Printed material can offer an ideal entry point to a wider marketing campaign. Dominoe’s pizza have had huge success with their ordering app, allowing users to order pizza via smart-phones or tablets.  To highlight this service to consumers, the app is featured prominently on the menus and flyers, which have long been the mainstay of their marketing campaign, helping them promote awareness of their digital presence.  With sales of the app topping one million pounds, this strategy is clearly paying off.  Waitrose have also pursued a cross-media campaign with great success, their “Shared Love of Food” promotion highlighting specific produce through TV, press and direct communication in their stores.  The result has been Waitrose selling fourteen weeks worth of rhubarb in just four days, following promotions with top TV chefs.

Printed material which is customised to specific consumers is now a reality rather than an aspiration.  A well managed, high quality database coupled with variable printing allows advertisers to produce printed material which includes personalised information.  Engaging customers on a personal level is an important first step in a multi-product advertisement.  The laws on digital communication require positive opt in, making print even more important as a stepping on point.  The rise of QR (quick response codes) lets consumers move seamlessly from printed material to digital content.  A two dimensional black and white square can be scanned via an enabled device such as an iphone, opening up relevant web based resources and drawing customers into a campaign.

Such campaigns are not simple to orchestrate; it is easy to bombard an audience with a message, resulting in the consumer rejecting the advertisement altogether.  A well structured cross-media strategy uses the strengths of the different media types to compliment each other, re-enforcing the brand.  For an integrated multi-product campaign to be successful in grabbing people’s interest  each layer of print, email, web or mobile communication needs to be seamlessly co-ordinated and automatically synchronised.

Building relationships with customers via cross-media advertising relies on accurate data and the ability to use it effectively.  Personalisation can only be effective if the data it is based on is correct; if customer details are inaccurate or the data is not well maintained the whole campaign is a waste of money.  Ensuring from the outset that the product you are offering is suitable and desirable for the recipient will save time, effort and resources.

When Mercedes Benz recently launched its £140,000 SLS AMG sports car in France earlier this year, it focused a direct mailing campaign aimed at 220 professional footballers. To get the message across they pre-loaded an Apple iPad with a feature film about the car which included a virtual test drive game. This was backed up by the same game being supported by Mercedes Benz website and after a very short while the game went viral, creating excellent exposure for the launch.  This is quote a cost effective way of getting the message out.

Despite the challenges which arise from cross-media advertising,  a properly orchestrated, well targeted campaign across print, web and now with the new generation of mobile devices can yield great results. Developing a personalised relationship with customers can drastically increase their response rate, compared to traditional marketing, increasing both awareness and interest in the targeted product.

Obviously giving away iPads to all your potential customers is not going to be available to everyone’s pocket, but it demonstrates that traditional printing services are by far means over – they can and will continue to run for many years and now in unison with new technology, providing fantastic results.

Digital tablets have made significant market gains over the last couple of years, with Apple’s high-profile iPad leading the way.  The success of tablets have led a number of people to question how long traditional print can remain competitive in the face of this latest digital revolution.

Forrester CEO George Colony commented recently that tablets would displace e-readers, and ultimately the internet, due to their capacity to incorporate multiple media types; what he referred to as a “Nexus of media”.  The two print sectors which appear to be facing the worst of this projected downturn are publishing houses and the press.  Both these industries are centred around a text based, physical product which is being targeted by the boom in tablets.

While predicting future trends is difficult, we can see a clear divide between generations. Young people are apparently reading only half the amount of older generations, although this is partially offset by the increase in life expectancy.  Even if today’s youngsters don’t expand their appetite for reading as they grow into maturity, the current market can be expected to support print for another thirty to fifty years.

It would be wrong to say that there will not be an impact on print; people are adapting fast to the availability of digital material.  Even before the boom in tablets there has been a huge move towards viewing text online.  Newspaper circulation in the US is estimated to be a little over 40 million, while the same newspaper’s websites are receiving over 100 million hits.  E-books have also taken off in a big way, with sales up 164% in 2010, leaving them with a healthy 8.3% of the US market.  Coupled with a retail sector struggling to compete with online services, and faced with huge rent bills, and the forecast for print could look grim indeed.

It is not, however, all doom and gloom.  But television, it was proclaimed, was going to kill radio.  It didn’t and radio is now reaching new peaks of listeners.  It did this by diversifying into niche markets and embracing the opportunities new technologies have brought.  Print still maintains a unique position, offering people an intellectual stimulus, quite separate from time spent using digital devices.  The immediate, tactile nature of both books and newspapers can’t be replicated by tablets.  Using tablet technology to browse through material is a user friendly and fun experience, but it remains substantially different to using printed media.

Ever since Apple helped itself to a huge slice of the music industry’s profits with the creation of iTunes and the iPod, numerous industries have felt threatened by the Apple machine.  Apple do appear to be pursuing the e-book market, demanding 30% of the sale cost of all books sold on their devices, but there is a long way to go before we see the demise of print.  It is up to  publishers and newspapers to keep their contributions relevant, tailoring their online and digital products to meet consumer demand while maintaining their profit margins.

However, similarly to TV advertising – most small to medium businesses will not be able to afford to advertise through digital tablet format, so the future is still bright for companies offering printing services – even if its used less by the big corporates.

Small run or single sheet printing on a standard desktop inkjet or colour laser printer is fine, but try printing a booklet or even a business cards and this is when suddenly it doesn’t seem like a good idea. It’s just not at all practical or even affordable to do this type of in-house printing and look remotely professional.

At this point its best to turn to the professionals, who will offer to either print your items using either digital or litho printing services. The machines used for printing in full colour these days are superb, digital printing has come such a long way and is nearly as good as litho. Digital printing does have some small setbacks when it comes to very faint architectural lines used on a technical drawing for example but it’s a fantastic solution for short run printing. When you only need a few copies then it by far out ways litho printing, which only comes into its own with quantities of 500 or more.

Litho printing is what is normally known as ‘traditional printing‘ the most well-known form of printing services and it is offering its solutions for 100’s of years. The name ‘offset litho’ takes its name from the printing technology which includes getting the print to ‘offset’ from a roller to which is wrapped a plate which then material (paper) by shifting it from plate to paper.

You can expect a quality reproduction through litho printing. At present, there are many litho printing companies offering there services online at discount prices, but cheapest is not always best. All online printers are not the same. Some take a more cavalier approach to the printing services that they offer, by thinking that they can cut the corners so tight that they become the cheapest found online, these suppliers will soon become unstuck.

Quality will be compromised, and some if not most customers will be disappointed.

As with any new supplier you come across in business your aim is to find a quick and reliable company who takes you seriously and isn’t just trying to make a fast buck. Checkout their credentials beforehand, maybe they have customer testimonials on their website, these can obviously be a good starting position for checking into how genuine the supplier is, as these days its all about social networking and customer feedback. Don’t trust websites which has customer testimonials with non-descript comments and may sign off with ‘Dave from Surrey’, these don’t look at all credible. Some sites have links to the customers own website, if they are happy to display this usually means that the comment was genuine. Ask for a sample pack, this is a great way of seeing the quality of the products before you buy them. Some online printers show samples with their own graphics on them, whilst this does show the quality of the printing it doesn’t always show that they actually do this printing commercially for customers, anyone can surely print their own samples which say ‘check out our print’, but surely its best to show real life samples of customers printing, this can give you an idea of what you could achieve – its also a great way of obtaining ideas for your own design, if of course you are designing your own leaflets.

This is generally the method used by most newspapers and printed magazines. The K channel (or black) is ramped up to ensure clean, dark black especially for text. This high level of black ink deletes any GCR separation.

UCR is used for printing of large catalogs when colours that are both dark and have a high saturation. GCR is an abbreviation for Gray Component Replacement. The black ‘K’ is used in colours which are further from the neutral axis. There are some benefits to using GCR colour split separations, making them the most popular for non-newsprint work. First, because most of the lesser colours will be controlled by the black plate, this allows the greys to be kept balanced. Plus as more of the CMY inks are swopped by K, this covers any small errors for the registration. Finally, and is usually the case – black ink is cheap use more black than the CMY works out more cost effectively and some large cost savings can be made over a 12 month period.

Don’t worry, it’s actually quite a simple concept – nowhere near as complex as some people seem to think. So stick with me here, I’m going to try to make this as painless as possible…

What is resolution?

As you probably know, when you view a photograph on your computer monitor you’re actually looking at a grid of tiny dots or ‘pixels’. Similarly, when a photograph is reproduced in print, it is made up of thousands of small dots of ink. Resolution refers to the number of these dots (or pixels) which are squeezed into a given area.

The smaller the dot, the more dots you can fit into a horizontal inch, and the sharper an image will appear to the human eye (up to a point)

If you zoom into a photograph on your PC monitor you will be able to see the grid of pixels which make up the image.

The grid of dots which make up a printed photograph can be seen using a magnifying glass

The resolution of an image is usually measured in dots per inch (dpi). Essentially dpi is simply the number of dots or pixels which make up an image.

 If you view an image on your computer monitor its resolution will need to be at least 72dpi to appear sharp and clear. A lower resolution will result in large pixels which will be detected by your eye, resulting in a fuzzy or ‘pixelated’ image. However, if the same image were reproduced on paper using a commercial printing process it would need a resolution of around 300dpi to achieve a sharp result. 

A printed image requires a much higher resolution than an on-screen image (4 times greater to be precise). Therefore, just because your image looks sharp and crisp when viewed on-screen, it doesn’t mean it will reproduce correctly when printed.

The image at the top of this article has a resolution of 72dpi. It looks sharp and crisp when viewed on screen.

If the same 72dpi image were reproduced in print using a commercial printing press, (see left) it would appear fuzzy and pixielated. The only way to improve its appearance and increase its resolution would be to reduce the size at which it is reproduced

Then see here (indicated in green) where the background colour or image must exceed the bleed edge in order to allow for it to be trimmed off. Also notice that the crop marks are offset, i.e. they don’t join, they need to be like this so they don’t print. If they joined together then its likely that they would been seen on the final printed article as they would print inside the bleed area. Please allow at least 3mm offset for the crop marks.

You’ll see I have worked out an 8 page and a 12 page booklet for you, you can work out bigger booklets Eg: 16 page, 20 page etc by simply doing as I suggest and make one up with blank paper and write the page numbers on, lay the sheets flat to see your printers pairs.

Most artwork we see is set up with full colour black, which means that the black is made up from within the full colour set, there will be a percentage of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

This is fine if the whole colour make up is less than 200%, Eg 50% or less of all C,M,Y,K colours.

If 200% colour density is exceeded, then the paper its being printed onto will become saturated that its unlikely that the ink will dry properly. Should this be the case then this will cause 'set-off', which is where the ink transfers from one print to another, which is a huge problem.

With regards to solid black areas, the crucial colour is obviously black, more often than not solid black areas have the black set to less 100%  which means it will never achieve full 100% black.

If a black solid area only consists of black ink only then the result can be quite dull and becomes a matt black, even on gloss paper.

So other colours can be added into the mixture can help to ‘deepen’ the black, this is whats known in the trade as ‘Rich Black’ and needs to be made up of the following.

For a deep black, 100% Black (K), 50% Cyan (C), there is some room for a small percentage of magenta here too but never any yellow!. Yellow can make the black appear grey as it lightens it. On screen this will look fine, but if any percentage of yellow is added then this will water down the black, similar to adding white to it, so try to avoid yellow being present if at all possible

There are two ways of folding a tri-fold leaflet, either a 'Z' fold or a ‘Roll Fold. The 'Z Fold' is when the document folds back on its self like a concertina effect, and the ‘Roll Fold’ is when the panels are folded over each other, and then folded inwards.

The most common paper type for this kind of leaflet is around the 150gsm or 160gsm, as this thickness doesn’t need to be scored before folding. Scoring is done as a precaution like a pre-fold,  which stops thicker material form cracking when it goes through the folding machine.