Gimbel & Associates Blog

Portable Document Format files (PDFs) are an efficient way of digitally sharing and outputting files across multiple platforms, including printing, losing no essential information in the transmission. Adobe introduced the file format almost 30 years ago.

Because PDF is now really an industry standard, a set of regulations was established and continues to be developed by the PDF Standards Committee. Specialized versions of PDFs have been created for specific purposes. PDF/a is for electronic document archives, and PDF/UA was formed for accessibility purposes. PDF/X drives general commercial printing, and variable and transactional documents use PDF/VT.

Printers are always helping their clients raise awareness for their products and services. They send out marketing postcards or donation requests for them, print door hangers, or create entire marketing campaigns in service of their customers.

In marketing their own services, though, many printers struggle with knowing what to do, where to spend their marketing dollars, and how to find the time to take care of a campaign of their own.

Fortunately, Gimbel & Associates has lots of resources to help you conquer the marketing challenge. Watch this short video, read the corresponding blog article, and download items in the Gimbel Resource Library to get started on the marketing activities essential to your business success.

Some print shops outsource this critical step and partner with an established mail services company, while others opt to bring the function in-house. Which is the better? The answer is highly individual, based on the amount of mail you need to process, client requirements, and so on. It has to make business sense.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the experts.  Roger Gimbel & Randy Hardy will be discussing how AI will impact printing.  To register, see details and links below.

Any marketer or designer knows that success and customer engagement come from standing out and creating memorable experiences. Print is a proven method of creating strong connections, and one method of intensifying engagement with printed pieces even more is by adding embellishments.

Embellishments are finishing decorative applications added after the actual printing, in the post-press phase of production. Broadly, embellishments include multiple types of inks, from metallics to invisible formulations; specialty coatings; die cutting; embossing and debossing; and various foils.

Today, the most effective marketing programs are fueled by data, which can be an anxious topic for creative people. It doesn’t have to be. Learning some basics about data is all it takes to leverage the power of data and avoid mistakes that result in re-working the design.

Why is data important?

When it’s used properly, data can increase customer engagement and responses. The more you know about your recipients, and can use that knowledge to drive the images, text, and offers, the better you can create meaningful communications. A customers’ shopping history, for example, can predict their interest in future purchases and allow you to design interesting offers to which they are more likely to respond.

Even the most basic information about your targets such as location, gender, and age can make a big difference, turning a generic campaign into one that is personalized.

Print providers face the dilemma of marketing their services with in-house resources or hiring a marketing firm.  It’s a reasonable predicament. Print service providers (PSP’s) offer many services that execute on strategies marketing agencies recommend. These include graphic design, print, and direct mail submission. PSPs are experts in those parts of a marketing program. Would it be much of a stretch to write the marketing plan and manage the digital components? How much time could website design and maintenance, SEO, and social media take?

It boils down to one simple question: “How much of my company’s marketing should I do myself?”

Featured here is a note from Isabel, a college student who is the latest recipient of the Herman L. Gimbel and Audrey M. Gimbel Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The “Hy Gimbel and Audrey M. Gimbel Memorial Scholarship” awards funds annually to a bright, up-and-coming full-time student committed to pursuing a career in the document management and graphic communications marketplace. Isabel's Major is Graphic Design. Eligibility requirements included a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA of a 4.0 scale and full-time status at an accredited college or university. Congrats Isabel!” 

Printers are famous for executing marketing programs for their clients while neglecting efforts to promote their own businesses. Part of the problem is that marketing can seem time-consuming, complex, and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Marketing is based on a few fundamentals: know your clients, decide what you want to tell them, and choose the tactics that work best.

Are you focused solely on getting the “daily laundry” out the door each day?

Direct mail is staging a comeback! Instead of concentrating solely on saturated channels such as email and social media, marketers are once again embracing mail’s superior open and conversion rates. To produce the best results requires both creative designs and compliance with postal mail best practices. Designers who have spent little time with direct mail may need to get up to speed on the details that make a direct mail campaign successful.

The volume and complexity of the US Postal Service’s Domestic Mail Manual can be overwhelming, but creative people need to focus on only a few important areas to ensure their designs flow smoothly through the mail. Design missteps that affect mailability can be expensive. Errors discovered at production time increase costs and put deadlines in jeopardy. A bit of knowledge is all it takes to prevent last-minute disasters and get maximum value from direct mail campaigns.

Printers understand about the impact printed items can have on people. Interacting with print involves multiple human senses including smell, touch, and hearing-besides the visual aspect. Designers that concentrate mainly on digital mediums may not realize how to get the best results from their printed projects. They don’t know what they don’t know

Printing can involve complicated and exacting specifications that creative people must take into consideration during the design process. Informed designers working closely with printers will produce the most desirable outcome. Dialogs that begin with the questions below create favorable collaborations.

Nearly all printing companies have by now pondered the idea of adding digital inkjet devices to their production floors. Top performing companies have already made the move, and it’s paying off for them. Over 50% of the top 50 U.S. print providers on the Printing Impressions 400 list are running production inkjet presses. 75% of them are experiencing revenue growth. It’s no wonder that inkjet is so popular, but printers have lots of choices when they decide to invest in an inkjet press. How do you know which one is right?