22 ■ October 3, 2010 • GRAPH EXPO


Putting a Quantifi able Price Tag on Ideas


NAPL president Joe Truncale wants printers to ponder ROI and the bottom line


By Mark Vruno “ W


hat’s an idea worth?” is the question Joe Trun- cale wants printers to ponder when they con-


sider how they’re going to reinvest in their business next year. How do you put a quantifiable price tag on ideas? Truncale, president and CEO of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), says it’s all about return on investment (ROI). Show Dai- ly asked Truncale to elaborate: SD: Why should a print firm own-


er invest between $800 and $1,200 in annual NAPL membership dues, especially in this ‘iffy’ economy? JT: The answer is two-fold. There are the dollars, yes, the cost: $66 per


month for companies with less than 25 employees, and $100 monthly for larger firms with more than 25 employ- ees. So you have to ask yourself if what you will get from NAPL pays for itself. We think so. But there’s also an invest- ment of time on the member’s part. To get what you’re paying for, you need to take a look at our information resourc- es—read, network, call for advice, and talk to other printers.


SD: Is there anything new at NAPL? JT: We have a brand new tool, which


we’re demonstrating here at GRAPH EXPO (Booth #2261), called “Work- Plan for Success.” It’s a deep dive into several business categories, from production management, sales and marketing to organizational structure and human resources management. It’s


a comprehensive program that builds on our Management Plus System. We answer questions such as how to evalu- ate investment opportunities and use financial data to guide your decisions, and how to make sales meetings more effective. If you feel your compensa- tion system is lacking, we can help there, too, and also if you’re thinking of reconfiguring your plant to make it more efficient.


SD: Is there anything else that


you’d like show-goers to know about NAPL and its benefits? JT: All across the country, hear the same refrains from printers, large and small: “Our margins are squeezed.” “Printing has been commoditized.” “It’s harder to keep customers.” “It’s harder to turn a profit.” Print businesses


Joe Truncale


need to be transformed. The good news is that it can be done. But there’s more to it than just saying you’re going to be a ‘marketing services provider.’ It’s about having a different kind of conversation with your customers and how you interface with them. The way printers approach their customers real- ly needs to change, fundamentally— and not just marketing but the sales approach, too. NAPL and our vast resources can help you get your arms around all that and turn things around.


Digital Print Generates New Business for Savvy Print Providers


By Tracy Yelencsics, Vice President, Production Segment and Programs Marketing, Xerox Corporation


a story told many times over. But the fact remains, successful print service providers seek to do four things: • Serve their customers in every way • Grow their business • Save money and maximize profits • Optimize operations And digital print is often the vehicle to get them there.


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While the jobs that can be produced digitally are only limited by a print provider’s creativity, there are a num- ber of key applications driving signifi- cant growth in the market today—high end sales collateral, direct marketing, short-run books and manuals and trans- actional promotional.


A strong indication about the future direction of digital print is showcased in the winning entries of Xerox’s Best- of-the-Best contest. The contest is held annually among the 800 members of the Xerox Premier Partners Global Network of leading print providers. Following is a look at some of the winning applications. Many will be on display in Xerox booths #400 and 600 at GRAPH EXPO 2010.


he power of digital print- ing—and its subsequent growth within the graphic communications market—is


Collateral


According to Caslon, 52 billion pages of marketing collateral will be produced on digital printers by 2013, creating an excellent growth opportu- nity for printers who can deliver the high image quality and simple ordering required by clients.


When Sheri Buxton, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Realtors in North Carolina, decided to refresh her brand, she partnered with Xerox’s Best-of- the-Best winner Keiger Direct. Using Xerox’s FreeFlow Web Services 7.0, the Keiger team developed an online stationery store exclusively for the agent’s use in creating and printing open house brochures. Buxton simply uploads copy and photos, which flow automatically into a highly customiz- able template for online proofing and automated printing on a Xerox iGen4 Digital Press. The completed brochure is delivered in two days or less, saving time and money. Keiger benefits, too. The firm has


developed a deeper relationship with the agent and the company has won additional business by marketing the solution to other prospects.


Short-run books The category is diverse—photo books, education books, technical manuals, self-published works—and many segments are spiking. Savvy


print providers are taking advantage of the demand and using digital systems to offer quantities as small as one. When MyPicTales, an online book publishing company, received a request to print a high quality cosmetics photo book, it partnered with Xerox’s Best- of-the-Best winner Colorcentric. Since image quality was of the utmost impor- tance to the customer, Colorcentric used the Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Pro- duction Press with a Xerox FreeFlow Print Server to create the book. The photo book was a huge success for the cosmetics company, capturing the finest detail of its work and prov- ing very effective at trade shows. The application also created an influx of work for MyPicTales, which continues to partner with Colorcentric, driving rev- enue 20% higher in eight months.


Direct marketing When it comes to direct marketing, the printed page still grabs attention, strikes up emotion and forces a pro- spective customer to react—translating to new business and increased revenue. Print companies are benefitting from print’s pivotal role in direct marketing by utilizing digital print technologies to produce these applications efficient- ly and economically. Xerox’s Best-of-the-Best winner DMM created a postcard program for the BioDiversity Research Institute’s (BRI) Adopt-a-Loon campaign. Con- sistent ink distribution and excellent photo reproduction were imperative to


Official Show Daily • Cygnus Graphics Media


BRI, so DMM utilized a Xerox iGen4 Digital Press. DMM also used variable text to help BRI target new prospects as well as past and current contributors. The campaign resulted in a 14.4% increase in revenue over the previous year for BRI, along with a 6% response rate. More business is also projected for DMM as BRI produces additional post- card campaigns in the future.


TransPromo Transactional interactions with cus- tomers, such as retail, financial and telecom statements, are a viable mar- keting vehicle, increasing revenues and improving customer relationships. As these documents take on increasing importance among customers, they are also becoming profitable applications for print companies to produce. Citadel, a credit union, wanted to


revamp its out of date statements and increase member satisfaction by mak- ing the documents more usable and less confusing. Xerox’s Best-of-the- Best winner Cathedral Corporation stepped in to help, using a Xerox 980 Color Continuous Feed Printer to create a full-color statement with customized promotional messages that enhanced usability and understanding. The new statements not only helped Citadel save money on production and mailing, but also reduced call center expenses. Cathedral is currently using this success to market its capabilities to other credit unions and community banks.


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