Back in early November I wrote a post about my experience using Twitter to connect with people in China. At the time I had just spent a couple of months really focusing on the site and my network. Prior to that, I had been using it sparingly and had not truly considered the possibilities.

"The more you put into it, the more you get out of it." - social media. If you don't consider what it is you want to achieve or take time to think of how you want to do this, you will probably FAIL. Its like going to a Networking mtg and not talking to anyone or giving out a business card or two and then returning to the office declaring it a waste of time.

I decided I had 4 points to consider:

1. Grow existing connections and new relationships within the graphic arts industry
2. Learn from, and educate, others in the online marketing community
3. Create awareness and demand for Kodak B2B technology
4. Engage and excite people about creativity in print

I am happy with my progress to date on the first 3 points and decided that I needed to focus on the 4th point for a while.

Working for Kodak affords me an almost endless supply of leading edge products to talk about. From the Kodak ZX1 pocket video to the amazing developments in high volume inkjet we call Prosper, I could spend the rest of the year talking about revenue generating ideas and differentiating yourself from the competition with Kodak.

But lets just take it 50 tweets at a time shall we...

For my first attempt at a Tweet Campaign, I chose the Kodak Nexpress and the dimensional ink solution. It allows you to 'add feeling to print'. Unlike raised ink from long ago, dimensional ink can be 'controlled'. The first time I saw felt it, I stated to those around me that if I was still doing print creative, "I could come up with 50 ideas for this in a heartbeat".

I decided that, pumping out one amusing or potential use for it each day would be fairly easy and would help me cover points 1,2,3 and add focus on point 4.

For 50 days I posted a potential use of Kodak dimensional ink and how it could truly differentiate yourself and your client. I actually thought of one each morning over a coffee - live without a net...on the net! Some im quite proud of like the use of Braille, the fake 'wax seal, the cheque holders for restaurants, the individually themed menus for each restaurant tables...its quite fun doing this and im confident it ads value for the people that follow me.



Success.

Several people asked me about the technology, each day people 'RT'd' posts or messaged me as to where they could get it done or more information about it. Some Kodak Nexpress owners received inquiries everywhere from Ottawa, New Jersey to Wellington New Zealand and Mumbai, India.

People discovered that it was for Commercial printing and not a Kodak AIO printer, as amusing as these conversations were, it showed that I had informed more people about the breadth of our commercial products.

Two actual Kodak Nexpress owners sent ideas in for me to tweet. Some consumer oriented Kodak employees even suggested ideas for the technology.

A Kodak customer from India asked for templates to try the idea from a blog I did last year.
2 digital printers have since demo'd the Nexpress.

From a marketing communications perspective, it was a success. With print followers on Twitter seeing the support the Kodak team enjoys providing to its Customers. It added credibility to our statement, helping customers grow their business and some of the ideas made people smile!

A search on Google for Kodak dimensional ink showed that my twitter account had risen to the top 10 results page - even after I had completed the campaign over 8 weeks ago.



Hmmm...what will happen with live search and ports like Google?

...if I were to research a new product and the search results showed 5 static sites with mostly outdated content - or 3 or 4 live links to employees on a social network that I am already a part of...I would choose the live ones. Consider where this will take the internet in the next 24 months.

I have since reposted an idea or two each week and have translated the ideas into Chinese language for posting on local sites here in China. I actually repost the ideas a few times each week on twitter, and they still get retweeted like it was new.



Creativity has been and will always be the true game changer for companies, technology and people. Business just needs to listen!

These days, launching a marketing campaign is getting easier and harder to do successfully...millions of radio stations, millions of tv stations, millions of websites...

It tough getting your message into the hands and minds of your markets...really tough if you decide to forget print or choose one channel.

The effort you make on strategy makes all the difference. Its pretty easy to:
produce a banner ad - get a traffic report - slap a PPT together for the Boss.

• Drop a brochure in the mail and wait for a response.
• Have an event and invite the people you know will show up and you knew were in buying mode already.
• Execute the safe.

Doing the same thing repeatedly is what a robot does really well, if this sounds like you...its time to be a little more organic.

Robots have yet to replace the left brain and right brain working together - information and creativity. Understanding how to be effective is crucial. Having a team that can execute your vision is, of course, beneficial. Multi-touch marketing campaigns are effective and help make your brand stand out in a crowd.

P

You are a marketer living in a world with print technology we could only dream about 10 years ago and couldn't even imagine 20 years ago. Why would you throw this opportunity away? Because everything is online? Don't believe everything u read on the Internet, (except this blog), most of them are still learning what a fact checker is. Print is highly effective, if you take the time to develop a strategy.

Today we have photo quality, variable data, short run printing with a host of options including, Kodak dimensional ink , 60+ megapixel digital camera backs and printers connected across the globe. If your message is targeted and relevant, print will get their undivided attention.

No one reads an email or listens to a voice ad the same way they read your printed, personalized message - its in their hands and for the moment - has their undivided attention. Add Kodak dimensional ink and they can feel the difference your product could make. No one gets an error 401 when they turn a page in your book and no one gets a virus from viewing your product photos. If you are trying to build relationships, print can add trust to your message.

Statements to be mailed? Don't forget to include transpromo in your campaign, it's a low cost method to add personalisation and exclusivity to the project - ask @patmcgrew on twitter.

When I get a piece of mail from a company...and they get it right - it leaves a stamp.

O

Getting a response online that counts for something is tough. Do the million hits pay the rent? ...or are you selling lots of Viagra.

How many people go to a shopping cart on a website, but leave before they check out? Does that actually happen at a real store? I don't see too many shopping carts half-full piling up in front of the checkout - but it happens allot online. These kind of statistics are more important than the usual hits and views report - make sure you get this information from your web master and make changes to the process to improve your checkout totals.

Ask your marketing department or ask a printer about pURLs....- 'personalized URLs'. For pennies per name in your database you can have a unique domain name printed on each piece. Its been proven the world over that it drives response rates into double digit territory.

E

Salespeople love events - the people that visit are usually in research or buying mode and are open to discuss plans. For a sales person, its easier to have a prospect come to them, then to face rejection over the phone or in person.

There aren't too many experiences that top an in-person meeting. But a video testimonial? This can potentially trump an event or site visit - especially if it goes VIRAL. Viral become the holy grail of aspiring marketing rockstars. But 'going viral' is rare - do something that you can manage a good response from - try keeping track of all the people that visit your event or booth and mail a printed variable data booklet for them after the show - with their photo on the cover. Most marketers hope to do something that catches on and goes viral, but fail to include a follow-up plan to handle the volume of response. In the end your brand suffers.

If you are maintaining your database and supporting your 'creative engine', you could leverage this opportunity online with a little help from a Pocket video camera (Kodak makes really good ones) and a social media site like Twitter or Facebook .

Call it 'word of mouse', if you cannot meet and greet all those prospects and valued customers at an event, get them to sign up to twitter or facebook and keep in touch with them online. A couple hours of effective use of social media each week is probably better than a week of internal email strife. Mailing a brochure or sending a monthly enewsletter is ok, but they dont build relationships like social media.

M

Your graphic designer and marketing guru(s) have written sparkling copy and created jaw dropping imagery and you convinced a key customer to provide a video testimonial at your event. Finally, you managed to get 100 prospects to follow your every movement on twitter. You just might have the ingredients for a multimedia stew you can deliver online with a campaign microsite. Targeted sites get high search rankings for free because they answer the google question correctly. Do not take the site down when the campaign is over - the internet is not very forgiving. Leave the site up and make note on the site that your offer has expired. If it's a subdomain it costs you nothing, but you retain the search potential.

With so many possibilities, its good to find a way to remember things...

Print, Online, Event and Multimedia = POEM.

If you mis-spell it, you will regret it.

Since some people are calling for the death of print I felt it was a good time to explain why I disagree... but see their point.

I have enjoyed creating with all media - Print, Online, Events and Radio and TV. To me, print is still the most rewarding, it may not always get the neat little stat report that the boss wants, but it sticks around.

If you have ever sat down and read a hardcover book, you must notice the difference between this experience and reading a webpage or listening to TV. Reading the printed word is rewarding, enriching and, assuming your not just looking at the pictures...it makes you smarter. You even look more intelligent while you read a book!

I love photography online, kodakgallery, Flickr, Smugmug, photobucket, all great stuff. Editing a little video and pushing it out is cool. Producing a website is very satisfying. I Love to tweet.

I do all this because I like to be productive and I like to collaborate with peers and share with friends and family. But to me, print is a bit little more unique...

I trust a message in print.

I can feel a message in print.

I can carry a message in print.

I can get somewhere with a message in print.

I can prove something with print.

I can save a special message in print.

I can auction off a message in print.

I can build relationships with print.

I can collect and trade print.

...I trust print.

I trust that the newspaper I subscribe to employs a fact checker.

I trust that my drivers license is real and so do the police.

I trust that my passport will get me home.

I trust that the letter my friend mails to me will not contain a virus.

I trust the hotel I stay at wont replace the 'book' with a weblink I have to pay 20 bucks a day for.

I trust that the framed photo on my wall will be there, long after the image on the DVD went corrupt and the hard drive crashed.

I trust that the written contract with my employer, my landlord and my lawyer will still be valid.

I trust that people still require fake ID to get into some places.

I trust that reading print will not damage my eyes like the computer did.

I have a long, trusted relationship with print. Why would I want to wrap my dead fish up in it and throw it away?

• The radio still does what it did 40 years ago
• TV does the same thing it did 20 years ago.

It must be that dang Internet!

How can the internet kill print when the radio and tv have done less to evolve? Why isn't the death of radio imminent?

I can think of 3 reasons...

• WE ARE NOW LAZY...print needs to be interactive and more convenient if it wants to continue being a pillar of society.
• WE ARE NOW STUPID...print needs to show us that keeping up to date on MJ's estate or Britney's latest isn't all that important.
• WE DON'T CARE...we are so busy we don't check facts, we don't have time for anything including a 'trusted source'

Kind of harsh, I know.

TV isn't dead because we are lazy and plasma screens are cool.

Radio isn't dead because the music industry is and its cheaper to listen to the radio.

Print is portable, you can take it anywhere...except we are lazy and we don't go anywhere.

We buy magazines at the airport, we look for a paper when we have to sit and wait, but we don't subscribe. We are lazy.

Companies issue statements and bills but cant quite see the benefits of transpromo? Think about it ...we are lazy-and stupid.

How many years has your DVD player been reminding you it was 12 o'clock?

We are getting stupider.

Print has a glorious opportunity to change dramatically, take risks and explore new adventures in the industry. The industry does not need to be organized by annual reports, magazines, newspapers, books and boxes. We don't really need to play chicken and drop 'fried' from our title.

Print needs to 'be with stupid' and needs to be interactive and cool.

Print needs to be aggressive - it needs to be in our face and our hands a lot faster and in more relevant places. Print needs to fall in love with creativity - fast. We print the boxes that people try to think outside of - print something that people need to read!

Some experts predict the internet will replace books, newspapers, advertising, just about everything.
Just like video killed radio...

Why do content providers get paid less and less if the goal is to get 300 million page views?

Print does not make much of an effort in going on the offensive. Newspapers look like newspapers, books look like books. Perhaps trying new things is an opportunity to fail and these days most companies and employees do not want to associate themselves with that risk. So they stick to the usual and attempt to ride out the storm.

But this storm is a little different. When the dust settles the air will be a little cleaner, the trees in the forest will be stronger. The ones that didn't 'adapt or adopt' will not be here.

And because of this, I think print just turned 55.

People love nice business cards...

Some startups, long before they get the funding to do the next big thing online - get a card done.

A business card is arguably the single most important marketing tool a startup or an established business has in its arsenal. It's the first thing you offer to a new client. It's the first impression, it's the only thing in your pocket at a networking event besides your camera, phone and wallet.

Sure, websites are supporting material...but most people don't leave your booth or event looking at a screen - you need to do something unique and discreet.

Ever take your business on a roadshow only to realize you have so many products and so little room to transport your supporting material that you have to pare down the list?

With seminars being an expensive adventure its important that all your products are represented well. To reduce the expense of shipping, handling and managing volumes its worth considering an alternate method.

A few years ago, in preparation for an extensive roadshow in New Zealand and various shows in Australia we took stock of all the brochures we had on hand, looked at the cost of shipping and handling and considered taking a small sampling of only the key products. Airlines charge quite a bit for extra weight.

The concern was missed opportunities and the price of sacrifice.

But - we have the Kodak Nexpress Digital Production Press.

We don't need to reduce our inventory of titles, we simply need to reduce the volume and size - no compromise!

Here is what we did...

We took our existing business card template, designed a basic acrylic desktop stand and added a set of 'postcard styled racks' for the major shows to hold the complete set.

In all, we designed 90 cards, each had a single image on the front



and highlighted 4 or 5 benefits, functions or features of the technology. The back of the cards had a variable watermark and a basic design with contact details to reach the marketing team and a www unique landing page - at the time, only advertised on these cards. The cards were not designed to replace existing collateral - they were designed to tease.

The time to design 90 cards was about a month, we used existing images, copy and added an amusing slogan to get folks to pay attention. For software we livened it up a little and had some fun.

In all we did a print run of 85,000 cards and by years end we had given out an estimated 65,000. Perhaps a bit eager on the first run - after all, it is short run variable data!

The cards could be stored in traditional business card boxes making it easy to stack-n-ship. We took only as many as needed - but every product was represented.



The desktop stands are made of white and clear acrylic, the Kodak logo is vinyl adhesive making the costs low and the potential to modify easy. They stack like lawn chairs meaning you can take 3 of these in a large suitcase and about 12000 cards without paying extra at the airport.

This means we were able to have marketing material for 21 products and with the help of the unique landing page, we were able to capture responses long after the show, knowing they were from the feature cards. You could probably redesign this basic stand to include a Kodak digital frame...wireless...hmmm.



The postcard racks were a different story, again, perhaps a bit ambitious at the start, however they were built quite well and 3 years later still show up in the demo centre in Australia. They also have space for 8 A4 sized brochures.

We took this one step further after the roadshow...

Most companies offer some sort of thank you/give away product at a stand. What we did was take a nice business card holder with the Kodak logo engraved on it and insert 15 feature cards in each in advance of roadshow dates or events. A bit of work, but a great learning tool for new staff and even existing customers to understand the extent of our huge product portfolio... and a unique form of demand generation to boot!



For an Awards show, we had 500 guests seated. In advance of their arrival, we took 500 card holders, inserted 15 cards each and added two 'wild cards' for prize draws. We placed them on the seats, so when they arrived they picked them up and took a look at the contents prior to the start of the festivities. That's 7500 cards in one evening...and two Kodak cameras! People were happy, impressed and talkative after the event. We simply could not have been as effective with A4 material, a website or a TVC.

Now try it with Kodak Dimensional Ink!

What did we learn?

• A company that uses competitive products does not want to be seen at a tradeshow with a handful of your brochures? This solves the problem.
• After a 1-on-1 presentation, Product demonstrators hand an elegant business card holder with their own card and several product feature cards.
• 300-350gsm paper and 20 cards per A3 sheet equaled one set per holder printed and cut on a single page - made insertion and collating easy.
• leads were generated for products that would have otherwise not have made the trip.
• people discovered we had more products than they originally thought.
• you can add exclusive offers on the back, hand them out at shows.

The cost? The card holders were less than A$1.75 each. The printing was no different than your typical business card run. (how much do u spent per unit on give aways?)

Have a seminar with 100 invited guests? Do some variable data short run printing and spend $200 on the card holders. Less expensive then an A4 run and you can utilize custom URLS to keep the content fresh.

Think about it...how much $ did your last banner ad cost to design and post?

These days lots of people are saying print needs to think outside the box.

...Its time to print a new box.

Late last year I attended the China Print show in Shanghai China

Due to the language barrier, I decided that bit of exploration was a better use of my time. It was interesting to see the differences in booth layout and the floor plan of the event itself. Although it looked like any other show, it had its differences.

One that caught my eye was the amount of booth space devoted to educational concerns.

To be able to stop and see some print history and meet people that train the next generation of print heads seemed a more effective use of my time than doing hand gestures to sell a Nexpress to a Chinese printer.

The Educators had the same footprint as the big manufacturers did. To me this was a refreshing change, I am not sure if they were offered a discount or some financial support to pave the way, but I think it was a great idea. Tradeshows I have been to in other countries seem to put them in a small spot in low traffic areas forcing them to have a stand with a few magazines and two lonely people trying to get people to sign up for a newsletter.

One person, toiling away hour after hour on the stand was this person.

He seemed oblivious to the crowds that were wandering over and stopping to see what he was up to. I grabbed a coffee and sat down beside him and watched how fast he chipped and carved away at his wooden plate. Last time I did platemaking like this, Al Gore was almost finished inventing the internet.

Of course this has to be a hobby now, there is truly no chance he will get a job to continue honing his craft... or is there?

In the business world of today, all we seem to care about is:

Good-Cheap-Fast...pick any two.

If this were for signage or a poster, would it really matter if it took him 4 hours to produce it? I would wage a bet that if you dropped by a local service bureau and asked them to produce 500 copies of this...it probably would take 4 hours right? Maybe overnight? ...depends on how much you want to spend.

So here in Shanghai, he is still a viable alternative to other forms of printing!

Would you sit around and watch the production person produce this same material on a computer...probably not. But you would show up 3 hours later to request a change. But for this guy, you are too late, he would be 75% finished and you have to live with the decision you made 3 hours ago.

It takes him 4 hours to produce an A4 sized piece of text, and you could do it in 20 minutes with your mac.

But...How much time do you spend revising it?

How much time do you spend sending it off to your team asking for input or concensus?

How many revisions do you make?

I guess when you consider everything involved...you are probably typing at the same speed as this guy. 1 word per minute.

Except he is a craftsman and he attracts crowds of people at events to watch.

Imaging if it was your logo he was chipping away at... hire this man, he does 1wpm.

Does your company make use of social networking sites like Ning, Twitter, Pownce, Facebook or Plurk?

Strange names, but wasn't Google and Yahoo odd sounding not too long ago?...

Social networking sites are beginning to get better at making themselves relevant to the business world and some businesses are starting to realize it's a productive tool if used properly.

Recently, I relocated to Shanghai and what can I tell you, I don't speak mandarin, I don't know anyone here, I cant drive in China... so how do I network? How do I create awareness and demand?...how do I work!?

To start, I have made an effort to reach out to the creative and print community in Shanghai and the rest of Asia and let them know I support them and want to help them improve their image in print. It is estimated there are over 500,000 expats living in this area and lots of them are making use of online networking tools to connect.

Great response!

In one short, and turbulent month, these tools have grown my network to over 700 companies ... imagine what this could do for your company - 700 new customers in one month using freely available technology to tell the world what makes you different!

What if your graphic arts business wanted to connect online?

Imagine finding all the agencies and designers in your country and letting then know you can offer certified colour-accurate proofing using Kodak technology.

Imagine publishing a free photo gallery and proudly displaying your clients work and inviting prospects via twitter.

How about letting all those commercial photographers know you offer photo-realistic printing with Kodak staccato screening technology?

Do you use Kodak remote proofing technology? Tweet about it and expand your coverage and your market. Let them know you are just a few clicks away.

Web-to-Print operation? Get clicking... you have no excuse!

Or maybe just getting your customers to follow you on twitter and let them know your latest promotion or award. If they don't get it, tell them to ask their kids.

What do I do with social networking here? I publish a link to 1 Commercial photographer of the day and 1 creative site of the week, everyone loves great photos and creative and its not always on youtube...oh yeah, that's social networking too. Recently a commercial printer in Quebec Canada uploaded a fun video on why he loves print  - it has over 150,000 views to-date. In fact you have probably looked at it just now!

I connect with marketers, printers, associations, publishers, designers and bloggers from all over the world and I share their ideas.

It takes me about 30 minutes a day. Somehow it seems more productive then the time I spend using email! ...and NO spam to deal with.

Connect your graphic arts business with me on twitter, tell me what makes you different, and I will share it.

6 degrees is a lot warmer with social networking.