Salt Gain

If a recipe calls for a measuring of salt, very rarely is it ever a good idea to add all of it in the beginning.  Cooking is a delicate process that requires continual attention and tasting along the way.  Adding too much salt to a recipe is an easy way to overpower a dish and unfortunately, you can't take that salt away.

When you cook, you should salt as you go.  If you finish cooking and your dish isn't just right, then you can add salt to achieve the desired taste.  Simply put, salt is much easier to add than to take away.

The same can be said of ink.  Primarily due to dot gain, ink is easier to add than take away.  Dot gain is the phenomenon that is caused by halftone dots increasing in size during the printing process.  A nice, round dot will grow on press as it is transferred to paper and the result can be an average 15% growth of the dot causing the dot to look darker than expected. 

Unfortunately dot gain is unavoidable so printers must compensate by creating curves in prepress that eliminate the effects of dot gain.  Because dot gain is greater in the midtone values (around a 50% tint) and less in the extremes (5-10% tint or 90-100% tint) a tint reduction on a linear curve is needed to lower midtone plate values.  Simply put, you can't just lower the ink densities on press if the midtones are too dark as this would also result in the dark image areas to look light and faded.  So to achieve the optimal printed image it becomes necessary to remove enough dot on the front end to compensate for the dot returning during the printing process.

The Five Immutable Laws of Building a Quality Mail List

Paint a Picture - If you had to paint a picture of your existing customers, what would they look like?  What environment would you draw around them in your picture?  Mail to that picture. Are your customers young, in hip clothing and hanging out in coffee shops or would they perhaps be sitting by a lake in plain clothing, feeding the ducks?  Understanding who your customers are demographically and the environment they choose to place themselves in is critical to building any targeted mail campaign.  Direct mail should aim to evoke and connect to the emotional experience of the recipients everyday life.


Stop Reinventing the Wheel - While there are many data companies out there that will simply enable you to purchase consumer or business lists based on parameters and demographics that you set, the real value that these companies provide are their pre-defined specialty lists. Simply put, they have already done the work for you. Chances are if you have an idea of your customer there is already a niche mailing list built for them. Companies like USA Data, Experian & Accudata will sell you a specialty list that could be anything from brides-to-be to home-school households. In addition, many magazines publishers and direct mail catalogs will sell you their list. Stop in your local bookstore and checkout all the specialty niche magazines available and remember there is a targeted mailing list behind everyone of them. For a more extensive listing of magazines check out Bacon's Directory of Magazines, Oxbridge Communications Standard Periodical Directory or Writersmarket.com. Catalog listings can be found in The Directory of Mail Order Catalogs from Grey House Publishing.


Go Fish - Have you ever dropped your business card in a fish bowl at a restaurant with the hopes of receiving some future gift card? If you have then chances are those establishments are taking your information and plugging it into a customer database to be used for future advertising campaigns. Whether you're using a fishbowl or a sign-up form it is imperative that you constantly be recording new contact information. Everyone you meet is a potential lead. How are you gathering this information? Are you asking your customers and fellow employees for referrals? If people run across your website or advertisement are you enticing them give you their information? Fishing for new leads is an easy way to build a strong mailing list and a commitment to doing this on a daily basis is critical.


Knowledge is More Powerful Than Imagination - When communicating an offer with a mailing list, why throw darts at a board with potentially irrelevant advertisements? The design might look great but if the content doesn't fit the person then the message is lost.  Information about customers is one of the key components to a highly targeted direct mail campaign. Keeping good notes about a contact's interests and recording purchase history can help you target communications about your products and services to the specific customers who will find your offer relevant. The right offer to the right customer at the right time can be achieved with information.


The House Always Wins - While there is an endless supply of lists available for purchase targeting every demographic and customer group imaginable, the list that you keep of all your own customers and prospects, also known as the house list, will consistently give you your best response rate. Your house list already knows who you are, connects to your brand and understands your product. Direct mail advertising must always be mindful of the needs for their existing customer database when implementing campaigns.

Artisan Cooking & Letterpress Training Classes

An artisan is an old Italian word used to describe a manual laborer of a specific craft or trade who produces items by hand through the use of skill and creativity. The creation of these goods through a non-standardized process and by the hands of the worker, makes each product unique. This labor intensive and imperfect process is what gives artisanal products their charm, unlike mass produced items that are all identical.

We often hear the term artisan used in cooking. People who make food and chefs alike have to rely on their skill and training to create unique, tasty items all slightly different than the previous. The process is fun, creative, challenging and rewarding and it's no wonder that so many people like me, with no culinary training or background, have such a strong interest in learning how to make great food.

Years ago, when I decided I loved to cook for all the reasons sighted above, I looked to increase my knowledge by training hands on with an expert. While I had no desire to leave the printing industry, spend thousands of dollars on a professional cooking school and become a chef, I did want to acquire some culinary expertise in select areas. That is when I turned to the Viking Cooking School, a great place for any cooking enthusiast like me who wants to learn the art as a hobby not a career.

To the everyday home cook, it might not ever dawn on them to try a cooking class. I for one never considered the idea until one night five years ago, while I was still in production, I was checking over and reviewing a proof for a Viking catalog that we were about to print and it hit me like a ton of bricks. After that cooking became a passion.

A few years later in 2007, when I was sharing a Viking catalog sample and my experience with a potential prospect, for fun I highlighted a recipe they should also try and it was received very well. Shortly after that I sent out my first Print Chef newsletter and the rest is history. But if it weren't for that cooking school advertisement, I probably never would have created the Print Chef in the first place and simultaneously discovered my love for printing as cooking connected me to printing in a way I never could have imagined.

Recently I was watching the YouTube video featured above for Hatch Show Print and I had a similar revelation to the one I had on cooking classes years ago. Commercial printing by no means should be considered artisan work as very much of it is highly standardized and mass produced. However, watching the process of letterpress printing sparked an interest in me to learn this old craft in the exact same way that the opportunity to take cooking classes did.

Letterpress printing is about as close as you'll come to artisan work in the printing industry. Because of the unique nature in the items a letterpress creates, it is no surprise that there has been a recent surge of new shops all across the world embracing this timeless craft. Just as you don't have to be a chef to enjoy the art of cooking, and unlike other forms of printing, you don't have to work in the industry or be an expert to print on a letterpress. You do however, need to train and take classes and there are many that are offered to the general public.

If reading this post or watching the video has in any way made you want to learn more about letterpress shops that offer classes for the aspiring print enthusiast, check out the resources below. This is a great starting point to find a letterpress class or workshop near you.

Letterpress Links:
The Briar Press list of upcoming letterpress workshops and events
Search the Briar Press yellow pages to find letterpress associations, museums, printers, schools and suppliers wherever you are

Cooking School Links:
The Viking Cooking School
Whole Foods Market Cooking Classes & Culinary Centers
Local Cooking Classes
Central Market Cooking School

Why Upscale Restaurants Don't Have Pictures on the Menu

Selecting a meal at a fine dining establishment is often an arduous task that requires a great deal of food knowledge. The menu never contains pictures and you have to interpret the meal through the written language of food. This is no easy task either as these restaurants are less likely to use descriptors such as tender or juicy, instead opting for a basic collection of ingredients to identify the food.

The simple fact that the menu isn't designed for all to comprehend or understand creates exclusivity not found on picture menus, not to mention that many view pictures as tacky. An upscale restaurant needs that exclusive quality as that is exactly what makes it appeal to someone who is willing to pay a lot of money for their food and services.

By taking a seat, an unspoken agreement is created between the customer and the restaurant. The customer trusts the restaurant to deliver a quality meal and the restaurant trusts that the customer has the know how to order something they want.

A similar unspoken agreement is formed every time an offset printer proofs a job for press. Unless you're printing digitally, seldom do you receive a proof that is printed on the exact same type of paper that your final product will print on. While you might see a collection of unprinted paper samples, there is no way to know for sure how something will look and feel on a particular type of paper until the job is actually printed.

If you specify a particular type of paper, the printer will usually assume you know what you want and that you have the knowledge and understanding to imagine how the finished product will turn out. You are indicating your professional expertise and acknowledging that you don't have to see the final product to order it. If you are unsure though ask the printer, never guess. Just as a waiter in a restaurant is there to clarify menu items, a sales rep at a printing company is there to help you make sense of paper options.

How To Make Paper Look Old and Create Direct Mail Guaranteed to Get Opened

Marketing and advertising has been increasingly over produced for many years. The mass production of media means that consumers give less time and attention to advertisements. The supply of marketing is greater than the demand given to it and the bubble is bursting on ineffective forms of communication. Total customization or the ability to create a unique experience for each and every consumer is the marketers new goal.

Today, only hand-crafted, highly-customizable printed materials consistently get noticed. The new art of printing begins with a creative idea, is achieved through a unique process and shipped with a personal touch that connects to people on a human to human level.

The creation of an aged mailer offers a perfect opportunity to create a real connection to the past and revisit a time in printing when the artisan was more powerful than the machine. An aged mailer offers you the ability to touch people's senses and send them back in time.

Just think about all the times we hear stories in the media of letters delivering decades later? People emotionally connect with the past and the dated look of an aged mailer immediately makes one think of the old and forgotten times.

As a fellow print chef, you can begin aging paper right away and rekindle the past with uniquely, hand-crafted printed materials.  To create this highly-customizable printed item right in your own kitchen, here are a few quick and easy to follow steps:

1. Print your message on the paper before beginning the process
2. Pre-heat an oven to 200 degrees
3. Soak paper in tea, coffee or vinegar and plan on your mailer still smelling like your ingredient of choice (If aging an envelope, while soaking, carefully open flat at the sealed areas as glue will now be ineffective)
4. Remove from liquid and sprinkle coffee or tea grinds on paper
5. Rub in grinds to create an assortment of random stains
6. With a dry towel or cloth, carefully pat the wet paper to remove any excess liquid and brush off remaining grinds
7. Place the paper on an oven proof pan 
8. Put pan in oven and frequently check paper every minute to test for dryness and ensure the paper does not stick to the pan
9. Remove as soon as dry and let cool (once cool, if aging an envelope, re-seal with a glue stick)

Dutch Cut

Have you ever cooked in such a way that requires you to arrange your food on a baking sheet in different directions just to achieve the best fit? Think about a time where you were trying to fit strips of chicken on a pan or pieces of dough like the touloubakia pictured above. When you try to fit as many in that pan as you can, sometimes you might turn a couple at the top or side in a different direction just to get a good fit. You've probably done this before when cooking although you may not have realized that you were doing something that printers do on a daily basis - creating a dutch cut layout.

When a printer is figuring out the best way to fit a job on a press sheet, sometimes turning some of pages in a perpendicular direction allows them to fit more total pieces on a press sheet. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but in a scenario where you are printing 100,000 postcards, the difference of fitting 16 versus 19 postcards all on one big sheet amounts to 1,000 total sheets of paper!

Achieving small savings in printing adds up overtime and it can significantly reduce your overall marketing costs. To achieve savings though, you have to be open to suggestions and small size adjustments in your specs. While you hope all printers will offer suggestions on their own accord, printers still need the occasional nudge or trigger from customers. Sometimes all it takes is a customer to let the printer know that when quoting, if there is a slightly different size that works better for them, to quote that as well.

A dutch cut layout requires real thought by the printer, as computerized quoting systems often aren't sophisticated enough to layout such a scenario. It's just like baking where you can't possibly foresee that you will need to turn a couple pieces at the end to make them all fit. You may even have to reshape a few to get them all in. Printers do the same and the flat sheet of paper is a printers baking sheet and the postcard is their dough. Enabling a print chef to make things work for the resources they have will put put money back in your pocket.

Customization to the Masses: Digital Web Printing

When you think of digital printing, typically what comes to mind is low quantity, customizable, short turn around and on demand printing. With fixed material and digital per click rates, that idea is that if you want to print highly variable and versioned pieces then you better keep the quantity small or resort to printing offset and creating the variable message through a lasering or inkjet process. If you are making 100-200 variable catalogs or brochures this is perfect, but if you want to produce 100,000-200,000 variable pieces, then this just isn't economical. In high quantity variable scenarios, you print a full color shell or template on a traditional offset web press and take those forms to a high speed laser or inkjet unit to overprint all variable data. You might even create a few different color versions to target varying demographics but you must limit your versioning due to the high make ready and plate change costs associated with offset printing.

Web printing has gone on about its business just like this for years, pumping out high quantity, static materials and digital printing has continued to play the role of the quick turn, low quantity job. Recently though a new technology has surfaced, digital web printing and it literally will forever change how we perceive the role of digital printing.

Marketers recognize the need to create highly customizable marketing materials but the challenge has always been keeping the costs down. With a digital web press, a marketer is easily and affordably able to achieve the goal of printing materials for a large audience and at the same time, making each one of those print pieces completely unique to the end user. It is revolutionary technology that will only grow as people seek out more ways to connect with their target audience in a world that is swarming with advertisements.

Does this suggest the death of commercial offset web printing? Not yet, as there is still a place for the mass production of print where each piece is identical (product catalog, books, coupons, etc.). However, offset web printing has seen a decline in volume over the past few years due to the internet and other electronic and more affordable forms of advertising. If printing is to compete and win against new media, it has to create a unique to user experience and digital web printing is one step in the right direction to print's sustainability.

Master Sommeliers of Printing

A sommelier is a trained expert on everything to do with wine. They are extremely knowledgeable individuals that understand all aspects of taste and how these tastes will pair with an entire menu of food. Among other things, a sommelier might build a wine list for a restaurant, create suggestions for wines that complement particular foods and assign wine ratings.

Any person who has a great deal of expertise on wine can become a certified sommelier but only a small number of individuals can claim the title of Master Sommelier. Master Sommeliers have gone through years of rigorous training and these individuals can claim the right as masters of their trade.

Just as the case with a sommelier, any person with a great deal of expertise in printing can become a certified commercial printer however only a small number of printers can claim the title of master. Master certification in the printing industry is conducted by IDEAlliance and G7 Master & Expert certifications are given to those small few who can prove they are masters of the print trade.

G7 Master Printers are able to ensure the highest level of color match consistency from proofing to printing. This standard means the company uses the most modern technology and techniques as it applies to proofing, printing and color calibration controls. G7 Experts are individuals that are deemed as master specialists in color management, proofing, plate making and printing of all varieties. To put it simply, a G7 certificate deems you an expert on all things color as it relates to printing.

Does this mean that non-G7 printers aren't good at color management? Absolutely not as many printers have a number of practices and procedures in place to ensure their proofs match what prints and that color remains consistent from press to press. You can still rely on the expertise of a non-G7 certified printer as after all, this is what they do for a living! In addition, there are numerous other certifications available that prove a printer has high-quality control standards.

I am still of the belief that the most successful printers will always be the ones that place the client first, care and are passionate about the work they do (master certified or not). It's just like walking into an established wine store and seeking out the expertise of the owner. It's highly unlikely they are a Master Sommelier but these people have the knowledge and resources to guide you into a purchase you'll be happy with to ensure you return in the future. However, there is something to be said for the printer that takes the time to go through the certification process to prove they are masters of their trade.

Related Links and References:
Guild of Sommeliers
International Sommelier Guild
Court of Master Sommeliers
Sommelier Facts on Wikipedia
IDEAlliance
ColorWiki
G7:  What is it - and Why Should Print Customers Care?

Sticky Surface

How sticky and absorbent is paper?  If you are producing a print project that the end-user will need to write on, then you need to make sure you select a paper that soaks up ink.  This scenario and consideration is a common occurrence in printing.  One thing I do to help people remember how to choose their paper is to site the frying pan/skillet example.

Non-stick pans have a coating on the surface that helps prevent sticking when cooking.  These pans are especially useful when working with foods such as eggs and fish that tend to stick.  In addition, when working with a regular uncoated pan, it is usually recommended that you add fat, oil or cooking spray (a coating) to the pan to prevent sticking.  What can we conclude from this?  A coated surface prevents sticking.  How does this apply to paper?  Ink will not stick as easily to a coated surface.

If you are conceptualizing a print project and you want people to write on the paper, an uncoated option is the way to go.  Uncoated sheets are more porous and the less coating on a sheet, the easier ink will absorb into the paper.  This is why ink smears when you try to write on a glossy sheet of paper.  If you absolutely must use a coated sheet but you still want the end-user to write on the paper then go with a coated sheet with less coating (ex - matte, dull).  Matte and dull sheets are coated but they have less coating than a glossy sheet with a high sheen.  You'll still get a little smear when you write on a matte or dull but it won't be nearly as bad.

Designing for Digital Printing - Part 2: Design Stage

Avoid large solids on the fold marks to reduce the noticeability of cracking. Heavy ink coverage
along the spine/fold is important for thicker stocks, especially in instances with toner-based digital printing. Toner sits on top of a sheet and doesn’t absorb into the paper. When the paper folds, the fibers pull apart at the fold (crack) and while all printing can show the presence of cracking, toner-based print projects will magnify the problem.

Solids and gradients can be especially problematic when printing digitally and are prone to banding. Avoid large solids and tints in your document by adding filters that add additional noise and texture to help ensure a smooth and even finish. Try to break up solids with photos and other design elements to eliminate any streaking. When designing a gradient, the move needs to be greater on a digital press for it to be noticeable. You might not even identify a 10% to 30% gradient but a 10% to 70% will start to give the effect you desire. In general, avoid long gradients with small, light color changes.

Create smart files. The digital press will most likely print in CMYK so design your file in CMYK. RGB has a greater color gamut and those RGB colors you see on your screen may not be possible to reproduce in the CMYK color gamut. In addition, to ensure good print resolution, create and save images at 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Also, when saving your files, quality PDF’s generated in the proper settings are best for digital printing.

Does your design incorporate variable elements? When designing multiple versions, create a common design and have a few select areas that will be interchangeable with unique content depending on the specific audience. Also, if the variable element you design is to be determined by a field in a spreadsheet, proof and test the longest word (highest number of characters) in the database field to ensure that it fits properly within your design.

Designing for Digital Printing - Part 1: Pre-Design Stage

Choose the printer, then design. Chances are, each printer can provide you a list (and samples) of digital paper stocks they commonly run that work well for their particular presses. These may be different from printer to printer so it is important to know what stock works well for your printer. 

What type of color reproduction can you expect? Can your printer provide you with a digital chart or samples that indicate how PMS colors will print digitally once processed out?

What are the font limitations?  Depending on your printer’s device capabilities, they might run into issues when printing small fonts.

Choose the paper.  Ask the printer for digital paper samples ahead of time. When you spec paper, don’t think in terms of #3’s or #2 grades, think in terms of digital grades. Your printer should be able to provide you with digital paper samples of various finishes, weights and sizes.

Estimate before designing.  If you have a rough idea of your project (size, quantity, color, etc) talk to a printer and have them give you a rough estimate for how it will be produced. Is it more efficient for them to produce the project digitally or offset? Do they recommend any sizes that are close to your estimate but offer greater efficiencies?

Find the grain.  In your printer’s estimate, which direction will the grain run?   Paper that folds against the grain will crack easier than paper that folds with the grain direction. The ideal grain direction should be parallel to your fold.

What is the Expiration Date for Paper?

Sell By ...

Just about every food and beverage product you buy has an expiration date. The sell by date is the point of no return, where the perceived quality and safety of the product can not be guaranteed.  Often times when this date has passed, the physical and sensory properties of the food change.  An odor is present, mold is detected or the food/beverage changes color.  As food and beverage consumers, we watch these dates closely and we expect and prepare to replace items as needed.  These dates make our lives easier.

The luxury of an expiration date is not available however in printing.  When your looking through a paper swatch book, you won't see an expiration date.  You will however see key terms that give you an idea of the durability and lifespan that you can expect from the paper.  Have you ever noticed when a paper is identified as acid-free or archival?  This is the paper's way of providing you with an expiration date.

Acid-free paper eliminates the lignin and active acid pulp (aluminum sulfates) during the processing.  Lignin is found in wood and when exposed to light and oxygen, it will cause the paper to turn yellow and deteriorate.  The components of paper naturally contain cellulose fibers that produce acid so it is impossible to create an ageless paper.  Acid decay can completely breakdown paper over time by deteriorating fibers.  However paper made acid-free, will at least slow down the eventual deterioration process.

Expires 08/10/2532

When an alkaline reserve is added in the paper production process, it will further strengthen the papers ability to fight off naturally occurring acid that forms from the cellulose fibers.  This alkaline reserve acts as another protective agent or buffer in the fight against acids.  When a paper is alkaline, you can expect an average life expectancy of a few hundred years.  Depending on the grade of the paper this can vary from 100-1000 years.

Archival paper is also used to identify paper based on a strict set of standards from ANSI.  It means that not only is the paper acid-free with large amounts of alkaline reserves, it is also durable enough to be used for printed items with potential significant historical value to them.  Archival paper is considered such because it isn't made from wood-based pulp that contains lignin.

So when you're searching through paper books for your next potential print project and you see that a paper is acid-free and archival, expect it to at least withstand the remainder of your lifetime.

Printing With and On Your Food

If you are familiar with this blog, then you know that I often try to compare cooking and printing techniques.  I compare the two because most people understand cooking and food basics but not so much with printing.

On the surface, cooking and printing have nothing to do with each other.  However, despite these differences, there are many instances that utilize food directly in print and vice versa.  This blog post is dedicated to exploring a few of those times where the concept of food and print work together.

• Chocolate Graphics (www.chocolategraphics.com) prints on food by embossing photographic images onto chocolate with chocolate.  This embossing technology simultaneously allows them to produce 3 dimensional images with chocolate as well.

• Cantu Designs (www.cantudesigns.com) meld food with science, technology and art to create a new type of futuristic culinary experience.   Chef Cantu has created a number of print and food related technologies such as edible paper and desktop printers where the print cartridges are filled with food-based inks that include foods such as carrots, tomatoes and potatoes.

• AIB (American Institute of Baking) and FDA help certify and ensure food packaging and labeling compliance on your every day print items you find in your grocery store.  They help printers follow guidelines on food grade printing ink requirements.

• Soy-based inks are non petroleum-based inks that are created with vegetable oils.  These inks are often the choice for environmentally conscience customers as they emit considerably less VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and are biodegradable.

• Edible rice paper is often used in cake designs to transfer a photo quality image on the outside of frosting.  A designer can draw and color designs on the paper or even run the sheet through a food safe edible ink printer to achieve more detail.

Perhaps printed materials that you can eat will be the biggest opportunity for printing to stay relevant in a digital world.

Why Direct Mail? Part 2 of 2

Trust in Advertising - Printing and Marketing Trends

It is no secret that people trust advertisers less and less every year.  We’d rather hear the opinion of a friend or go online to see what other people are saying about a product.  This has caused an increase in grass root marketing efforts as well as the need to communicate through social media.  Traditional advertising, including print, is on the decline.

Despite the change in the advertising landscape, there is still a place for print in advertising that offers the highest ROI opportunity.  That opportunity is with direct mail.  Internet advertising will continue to grow but the information overload that online advertising brings to consumers will help direct mail break through the clutter.   In the coming years, print stands to become one of the least intrusive forms of advertising available to marketers.

Print can do things that the internet can not do, and the trends don’t lie.  According to a 2008 DMNews/Pitney Bowes Direct Mail Survey, the follow results suggest print is here to stay:

• 78% identify direct mail as the preferred method for receiving promotional materials (63% Email, 52% Newspaper Inserts, 34% Websites).

• 37% said they used a new business for the first time because of something they received in the mail.

• 68% said they renewed business relationships in response to information they receive by direct mail.

Print is also reviewed more than online advertising such as email.  85% of households say they either read or scan direct mail (2007 USPS Household Diary Study).  Data for email varies by industry but experts suggest a 15-25% average email open rate and a 6% average click through rate if the advertiser is known.

A more recent study (2009 Exact Target’s Channel Preference Study of 1500 internet users) shows that

76% made a purchase after receiving direct mail (67% TV, 58% email, 17% phone marketing). 

The trends don’t lie, consumers still trust print.

Why Direct Mail? Part 1 of 2

Why use direct mail?  Isn’t this form of advertising going extinct?  With the world becoming more digitized every day, one might think so.  However, every month you receive direct mail from the same companies over and over again.  Banks and insurance companies constantly flood your mailbox.  Do you think these companies would keep repeatedly sending the same offer in the mail if they weren’t seeing results?  Would you continue to do something in your own business if it wasn’t working?

The fact is that direct mail works and is growing in popularity as marketers seek out a means to speak to consumers on a one-to-one level.  The ability to send a targeted message to the right person is a powerful thing.

Direct mail is here to stay but if you need proof as to why you should join this movement, consider the following evidence:

• Mail is measurable.  You can track the cost per response.
• Mail is real.  In a digitized world, mail enables your senses to physically interact with a marketing message.
• Mail is personal.  How would you send a birthday card, love letter or thank you note to someone you care about?
• Mail speaks to you.  Your name is on the mail, with your address and your specific message that the marketer knows is relevant to you.
• Mail benefits from technology.  Advances in data mining allow you to send a tailored message to a specific demographic and audience.
• Mail reinforces brand loyalty.  When you receive mail from a brand that you already trust, the mail is received more positively.  In addition, mail complements and integrates well with other forms of advertising such as TV, email, radio and a website.
• Google mails.  The largest internet company in the world uses direct mail to advertise.
• Mail stands out.  The average consumer receives 45 emails for every one piece of direct mail.

Coatings

Adding seasoning or a marinade to meat, fish or a vegetable is a great way to tenderize it and add a little flavor. These coatings, add a characteristic to your food that you just can't achieve by cooking without them. Even a chef will add at the least a little salt and pepper to a filet! It's fair to say that coatings add complexity and enhance the overall taste, smell and visual presentation of a meal.

As a printer, we also look to achieve enhancements on print materials by adding varnishes and other coatings. Press coatings and varnishes improve the look of a printed piece by creating different textures and visual effects. They can change the look and feel of a brochure drastically and as with cooking, there are a number of coating possibilities to choose from depending on the artist's desired outcome.

There are a number of things to consider when choosing the right coating for your print project. While I recommend you work closely with your printer to see physical samples for the different types of coatings, I have listed a few things that will help you get a rough idea for the coating of your choice (there are many more types of coatings but these are the most common):

Aqueous Coating - water based coating that adds protection to a press sheet, helps dry the press sheet quickly and can add a variety of different finishes such as gloss, dull, matte, satin, pearlescent, and touch coatings.

Gloss Finish - varnish or aqueous coating that adds a high reflective, shiny appearance to the sheet.

Dull or Matte Finish - varnish or aqueous coating that reduces the sheen on a press sheet.

Satin Finish - varnish or aqueous coating that creates a smoother sheet and less shiny than a gloss finish but more shiny than a dull or matte finish.

Varnish - a liquid based coating that can be either gloss, satin or dull. Varnishes can also be tinted with a pigment for effects.

Pearlescent Finish - made from crushed mother-of-pearl particles, this coating adds a pearl like smooth finish.

Soft-touch Coating - an aqueous coating that adds different textures than a traditional finish (rubbery finish or leather-like feel).

UV (Ultraviolet) Coating - Clear liquid coating that dries with ultraviolet light leaving a high-gloss, satin or dull finish. A gloss UV Coat will give you the most shine but will also result in the most visible finger prints.

Textured and Sandpaper Finish - Coating that creates a rough texture and depth to an image area or creates a sandpaper type feel.

Scented Finish - Scents are within the coating and when applied and rubbed on the press sheet, a fragrance is released.

Flood Coating - process of applying any type of coating above to the entire press sheet or entire image area as one flat coating.

Spot Coating - process of applying any type of coating above to an isolated or designated area (ex - part of an image that you want to stand out) on a press sheet.


Now that you have an idea of some of the different types of coatings available in printing, I will share with you one of my favorite types of coatings (marinade) that I use on pork and chicken meals. Here is the recipe and check out the video above for detailed instructions on making this wonderful meal:

Garlic Dijon Basil Pork
- Mix together well olive oil, dijon, chopped garlic and basil together. Your the chef so you choose your recipe size! I add about 1-2 tablespoons of both oil and dijon, 3 cloves of garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon of dry basil (or 1 teaspoon of fresh basil).
- Line a baking dish with tin foil and place the pork in the dish.
- Salt and pepper pork and baste the mixture thoroughly on both sides.
- Let the pork sit at least 15-20 minutes to absorb the marinade (the longer it sits the better it tastes) and go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 450 while you wait.
- Cook about 12-15 minutes or until done to your desired level. I like to eat pork right around 150 but this is medium and may not be to your tastes.

Why Do Print Projects Take So Long to Produce? Part 2: Knife Sharpening

When using knives in the kitchen, you are more likely to hurt yourself with a dull blade. This is because you're applying more pressure which causes you to be less stable with the knife. In addition to the safety benefit, a sharp blade will save you time by cutting the food faster. Also, it allows you to make equal and consistent cuts that ensures your food cooks evenly and looks more appetizing.

The kitchen isn't the only place you need a sharp blade. We cut printed materials in almost every stage of the print process. Cutting may look quick and easy but we spend just as much time maintaining, setting up and replacing sharp blades as we do actually putting them to action. Continual maintenance is what it takes to be a cut above the rest.

Iron Chef

On the popular TV cooking show Iron Chef America, different chefs from around the world are chosen to compete head-to-head against an Iron Chef in a cooking battle. The participating chefs must choose their competitor, one of the Iron Chefs who are the best of the best – featuring chefs such as Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto or Cat Cora. The show features dramatics that make it entertaining like naming the cooking arena Kitchen Stadium and commentary that resembles a sporting event. Each show is unique, as a randomly chosen theme ingredient must be incorporated as the focal point of all dishes prepared. The chefs must create four dishes all within 75 minutes with the help of a team of sous chefs (15 minutes to come up with an ensemble of dishes and 60 minutes to cook them). At the end of the competition, each competing chef faces a panel of judges who grade them on a scale of 60 points (30 points for taste/quality, 15 points for presentation and 15 points for originality) and a winner is declared.

To compete in such as pressure packed situation under a short time frame, these chefs must be seasoned professionals. Cutting corners will ultimately lead to failure. They must be problem solvers, quick responders, fast thinkers, creative, knowledgeable and extremely dedicated hard workers. The same qualities that make these chefs so great are the exact same qualities you that you want in a print sales rep. Print reps can no longer afford to be good at only a few things. There are just too many options out there now and too many people hungry for work. They can no longer afford to have only one specific skill set, similar to the chef who only specializes in a few key ingredients or just chops. Flexibility is a requirement now and you have to wear multiple hats. Simply stated, a print rep can’t just be a chef anymore, they must be an Iron Chef.

What does it take to be the Iron Chef of printing? Let’s for a brief moment, assume printers were judged in a similar fashion that the competitors on Iron Chef are judged. We’ll start with the prerequisite that any printer who wants to compete at the highest level needs to be prepared for ANYTHING a customer throws at them. You can’t afford to only be an expert at the same processes that you’ve always known such as offset printing or promotional products. You must know it all: offset printing, direct mail, digital printing, variable data printing, PURL’s, online print procurement, fulfillment, integrated marketing communications (cross media), demographics, response rates, product differentiation, branding, PPC, CPM, email marketing, and social media. If you can’t have an intelligent conversation with a customer across all of these different marketing channels then you’re going to be just another printer. You must understand your customer’s business inside and out if you are to clearly identify opportunities to offer solutions that enable you to do more business with them. When I receive an email for a print bid that was clearly sent to 20 other printers I can already assume I’m not getting the project. Maybe my price will be on point occasionally and I’ll win a few projects, but in this scenario, I clearly haven’t established any value with the customer and all I’m doing is bidding on printing.

Now assuming you actually make the cut above, there are probably only a few printers left to battle against. So how do you determine who is the Iron Chef out of the remaining lot? On Iron Chef, 30 of the 60 points are for taste and quality of the meal. I think it goes without saying that if you can’t consistently produce a quality print project with good image reproduction, color, cross-overs, trim and binding, then you’re not going to be an Iron Chef. Does it have to be the best of the best in quality? This depends on the buyer, but most of the time no. It needs to be good enough though. If quality isn’t your forte, then you better be great at everything else you do. Iron Chef also presents 15 points for presentation and 15 points for originality. With presentation, how often are you communicating the exact status of a project throughout production? Are your projects produced with a high level of professionalism and is the communication always on point? On the point of originality, what is it that makes your company so different that someone is compelled to work with you? What new ideas do you bring to the table that make your customers look like geniuses?

All of the points are part of the bigger picture and the overall experience that defines who and who isn’t an Iron Chef of the printing world. However, there are still two more remaining key points that I strongly believe should be a given: meeting critical ship dates and responding to problems immediately.

On the cooking TV show, if the Iron Chef doesn’t produce in the allotted 60 minute time, they’re probably not going to win. To meet the time, they make sacrifices and constantly make quick decisions to change the course of their dish. For a printer and ship dates, while all may be important, you are going to miss a few. The key is to make sure you meet the ones that count. Are you anticipating ahead of time if a date is in jeopardy? Are you heading the problem off by offering solutions that let your customers react and adjust schedules on their end? What is the financial cost and impact of a missed deadline? To be an Iron Chef in printing you need to proactively minimize the pain of not meeting a ship date.

In addition to meeting deadlines, you must be address issues immediately. In a custom manufacturing world, things happen and we get that. What makes someone an Iron Chef of printing though is by making sure that if something does go wrong, then the rep is going to work non-stop until the issue is fixed. This sounds like common sense but too many times issues are confronted with the attitude of hide the dirt, throw money at the problem or sorry let the customer deal with it. It is amazing that people are scared to enthusiastically take ownership of issues. How you handle problems directly impacts your quality, presentation and originality. How issues are handled is often the only real difference for a print rep to be the Iron Chef of printing or just another printer.

How to Purchase a Maillist, Market to a Target Audience and Grow Your Business

Buying a maillist doesn't have to be a complicated process. Anyone can do it. Answer the questions below and you'll be well on your way to starting a direct mail campaign. Then, check out the video for a quick overview on how to go about purchasing a maillist.

Who are my customers?
Are they businesses?
- Are they large or small businesses?
- What industry are they in?
- How many years have they been in business?
- Are they headquarters or branches?
- What job title do they typically have?

Are they consumers?
- Are the male or female, or an even mix of both?
- Do they have children?
- Are they homeowners?
- What income levels do they come from?
- How old are they?
- Are they single or married?

Where do my customers live?
- Are they from a local neighborhood or scattered geographically?
- Are they all in a specific city or state?
- If they just moved to the neighborhood would your business potentially benefit from their limited number of relationships?

Why do my customers buy from me?

If they received a postcard what would they respond to?
- What stands out?
- How is it different than every other offer they get in the mail?
- How does it engage them to interact?
- What would make them want to learn more about your offer?

How much can I afford to spend?
- How much can you spend on advertising for one sale and still make a profit?
- What type of return do you project?
- How much does it cost to print?
- What type of postage estimate has your printer given you?
- How much to design your piece?
- Are there additional costs associated with your offer (coupon)?

Finally, have I communicated with my print vendor or marketing expert what my goals are for the mailer and where I want to increase my revenue? I only mention this because printers can be marketing experts too but usually for no additional cost. It may seem like all we do is print and there is no difference between one company to the next, but a great print rep is exposed to a number of different mailings in a given year and usually has a unique perspective on what tends to have success. Even for the print reps that do not follow customer results and really only care about printing, I bet they ALL know what customers do a reprint of a mailing. Chances are if someone is spending money on a marketing campaign over and over again, then they are probably having success with it. Well, at least Albert Einstein would hope so!

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

Proofing

When you make bread, one of the first steps is proofing the yeast. You do this to ensure the yeast is active (or living) and thus will enable the bread to rise. If the yeast is dead, your bread will not rise and the finished product will resemble a rock. To proof yeast you dissolve in warm water (not too hot as yeast dies at 140 degrees), mix with a pinch of sugar and wait a few minutes for the yeast to foam up. If the mixture is foamy, you know your yeast is active and ready to be used. However, if after 5-10 minutes nothing happens, then your yeast is probably a dud.

There are no guarantees with yeast, and you must proof to ensure everything is going to turn out right. The same holds true in printing. When submitting artwork to a printer, they will proof your files to ensure everything is going to print like your intended design. When receiving the proof, it is then YOUR responsibility to make sure everything looks right. I don’t mean to be harsh by putting the blame solely on you if something is wrong with the proof and you don’t catch the mistake, but the reality is that many printers view a signed off proof the same as a contract. Hence the commonly used term “contract proof” that specifies that you think everything is okay to print. Hopefully you have a true partnership with your printer, where they will also look for issues with files and proofs to ensure all is okay. However, not giving a proof the respect it deserves can seriously cost you some big time bucks.

Why do I stress the importance of a proof, or better yet what can go wrong with a proof? Just ask any printer and they can give you a laundry list of potential issues. For example, your document may have missing fonts and images or low-resolution images. Text may not flow properly causing layout issues (Google “prepress reflow”). The color might not look the same as it does on your monitor. Images on the edge of the trim may be missing bleed (additional image needed to ensure the image runs off the edge of the sheet if small printing, binding and trimming variations occur). If you are uncertain of everything you should look for when deciding whether to approve or not, ask your print sales rep, their prepress manager or search the web.

Why do things go wrong with a proof when there was nothing wrong with the files sent to the printer? To put it simply, the printer changes your file. They have to put it in a format that their equipment can read. When this change occurs, ironically known as RIP, formatting related issues can cause unexpected changes (especially with un-preferred file formats). The printer does this because files come in so many different formats and platforms but the plate processors or digital presses can only read the file in one common language. You can save yourself some pain by finding out what types of files the printer prefers to work with and then design your files in those formats. However, even if you design your document in a preferred format, issues can still occur.

In the new age of printing, where every print project started today needed to ship yesterday, it is certainly easy to quickly scan through a proof to get the project into production right away. Working with multiple customers though, I have personally seen and dealt with the pain of what happens when errors are not caught in the proofing process. A circle of blame ensues where the result is everyone loses.