Print09 is the biggest US trade show dedicated to printing, digital copy printing, file preparation and desktop publication and marketing services.
Print09, the printing trade show, took place in Chicago at the famous Mc Cormick Place Exhibition Halls and starts on September 11, 2009. Color Copies USA was present at the trade show and attended many of the high-level seminars on the coming year's innovations are analyzed in light of all the new technologies that are unveiled at the trade show. It is our desire to share with you relevant information that will make a difference in your marketing strategies.
All the intelligence gathered during the show is conclusive to achieve success: You need to understand your clients and provide them with solutions that help them in turn increase their business
This series of video presentations recorded by Color Copies USA from the floor of the show will talk about the potential impact of color copies, digital printing, variable data printing and personalization in the competitive world of marketing.
Selling is no longer about deliverying a product, but to creating value on the customer's end. Color laser printing and personalization do just that. They help you increase the value of whe you are offering to your customers or clients.
What are the analysts saying before the trade show?
Social Media is even Transforming the Latest Marketing Strategies
By Gustavo Baner - August 21st, 2009
It was expected that this year, attendance of the trade show would be smaller both on the side of buyers and on the side of exhibitors. Fortunately, it has been reported yesterday August 20th, that last minute exhibitors showed up massively during the last few days, so we should expect great news out of the trade show. One more good sign about the end of the crisis.
I would like to present you some information that is surely of great value for small and mid-sized companies. The topic that we are all concerned about is marketing: How companies must adjust their strategies to the prevalent reality and the availability of technology in the hands of end users.
There is a think tank that researches everything about the printing world and beyond, and they are the "What They Think Group".
Let me share today an article that talks about what marketing will most likely look like in the eyes or Barb Pellow. Mrs. Pellow has been an advocate of variable data printing, meaning that each printed copy of a document should contain enough information that is unique to the recipient of the piece so that the usefulness of the piece increases dramatically.
According to Mrs. Pellow, the penetration of social networks is changing the dialog between companies and users. "From a monologue to a true dialog with customers". This understanding leads to the concept of "Integrated multi-channel conversation management TM"
Social media introduces new ways in which people discover, read, share news. Social media is represented by a variety of expressions that go from Wikipedia to Youtube to blogs, Facebook, image sharing, Twitter and the list goes on.
Conversations are happening within those social media channels and if companies do not listen to what is being said, they risk themselves to playing a different game.
Companies such as AT&T and Comcast have social media scours whose job is to find people experiencing problems or simply misrepresenting their respective companies in Twitter, Linkedin and other social media sites. According to Bloomberg News, Comcast's Twitter initiative increased the levels of satisfaction in there clients.
Social media creates open spaces where interactions happen without pressure or anger on either party. All these findings should be ultimately be taken into consideration when planning future marketing actions. That is how significant and powerful the combination of social media and personalized copies of the documents is. Digital printing, mostly always know as laser printing or color copy printing help achieve the desired marketing results.
Technology has come so far away that personalizing printed communications is a must, but probably as critical is to start dialoguing with customers in the way in which they communicate, and that increasingly includes social media.
Before the show. Report
Print09
New during the trade show:
The show will open its doors tomorrow, Friday September 11th, 2009 to visitors, but the conference sessions have already started today, and there's quite some enthusiasm for what's coming to the show.
The organizers of PRINT09 created the program Must See'ems which will recognize the most unique, innovating and compelling technologies, products and services. We'll update you on those innovations as the information becomes available.
At the show there will be a Mailing and Fulfillment Center where the latest technologies will be presented. It's a 50,000 square feet exhibition are; the largest in the United States!
Marketing: Telling PURLs and RURLs appart
Personalized landing pages have been available for some time. The main issue that makes RURLs so unique is that those pages are connected directly to the source of information that generated the solicitation in the first place. Meaning that fresh data flows back and forth from the advertiser into the recipient's computer.
Marketing Facts:
- 2x:Consumers receiving a printed catalog are twice as likely to buy onlin than those consumers who do not receive a catalog.
"Household Diary Study" Uniged States Postal Service l 2007
- 67%: 67% of online action is driven by offline messages
"iProspect Offline Channel influence on Search Behaviour Study" http://printthemix.rit.edu l 2007
- 86%: 86% of people interviewed say shopping is easier when they have a printed catalog.
"Media Choices Today: What's Getting Trough" United States Post Office l 2007
- Printing and mailing is more expensive than ending emails: So what companies do is to email their targeted customers telling them to expect a catalog in the mail.
- "Many people see email as impersonal and costless to write"
Eric Bradlow, faculty at Wharton. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1919
- Personalization works: A research project at Stanford University in which associates went door-to-door seeking canned food donations. Students who addressed potential donors by name succeeded 79% of the time, as compared with a 39% success rate reported by students who did not use names. They also received larger donations.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1919
- 70% have renewed a relationship with a company as a result of receiving direct mail.
Pitney Bowes survey. http://printinthemix.rit.edu
