Tips on Paper Selection

Choosing the right paper for a printing job can be a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be though. When selecting the best paper type for a particular job, you’re often faced with an overwhelming number of options. Asking your printer for “white” is like asking your waiter for “food” — you’ll have to be more specific than that.

To the educated consumer, the choices don’t seem nearly as intimidating. Before you order though, you’ve got to know the menu. Paper has ten characteristics that affect its cost and appropriateness for a given job.

Surface

The surface of paper affects its look, feel and printability. When paper is pressed at the mill, it passes through a series of rollers in a process called calendaring. Calendaring affects paper in numerous ways. As the extent of this process increases, paper is made smoother, glossier, more capable of retaining ink, thinner, less opaque and less bright. Why does surface matter? Because people do judge books by their cover.

Color

The color of paper is perhaps the most salient of all characteristics. White is by far the most popular color and is generally optimal for conventional usage. Not all white is the same, however — it runs the gamut from ultra-severe hues to softer, more antique shades. Photo white paper is best for accentuating the contrast between light and dark hues. Off-white sheets produce less glare, and are best used for publications such as novels or technical manuals that demand long and uninterrupted attention from readers. When comparing color, always examine paper under standard viewing conditions and with minimal atmospheric distractions.

Brightness

The brightness of paper measures the percentage of light that it reflects. Most papers reflect approximately 60 to 90% of incoming light. Remember: brightness and color are not the same thing. Unlike the color characteristic (which is highly subjective and imprecise), brightness is a strictly quantitative, or measurable, attribute. Brightness is important because it affects readability — high brightness can cause eye strain, while low brightness can produce a blurring effect.

Opacity

The opacity of paper is the degree to which other printing is visible through the page. High opacity, or density, minimizes the visibility of printing on subsequent pages, thus enhancing readability. Opacity increases with the bulk and weight of paper, and is influenced by numerous other factors, including paper color, ink color, coatings, chemicals and coverage.

Grain

The grain of paper describes the direction, or alignment, of its component fibers. Paper grain is either grain long or grain short. When fibers are patterned parallel to the length of a sheet, the paper is grain long. When fibers run parallel to the width of a sheet, the paper is grain short. Grain direction is a critical factor for print jobs because it directly affects usage — for example, paper strength, flexibility, tack and versatility are all impacted by grain direction.

Weight
The basis weight of paper is calculated as the weight in pounds of one ream, or five hundred sheets. Each main grade of paper has a basic size that is used to determine its basis weight. Remember that paper of equivalent basis weight is not necessarily of equivalent basic size. Smaller sized paper that is thicker can possess a basis weight identical to that of larger, thinner paper. Since paper is sold by the pound, understanding paper weight is imperative to successful cost control programs.

Caliper
The caliper of paper is its thickness. Caliper is measured in thousandths of an inch and referred to as point size. In this system, .001 inch equals one point — and eight-point paper would have a thickness of .008 inch. Do not confuse type point with caliper point. Type point describes the height of a particular font; caliper point describes paper thickness.

Bulk

The bulk of paper denotes its thickness relative to its basis weight. For example, uncalendared paper would have a higher bulk than gloss coated paper. Remember though that paper may be bulkier or thicker than another grade, yet still have the same basis weight.

Size
The size of paper describes its physical dimensions. An 8.5 x 11 sheet is 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches long. Access to specific information concerning the range of paper sizes available for any given printing job is essential to containing costs and ensuring efficient usage.

Quantity
The quantity of paper refers to the number of sheets bought, sold or used. A ream is a standard unit of numerical paper quantity. Paper that is “ream-wrapped” is packaged in a bundle of 500 sheets. Cartons of paper are not defined by exact numerical specifications, but approximate weight. Cartons typically weigh around 150 pounds and are used in practice as a standard unit of sales.

Astro-Dynamic is a full service printing solution, bringing you quality, timeliness and fair prices to help you succeed in your marketing efforts.

Do you know what makes print on paper effective and sustainable?

Did you know the following about print?:

1. Print delivers results
2. Print promotes forests
3. Print drives online sales

If you’d like more information on these topics, www.chooseprint.org is the place to go. It’s an educational campaign aimed at addressing misconceptions about the effectiveness and environmental credentials of print on paper.

On the “Print Delivers Results” section of the site, you can find statistics such as this: “Shoppers across all ages say that print—not digital—sources most influences their store and shopping decisions: 69% of shoppers rely weekly on newspapers, and 67% rely weekly on direct mail for sales and product information.”

On the “Print Promotes Forests” section, you’ll find info like this: “Much paper now comes from sustainable forests. These sustainable forests are essentially “tree farms,” where trees are grown as a crop, just like broccoli or wheat. When these trees are harvested, new stocks are planted.”

And on the “Print Drives Online Sales” section, you’ll find info like this: “Studies show that print advertising drives consumers to online shopping. An iProspect study found that 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages, with 39% of shoppers ultimately making a purchase.” For even more information about how print can drive online business, you are welcome to download our free report on our homepage at www.astro-dynamic.com. It’s titled: “Top 5 Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Website Through Print.”

The new redesigned chooseprint website has just been launched, and it’s jam packed with great information. Check it out at www.chooseprint.org!

Direct Mail With Personalization Beats Online Marketing

If you’re looking for a revenue-generating powerhouse for your business, you’re looking for direct mail. Direct mail campaigns are the Old Faithful of marketing—businesses count on them because they’re dependable and promise a consistent ROI.

You can push direct mail’s ROI from consistent to record-breaking with a focus on personalization. Some online marketers mistakenly think their methods are more personal than direct mail. But thanks to Internet cookies, over-sent emails and Google Ad Words, consumers are turned off and tuning out. Direct mail beats digital marketing tactics in the area of personalization because, to the consumer, it feels more human.

The simplest way to personalize direct mail is using variable printing to address your business’s leads by name. But you can go even further than that.

The key to effective personalized direct mail is to get as much useful information as you can from your customers and prospects. Use sales records, surveys and social media to collect good data about your mail leads.

Now it’s time to personalize your direct mail piece. To craft a message that’s relevant to the prospect without being creepy, you’ve got to use your data carefully. Let’s say, for example, that your jewelry store wants to market diamond engagement rings. You’re working form a list of young people who you assume—or hope, for your business’s sake—are single (and you should know that from your data).

It makes sense to write copy that speaks to a buying audience in the mail piece you will send to males. On the other hand, the mail piece sent to females should feature different photos and copy. Although who will buy and who will receive such a gift varies, catering the message of the direct mail according to gender is a subtle method of personalization.

As this examples shows, the best marketers have to interpret the data and use it in a way that tactfully shows consumers that your business is just what they need. But you don’t have to be selling jewelry to personalize direct mail skillfully and in a non-intrusive way. Think about your audience and how their demographic information may affect their buying habits or business needs.

Work from your recipient data to go beyond names in personalizing your business’s direct mail. When you personalize your direct mail piece with a name, you’re working to catch your prospects’ attention. Go one step further—and one-up online marketers—by letting demographics inform your direct mail piece.

For more information on personalization, visit our Variable Data Printing page.
Astro-Dynamic Print & Graphic Services

How to Use Promotional Products to Grow Your Business

Promotional Products (also known as Advertising Specialties) can be a great way to grow your business, but only if they are used strategically. Pens with your logo on them alone aren’t going to cause mobs of clients to plow through your door, but there are ways to create a buzz with your promotional products. Here are some ideas to get you thinking strategically:

1. Purchase a small quantity of high-end promotional products to send to your top prospects. Mail or UPS them in a nice box that will grab attention. Choose a product that they will want to keep on their desk (this will serve as a daily reminder to contact you the next time they need your services or products). Here are some high-end promotional ideas: clocks, hourglasses, mugs, pen holders, portfolios, or plants.
2. Send a promotional product as a thank you to a person who refers a new client to you. Either send a high-end product like the ones listed above, or send a couple less expensive products put together to form a kit. Products that could go in a kit are: pens, personalized notepads, letter openers, candy bars, etc.
3. Hold a contest and give away a valuable gift to the winner. You can do this will polls or surveys, or by getting people tweeting and sharing links to your site, etc. Products you could give away might be: tool kits, trophies, tents, solar powered devices, and wine kits.
4. Use promotional products as leave behinds at sales meetings. Leave them with something that will be useful for them professionally so they can refer to it often.
5. At trade shows, have a game at your booth that people can play to win a prize. Give each winner a high perceived value item that doesn’t actually cost you as much as one would think, such as: golf kits, flash lights or pedometers. Have a stash of less expensive promotional products that you can give to non-winners, such as: massagers, hand sanitizer, or gum.
6. Always make sure your promotional products are somehow relevant to the product or service you are selling. For example, if you are a computer programmer, give away flash drives. If you are a landscaper, give away plants. If you are a healthcare professional, give away a first aid kit. If you are a personal trainer, give away a pedometer.

There is an unlimited number of ways that you can use promotional products as a tool to grow your business. What other ideas can you come up with to use your promotional products creatively and strategically?

Astro-Dynamic Print & Graphic Services is a full service printing solution, bringing you quality, timeliness and fair prices to help you succeed in your marketing efforts.

Make Your Tradeshows Lucrative With This Planning Outline

Tradeshows are effective marketing strategies because they get you in front of large amounts of people who usually are in your target market and who are there looking for vendors. The key to making tradeshows a lucrative practice for your business is planning in advance. If you are going to spend the time and money involved to showcase your products and services at a tradeshow, why not do it right so you can get the most out of it?
With the following Tradeshow Planning Outline, you will be able to do that.

3-6 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE SHOW:

1. Develop your tradeshow marketing plan. Break it up into three sections (Pre-Show, During-Show and Post-Show) and note how you will market at each stage. Pre-show, you might want to market that you will be participating in the show. During-show, you will need to determine how you can most effectively gain interest at the show. And post- show, you want to have strong plans in place that you can run with starting the week following the show. Without a strong post-show marketing plan, much of the work you will do pre-show and during-show will be wasted. Follow up and keeping-in-touch is key to gaining business from tradeshows.
2. Gather all the details for your booth space and location. If you have a corner booth, your display will be different than if you are not. Typical booth dimensions are 10’ x 10’, however there are exceptions, so make sure you know how big your booth will be ahead of time. Find out if tables will be provided, what type of booth displays are allowed and whether or not they will be offering electric hook-ups (if you need that).
3. Design your booth and order your booth display items. These might include tablecloths, tables, backdrops, banner stands, shelving, brochure stands and other hardware you might need to assemble your booth. This might be as simple as assembling your own stand-up backdrop out of wood and hinges, or it could be as involved as spending thousands of dollars on a professional booth display. In making this decision, consider the following: your target market’s expectations, what your competition will be doing, how much of a budget you have, how often you will be doing tradeshows and what will portray your product or service best. There are plenty of creative ways that you can assemble an eye-catching booth without breaking the bank. Posters and banners can easily transform a boring display into one that pops.
4. Design your banners, posters, brochures and literature, and place your printing order. Make sure you will stand out at the tradeshow by having eye-catching banners and posters. Be unique and creative. If you aren’t creative, hire a graphic designer to help you. The investment will be well worth it. Make sure your literature is useful as well. It’s pointless to spend the money on a ton of brochures that will only get tossed in the trash. Add elements to your marketing materials that will encourage your visitors to keep them. For example, include useful checklists, resources or URL’s they can visit to enter to win something additional.
5. Determine what small giveaways you will have available to give out to each of your visitors. Promotional items (also knows as Advertising Specialties) are best because you can have your logo printed on them. There are almost no limits when it comes to what you can order for promotional item giveaways. Options range from pens, mugs, T-shirts, stickers, notebooks, candy bars, thumb drives, mouse pads, calendars, playing cards, flashlights and much, much more. When choosing your promotional items, search for something that relates to your business and make sure it is something useful that people will want to keep and use repeatedly.
6. Plan out your big-ticket items to give away in a drawing at your booth. This allows you to capture the contact info of those who stop by your booth. This is key! Without capturing leads, you will have limited results from tradeshow marketing. Your number one goal should be to capture target market leads, and the best way to do that is by offering a drawing for something that people really want. Remember, people don’t like to give out their contact info because they don’t want to be pestered, but they will give it out when there is a chance they will win something great.
7. Decide what type of entertainment you want to have available at the show. The more you can spark an interest and engage the visitors, the more they will like you and want to do business with you. Be creative. Pull a team together and brainstorm what you can do. Ideas include: have them play a game or do a hands-on activity, have them watch a demonstration or give away food.

1-3 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE SHOW:

1. Launch your pre-show marketing tactics. It is often beneficial to send out postcards announcing your participation in the upcoming show and urging the recipients to bring the postcard to the event for a special gift. You will also want to promote it on social media, on your website and in your email marketing.
2. Finalize the production of your booth display, marketing materials and promotional items. Check schedules and insure they will arrive on time.

1 WEEK TO 1 MONTH PRIOR TO THE SHOW:

1. Prepare your sales pitch. This should be under 30 seconds long. It is what you will say to compel people at the show to stop at your booth, sign up to win your drawing, ask for more information, etc.
2. Put together your follow up packets. Don’t wait thinking you will have time after the show. After having been out of the office to work the show, you will be catching up on work you missed. Plus, you will need to gather up all the leads you acquired at the show and get them into your database. The more you can get ready before the show, the better your post-show plans will go. Get your packets assembled and have the letter that will accompany the packet already written.
3. Prepare your supply kit for the day of the show. Include things like: business cards, business card stand, brochures, brochure stands, fish bowl or box to collect leads for your drawing, forms they can fill out for the drawing in case they don’t have a business card with them, extra pens, markers, pads of paper, promotional items, table top signs, Velcro to hold up banners if needed, tape, staples, paper clips, scissors, screw driver, wrench, hammer, extension cords, power strips, spare light bulbs if your display has lighting, paper towels, water bottles, breath mints, hand cleaner, pain relievers, expense report forms, itinerary, directions, etc.

WITHIN 1 WEEK AFTER THE SHOW:

1. Gather up your leads from the show. Enter them into your database(s) immediately so they are not forgotten or lost.
2. Print out personalized letters for each lead. Add them to your follow up packets and mail them out.

1-2 WEEKS AFTER THE SHOW

1. Make follow up phone calls to the leads you sent packets to. Schedule appointments and make sales!
2. Integrate your leads into your keep-in-touch programs. These might include your email marketing, social media, direct mail campaigns, etc.
3. Stay in touch regularly!

Astro-Dynamic Print & Graphic Services – visit us on the web:
www.astro-dynamic.com

 

Comparing the Environmental Footprint of the Printing Industry & the Electronic Industry

The trend lately is to convert to online billing and to add a line to your email signature that says, “Think about the environment before printing this email.” But is this really helping the environment? Let’s compare the environmental footprint of the printing industry verses the electronic industry:

• Printed materials are made from renewable resources, whereas electronics (computers, monitors, servers, mobile devices, etc) are not renewable. Paper is biodegradeable, recyclable and reusable. Electronics simply don’t come close.
• The main material used by the printing company is paper, and the industry is continuously renewing that material by planting more than three times what it harvests. On the other hand, electronics generally require metals that must be mined and refined, as well as plastics, hydrocarbon solvents and other non-renewable resources.
• Currently, 60% of all paper is recycled, recovered or reused. Conversely, only 18% of electronics in the US are recycled. The electronics industry is continually growing at an unsustainable and rapid rate, all while using non-renewable raw materials with increased energy demands.

When we look at the facts, it’s clear that our perspective about paper and printing verses electronic devices might have been off kilter. It’s time to set the facts straight!

Astro-Dynamic Print & Graphic Services
For additional related information, visit us at: www.astro-dynamic.com

6 Inspiring Uses for QR Codes

QR codes are everywhere. If you haven’t noticed them on signs, direct mail pieces or store windows, you’re just not paying attention. QR codes (Quick Response codes) are a way for your prospects to interact with your marketing, and your business should consider getting on board.

Every business has the potential to use QR codes in an unexpected way. If your business innovates its marketing campaign with QR codes, you’re bound to enjoy a healthy ROI in addition to increased customer interaction. Keep reading for our list of six interesting places we’ve found QR codes.

Menus: 
Print a QR code on your menus to engage restaurant diners. The QR code could direct them to a video of the chef preparing an entrée or even nutritional information. Somewhat obvious caveat—if the food’s fatty enough to make guests lose their appetite, stick with a server bio or something else to spark a diner’s interest.

Invitations
: Event invitations with QR codes can link to a landing page where invitees can RSVP or check out directions to the venue.

Real Estate Lawn Signs
: Realtors are attracting passersby by printing QR codes on their listings’ lawn signs. The link leads potential buyers to sites with video walkthroughs of the house and all the details included in a sell sheet. QR codes help realtors hook prospects before they walk past the home and forget about it. Sold!

Receipts: 
Most consumers research a business online before patronizing it. Make sure your online presence is strong and then print QR codes on your business’s receipts. Link to a landing page inviting them to comment on your stellar service and enjoy a boost in your number of online reviews.

Coffee Bags: 
Starbucks recently rolled out a QR code campaign that takes an educational approach to the QR code trend by linking to videos of coffee experts or music samples from the region where the coffee beans are picked. Faithful sippers now have even more reason to congratulate themselves on drinking coffee.

The Back of Your Head
: We don’t really expect that you’ll have a QR code shaved into your head, but it’s been done before and it gained a lot of attention. The entire starting lineup of the UK’s Bromley football club had shockingly realistic QR codes shaved into their heads for a recent match. No word on whether any fans actually tried to scan them.

Learn more about QR Codes here:
http://www.astro-dynamic.com/services/qrcodes.html

Astro-Dynamic Print & Graphic Services – visit us on the web:
www.astro-dynamic.com