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Technology and Decisions

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:59:22 GMT

How many times have you asked yourself which process is best for this project? The great thing about today is that you have many choices from which to choose. You have traditional offset and digital in all different flavors. Some processes are best for short runs or long runs and some are best for special paper stocks. The digital platter is large with many variations from which to choose. But which is best for my job or is offset the way I should proceed? How do I get the best job with the quality and value I need? Unless you are an experienced print specialist the decisions you make may be a waste of money and time. So what are the solutions, consult someone with experience and knowledge to furnish you with the services you need. That can be a company you have worked with before but are they trying to keep the work in their plant or will they seek a service that has equipment and personnel to give you the best quality and service for the specific project you are now preparing. All printers are not equal. Some are better at certain types of work than others. Why not choose a company that allows you to know where the best fit for your project is and will get you the best quality, price and value available. Why not choose a company that specializes in finding the right solution by putting the best people and equipment on the production of your next project.

Tips for Successful Trade Shows

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:58:33 GMT

Trade shows can be a very effective marketing channel for your business since they attract potential customers who are interested in your type of product or service. Whether your trade show exhibit is a large pop-up system or a small table-top display, here are some simple tips to help you stand out and get noticed.

Work with an experienced trade show display and graphics provider to develop the right presence for your business and for the show you will be attending. Williams Graphic Solutions offers a wide range of display units and accessories and has a wealth of experience in developing attention-grabbing graphics and marketing materials to display at your booth. Remember, this will be your first impression on many of the show attendees - make sure your display is professional and memorable.
Before the show, reach out to customers and prospects who may be attending the show. Invite them to visit your booth or to a reception or dinner. Use the event as an opportunity to communicate one-on-one with customers and develop new contacts.
Promote your presence at the show, before and during the event, on your website and on your social media channels.
Create a landing page or microsite on your website with images or logos from the event, map of event location and information about your products or services that are relevant to show attendees.
Make sure your display and all your materials are consistent with your company's brand and image. Use images of your product or service that visually communicate the benefit of your company quickly to passersby.
If possible, consider using either a slideshow or video that doesn't require audio. Trade show exhibit areas are usually loud and it will be difficult to hear the sound from your presentation. Use large text, video clips and compelling imagery to capture the attention of show attendees.
Have plenty of trade show giveaways, such as business cards, brochures, pens, magnets, and anything else that has your company name and/or logo on it. Most people who attend trade shows are expecting to take home some goodies. And be sure to use display racks for showing your flyers, specials, brochures, and such.
Offer a prize that in some way complements your business if possible, and appeals to anyone. Have visitors and entrants sign a guestbook, fill in a ticket, or drop their business cards into a fish bowl or gift bag.
Offer attendees a way to sign up for marketing communications from you - email newsletters, special offers, etc. Remember, the CAN-SPAM act requires people to specifically opt-in for your email newsletters, so make sure your sign up form clearly states you will be using the email addresses you collect to communicate with attendees in the future.

Rockstock - Make Everyday Earth Day

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:57:55 GMT

Many organizations are going "paperless" in an effort to be more green. But paperless doesn't have to mean giving up on the printed page.

Rockstock from Williams Graphic Solutions is a "paperless paper" produced from crushed limestone. It is tear resistant, waterproof and unlike any substrate you have seen or felt. Produced without any tree pulp, and without the use of water, Rockstock is a perfect alternative for organizations who are committed to sustainability.

Rockstock is available for digital and offset print projects, comes in both cover and text weights and will give your business cards, brochures and more a unique look and feel while preserving precious natural resources.

Learn more and request a sample of Rockstock.

Using Multi-Channel Marketing to Enhance Customer Relationships

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:56:56 GMT

Communicating with your customers is a critical component of a successful marketing plan. Communicating effectively, however, can be difficult if you don't utilize the channel(s) of communication your customers prefer. While some may be happy receiving emails about new products and services, others may prefer a postcard or brochure in the mail. Some may prefer searching your website or reading your Facebook page or Twitter feed. Still others are most comfortable with a phone call or personal visit. As your business grows, it can be increasingly difficult to recognize which channels of communication your customers prefer and in what context they prefer them.

One simple way to learn how your customers want to communicate is to simply ask them with a multi-touch, multi-channel campaign. The process is pretty straight forward:

Contact your customers via email, postal mail, website or other means.
Ask the customer to specify which channel of communication they prefer.
Use the channels they specify in the future.

There are many benefits of determining a customer's preferred channel.

Improve the chances of marketing materials actually reaching your recipients
Reduce time and cost associated with ineffective methods
Enhance customer relationships
Increase the frequency of communication
Improve your return on marketing investment

Contact us to learn more about VisualHub and other ways you can use multi-channel marketing to improve your return on investment. While you're are it, let us know the channel you prefer as well.

Simple Steps to Professional Marketing Literature

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:55:35 GMT

Professional sales and marketing literature has a direct impact on a customer's perception of your company, and a direct impact on whether they will do business with you. Specifically, reducing errors increases sales. There's a reason you learned spelling, punctuation and grammar in school instead of relying on a spell checker on your computer. Spell checkers, although very good at identifying egregious misspellings, are poor at detecting grammatical errors, repeated words and punctuation mistakes. Those are the mistakes that stand out more than any other content in your sales literature. Such errors make your business look unprofessional and drive customers to look for more professional companies.

Here are some tips to make sure your sales and marketing literature is ready for print:

Print out your documents.

Don't rely on reading your documents on a computer screen. Studies show it is easier to miss errors when reading from your computer. Edit your pages in a contrasting ink and then correct your mistakes on the computer. Repeat until all mistakes are corrected.

Get a second opinion.

When you spend a lot of time writing content for brochures and sales literature, it can be easy to miss a misspelled word or grammatical error. Have another person read through your edited content and help identify any awkward wordings or spelling mistakes.

Proof again when layout is complete.

Make sure you review your content in its final context before committing to print. Your spelling and grammar may be right, but the flow of the document and placement of text could look unusual or unexpected when prepared for printing.

If you still aren't sure about your proofreading, consider enlisting the help of a professional proofreading service. Williams Graphics offers proofreading services, as well as copywriting and content development for our clients. Remember, as with all things in business, there is no second chance to make a first impression.

Professional sales and marketing literature can be very successful at opening new doors, but too many mistakes can also result in closed doors as well.

Five Reasons Print is Still Vital to Marketing

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:54:41 GMT

Even with the many benefits of online marketing such as website, blogs and social media, there is still a role for print in your marketing strategy. Print, or more specifically high quality digital and offset print, offers many unique advantages over digital marketing methods. Here are five reasons print is not only relevant, but vital to your marketing success:

Print is great for branding. Nothing introduces or reinforces your brand more strongly than a brochure, identity materials and direct mail. Studies continue to show that customers and prospects prefer printed brochures and collateral materials over electronic alternatives.
Print travels well. Printed materials can be stuffed, folded and packed away in places laptops and smartphones cannot. It is easier to carry with you and easy to share with others.
Print drives traffic to other sources. If you want to drive traffic to your website, print is still one of your strongest options. Print ads are a great way to publish your website or blog address.
Print readers are more focused and engaged. Printed materials force a reader to focus on the piece. Its a unitasking activity - no texting, no web browsing.
Print sticks around. In a world where blog posts are forgotten as soon as they are read, print lives on with a greater shelf life than electronic marketing methods.

While there is benefit to leveraging digital marketing methods, its important to remember that it takes multiple channels and methods to market to your audiences effectively. Print still plays a vital role in reaching your customers.

Contact us to learn more about digital and offset printing and how you can measure the effectiveness of your printed marketing materials.

Printing on Paperless Paper

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:54:05 GMT

When it comes to printing, paper is a pretty significant part of the equation. Despite our best efforts at sustainability and conservation, however, paper still requires the elimination of forestry products and an enormous amount of water for its production. These are two resources that all of us are concerned about conserving.

One way to play a role in the conservation of forests and water is to use Rockstock™ in your printed materials. What is Rockstock? Rockstock is manufactured from ground waste stone and contains no wood fiber. It offers many eco-friendly characteristics such as:

Low carbon emission
Less energy required to produce
No water, acid, base or bleach used in production
Both recyclable and photo-degradable

Along with its obvious environmental benefits, Rockstock is water and tear resistant, feels great in your hands (brochures, business cards, annual reports) and withstands the daily wear and tear of printed materials better than wood fiber paper.

Williams Graphic Solutions can have yours printed on Rockstock on both digital and offset presses. Contact us to learn more or to receive a sample of Rockstock.

Don't Get Out-Channeled

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:51:47 GMT

According to Marketing thought leader Barbara Pellow , the average marketer uses three channels to reach his or her customer. Pellow says the typical channels are print, social and websites, but can also include a mixture of radio, television, direct mail, seminars or outdoor advertising.

The point is, if the average marketer is using an average of three channels and you are only using one, you are getting out-channeled and could find yourself losing customers to a competitor.

Five QR Code Marketing Ideas

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:46:37 GMT

What are Quick Response (QR) Codes ? QR codes are two dimensional bar codes that are frequently used in print advertising or product packaging to provide mobile users with more information about a product or service. A consumer scans the code with their smartphone using QR code reader software (included on most smart phones and available for free via download) and is able to view videos, a mobile website or special offers and/or coupons on their phone.

By now most American consumers have seen a QR code. You may already be familiar with QR codes and how to use them. You may be one of the estimated 70 million American smartphone owners who regularly scan these codes with your phone to get product details or special offers on the go. But are you including QR codes in your own marketing strategy? If not, here are five ideas to use QR codes effectively.

Include a QR code on your business card and link it to your vCard. When someone scans the QR code with his or her phone, your contact info is downloaded to their phone's address book.
Use a QR code in your print ad. Link the code to a mobile-formatted microsite or landing page with more information about the product or service you are promoting in the ad. Bonus: set up a survey form to collect information from the prospect about their business goals and objectives. Plan to follow up with them with information on how your product or service can help them achieve those goals.
Include QR codes on your brochures with links to videos and/or demos of your product.
Add a QR code to your trade show graphics so that show attendees can scan the code to enter themselves into a drawing or request more information.
Use QR codes in training manuals or employee handbooks to provide video tutorials or instruction.

No matter how you utilize QR codes, make sure the information you provide is congruent to the mobile platform. Microsites or landing pages should utilize large text and form fields that are easy to navigate on touch screens. Include phone numbers and email addresses so that users can easily contact you directly from their phones. Most importantly, acknowledge the customers and prospects who utilize these QR codes as people who prefer to consume information on the go and utilize the mobile marketing channels to communicate with them whenever possible.

Start Here, Go Anywhere - Chattanooga Airport Print Ad

alexis@liftmediagroup.com (Alexis Grass) — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:42:17 GMT

Today, Williams had the privilege of helping with the design of a new print ad for the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport . The tagline, "Start Here, Go Anywhere" was originally developed for the new website created by Williams Web so we continued using it in the print ad to maintain brand consistency.

We started with a map of the destinations you can reach via direct flights from Chattanooga and then illustrated the hundreds of one-stop destinations available. Some copy to reinforce the message was developed and the ad was ready for print.

If you have never flown out of Chattanooga, you really are missing a great experience. It's a beautiful facility with competitive fares and the best service of any airport in the region.

Study: Mail, Newspapers Favored Over Social Media

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:40:54 GMT

Multi-channel marketing relies on using as many channels as possible to reach every segment of your audience. If you've been depending more and more on social media as a primary marketing channel, don't throw away your stamps or the phone number of your local printer just yet. A study released by ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting , suggests that 18-34 year olds in the United States and Canada prefer, and trust, offline marketing over social media. In a press release Epsilon stated North American consumers in the 18-34 year-old demographic prefer to learn about marketing offers via postal mail and newspapers rather than online sources such as social media platforms.

The study also suggests the trust pendulum is swinging in the direction of mail for respondents in all age brackets:<

36% of US respondents in 2010 said information is more private if sent through the mail vs. email or online, up from 29% in 2008; corresponding responses in Canada were 38% and 35%
25% of US respondents in 2010 said a lot of online information can't be trusted, up from 19% in 2008; corresponding responses in Canada were 28% and 24%
20% of US respondents in 2010 said they trust information received by mail more than online, up from 12% in 2008; corresponding responses in Canada were 25% and 18%.

Other key findings from ICOM's survey about channel preferences include the following:

45% of US men and 35% of Canadian men do not have any social media accounts, 36% of US women and 31% of Canadian women do not have any social media accounts
25% of respondents, US and Canadian, said they get more postal mail versus a year ago; 72% US and 66% Canadian said they get more email versus a year ago
In both the US and Canada, women are more likely than men to prefer addressed or unaddressed mail for many product categories, and men are more likely to prefer the Internet or email as a mode of receiving marketing information.

"A key takeaway from this research is that marketers targeting coveted 18-34 year olds who are tempted to invest solely in social media could be missing a significant portion of their audience," said ICOM Vice President Warren Storey.

Branding - Three Small Things That Make a Big Difference

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:34:51 GMT

When some people think about branding, they immediately think big: lots of print advertising, direct mail campaigns, special events to launch a new identity, etc. But effective branding actually begins long before an event is planned or the first piece of direct mail is sent. Here are three small things that will make a big difference in how your brand is communicated and how it is received.

1. Consistency begins at home. This may sound like an obvious step, but I am continually astonished by the number of organizations that fail to do this. Take a look around your office at everything that has your name or logo on it. Look at your notepads and pens, fax cover sheets, email signatures, door signage, report covers, checks, forms and labels. Make sure that every time your name or logo is displayed it is consistent.

Some organizations, particularly those who have undergone a recent logo or brand change, have multiple versions of their logo on different items throughout the office. Throw out or recycle anything that isn?t current. The last thing you want is to accidentally send a letter to a client or prospect on old letterhead. Consult your style guide, if you have one, and make sure you are following the guidelines with every application of your brand.

2. Get everyone on the same page. Now that all the materials in your office are consistent, get everyone together and discuss how to represent your organization. Make sure everyone answers the phone the same way, (i.e. ?Thank you for calling [company name], this is [first name]), uses the same format of email signature, etc. Customers respond to organizations that are consistent with the use of their brand and message.

The only way to ensure that consistency is if everyone is on the same page. If you have a small organization, you can usually accomplish this with an all hands meeting in the breakroom. If the organization is larger, you may need to have multiple meetings, or even support the initiative with email, printed announcements or posters throughout the building.

3. Understand the brand. Your brand is not just your logo or your name. It?s the value your customers or prospects assign to that logo or name. If you have a reputation for poor service or inferior quality, then it?s time to address those issues, make some changes and educate your audience about your progress. If your customers regularly commend you on your customer service and industry knowledge, use those testimonials to strengthen the value of your brand.

The real value of your brand isn?t the product or service you sell, it?s the way people feel about your products and services, and your ability to provide them. Once you understand that, you can fully tap into the power of your brand and communicate it more effectively.