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Roger P. Gimbel, EDP

Roger P. Gimbel, EDP
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Cloud Computing for the Printing Industry

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Mar 6, 2024 12:54:59 PM

 

Remember when having your head in the clouds wasn’t a flattering comment? Times change. Today, being in the cloud is a good thing and we’re all attempting to stake out a spot up there so we can be more productive down here.

Cloud computing has been around for some time. We’re all familiar with our own personal software programs and operating systems that update automatically. Or with our photos and files being stored somewhere in the ether. But like any structural transformation, cloud computing takes time to fully permeate into businesses and market sectors.

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Topics: news, cloud computing, augmented reality, ai, digitize, digitization, printing industries applications

Data Enhancement for Printers

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Jan 18, 2024 12:54:50 PM

 

Data enhancement and enrichment is the practice of adding details to data records, enabling marketers to fine-tune outbound marketing campaigns. Options include adding geocode coordinates for mapping, estimated income, gender, age, or home ownership to prospect records. Other enrichment opportunities include appending email addresses or phone numbers and filtering lists to remove unresponsive records. Identifying and eliminating duplicate contact records further improves data.

Transcend the Obvious

"Everyone understands that printers print and mailers mail. Show me something new and different that improves my response rate and makes me want to do business with you."

The marketplace knows what printers and mailers do. Yet most service providers' websites feature a long, lackluster list that includes business cards, envelopes, brochures, forms, binding, folding, and a hundred other products or services every printer offers. Use website real estate and the short attention span of most visitors to focus on customer acquisition. How can you escalate the success rate for your customer's printed materials en route to their prospect's mailbox?

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Topics: direct mail, news, data enhancement, append data, enrich, suppression, duplicates, response rate

Strategies for Staffing – Fewer Workers Calls for Technology

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Dec 28, 2023 10:35:47 AM

 

The final installment of our three-part labor series focuses on employing automation as a competitive advantage.

 

In the first part of this series, we analyzed the aging, skilled labor market—the trend of older employees leaving the workforce and strategies for recruiting youthful as well as more mature workers. Next, we delved into how to hold on to staffers already on the payroll.  In Part 3 of three, we analyze automation advancements as part of the solution to printing industry staffing shortages.

With the overall cost of doing business increasing and production volumes decreasing, how can print service providers (PSPs) maintain profit margins and still make money? The ability to print more jobs at faster rates becomes paramount. Automated technologies allow employees to perform critical pre-press, printing, and post-press operations without requiring years of experience as apprentices or junior assistants. For example, achieving precise colors on the press has become a case of science trumping subjectivity, according to Shawn Sundquist, president and CEO of Range Printing, Inc. (Brainerd, MN).

“In some respects, the skilled-labor shortage has forced the issue,” says Sundquist, a third-generation leader at the company his grandfather founded 55 years ago. “There is definitely an older demographic in our pressroom running the presses,” he notes, lamenting that the vast majority of younger workers don’t seem to care much about the intricacies of mechanical inner-workings.

“Young people are used to pressing the ‘easy button,’” Sundquist observes.

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Topics: Automation,, news, printing, labor shortage, employee retention, skilled labor, employee recruitment, printing automation

How to Keep Good Workers :  Strategies for Staffing Part 2

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Nov 14, 2023 1:46:23 PM

 

In the first part of this series we analyzed the aging, skilled labor market and the trend of older employees leaving the workforce, which can have a detrimental impact on industries, including the printing business, that depend on knowledge and expertise. “That kind of brain drain . . . could put a little more pressure on companies to figure out ways to hang on to older workers,” believes Michael Madowitz, director of macroeconomic policy at Equitable Growth.

We also suggested ways to recruit younger employees to the print sector. Enlist the help of outsiders, such as industry consultants, to work with state agencies and educational institutions. This strategy can be one smart move for printing companies trying to overcome a negative image of their industry in the minds of young people.

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Topics: news, employee recruiting, employee staffing, employees, staffing, employee retention, perks, remote/hybrid work, employee benefits

Staffing Up Strategies for Printers Part 1

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Oct 17, 2023 10:32:58 AM

 

Part 1 of this article focuses on ways print service providers can attract a younger workforce by reinventing the medium’s ‘down and dirty,’ inky image. This is a 3 part series.


Hey Boomers and Gen X-ers, our workers are aging. U.S. manufacturers faced a major setback after losing some 1.5 million jobs at the onset of the global pandemic; since then, companies have been struggling to fill job vacancies. In Q1 2023, there were nearly 700,000 open manufacturing jobs, according to consulting firm Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. The National Association of Manufacturers reports that over 2 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2030.

Print firms are feeling the pain. A good portion of experienced print industry employees are nearing retirement age. Last year, more than one-quarter of the U.S. workforce was 55 years of age or older, up from 14% twenty years earlier. In 2020, for the first time in the history of the United States, individuals 65 years of age and older outnumbered those five years of age and younger, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. print sector, which today employs over 386,500 Americans, shows negative growth (of -2.6%) again this year, reports research firm IBISWorld, and is down 1.4% overall since 2018.

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Topics: news, employee recruiting, print industry labor, recruiting for the print industry, Gen Z, Millennials, labor shortage, flexible work hours

Beyond Static: How Motion Graphics Can Enhance Print Materials

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Sep 6, 2023 1:30:33 PM

 

It should come as no surprise that video content is king, providing endless entertainment and learning through lively visuals and animations. But what about print? Should you just concede the attractive and absorbing aspects of video and animation to the digital channels and concentrate on selling flat printed images?

Don't leave any opportunity behind!

Motion graphics aren't appropriate for every project, but helping your clients dive into the realm of motion can be a differentiating factor for your printing business that helps retain current customers and attracts new ones. Motion graphics can transform flat sheets into mesmerizing 3D objects, capturing the reader's attention and even bridging the gap between the tangible and digital worlds for an unforgettable interactive experience.  

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Topics: news, augmented reality, die cutting, interactive print, folding techniques, motion graphics, movable graphics, AR, qr codes

High-Tech Direct Mail

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Aug 7, 2023 4:13:41 PM

 

Everyone in the printing business knows how direct mail has resurged as an important marketing channel. However, it's not appearing as it did in your grandfather's mailbox! There’s no “spray and pray” anymore.

“In 2022, we saw marketers starting to shift their digital marketing budgets to direct mail solutions,” Meg Ugenti reported last month in Forbes. “This trend will hold steady as the digital marketing landscape continues to be more crowded and less predictable than traditional offline marketing channels.”

In a recent article from Practical Ecommerce, Eric Bandholz explained how Apple’s iOS 14 privacy change has upended advertising on Facebook. “Merchants accustomed to stellar ROI must now accept modest or less-than-modest performance, he reported, citing the intriguing case of Pig of the Month. The Ohio-based direct-to-consumer seller of barbeque quotes company founder Lea Richards: “With post-iOS 14 ads not working, we’re getting back into direct mail. We’ve found good results, up to six-times return.”

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Topics: multi-channel campaigns, direct mail, news, personalizaton, variable data, VDP, omni-channel, direct marketing, xmpie

Online Portals and the Customer Experience

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Jun 9, 2023 12:34:22 PM

 

In today’s competitive printing industry, customer retention usually comes down to a great customer experience. High quality printing is simply the standard now, not a differentiator, and competing on price is a race to the bottom. Great customer service can be the competitive difference that makes clients want to do business with you and keeps your bottom line growing.

 

But the definition of great customer service has evolved. Today, the meaning includes a certain degree of self service and 24/7 access—the conveniences that can be found via online portals. Easy to navigate portals with anytime and anywhere access, quick responses, project tracking, proofing, invoicing, inventory tracking, and other services can make your brand stand out with their terrific benefits.

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Topics: news, online portals, personalized experience, 24/7, storage of assets

The Perfect Pairing: A Printer’s Guide for Collaborating with Designers

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on May 1, 2023 3:53:11 PM

 

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Topics: direct mail, news, designers, design, embellishments, graphics, color and key data points, color match, printing and graphics, graphics designer, color choices

Do You Offer Design Services?

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Mar 21, 2023 10:11:18 AM

 

A growing number of print service providers have added design to their service offerings. If you haven’t ventured there yet, consider the many advantages to bringing design in house. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as placing a help wanted ad. Design is a broad area and graphic designers come in many flavors and with many specialties.

The designer you choose to hire must be the right fit for the work your company produces and match your organizational culture. An understanding of the print process and its intricacies is, of course, mandatory.

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Topics: news, printing, design, graphic arts, graphics designer, design services, on-staff designer

Helping Designers with Direct Mail

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Feb 2, 2023 12:54:19 PM

 

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Topics: direct mail, news, mailpiece, mailpiece design, graphic design, cta

Guide to Digital Printing and Variable Data

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Jan 10, 2023 12:48:08 PM

 

Most of us are bombarded daily with thousands of marketing messages. Our phones, computers, televisions, social media channels, radios, and emails continuously clamor for our attention with promotional hits.

A marketer trying to cut through the noise faces almost impossible odds. The good news is that one of the most effective tools for bolstering engagement and response is individualized marketing through variable data printing. The most effective marketing is for an audience of one and leading-edge marketers increasingly use variable data printing (VDP) to ensure their client’s messages are heard.

For printers, this represents a big and profitable opportunity. Our eBook from Gimbel and Associates, A Printer’s Perspective & Guide to Digital Printing and Variable Data, is a thorough and in-depth source for helping printers transition to this business model. You can download it for free.

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Topics: variable data printing, news, eBook, digital printing, VDP, printer's perspective

How to Lose a Print Sale (and never be invited back)

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Dec 16, 2022 11:37:16 AM

 

Anyone selling print today using the methods they learned ten years ago (or more) is going to run into difficulties. The pandemic changed the way people feel about work and time. That’s what brought on the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting phenomena. Print buyers, who may hold positions in marketing or the executive suite, place a high value on their time and they aren’t very tolerant of people who waste it.

It can take dozens of attempts to secure a meeting with a prospective customer. When you’re finally in the room with a decision-maker, don’t make mistakes that will cause them to end the meeting or deflect any attempts at following up.

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Topics: consultative selling, solution selling, news, selling print, print sales, print sales people, customer acquisition

Educating Digital Designers About Print

Posted by Roger P. Gimbel, EDP on Nov 22, 2022 2:22:00 PM

 

A significant percentage of designers have little to no experience in creating print projects. When they shift to printed materials, this lack of knowledge can cause them to make design decisions that add unnecessary costs and make it tough for printers to produce the product the designers envisioned. Designers accustomed to working in digital channels may not be conscious of the details that determine the success or failure of a print project.

Educating designers about print has become important as more businesses are realizing the new role print plays in overall marketing strategies. An organization cannot always achieve their marketing objectives with a digital-only approach. 

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Topics: digital print, news, graphic design, design, design tips, digital designers, print comeback

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