To My New Blog

Thanks for visiting my “old” blog. For various reasons, I am going to stop blogging here. It makes more sense to do my business blogging on my company website. Please visit my new blog at:

http://allegrameadows.com/MediaRoom/Blog.aspx

One note: I plan on moving over some of the most popular articles from this blog to the new one. Sorry if you start reading something that looks familiar.

TO My New

Thanks for visiting my “old” blog. For various reasons, I am going to stop blogging here. It makes more sense to do my business blogging on my company website. Please visit my new blog at:

http://allegrameadows.com/MediaRoom/Blog.aspx

One note: I plan on moving over some of the most popular articles from this blog to the new one. Sorry if you start reading something that looks familiar.

Power of Social Media

Do you believe in the power of social media? In 2010 that is like asking is you believe in gravity. SM will impact you either way, so what are you waiting for? Get on board.

Check out this youtube video which is an ad for a book. Very compelling.

http://bit.ly/9NZuOh

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Like many small businesses, we have been slow lately. This week, for a change, we got slammed. Not that I am complaining, I will take the work any day.

For the first time in a long time, we will be In production on Saturday. I have had to jump in to get the work out. I have only run a printing g press once in the last ten years. The first reason for that is because the nature of our business changed and the second is that Hank is so efficient.

So, in helping out where I need to, I have been operating our letterpresses. I am in no way a press operator, merely a tender. Hank and Bob set the jobs up and I stand there and keep them running.

Yesterday, I die cut several thousand sheets of labels on our Heidelberg Windmill. That is the press featured in the video on our website.

Today I'm a watching our 70year old Kluge letterpress while we die cut a few thousand paper wrap labels. As this machine runs, which looks like it was made from the cast Irene version of the game Mousetrap, I'm writing this blog post. I am writing it on my new WiFi iPad.

Two different forms of communication, one seventeenth century, the other 21st century, living side by side. That's the way it is.

The Internet did not kill print. Just as TV did not kill radio and videos did not kill TV, print will live on. It will remain a vital part of our lives.

Gotta go, my Kluge needs me.


Sent from my iPad

I went to a Chamber talk...

I went to a Chamber talk at the Palatine Public Library. Bonita Richter, who runs the Small Business Development Center at Harper College was the speaker. Her talk was on planning to grow your business in 2010.

The talk was good and we left with some good, usable info. Something else struck me. It is good for me to get out of the office and meet with other business folks. Do you do that in any given month? Do you network or mingle at Chamber functions? How about Lions, or Jaycees? Or, do you stay hunkered down in your office or shop?

Get out there. Meet some other people. Hear some good ideas. The world is changing. You have to know what your next step should be.

Happy Anniversary To Us

Today, April 1st, is our business anniversary. Twenty-one years ago today we opened our doors. On one hand it seems like yesterday, on the other it seems like a century.

In that time, we have learned a lot, grown a lot, changed a lot, and met a lot of really nice people.

When we started we had two small, single color printing presses. Along with that was a stapler, paper cutter, folding machine, and a paper drill. That was about it.

Now we have dozens of pieces of equipment allowing us to offer a large variety of services and products. There is know we could have known then what we would be doing today. Likewise, we probably could not accurately predict what we will be doing five years from now.

We have witnessed great changes in our industry. From the acceptance of computers for management and graphic design, digital copiers replacing the traditional ones, radical changes in printing technology, and fax machines, websites, email and other innovations that changed the way we communicated with our customers.

We have seen our share of disappointment and near tragedy, success and excitement, and more of the same. But, looking back, we would do it all over again. Why? We are a big part of our business community and we get to work with some great people.

Our March eNewsletter Results

You might be on our distribution list for the “Allegra Swatch.” In its newest incarnation, we switched email providers. We are now using Mail Chimp. So far, so good. There are lots of reasons to use them over the number 1 brand. But, that is for another post.

We are not totally sold out on email newsletters, though. There is a lot of evidence that printed newsletters are much more effective at getting the word out. That too is for another email.

Here is the down and dirty. For a marketing business, Mail Chimp says the average open rate is 18%. For the most recent issue of the Swatch, we are at 17.3%. Ok. Not too bad. But it is way off of our 21.9% open rate from the February issue.

Three big reasons for this pop out right away. First, folks could have found the subject line less compelling than I did. Second, we sent it out late in the day—4:00 pm. When my my east coast people or my local contacts who left early arrived at work the next day, my newsletter was buried deep in their in box. Last, it is a holiday week. Easter and Passover. On top of that, it is spring break for some folks. Just as their are fewer cars on the road this week, there are fewer people in their offices.

Here is the free marketing lesson: timing is important.

Numbering by Color!

We just came up with a way to sequentially number documents and forms in any Pantone color ink you would want. Before, like almost all other printers, we could only do black and red.

So now you can let your imagination run wild. We can match your logo color scheme. Also, for security we can print in metallic colors or fluorescent inks to keep people from duplicating your stuff on a color copier.

While it is not earth shaking news, it is one more innovation we can offer you, our clients.

Amazing Waterproof Paper

A good client came to us a couple weeks ago with a problem. They wanted equipment tags. Great. Easy enough. Not so fast. It’s not going to be that easy.

They were going to be used outdoors. The typical tag is a manila colored paper similar to index cards. So paper is out. How about laminating them? Great protection from the elements and affordable too. Nope. They have to write on them. Can’t write on lamination. Hmmm.

Now it gets interesting. Doing a little brainstorming, someone thought of that sample pack the paper mill representative dropped off a few months ago. Let’s check that out.

They had the perfect product. It is a synthetic paper. It is chemical resistant. Waterproof. And it is tear proof. We test it here. Perfect. Oh, and you can write on it with a pen or Sharpie.

After we print on it we can cut it, punch holes in it, round corner it, die cut it, and who knows what else we can do with it.

Some other uses we have found for it. Membership cards. Menus. Reference cards or instructions used in a harsh or dirty environment. Outdoor signs. Rear view mirror signs. Plant stakes.

Call Allegra Marketing, Print & Mail and tell us your problem. We will find a solution.

Fixed to Flexible

Here is a short Ebook (37 brief pages) I think everyone in business should read. Todd Sattersten has boiled a lot of wisdom from recent business and social change books to come up with a great resource. Including ideas from “Predictably Irrational,” “Free Prize Inside” and “The Long Tail” among many others, each page is a gem with a repeatable story and a fact or two. How you apply them is up to you.

Check it out on Scribd. It is free, printable, and downloadable to your mobile device. Let me know what you think.

Letterpress Video

I just added a video to our website (the first one ever). It was shot and edited by Al Landsberger, a local graphic designer and friend of mine. The subject is our 1950s era letterpress. It turned out really cool.

Two Random Facts

1. A recent New York Times article said the Federal Government spends seven dollars on the elderly for every one dollar spent on children.
2. A recent “O’Reilly Factor” piece said the Federal Government paid $100 million in December 2009 on interest on the national debt. What Bill O’Reilly did not say was weather that was a one time amount or if the US pays that every month. Staggering.

Small Business in 2010

Owning a small business the last couple years feels like a scene from Gladiator. You are in the arena, they open the gates and hungry lions come running out. Ah. Just another day in the life.

Sorry to say it but the Federal Government is no friend of the small business owner. President Obama has not done much so far to help the situation. The turmoil surrounding health care has only added to the confusion we have felt.

Now, Mr. Obama has rolled out a small business plan. There are a couple small provisions and two big ones. One part involves a tax credit for hiring new employees or increasing wages.

The problem with this is twofold. First, you need taxable profits from which to credit. So, this won’t help many small businesses. Second, staffing decisions usually only make sense when there is increasing demand. Otherwise, a bad decision is merely a drag on the business.

The second big plank is an incentive plan aimed a community banks to lend to small businesses. If this is under TARP, these banks will shy away from it. Accepting TARP funds painted your bank as weak. Nobody wants that tag.

The other big flaw is the belief that small businesses will use this money to expand. It won’t happen. Why? We are scared. We don’t know what will happen next. And we are already full of debt. Owners who get these loans will pay themselves bak the personal loans they made to their businesses or pay off their credit cards.

This will make their balance sheets looks better but it won’t increase capital investing. I clean balance sheet is swell, but it doesn’t help the economy.

Here’s my plan. Eliminate business income taxes. Not all the way—people would go crazy thinking about Exxon Mobil making a bazillion dollars more profit. But just part of the way. No income tax on the first $2 million dollars of profit.

This would eliminate income tax for the vast majority of small businesses. It would cut the unfairness of double taxation of small and family owned businesses. The Fortune 1000 would still pay taxes on the majority of their profits.

There would be several benefits. Owners would have profits to do the most economic thing with. They would reinvest in their companies, hire more people or increase wages as sales grew, or they would pay down debt. They would also pay themselves more.

Several things in the above paragraph would be taxable events. Income tax revenues would go up. Also, prices of goods and services would go down. Investment in businesses and opening businesses would increase. Innovation would also increase.

There would have to be a mindset shift for this to happen. Business people are too easy a target. Politicians would have to join arms with business owners instead of painting us as greedy exploiters. The public would have to come to appreciate the sacrifices we make. The era of mistrust would have to end in pop culture. Bernard Madoff and J.R. Ewing need to be lampooned as the freakish anomalies they are, not as symbols for all business people.

Who is Mark?

Update: The Daily Herald corrected my name in the online versions. So, it's just the print edition that uses my alias.

So the Daily Herald article on closing the Palatine Postal Facility ran today. I was quoted at the end of the article. So far, so good. However, due to an error, I was cited as "Mark" Tarpinian. At least Kim spelled the name of my business correctly.

Shutdown the Palatine Processing Facility?

The USPS announced plans to shut down the Palatine Processing Facility recently. Why should you care? Well, I will tell you. All mail in this area—from Evanston to Elgin will then go through the Carol Stream facility. This will delay local mail by a minimum of one day. That’s bad. There is a possibility of a logjam at the Carol Stream Processing Facility.

For those of us who mail information, there is a bigger problem. There is a possibility of delays and added costs. Many businesses are built around supporting mail in this area. We will be left high and dry.

I feel this will have long lasting detrimental effects on mailing. At this time when the USPS is seeing declining mail volume and revenues, they need to innovate and be creative. Cutting services, hours of service, raising prices, adding layers of difficulty to creating bulk mail will only hasten the decline of the Post Office.

By the way, Kim Pohl of the Daily Herald interviewed my for a marketer/mailers perspective. Look for it in an upcoming paper.

Yes You Can Send Prospect Email Without Being A Spammer

A prospect came to me recently looking to do an email blast. Unlike the email blasts I do for my business and for some clients—this one was different. They want to send to people who are not their customers.

As she described what she wanted to do, the only thing that popped into my mind was—SPAM! That’s one of those touching the hot stove issues I always want to steer clear of. But I told her I would look into it. And I did.

What I got was an education. Are you ready for an outline of what I learned? Here goes. Contrary to popular belief, there are legitimate, legal ways to email to prospects. For definition a prospect is someone who you don’t know and who probably doesn’t know you.

There are two ways to send out prospecting email. One was is through mostly offshore vendors. Their lists are typically gathered through questionable means. While I hate to throw stones—these are the spammers of the world. Their lists have a high degree of incomplete or out of date addresses. You risk being blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and your legitimate email will not be delivered. You could also face penalties or fines.

The other way is through a credible list broker. Their lists are culled from opt-in lists where people acknowledge they will accept marketing info. Neither you nor I see the lists. The vendor holds on to them. They also will design the email template and they take care of sending your eNewsletter out. You will get access to tracking info and leads. We have worked with a couple mailing list vendors who provide this service. We trust them very much.

While this route is more expensive than the first, it would be less expensive than direct mail. Even though the response rate is much lower than postal mail, there could be a benefit in lower cost per contact and immediacy.

There is an indirect way. This might give you credibility of being associated with someone known to your audience. That is to get an article or profile about your organization into someone else’s email blast. You might have to pay for the space or trade for space in your eNewsletter. But you have control over the content. You also can look like an expert to this audience. The hard part is finding a partner who has a non-competitive offering but has a list of people you need to reach.

Allegra Marketing, Print & Mail of Rolling Meadows would be glad to answer any questions or provide you with a quote. Call Michael Tarpinian at 847/398-2500.

By the way we also design and support traditional eNewsletter campaigns directed to your current customers, clients, students, fans, or patients.

Letterpress

My guys recently had a successful test of letterpress printing. Before this test, we had used our letterpress for embossing, die cutting, and perforating paper. Lots of different stuff, but not for printing. Not bad for a fifty+ year old printing press, huh?

But there is an increasing interest in this old fashioned printing. Why? Nostalgia is part of it. The other part is the craft of letterpress printing. It looks different than our traditional printing or photocopying. There is a texture to the printing. It has a feel. It does not look flawless. It has character.

Some studios are commanding top dollar for stationery and wedding invitations of their letterpresses. We are looking at a slightly different model. We want to make note cards, business cards and invitations that are elegant and affordable. New techniques have helped to breathe new life into these old presses.

The movies American Psycho and the recent Seven Pounds have featured characters in an elegant business card throw-down and a letterpress printer respectively.

Best Seats in Town

The Palatine Chamber of Commerce has just put out the decorated benches in the Best Seat in Town fundraiser. It’s a fun civic event that promotes the Chamber, local businesses, local charities, and local artists.

My sentimental favorite is the Harris Bank bench in support of the Immanuel Lutheran School Girls Basketball program. It was created by a local student whom I know (hi Joz). You can see it in front of the church and school on Plum Grove Road. I like the perspective of looking from the near net.

Keep your eyes open around town, these benches are all over. Also, pick up a park bench walking map and be sure to vote for your favorite. (You know I will).

Mike’s Wish List

Perhaps there are a lot of business owners like me right now. After a couple of years of solid growth where we invested a lot of money back into our business, we hit a bump. Clearly the Great Recession has impacted businesses far and wide.

Now we are watching every expense. Closely. That’s the new reality. But here is where I take it to my own level of tightwadness (not a word, but you know what I mean). For everything that is non-essential to our operation, but would be nice to have, I am creating a list. It’s my wish list. Some is for new stuff, some is for software updates.

If there are others like me living a life of small business delayed gratification there are consequences. That is pent up demand. When the economy improves and businesses start spending again, there will be a rebound effect. People like me will loosen up and start buying the stuff they held off on purchasing. It could be a big snowball.

On the other hand, if we all see we have done without things for so long, maybe we don’t need them after all.

Web Favorite — FontCapture

I have been messing with a website I found a few weeks ago. It is called FontCapture. It is a free service. The only thing it does is create a font from your handwriting. It is simple. And it works. You can create a font for both Mac or Windows.

What you get back, instantly I might add, is a complete font. A to Z, 0 to 9, plus punctuation. The slowest part of the process is writing out the template. But that doesn’t take too long either.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Download their template and print it out on your printer.
2. Print the letters as you would like them to appear.
3. Scan the template.
4. Send the template to FontCapture through their website.
5. Install your font on your computer.
6. Done.

Creating a cursive font is painstaking work, so you probably could not create a font of your writing, just your printing. All in all, its pretty cool. And did I mention it is free?