Promises to Keep

In his classic poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Robert Frost speaks of taking a moment to watch the snow collect on the trees along a dark lane, presumably on his way to somewhere important. He closes with these lines:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

As business professionals, we all struggle at times with similar feelings, conflicts, and doubts. We may want to stop for a moment in the middle of a busy day to enjoy a mental break, but in the back of our minds (or even the front sometimes), we can't shake the nagging sense that we should be focusing instead on the work that lies ahead.

Like the narrator in Frost's poem, we, too, have promises we must keep -- commitments we've made to customers, vendors, employees, colleagues, family members, and friends. That can often mean long days, sleepless nights, and not a lot of extra time to watch snow falling on trees.

In our drive to stay ahead, we often miss the forest entirely -- distracted by the hundreds of tiny details that make up our days.

That's not to say our promises aren't important. Quite the contrary. In business, our word is what ultimately matters most to our customers, shareholders, vendors, and employees. Failing to keep our commitments can have dire consequences for our companies and our reputations.

But there's also something to be said for taking the time to stop and look around. A small mental break might help to spark a bold new thought or rekindle a flame burnt out by trying to get too much done in far too little time.

Such moments are important to our own well being and to the health of our companies. They can't come at the expense of getting things done, but they should come more frequently than many of us allow.

So as you go about managing your business, take some time to notice the little things around you. Like the fall of snow on the trees that line the path that wanders through your day.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with promises by marketing with print communications please visit www.printingartspress.com

An Important Business Lesson You can learn from an 8-Year-Old Girl

There's something undeniably different about this time of year -- an almost palatable sense of wonder, excitement, joy, and possibility not always seen in our everyday routine.

Amid the hustle and bustle of shopping, planning, and reconnecting with family and friends, we often find ourselves thinking back to seasons past -- and forward to the future with renewed energy and hope.

For a few weeks each December, we're willing to suspend disbelief and imagine the possibility of what we cannot see.

New York Sun writer Francis Church shared his thoughts on this very subject more than a century ago. "The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see," Church wrote. "Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world."

Church addressed his commentary to Virginia O'Hanlon, an eight-year-old girl who had posed a very simple question: Is there a Santa Claus?

While intended to quell the fears of a questioning child, Church's words could just as easily apply to each of us in business today. 

Like young Virginia, we, too, find ourselves in doubt sometimes -- unsure whether we should trust the instincts that have taken us this far. In Virginia's case, those doubts were fueled by "little friends" who told her Santa Claus was not real. For us, those "friends" often manifest themselves internally as a quiet, yet nagging voice that assures us we'll find safety in convention and by taking the road more traveled.

And so, like Virginia, we need an occasional reminder that seeking the unseeable and trusting the unknowable can lead to places many would consider unattainable.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with creative possibilities please visit www.printingartspress.com

Printing Arts Press wins MAME & Print Excellence Awards

Printing Arts Press is proud to have been awarded a Marketing and Merchandising Excellence (MAME) Award by the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio honoring the top achievers in the new home industry: Best Print Newsletter. “We’re proud to have designed and printed the winning newsletter entry from start to finish” said Chuck Gherman, General Manager. According to Linda Winrod, Marketing & Membership Sales Director, sales and marketing award winners cross all BIA membership ranks.

Printing Arts Press is also proud to announce it was awarded three Silver PIANKO Print Excellence Awards for Annual Reports, Newsletters and Calendars. “We are especially proud of the Annual Report as it demonstrated the use of Environmentally Sound Materials” explained Chuck Gherman. Each year, Printing Industries of Ohio and Northern Kentucky holds its Print Excellence Awards Competition to reward Ohio and northern Kentucky printers that demonstrate excellence in 34 categories judged by 3 out of state experts.

“Winning a Print Excellence Award is the mark of true craftsmanship by leaders in our industry.” said Association president Jim Cunningham. “This type of recognition is more about our valued customers than it is for us,” comments Chuck Gherman, “The most relevant equipment available today, integrated with some of the finest craftspeople in the industry created this recognition for our work.”



About Printing Arts Press — For over 65 years, from creative design to marketing to printing publications, books, postcards, envelopes, manuals or brochures and mailing services we’re able to meet our central Ohio clients’ printing and mailing needs, generating time and cost savings while innovating tried and true tactics for growing their business.

For more information, please contact — Chuck Gherman, General Manager at Printing Arts Press and Central Ohio Advisory Board Chairman of PIANKO, 740-397-6106, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

About the BIA —Since 1943, the Building Industry Association (BIA) has represented family homebuilders, suppliers and service professionals throughout our region.

About Printing Industries Association —PIANKO is an affiliate of the national Printing Industries of America, the largest graphic arts association in the world. For complete information on PIANKO and PIA, please visit www.printing.org.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with creative possibilities please visit www.printingartspress.com

How You can Market Your Organization with Community Care Marketing

If your business is looking for a creative way to increase name recognition and drive business, while at the same time giving back to your community and contributing to the common good, here are a few rewarding ideas to try:

• Distribute exclusive coupons for customers who bring a canned food donation to support the local food shelf.
• Post flyers at local organizations and sponsor a unique donation drive, such as "coats for kids" or "toys for tots."
• Team with a local shelter, hospital, or church to organize a giving tree, and encourage customers to take a tag and donate items to those in need.
• Find ways to encourage customers to participate in your goodwill efforts. For example, you could run a campaign such as "10 percent of all sales in December will be donated to XYZ charity."
• Create name recognition by volunteering as a team at local non-profit organizations and by sponsoring local charitable events.

The holidays may be right around the corner, but it's never too late to make an impact in your community. You can easily use a mix of print media (posters, flyers,  postcards, statement stuffers, etc.), social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), email marketing, and word of mouth to spread the word quickly. Think the Christmas season is sneaking up too fast? Create a New Year's campaign or a "giving hearts" campaign for Valentine's Day. The options are endless.

And remember, while our hearts go out to others during the holiday season more than any other time, there are always those who are less fortunate than we are and will appreciate our help throughout the year. If you make community caring campaigns a regular part of your marketing, your contributions and goodwill will surely come full circle, benefiting your business and the people who work for you.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with community care marketing please visit www.printingartspress.com

How You can use the Law of Reciprocity to Advance Your Business

In social psychology, reciprocity refers to the natural human tendency to want to return a favor -- to give back after someone has shown generosity to you. You've no doubt experienced such times in your own life, when you've felt such a sense of appreciation for a kindness done that you felt inclined to respond in kind. That's what reciprocity is all about.

Giving to Give -- and Build Relationships

Of course, there is another type of reciprocity -- one born more from a sense of obligation than appreciation. But that first type (the one inspired by an act of generosity) offers a far more valuable return on the good deed done. Why? By inspiring feelings of goodwill, this type of reciprocity makes the recipient much more likely to return the favor willingly, rather than through a sense of duty. Why is this important to your overall business success? Because the person who reciprocates willingly will be much more likely to stick around to continue the relationship long-term.

Giving to Get -- and Build the "Bottom Line"

The reciprocity that's based on duty and obligation is less effective because it creates feelings of unease in the recipient -- the same sort of feelings you get from owing a debt. This type of reciprocity makes people feel as if they are being pressured, or even coerced, into reciprocating.

When you give to get, it's like tying a string to the gift and continually pulling it back toward you, rather than releasing your hold on it and giving it away free and clear. This type of reciprocity isn't true reciprocity at all, since it doesn't inspire the other person to want to return the favor. As a result, it will only create resistance in your prospect, a situation that's usually counterproductive to your marketing efforts and your long-term business goals.

5 Ways to Use Reciprocity to Advance Your Business

Here are five suggestions for creating genuine, positive reciprocity in your prospects, customers, or clients:

1. Offer something for free -- with no strings attached. Giving a small gift every now and then can be a great way to say thanks to your customers for their business and their loyalty. If you do this without asking for anything in return, you may be surprised at the goodwill you build over time. Gestures like these are never wasted, even though they may not seem to be making a difference. Sincere generosity increases your customers' esteem for your business, which makes them eager to return.

2. Go the extra mile for your customer. Spend a little extra time helping a customer solve a problem. Take a moment to pass along some helpful information you come across that relates to your client's business (B2B) or your customer's interest, need, or profession (B2C). Doing something unexpectedly nice shows your customers you value them as individuals and not just as your key to profits.

3. Make things right whenever a customer is dissatisfied. This is another way to demonstrate how much you value your customers, making them enthusiastic about buying from you again despite their initial dissatisfaction. Their respect for you will grow in direct proportion to the amount of empathy, patience, professionalism, and generosity you show when such sensitive issues occur -- particularly when they are upset and reacting with impatience themselves.

4. Treat both customers and prospects as if they matter. Courtesy, friendliness, and respect will go a long way toward creating loyal long term customers who will become the best advertisement for your brand. By making your service as personalized as you can, you tell your customer, "You are important."

5. Offer your website visitors helpful information at no charge. By attracting people to your website with the promise of value added content, you'll soon become the go to source for the answers they need, and they'll value you, as well.

Try the above five tips to start laying the groundwork for the reciprocity that's sure to follow.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with ways to market with reciprocity please visit www.printingartspress.com

How you can Produce Stellar Ad Copy in the Digital Era

These days, the Internet has asserted its ubiquity on everything from social media and e-commerce to the way consumers communicate and get information. That said, printing and paper based marketing are still strong -- and that's not about to change anytime soon. In this context, it's either you adapt your ad copy to a mix of printing and digital or see your business fall by the wayside.

We don't want that last part, do we?

Here are a few key items to consider as you gradually reshuffle your mixture of print and electronic copy.

Understand the cross device reality

The first thing to understand is the notion of "cross-device" reality. That means your ad content must be accessible and sharable across devices as diverse as personal computers, tablets, smartphones, and notebooks, as well as on the printed page. For example, if you produce a sales letter you plan to mail and make accessible online, make sure you also make it readable on mobile devices. Specialists call this "responsive design," meaning you optimize your content to be viewable on all types of devices.

Don't forget shrink proof paragraphs

Create shorter paragraphs to prevent the shrinkage that typically happens when you move from one browser to another or from a desktop to a smartphone or tablet. Believe it or not, a six or seven line paragraph on a desktop computer might appear fuzzy on a handheld device, turning it into an unreadable chunk that could only confuse and exacerbate your prospects and customers. So make your paragraphs concise and straight to the point. Ideally, you'll want to limit yourself to around 250-400 characters. If possible, you can even adopt the "Twitter rule" and make the paragraph less than or equal to 140 characters.

Speak to the device

Marketers always say it's all about content, content, content. It may be time to start thinking device, device, device. But remember that good old paper based copy doesn't come with device compatibility constraints. That's one reason experts continue to recommend non-electronic promotion as an added tactic. For electronic messaging, though, it's imperative to consider your audience and the various devices they use to access it.

For example, someone checking your ad copy on a smartphone could be at a party or on their way home. Conversely, promotional content you send via desktop email will be read by consumers at work, home, school, and so forth. You get the point. The reader can't be on the go with their PC. The issue of device compatibility is so important that even Google has spoken about it. The bottom line: adapt your ad copy to your target audience, their preferences, and the devices on which they're more likely to read your ad copy.

Love modularity

Make your ad copy modular. You won't regret it. Modular text is content that is not clearly stated in the initial ad copy, but that unfolds when the user shows interest in it or explores it. For example, say you run a fashion e-commerce portal and are running a campaign offering discounts on shoes. You can place modular content next to the footwear, so shoppers interested in, say, matching pants and shirts can buy these items as well.

Heed the power of structure

Structure is very important when it comes to producing stellar ad copy. The buzzword in the industry is content choreography, meaning the way you embed things like text, audio, video, and infographics into your content. You can structure your ad content the way you want, but make sure you keep three key things in mind: a clear description of your product or service; benefits or added value; and a call to action.

Posted by Chuck Gherman

To contact Chuck Gherman for more information about how Printing Arts Press helps organizations with ad copy in the digital era please visit www.printingartspress.com