Print Buying Direct

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 18 – final part – 7th September 2009
Getting Your Newsletter Out on Time

Whether your targeted publication schedule is weekly, quarterly or monthly, you should try to publish your newsletter on a regularly basis. However, some people know from the beginning that they may have trouble with regular production.

Does haphazardness in your publication schedule show a lack of commitment to your readers? Will an irregularly published newsletter hurt rather than help your image?

I’ve never known anyone to be hurt by publishing just one promotional newsletter. Even if they only published their message once, they got the attention of some of their readers. The disadvantage is that they didn’t stick with the project long enough to reap the benefits of longevity.

While publishing on a regular basis requires greater resources, you’ll see the results faster. Every issue builds on the marketing efforts of the last newsletter. Within reason, the more issues or broadcasts your prospects see, the greater the promotional effects.

Sometimes you just may not have enough information to fill an entire issue. Many organisations email news as it occurs. Or, you can publish a smaller newsletter.

The best way to ensure fast turnaround on your newsletter and increase your chance of publishing on a regular basis is by developing a schedule. The schedule helps eliminate surprises by letting vendors and editorial board members know when the work is coming. Carefully planning also saves you time and money.

Scheduling Your Newsletter

The most vital planning tool is schedule you set for each issue. Developing and sticking to your schedule not only helps increase the quality of your publication, it also saves you time and makes it easy to meet deadlines. You will have time to proofread the text, lay out the pages and double-check critical marketing information. These crucial steps are often bypassed or rushed when articles and other types of content are late.

From a promotional viewpoint, your schedule is used to implement your editorial calendar and your marketing plan. Use the plans you set down in the last chapter and combine them into your scheduling.

Scheduling your first issue. Scheduling your first issue is a bit of a shot in the dark. If you haven’t produced a promotional newsletter before, it’s hard to know how much time each step will take.

Note the turnaround times quoted by your subcontractors or volunteers. (If timing is crucial, you may want to shop for writers, printers and mail houses for turnaround time as well as pricing.) Allow extra time for articles to be approved.

Next to each step, write down the estimated completion time. For your next issue, multiply this time by two.

Use this list and estimated schedule to prepare a calendar. As you complete each production stage, pencil it in on the calendar. Note any forgotten steps or discrepancies in time estimates and save the calendar, in order to make your next schedule more accurate.

Re-adjust your schedule to keep it realistic of your newsletter misses deadlines. If the schedule can’t be changed, don’t expect outside services to make up for your delays without an increase in price. Also realise that even if they don’t charge you more, you’re still paying a price. The next time you give your vendor a schedule, they may not budget time for you until they actually receives your materials.

Letting go of the first issue. Although not without reward, the production of your first issue can be gruelling. One editor produced his first newsletter on a new desktop publishing system under a tight schedule. The 16 page newsletter was written and produced in five days in order to distribute it at a computer industry trade show. Still feeling exhausted, the editor met a former editor Time magazine at the show. He asked how Time was produced under a weekly deadline.

Time’s editor said that it was simple. “You just learn when to let one go and always try to make the next one better”.

With this in mind, publish the first issue of your newsletter as soon as possible. Once you’ve proofread carefully and checked that you’ve eliminated any major errors, send it to the printer or broadcast it online. Don’t wait until everything else is perfect. You can refine the publication along the way. It’s better to publish a slightly imperfect newsletter regularly than a flawless one erratically.

Scheduling additional issues. When scheduling your next edition, start by evaluating the appearance and writing of your last one. Look at it critically. What was good about it? What do you think you could do to improve it? Carefully check the quality of the printing. Look at the condition of the piece after going through the postal service or online distribution (be sure to add your name to your list). See if the address label was put on straight. Read each article for clarity and completeness. Look at the layout and the overall design.

List the articles and important news that you want to include this time. If you have regular features – market briefs, an editorial, personnel or member profiles – include them in your list. Decide who is going to be responsible for each article and set the deadlines. Once you have your schedule, post it close by. If you check off each item when it’s completed, you’ll be able to spot any potential bottlenecks.
Tips for Staying on Schedule

Try to avoid unpleasant surprises. Make sure the people who approve copy are going to be available when needed and those scheduled to be interviewed are still available. If possible, have backups for all vital functions and spaces. Check vacation, trade show and travel schedules. Carefully note holidays and make sure to mark them on your schedule.

If you’re announcing a special event in your publication, the newsletter should arrive no earlier than four to six weeks prior to the event and no later than one week before. Regularly scheduled events, such as monthly meetings, should be announced no earlier than two weeks prior to the event.

Scheduling each issue can be simplified by developing a yearly editorial calendar. By planning the most of your content in advance, you can benefit from economies of scale. Often, when you’re researching one topic, you’ll find information on a future topic as well. Rather than having to retrace your steps next time, you’ll have the information already on file.

From reading these first three chapters, you now know what you want your newsletter to accomplish. Nut in order for it to meet your goals, it must also meet the needs of your readers. Just as you have analysed your own needs, take a moment to study those of your readers.

(See part 1 of this blog on marketing with Newsletters here)

See our great printing offers at Print Buying Direct – leaflets are always in demand and we are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Leaflet Design and Leaflet Printing.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 17 – 4th Sept 2009

Quick & Easy Newsletter Designs for Small Budgets

Any size budget can be used to produce a promotional newsletter. The trick is to determine what you want and what you can afford. A newsletter can be as simple as a typewritten publication on your letterhead or as formal as a four-colour publication that looks almost like a magazine.

If you’re on a tight budget, the key is to start out simple. At the beginning, all it takes is access to a writer/ editor, computer and copier. As the project proves itself, you can expand to professional graphics and more expensive.

Consider the following:

• Printing a letter-style newsletter on your company letterhead to give the feeling of personal communication
• Printing a special version of your stationery (perhaps with the newsletter name), and photocopying black text onto it
• Purchasing colourful pre-printed papers designed by stationery companies specifically for newsletters
• Printing on a postcard
• Designing a letter-sized newsletter and printing on the front only or front and back
• Printing front only or front and back on a A4 sized sheet
• Using a word processor to produce a simple format
• Photocopying black text onto white or coloured paper

Little-Known Secrets of Shorter Newsletters

Spending more money on a newsletter is not always the best way to guarantee effectiveness. Quick and easy newsletters tend to have increased readership. This is probably because the arrival of the daily mail brings a bombardment of information. People throw lengthy publications in their “to be read” stack, along with magazines and long reports. If you have such a stack, you know you don’t always get round to reading everything. Quick and easy newsletters can be read in just a few minutes, as readers look through their mail.

Effects of Frequency & Length on Your Budget

Information, time and costs are factors in determining the frequency and length of our newsletter. If it comes down to a choice of frequency or length, it’s usually best to publish more frequently, whether this means publishing only an email broadcast, sending photocopied news on letterhead, using internal staff or cutting down on paper quality and photographs. As with any type of advertising, repetition is important. A short newsletter sent once a month is preferable to a long one every quarter.

In addition, the more frequently the newsletter come out, the more timely the information. If your company or industry is prone to rapid change, you could have problems using a quarterly publication as a news source. If a major change tales place, it could be three months before you can get the news to your readers.

One solution is to use special additions, which are usually devoted to one topic. Occasions for special editions include trade shows, major changes, seminars or a special new product launch. The less frequently your newsletter is published, the more useful special editions can be.

To be continued… (See part 1 of this blog on marketing with Newsletters here)

See our great printing offers at Print Buying Direct – leaflets are always in demand and we are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Leaflet Design and Leaflet Printing.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 16 – 3rd September 2009
Finding Deep-Pocketed Sponsors to help fund your newsletter

An alternative to advertising is to locate a sponsor for all or part of your newsletter. Some non profit organisations are able to find sponsors to donate the cost of producing an entire issue.

Retail business often has co-op advertising money available from the manufacturers of the products they sell. A newsletter might qualify for these funds. Before relying on the assistance of our suppliers, send them a proposal, along with a sample of our newsletter. Show you want to present their products or services. Be specific \bout the financial support you are seeking from the supplier. Make an offer, and send a contract.

For example, a financial consulting form was able to underwrite most of the cost of its newsletter by charging a sponsorship fee. Various securities firms paid to publish informative articles on their products. The publisher achieved its goals while reducing expenses, since the information in the articles was precisely what the firm wanted to provide its customers.

What About Charging Subscription Fees?

Although subscription fees may help offset the costs of publishing a newsletter, they will also discourage readership and reduce the goodwill generated by a promotional newsletter. With a free newsletter, you can changes or discontinue with minimal repercussions. It’s different when you’ve collected money from subscribers.

One reason for charging a nominal fee is to offset the stigma of being pure advertising matter. To some audiences, a free newsletter implies the content is worthless. Charging for the newsletter may imply value. Of your readers think this way, be creative. Give your free newsletter apparent value by printing a per-issue price on the cover or an annual subscription price in the masthead. Then you can offer free subscriptions to attract prospects and charge those who aren’t good prospects but who request the newsletter.

Some newsletters start as free publications and grow into profit centres. One consultant launched a business brokerage newsletter to help market his services. The newsletter became so successful that he began to change a subscription fee for it and soon gave up his other business to work full time on the newsletter. Many associations start free publications that turn into subscription pieces. Psychology Today is one example. If you have something valuable to say, people are willing to pay for it.

To be continued… (See part 1 of this blog on marketing with Newsletters here)

See our great printing offers at Print Buying Direct – leaflets are always in demand and we are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Leaflet Design and Leaflet Printing.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 13 – 28th August 2009

Finding In-Kind service Donations
For many non-profit organisations, hiring subcontractors is too expensive. Donations by services such as printers can greatly offset the costs of publishing. Ask for service – as opposed to cash – donations. Depending on the extent of your newsletter’s distribution, a mention in the masthead may be an excellent advertising source for newsletter vendors.

To find service donations, try sending a special mailing to printers, editors and designers soliciting help. Follow it up with phone calls. Be sure to give full information on your organisation, just as you would to any other potential donor. You may be surprised at the support you get for your efforts.

Be prepared to give volunteer subcontractors some extra turnaround time, but don’t lower your quality standards. You want to produce a price that everyone will be proud of.

Tips for Recruiting, Keeping & Motivating Volunteers

• To find volunteers help either within your organisation or from outside volunteers, do the following:
  Publish a list of people you need. Define the specific jobs or task done. Break jobs down into smaller commitments. Give volunteers a chance to test working with you without a long commitment.
• Add value to the experience. Set up a mentor system. Give each new volunteer an experienced person to turn to with question for additional training.
• Give people a view of the big picture. Show prospective volunteers past issues of the newsletters and tell them about the effects they have had.
• Provide precise, written instructions. Develop a style guide and give all contributors a copy. Plan the schedule for each issue in detail and give all volunteers a copy.
• Give people credit for their work. Praise much, criticize little and make the job fun. List the by-line of all contributing reporters. Most editors’ use “reported by”.

In general, a talented pool of volunteers and “mentors”, combined with a high quality newsletter, makes it easy to find additional volunteers.

To be continued… See part one of this blog here

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 14 – 1st September 2009
Costs to Consider

The costs of publishing a newsletter can be broken down into one-time fees, on-going fees and costs for producing extras, such as special edition broadcasts, inserts and reply cards.

Setup costs. Your investment of time and money will peak when you first set up your newsletter. You will be going through some of the planning discussed in the previous section and may even be going to the expense of hiring professionals to create the design for the newsletter.

These initial setup costs can include:

• Consulting fees
• Newsletter design
• Mailing list setup

Once you’ve decided on which steps to subcontract and chosen your vendors, collect firm quotes for each step.

Ongoing costs. Once your newsletter is underway, you’ll have the same expenses for each issue. These may include:

• Writing
• Photography
• Illustrations
• Editing
• Proofreading
• Layout
• Website updates
• Monthly maintenance fees
• Colour proofing (if printing in four colour)
• Newsletter printing
• Domestic postage
• Foreign postage (if any)
• Phone calls
• Mailing list maintenanc
• Rush charges
• Tax

Other costs such as printing a year’s worth of envelopes or fees for bulk rate permits and business reply numbers will be incurred yearly.

Inserts and response cards. If you choose to insert an advertising piece or a reply card, budget for the additional cost. Include the cost of printing, additional mail house charges for insertion, additional writing and design, and return postage if you use business reply mail.

As you’re budgeting and looking for ways to cut costs, keep the following concepts in mind. Some costs are independent of the quantity you print and mail. For example, fixed fees like subcontractors’ charges and production supplied are the same no matter how many newsletters you print. If you were to assign these fees as costs per newsletters, the costs per price would decrease as you printed more newsletters. Printing charges aren’t fixed. However, most printers charge you less per piece for 2000 newsletters than for 200, for example. Other costs, such as postage, are fixed per piece and are independent of the number you mail.

Set up your newsletter’s budget before you begin. This ensures that you know what you’re getting into and can make any necessary changes before the first bill comes.

To be continued…

See our great printing offers at Print Buying Direct – leaflets are always in demand and we are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Leaflet Design and Leaflet Printing.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 9 – 24th August 2009

Stretching Your Budget & Finding Help

It’s time for the “reality chapter.” News broadcasts do take time and money. This chapter helps you push the edges of these limits to make the most of your time and money and helps you find people who will do the parts that you don’t want to do.

Take a few minutes to ask yourself:

• Which parks of the newsletter you want to do yourself?
• Which parts you want to find other people to do for you?

To help you plan your time, resources and budget, this chapter includes several checklists. They are designed to help you create a great newsletter. If you find you need help, newsletter and stretching your budget are covered toward the end of the chapter. Lastly, you’ll find out how to coordinate the project to meet your schedule with a minimum amount of energy.

Keep the Promotional Pulse Pounding

Promotional newsletters are created in two steps. First, you set up all the things that stay consistent from issue to issue. Second, for each new issue, you write news, collect links and find illustrations.

Get a feel for the steps involved and think “promotion” during each one. Subsequent chapters cover the exact “how-tos” for doing each one.

When you first develop your newsletter, you must do the following things:

• Set promotional goals for your newsletter. Your promotional goals help you measure your success. Your goal might be to increase donations or revenue by 10% within six months. It could be to spur referrals by 25 names.
• Identify prospective readers and set up a distribution list. Add your current customers or members, top prospects and all others who can influence your success, including your vendors and your staff. If needed, collect fax and e-mail addresses if you need them.
• Research audience interests. To attract the attention of your readers, find out what they want to read.
• Develop content. The content of your newsletter serves two purposes. It captures the attention of your prospects, it encourages readers to open your messages every time you send them and it motivates them to respond to your promotional message. Assure year-round success by setting up an editorial schedule.
• Set a budget. Plan for amount of time and money require. Study ways to save time through subcontracting. Look into reducing costs by publishing a smaller newsletter and mixing email broadcasts and postcards.
• Name your newsletter. The name and tagline of your newsletter define its subject, include a benefit of reading and target the reader.
• Decide on format and frequency. The more frequently the newsletter comes out, the better it works for your marketing. The shorter the newsletter, the better the chance of its being read.
• Create a design. The design of your newsletter is the first thing your reader sees. In essence, it’s your “calling card”. Match your newsletters style to your organisations image.

As you develop each issue of the newsletter, follow these steps:

• Plan content. Begin with the timely information you have. Add other attention-getting content that achieves your goals.
• Collect information. Find people willing to help you gather interesting content. Interview, research other publications and find sources within your organisation. Choose facts and features that enhance your marketing message and interest your readers.
• Find visuals. Find or create photographs, clip art and charts that tell your story. Visuals not only attract skimmers, they reinforce your promotional message.
• Write articles, headlines and captions. In a concise writing style, present the information your prospects need. Include news summaries and blurbs. Write skimmable headlines and captions that include benefits.
• Edit and proofread. Assure correct spelling and accurate information to increase your newsletter’s quality.
• Put it together. Combine the text with visuals on the page or screen in a way that leads readers to what you want them to see.
• Print. Choose a printer who can give you the quality you want and a timely turnaround.
• Label and mail or broadcasts. Find the most cost effective and appropriate methods of mailing. Follow all mailing regulations to assure expeditious deliver of each newsletter to maximise your each.
• Follow up. Thank contributors and vendors involved with each issue. Immediately follow up on the responses your newsletter generates. Evaluate your work and start planning for the next issue.

Depending on the type of promotional newsletter you choose, you mat be concerned with only part of the list. For example, if you’re printing postcards from your laser printer, you won’t have to worry about finding a printer.

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.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 8 – 7th August 2009
July is a slow month for many types of business. But not for a dealer of swimming pool supplies. January would most likely be the month their newsletter would be ignored – while people might like to dream about warmers days they’re unlikely to want to stock up on chlorine.

Your top months for sales may depend on:

• Holidays
• The academic year
• The seasonality of your specific industry
• Your company’s sales cycle

Frequency: How Often Should You Mail?

Most newsletters are mailed monthly, every other month or quarterly. E-mail newsletter is broadcast daily, weekly, and monthly or as news breaks.

The ideal frequency is at least monthly. Daily newsletters, for example, run the risk of being ignored because they arrive too frequently. However, as a creative marketer, you have alternatives to traditional monthly or quarterly frequencies. Let your marketing goals drive your publication dates.

See you publish a quarterly newsletter and send it to manufacturers involved in the automotive industry. If you distribute your newsletter in January, April, July and October, One of your newsletters will basically be ignored. Why? The auto industry re-tools its factories for the next year’s models in July. Nothing is happening that will help your sales.

If your business has strong buying cycles like this, consider an “irregular” schedule for your newsletter. Every industry has its own sales cycles and periods of strong sales activity. A newsletter mailed frequently during these times will boost sales. During a business’ slower months, a newsletter will be fighting the sales cycle and may even be completely ignored.

Traditionally, most publishers try to avoid vacation seasons. December is a bad time to mail a newsletter. January is strong. The last few weeks of August are slow, as many families take vacations (or move) during this time.

A quick note of caution: You must know your sales cycle in depth. Often, buyers make purchasing decisions well in advance of when the purchase is actually made. For example, January may be your top sales month, but September and October are the months when budgets are submitted and purchases approved. In this instance, you’d be better off increasing the frequency in the fall than in the winter.

When to Use Special Editions

Many publishers who want stay on their regular schedule of quarterly or bi-monthly publish special editions during busy times in their sales cycle. Special editions work well to announce a new product or service, attract attention, react quickly to a controversy, or provide a handout for a trade show or special event.

Keep the design of the special edition the same as that of the regular newsletter. But add a word signalling immediacy to the nameplate design, such as “briefing,” “special edition”, “alert”, or “update”.

Editorial Calendar Coordinates Other Promotions

Combine your newsletter with your yearly marketing plan by creating an editorial calendar for the newsletter. Depending on how quickly your industry or organisation changes, it can be difficult to plan for everything. However, many events are announced well in advance. Examples include seminars, annual conventions, elections, annual fund-raising events, special issues of trade magazines and new product launches.

As you go through the year, update the calendar to include new products and advertising campaigns. To reinforce an advertisement or direct mailing, you may even want to insert the same promotional literature into your newsletter.

A newsletter should be just one of your marketing tools. If you coordinate it with your other marketing strategies, your marketing efforts will be more effective and less expensive, because they will reinforce each other.

Up to this point, you’ve seen all of the ways newsletters can be used to promote. You know whether or not you should publish a newsletter. The next step is to determine if you can publish a promotional newsletter on your own or whether you’ll need to find outside help.

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.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 6 – 5th August 2009

Mix and Match Your News Broadcasts

Your newsletter is a vital part of your marketing plan- but it’s still only a part. To be reasonably sure that people remember your marketing messages, they have to see them seven to ten times. This means that your sales, new products and special events must appear in at least seven different places.

Your newsletter can be the backbone of your new product launches. Readers see the product mentioned again and again in a variety of interesting ways, and the repetition helps ell more of each product.

For example, your new product would be promoted in a:

• Preview in the newsletter
• E-mail announcement
• News write-up in newsletter
• Postcard mailing
• Press release
• Sales letter
• Reminder from sales staff
• Announcement in the newspaper
• Calendar in the newsletter
• Case history in the newsletter or on your Website of someone using the product.

Good & Bad Times to Mail and E-Mail

When choosing the timing for your most interesting promotional material, plan around the times of year your customers usually buy, join or donate. Avoid times when your prospects are overwhelmed with things to do.

For retailers, a Federal Reserve study showed the months of consumer spending from highest to lowest as: December, November, October, September, May, April, June, August, March, January, July and February. Look at the revenue trends for your specific organisation and use them in your planning.

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.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 5 – 4th August 2010

Raining Cats & Dogs

The company’s fine-tuned marketing efforts have paid off. The business made a profit within a few months of opening its doors and had continued to grow over the last three years.

The newsletter keeps new clients coming in. “It’s being passed along to friends and relatives.” says owner Regina Huggins. “We keep these pass-along readers in mind and include a location map and squeeze in contact information whenever possible.”

In addition, brochures are inserted into each newsletter that lists the complete grooming services.

What You’re Promoting

The more complex the product, the more information people need before they can buy. As a general rule, newsletters offering content are good for any organisation that has to educate buyers and supporters in order to promote its products and services. Enticement newsletters are ideal for simple products and service. But sometimes, there’ more to the puzzle. Other pieces include competition and the rate of change within your organisation.

Enticement newsletters are valuable for products and services with little competition. Often, winning a supporter is just a matter of letting prospects know you have the product or service they need.

Writing and content-rich newsletters are ideal for industries with rapid changes and scarce information. By providing prospects with needed information, organisations can differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Image-building enticement newsletters are often shorter and easier to write. Because they don’t have to provide as much information as content-heavy newsletters, they contain less text and more graphics. You can usually publish an enticement newsletter at a lower cost.

Some products and services can be sold through enticement alone, while others have to go through the longer process of explaining specific information to prospects.

How Long It Takes to Close a Sale

The complexity and price of your products usually determines the average time it takes to convert a prospect to a customer. Usually, the more expensive and complex the product and long term the relationship, the longer it takes your prospect to make a purchasing decision.

For expensive products, most people need more time. They want to see the product demonstrated, spend time on your Website, take a brochure home and study it, see a review and read about it in the newsletter. Over 900% of industrial buyers prefer seeing some type of printed literature before they purchase.

Some services and causes also have sales cycles. For example, a voter making a decision on a candidate needs time and information. People not only want to know where the candidates stand on all of the major issues, they also want to know about the candidate’s background.

On the other hand, retail shoppers are making a decision that will cost them between £20 and £100. Usually, the decision is made in a matter of second- based on a desire for the product.

This brings us to the purchasing decision itself. The better you know your prospects, they more you can influence their decision to buy, join, donate or vote.

Why People Buy From You

In order to provide information that promotes your products, you have to know what has made people support you in the past. You also have to know their common questions or problems and why some won’t buy from or support you.

The answers to these questions aren’t always simple. It’s also not necessarily the same for every prospect. Even so, you can spot some trends, and this information will help you develop effective visuals and article content.

A retailer sends sales postcards and e-mails event notices to current customers and advertises sales and special events in the newspaper. Why does this work? A quick guess is that the events and products advertised were of interest to their customers and prospects. Once the prospects knew that the store carried interesting items, they came in to get more information.

Many professionals’ services such as doctors, lawyers and accountants get business through referrals. Prospects like getting a recommendation from someone else, because it makes it a ‘safe’ choice. It also saves them the time they might have to spend to find a good service. People giving money to charities want to know more about the people their money will help. They also want to know that their donations will be spent effectively.

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.

Jump Start with a Marketing Plan – Part 4 – 3rd August 2009

Determining Your Promotional Level

Let’s look further at the specific ways your newsletter helps you achieve your promotional goals. The NEWS promotional levels help determines which newsletter elements to use to achieve your goals. For example, if you want to tell prospects about a new service, you’d do one or all of the following:

Name: place a teaser on the mailing panel

Enticement: show the product in a photograph along with a caption

Written Words: detail the features of the product in an article

Sell: include a unique Web site link for requesting information about the new product

Your choice depends on the promotional level of your newsletter. In general, most newsletters promote at all of the levels. One recipient may only look at the subject line or your e-mail and then delete it. Another reader may read it from cover to cover and then call you for more information.

Concentrate on the promotional levels you need to achieve the goals for your newsletter. If an image newsletter is right for you, you should pay special attention to image techniques. However, that doesn’t mean you should provide any specifics or ways to respond. A response mechanisms can be as basic as listing your phone number, Web site address and store hours or as elaborate as a postage-paid reply card offering a gift to respondents.

To determine which level to use, look closely at how the following factors relate to your organisation. The NEWS promotional levels are used in a variety of ways depending on:

• How well you’re known
• The complexity of what you’re promoting
• Why people enlist your services or support your cause

Let’s examine these factors.

How Well do Readers Know You?

Look at the average characteristics of your targeted readers. The mix of customers and prospects tells you how well you are known. Your existing customer should recognize your name, as should some of your prospects. But not everyone knows you. It depends on how long you’ve been around and how active you’ve been at promoting yourself in the past.

Well-established organisations worry little about name recognitions. Industry leaders like IBM can assume most of their prospects have heard of them. They are more concerned with image and distributing information.

Newcomers, however, face a different challenge. Not only do they have gain name recognition, they often must work within a small budget. Newcomers usually give the most attention to name recognition and image techniques, because their reader base consists primarily of prospects.

Reflect Your Marketing Strategy

Every printed piece produced by Animal Attractions targets people who treat their pets as family and spend as much on them as the average parent spends on a child. The “where pets are people too” slogan is reflected in the logo design, in the newsletter name and throughout the operation.

The newsletter content continues this theme. A past article, “A Day in a Dog’s Life at Animal Attractions,” used a timeline structure to explain how dogs spend the day when they are dropped off to be groomed, (After all, any parent with children in day care knows what it’s like to worry about them.)

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.