I hope that everyone enjoyed a green beer, good times with friends and, perhaps, came across a pot of gold this past St. Patrick’s Day. In this issue, we extend the theme of green in some ways. Heidi Tolliver-Nigro is keeping us this cheerful shade as well as continuing the conversation about marketing and social media in “Getting personal with 1:1” (page 22).
Heidi’s article will help you understand 1:1 printing, beginning with a case study, which is a great way to learn from both the successes and failures of others. We then move to a discussion of some of the benefits of 1:1, like increased response rates, higher pre-order revenues, ability to track ROI, ability to print less and target more effectively, thus being “greener,” and the list goes on. Lastly, we discuss some common applications of 1:1 to help you start thinking about how you can include them in your list of increasingly sophisticated offerings. The article finishes off with some insights about the part of 1:1 that most printers are fearful of — the databases that drive the campaigns. Given that there are many solutions out there even for new/small entrants there are less excuses to not participate than ever before.
Continuing on the subject of tech and databases, Andrea Mahoney explains how using XML can help automate much of the processes involved in getting your client’s work out the door in “XML: The little file that does all the heavy lifting” (page 42). It seems that recently we have focused quite intensely on the front end of the process – constantly trying to help clients integrate into the multiple media streams, as well as gather customer data. The result can be an overwhelming amount of information to push through prepess. The more 1:1 work you take on, the more you would benefit from simplifying how the jobs travel through the shop. This is because this type of work is much shorter run, with more jobs needing to be processed than before. Given that the digital press provides tremendous advantages in reducing make-ready time on the shop room floor, processing the files is where the “make-ready” really happens. Adopting tools such as XML to help you automate can help you cut out inefficiency and, thus, reduce costs. Read the article to find out how to get started.
Enjoy the issue while you continue to be green and offer innovative new 1:1 ideas to your clients — and while you do it, try to help alleviate possible prepress bottlenecks from all of your marketing successes by having fun with automation.
Natalia Gilewicz
natalia@graphicartsmag.com