tickets to prove the identity of the bearer. As well as chips, printed 2D barcodes and glyphs that can be unscrambled in readers to provide a picture of the owner, with a fingerprint or even a part of a DNA code that can be easily tested.
Smart labels will be a key component in future. These incorporate an electronic capability achieved through the laying down of conductive inks, polymers or semiconducting polymers onto the surface of the paper or board. The development of printable radio frequency identification (RFID) devices will be particularly important. Other capabilities being examined include displays that offer the opportunity for constantly updateable and information. Currently silkscreen is being used to lay down the thick layers, inkjet will become more prevalent as new fluids are developed and complex capability can be laid down in a single pass. Smart electronic displays and RFID will become common in packaging.
Stora Enso has several novel concepts and demonstrations. One is for automatic opening and re-closing packaging systems with a carton formed to mimic the mechanism of a flower opening. The pack can open or close under certain conditions depending on shape memory where materials revert to previous shapes under the influence of heat, light or electricity. This could create seals that open under certain environmental conditions, e.g. when a microwaveable meal reaches the correct cooking temperature or a drinks container is suitably chilled. Linking this with reversible glue systems, requiring electricity to reverse the polarity of surfaces and effectively switch to glue on or off makes easy opening and re-closing of a pack, increasing the life of a perishable item. So, instead of wrestling with a cap or seal you just touch a printed button. Such developments will provide dramatic improvements in the open ability/ close ability of packs, an issue that is growing concern to older people. ‘Senior friendly’ packaging will be easy to open but still take child safety into account.

To be continued…

See Part 5 of this blog on the future of printing.

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Our business cards are some of the best in the business – printed in full colour on our £200,000 state of the art digital press – you’ll be proud to hand out business cards that we produce for you. Our business card prices are also very cost effective – 100 full colour business cards for only £10!

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

One of the mainstays at Print Buying Direct is Leaflets. We are experts at Leaflet Design & Leaflet Printing.

Print Finishing – part 14 – 19th June 2009

JDF
The focus of post press research and design has largely been on the need to handle digital print, comply with more stringent health and safety legislation and automation measures designed to improve ease and speed of each operation. Every individual area has been improved resulting in collective savings of faster productivity, reduced bottlenecks, cuts in staffing levels and cost savings of producing everything in-house, when the whole department is considered.
However some manufacturers have been working on ways of improving operation throughout the whole department via the benefits of JDF functionally. Although a common feature of the pressroom, networking has yet to be fully introduced in the bindery despite many systems now being supplied with the capability.
Exponents say the benefits of a JDF bindery include a smoother, faster operation offering up to the minute information and answers that can help with expert budget management, clearer billing and more effective job planning. With improved communication and greater knowledge printers can then enjoy increased throughput and time and money savings. To achieve this all the equipment used in the finishing process needs to be connected for the information to be truly useful and that currently is a major stumbling block.
Already an expected way of working throughout pre-press and on the pressroom floor, Job Definition Format (JDF) promises much for the bindery. Supporters point to accurate costing, real time production feedback, better scheduling, more realistic and timely invoicing, reduced waste and greater flexibility. The attraction of these times and money saving benefits are why printers are increasingly researching the potential benefits of introducing this connectability throughout their operations.

To be continued…

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

Print Finishing – part 13 – 18th June 2009
Foil blocking is registering increased interest as well. Once reserved for prestige work, now it can be easily found on stationery as on a corporate brochure. The variety of achievable effects has helped create a renewed buzz. Where gold was once the usual choice, printers and end users can pick from an array of coloured options as well as transparent foils that can create an effect similar to spot varnishing.
Another service is card cutting where the drive of digital print has enabled small runs for business cards. Finishing this externally is not cost effective option so increasingly printers are investing in their own cutters. Operation has also become more user friendly enabling a flexible staffing approach.
This demand has lead to the development of more complex systems such as the Kam ProCut 74 capable of die cutting, creasing, perforating, kiss cutting or cold embossing, hot foil stamping and hologram stamping. Additional hot foil stamping and hot cut modules can be added and removed from the machine. The hot foil stamping unit can produce hot foil stamping and embossing in one pass, has two foil feeders with individually programmable servo-drives and has independently controlled heating zones.
For operations that have brought some elements of finishing in-house but have yet to build up their binding capabilities such as saddle stitching and perfect binding, other options are available including wire, plastic comb or coil. Not only does the initial investment require a smaller capital outlay, but the flexible process can handle a variety of short run, different sized products like manuals and calendars. However, consumable costs should be factored when longer runs become staple work.
But it is not just in the completion of work where printers are branching out and becoming more confident in taking fresh challenges – leading to the creation of additional revenue streams. Increasingly businesses are looking to build up their handling capabilities by offering mailing solutions. As preparing mail can be time consuming and tedious, manufacturers have been developing folding and inserting systems that offer a high degree of product integrity. Printers can then actively build up this side of the business safe in knowledge they can assure end users that their customers will receive a reliable and confidential service. Improved automation has created different automatic settings and intelligent compensation for errors as well as improved speeds.
To ensure the final product reaches its destination in tip-top condition, many businesses are realising the value of adding a shrink wrapper. Often with a tiny footprint, these mobile systems can be simply wheeled in and out of operation and stowed away reducing pressure on the bindery floor. Ensuring the product remains scratch free is not the only attraction. Some printers are using them to bundle shorter runs together or as part of a complete packaging service for jobs that have more than one element to their make up. Others are using them as a way to add value to runs of one giving the end recipient an opening experience for their one-off purchase.

To be continued…

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part 12 of this blog on Print finishing, See also our Blog on Spot UV Varnishing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

Finishing – part 10 – Lamination - 11th June 2009
Offering lamination in the bindery retains the work in-house preventing the need for sending it out and the subsequent ramifications on turnaround times. These operational benefits prompted printers to start looking seriously at the pros and cons of bringing this service in-house. At the same manufacturers made technological advances that resulted in easy to use and cheaper machines making the decision a much easier one to make.
All of these factors are combining to create a buoyant lamination market that has in turn supported a wide variety of technological improvements. For example, some laminators are equipped with a wireless webcam and Skype phone facility, taking the concept of remote diagnostics to new levels within the industry. With automation also playing a key role in the sales success of laminators. Duplo introduced its fully automatic and user friendly Ultra 205A UV Coater with optional SF-205A Feeder and Morgana launched its DigiCoater – a fully automated, micro format UV coater and priming system with dual path coating stations that allow both matt and gloss varnishes – or two differently textured finishes- to be available at all times. With the latest touch screen technology it is also fully automatic in its wash cycle, which demands minimal operator involvement. While D&K Europe’s DoubleKote Digital can encapsulate/double side laminate in one pass and benefits from a guillotine style cutter. Speed is also a key issue in the sector, a point GBC underlined with its demonstration of the world’s fastest laminator, the 8556HS- Cyclone at drupa.

To be continued…

Order your Appointment Cards online at Print Buying Direct – prices from £13.50 for 100 cards printed in full colour. At print buying direct we are market leaders in the printing of appointment cards and can produce them for doctors, hairdressers, dentists, physio, beauty salons, nail technicians, garages, massage therapists – for anything really. Just visit our Appointment Cards web page for more information.

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads (headed paper) for £125 delivered! We’ve been producing letterheads since 1991 for hundreds of customs as diverse as Bentley and Royal Mail.

See Part one of this blog on print finishing , See Part one of the Blog on Variable Data Printing – also part one of Publication Printing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions. For more information School Prospectus including School Prospectus Design or School Prospectus Printing (we also specialise in college prospectus) see our www.schoolprospectus.info website

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.

Our Digital Brochures (turn page technology) are really taking off now – get your brochure put online from only £15 per page.

Finishing – part 6 – Booklet makers and collators – 8th June 2009

Manufacturers devised a variety of feeding methods from cups that picked up each sheet to suction belt technology and the advanced rotary drum system to give very fast high speed feeds for substrate variation. One of the benefits was the fact that adjustments to the feeder were seldom, it ever, made.
This has come to impact on the market in a big way from table top friction systems for in plant and office applications, right up to sophisticated technology rich production lines with high collating power and a variety of downstream converting and finishing options.
As collators play an important part in full booklet making systems, bins often require frequent loading so deeper pile bins have been created to allow continuous collating. These systems have onboard computers to allow the collating towers and bins to be split to preload one set of bins with the same job. When the job runs out with one set, the next kicks in to allow continuous collating.
To combat escalating raw materials and postage costs, thinner stocks are being specified by end users and this can create some feeding issues on finishing system. It is with this in mind that GAE supplied Horizon developed a long edge feeding system, which works on line with the StictchLiner. It can also handle awkward stocks.

To be continued…

Don’t forget we’re still running our Letterheads promotion – 2000 full colour letterheads for £125 delivered!

See Part one of this blog on finishing , See Part one of the Blog on Variable Data Printing – also part one of Publication Printing

Print Buying Direct and School Prospectus Made Easy are both brands of parent company – The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK. Keep visiting both websites for details of our latest offers and promotions.

Have a look at our Newsletters webpage for help and assistance with writing and designing your newsletter. It deals with, company newsletters, college newsletters, school newsletters and employee newsletters in particluar. Our blog often focuses on newsletters and we have a page which specifically helps with newsletters as a marketing tool.

TOP TIP: Add that feel of quality to your company brochure by first applying Matt Lamination then a Spot UV Varnish. The UV Varnishing actually ‘lifts’ your pictures to give them a glossy impact.