We are Moving Up.
Vision Press has re-located the corporate office to Suite 175. We are still at the same address, but please update your records to reflect the new suite number, Suite 175.
As a special gift to our loyal customers, the first 10 people to reply back that they updated their records will receive a Vision Press LED Flashlight and the first one to respond will be the lucky winner of a Bose Bluetooth Speaker.
New Address:
Vision Press
2333 San Ramon Valley Blvd., Suite 175
San Ramon, CA 94583
Thanks for your help,
The Vision Press Team
Multi-Channel Marketing – The Do’s and Don’ts.
Building a successful multi-channel marketing campaign is a bit like making a cake. For the recipe to be a success, you need to add all of the right ingredients. Let’s take a look at some dos and don’ts for executing successful multi-channel campaigns.
Here are the Do’s:
Do: Know Your Audience – It sounds simple, but knowing your target market and where you will find them is a key to implementing a successful multi-channel campaign.
Do: Pre-Testing – Use robust testing and market research to understand your audience.
Do: Define the Purpose – Ensure that every part of every campaign has a defined purpose and outcome.
Do: Know How You’ll Measure Your Results – Knowing how you are going to gather and analyze results is a vital practice for any campaign.
Do: Data Collection – Know what data you are going to collect, and how you’re going to collect it across all channels.
Do: Review the Details – Go over all the details of your plan and make sure every element of your campaign works.
Do: Keep an Eye on New Technology – The latest technology can make a world of difference to visibility. Keep on top of emerging technology and evaluate its usefulness.
Now for the Don’ts:
Don’t: Forget About the Target and Focus – Rolling out campaigns that lack a specific target and focus almost always fail.
Don’t: Underestimate the Importance of the Website – The importance of a good landing page is often underestimated. The flashiest multi-channel campaign won’t provide good value to your customers if it doesn’t include a specific, defined call to action.
Don’t: Rely Solely on Conversion Rates or Facebook Likes – You need all the statistics together for an overall picture.
Don’t: Neglect Planning – It’s a good best practice to look at each element of your multi-channel campaign and make sure all the resources are in place to carry it out.
Don’t: Skip Over Anything – One little mistake can reflect badly on your brand.
Don’t: Dismiss New Technologies – New ideas may be better than sticking rigidly to old methods.
Planning, executing and measuring a multi-channel campaign takes dedication and forethought. These efforts will surely increase the success of your multi-channel marketing.
Is Paperless a Smart Move?
When it comes to marketing, going completely digital may not be the best move. In a world of social media saturation and clogged inboxes, direct mail has more power than ever. In fact, a recent Brand Science Study showed a 62% lift for digital campaigns that include direct mail. Even 100% digital companies like Google and Uber are using direct mail to advertise their businesses.
Savvy marketers are making their print contacts even more powerful. Here are a few ideas.
1. Focus on recent customers. These customers already like your products and have a relationship with your brand. To get them to purchase again, you may just need to send a simple reminder, such as a catalog, postcard or sell sheet, to nudge them into action.
2. Know your top customers. Pay particular attention to retaining customers with the highest profit margin. These may be customers who shop with you most frequently or who purchase the highest volume. If you are prospecting, develop a profile of these customers and target new customers just like them.
3. Be relevant. Do you know where your customers’ pain points are? Do you know what keeps them up at night? Don’t assume that all buyer motivations are the same. Get to know your customers and engage in sincere dialogue about what they want and why.
Print marketing is evolving. Success is no longer based on trying to get a static “same to all” message in front of as many people as possible. It’s about marketing smart and marketing relevant and using the tangible, confidence-building channel of print to its maximum advantage.
The Role of Print in a Multi-channel World for Marketers.
Print-based direct marketing is growing which is providing a huge opportunity for digital print. According to InfoTrends’ study Direct Marketing Production Printing & Value-Added Services: A Strategy for Growth, marketers are realizing print plays an important role in a multi-channel world.
This study provides strategy and business development support to help vendors, print service providers, and marketing service providers in both North America and Western Europe understand how to capture high value and high volume pages and services in a cross media environment.
One finding from this study is that there is a resurgence in the use of print catalogs. They continue to be used by marketers to target many different consumer demographics. Moreover, findings clearly show that Millennials in the U.S. and younger generations in Western Europe engage with and enjoy print catalogs. There is no dramatic differences when comparing age groups or in terms of income, gender, or parents/non-parents. “Catalogs are effective at triggering online and retail purchases,” says Barb Pellow, Group Director of InfoTrends’ Consulting Group. “62% of consumers receiving catalogs who made a purchase within the last 3 months were influenced by the catalog.
Another key finding is that direct marketers continue to see value and invest in direct mail. Direct mail (e.g., letters, flyers, brochures, postcards, etc.) remains in the marketing mix as it continues to effectively drive consumers online or into retail stores, and most importantly, make purchases. In fact, two-thirds of direct mail is looked at and over 40% of consumers have made a purchase in the last three months because of a piece of direct mail they received.
With advances in technology, this benchmark study is designed to look at what the future holds for marketers, consumers and direct mail printers as well as the requirements for support from both equipment and software providers. It explores how marketers want to leverage direct mail to effectively engage consumers
About InfoTrends
InfoTrends is the leading worldwide market research and strategic consulting firm for the imaging, document solutions, production print, and digital media industries. We provide insights and advice to help clients understand market trends, identify opportunities, and grow their business.
Cashing in with Mobile Marketing.
With the development of better and easy to use mobile devices, the growth in mobile marketing and mobile e-commerce has exploded.
The early adopters were restaurants, gyms, and other industries with an obvious reason to buy in: immediate return on investment with minimal effort. Small businesses have begun to pick up on the trend. Mobile now leads the world of marketing and apps are quickly becoming one of the most popular methods for reaching customers on the go. According to eMarketer, app downloads will double over the course of the next four years. Based on these numbers, it is little wonder that so many businesses are rushing to develop and offer their own app. The problem is that while businesses are quick to recognize the value in offering an app, they frequently have little idea about how to make the move from merely engaging customers to monetizing their apps.
Source: From articles by Jana Barrett with Bizness Apps & Brett Relander with Launch & Hustle Social Media.
The Environmental Impact of Print:
Myths vs. Reality
There are many popular misconceptions about the impact that printed materials have on the environment. However, the idea that print is detrimental to the environment is factually wrong.
Myth: Paper is Made from Fresh-Cut Trees
Reality: Paper is Made Primarily from “Waste” Products
In the United States, the vast majority – a full two-thirds – of the fiber used to make paper comes from sources other than fresh-cut trees. One-third comes from wood chips and sawmill scraps, one-third comes from recycled paper and just one-third comes from “new growth” trees.
Source: US EPA, Office of solid Waste
Of course, these statistics are based on industry averages. There are over 200 mills in the United States that use recovered fiber exclusively.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
Myth: Print Leads to Deforestation
Reality: Print Promotes Trees
Contrary to commonly held belief, paper mills are not cutting down old growth forests in order to make paper. Nearly all the wood used in paper production comes from “tree farms” – acres of trees grown as a renewable crop, like broccoli or wheat. Print actually gives private landowners a financial incentive to grow trees rather than selling off their land for other uses, such as development.
Source: Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, “A Road Map for Environmentalism,” Boston Globe, May 21, 2007
Myth: The Tree Population is Shrinking
Reality: More Trees and Forests Exist Today Than 20 Years Ago
With the increased demand for printed goods that we’ve seen over time, many people believe that the forests must be shrinking. This is simply not true. There are 12 million more acres of forests in the U.S. today than there were 20 years ago; between 1953 and 2006 we saw a 49% increase in the number of trees still standing after mortality and harvesting.
Source: Down to Earth
What’s Trending in Print Design?
Feel good about how you’re spending the marketing budget by keeping up with the latest trends in print design.
Personalization
Take advantage of the plenty of opportunities to get personal with print. Create a stunning piece that stands out from the rest by talking directly to the person.
Small-Run Publications
The strategy in print spending has changed and the future is in small-run publications. These smaller runs allow to create a piece of printed art to hold and experience, and allow for your budget to include foils, letterpress, die-cuts, and other treatments to deliver that “wow” factor.
Large Images
Just like the huge trend in web, large image design is now making it’s way into print. Think high-quality photography and illustrations. Large images really bring attention to print design.
Big Blocks Of Text
Using text as a visual element has been around forever, but utilizing font choices and size to create clean, simple, and elegant visual hierarchy has emerged even more.
Hand Lettering
Hand lettering adds personality and gives your work that human touch to help make an emotional connection with your audience.
Abstract And Geometric
A continued trend from the past few years is the embracing of geometric often contrasted with the organic.
Mobile and Web Shopping to Break Records This Holiday Season.
E-commerce and Web-based shopping will result in a record-breaking 15 percent increase in sales from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, according to a study conducted by IBM Global Communications. This is yet another example of the increasing trend of mobile device adoption and usage.
In the study, about 53 percent of online shopping will commence from a mobile device, “up 23 percent year-over-year,” IBM says. More than one-in-four of the Thanksgiving Day shoppers will buy via mobile (28 percent), rising more than 9 percent year-over-year.
Other key predictions for this year’s U.S. holiday shopping season include:
- Mobile is the New Thanksgiving Tradition – More than half of all online shopping on Thanksgiving, roughly 53 percent, will come from a mobile device, up 23 percent year-over-year.
- More Digital Coupons, Greater Savings for Consumers – Consumers will spend on average $123.28 per online order over the five-day holiday period, a decrease of 2.9 percent over 2013.
- Retailers Give the Gift of Less Spam – Marketers will reduce the amount of unwanted email and instead, deliver personalized and relevant promotions.
- Smartphones Browse, Tablets Buy – Smartphones will continue to lead in mobile browsing over the five-day shopping period, but more purchases will be made through tablets.
Source: Target Marketing, November 2014
Direct Marketing Reaches Customers.
Direct Marketing allows businesses to be able to speak directly to the consumer and receive a fairly quick response. Unlike formal channels of advertising such as television, newspapers or radio, direct marketing utilizes fliers, product catalogues, sales letters and the Internet to reach customers. Direct marketing techniques for advertising are usually marked by driving a particular “call to action,” which is a core principle of successful advertising. This part of direct marketing focuses a great deal on actionable and measurable outcomes that produce positive responses from consumers
A few reasons why to use Direct Marketing for your business:
Cost Effectiveness
Not every business can afford to do traditional mass marketing in television, radio or print because it’s very expensive. The cost of media alone is just too prohibitive.
Targetability
If you are a company with a very select target audience, it doesn’t make sense to tell your message to millions of people all across the country with traditional media. Direct Marketing allows a business to reach its target audience and key decision makers on a more targeted and personalized basis.
Create Urgency
Direct Marketing is highly effective at creating a sense of urgency about an offer, product promotion or a specific service.
Establishing Customer Relationships
Traditional marketing is not conducive to establishing “relationships” with customers. By virtue of how it is produced, the message has to be much more universal and generic. In other words, a television commercial cannot be customized for each of one million viewers; Direct Marketing can. Through digital printing and other personalization tactics, a marketer can reach individual customers, or even all of its customers, with a slightly different message. Say for example that you are a long-time customer of a brand. The offers and messages that you receive might be a lot different than the ones sent to a new or prospective customer. This type of direct marketing enables companies to reach out to its customers on more of a one-to-one basis and supports the development of more personalized relationships.
Build Loyalty Programs
One of the ways Direct Marketing is being used today is to build and maintain customer loyalty programs. Each time you use a company’s credit card, loyalty card or savings card, you are feeding information to a company’s database. This database can then be used to trigger any number of Direct Marketing responses, based on your purchasing history or customer profile. So, for example, a company can offer you something special on your birthday or send you specific messages and offers that they know will be of particular interest to you, or when you reach a certain level of purchases. Loyalty programs are being used by thousands of retailers these days, but the same tactics can be utilized by any company willing and able to collect customer data.
Build The Brand
Good Direct Marketing, like any other form of advertising, helps build the corporate brand. For many of the reasons mentioned earlier, such as through the establishing of one-to-one relationships between the customer and the company, Direct Marketing puts a company’s brand front and center with the customer.
Proper Bleed Setup Avoids Delays.
We work with some very talented graphic designers but we still get files sent to us via our website file transfer system that DO NOT have bleeds. People still ask us what bleeds are from time to time and often do not include a proper bleed setup with the high-resolution PDF files or their native files. When we get these incomplete files it can really delay the process and requires us to send the files back to the originator to add the bleeds and re-send the corrected files back to us.
Bleeds occur when the ink runs to the edge of the paper at the finished size. Both offset and digital jobs cannot be trimmed properly to size if the ink does not run off the edge of the intended size of the document. Most jobs usually require 1/8” of bleed but if you are not sure please contact your account manager for clarification. Bleeds on some items like letterhead can also cost more money because larger paper needs to be ordered to accommodate the ink bleeding off beyond the edge of the paper and then trimmed down to the finished size.
How Customer Touchpoint Management Can Help Maintain Brand Loyalty.
Today, there is a fast-growing movement among organizations interested in improving their customer-centricity through a better understanding of customer interactions, or touchpoints. Called “Customer Touchpoint Management” (CTM), the goal of this new movement is to improve customer experiences, and as a result, improve customer relationships. By improving customer relationships, organizations improve market share, sales, and both customer and employee loyalty and advocacy.
But what exactly is a touchpoint? A touchpoint is defined as all of the communication and interactions your customers experience during their relationship lifecycle with your organization. Communicating with customers through a statement, invoice, website, sales person, or email blasts; touchpoints are important because customers form perceptions of your organization and brand based on their cumulative experiences. Communication touchpoints to attract new customers include activities that identify, connect, relate and acquire. Communication touchpoints for current customers include, reporting, educating, growing and maintaining.
These days, marketers understand that customer relationships can no longer be considered exclusively the domains of sales and customer service. Organizations are more effectively using statements, notices, ad campaigns and web-enabled programs to maintain and grow business and brand loyalty. CTM-oriented organizations know that they can best enhance relationships with customers by improving touchpoints across the entire enterprise. Vision Marketing specializes in helping businesses communicate more effectively with their customers or potential customers. Drop us a note at support@visionmarketingco.com to learn more.
Label Printing: Digital vs. Flexography.
The label industry was first impacted by digital printing in 1993 with the introduction of the Indigo Omnius digital press and later by the IGen series digital presses. While the Indigo label press employs an ink-based digital/offset print technology, other systems include toner-based, heat fusion technology or direct ink jet printing, either water-based or UV cured.
Flexography or “flexo,” a more traditional print technology developed in the early 1900’s, utilizes flexible relief plates and semi-liquid inks, either solvent-based, water-based, or UV cured.
Both digital and flexo have undergone dramatic improvements over the years but there still remain significant pros and cons separating the two technologies.
Advantages of digital:
• No printing plates required as the copy is generated by the digital file
• Very high print quality, equivalent to 200+ line screens
• Minimal set up time required by virtue of the digital process
• Minimal substrate waste during job setup and version changes
• Ideally suited for short runs with multiple version changes
Disadvantages of digital:
• Very slow press speeds in comparison to flexo. High quality digital in full color typically runs at 50 – 100 fpm
• High initial cost and maintenance cost of equipment
• High cost of consumables, primarily inks
• Color gamut typically limited to capabilities of CMYK or four color process printing
• Substrate limitations due to ink compatibility or heat associated with laser printers
• Finishing, i.e. over varnishing, die cutting, etc., is typically done offline to conserve valuable press time
Advantages of flexo:
• High press speeds, typically 200 – 300 fpm for quality full color printing
• Ability to print on wide variety of substrate materials
• Ease of printing exact PMS spot color matches as many modern flexo presses are equipped with 8 or more print stations
• Lower cost of equipment and maintenance
• Lower cost of consumables
• All printing and converting processes including priming, over varnishing, laminating, and die cutting done in-line or single pass through the press
• Ideally suited for longer runs
Disadvantages of flexo:
• High cost of printing plates, usually $75 – $100 per plate, although plates can be re-used for repeat jobs and will last for millions of impressions if properly cared for
• Lengthy set-up times required, typically several hours or more for a complex job incorporating CMYK plus several spot colors, varnish, laminating, die cutting, etc.
• High cost of set-up substrate waste often consuming 1000 feet or more of expensive label stock
• Significant press time and stock consumed in version changes
Learn more about our label printing capabilities.
Every Door Direct Mail.
The Every Door Direct Mail program from Vision Press or Vision Marketing Communications and the US Postal Service is designed to help you reach every home or business, every address, every time.
You can map out a target area by demographics like household income size, education, etc. to create the most cost-effective direct mail piece you can.
Provide us the Zip Codes and let Vision Press or Vision Marketing Communications work with the US Postal Service to handle the rest. We do not charge anything additional for this service; we just want to help you with your print and design to make your mailing piece exceed your return expectations.
There are two popular options, which are Every Door Direct Mail-Retail and Every Door Direct Mail.
1. Every Door Direct Mail-Retail allows business lets you mail up to 5000 pieces a day per Zip Code. We would print the Retail Indicia on your outgoing mailing panel.
2. Every Door Direct Mail is designed for businesses that send large mailings using their permit or Vision Press’s or Vision Marketing’s permit. This option allows you to reach homes during the weekend.
There are a lot of rules and regulations to follow so please contact your sales person to learn more about this very effective mailing service or contact us directly at:
Digital vs. Offset
These five questions can help guide your decision to print using digital technology vs the offset printing technology.
1. How much time do you have for production? What are the actual number of days you have before your project must be in hand? Digital printing is well-suited for rush jobs because the set up is simple and does not require plates. The product off our digital indigo or Konica Minolta can be a finished product that goes direct into a box for delivery.
2. Does the piece require customization? Our Digital presses allow printing different versions of the same piece, targeted to specific recipients. Does your data or mail list offer specific information about your customers? We can help you locate that information if you don’t have it. Just ask your sales person. Print customization is better suited for digital than offset.
3. What are your brand goals? Do you need to print your project on special materials? Our indigo presses can print on a variety of paper, cover and text weight along with specialty type materials like plastic. If you have specific PMS colors then you need offset printing to maintain your brand look and feel. Most PMS colors do not process out well on digital presses. Ask you sales person for more information.
4. What is the shelf life of the piece? If you frequently change the copy on your brochures and are tired of outdated pieces going out to your customers then digital is the way to go. If you are printing larger quantities with mass distribution or large quantity direct mail then offset is the way to go to keep your costs down. Offset printing is WAY LESS expensive for large quantity runs.
5. What’s your budget? If you think your print requirement fits both digital and offset printing then ask your Vision Press or Vision Marketing Account Executive to quote your project both ways.
Learn more about our printing services.
Why Print You Ask?
The top five reasons print is here to stay from the Print Council:
1. Print is for keeps; electronic content comes and goes.
2. Print is portable; print can be carried and consumed anywhere at any time.
3. Print drives a higher ROI: People gravitate towards print. The USPS found that 85% of mail is read or visually scanned by households.
4. Spam emails are opened by only 30% of the recipients. That percentage is going down with all the viruses circulating the internet these days.
5. Marketing could not survive without the printed piece. The internet is a compliment to the printed piece and both have to be incorporated into your marketing strategy if you going to build brand awareness.
Learn more about our printing services.
Large Format Printing Special
Here is our special offer to you: Enjoy 15% off any New Large Format printing job. From posters and vinyl banners to trade show graphics and custom wallpaper, our knowledgeable team delivers on satisfaction.
Our state of the art facility includes complete prepress services, wide format digital printers and a complete finishing shop for laminating, mounting and computer cutting. We have the skill, the systems and the capacity to turn your job around quickly and affordably.
We can print vinyl banners and also stock a rigid board that is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable for an end-to-end green product!
Search Promotional Products.
Our online promotional products catalog offers an advanced product search capability to help you find the perfect specialty imprint item, gifts or awards fast and easy. And you can access our supplier catalogs from your computer, tablet or mobile device 24/7!
You can search by categories, themes, keywords, color, price range, our item number if you want to reorder and item and more. If you need assistance with searching and advanced searching information, it is just a click or call away! Try it out now, you may be surprised at how easy it is and how quickly you can discover new items.
Growth of Print on-Demand Applications.
With the increased level of quality and the flexibility digital printing offers, marketers continue to migrate toward digital print on demand for their marketing communication solutions. In addition to having the ability to variably print documents with a more personal message; marketing organizations are turning to on demand printing to eliminate inventory levels, minimize the time to market and also as a cost containment measure.
Applications are the drivers for print on-demand services and dictate the direction of programs in the future. As demand for specific applications change, due to reasons such as growth in usage, the demand for digital printing is expected to increase. The mix of digital production printing applications produced in the future will differ from the ones produced today. There is a clear shift in the market away from some transaction-based applications, such as statements and notices, to promotional and publishing print as well as emerging segments which are showing rapid growth rates.
Above is a chart listing the ten fastest growing applications in the digital print arena as reported by marketing professionals. Learn more here.
Why Bleeds are Important.
Over the years, we have seen lots of issues with files we receive that don’t have proper bleeds. I wanted to share with those of you who create files just how important bleeds are to insuring your project is produced correctly and on time. Bleeds occur when the ink runs to the edge of the paper or document you or your graphic designer is creating.
Both our digital press and offset presses cannot print to the edge of the paper, so what we do is print an oversize sheet and require an 1/8” bleed of color past the documents intended size. That way when our bindery department goes to trim your job the ink appears like it bleeds off the edge. Without a bleed you have a high probability of a white border around the edges of your document.
Give your sales person a call if you want them to better explain how to create a bleed in your document. This will save you lots of aggravation and back-and-forth especially on those jobs that require a very quick turnaround.
Ink Drying Time
Ink drying time is very important to eliminating offsetting which is ink smearing on the back of the previous page or the face of the next page. We have Aqueous Coating (AQ) which helps to eliminate offsetting, but AQ is not available in-line on our digital presses. The amount of ink will affect the drying time required and our quality control staff will allow the appropriate amount of time to insure this does not happen unless our sales staff is pushing too hard saying they cannot wait. Allowing a little more time for production will help eliminate this problem and make for a much cleaner print job.
Please keep this in mind when specifying the urgency of delivering a job. You will be much happier with the end product and ultimately will reflect on a more positive looking piece. Our sales staff will help you to give realistic time frames for all your print projects.
New Box Gluing Equipment
We have recently added new box gluing equipment to our Hayward Facility that allows us to be very competitive with all your box needs. Now we can print, die cut and glue most all your box projects in-house. Please call your sales person for more information.
Learn more about our printing services.
Make Sure it Sticks.
We get a lot of questions about label adhesives. The type of adhesive we use for the manufacturing of a label can be extremely important with the usability of not only the label but also the product it goes on. Labels popping off of Blood Bags allowed me an opportunity to help a large Bay Area customer and it also reminded me just how important it is to educate our customers. We hope you find this information helpful and as always, we welcome your feedback with your experiences.
Here are some of the adhesives we offer and the applications for those adhesives:
Tire Label Adhesive (For extreme cases when nothing else will stick!)
1. Motorcycles, farm equipment and automobile tires
2. Dusty metal and concrete pipes
3. Waxy produce boxes
4. Industrial grinding disks with coarse grit
Crocklock Adhesive (A little more cost-effective but very aggressive)
1. Trailer Hitches
2. Foundry products
3. Tiny Labels
BS 5609 Adhesive (Where water submersion is present or possible)
1. Sea-going containers
2. Water sports equipment
3. Boat hulls
4. Warning Labels in tidal wave areas
High Heat Adhesives
1. Engine components like radiators
2. Aerospace parts
3. Industrial motors
Food Adhesives
1. For edible skin of fruits and vegetables
2. FDA Approved labels for direct contact
Contact us if you would like to learn more.
925-820-3500 | Email
Short-Run Presentation Folder Special.
Save money with this special offer with as few as 50 presentation folders. Now with our full-sheet digital press we can print you just the number of folders you need.
• 9×12 folder, full-color digital printing on outside
• 111 lb. Gloss or Silk Cover or 100 lb. Uncoated Cover stock
• One 4-inch or two 4-inch pockets
• Horizontal business card slits in one pocket
Limited-Time Special Pricing:
Quantity 50…..$275.
Quantity 100….$365.
Contact us for additional quantities or specifications.
925-820-3500 | Email
Marketing Trends for Web-to-Print.
According to research conducted by the Forrester Research Group, on-line retail is expected to grow from 167 million consumers in 2011 to over 192 million consumers by 2016. E-Commerce is changing the way people buy, both on a personal level and also on a professional level.
Web-to-Print (W2P) or on-line printing is expected to grow as well as it has seen a steady increase in popularity with marketers in the business community for the past ten years. In a 2008 InfoTrends survey, almost 60% of marketing driven organizations use some fashion of print on demand (POD) or web-enabled print tools compared to less than 10% eight years earlier. The trend is expected to continue to move toward digital and web-based solutions as businesses look for more efficient methods to attract, sell and grow customers in an ever increasing competitive environment. Becoming more efficient and using a targeted marketing approach can add dollars to the bottom line and increase profits tremendously.
Web-to-print, print on demand and digital print solutions provide for a fast, convenient and efficient manner to distribute company collateral and literature and at the same time, create an opportunity to reduce costs through more efficient and effective buying.
Contact us if you would like to learn more.
925-820-3500 | Email
New U.S. Postal Service Prices and Services.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has made lots of changes recently and staying on top of these changes can save you money and allow you to plan accordingly.
Saturday Delivery to Continue Through the Remainder of 2013.
The USPS has decided with congress’ direction to cancel its plans to drop Saturday Mail Delivery. The USPS Board of Governors on their April 9th meeting agreed to fund the delivery of Saturday Mail until the end of 2013.
This may not be a wise financial step but it is good for your business to provide mail delivery 6 days a week until further notice.
First-Ever Global Forever Stamp Debuted in January.
Effective Jan. 27, 2013 the Postal Service introduced a First-Class Mail Global Forever Stamp. The new stamp will allow customers to mail letters anywhere in the world for one set price of $1.10, and is among new mailing and shipping services filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission today.
The price for First-Class Mail single-piece letters also increased in January as well. The new 46 cent Forever stamp allows customers to mail letters to any location in the United States. Forever stamps are always good for mailing a one-ounce letter anytime in the future regardless of price changes.
The new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing is as follows:
• Letters (1oz.) — 1-cent increase to 46 cents
• Letters additional ounces — unchanged at 20 cents
• Letters to all international destinations (1oz.) — $1.10
• Postcards — 1-cent increase to 33 cents
Shipping Services
Several new Shipping Services products also became available in January. Free tracking is offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post).
Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering.
A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes continued to be offered by the Postal Service.
New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:
• Small box — $5.80
• Medium box — $12.35
• Large box — $16.85
• Large APO/FPO box — $14.85
• Regular envelope — $5.60
• Legal envelope — $5.75
• Padded envelope — $5.95
Communicate with Business Mobile Apps.
Consumers have been conditioned to seek out mobile apps for all aspects of their lives, including interactions with the companies they do business with. Consider this: there were over 50 million new iOS and Android devices activated worldwide during the last week of 2012, which is up from 20 million for the same period a year earlier. It is obvious that changing consumer demands is driving the need for mobile delivery of customer communications.
The Business Need for Mobile Apps.
Consumer expectation today is that apps are available for all types of businesses – and apps are not the same as mobile-friendly websites, as these are two different consumer needs. The scramble and frenzy for creating mobile apps by businesses today is very similar to the rush to develop websites by businesses in the mid-to-late 1990s with the explosion of consumer access and utilization of the Internet. Recent research on the customer communications market, identified the top five enterprise priorities for the business community in this space for the next 12-24 months.
Top 5 Enterprise Priorities for Customer Communications
1. Increase data security measures
2. Upgrade data analytics technology and services
3. Develop mobile apps as a component of a multi-channel communications strategy
4. Enroll customers in paperless transaction communications: statement & notices
5. Better management of the end-to-end communications lifecycle
Businesses must have a mobile app strategy in place to keep pace with consumers’ preference for mobile communications, but mobile app development can be a costly endeavor – not only to build, but also to maintain – so plan carefully.
Promotional Items to Enhance Your Company.
How do you want your customers to remember you? What response do you want from your target audience when your company name is mentioned? A savvy marketing team knows how important it is for the general community to recognize your company name. Better still, you want to illicit a strong, positive response from the people who know your company name. Build up your business recognition and you will simultaneously increase your customer based. Improve the image and brand perspective of your business with promotional items.
Promotional items can be a great way to ensure that your current and future customers recognize your business name. You can give them free items that will put your company name and logo in front of their eyes every day. Better still, if they use these promotional products near their friends, family members and associates, your company name will be exposed to even more people.
What are some of the best promotional items to improve your brand perspective? Some of the best choice for customized items can be industry-related. For example, if you can invest in a promotional product that is related to your industry, you will appeal to the right individuals – future customers – but you will also send the signal that your business is on the pulse of your marketplace. For example, look for a customized keychain that your real estate business can give your clientele for their new set of house keys. Consider an apron for your cooking business or a bookmark from your bookstore. The possibilities are endless since the promotional product industry takes a lot of pride in offering an array of items.
What is your response when you receive a free gift? Especially when it is unexpected, a free gift can go a long way for its recipient. Apply this concept to your customers when you send or give them unexpected presents. A simple card with text stating how appreciative you are that they are a customer and continue to do business with you can go a long way. A number of companies do not take the time to send their customers a gift in the mail so when a customer does receive something, the impact can have far-reaching effects. Not only will the customer be pleased that they have received something –especially if it is an item they need or will use on a frequent basis – they will proudly tell their business contacts.
Ask your Vision Press account representative for ways that promotional products will enhance your business opportunities.
New Website Launched.
Welcome to our new and developing website! Our goal is to provide our customers with excellent customer service and fantastic product pricing. We are currently crafting some very special offers and useful resource offerings to help you with all of your project planning, pre-press, printing, fulfillment and delivery needs.
Contact us to be one of the first to hear what’s coming up!
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Headquarters Move.
We are very excited about our new corporate headquarters office in San Ramon! Here are some photos of the building and beautiful atrium area.
Contact us if you are in the area and would like a quick tour!
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Solid Growth.
Vision Press and Vision Marketing Communications experienced double digit growth in 2012 and feel we have positioned ourselves to provide our customers the best our industry has to offer.
During the past year, we have seen an improvement in the marketing and sales efforts by many of our top clients as there appears to be optimism toward the future. Both Vision Press and Vision Marketing continue to support our clients with new ideas along with enhanced services that enable our clients to communicate with their customers more efficiently and effectively.
We have experienced growth in both web-based, digital, print on demand products offered by Vision Marketing, along with custom packaging and large format banner and poster printing offered by Vision Press. The production growth we have experienced in each of these products is tied directly to an increase in the sales and marketing efforts by our clients. Look to Vision Press for all your tradeshow materials and supplies, including foam core, styrene, or PVC posters and signs, vinyl banners and high quality canvas prints as well.
Contact us if you would like to learn more!
925-820-3500 | Email