TIPS & TRICKS (September 2009)

The content of your newsletter is what attracts and keeps reader interest by providing relevant, informative, entertaining and useful information. One purpose of a newsletter is to lend credibility to your company and to establish your expertise; this can only be accomplished if the newsletter is mainly information, with little or no advertising.

• Relevant information: To provide relevant information in your newsletter, you must know the target audience. If your audience is diverse, it may be better to publish more than one version of your newsletter so the content can be fully tailored.

• Useful information: Factual articles based on research, or “how-to” tips based on experience both qualify as useful information. To encourage readers to trust the information, keep sales hype, (including superlatives and over-the-top claims) out of the articles.

• Writing style: A good writing style to adopt for your newsletter is the same one used by a newspaper journalist – objective, factual and well-researched. Focus on news that is relevant to your audience, and present it without bias. Keep the language easy-to-read and the sentence structure simple and conversational.

• Call to action: Even though your newsletter isn’t directly selling, it should include a call to action. Emphasize current offers, discounts or other specials of interest to customers and prospects, and make it easy for them to act on the information by providing instructions for what to do if interested.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

Q & A (September 2009)

What do I need to know about newsletter design?

A newsletter’s design has a big impact on reader reaction. To be sure your design is successful, remember these three Cs: consistent, conservative and contrast.

Consistency addresses the format of your newsletter. If printing in black with an accent color, select a color palette and maintain it throughout each issue. Use an underlying grid to organize each page. If your newsletter is short (4 pages or less), use the same grid for each page. Use templates and style sheets to control headlines, subheads and body copy.

Be conservative in the use of fonts and graphic elements, especially in a short newsletter. A good rule of thumb is to limit the number of photos, graphic accents or clip art to one or two per page. Select one font for body copy and another for headlines, and use these exclusively. Stylize the two fonts with italics, bold, and condensed, but do not introduce additional fonts.

Use contrast to direct the reader’s eye and to establish the hierarchy of importance. Headlines should contrast with body copy and with subheads. Drop caps, extra-large initial caps, or an illustrated capital will draw the reader’s eye and create graphic interest. Use white space in the form of gutters and margins to lighten up dense body copy.

Improving the design of your newsletter will pay dividends in reader interest and accessibility.

IDEA CORNER (September 2009)

If you’re finding it difficult to find topics for your newsletter, we offer these suggestions:

• Interview an expert. Find someone within your company or from the outside to provide an expert opinion on a topic of interest.

• Use guest articles. Ask an expert in a complementary field to write an article.

• Share your knowledge in “how-to” articles. Write about topics that will help other succeed in using your company’s products or services.

• Generate a numbered list. Everyone loves a numbered list. Use any number you want, from small to large.

• Answer reader questions: Invite readers to submit questions or topics of interest.

• Simplify a technical issue. Explain a technical topic in simpler terms so it is easily understood by the reader.

• Case study: describe a customer problem and show how your product or service solved the problem.

• Community service: Describe a community project or donation made by the company or organization and its staff and members.

• Employee profile: Provide information about an employee that shows why he or she is outstanding in their job performance.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

TIPS & TRICKS (August 2009)

Transparency in PDF files refers to images or text or similar objects on a page that “show through” to another image. Transparency is typically used for drop shadows, to create a tint or screen, or to lighten parts of an image so that the text on top is easily read.

PDF flattens files, meaning any layers that aren’t visible are removed and the rest consolidated in one layer. If you create a PDF from a native application and end up with a white outline showing around the drop shadow or the image with the transparent background, then your PDF file creator doesn’t support transparency.

Here are some instances where a transparency is not supported in a PDF:

• Printing a file to PostScript then using Acrobat Distiller to convert the file to PDF. PostScript does not support transparency.

• EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files. Since EPS files are PostScript files, they cannot contain a transparent object.

• PDF 1.3 or earlier versions. PDF 1.4 was the first version to support transparency.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

WHAT OPTIONS DO I HAVE FOR SUBMITTING MY FILES TO EXPRESS PRINTING & GRAPHICS?

We offer several options for file submission:

1. File transfer function (FTP) available on our web site

2. Electronic media such as CD or flash drive

3. Attachment to e-mail

Because it is fast and secure, we prefer FTP through our web site. It is also easy. Browse in your computer for the file you want to send, select it, and it will be immediately uploaded to our web site. Minutes later we receive the message that your file is ready for us to download.

We know attachments to e-mail are popular, but there are some considerations. The attachment may be blocked by our security system, may be refused by your Internet service provider because of file size limitations, or may be delayed in arriving. So bookmark our web site and use FTP every time.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

TIPS & TRICKS (June 2009)

Copywriting for display ads presents a special challenge for the writer. Limited space and competition from surrounding articles and ads means that the ad must focus on a single benefit to be effective. While it may be tempting to include secondary features and benefits, the risk is that the reader will be distracted from the main point.

Design and graphics are especially important in display ads as they attract the reader’s attention, while headlines engage the reader’s interest. The copy then persuades the reader and provokes action. All three elements are required for a successful display ad.

Despite having limited space, a display ad must clearly state a benefit for the customer. Characteristics and features of the product or service are used to support the benefit, not to supplant it. Be selective in what you include as support – it is better to thoroughly discuss one benefit than to confuse the reader with related but irrelevant statements. If coffee beans are harvested from an eco-friendly farm and have a distinctive, pleasant taste, pick just one characteristic to feature in the display ad.
Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

Q & A (June 2009)

What is a sense of urgency?

In marketing, a sense of urgency is a device to give readers a reason to respond quickly. When reading an advertisement, people have a tendency to procrastinate – to put the advertisement aside and consider it later. A sense of urgency helps overcome this tendency by providing a reason to act immediately.

There are two common ways to create a sense of urgency: offer a reward for prompt action, or assess a penalty for not acting. Some examples of a reward include a free gift for responding or a bonus with purchase; an example of a penalty is a limited supply of the product or service being offered or a sale that lasts for a defined period of time.

A sense of urgency works by creating scarcity – the reader must act by a given deadline or be among the established number of people to respond. The sense of urgency can be undermined if the deadline or other conditions are not strictly enforced.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

Q & A (April 2009)

Why does half the space on a post card have to be devoted to the address?

It may surprise you to learn that it doesn’t! The practice of placing a vertical line midway across the post card and using all the space to the right for the outbound address is a holdover from post card designs dating back to 1907.

The term for the part of the post card containing the outbound address is the address block, and the amount of space required for it depends on the elements of the address – the number of lines and the length of the longest line. In addition, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has requirements for the location of the address block and the barcode in order to qualify for postage discounts. But meeting these requirements generally does not require devoting the entire right half of the post card to the address.

Depending on the size of the post card, the amount of information in the address block, and other items such as the return address and the postal indicia, it may be possible to devote much more room than you thought to the sales message or teaser copy.

Please call us at (408) 400-0223 and we’ll help answer your questions and make recommendations to help you maximize the impact of your post card.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information

Tips & Tricks (April 2009)

Think for a moment of how the mail looks when it arrives at your home or office. It will be oriented with the addresses all facing you and sorted from smallest to largest. Keep this in mind when you are designing your direct mail piece and improve the chances that your mailer will stand out from the rest of the mail.

If an envelope is being printed with a return address and a postal indicia, then it costs nothing extra to have teaser copy printed at the same time. Teaser copy is anything – a picture, an image, text or a combination – that piques the reader’s curiosity or arouses interest.

Here are a few tips for writing good teaser copy:

• Be honest; don’t mislead the reader. Make sure the teaser copy on the outside relates to what’s inside.

Misleading the reader solely for the purpose of getting him to open the envelope can backfire.

• Urge action. Create a sense of urgency in responding by providing a call to action with a limit (either time or number).

• Write a benefit statement. Answer the question What’s in it for me in the teaser copy.

• Be sure the words and pictures work together. If using graphics or a photograph to illustrate the teaser copy, be sure one explains the other. Otherwise you risk confusing the reader.

IDEA CORNER (April 2009)

When you return home from a business trip or vacation, what method do you use to sort your mail?

A. bills, personal mail, advertising mail

B. first class mail and all other mail

C. important or interesting-looking mail and all else

We assert that no matter what method you use, an eye catching mail piece will make the first cut and stay out of the waste basket long enough for you to take a second look. The same is true for your customers or prospects. Advertising mail can survive a first glance if it is well designed and of obvious quality.

Whether your advertising material is a post card, self-mailer or traditional direct mail piece enclosed in an envelope, the choice of paper is an important quality consideration. The stock should be sturdy enough that the mail piece can withstand high speed mail processing without damage, and appropriate to the printing process. And if you are using post-press processes such as die cutting or embossing, you will want to select a stock that is known to produce a good result. Our customer service representatives Nathan Fette is an expert at matching paper to the project. Contact him at (408) 400-0223 to arrange a convenient time to meet and discuss your project.

Visit http://www.expressprintingusa.com and http://www.colorcopiessanjose.com/ for more information