Photo by Johnath

I often find these extremely in depth communities with a lot of potential however they are all overwhelmed by one unavoidable component. SPAM!!!

Maybe it’s too much to ask for people to genuinely want to connect with other individuals from their industry. I guess there are people out there that think the old method of ‘copy and paste my ad into as many profiles comments section as possible’ actually works.

When are people going to start catching on that people are becoming desensitized to in your face advertising. In an on-demand world … why do I even need to give your ad a second thought.

Here’s how it actually goes down…

• Person wants a service
• Person Googles or asks a friend where to find best service
• Person chooses based off of friends feedback and Google results

THAT’S IT!!!!

So it’s your job to become either the result on Google or the company that person’s friend recommends. Do this through quality honest interaction with other individuals.

FOR EXAMPLE

I had just joined a community by and for printers and within minutes had recieved numerous solicitations to buy peoples service’s. How about instead of spamming you:

• Ask me how I wish to use the community
• Find out what line of work I am in
• Establish in what way you can help me

It’s called a conversation … it goes both ways… so join in

It’s great to see the print industry slowly start to embrace popular social media sites like twitter. I want to take a look at how these companies are using twitter and possibly discuss how they could use it better.

Here are my top 2 printers on twitter:

VPG_Printing - “Owner of a Printing & Graphics CO. in Encinitas, CA. Graphics designer by trade.”

Laura Beulke of Vertical Printing has nearly mastered the art of tweeting on both a business and personal level. She has been tweeting for over 6 months now and found that she could generate quite a buzz by offering freebies to her followers. Laura has figured out that using twitter is less about her company and more about her audience. She has even received referrals from people that aren’t even clients because of her activity on twitter.
(Special Offer: The seventh person to contact Vertical Printing and mention Magicomm will get $50.00 of FREE Printing)

BlueCoast - “Print quality paper print projects, and save your budget.”

BlueCost has a very realistic understanding of Twitter and how they should be using it. Their Relationship Manager told me “People use twitter not to hear what the company is doing, but rather to take something beneficial for themselves“. Their twitter account is reinforced by a well thought out blog with some very insightful posts.

Other printers on Twitter

• TampaPrinter
• hotcards
• ColonialColour
• intouchlabels
• risoprinter
• FosterPrinting
• swiftprint

So how should printers be using twitter for their business?
First lets look at my top 2 and see what they are doing right.

1. They are not pushing their services on subscribers
2. They are maintaining a good ratio of subscribers to subscriptions
3. They are responding to feedback and questions from other twitterers
4. They are providing value to the community (freebies or quality blog posts)
5. They are keeping it personal

I think Blue Host summed it up best in their response to my inquiry when they replied:
“The ones that enter into it with selfish motivation usually gain nothing.”

So what about the larger print providers?

I hold them to the same standards I hold everyone else. That said, I am curious about your thoughts on adobepr, xeroxcorp, xmpie and kodakidigprint. Adobe and Xmpie are still new to the Twitter game but could turn in to very fruitful accounts. Kodak rolled out kodakidigprint as part of a whole social media initiative that included a number of other Kodak employees joining twitter under Kodak branded accounts. All of these accounts have only been created within the last couple of months so there is still a lot of time for growth. (Which companies do you think are doing the best job?)

How else can Twitter help printers?

Twitter is a great way to keep up on hot topics within the industry. It’s also a great way to become the hot topic in your industry. Twitter gives you the exposure and the audience.

Some resourceful profiles out there are:

• PrintPlanet
• printceoblog
• whattheythink
• printworkers

So why should I, as a printer, join twitter?

Between the business opportunities and resources available, the question becomes why shouldn’t you join twitter. You should only jump on the bandwagon if you are willing to commit to it. A failed account looks a lot worse than no account. However if you follow the 5 simple steps listed above, their is no reason why you shouldn’t be up on my top 2.

If you are a printer on twitter and not on this list please feel free to comment below.

Image by FotoDawg

At a time with so much economic turmoil, it is widely understood that marketing budgets are the first to go. While I don’t agree with most of these decisions, there are many variables that go into the decision making process for these companies. My feeling is that marketing yourself is one of the most important things a company can do. With marketing budgets shrinking and the the pressure on marketers increases, it is time to fight back. As a marketer whose success is hard to pinpoint, it is now time to show your organization what you are worth. In the age of declining marketing budgets it is time to do more with less. Don’t be worried though, through shifts in today’s marketing world your job can become easier by adopting new tactics. If you are faced with the dilemma of a shrinking budget and your boss breathing down your neck you need to do two things.

1. Just like you are doing in the stock market, it is now time to diversify your marketing budget and it’s time to shift to a new form in internet marketing.
2. Show people what you are worth, tighten up your Marketing metrics

Shifting your marketing dollars to the internet is all you hear about these days, but it is inevitable. Internet marketing costs less than traditional marketing (in most cases), is more direct, and is trackable. Developing a strong internet presence combined with pr efforts can be very successful for the audience searching for your company or product. In a poll by Epsilon 63% of the senior marketing executives polled predicted an increase in interactive/online marketing. Showing your target audience quality information is more important than the soccer mom who drives by that billboard about the latest Seth Rogan movie every day. Instead, there are many places on the internet that would be better suited for this advertisement. In this instance, advertisements on Facebook, Myspace, google ads, etc. would probably capture the target audience more appropriately and yield better results. As I noted before, internet marketing is growing and it is time for you to jump on the bandwagon before everyone else does.

Marketing metrics is your friend. Narrowing down your marketing metrics will turn that yelling and screaming conversation with your boss into a calm discussion about how your favorite football team did last weekend. If you know how successful you have been and you can prove it, there is no way you will be the bad guy anymore. In an article “B2B Marketing’s Balance Act” in Marketing Management it lists marketing metrics as the number 4 challenge facing marketers today. This should lead marketers to plan out their marketing budget more appropriately. Marketers need to invest in methods that promote their company or product effectively and can be tracked. If your efforts lead to millions in sales and you are not getting credit for it, there is something wrong with that. Internet marketing is a trackable solution through Google Analytics, Alexa, Technorati, etc. Boosting your companies internet presence combined with effective internet marketing techniques can make your efforts trackable and more effective in the long run.

Overall, the ability to track your marketing efforts is a problem that most marketers find with traditional marketing efforts such as print ads, billboards, etc. Being able to shift marketing dollars to the internet and reach a directed audience combined with the ability to track your success will save you a lot of hassle. The best way to tackle your decreasing marketing budget and untrackable success is to attack it and think through the process. Making these necessary changes can save your company money and increase the impact of your marketing department.

This should cause all printers to sit up and take notice…NOW

If you haven’t seen this yet, check in out (HP-MySpace Press Release ). This is huge for several reasons. HP is going direct to provide their services to an organization by providing them with the technology and support to produce their photos with an web-to-print application. A very strong move into facilities management by HP. Certainly will cause stress for their customers by taking the type of business away from the same printers that purchased their equipment.

Additionally, this illustrates that HP “gets it” by recognizing the power of these type of social networking sites. In the press release they indicate that “over 5 million bands on MySpace” and they are trying to tap directly into their marketing engine. Another smart move by HP and, if they manage it right, this will provide for an extremely profitable revenue stream for them for many years to come. These social media sites (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.) are increasingly being used as marketing tools by small and large companies alike. The next most natural move is to allow them to upload their brochures to these web sites and if the client wants a printed version, they get it at the press of a button. Or, they can download the PDF to their local workstation. Interesting concept linking social media with web-to-print.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm…the mind can wander all over the place with the possibilities.

How will the local printers play in this workflow evolution? Will they be able to? Only time will tell, but watch for further moves by the traditional print vendors establishing relationships with these type of web communities. Mark my words, there are more to come and it will happen faster then you think.

“See” Ya Later,

Rick Littrell

Magicomm, LLC

Recognizing the merging of media workflows is HUGE for Printers and their customers

I have reviewed the new Adobe Creative Suite 4 features and I have only one thing to say…AWESOME…INCREDIBLE….WOW!

Ok, that was more than one word, but Adobe has really outdone themselves this time. What is clear is that they have recognized that “Content is King” and the creators of the content need to move faster and be more efficient, while enabling them to move across different medium seamlessly. Consider It Done, Number 1!

In reviewing the key new features of the entire CS4 product line, I have some thoughts. I know that many of you will be surprised at that, but let’s discuss that at another time. My thoughts are below.

• Speed Enhancements: Photoshop really got a supercharged upgrade. Moving large file without having significant wait times is a big deal. None of us get paid extra for watching the screen refreshing. That just costs us time and money. Besides, we have a tendency to be bored and then our attention will wonder to Twitter (@ricklittrell) or check the local news on the economy (well, maybe not. I don’t want to get depressed). Also, adding real time Preflight lets us fix things while we are working on them and will help us down the road as these files get deeper in the process, where all changes are more expensive and could impact the final delivery. Multiple art boards in Illustrator shows that they recognize the reality that in integrated marketing has many parts and that they all may not be the same. Good Call!
• Image Editing: Content-Aware scaling is INCREDIBLE! When I first saw it in the announcement, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m sure that situations will arise that will cause some hiccups, but just making the scaling algorithm more “content sensitive” is very cool. I don’t know how they did that, but my hats off to them (whoever “them” is at Adobe). Additionally, enhancing the editing of 3-D images will make these tools a “must have” for those of us (and who would not qualify in the graphics industry) that provide solutions integrated with the internet. I can only image what type of Avatars will come from this feature set. This will be fun to watch.
• Video: They have clearly shifted into high gear with the video functionality. With video being one of the fastest growing areas on the internet, having more tools at your finger tips for video and audio editing and integration will be a huge time saver, as well as allowing us to better build the imagery that our clients push us to. Variable video will become easier to produce and deploy. By adding their new “Speech to text” abilities that will link directly to the metadata, will enhance our ability to search for specific scenes and make these clips more internet search friendly. The search engine optimization friendliness of this function is HUGE! Don’t leave home without it.
• Interaction between Adobe applications: They have completed (for the time being) the integration of Macromedia into the Adobe core product line. Bouncing from medium to medium, without losing significant features in the process, allows designers/illustrators/photographers to play in all mediums at once. This will not replace the skill sets required to excel in each medium, but this recognizes that being “multi-media” friendly is the new world (and very fun world) for the creative and graphics production community. Kudos to Adobe for giving us the ability and tools to do this more easily. This is a step forward with enabling us to produce cross media solutions quicker. It’s still a challenge, but the mediums have so much overlap in today’s marketing, graphics production, and creative world, it just got easier to do. NOT EASY, just easier.
• Collaboration: By bundling in with Acrobat Connect, they understand that everyone on the team for a project may not be in the same location. That is the reality today for most of us. Due to the complexity of the integrated campaigns that have become the norm, most of us partner with others to expand our abilities to support our clients in an expanding media world. NO ONE, not even the biggest companies, can have on staff the necessary skill sets to produce, at a high level, an integrated campaign without assistance from outside groups and individuals. With “the outside” being potentially beyond your country boarders, even on the other side of the world. We are in a worldwide economy (the past week’s events confirms that even more), we need tools that allow us to build best-in-class teams, from a selection of partners that potentially could be located anywhere in the world. We will still have the language and cultural issues that have to be dealt with, but the geographic issues just got reduced and we all are now closer and the better for it.

So, that’s my cut on the new Adobe Creative Suite 4. With Magicomm focusing on cross media solutions, that use variable data printing, customized emails, personalized url’s, and variable video (with social media thrown into the mix for good measure), we are very excited about this release. Many of you already know that I have been a HUGE (both physically and philosophically) supporter of Adobe for many years and with this released they have confirmed my support. Great job, Adobe! Now the challenge is…What do you do next to top this?

“See” Ya Later,

Rick Littrell

Magicomm, LLC

I want it and I want it now! We’re becoming more and more like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka by the minute. The only difference is we don’t have to go to our daddy’s. We go to the next best thing, Google.

The benefits of a quality website surpass that of almost any marketing campaign you can conceive. The idea is to become the result of your target audience’s wants and needs. I’m not here to throw numbers around trying to convince you of the benefits of search engine optimization. The benefits are obvious at this point. I want to bring it up a level. The truth is that a well optimized site by itself probably wont drive too much quality traffic to your site.

Time for me to take that broken record off pause and let it spin again, QUALITY CONTENT IS KING. If you’re not tired of hearing it by now then, well, you probably haven’t heard it enough. I want to encourage you to really start experimenting with the content of your blog.

A couple of ways to come up with quality content is to:

• Write a post about a question you found on LinkedIn or Yahoo Answers
• Come up with a list of top resources within your industry
• Experiment with video posts and possibly interview clients, co-workers and friends

Here’s an idea for you. Imagine the following scenario.

You’re at work, possibly pouring your morning coffee and checking your morning email. You scan through quickly and notice a few emails with subjects like “I got your name from…” or “Really liked what you had to say about…”. What are these people talking about?

These are just a few of the subject lines you COULD be recieving by utilizing SEO and Social Media to establish yourself as a trustworthy, knowledgeable resource.

Hubspot has been doing a great job spreading the gospel of Inbound Marketing and has even created a little mini series on youtube to portray its benefits.

So how do I start getting these emails and phone calls from people who want my services?

Well first of all, every ones social media strategy is going to be a little bit different. The key thing to remember is to position yourself as a knowledgeable figure within your industry. Magicomm does this by answering questions on LinkedIn and Twitter as well as following multiple conversations across assorted marketing networks.

Something to remember is that this little thing called the Internet puts a great wealth of information at our fingertips. If Joe Somebody wants something, all he has to do is Google it. So now all you have to do is become the result.

How do I become the result?

The main idea here is quality content (if i had a nickel for every time I said that …)

So where is your quality input needed?

First thing I would try is a user run Q&A site like LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers. This is a great way to establish your credibility and get your name out there.

Next I would find appropriate Ning sites to join as well as groups in popular social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Plaxo. The discussions in these groups are very focused and can be a great means of networking.

Finally I would take everything you’ve learned by participating in these networks and reading other people’s thoughts and questions, and I would use it to create original blog posts.

You’re leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that leads to your blog and hopefully, ultimately a phone call from an interested prospect.

Remember that social media is just a tool. It’s how you use it that makes it powerful.

The term ‘viral marketing’ gets thrown around a lot but do people really know what it means. A lot of the most popular viral videos were unintentionally viral, so what do they have that my marketing campaign doesn’t.

Here’s my basic rubric for viral success:

• People enjoy quality original content (You have to stick out from the rest of the crowd so this is extremely important)
• Simplicity (Load times and ease of use weigh heavily on viral marketing campaigns)
• Scalability (Can your server handle the rush?)
• Viral enabling tools (We use a ‘refer a friend approach’ but you can use social media sharing buttons like ‘AddThis’ or ‘ShareThis’ that utilize social media to drive visits)

The most important component of any viral marketing campaign is again, the quality unique content. Magicomm uses rich interactive media in our websites to try and stick out, whether it be a variable video or some type of flash application. It’s becoming harder and harder to catch Internet users off guard because we’ve already seen a lot of it.

So remember the number 1 rule: Quality Original Content