Manufacture Opportunities Out of E-Chaos - Part II
By: T.J. Tedesco
For: The Binding Edge
Published: Summer, 2001

In the last issue of the Binding Edge, we discussed offering “live” production information to customers. Today, we’re going to turn to two different topics: Getting a presence on the Internet; and, e-marketing. The days of launching Web sites without knowing specific business goals are long gone. Marketing oriented Web sites should help write business and compliment your company’s brands.

Companies write business on the web everyday. It’s now commonplace to hear of binding and finishing companies landing plum jobs directly attributable to their online activities. Even consultants are booking work on the web. Yesterday (at the time of this writing), I returned from San Diego where I gave a speech to the International Prepress Association because they found me … on the Internet.

If you don’t have a website yet, it’s time. Developing a reasonable online presence is fast, easy and inexpensive. If you design your site in-house (not necessarily a good idea), your launching costs will probably be less than $500, includE. E.g domain name, web hosting, e-mail, dial-up and Yahoo.com registration. Once live, you should be able to parlay your online presence into winning top of mind positioning among key business influencers.

If you have a website, visit it often to verify that it properly represents your company. If you’re planning a new one, establish a set of principles to help guide the design process. As anyone who has surfed our industry knows, there are plenty of sites that don’t do their companies justice.

Ten Tips For Effective Web sites

1. Readability. People access business Web sites for information and functionality. As tempting as it is to design with reckless abandon, don’t. Nothing should interfere with the readability of your web pages. Use background patterns and watermark designs sparingly, if at all. Web design has evolved much the same way as desktop graphic design did in the 1980s when suddenly the tools, but not the knowledge, were at the fingertips of everyone and their brother. Consider font usage. Amateur designers went font crazy and created a barely readable quilt of poorly designed promotional pieces. Let’s learn from the past.

2. Bandwidth Is Still Limited. Many graphic arts companies don’t have broadband T1 or DSL lines. This means that you should test your website on computers with 56k modems to ensure that downloading speeds are acceptable.

3. Freshen Content. Most post press companies have razor thin staffs and can’t afford to have an active Webmaster. However, you still can freshen your site by adding the materials you develop for other purposes. For example, if you’re already writing press releases, technical tip sheets and trade articles, convert them into html script and regularly add them to your website.

4. Computer Monitor Size. Design your website for readability on 14” computer monitors. This screen size will continue to be commonplace in our industry for quite some time. Your site should work on 14” screens without forcing users to scroll horizontally, which is awkward. This means that your screen should look good at a width of 600-pixels.

5. Intuitive. Navigating your website should be intuitive. Logically place navigation buttons to clearly point users to valuable site information. “Mouse overs” help users identify your most important hyperlinks.

6. Privacy. Think long and hard before requiring users to fill out lengthy forms prior to gaining access to your website. Privacy is a major concern today and many users don’t fill out forms anymore because 1) They don’t want to be bombarded by unsolicited e-mail, and 2) They fear how their personal information will be used. Prominently displaying your privacy policy doesn’t do the trick anymore – just look at Toysmart.com which recently settled a nasty lawsuit over this same issue. If you use online forms, make sure instant access is available once the form is filled out.

7. GIFs. Don’t use a lot of moving “Gif” images. While they were considered OK in the web’s early days, the novelty has worn off.

8. Frames. “Frames” is going the way of the dinosaur. Although frames anchors parts of your website for easy navigation, they make it hard to properly apply bookmarks, which makes return visits needlessly difficult.

9. Search Engine Registration. Boost your web traffic by registering your site with the major search engines. The old days of waiting for web “spiders” to index your site are long gone. Today, manual registration is necessary. With the notable exception of Yahoo.com, registration rarely costs anything and is well worth the time investment.

10. Cross Marketing. Once your site is up, market it well. Make your website address as visible as your phone number. Every piece of corporate communication you send should include this web address. Consider earmarking a portion of your promotional budget to advertise your site.

Have you visited top tier e-commerce sites like Amazon.com, Dell.com and the major airline recently? They are all information-packed, highly functional and intuitive.

Marketing Online

Online “banner” advertising is a resounding bust. However, opt-in broadcast e-mail isn’t. This promising technology could be quite valuable to you, as long as you use it properly. Here are the top three tips for successful broadcast e-mail marketing. Number 1) “Opt-in” means that recipients actively choose to receive your specific information. This is also tip two and three.

As long as you send your e-mail to a true opt-in list (100% internally generated), no one will consider you a “spammer.” Opting-into a broadcast e-mail program isn’t too different from subscribing to a magazine. People don’t always read magazines cover-to-cover, even though they’ve chosen to subscribe. Just like magazines, whether or not people read your e-mail depends partly on what’s happening in their lives at the time of the e-mail’s arrival. Some will be read and some won’t. Even the ones that delete your e-mail without reading it will associate you as being a valuable provider of information. Send e-mail often enough to win top-of-mind-position, but not too often that people ask to be removed from your list.

Unsolicited (non opt-in) broadcast e-mail is “spamming.” In today’s tough privacy climate, spammers subject themselves to electronic retaliation of all sorts. Avoid opening yourself to the spamming charge by creating your own true opt-in-only e-mail database. Don’t take a shortcut and buy e-mail addresses. Ask all key business influencers at current or prospective customers if they would like to receive your e-tips.

Since you want to gain access to as many business influencers at appropriate companies as possible, collect e-mail addresses for people in the following functions: Estimating; customer service; sales; production; purchasing; and, management. Then, put up a page on your website with your new information, get a broadcast e-mail program (i.e., MailKing) and create a short message with a hyperlink to it. Don’t send large e-mail messages that require excessive downloading time because this is annoying and may trigger a flood of removal requests. Remind recipients that they’ve asked to be included on your opt-in e-mail list and provide instructions how to remove themselves if necessary.

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E-commerce has a bright future. Bill Gates is fond of saying that people overestimate change in a two-year period, but underestimate it in ten. One thing’s for sure: E-commerce will continue to have a tremendous impact on the way we do business. Let’s get started sooner than later.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.