Dali

I walked into my office and found this on my filing cabinet.  One of my co-workers knew I would get a kick out of it.  I think this is brilliant and I wonder if the Salvador Dali Estate receives any royalties from it. 

Variable Data

If I could receive a dollar for every time in the past three years someone has asked me "can we/you do variable data" I would probably have enough money to buy a new surf board.  The fact is that everyone has the tools required to do it but very few have enough data to do it effectively.  The first thing I ask my clients when they want to start a variable data campaign is SHOW ME THE DATA.  Admittedly, most my clients are not the size of a national bank, insurance company or auto manufacturer who have huge amounts of data on their customers.  But that doesn't mean smaller, local companies can't do it.  In some ways it can be much more personal coming from a local company.  Isn't that what we all want with our customers, a personal connection?  This is what variable data is really all about.  The more information you know about your customer the more effective and the more personal your campaign will be.  Local by the way is a huge advantage.  My suggestion is to try this.  Take a small sampling of (25-50) contacts that you would like to do business with or who you are already doing business with and gather information about their business.  Information that I find useful is industry type, competition and what channel they use to sell their product(s).  Coordinate a series of mailings, phone calls, emails (if you have more than 40% of your clients email you are doing better than most by the way) and 3D marketing pieces.  Aside from making some great connections with this group it will lead you to the information you need from your other clients and prospects to continue your campaign.

C Street

I am curious to know if anyone was able to make it to Ventura today.  This picture doesn't do it justice...taken from my phone.  7'-8' faces and hardly anyone out there.  I was able to schedule my work week to coincide with the swell that hit today.  Lots of clients in Ventura.

Breakfast in SoCal

My brother Gino is a cameraman for a television station in Salem Oregon.  He was fortunate enough to be assigned the national championship game in Phoenix on Monday.  He stopped in LA on the way back to visit the family.  This morning we went to County Line for a quick surf session.  The conditions were not ideal but it didn't really matter.  It was great to catch up with him and enjoy the beautiful coastline.  Sometimes I get so caught up in my daily life that I forget about the things that really matter. 

In House

The printing company that I work for has experienced a steady increase in sales over the last six months.  I am sure there are lots of reasons for this; increased sales efforts, a slight pick up in the economy and a rebirth of branding to name a few.  There may, however, be an even bigger force at work.  In the last month I have had three prospects ask me the same question; "do you do all your work in house?".  This is a question I haven't heard in over five years.  It was a question that every prospect asked...... back in the day.  Why do they ask this question?  One reason is control and this relates to branding.  There is value here that is difficult to measure in terms of dollars but smart marketing people get it.  It's about timely and consistent execution.  Another reason is localism.  If they can afford it most people would prefer to buy local.  A printer that brokers items is often times going out of the city or state if not the country they live in to get it.  Which brings me to this biggest reason why prospects are asking if we do all our work in house.  One would think that producing everything in house means a cost savings but this is not always the case due to increased labor and materials to name just a few reasons.  Again, the smart marketing people get this.  What does this mean?  People are willing to pay a little more to ensure that their printed materials are produced with a certain quality, on time and locally.  Definitely a good sign for our economy. 
If you would like to know more about my printing company: http://www.crprint.com/