Posts Tagged ‘Promotional Wall Calendars’

Printing – The Green issue

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Printing – The Green issue – 28th September 2009

One of the biggest issues at present in the print world if the environment. The coming year will see many more digital manufacturers jump on the green bandwagon. A lot of research and development has already gone into ‘greening’ digital technology, but this will intensify as manufacturers look to make their printers and presses, consumables, inks and toners as environmentally friendly as possible.

There is a lot of work being undertaken to make sure that machines are also recyclable at end of life and that consumables and papers used in all day to day production can also be reused.
This trend will escalate over the coming years.
Consumables

Like so many other areas in print, the overriding issue for consumables in 2008 will be the environment, any of the introductions to the various sections within this book have mentioned this subject, and its increasing importance, but within the world of consumables, the process of being those that are green can really make a dramatic impact on your companies environmental stance. Why? Because every printer – digital, offset, flexo, screen, or gravure- no matter what size or how much money they make, has to use consumables. And, he has to use them on a day to day basis. What is more, consumables come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are used in every department from pre-press to press, from finishing to maintenance, every day, by every employee. They are quite simply something you cannot do without. So, just imagine all those products that you presently use being switched to environmentally friendly ones, times that by the size of the industry, and you will see just how important this area could be in making a contribution to print being a cleaner, healthier and more ‘green’ ecosystem.

Going green
How to make the best use of your consumables, how to dispose of them correctly and responsibly, how to source those that provide least impact on the environment? Well, manufacturers and suppliers can help. There are now plenty of ‘green’ alternatives on the market from cleaning solutions and blanket and roller wash, to fountain solutions, and even down to hand cleaner and wipes.

One recent initiative that has been put in place is the drive by Litho Supplies to get printers to run their presses alcohol free and thereby cut their VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which are also present in various pressroom consumables. Since the company launched the initiative a few months ago, over 50 printers have utilised the scheme to run their presses free of VOCs. Litho supplies can also help with advice on removing your pressroom consumables and their containers.

Suppliers such as Hydro-Dynamic Products offer a range of consumables that are ‘green’, and even the press manufacturers are getting in on the act, with MAN Roland announcing it’s environmentally friendly Side Frame Cleaner, which does not contain any VOCs, but keep presses looking clean.

Well known for its environmental ethos, Fujifilm launched its PresMax pressroom chemistry products at the end of last year. There are environmentally friendly chemistry and press care products that will not harm the environment. The range includes founts for heatset, sheetfed and mini web presses, in reduced alcohol and alcohol free versions, as well as washes and a number of auxiliaries such as maintenance items, plate care and cleaning products.

Think ink
On the ink front there us also a move towards more environmentally friendly products. And, even the digital boys are hopping on the band wagon and developing toners and liquid inks that are greener. There are also working on new ways to deliver the inks, as well as recycling of cartridges and even recycling of unwanted or unused toner.
One of the world’s biggest producers of printing inks, Sun Chemical, cemented its commitment to the environment when it launched a vegetable oil based sheetfed offset metallic ink that is completely mineral oil free. Metal- Eco meets the most stringent environmental requirements. At the same time as the launch last year, the company also announced that it has a long term strategy to embrace environmentally friendly solutions and aims to move 80% of its conventional ink range to vegetable oil based products.

It is crucial, and increasingly more so as time moves on, that print companies look at ways of making their processes greener. There is certainly a shift in direction from the manufacturers and suppliers, and hopefully 2008 will see this drive extending to more and more printers.

The products now available are being used most successfully in many printing houses and have proven them to be just as good as competitive products that do not include a green emphasis.

Promo - look out for our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Posted in Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards | 5 Comments »

Newsletter Printing – Using survey results for improved promotions

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Newsletter Printing – Using survey results for improved promotions – 15th October 2009
For most newsletter editors, there’s a great excitement in getting feedback from readers. Because many editors feel isolated from readers, returned surveys are a welcome change. But often, by the time all of the answers are in, editors are tiered of the survey and never implement the new suggestions. This is especially true if the replies showed nothing drastic to change.

What will you do with your results? First, they can serve as a way to understand your readers better. If you get an overwhelming negative response, it’s time to get back through the planning staged and evaluate your project, including your need for a newsletter.

Most results are supportive. However, with carefully scrutiny, you can find some good ideas to put to use. If your survey is an extensive data collection effort, you may want to involve a research firm or local college. Either one can computerize the data and generate statistically accurate results. Most surveys can be analysed by simply noting the number of people who answered each question certain way. Say you samples 210 people and received a 100% response. The results show 150 people skim the newsletter, 50 read it cover to cover, and 10 never read it. You can say with reasonable confidence that 71% of all readers skim the newsletter, 24% read it entirely, and 5% never read it.

You may want to analyse more than one question at a time. In a survey prepared by an event planner, respondents were asked the number of special events they held each year. They were also asked to check their type of business. This information was combined using a cross-tabulation chart to see which types of business held the most special events. The event planner then used the data to target her most active prospects.

Present the results of your survey as quickly as possible. Include a note in the next newsletter issue thanking those who responded. In addition, respond directly to the suggestions. Promptness enhances your image as a responsive organisation.

Regardless of the type of scouting you use, you’re going to learn about your readers. Although it may be frightening at first, leaving the shelter of your office and reaching out to discover more about your readers is an enlightening experience. Readers give you ideas you would never think up on your own, and knowing them better makes producing a newsletter more fun.

With this knowledge and confidence in hand, you can produce a newsletter that brings revenue into your organisation.

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For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

Main Site: www.theprintinghouseltd.co.uk

Buy Print Online: www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk –

Leaflet Printing, Brochure printing, Postcards printed, Appointment cards, graphic design etc

Prospectus Print: www.schoolprospectus.info

Sports Book Print: www.golfclubcentenarybooks.co.uk

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Posted in Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards | 7 Comments »

How to Conduct Your Survey about your Newsletter

Friday, October 9th, 2009

How to Conduct Your Survey about your Newsletter – 9th October 2009

The type of survey you need depends on the accuracy of information you want. Many surveys are conducted to get a general sense of people’s feelings. Readership surveys for your newsletter can be as informal as calling a few readers from time to time, or as formal as embarking on a full-scale research effort.

Types of surveys:

  • Mail-back
  • Telephone
  • Fax-back
  • Focus groups
  • Informal
  • Online

When designing your survey, you’ll need to balance your desire for the ideal survey with cost, convenience, space and time.

Questions That Solicit Usable Answers

In any survey, you can ask two types of questions: open-ended or close-ended.

An open-ended question lets respondents answer in their own words. It gives them a great deal of freedom in answering the question. A close-ended question presents respondents with a list of choices, asks them to pick one or more, and leaves space for comments and suggestions. Close-ended questions have the advantage of providing answers that are easily summarised. For example, a hospital might survey patients and ask why they chose the facility.

The question can be presented as:

Why do you come to hospital?

  • convenient location
  • my doctor recommended it
  • you offered a special test or service
  • _____________ other

The results from this type of question can be easily summarised such as, 32% mentioned location, 27% mentioned doctor recommended, 37% mentioned special service, and 40% listed other.

If the question was presented in an open-ended format, it would appear as: Why do you choose this hospital?

The answers could range from “because my uncle works there”, to “reputation.” Getting wide range of answers isn’t necessarily bad. The difficulty starts when you begin to summarise the survey findings. You’ll have to decide whether “reputation” means the same thing as “well-qualified staff” or “you’re okay.” This is a major disadvantage.

However, consider the following situation. A hospital asked an open question for their survey and was surprised to find “good reputation” as the top answer. If they have led the respondents by the first three options and not have gotten as strong a response for “reputation”.

Check all the questions on your survey for clarity and wording. The best way to do this is to pretest the questionnaire on four or five people before sending it out. Pretesting tells you if there are problems with any of the questions and helps you estimate how long it takes to complete the questionnaire. Pretesting with open-ended questions can help you convert the answers to close-ended ones.

Christmas and New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Newsletter Print and Design – Why the Pros Survey Fewer People

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Newsletter Print and Design – Why the Pros Survey Fewer People – 8th

When conducting any type of printed and mailed survey, send it to your entire list. The Census, conducted every 10 years by the government, is one of the few surveys in which all of a given population is surveyed. Most surveys select a portion of a group to be studied and survey only this “sample.” After the sample is chosen, everything possible is done to get each person selected to respond.

Here is why sampling is so important. The people you want to reach in your newsletter survey are not only those who are reading it from cover to cover. You also want to know the characteristics that differentiate readers from mere recipients.

If you send your survey to your entire list, the people who respond will be the same people who attend meetings, volunteer to respond or are convient to poll. Your results will be skewed and will not help you reach the other people… and these people have something valuable to tell you.

The best type of sample is a random sample, which means everyone in your entire readership has a chance of being selected. For readership surveys, organisations with elaborate computer database programmes can run a function in which the computer selects a given number of names at random. An example of a simpler system is to print out your mailing list by alphabetical order and select every fifth name or, if you have 1,000 names and want 100 for a sample, select every tenth name.

Your choice of sample size ultimately boils down to the amount of money and time you have to conduct the sample. A basic rule is this: the larger the sample, the more reliable the results. Also, the smaller your readership base, the higher percentage you want to sample. If you’re conducting a telephone survey, you won’t be able to contact as many as you would if you were mailing out a written survey. Choose the number based on the time you have. Then strive for a response from every person in your sample. …

Christmas and New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 1

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – Part 1 6th October 2009

Understanding your readers’ likes and dislikes is the only way to create a newsletter targeted to them. If you know your readers’ hot buttons, you know the type of content that will attract them. If you know demographic data, such as their ages, where they live, their education level and so on, you know the design techniques and writing styles that will appeal to them.

Anything less is a shot in the dark. Yes, you might connect a time to two but only by pure chance. This chapter covers how to find out more about your readers by surveying them, as well as how to use ongoing reader feedback to keep your newsletter on track.

Ask yourself three questions when designing your survey:

1) Whom am I going to survey?
2) What am I going to ask?
3) How am I going to ask it?

Its time to do some scouting….

Find Those in the Know

The first step on your scouting mission is to find out what information is already available. Your trade association or an industry magazine should have demographic data such as age, sex and buying authority for your particular audience. Your fund raisers may already know the top five reasons why people support your cause. Even if a formal survey hasn’t been performed, top promoters can give you a general idea. This may be all you need. Your marketing department may know the publications people read. Going on a few sales calls, answering customer emails, or working in the booth at your next trade show is a great way to a fast start. You can also ask for feedback from salespeople.

Don’t underestimate informal methods. A person who has spent hours face-to-face with your supporters has knowledge that no survey in the world can assess.

Once you find out what’s available and what’s not, concentrate on whether or not you need to conduct a survey. Surveys are useful as you develop your newsletter, as well as for making changes as you go along.

New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Posted in Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards | 6 Comments »

Printing – Paper and board – Certified and recycled

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Printing – Paper and board – Certified and recycled – 5th October 2009
In the paper arena the environmental message is, at last, actually getting across. With increasing numbers of print companies tuning in to the ‘green’ implications of their working systems, the ability to offer Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) chain of custody accreditation as an assurance to customers of environmental best practice, means that the call for these papers is growing. Just a few years ago, it was extremely difficult to source either FSC or PEFC paper products. This was mostly due to lack of certified pulp. This problem has however now been addresses and there are plenty of options available on the market including a range of colours, weights and finishes, as well as papers suitable for different printing technologies.

A dramatic increase in the quality of recycled grades, their run ability and the results that can be achieved on-press, have also led to this paper being specified more frequently. In fact, with many recycled papers it is now impossible to distinguish them from their virgin rivals.

The green question will continue to be of importance throughout 2009, so expect to see even more paper ranges that are either quality recycled, or that are accredited to high environmental standards. Watch out for more carbon neutral papers being produced too. All these substrates can help print companies who are eager to emphasise their own environmental philosophies and will provide their customers with an optimum ‘green’ choice.

New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Posted in Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards | 12 Comments »

Printing – Paper and board – Pricing and availability

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Printing – Paper and board – Pricing and availability – 2nd October 2009
The bad news for printers is prices rises. The bad news for papermakers and merchants is that although there have been paper price rises for the majority of customers over the past year; it has not been enough to bring pricing up to the level where they should be. Although print companies are reluctant to pay any price of paper has been stagnant for too long. This leads to a manufacturing and supplier base that makes little money, with no room for investment or development, and in the long term to a decaying industry. With competition from countries such as India and China on the increase, where paper can be made at a fraction of the price compared to that of their European paper making cousins, the future is not that bright for those who do not look at ways of making their businesses more profitable. Although the basics of the papermaking process have not changed much since the introduction of the first Fourdrinier, the vast leaps in print technology mean that papers must be researched, developed, tried and tested, to work with the new forms of technology. If there is no money for this, then an awful lot of presses are going to grind to a halt when paper capacity falls and there is no substrate to run through them. And, in these days where premium quality is expected for most jobs, using a substitute paper of a lesser quality is not going to keep customers happy for long.
On the bright side of paper however, is the fact that the bigger merchants are increasingly able to share synergies and efficiencies within their groups, and exert far greater buying power. This means that the availability of substrates, including specialties, becomes easier to source for paper specifiers. It also means a better value added service form your paper supplier.
Paper is a highly technical product to make, and recent advances have seen an across the board rise in quality. More paper ranges are also being developed that provide creative inspiration and come in a number of colours, finished and with surface treatments to please not only the eye, but the tactile senses as well. Look out also for more papers optimised for digital technology, whether that is new products, or a restructure of existing brands to make them suitable for the process.

New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Printing – Paper and board

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Printing – Paper and board – 1st October 2009

The paper market supplying to the printing industry has seen many changes over recent years not least a massive consolidation of paper manufacturers. The face of papermaking has changed beyond all recognition in the last ten years, with the loss of score of mills across the world.

Within merchanting too, the fragmented industry if past years no longer exists, with more and more independents coming under a global corporate umbrella, with the big getting bigger and small is ceasing to exist.

Those smaller merchants and mills that do manage to hang on usually opt for working in specialised fields or providing niche products. So, how does this all impact on the paper buyer, and what does it hold in store for the next year?

Paper will be with us for many years to come in one form or another- and the forecasts of paperless office, or the extinction of paper because of electronic media, is still many eras off. But, there will be challenges throughout 2009/10, and the environment will play an increasingly important part in paper choices.

New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

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Posted in Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards | 9 Comments »

Digital Printing presses – part 1

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Digital Printing presses – part 1 – 24th September 2009

The mighty march of digital is set to continue in 2008. With some dubbing this year’s drupa as the ‘inkjet drupa’ or even the ‘digital drupa’ it will be interesting to see the many new products that manufacturers are bringing to market. The enhancements to print quality over the last few years on most of these machines has meant that to the layman, the quality of the output is almost indistinguishable from that of offset no longer merely fit for purpose, these machines are able to produce extremely high quality and premium jobs.
So, if that is taken for granted, what is there to look forward to this year? Well, running speeds are still of some concern and we will see a number of manufacturers bringing to market both colour and black and white devices that run faster than ever. For example, Xerox has recently launched its fastest black and white continuous feed system in the 650/1300, which can print up to 1232 duplex A4 images per minute.
Another trend will be for machines to be more flexible. This will mean that they are able to handle a broader selection of media and substrates making them suitable for a wider range of markets. There are some exciting new opportunities that will open for digital print companies as they move to new sectors and increase revenue streams from outside the comfort zone of general commercial print. This can mean anything from entering the short run packaging market, to prototyping, to books on-demand to fine art, to highly sophisticated one-offs including variable data, to bespoke projects.

The transpromo market (where a marketing message is included on the ‘white space’ of transactional documents) will also allow printers to make use of their digital equipment, and the variable data features to the full.

Light production machines will also be important as more and more print companies look to make their first move into digital without the investment costs of a full production machine.

Kodak NexPress, for instance, is now available in a smaller, more compact version – the M700- to give those looking to start out in digital a further option.

Promo - look out for our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

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Digital pre-press part 2

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Digital pre-press part 2 – 23rd September 2009

Heading for the web (Web to Print)

Such cross media applications will be increasingly popular for digital printers in the coming year. Already we have seen many UK digital printers embrace the web to print concept, primarily for digital file delivery, proofing and general production applications. The nest step in the emergence of web to print as an on-demand print production model is the development of dedicated applications that combine quality controlled colour production workflow technologies, the Internet and imaginative multi-channel media production.

Of course, interesting web developments are not only relevant for print media, and this is something that forward thinking digital printers should not ignore. Across the media landscape content publishers are coming up with new ways to exploit our digital infrastructure and the Internet. Think BBC iPlayer and the relationship between broadcast television, digital data delivery and access, and the printed word and you should start to get the idea.

Variable challenges

And, ideas are what pre-press for digital printers are all about. Pre-press is about managing digital data as efficiently as possible for a given output context, and for digital printers this means variable data print management. Variable data use within the print market is starting to grow, especially for printers working transactional print and direct mail. Variable data printing technologies are fuelling the development of new printing applications, such as bespoke photo albums and collateral materials for consumers such as family stationary and calendars. Rather more interesting from the digital printer’s point of view is the addition of promotional content to transactional documents, such as bills and statements. The so-called transpromo market is starting to hot up and this will continue in the coming months as printers work with their customers to look at interesting ways of adding extra messages to their transactional documents.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty with developing variable data applications is the complexity of managing the data. The need to accurately output data cannot be underestimated so any digital printer wanting to develop ambitious variable data applications needs to invest in data management knowledge. Training in database management is key to providing customers with the resources they need to develop variable data applications and to helping them to get the most out of their digital print investments. It used to be about technology, but today investment for digital printers has to include investment into knowledge.
Fortunately companies such as Canon and HP have set up programmes to help printers develop business models that exploit the technology without too much risk. We can expect to see more such programmes emerging this year, particularly those that help digital printers to decide how to route jobs; to a digital press or to a conventional offset press based on profitability of the workflow and the job. And for digital printers, profitability is what pre-press is all about.

Promo - look out for our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

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