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)!

Teaching VDP to Speak

A common question is, “how do you sell VDP?” Perhaps you let VDP speak for itself.

The following is one of our favorite techniques for demonstrating the power and value of VDP. It requires very few words and no convincing. If your customer doesn't respond positively, check his pulse.

Tom’s university alumni group is soliciting money for the school. Tom receives the following postcard asking for money.

What would your response be to this postcard?

Now, assume Tom receives a different postcard:

In case you didn’t recognize him, that's Tom in the picture with his old football teammates.

At this point, it’s important to mention that a recent study found that 68% of people go through their mail within reach of a trash can.

Then, ask three simple questions:

1) Which of the postcards is most likely to go in the trash and which one is most likely to go on the fridge or the desk?

2) Which postcard will raise the most money?

3) Which postcard uses VDP?

There’s a good chance you have raised your customer’s interest in learning more about VDP. The next step might be recommend starting with one or two test projects to let the customer become convinced that VDP works.

With EZ-VDP, this approach is, well...easier.

Turbocharge Your Newsletter with VDP

If you send out a printed monthly newsletter, why not turbocharge it by using VDP to embed the recipient's company name (or personal name) in an attention-getting image on the front page? This falls in the category of "practice what you preach".

Some of the advantages of this include:

1. Getting more attention for your newsletter (few newsletters do this)
2. Demonstrating the power of VDP to your customers
3. Showing your prowess with VDP
4. Validating your company as a solution provider
5. Making your newsletter standout from the rest

Now, here's a special incentive...with Easy VDP^SM, adding some personalization to a newsletter may actually add nothing to the cost. Contact us for ideas about adding personalization your newsletter.

QR Code Tools & Tips



Customized vCard QR Code



One of the better uses for a QR code is to capture and share vCard information. Scanning the QR code (and a few button pushes) can very quickly store a host of contact information in a smart phone such as:

• First and last names
• Phone numbers - mobile, home, work, fax, etc.
• Email address, URL, web site, IM
• Company, department, title
• Street, city, state, ZIP code, country
• Notes, birthday, etc.

Here’s a web site that has a nice interface for creating a QR code from vCard information or many other types of input data: http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/qrcode-datamatrix-generator/default.asp?qrVCard.

When you look at the raw code, you will see that the secret to QR codes is the use of tags to identify or label each string of information.

Once you have created a QR code, the natural question has to be, “does thing work?” So, here’s another web site that will decode what’s in a QR code: http://www.onlinebarcodereader.com. You simply upload the QR code as an image and get back the contents in “code” form and in plain language. Try copying and pasting the QR code above to see how it works.

As the amount of information contained in the QR code increases, the “physical” size of the code symbol and the number of “dots” also increase. This means that QR codes with vCard information will need to have larger dimensions than a code with something simple like a phone number. Too small, and the scanning may not work well, or at all.

Once you have generated a vCard QR code, you will see it is a large and hideous thing. However, there are ways to dress them up a bit. The most critical factors are keeping the contrast high and the resolution good. See the example above.

A word of caution to avoid wasting a lot of time - the more information in a QR code, the larger the printed image must be. As the amount of information increases, the module (smallest square element) size decreases for a fixed size of QR code. One reference suggests that for a QR code containing only a URL the minimum print size should be 1.25 x 1.25 inches. A vCard QR code may need to be a minimum of 4 x 4 inches to be compatible with the resolution of the majority of smart phones.

QR codes can be used in your VDP project in almost any way that you would use variable graphics - in fact, that's what they end up being. On pieces where the customer includes individual pictures of their representatives, you might suggest adding a vCard QR code for the representative. Although not all that high-tech, that would certainly be at the leading-edge of common usage for both variable data printing and QR codes.

For more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qr_code

Glossary for Variable Data Printing (VDP) Printers

It may sound confusing, but we wanted to create a glossary for printers printing VDP. VDP isn't just about software nor is it simply about marketing. There is also database management, programming, addressing and mailing, among others.

As a teaser, how familiar are you with these terms:

• EMM
• Nixie
• Firmographics
• Seeding
• A/B testing
• Placeholder
• Key code

The glossary is available for download in PDF and will be appended (that’s in the glossary) as time goes on.

Feel free to recommend additions.

Team DFS

How to Sell Variable Data Printing with Confidence

Confidence is critical to selling anything. Just as animals can sense fear, customers are quick to perceive a lack of confidence on the part of a salesperson. Once this happens, customers’ apprehension levels increase and the sales process rapidly deteriorates. Offering and executing variable data printing (VDP) jobs, while turning a profit, can have so many uncertainties that exuding confidence is a challenge –

• Can I deal with the customer’s data efficiently?
• What if I bring up VDP job and can’t deliver what the customer ultimately wants?
• Will he want a special effect or something else I can’t do in-house?
• Are my staff and software up to the challenge?
• How many hours will all the data and file work take?
• Where do I go if I have a problem with some part of this job?

Any or all of these questions can certainly be confidence-busters. If it’s not obvious, the questions all boil down to a simple point: how do I create the VDP print files and how much will they cost? If the answers to all of these questions were clear and simple, the confidence in selling VDP would be much higher. 

 

Printers commonly outsource all sorts of work such as data cleansing and mail presorting. Why? They do it because they can’t do the work in-house or they can get it done cheaper/better/faster by outsourcing it. Why not outsource the VDP print file-related work, or, at least, all of the parts that raise questions and reduce confidence? 

Even print shops regularly selling and printing VDP jobs can have issues: a customer wants a tough special effect, the in-house is out for a week or there’s just too much work to do. Again, outsourcing would be the answer to keep things going.

Where do you find this outsourced VDP resource? You’re already there.

VDP Security Opportunities

There is no question that security has become increasingly important in modern society. The capability of VDP to create thousands of unique printed pieces provides some interesting security-related opportunities for printers.

Consider large gatherings such as business meetings or entertainment events. We recently created VDP print files for 6,000+ tickets for a nationally televised major awards program. Sorry, we can’t say which one…for security reasons. We were not privy to the security procedures, but the organizers did have a database with the identity of the celebrity invitees and each ticket had a unique bar code.

In this situation, the organizer might have used various techniques to verify the identities of ticketholders. Having scanned the bar-coded ticket, the ticket collectors could ask for something as simple as ticketholders’ phone numbers or even required some type of photo ID to compare to the database of invitees.

Depending on the type of event, there can be the potential to include the addressing directly on the ticket or invitation itself which could simplify mailing, increase security and deter counterfeiting.

Similar VDP techniques could be used to put personally identifying URLs, codes, serial numbers, QR codes, etc. on mailed pieces to verify receipt or access by the proper person, not unlike the process used by credit card companies. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of VDP relative to security is the use of variable graphics to include photographs.

Our customers often use variable graphics to include pictures of their representatives on promotional pieces for personalization purposes. However, it also affords recipients a measure of security by knowing that the person knocking at the door resembles the picture they received in the mail. More and more companies providing “at home” services are moving in this direction.

Keep a look out for opportunities to provide or recommend the security-related opportunities with VDP. Customers may not readily recognize the need or the security potential of VDP. It’s a question that could bear interesting fruit. Besides, security-related applications, by their nature, may be less sensitive to price than other printing projects.

John Lennon and Variable Data Printing

What if John Lennon had envisioned a perfect world of variable data printing in his song, Imagine?. Perhaps it would go something like the following. In case you need some help, here's a link to the tune so that you can sing along to create an interactive multimedia blog experience - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCuzpB5p9hg

Imagine there’s no software

It's easy if you try

No need for merging

Just download all the files

Imagine all the printers

Printing VDP, ooh hoo

Imagine that there's no data

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to cleanse or presort

And no addressing too..

You get the idea.

Imagine if there were such a world of VDP, what would you do? What could you do? Here are some potential answers –

• Sell VDP with more confidence
• Discard concerns about dealing with the customer’s data
• Create any type of personalization
• Reduce the amount of work you send to the mail house
• Freely design VDP campaigns as simply or as extravagantly as you desire
• Don’t worry about keeping or hiring a VDP staff person…maybe you wouldn’t want one
• Show customers the value of data enhancement
• Forget about software and maintaining proficiency
• Always know your costs for a VDP job before quoting
• Expand your business without adding specialized staff

Just as John Lennon had visions of a world of peace and harmony, we have visions of a day when printers are free to use VDP any way they want to grow their businesses and better satisfy their customers.

The world of perfect VDP is closer than you think…http://www.digitalformattingservices.com/