Direct Selling: Play Conductor

How to manage print campaigns successfully

November 2007 By Kathy Johnston

multipage

When an orchestra starts playing together, everyone has sheet music. They also have an understanding of the goal, the performance length and the venue.

In printing, it’s important to realize that the quote request­—and later the purchase order—is the sheet music, but the vendor doesn’t know the goal. If you’ve been working on a project for some time developing the creative and mail plan, it’s easy to forget that other people on the team may not be in tune. So, it’s important to communicate context. What’s the goal? What will happen to the piece when each vendor finishes with it?

If Angie communicates to her lettershop that this mailing will be sent to her best customers, it may ask if she needs 100 percent of the pieces mailed. If she communicates to the letter printer that the letter will be laser-personalized, it will quote laser-safe paper, inks and perfs, and proper grain direction.

Communicating your goals and the role each vendor will play will allow them to make recommendations to make your project run smoothly.

Let the Experts be the Experts

The conductor of an orchestra most likely doesn’t know how to play all the instruments used in a performance. Therefore, he will let the musicians bring their expertise to the performance to enhance it.

A good print conductor will do the same. Encourage your vendors to participate in the process. They struggle every day to find solutions to problems that could have been resolved if they had been consulted earlier.

For example, Angie’s lettershop expert may recommend a slight size change to her envelope that will make the difference between mailing at a letter rate versus a Standard rate, saving significant dollars on postage.

Show Them What You’re Thinking

As part of communicating to the musicians, a conductor will play a recording of the song to provide a concrete example of what he wants.

Moving from the abstract goal of the campaign to concrete examples will help your whole team solidify the concept. The best way to do this is to use physical proofs and mock-ups during the design phase.

Seeing the physical mail pieces will help Angie’s design and marketing teams think through how each piece works together and determine if they are missing anything. It allows them to see what consumers will receive.

Sharing proofs and mock-ups with your print vendors also will help you think through the concrete details that will be obvious after everything is printed, but a little late to correct.

Verify, Verify, Verify

In an orchestra, hours of practice occur before the public performance. This allows the conductor to verify that what he’s communicated has been heard and translated to his satisfaction.

In printing, your vendors need to verify they’ve understood you. The easiest way to do this is with a series of proofs at each stage of the process.

Angie will request a color proof and folded mock-up from the brochure printer so she can check the backup and folds. She’ll request the same from the envelope printer to double-check the window placement and make sure the flap doesn’t cover her artwork. From the lettershop, she’ll request a count by version and quantity verification before presorting the file. She’ll request a laser sample of the letter and a complete insert dummy of every version before starting the lettershop work. Each point of verification will ensure that what she handed off was received and understood.

Beware: There is a tendency in the digital age to bypass “old-fashioned” mock-up proofs or bluelines from the printer. However, aren’t you printing on paper? How will you validate the piece is backed up, perfed and folded properly from single page online proofs?

We all have to adapt to new technology, but it’s not acceptable to skip the verification process.

Shifting your focus from knowing all the details to using various forms of communication is the key to conducting great print performances. Communicating with your vendors will let them help you send out flawless print campaigns time and again.

Kathy Johnston is the general manager of J. Schmid & Assoc., a Mission, Kan.-based catalog consultancy. She can be reached at (913) 236-8988 or by e-mail at kathyj@jschmid.com.

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