CBF Group's blog

At the moment it seems everywhere you go all you hear about is Social Media..Social Media..Social Media.

People are forever asking me; are you on Twitter, are you on Facebook, have you got a Pinterest account?

By the way for reference the answers are Yes, No and I am but not quite sure how & when it happened.

Anyway, for anyone who knows me personally or CBF as a business, will know that we are fairly partial to dabbling in the realms of Social Media. We focus on using every aspect of Twitter to create more leads and to spread the word that CBF are on the front line for providing print knowledge.

Being in the print trade I can tell you that social media is most definitely not killing off the need for printed materials.

It may sound controversial but yes, I am saying there is enough room on this planet of ours for social media and printed solutions to exist. If anything, I am saying that if businesses learned how to link the two together they would see leads and positive feedback like never before.

Here is an example of how this can be put in to effect. I would like to state because I am not a lawyer in my spare time and to be brutally honest I am not a huge fan of being sued no names are going to be mentioned in this example as it is based on a real case study.

There was a company that produced machinery for a much specialised industry. The industry was in fact so specialised, they only had a handful of competitors. However, to the Directors annoyance they were will not creating the sales they needed and the company was fast losing money.

The directors decided to do something about this and decided to bring in a Social Media guru to help them create a strategy to build their business. In short the amazing Guru told them to drag themselves into the present times and use the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter, to start writing a blog and create videos to post on Facebook and YouTube.

The company took the comments of the Social Media Guru and starting acting on them, although at first it did whip up a bit of a frenzy as the phones soon stopped ringing and the inquiries dropped.

In the weeks to follow, thought provoking chin strokes occurred and coffee fuelled all night meetings took place to try and come up with a solution to save the business. In the end a member of staff threw forward an idea that turned out to be a stroke of genius.

His statement was “why don’t we use the positive aspects of both print and social media to help point at our USP’s (unique selling points).”

Lots of Godfather style ponderous head nods followed, then eventually one of the directors set the employee the task of taking his idea and making it work.

Obviously, the case study did not give away all of the trade secrets but some that were mentioned were as follows.

He created a marketing pack that was sent out to all potential customers explaining who they were, what they did and why the customer should be looking at them to be their provider.

What he also included in the index of a brochure was a list of five or so YouTube links pointing the reader to videos showing certain aspects of their machinery and services they offer. Essentially turning what could be a fairly boring read into more of an appealing visual concept he also felt this would make their business seem more tangible.

He also introduced a similar idea to leaflets and booklets that were given out. Instead of simply stating on the material that they have a Facebook, Twitter accounts etc, he pointed out links educating the reader on how to become social media savvy themselves so they can interact with the customer. What is the point of telling someone you are on a social media website if they don’t know where to find you?

On the flip side, when using the twitter account he starting advertising to people to sign up to their newsletter that got posted out every 6 months and once again used social media to point at printed materials to create a more rounded, professional feel to the business.

Again, I am going to have to fudge the facts a little to hide the identity of the actual business but I can assure you the figures I am about to use are not a million miles away from the truth.

Within one year they increased their inquiries by “160%”, due to their customers have a clearer idea of the services which were being offered and they achieved a conversion rate of “80%”.

Needless to say the company is now thriving and is still growing rapidly to this day.

One thing I can say is that the company in this case study was a big company with a turnover of millions. This doesn’t mean that the structure put in place by mixing Social media with printed materials cannot be introduced into any sized business.

If you would like to learn more about how to introduce a similar structure in to your business, then why not book in to have a free consultancy with us? One of our team will work with you to make sure you are getting the most out of your business marketing.

Adam & the CBF team.

Sadly it is a fact of life that to keep your business running there are bills that have to be paid and suppliers you need to keep happy. We have all had it at one time or another when a payment has slipped, you fall out of favour with your supplier and all of a sudden you have extra stress that you really could do without.

Suppliers have to implement payment structures otherwise receiving payments for services they have provided would be near impossible. Especially with how tight money is for some businesses at the moment, suppliers can end up chasing money which is rightfully theirs for weeks, months or even years.

Staying in the good books of your suppliers is one of the most important things you can do to maintain and grow your business. Without the full support of your suppliers your business will not function to its full potential.

There are a couple of basic payment structures that most suppliers will keep to and these are as follows.

Percentage up front

This payment method is usually used in industries where the work load being undertaken by the supplier is variable.

For example: Graphic designers, Architects, Consultants etc.

Here is an example: Customer (Adam) speaks to supplier (LG Design) with regards to a quote for designing the artwork for some marketing flyers. Based on the information given by Adam, the estimator from LG Design will calculate how many hours he thinks it will take to create the artwork.

Let’s say LG Design thinks it will take six hours to create a couple of design options including a round of amendments. LG Design charges £50 per hour, which means they will take a payment of £150.00 up front. This is done because if Adam ends up not liking both design options and then ends up having to have 3 or 4 amended versions the total artwork time could actually end up being 10 hours. This means his total bill would have gone up from the original estimated price of £300 to £500. What could happen is Adam say he had only budgeted for the £300 and cannot afford the £500 bill. Most of the time the supplier and the customer will come to an arrangement to make sure all the money is eventually paid off in full. Worst case scenario for LG Design is for Adam to disappear without paying the bill but as least he has the £150 from the upfront payment to cover for some of the time and revenue lost.

Payment on receipt of invoice

This structure is most commonly used when a supplier is dealing with a customer for the first time. As the supplier is yet to discover if the potential customer is a good payer or not, they will request payment on delivery of the goods/service.

This essentially means as soon as the supplier has completed their part of the contracted agreement they can ask for payment immediately. The payment methods most commonly offered by the supplier will be by cash, cheque, credit/debit card or BACS payment.

Example:

Adam has now had his marketing flyers designed and has gone to his local printer to have them printed. Once the printer has printed the materials to the agreed specification and arranged to have the flyers delivered/collected they can issue an invoice for immediate payment.

This is almost like a retail payment method. When you go to the shops to buy a can of beans you pay for them there and then, you don’t come back three days later to pay for them.

Accounts contract

Accounts are usually set up between a customer and supplier when there has been a decision made by the customer that they will use the supplier’s service on a regular basis.

Example:

Adam’s original marketing flyer drop has brought his business in a lot of work and is now in need of repeat print order for office and marketing purposes.

Once Adam and the printer have got a couple of completed orders and payments behind them the printer will most likely offer Adam an account. Depending on the supplier having an account usually means they will offer you 7, 14 or even 28 days on your payments. This means from the date the invoice is issued you will have a set amount of days to pay by.

Suppliers do not have to offer this facility to their customers and it is hugely based on trust between the supplier and the customer. Customers should always remember this is a privilege and should always keep to their end of the contract by paying within the set amount of days.

All this said, as long as there is trust between you and the supplier these payments options do not have to be the be all and end all. As long as you are open and upfront with your supplier they will do everything they can to make sure you get the service you need with a payment structure you are happy with. Alternatively, if your supplier is not willing to be flexible you can always take your business elsewhere and your supplier will be fully aware of this fact. If you don’t ask you won’t get so always make time to speak to your suppliers about these kinds of matters. Suppliers are not scary monsters; they may even surprise you with how much they will actually do if you just ask them.

If you are not happy or are confused about your current payment terms with regards to your print provider, then why not give CBF a call and see if we can help.

Adam out!

There are numerous types or print service that can be offered by a print supplier, ranging from short run budget flyers up to multi site print management.

There currently seem to be a lot of printers gearing themselves up for the cheap and cheerful, fast turnaround work and neglecting high quality Business Print.

What is Business print?

Like anything the term business print can be interpreted in many different ways but I believe it to be the print that makes you stand apart from you competitors. Professional companies for example solicitors, accountants, law firms and wealth management consultants are all well known in the industry for their business print.

With the industries being so competitive every single item of stationary, marketing or office materials have to be to the highest specification as it all represents the quality of their service. For instance you will never see a FIA with a Vista print business card (no offence Vista).

What kind of materials come under Business Print?

Essentially anything that may be seen by a client or potential client is business print. Some examples of business print are letterheads, compliment slips, personalised envelopes, legal corners, report covers, corporate brochures, business cards, document folders, invitations and so on.

What methods are there to help personalise my business print?

As business print is all about standing out from your competitor there is no point going for cheap and cheerful, this will not portray your business in the light intended. Some of the methods you can use to enhance the quality of your print are;

Using a thicker/higher grade paper stock * Using thermo graphical or foil block processes to literally make your print stand out * Watermark or watermark effects within the artwork * Personalising your materials * Making sure all you brand colours, logo’s and fonts are exactly the same on any print that goes out.

How can CBF improve your Business Print solutions?

At CBF we are all about workflow and with your Businesses printing it’s no different.  At any stage we can tell you where your materials are at and at what stage.  Couple that with the latest printing technology and colour accurate processes we have proven time and time again that we have all the tools to reproduce all print jobs accurately, on-time and within budget.

Do you have your artwork in the correct format? This is the start of the print process and can determine one not only how the end result will look but two, the timelines of completion.  If you have any doubts about the quality and format of your artwork all you have is drop us a line and we will happily steer you in the right direction.  Once your artwork is sorted and the price agreed make sure you understand the timelines and we are fully aware of the delivery instructions i.e. delivery address and the way you would like the boxes packed/labelled.

For the larger organisation and businesses that order various items you may need a larger solution, incorporating our online ordering software (OPC).  This facility works directly with your production sites to process all your orders be it, make to order items or held in stock items. All can be controlled and approved by you prior to production.  We have some of the most advanced online print tools around to help you manage you brand standards and control all your print purchasing costs.   So if you would like a demo or an answer to any print questions then we would love to hear from you, why not drop us a line.

We have had a promotional ruler sat on our office desk for years now and it has to be by far the best gift ever. The reason being we look at it on a daily basis as it has all printing dimensions and measurement conversions on it.

So in a flash of inspiration this morning I thought, “Well if I am using it on a daily basis I am sure there are other people that will find this information useful”.

So here we are people, all those little measurements that you can’t quote remember from you school days in Maths and Science. If you were anything like me then you probably been using the useful promotional ruler to flick paper around the class instead of listening.

UK A Series Paper Sizes (mm)

Poster Sizes:  4A0 1682 x 2376 2A0 1189 x 1682 A0 841 x 1189 A2 420 x 594 A3 297 x 420

Flyer/Document sizes:  A4 297 x 210 A5 210 x 148.5 A6 128.5 x 105 A7 105 x 74

Standard Business Card size:  85 x 55 Compliment Slip:  210 x 99 (known as DL)

UK Measurement Conversions

1 metre/1000mm = 39.37 inches 100mm/10cm = 3.937 inches 304.8mm = 12 inches

24.4mm = 1 inch 1 metre = 3ft 3 inches (approx) 1cm = 0.3937 inches

Now when you come to place a print order or measure anything you will know exactly what you are doing. Why not print this off and keep it on file? You will not believe how much you will refer to it.

Happy Measuring People!!

The CBF team.

Ex-works on a print quote mean that no delivery or fulfilment of your print job has been taken into account.  This terminology has been used if you have not asked for the print items to be sent to a specific location or the weight of the final goods has not been determined.

The end result will be additional charges being added to the invoice for the delivery.

To avoid this make sure you give all the information to the estimator when asking for your print quote.

As we have both Digital and Litho machinery as our disposal we can produce 1 off of most print items digitally.  However be aware that the majority of print costs are in the setup and finishing of the job the cost for 1 complicated item may be prohibitivly expensive. 

Drop us a line for a print quote – 01242 237652

Planning is everything to get your national timing to right for all of your marketing campaign however the print process does require some planning and forethought as the laws of physics cannot be pushed with any aspects of ink drying, print finishing and that very special ‘law of the courier’ that defies all logic sometimes.

So where to start?  What are you planning on having produced? Let’s take a fictitious campaign for a gym chain, now each site will require a set number of materials per site and some will be bigger than others and need more materials so start on a spreadsheet listing all the sites in each row you want to deliver to and all the individual materials i.e. posters, pads, flyers etc in each column.  Now only you will know how many people will need to receive the information you are going to send out but for our gym chain we know that each site will need at least 3 posters to advertise their new offer and others will require 5 so filling up our spread sheet you will start to paint a picture of how many posters you will require.  Repeat this for all the other items you are planning to have printed until you have a complete breakdown of your campaign.  Nearly forgot to mention on your list of sites make sure you add the postcode or if you have the information the full address of the receiving site as this will help us work out the courier and fulfilment costs.

Print Specs
Each brand requires a different look and feel  so unless you are familiar with your paper stocks you are looking to print on then ask us for samples and some guidance to achieve the look your after.  Remember it may sound daft but paper is thin slices of tree so the thinner the paper stick the lighter the end produce will be and the less the courier bill to ship it around the country.

The basics for you…4 main types of paper; uncoated, gloss, matt and silk.  Each will provide a different finish to your end product and to your corporate colours; look and first impression so get some advice if you’re not sure or would like to change.  For more information have a look at: http://blog.cbfnet.co.uk/business-printing/the-top-10-of-perfect-paper-stocks-for-your-stationery-business-and-marketing-print

Timeline planning
No doubt you will have a deadline or a target date you are working to for a rollout of your new product or service.  If you work backwards from there the courier parcels will take 1-2 working days to get to their destination depending on what service you require and depending on the complexity most fulfilment setups can count off and pack the parcels in 1-2 working days.  So now you have that timeline the print production element can be allowed for most jobs can be produced in 5 working days but it’s the number of jobs and complexity of them that extends the time, folders for example will need a few extra days to die cut and make-up so allow for this. 

The first step is the artwork and getting it right, now that you know the print production and fulfilment it is a worthwhile exercise to produce the artwork pieces in order of production length so make sure the more complicated are sent to print first.

Their maybe other elements being planned for role out like direct mail, TV, radio or new media launches these will all have to be worked together so the phrase ‘Failure to prepare, prepare to fail’ really is true for planning a print rollout.

I hope this has helped.  If you or your business requires any further help then please feel free to drop me a line directly.

Thanks

Lawson Willett
Tel: 01242 237652

Whether or not you running an existing magazine or planning to start a community magazine to be distributed in your local area you will be well aware that your printer is the largest overhead and your closest working partner to running your business profitably and efficiently.

Read the rest of this entry »

Now I’m sure you are all aware of a layout of a quote but because of the technical aspects of print, your quote may need some deciphering.  Ultimately by understanding what you are
looking at will help you compare like for like with competitive printing companies, make sure your not buying something you will not end up being happy
with but it will help you save money by making sure you are not paying for extra processes that are not required.

I suppose the best place to start is turnaround of quotes.  We (CBF) do not have a set price matrix of materials so cannot give you a price for a job in one phone call.  This is for 2 reasons, the first is because every print job that we quote on is different in some way be it quantity, distribution, paper stock, number of colours or finishes.  So we get all the prices for the market on
the day, from paper suppliers and ink manufacturers and because of the volumes we buy we end up with a price that should be one of the best in the market.  The second is because 99% of our customers do not want to be restricted to one or two paper stock choices or certain quantities this gives a false picture.  We do get asked daily about the minimum number we would produce and the same answer is always given “how many do you need?” as we can produce 1 off of everything (within reason) but the costs may well be prohibitive.

Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people make the same mistake assuming that ordering print stock in low quantities is the cheapest way forward.

Apart from one off print runs in nearly all cases it is actually in fact far less economical to order low quantities.

Example (all these prices are hypothetical)

Business cards – 350gsm gloss, full colour both sides.

Quantity: 100 Price: £35.00

Quantity: 500 Price: £80.00

The one off payment may be more but if you were to order 500 in separate orders would be £175.00 compared to £80.00.

Flyers A5 – 130gsm gloss, full colour both sides.

Quantity: 2,000 Price: £45.00

Quantity: 4,000 Price: £60.00

In this case for the extra £15.00 you can double your order saving you £30.00. When you equate that to larger orders the savings can be massive.

TIPS: When ordering print always ask for multiple quantities so you can see the potential savings for bulk ordering (for example if you need 2,000 flyers it may be worth asking for prices for 3,500 & 5,000 as well). For the extra £30 or so you may pay just think how many more potential customers you would be able to reach out to.

Also it is always worth enquiring about different paper stocks. For example if you usually have your print on a 350gsm stock, ask to see a 300gsm. If you are still happy with the quality there could possibly be a big saving on your print quote, especially on large quantity orders.

Also ask questions about recommended dimensions. Print quotes are largely based on how many units then can get out of each sheet. This means sometimes having your material a tiny bit smaller means they can print more on per sheet which in turn lowers the productions cost saving you money.

I actually quoted on a job today where educating the customer to make the dimensions of their booklet 3mm small saved them over £200.00.

For any more helpful print tips, print quotes and information call CBF on 01242 237 652 or visit our website www.cbfnet.co.uk.