PrintWeek India, TradeArabia—I'm finding it fascinating reading to see what is happening in commercial printing in other countries. Ironically, it's the Internet that's affording me this glimpse.
I had a close call with a print brokering client recently, and it has made me doubly certain that US Postal updates are vital reading material and not spam.
When I receive bids for a print job, the pricing from the various custom printing suppliers usually falls within a narrow range. Some prices are lower, and some are higher, but it is unusual for one book printer to be twenty or thirty percent higher than all the others. If this happens, it is usually because of a miscommunication of some sort.
One of my print brokering clients is a designer. Last year she made one of her clients very happy with two self-mailers. I wrote about them last summer, and this year her client wants to update the two jobs without changing their format.
My fiancee just brought home a toothpaste box, and I said, “Wow. I want that.” That's effective marketing. It was a deep gut reaction based on an instant bond with the branding. It preceded any interaction with the product. In fact I haven't tried the toothpaste yet, although I think I know how it will taste.
A print brokering client of mine came to me with an idea for a marketing promotion. It involved custom printing a 7” x 10” booklet that included a smaller, 6” x 9” booklet tipped into the print book.