0 Nov | Political Printing is on the increase! |
The UK Commercial printing industry has seen an increase in the use of printed promotional and informational material from the Government, Political Parties and Local Councils!
Used most notably in direct mail, but also in wide-format signage and specialty printing like newsletters, voting forms transactional letterheads and even lawn signs!
Political Printed Material
Political printed material such as ballots and registration forms such as the recent ‘Police Commissioners’ election, proved a welcome increase for the trade. Political direct marketers may be even linking political mailers to mobile apps or mobile landing pages via QR codes!
Print Services for Government & Local Authority
Please contact us if you would like to know more about how we can help Local Government, Local Authorities, Councils and/or Political Offices to produce Political Printed Marketing material
12 Jul | QR Cow-des (codes)! |
What a creative way of using QR Codes as seen recently in Print Week! Spot On Print Shop don’t normally print on animals but we do recommend the use of QR codes on your printed sales and marketing materials. QR codes are originally from Japan where they have been use for over 10 years.
What are QR Codes?
Quick Response codes (QR codes) are similar to the barcodes used by retailers to track inventory and price products at the point of sale. The key difference between the two is the amount of data they can hold or share. Their ability to hold more information and their ease of use makes them practical for small businesses printed materials
QR Codes and Smartphones
When you scan or read a QR code with your iPhone, Android or other camera-enabled Smartphone, you can link to digital content on the web; activate a number of phone functions including email, IM and SMS; and connect the mobile device to a web browser.
QR Codes on Printed Materials
We advise our customers to use them on a variety of their printed materials from leaflets, stationary and brochuresto posters, large format printing and banners. The ability of QR codes to connect people with each other and to multimedia digital content is very useful for businesses and consumers alike. Contact us if you would like to know more about developing and printing QR Codes for your sales and marketing materials.
11 Jul | Size Matters! |
While many sectors in print have, in recent years, been stuck in the doldrums, others, such as packaging and large-format, seem to have remained immune to the recession. Smaller print companies such as our own dominate in what is regarded as a profitable market sector. Signs, banners and POS remain staples of SME-led sector. We know ourselves that our business in this sector has improved by 50%.
Many printers that offer a mixture of large-format and other forms of large printed materials such as outdoor banners and pull up exhibition stands, say that wide-format was their most profitable offering. And if that’s not a good reason to get excited about large-format, I don’t know what is!
Commercial printers look to add large format printing as a bolt-on service to broaden their market, or show what’s possible with the latest kit or substrates. Marketers are also very positive over the latest applications. The development of fabrics as a material for use on exhibition stands is proving increasingly popular and vehicle wrapping is a visually striking and innovative implementation. Contact us for further information on large-format printing.
22 Jun | Business Self-publishing – from blog to book! |
Today most businesses use the power of print to get their messages out to their customers. Leaflets, Flyers, Posters and Brochures form a significant part of marketing activity.
Advances in our digital print technology and the personal customer service we have always given, has seen a growth market in business organisations producing self-published ‘vanity’ Magazines, Information Guides and even books!
Many organisations from M&S to Asda have produced Magazines which they send to their existing and potential customer base as well as promoting pick up in store. Lots of product brands pay for advertising in them and discount vouchers are offered. Editorial features such as cooking recipes and Fashion add to the appeal. There is nothing to stop SME’s developing something as creative for their markets and using it across marketing channels offline and online.
Information Guides are also being published by printers such as our own in greater numbers. These guides are usually given away free but many organisations put on a price and ISBN numbers so that they can be sold through Amazon etc.
Some more established organisations who have a long and historic past are even self-publishing a Book which is not only being offered to customers as an incentive but again are also being sold on the open market. Some organisations even turn their Blogs into Books!
This form of ‘Educational Marketing’ is about positioning your business as an ‘Advisor’ and ‘Information giver’ as well as building trust and credibility with your customers.
Our view is that printing services both online and offline is no longer just about choice, price and convenience it is also about everything else that businesses look for from any suppliers: the right product, at the right time and a professional experience. Self- Publishing is another printing service that we can help today’s dynamic organisations gain valuable market share.
11 Jun | A printing revolution is here… again! |
We thought our new online printing company and digital print services were up to date with technology but the Israeli technologist/entrepreneur Benny Landa, the guy who essentially invented digital printing has now invented ‘Nanography’. This new printing technology is absolutely mind blowing.
In the past, commercial printers and therefore clients had to choose between the versatility and short-run economics of digital printing and the low cost-per-page and high productivity of offset printing. Now they can have both.
At the core of the new print system is an ink invented by Landa and his team. It’s made up of pigment particles only tens of nanometers in size (a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide). The resulting printed images are sharper, glossier and richer than anything else that comes out of a printer. The system also prints on a vast range of surfaces including uncoated paper, recycled carton, newsprint, and plastic packaging films, all without requiring any kind of pre-treatment or special coating.
Spot On Design & Print and Spot On Print Shop printing companies offer both digital and offset printing services. Digital printing, which lets us all print directly from a computer file, was essentially invented by Landa about twenty years ago. His Indigo machine was the world’s first commercially viable digital printer.
He sold out to Hewlet Packard in 1990 for something like a billion dollars. Today, three out of every four digital printing presses in the world, offering print and online print services, are made by Hewlet Packard.
Digital printing allows almost anyone to generate high-quality promotional material from leaflet print to business card printing to printing posters and brochure design print with colour photos. It has come to be seen as the best option for Marketing, Advertising and Promotional prototypes, individual copies and short-run jobs. Traditional offset printing using metal plates remains the preferred method for printing large runs, meaning five thousand copies or more.
The Landa W10 Nanographic Press got a demonstration run at the Print industry trade-show Drupa, last month in Dusseldorf and the first “nanotech” printers are likely to be ready for sale next year, but for now we’ll keep going the old fashioned way with digital and offset!