Do You Turn Away VDP Customers?

What do you do when your best customer calls to say that they want to run a direct mail campaign for six months with 50,000 pieces per week and full-blown variable data printing? If you already do VDP on a regular basis, you probably make sure the office door is closed for starters. Then, you jump out of the chair to start doing your best version of the I-scored-a-touchdown happy-dance while spiking your desk stapler (since you have neither a football nor a helmet handy ). Then you gather up your graphic designer, programmer, mailing services manager, production specialist and data expert. Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom. Hallelujah!  What? You don’t do VDP?

Surely, you don’t want to turn away your best customer. You may never see him again. Then, your stapler would end up on the floor for a very different reason.

Printers face similar challenges constantly. For example, when a customer wants a print job that requires die-cutting, what do you do? Send him somewhere else? Not likely. You do the job and outsource the die-cutting, right? How about booklets? You probably do the same thing: you print the job and outsource the booklet-making. Addressing and mailing? Yep - same thing. Maybe you can even do some of these in-house. But, variable data printing?

To satisfy your customer, you could outsource the whole job to a printer who can handle VDP (and will insist on printing the job), but where does that leave you? Sure, you’ll make some money on the job, but you may find yourself with a queasy feeling about the whole arrangement. If your customer realizes that you’re just a middleman, you might need a really good story about the value that you add to the effort. Or, you can take charge of the project.

Why not use the same technique you use to handle the die-cutting and booklet-making ...outsource the part of the job you don’t do in-house? Outsource the VDP print file creation, the data work or even the address presorting. You do the graphics work and the printing, and perhaps the coating, mailing and other work. This way, you really are doing the VDP job (or, at least, the majority of it) and you’re adding nearly all of the value to the job. More work in-house? You get that, too.

Don’t turn away your best customer, or any customer, because they want variable data printing. Just know that when the opportunity presents itself, we’re here to handle your VDP print file-related work. When that phone call comes, be ready to start dancing and looking for a new stapler.

While you’re at it, you might want to make sure that your customers know that you do VDP. Notice that we didn’t use the “S” word...selling ( not stapler). Why not simply let customers know they can come to you for VDP. You might be surprised at the response.

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Printers Should Be Asking WWJD?

Yes. We are suggesting printers look for inspiration and guidance by asking, “WWJD?” In this lousy economic environment, it only seems to make sense to ask - What Would Jobs Do? You know, Steve Jobs. If you thought we would attempt to discuss spirituality and printing, we can only say, “Heavens, no.” Steve Jobs is enough to make our point.

In 2003, when the stock market was dipping to 10-year lows, Mr. Jobs was asked why he wasn’t cutting back on Apple’s development of new products. Mr. Jobs’ often-quoted response was, “A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.” Perhaps that’s an answer to our question, “What would Jobs do?”

Many situations change when business slows down as much as it has in the past few years. For printers, this includes situations such as:

• A broad reduction in business volume,
• Long-time customers who disappear or merge,
• Order frequency declines,
• Job runs get smaller,
• Customers want more for their marketing dollar, etc.

The iPod was barely a year old when Mr. Jobs made his comment, above. Apple dominated the personal, portable music player market but was already releasing the third generation of the iPod.  If Steve Jobs had been in the printing business, he might have been looking for ways to provide great [new] products for his print customers. So, what great products can printers offer? There are QR codes, websites, print-on-demand, mobile apps and wide-format, among others. And, there’s variable data printing and PURLs.

Steve Jobs was a big proponent of personalized things, which happens to be one of the primary uses of VDP. We often forget, but the original Apple was touted as a “personal” computer when mainframes were the order of the day. Then, there was the iPod that permitted people to create a personal collection of music to carry around. The iPhone, with its thousands of “apps”, certainly redefined personal mobile …uh…just about anything. If Mr. Jobs had been in the printing industry, there’s no telling where we might be today.

“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, ...”

This is what a lot of printers have already done…and some continue to do. It is hard to see how to add great new products under such circumstances. Many printers are simply looking for ways to continue offering the same products while no longer having the in-house staff they once had.

WWJD?

Outsourcing is one way printers can maintain, and even expand, their product offerings - following the Steve Jobs concept of “We took a different path.” For example, outsourcing the VDP print file work is a way to control (or reduce) costs while keeping VDP as a product or adding a new product offering. In tough business times, customers may be more willing to try something new. Although a VDP job is more expensive than static print job, the increased effectiveness (in response) might be used as a rationale to send out fewer pieces…and possibly reduce the cost to the customer.

It’s not clear what Mr. Jobs meant exactly when he said, “…putting great products in front of customers.” Why not try putting VDP in front of all your customers. What do you have to lose? If some of them “bite”, we have you covered. If you tried this before, you may find some customers have changed their minds.

There’s no argument that Steve Jobs took a different path - quite successfully. You might want to think about your own version of a different path such as VDP and outsourced file work. Then again, you can always reflect on the original meaning of WWJD.

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How to Design VDP (Part 2) - Dealing with the Dreaded Data

Without data, variable data printing is non-variable (static) printing. As much as you might not like dealing with customer data, it’s here to stay and will only continue to grow in importance in business and marketing. Get used to it. With respect to VDP, it’s data, and how it’s used, that make all the difference. With those words of advice, let’s take a look at some common problems with data and some ways to make it work better for you and your customer.

Have you ever had customers claim they don’t have any data. Really? Don’t they know who their potential and current customers are? It’s pretty hard to imagine that they don’t have an email list or billing records. The story about not having any data sometimes a smokescreen for not wanting whatever you’re selling. Customers usually have lots of data…they just forgot, never knew about it or don’t want to be bothered collecting it. Places that customers can find data include CRMs (Customer Relationship Management software), accounting, shipping and billing systems, email communications, old computers, paper invoices, printouts and lists, third-party lists, public records and all of the resources available on the internet. Even if the customer has no interest in VDP, managing his/her marketing database can be a good way to keep him engaged with you.

Once you have data, the next question is, “Is it any good?” While this is really the customers’ responsibility (i.e. garbage in, garbage out), you want to be aware of potential data quality issues. Is it timely, or is it old? Is it complete, or are there “holes” in the information? Does it look like different data sets were combined randomly or does it look consistent? Is it valid - does it seem to make sense or do some phone numbers have too few digits? Lastly, is the data valid (i.e. correct or accurate)? If the data is a mail list, the NCOA process validates names, addresses and formatting, to an extent, but cannot validate other parts of the data (e.g. demographics).

Many printers get anxious when they receive customer data in formats such as “.dbf” (dBase), “.mdb” (Microsoft Access), “.tab” (tab separated values) and so forth. There’s no need to panic. If you can’t or don’t want to deal with data in unfamiliar formats, there are plenty of people who will do it for you…including us. If you outsource the data management, don’t try to convert it, especially not to or through spreadsheet software, like MS Excel. Spreadsheets try to read and format everything as a number. This can cause problems such as having leading “zeros” in zip codes disappear. All data will ultimately be converted to text form for use in VDP and mail presort software.

Having pointed out the above issues regarding data, dare we now talk about the fantastic things you can do with data and VDP? With a little creativity, even the most basic mailing list provides ample opportunity to design VDP pieces that connect with, provide value for and motivate recipients.

From a basic mailing list, first names can be used to discern the gender of the recipients with a high degree of accuracy. This enables you to target messages or offers much more effectively. Perhaps it’s sporty wheels for the men or kitchen remodeling for the women (Sexist? Nope. That’s market segmentation). With an address, you can point recipients to their closest retail store or tell them who their sales or service representative is. This is the real advantage of VDP…by using data to deliver very engaging messages (and images) to a targeted audience.

If you want to be seen as a marketing solutions provider rather than a copy shop, you have to get used to dealing with customer data in whatever way works best for you. More and more of your customers will come to recognize the value and power of their data. You will look like a superstar if you are ready to help them and have solutions available when this happens.

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How to Design VDP: Sand, Sky & Sports Cars



Skewed Basic Text



Last week, we were taken aback somewhat when we recieved numerous requests for samples of variable data printing jobs. Aren’t there hundreds and hundreds of samples of VDP on websites like FusionPro or Direct Smile? There are names written in the sand, in the sky and on sports cars, just for starters. We even provide links to more than 20 websites with samples and VDP ideas. So, exactly what types of samples were we expected to produce?

Then, it occurred to us that rather than providing samples of VDP, it might actually be better to explain how one goes about designing a VDP piece. Something along the lines of - “Give a person a VDP sample and you have solved today’s issue. Teach a person how to create VDP and he/she can be making and selling it!” Given that thought, we start here a multi-part blog to explain how we look at designing VDP pieces.

Sand, Sky & Sports Cars



As you look through the array of Expressions (FusionPro) and Smilys (Direct Smile), you need to be able to recognize how the various text effects are created. There are three basic techniques used in virtually all VDP jobs: basic text, font fill and 3D font effects.

The basic text technique is just that - a plain TTF font text placed on top of an image. This is the simplest and most common technique used. A slightly advanced version of the basic text technique is to shape and skew the properties of the text placeholder so the flat text appears to follow the contours of an object in the underlying image. This simple technique can have very stunning results, as the text appears to be on almost any type of object such as cups, airplanes, footballs, skin, paper, sports cars, etc.

Font Fill

The most recognized example of the font fill technique is probably the name spelled out in puffy clouds. This technique also uses standard TTF fonts but in a slightly different way. The font is applied transparently in a layer over the image. Small GIFs or other image types are used as the fill for the transparent font. If you want the text to appear to be formed by clouds, you have the font automatically filled with your collection of cloud images. If you want flying ducks, fill the font with flying duck images. You can control the density and other characteristics of the fill to achieve the desired effect. This technique allows for some interesting and some unusual designs. Round, amorphous fill images (e.g. clouds, diamonds, water drops) can make for a natural looking image. Fill images with an obvious orientation (e.g. animals, people, etc.) often look surreal because the repetition of the fill images becomes more obvious. The font fill technique is also relatively simple if you have the right fill images.

Handwriting 3D Effect

3D font effects are one of the biggest challenges in VDP design. A name written in the sand is the most common example of this technique, and it is too often done very poorly. What makes this effect so difficult is that each text character requires its own texture, depth and shadowing. When using a custom background image, it is often necessary to generate a unique character set where each character is a separate image. Multiple character sets are desirable when the text is supposed to be handwritten so that repeating characters are not exactly the same (e.g. so the n’s and a’s in “Hannah” would be slightly different). Obviously, creating custom character sets is quite time consuming and not something to be offered to customers without considering the time involved.

3D Effect with "Extruded" Text

When using 3D font effects with a standard (non-handwritten) font, things get a bit easier. Font extrusion tools can create some very nice effects, although you will still have to do some amount of tweaking to get the right look.

What Now?

Practice! Now that you know about the different types of text effects, examine a variety of VDP until you can readily recognize how the effects were created. This will help demystify a substantial portion of VDP design work. It also makes it easier to visualize options for creating text effects as we go forward with the design process.

We want to thank the CPrint staff for letting us participate in their Annual Production Conference last week. That’s where all the questions came from. It was a very educational event and a great group of people. We already make the VDP process as easy as it can be. The next challenge is to provide the tools to make selling VDP easier. Thanks for the inspiration.

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Using Rubber Chickens Can Improve Your VDP Jobs



Rubber Chicken



An interesting read on marketing tactics is Jon Spoelstra’s, Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts! Jon details his experiences as a marketer for a variety of professional sports teams and provides plenty of examples of marketing outrageously. In one instance, renewals by season ticketholders for a pro basketball team were lagging. His technique for fixing the problem was to launch rubber chickens at those season ticketholders that were slow to renew.

We’ll explain how you can use the “rubber chicken” concept to jazz up your VDP projects.

Jon bought hundreds of the classic plucked rubber chicken, tied his message to a foot on each one and sent them in large, FedEx tubes normally used for drawings. If nothing else, the shear curiosity factor of receiving a mailing tube was enough to get the package opened…only to reveal a rubber chicken. The tag on the foot warned, “Don’t fowl out!”, and the accompanying material made a compelling offer for the ticketholder to sign up right away. The really creative campaign was a complete success.

Didn’t that cost a lot? Yes. However, Jon is also a fanatic about ROI. The thousands of dollars spent on the rubber chicken campaign paled in comparison to the revenue generated by the ticket sales. Nevertheless, we’ll leave the discussion about ROI for another blog to focus on outrageous marketing and variable data printing.

Another Rubber Chicken

The image on the left is one that we used in some of our own direct mail campaigns. Is it outrageous? Maybe. Provocative? Perhaps. Attention-getting? You bet. Did it get our message get read? Absolutely! In fact, we did an A/B test with the other piece being a dramatic shot of a snowboarder and some impressive “name-in-the-clouds” VDP text effects. You can probably guess how the test turned out. Writing on a woman’s stomach turned out to be our rubber chicken.

If you do go down the path of marketing outrageously, there is the potential for blow back. Our VDP girl campaign earned us an irate phone call from an older gentleman who was highly offended that his name appeared on the young lady’s stomach. He yelled something about it being evil at least five or six times. We apologized profusely and promised never to send him any more pornography (or anything else, for that matter). Besides that one complaint, we received plenty of kudos and inquiries from recipients…many of them from women. It certainly helped that our very creative (but sensible, conservative and female) graphic designer added the woman's perspective to things.

We see lots and lots of VDP jobs and, frankly, the majority of them seem more like rotten eggs rather than rubber chickens. Boring! It appears that many marketers have yet to recognize the creative and attention-getting potential of VDP. So, having firmly planted foot-in-mouth, we put together some suggestions for moving a little closer to the outrageous with VDP:

Ÿ Use a dramatic image that makes the piece stand out from the rest of the mail (a scantily clad woman is not necessary, however recipients are much more likely to be attracted to images of people or familiar objects or locations)

Ÿ Find a clever or unusual away to include the text with (or on) the image

Ÿ Make sure that the personalization stands out (it has less value if it can be easily overlooked or is hard to recognize)

Ÿ Also, make certain that everything looks clean and as natural as possible (it is easy to end up with weird-looking effects that can leave the wrong impression)

Ÿ Personalize with a simple message that compels the recipient to want to know why they got the piece

Ÿ You don’t always have to spell out the purpose or sender on the front of the piece (a bit of mystery can heighten interest to read the message on the back)

Ÿ Consider adding some additional personalization to the message on the back - even something as simple as versioning for gender, age, interest, political issue, etc. that connects with the recipient

Help your customers find their own rubber chicken and they may never think of you again as just a printer. For that matter, create a rubber chicken to launch at your own customers.

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"I Love Lucy" and the Source of VDP Business

We are constantly asked, “Where can I find VDP business?” The questions tend to be couched in terms of the best type of business or industry to find VDP work. It’s a perfectly natural question since we deal with so many printers doing VDP across the country.

However, when we’ve looked at the types of jobs that have come through our shop, we find they’re all over the map, literally and figuratively: electioneering stuff, local and national retail/consumer stuff, all types of services, fund-raising, school district issues, insurance companies, clubs, associations, etc., etc., etc. There’s just no common denominator that jumps out…except one.

A few days ago, we were going through the same exercise to find the magic bullet for VDP business when one of our more nimble-minded colleagues announced that we may have been looking at things the wrong way. At that point, the rest of us had a collective I Love Lucy moment just like when Ricky would say to Lucy, “I will ‘splain it to you.” With all of our hair seeming to get redder and looks of skepticism all around, someone blurted out, “Start ‘splaining.” - just the way Lucy would mock Ricky’s heavy Cuban accent.

It turns out that there is no correlation that we could make between businesses or industries and volume of VDP work, but there is a strong connection between volume (frequency and job size)…and the source of the business. What we could easily see when we looked at the data a different way was:

- Printers getting work from marketing agencies (or ad agencies) had/have a much higher frequency of VDP work and higher average order sizes.

- When a printer begins to get work from an agency, the order frequency and size usually ramp up quickly.

- There are no identifiable business types or industries that dominate the VDP work originating from agencies.

- Much of the work appears to have been ongoing and the agencies are simply changing printers. [This might explain the rapid increase in work as an agency gains more confidence in a new printer.]

That’s some interesting ‘splaining, Ricky.

There may be more, but we can offer three possible explanations for these results. One might simply be that more people are recognizing the value of personalization. Another could be that agencies are becoming more comfortable promoting VDP as a means to differentiate their services. And, lastly, the sluggish economy might be forcing the agencies’ customers to look for ways to do more with less.

Draw your own conclusion about what the data means. We’ll just note that we do not ask about the source of anyone’s work, however it is often volunteered by our customers during discussions about their jobs.

L-u-u-u-cy!!!

Even Lucy might see that VDP work can come from sources where VDP work is ongoing - either marketing agencies or customers. We can confirm that price and performance have played a key role in some of our customers getting lots of work from marketing agencies. Our EZ-VDP services certainly provide advantages on both counts.

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Here's some original 'splainin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMj9Fm4SBq8&feature=related

Industrial-Strength Business

In our last blog, "R.I.P. Reps", we talked about the changes the internet has brought upon B2B marketing, particularly in the industrial sector. To round out this discussion, you should be aware of the one website that clearly dominates online industrial B2B marketing: GlobalSpec.com. If you’ve never heard of GlobalSpec, it might interest you to know that more than 4,000 of your competitors (or friends) have already listed their businesses (free) under “Commercial Printing Services”. There are many other printing-related categories where you can list your company in GlobalSpec.

Before you run off to check out GlobalSpec, you should note that you have to register to use the site. Just do it. With more than 6,500,000 registered users and thousands of advertisers, they can’t afford to do anything creepy with your information.

Industrial/B2B marketing is clearly different than B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing. B2B marketing is much more focused on generating and maintaining relationships while B2C marketing works on emotion or impulse.

Using personalization with variable data printing can be a way to generate and maintain relationships. While direct mail and VDP probably aren’t viable choices for the very large, trans-national OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), the fact is that there are many, many more small, local industrial businesses, distributors and resellers that service local or regional markets. You can find thousands of these smaller businesses in GlobalSpec.

If you offer any type of marketing solutions or websites to B2B companies, you should be familiar with GlobalSpec because your customers might know about it. If they don’t, then you can be a hero by telling them about it. Superficially, GlobalSpec may appear to be a gigantic industrial directory - it is, but it also much more. There are many very sophisticated marketing tools behind the curtain including broad syndication opportunities, online trade shows, on-demand events, highly subscribed e-newsletters, etc. If you wonder how companies with huge marketing budgets use the internet, just keep an eye out for new marketing tools appearing on GlobalSpec.

Lastly, GlobalSpec provides a great library of free marketing information, tools and tips. The focus is on the B2B segment, but much of it is readily relatable to B2C markets and businesses. Topics such as “Search Engine Marketing on a Small Budget” and “Top 10 Marketing Planning Mistakes” provide insight about the industrial and B2B marketing practices and trends as well as tips you can use in your own business. Look at the bottom of any page and click on “Advertise with us” to find this material.

Moving VDP and personalization to the industrial will certainly put you out front of the competition. We don’t guarantee instant results. We do guarantee, however, that if you never offer VDP to your B2B/industrial customers, they will never buy it from you.

Of course, VDP is always easiest when you use our EZ-VDP services.

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R.I.P. Reps

One needs no more evidence that the internet has forever changed the face of business than to consider the Thomas Register. Originally published in 1898, the Thomas Register grew to include 650,000 industrial-related businesses and 67,000 categories in 2006. That was also the last year this invaluable, green-colored and humongous, reference set was published…rest in peace…killed by the internet.

The internet has also radically changed the role of the industrial sales representative.

For decades, engineers and technical professionals would look forward to their industrial sales rep dropping in for a regular visit to find out about new products and get solutions to their problems (and maybe some donuts). A recent survey said that 93% of these technical types now go to the internet first when looking for products, technical information and suppliers...R.I.P. traditional sales reps. While sales reps won’t totally vanish, their role vis-à-vis the customer is clearly morphing into something new and different.

So, what does this have to do with printing?

For starters, this scenario is not limited to the industrial market segment. Variations of this are occurring across many business segments. The internet has made even the smallest manufacturer or distributor in some lesser-developed country a global competitor. And, it has changed the dynamics of marketing.

Lead generation and sales success, today, has much less to do with the coverage, quality or aggressiveness of a company’s sales reps. Now, it’s about delivering a message and reaching the right audience in a ultra-competitive market-space.

But, what about printing?

Many businesses have lost the personal connection they enjoyed with their customers through their sales reps. The internet is about as personal as a football stadium bathroom at halftime. Marketers looking to “re-connect” with customers or those wanting to stand out may find personalized direct mail a way to do this. It can help to add something personal to relationships with customers and also be a way to point them to the right place on the internet.

As you discuss solutions with customers, ask them how the internet has changed the way they interact with and acquire new customers. You might find a niche that cries out to be filled with personalized direct mail.

While you’re at it, say “goodbye” to your old notion about VDP and see what you can do with EZ-VDP.

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Datum Is Not a Social Strategy

When your friend is eyeing members of the opposite sex at the local watering hole, “datum” (pronounced “day-tum”), is not appropriate advice. Datum is the singular form of “data”. It is a Latin noun meaning “something given.” Therefore, a bucket of datum is data (or a bunch of given somethings): but, what exactly is data?

Wikipedia describes data as, “…qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables.” Huh? Not to worry, they make it perfectly clear later on: “Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which information and then knowledge are derived.” Right! This kind of stuff will have you repeating that famous expression from Homer Simpson - “doh!”

A datum is commonly a measurement, a fact, a number, an image and the like. Without being put into some context, a datum has no meaning. Take, for example, “9”. Nine is a datum, but nine what? How about nine beers? “Nine beers” is information rather than a datum. “After drinking nine beers, my friend pointed at all the cuties in the bar and started yelling, “date’m.” That’s knowledge. It’s useless, but knowledge nonetheless. Can you see how data builds into information that builds into knowledge?

Furthermore, “data” is a mass noun. It is the plural form of a word that is treated as if it’s singular. How many times have you heard, “The data are a mess.” Never. It’s always, “The data IS a mess.” That’s a plural noun with a singular verb. This is not only common usage but grammar scholars generally shake their heads and accept it as inevitable.

In the printing world, we talk about variable data printing. In reality, VDP might really be called variable information printing or “VIP” since it is often information, rather than data, that is most commonly used to personalize printed materials. "John Smith, 823 Green Street, Somewhere, TX" is information, not data. Or, is it?

When we take a bunch of information, like mail addresses, and break it down into records and fields (as in a spreadsheet- |John|Smith|823 Green Street|Somewhere|TX|), each cell becomes a datum (|Smith|) and all the cells with our mailing address information would correctly be called data. In printing terms, the distinction between data and information is pretty fuzzy, and the two terms can be (and are) used interchangeably.

See how easy it can be to start doing VLLAP - Variable Lowest Level of Abstraction Printing.


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The Postman Always Rings Twice

It was a historic 1930s murder-love-mystery novel: The Postman Always Rings Twice. In 1946, it was made into a movie of the same name starring Lana Turner and John Garfield. A remake with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange came out in 1981. It seems plausible that this novel  and the movies have traumatized generations of print shop owners about the post office – NOT! However, we continue to find quite a few print shop owners with an inordinate fear of anything to do with business mailing and the post office.

“What if they won’t take my mailing?”

“I’ve heard stories about…”

“I lost a good customer when the lettershop screwed up his mailing.”

The expressions of fear and anxiety about mailing and dealing with the USPS just keep on coming up.

If this fear isn’t caused by the novel or the movies, perhaps it comes from horror stories or rumors perpetuated by lettershops. But, why would lettershops want to do this? Could it be that they want to keep the print shops dependent on them for addressing and mailing? Certainly not!

Perhaps, the fear comes from having tried to get a straight answer from the Domestic Mail Manual or “DMM” – the holy grail of postal regulations. There’s a document that’s clear as mud and as straightforward as the tax code.

But, business mailing isn’t all that difficult…with the right help.

Our EZ-VDP brand services eliminate virtually all the anxiety about business mailing for print shop owners. We help you through the entire process from getting a mail permit to dropping the mail at the post office the first time. Read more about how easy the business mailing process can be…

Just this week, we have helped at least five print shop owners do their own mailings for the first time. They're not only still alive but smiling.

There’s something else to consider about mailing. The USPS is struggling financially. The volume of mail continues to drop. Even the most ferocious of postal employees must see the handwriting on the wall. The USPS is doing everything they can to make the business mailing as friendly and easy as possible. They have just completely revamped their website to make information about mailing easier to find (but perhaps not understand). Besides, a friendly word (or maybe even a doughnut) probably gets you a long way with anyone at the post office.

Finally, no postman ever appears or is even mentioned in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The author, John Cain, explained that the title was related to the 13 times his manuscript was rejected. Obviously, he wasn’t afraid of the post office.

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Treat Your Customers Like “Jerks” - They’ll Love It!

The 1979 Steve Martin movie, The Jerk, contains a teachable moment relevant to variable data printing…people love to feel like The Jerk. Albeit, in some limited fashion.

In one scene, Martin’s character, Navin R. Johnson, is a gas station attendant. Navin interrupts a conversation with the gas station owner when he sees a man delivering telephone directories. Snatching a directory out of the man’s hand, Navin rips through it and begins leaping for joy and shouting, “The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!” The station owner stares at Navin and comments that he wished he could that excited over nothing. Wildly gesturing at the phone book, Navin shoots back, “Nothing?! Are you kidding?! Page 73. Johnson…Navin…R…I’m somebody, now!”

I’m somebody, now!

That’s the feeling you can produce in people with personalization using VDP. Make them feel like The Jerk.

How do you feel when you get mail addressed to “Occupant” or “Current Resident”? This is so ego-deflating that the message may be irrelevant. Then, you get the mail with your name in the address line but otherwise sterile and impersonal.

I’m somebody, now!

That’s how you should feel when you get a personalized piece with your name on the front and something that connects with you personally be it text, images or both. The message might be as simple as, “John, we love [fill in the blank] as much as you do.” Combined with an appropriate image, you have a very high likelihood of creating an I-am-somebody-now moment for that person. You made the person feel like The Jerk and developed an emotional connection with him or her.

Make your customers feel like Jerks. They’ll love it. Then, show them how easy and rewarding it can be for them to make their customers feel like Jerks. You get the point.

I’m somebody, now!

We never expected to say this, but…

We make it easy for you to make your customers feel like Jerks with our EZ-VDP services - www.DigitalFormattingServices.com

The movie trailer is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMJgC0ZidLg


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It All Depends on What “Do” Means

We get all sorts of responses when we ask printers, “Do you do VDP?” The most typical responses are “yes” and “not really”. Interestingly, both of these answers are completely honest and most often mean the same thing. It all depends on ones view of “doing VDP”.

Printers answering “yes” most often mean that they can do a sort of simplistic “mail merge” process to put addresses on an otherwise static page. A master page is loaded in the RIP and the variable addresses are printed on top of the master. Technically, that is variable data printing. But, don’t look to do anything like variable graphics or more complex variable text that way. A very small number of printers that answer “yes” actually do do VDP, however few of them would claim that they are highly proficient at it.

Printers that answer “not really” may be doing VDP to the same extent as the ones answering “yes” but the formers’ view of variable data printing includes those fancy variable effects and personalization.

That’s how “yes” and “not really” can mean the same thing – it’s just a matter of ones’ point of view. Much like the issue of whether the glass is half empty or the glass is half full.

Printers answering “yes” to the doing VDP question are in something of a precarious position. If they make it known that they do VDP, a customer wanting full-blown personalization and special effects will certainly appear. Murphy’s Law always applies. Then, what does the printer do?

We provide EZ-VDP brand services so that any digital printer can offer an emphatic “Of course we do! What do you need?” when the question about doing VDP comes up. You no longer need to fear VDP. Embrace it, promote it …and use to grow your business.


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Find VDP Business in Your Neighbor’s Trash

We don’t recommend dumpster diving or rifling through your neighbor’s trash cans, however you could find plenty of potential leads for new VDP business that way. It’s far cleaner and less hazardous to simply ask a dozen or so family members and friends to save the direct mail they might otherwise throw away and give it to you. But, what do you do with this “trash”? It might be a treasure trove of competitive information and market intelligence…if you look at it in the proper perspective.

What you can glean from it includes details such as:

• Who produced the VDP direct mail (the mail permit may tell you)
• What businesses or industries are using VDP for direct mail
• How (and to what level of detail) they are using personalization
• Who is doing a lousy job of VDP personalization, and
• Who isn’t using personalization in their direct mail (the static postcards and self-mailers).

Once you’ve collected your trash over a number of weeks or months, separate it by business or product type. Let’s say that you end up with 15 unique pieces promoting jewelry – six different pieces from one local jeweler, three pieces each from two smaller, local jewelers and three pieces from mass marketers or national retailers. You see that the three pieces from one of the smaller jewelers used personalization, so your first effort might be to contact that jeweler to offer your VDP and other services. Here you have a lead already sold on using VDP so your approach is probably based on better solutions, such as service.

Next, you can target the two other direct-mailing local jewelers about upgrading to VDP. You already have a sample of their competitor jeweler using VDP to use as part of your pitch. You might also take the jewelers’ static mailers and mock them up to show they could be improved with some eye-catching personalization. Selling in these cases would be on the value of personalization with VDP (i.e. ROI, customer acquisition costs, etc.).

Finally, you have all the other local jewelers that aren’t doing any direct mailing. If they had poor experience with direct mail using static pieces, then the competitors VDP mailing and some snappy personalized samples might just renew their interest in direct mail. The sales pitch could include the fact that they would be one of the few jewelers using personalized advertising.

Repeat the process for other businesses and look for ways of migrating ideas from one type of business to another. A further benefit of collecting this type of trash is that you build up a library of VDP samples, ideas and best practices (such as what not to do). Former GE CEO, Jack Welch, said, “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Start taking your trash more seriously to generate new opportunities.

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The Disappearing Lettershop

We speak with many print shop owners, and a recurring complaint, these days, is that the number of lettershops is rapidly dwindling. Moreover, there is an explicit or implied distrust of the remaining lettershops.

Let’s face it: lettershops are having business challenges just like print shops. It’s only natural that lettershops will do what they must to survive…even if that means competing with their customers, the print shops. Many print shops now offer digital printing, for example.

Another byproduct of the new reality for lettershops, and print shop owners, could also be higher prices for lettershop services. At some point, as competition decreases; prices tend to increase.

One customer put it like this, “I know ABC [lettershop] is going out of business, and I don’t trust any of the others any farther than I can throw them.” Using VDP for addressing and in-house mailing solved a large part of the disappearing lettershop problem. It also ended up costing less than the lettershop charged while eliminating the need to disclose customer identities to potential competitors.

If any of this sounds familiar…look into EZ-VDP(SM).

VDP Software Comparison

A traditional comparison of VDP software would detail the differences between Brand “A” VDP software, Brand “B” VDP software and so forth. This type of VDP software comparison, however, presumes that you want to buy VDP software. Maybe you’re not a super-experienced VDP software user, but you see the advantages of variable data printing for your business. If that’s the case, maybe you don’t really need to be hurting your head with VDP software comparisons.

The purpose of VDP software is to create hundreds or thousands print files. Printers don’t truly want to buy VDP software, but they do want VDP print files to print. In this case, the right place to start might be considering the various ways to get VDP print files rather than jumping straight into a VDP software comparison. The following example will make this clearer.

Printers commonly outsource UV coating and die cutting. Printers print materials, send those materials out to be coated and/or die cut, get the coated and/or cut materials back and finish the job. Obviously, the outsourcing printers have already made a comparison between purchasing UV coating and die cutting equipment and outsourcing this work. For a variety of practical and financial reasons, many printers choose to outsource UV coating and die cutting work. The printers aren’t comparing different brands of UV coaters but are comparing the benefits of in-house versus outsourced work.

For the same reasons you may not own a UV coater or die cutter, you might not want to purchase VDP software...if you can outsource the creation of VDP print files. You could look at comparisons of VDP software for cost, ease of use, support capability, etc. and to determine whether or not the best business decision is to outsource.

The point is that you do not have to buy VDP software to be in the VDP business. You can outsource the VDP print file creation just as you might outsource other pieces of a job. If VDP software comparisons leave you confused, then you should seriously consider outsourcing.

It’s called EZ-VDP(SM)!