Business Management - Marketing/Sales

I like to think of myself as a lifeline for buyers to the print industry — and vice versa. There are bridges to be built and information to be shared. . . on both ‘sides.’ That, in a nutshell, is what I am all about.

HAVE YOU read "The Chaos Scenario" yet? It is written by Ad Age's Bob Garfield. If not, you should. Order it from Amazon, or download it to your Kindle like I did (the printed book became available August 1 for ordering on Amazon; it was available in the Kindle version quite some time before that).…

THE U.S. economy has had a massive heart attack spanning four quarters. But the printing industry has had far worse heart failure coupled with kidney stones, gall stones, ulcers and a recuperation that will take maybe 36 months. It's always that way. The economy sneezes and printing has double pneumonia.

Today's consumers are bombarded with thousands of promotional and informational messages on a daily basis, from television or radio ads and out-of-home advertising to direct mail to e-mails and Web ads. Marketers and line of business managers face the challenge of getting their messages out in a way that breaks through this clutter and encourages desired behaviors in recipients. These behaviors can range from education to brand recognition to changing investment strategies or purchasing the company's latest product or service.

With increasing economic pressures, it is time for enterprises to use a tried and true communications medium "transactional documents" in new and different ways to ensure that their messages are noticed. This means of communications is called transpromotional -- or TransPromo -- communications, and it is creating a significant buzz.

This webinar is designed to share new and innovative ways that transpromo is being leveraged in the market.  Barb Pellow, Group Director from InfoTrends will share transpromo strategies that have worked to drive business results.

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GIVEN THE state of the economy, it’s not surprising that printers are constantly on the lookout for fresh revenue streams. Heck, even in a robust economy, printers are seeking out ancillary products and services to help offset the erosion of more mature or vulnerable markets.

THE CURRENT economic situation has not been kind to our industry. On a national basis, printing shipments continue to slide, with May commercial printing shipments down $761 million as compared to May of 2008—a decline of 9.4 percent.

MY JUNE column was about the absence of Stimulus Program money going to the graphic arts industry. We consist of about 30,000 firms, around one million workers, and we were totally overlooked by the White House and Congress.

1-to-1 marketing offers a world of opportunity for service providers to provide new value-added capabilities, but sorting through the variety of software solutions and understanding the necessary skills sets can seem like a daunting task.

During this Printing Impressions webinar InfoTrends will discuss how print and marketing service providers of all sizes can jump start their 1-to-1 marketing initiatives with ease. We will discuss tools used to simplify the process, introduce real-world examples, and present strategies for building confidence and generating revenue with 1-to-1 marketing.

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TREVOSE, PA—Arthur Blank & Co., American Bank Note and Keystone Plastics of Canada, three subsidiaries of the worldwide ABnote Group, are uniting under a new brand, ABnote North America. The company will be led by CEO Joe Caffarella. While the Arthur Blank & Co., American Bank Note and Keystone names will remain for an interim period, the brands will be phased out as marketing is transitioned over to the new brand.

Being an effective service provider means delivering effective results to clients. In the current economic climate, companies are looking to better-utilize marketing dollars by investing in more creative, targeted applications that reach an audience most likely to respond to an offer. By offering custom communication services like variable data printing coupled with personalized Websites and e-mail marketing, service providers can develop unique and targeted promotional pieces that reach customers in a meaningful way so that clients get ultimate value out of their marketing spending.

In this Webinar, you'll hear from service providers that have pushed the use of custom communications to a new level creating insightful marketing pieces that garner impressive response rates that keep clients coming back over and over.

Click here to view this webinar today!