American Fact Finder

Around here we love printing, but working with data runs a close second. While I wouldn't consider myself a "numbers person," I really enjoy population statistics. For me, numbers mean more when I know they represent something about a group or a population subset. The ultimate tool is the American Fact Finder, which uses census data to provide amazing amounts of data. Here's a snapshot of the zip code where we work. What does your zip code look like?

What's for Lunch?

Here's an amazing story of how a restaurant used targeted direct mail to entice new customers. By using digital technology, the DM piece offered special coupons to potential new lunchtime customers. If you think a 24.5% response rate is good, read the rest here.

One of the best articles I have read in awhile

Check out this article on " 7 Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011 "by Joe Pulizzi. I was just talking with a friend about companies only sending email communications. He said, "I get so much email now, the iPhone has made it even easier for me to delete emails without even opening them." It's time to re-think print!

Our New Sign

We got a new sign today which will help folks find us a bit easier. Judy plays "Vana White" and proudly shows it off!

Indigo 4-to-1 marketing

One of the things I like most about our new Indigo 7000 is how we can print four 6" x 9" postcard on one sheet. Each card not only has variable text, but variable images as well. Customization is the key to being heard in today's crowded market place. You've heard about 1-to-1 marketing, I call this 4-to-1!

Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative postage stamps announced

Postmaster General John E. Potter today unveiled the Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative postage stamps and announced the Stamps to the Rescue promotional campaign.

We love stamps, we love rescue pets, so we think this is perfect! Learn More.

Mix your media for success

"...even Web-savvy young consumers like his daughters enjoy the idea of getting something in the mail addressed to them and are more than happy to respond, especially digitally...."

Here's an interesting article on how mixing your media - in this case, sending a targeted direct mail postcard with a internet call to action - makes a strong impact. Too often, business may think they can send one email and the customers will flock to them. If often takes mixed media for the message to be noticed.

Time to eat your font!

So being in the business, I thought I knew everything about printing, typesetting, etc.... Let's see if you can guess the origin of the word "font." We use it almost everyday, but where did it come from?

a) Appropriated from Old French, vont is the third person verb meaning "to go", inferred to mean "to go across the page."

b) Italian, fonti meaning water (from a fountain) since water was used in early printing presses

c) Old French, fonte meaning something has been melted, since molten metal was used in early printing in type foundries.

I admit I got this wrong, but it is C...think of the word "fondue"....who knew?

Welcome our newest "staff member"

Congratulations to our very own Mama Marlene, who gave birth today to a wonderful baby boy! Details coming soon!

Who Says Print is Dead

A friend of mine in the printing business found this interesting article in the New York Times on Zappos. Zappos is traditionally an online e-tailer that has embraced catalogs with more success than their traditional online store presence. Marketing across all markets requires different media to reach different audiences. Print is not dead, it’s just different than what we’ve known in the past.

A Tale of Two Fonts

We love anything to do with printing and consider ourselves to be somewhat of "font-geeks." This story on how changing fonts in an email can save ink (when printing) really made us laugh!

A little fun

We took a moment to have a baby shower for our very own Marlene. As usual, the guys took the baby shower games very seriously and got competitive. Check out our Facebook page for more photos.

Not-so-junk mail

In her Frugal Confessions blog, author Amanda Grossman makes a case for reading and keeping direct mail she gets. "...companies in the same line of work are competing for our business. This helps us out because typically they will undercut the price of offerings of each other, making the consumer the winner in the end. But this also helps us out because I can now use these mailings and advertisements as a negotiating tool to call up our current providers and talk them into giving us a more competitive price."

She goes on to state, " If your current cable, home phone, insurance company, etc. is more expensive than a similar offering from another company, take the opportunity to call up your provider and ask them to reduce their price…or you will walk. They may ask you to prove this competitor’s price, in which case you will have the proof in your mailbox. "

Smart words indeed. Read the full post here.

Alphabets

Today in 1956, the NATO Phonetic Alphabet was first used by the International Civil Aviation Organization to standardize airline pilot-to-tower communications. Not sure what this alphabet is? It's the familiar Alpha-Bravo-Charlie-Delta... system where each letter is represented by a word. What you may not know is that there were several previous versions, dating back to World War I. Previous alphabets were Apples-Butter-Charlie-Duf (what IS a duf?) or even Able-Baker-Charlie-Dog. What this tells us is that languages may change, so you need to continually adapt to be understood, whether it be the airport tower or your customer....

Successful Soup

Have you ever heard someone say "We don't need marketing, we can't even handle the sales we have." While having a lot of business right now is indeed a blessing, your competition is doing anything but sitting still.

"Marketing must be as natural and routine as making payroll, paying taxes, and taking out the trash," says marketing guru Lauron Sonnier. "You have to keep stirring the pot."

What the heck is a Picayune?

We love talking about football, so when the Saints won the Superbowl, I went to nola.com, the official website of the New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune. It got me thinking, just what is a picayune? At first I thought it was based on pica (say pie-kah), a unit of print size measurement (which is 1/6 of one inch). It turns out to something totally else, read more after the jump to Wikipedia.

The Deck is Dead....

How many presentations have you been to where the well-meaning speaker gave you a photocopy of the PowerPoint presentation? The most effective use of PowerPoint is to present visual information to a group that backs up what the speaker is saying. So many times, you get a poorly-copied black & white version (or deck) of the presentation -- often stapled in the wrong corner (what’s up with that?) Many times you would dutifully cart it back to your office or cube or recycling bin….

We met with an existing client today and created a “leave-behind” presentation book. It contained the information that we shared in the meeting, plus some extras. It was very easy – and cost effective – to do and they seemed to really appreciate it. So next time, instead of a deck, think about what you want your audience to remember and leave that behind.

So What's with the Name?

Our new press is an Indigo 7000, so of course someone asks me where does the "indigo" come from? I love Wikipedia and found out that "India is believed to be the oldest center of indigo dyeing in the Old World. It was a primary supplier of indigo to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. The association of India with indigo is reflected in the Greek word for the "dye", which was indikon (ινδικόν). The Romans used the term indicum, which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo." There is also a neat animation of the inner workings of the machine.

Meet "Baby"

Some people name their cars, some name their boats, and here at InfoVine we like to name our equipment. We've christened our new Indigo 7000 as "Baby." She prints faster, brighter - and best of all - more cost effectively than any digital offset printer. Baby is up and running and we invite you to stop by and see what she can do for you. (No gifts, please).

So much for the End of Direct Mail

Spending on direct mail is expected to increase $1B from 2009 to 2010. This year an estimated $45.5 billion will be spent - with impressive results. For every dollar spent in non-catalogue direct mail, companies received $15.22 in return. That added up to $445.8 billion in 2009. And email? Only $26 billion.* See you at the Post Office!

* source: "Power of Direct", Direct Marketing Association study. Deliver magazine, Dec. 2009

Guess What It Is

We are excited about our new Christmas present, but can you guess what it is?

a) Do-it-yourself jet engine

b) A new, turbo-charged Wheel of Fortune

c) An awesome slot machine from Vegas

d) A new machine in the InfoVine arsenal to help our customers communicate better, quicker and more cost-effectively (hint: pick this one)

The answer is d! Meet Houston's first HP Indigo 7000, an incredible advancement in digital offset printing. Stay tuned for more!

Happy Birthday Judy

Didn't it seem like a long day coming back to work after the holidays? We were happy to take a short break and wish our own Judy a very Happy Birthday. She's so special to us that she got two cakes -- hence the "2.0" on the second cake.