Thoughts on Leading a Creative Team During Stressful Times

Thoughts on Leading a Creative Team During Stressful TimesAnyone who has been in a creative team knows that while the work is often satisfying, it can get stressful at times. The team could be facing short deadlines, the client may have requested adjustments to proposals, or the task at hand may be more challenging than the team anticipated. The stress is even greater when you are the creative director and answerable on behalf of your members. How do you navigate stressful situations and keep the team’s focus on the expected output? What soft skills do you need in such scenarios?Continue Reading..

How Postcards Translate Into More Online Sales

How Postcards Translate Into More Online SalesPrinted postcards are one of the most powerful forms of direct marketing. Their versatility means that both big and small businesses can include them in their marketing strategy. Despite the emergence of new high-tech channels for reaching customers, here are a few ways sending postcards generates more online sales.Continue Reading..

How to Maintain Color Consistency as You Expand

How to Maintain Color Consistency as You ExpandWhile all things change with time, there is always room for improvement. Certain types of change can have a negative impact. Sometimes, that’s because it isn’t a universal change. In other words, when there becomes too much variation across a product line that should have very little-to-no volatility; it can detract from the overall quality of that product line. That is one of the many reasons that it’s vital to maintain color consistency through an expansion.

There are many reasons to expand. For instance, if a company’s sales have reached a point where you can’t keep up with customer demands without additional locations. Another reason a company might want to expand is that they’ve established a high enough reputation to the point that a second location is bound to carry over and bring in new business.Continue Reading..

Why GMI Certification is Important for Packaged Products

Why GMI Certification is Important for Packaged ProductsConsistency is key, they say. That saying applies to everything under the sun, from learning the piano through consistent practice to learning how to ride a bike and even mastering the strategic game of chess. And in print marketing, consistency is entirely vital. So, that’s where GMI certification comes into play.

And GMI certification is one of the ways the printing industry standardizes and qualifies the various printing companies. Quality control in printing is a crucial element, as many print jobs are so large in volume that a single error or misprint can cost companies significant money.Continue Reading..

How Print Plays a Role in Your Marketing Automation

How Print Plays a Role in Your Marketing AutomationEvolution is the further development of something that already exists. That is unlike invention, which is the creation of something from nothing. As such, new business practices are often evolutions and further developments in pre-existing tactics and strategies. Print marketing, for example, is a tried and true method of marketing. However, implementing technology and new aged business tactics into print marketing elevates the marketing strategy. One such innovation in recent years is marketing automation.

Marketing automation and customer communication management software came into the limelight over the past decade or so. These business tools assist companies and communication teams in customer outreach, customer support, and marketing activities.

Properly utilizing these technologies results in many organization-wide benefits. Some of those benefits include higher customer satisfaction rates, personalized customer communication, better customer experience, and even operational efficiency and higher employee satisfaction rates. Therefore, implementing these tools and the best practices that go with them is really a no-brainer.Continue Reading..

How to Manage High Emotions in Creative Environments

How to Manage High Emotions in Creative EnvironmentsThe fact that there are two halves of the human brain is widely accepted. The left side of the brain accounts for logic, critical thinking, and objectivity. On the other hand, the right side of the brain is responsible for more creative activity. Behavior related to the brain’s right side includes emotional intelligence, visual processing, intuition, and imagination. In other words, the brain’s left side is very calculated, and the right side of the brain is artistic. In the business world, there are many instances in which both logic and creativity are necessary, making it vital to have a leader who can manage high emotions.

Including creative personalities on business, projects are a bit of a double-edged sword. The creativity, imagination, and unconventional problem solving that creatives bring to the table offer undeniable value to corporate organizations.

However, like with all art, the quality of creativity is often subjective. What one designer or artist might find compelling, beautiful, and well worthwhile, another artist might find completely distasteful and uninspired. Herein lies the management challenge when it comes to creative environments and creative personalities.Continue Reading..

How to Use Creative Print Marketing to Boost Local Business

How to Use Creative Print Marketing to Boost Local BusinessThey say there is no such thing as a domestic market anymore. That is due to the rise of the global economy. As such, there has been a stronger emphasis, in recent years, on acquiring a share of the worldwide market. While a significant international economy is emerging, the value of local markets and local businesses is still very viable in the global landscape of 2020.

Print marketing might not sound like the splashiest marketing these days. That is true when compared to new-aged marketing campaigns that make use of multiple technologies and advanced techniques. However, there are many ways to integrate new aged marketing tactics into the age-old print marketing methods.Continue Reading..

3 Color Management Challenges with a Global Supply Chain

The domestic economy began to end at the onset of the era of technology and information. With that end came the beginning of a much more global economy that is both intertwined and inter-connected. While the shift from a domestic economy to a global one bridged the world in a whole new way, it also brought on its fair share of new obstacles. The supply chain for nearly every industry has been disrupted. Color management, for example, is one industry that faced a brand new set of challenges.

Color management is the systematic conversion of color-perception and representation across different devices. In other words, ensuring that the same shade of blue appears on the website, as does on the mobile version. Or that green retains its shade from digital to print.

Color management is a practice that yields more consistency in the way your brand represents itself to the consumer. In turn, color management drives impactful metrics like customer loyalty, customer trust, and brand perception.Continue Reading..

How to Use IP Targeting Strategy with Print Marketing

How to Use IP Targeting Strategy with Print MarketingDo you have an IP targeting strategy? There are some trends and strategies that are fads. In other words, temporary. However, on the other side of things – some strategies or tactics become pillars, permanent fixtures of sorts. Print marketing, for example, is still one of the most effective marketing strategies in existence. The conversion metrics of print marketing speak for themselves. Yet, print marketing strategies can benefit from implementing updated tactics, like IP targeting.Continue Reading..

Print Marketing Statistics Show Print Is Still Valuable

Print Marketing Statistics Show Print Is Still Valuable“The pen is mightier than the sword.” The famous phrase penned by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, still carries its weight today nearly 200 years later. The written word is an art form, a medium, and a communication tool with an incredible array of capability. Print media and print marketing are prime examples of how powerful the written word can be. Print marketing statistics make the argument that print is still valuable.

Even in an age that is so incredibly digitally-integrated, print marketing maintains a hold on a portion of the market by driving significant marketing and conversion metrics.

While it’s crucial to focus on digital-integration and the implementation of technologies and software to improve access and reach, there is no reason to abandon print marketing efforts.Continue Reading..