Mondi, Premier Paper and UK printer, Apple Print, collaborate for the Digital Printer Awards

Vienna, Aug 22nd, 2012 ─ International paper and packaging producer Mondi is working together with Apple Print & Creative of Newbury and The Premier Paper Group, the UK’s leading independent paper distributor, on a submission for the prestigious Digital Printer Awards. Organised by Whitmar Publishing, the Digital Printer Awards recognise innovation, creativity and excellence in digital print.

Apple Print is a well-established business offering a full printing service including lithographic, digital and large format with a fantastic creative studio on-site.

Andrew Watts, Joint Managing Director of Apple Print, commented: “We are delighted to be invited to participate in this exciting initiative with Premier Paper and Mondi.  We are a highly talented team with over 20 years of experience within the design and marketing industry and welcome the opportunity to have our success recognised through the Digital Printer Awards 2012.”

 “Working together with The Premier Paper Group and Apple Print, who has expertise both in creative design and digital printing is an exciting opportunity. This collaboration combined with Apple Print’s in-house creative team will bring out the best in paper and print technology and innovative design,” said Johannes Klumpp, Marketing and Sales Director for Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper.

The winners of this year’s Digital Printer Awards will be announced in November 2012.

Why We Like Working With Apple Print

Here at Jokers' Masquerade we have been working with Apple Print on various hard copy offline marketing initiatives for the last few years. We're also based in Newbury so the fact that Apple are local was an important attribute for us. We wanted to work with a local company so we would be able to receive and review the proofs quickly and also support another business located within the same area.

One of our first projects that was honestly handled with tact and probably just the right amount of urgency was a magazine style brochure called Visage that we added to all orders that were placed on our website. We have since worked with Apple Print to produce header cards for products as well as various fancy dress themed leaflets and flyers.

Apple Print and Creative Celebrates 25 Years of Print

Thursday August 11^th was the date of the big 80s themed fancy dress celebration to mark 25 years of the business successfully creating and crafting printed materials. Apple very kindly invited Kate and Donna to attend. Both wore our Space Invader fancy dress costume to the event held at the Faraday Road studio. Both received various requests to walk sideways in homage to the computer game.

Apple Print actually launched their new website at the event, which is a nice new modern look. In composing this blog post I actually asked Nigel, our resident graphic designer how he feels about using the Apple website to which I received an unusually concise response saying “It certainly conveys their services clearly, you can find your way around the site easily. I also think their friendliness comes across through the site” What a nice chap. Kate, who was no longer wearing the Space Invader costume at the time of being quizzed shared that “Its very quick and simple to upload artwork to their client area”. That certainly sounds like two very positive reviews of the new website.

Here's a photo from the celebration:

We've worked previously with both Andrew Watts and Barbra Frost and both were very helpful, they provided a personal and professional touch and make us feel very confident that they are on top of things. That personal touch and the willingness to go just  a little further is why we like working with Apple.

This was a guest post by Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress, where they are currently fighting over which is the best new Halloween costume.

Must Blog more.........

So I was just walking back from lunch with the Graphics team and I bumped into a friend who suggested I was not blogging enough so I promised I would write an update today....and true to my word here it is.

Since the start of April sales have been very tough, we have been slightly under target and really working hard for all we can get in...that seems to have been turned around now as the amount of sales incoming is back up to great levels – this is a relief to the sales team and means we should finish the year on target. We do need more though as I realise my board are going to be looking for continued growth in 2012/2013, so if you know of any great sales professionals that want to work for a growing business please send the my way.

We have had a great couple of weeks with new clients, finished off some really big design and marketing projects and started some real fun jobs – we have an intern called Naomi who has joined us for the summer and is doing really well as well as Emily who is on work experience for a few days. We are looking for a new designer at the moment to help us expand the team as well as a marketing assistant ........I also need a PA and will be starting to look to fill that role over the next month.

The production team are also doing well...our machines have been flat out and we have just confirmed delivery of our new digital press, exciting stuff all in all and more to come with our news that we will be moving to a new building we have just exchanged contracts on....which this space for updates on when and what will be happening there.

It’s been a great day over all and as I started by saying we all popped off to McDonalds for lunch and our work experience girl Emily seemed to eat the most...that’s her below – have a great weekend and watch out for my post next week.

Be mobile.....deliver content for my phone....Please

I use my phone a lot - I am not kidding it spends more time in my hand than almost  anything else. In some ways I miss the days when I could not be contacted 24/7 but to be fair I have had a mobile since I was 18 so that would have only avoided my mum calling me home for a bath and hair wash! I do everything you can think of with my phone, but there is one thing I don't do with it....can you guess? No? OK then...I will not use websites that cant deliver it's content optimised for my device.....come on webmasters it's only a bloody style sheet, you could do it quicker than finding a funny Michael Mcintyre joke, which to be fair could take quite a while but I am sure you get my point.


Even though modern Britain has a semi decent mobile network (Unless you are on o2 anywhere North or South of Newbury) your website graphics should be scaled down for the slower network speeds, the content delivered should match what user experience you client base craves or should expect. Would it surprise you to learn that now almost 50% of UK web users used their mobiles to surf, browse,  ride the tide of the world wide web? Without looking at the Analytic's it's hard to tell what these Mobile web users think of your Non-Mobile friendly web content but some figures suggest an 85% Bounce rate for this kind of user experience - that's right be afraid....you ARE losing business or even the chance for business.  CALL TO ACTION - give me a call or an email and I can explain where to start.....go on...you know you want to.


I like to buy online for things I cant get in the high street, I can get very busy at work so I look up directions when I am on the move, I want to book tickets when I see a Poster for a show I want to go to - business is tough and hard work demands more on all of our leisure time so make it easy for us to have fun, spend or even just find a Phone Number - I have an unnecessary love of talking so have someone there when I ring.....Blah, I can go on and on......Be Mobile...even my blog is! I am also doing a workshop that touches on this subject next week at a BMG event in Reading ....you can learn more here http://www.bmgevents.co.uk/

Standing out from the Crowd

It today’s fast paced world I am always amazed when I hear the phrase “Marketing don’t work for us” or “our business is Different” – if you want to see your business prosper or even hold its own then you need to be better known or more in the face of potential clients than your competitors.

It seems so obvious but having a joined up campaign is one sure way to marketing success – come up with a budget .....double it, then watch the spondulas roll in?!?!? Ok it’s not quite that easy but it will help if done right ”IF YOU CANT MEASURE IT THEN IT DOES NOT EXISIT” is one thing to remember, you always got to know if what you are spending is having any effect. I work in a sales environment, OMG it’s amazing right now – I have a ton of ways to improve my pipeline and I can do it all in an hour after the day ends.

• Join groups on LinkedIn and engage – ask for help and you’ll get it aplenty – try to help and you’ll get noticed.
• Join related forums for your market group – also be where your clients are on-line – Backlinks to your website can be gained this way as well as the positive impact you have.
• Write a Blog......DOH!!

Here at Apple Print & Creative we are now offering a Social Media service, helping our clients without resource to get themselves involved and “Join the Conversation” .......why pay us? Simple answer, because it’s important.  Our Business Plan is about growth, if yours is then you should be looking at these services. Remember, if you do approach social media yourselves then have a plan, this is still marketing and should be treating as such. So that's:

• Pre-plan
• Listen (to your potential target market and competitors)
• Design your message and Social Personality
• Set some goals 
• Join in
• Measure results (else why bother)

The measure part is super important or you wont know what the successes have been - I am a Guest Speaker at a BMG event in Reading at the Madejski Stadium in April, Web Analysis using Google Analytic's will be my subject, if you would like to learn more then clicky here......

That’s my short blog for this week – Next week look out for Print Technology, I will be explaining why traditional print is back and here to stay and how to continue to stand out in todays market.

The crazy world of print and design

I just noticed that it’s been two weeks since I last put fingers to keyboard (the new “Pen to Paper”?) so I thought I ought to run through what we have been up to here at Apple Print & Creative. I also thought that we could look at the way we are using “Print” to help promote our clients businesses.

So, this week QR codes have featured quite a bit, not just on the designs we are offering but on the clients provided designs as well, I was beginning to wonder if these fabulous little things would ever find a place in everyday marketing but it looks like they are finding their way. The main thing here (again) is that they link to a “MOBILE enabled” website / Page / Signup form, remember, if your QR is scanned you can bet your life it was with a mobile device..... if I was on twitter right now I would use this hashtag #Nobrainer.

Along with QR’s we have been using variable data, this is where you provide me with a database of info and we target those people with DM’s specific to them, be that Male or Female, Partner/Reseller, BWM or Audi owner – we make it personal, in a nice way J - the statistics speak for themselves, 36% increase in response rates, response times up by 34% for direct mail campaigns using targeted data – So if you have a database and want to get a result then this is the way forward. If you add a quality Telesales campaign to something like this then the ROI can be fantastic.

•  Target Individuals
•  Small Groups
•  Tailored Offers
•  Personalised for extra Impact

Ready for some linked up thinking........how about Personalised Direct Mail with a Personalised QR code to the clients very own Micro Site? Call us todiscuss....we'll take your marketing to the next level.

So we have looked at digital printing, clever variable data usage so how about good ol fashioned leaflet campaigns? Well, if you have the right market these can be a fantastic way of getting info out to as many people as possible, come on, someone has to read the materials that fall out of Newspapers, Magazines and Newsletters. The thing to remember here is that  design is key, catch someone’s eye with a clever design or a attractive call to action and you’ll have a great chance of getting engagement – this is a little bit of a blanket approach with little or no follow up but can yield great results or even just keep your brand in front of people.

So it’s back to basics, if you do it, Target it – the model for Social Media is all about finding out about your clients and their needs, your offline marketing should do the same but also has more of a chance of being seen in today’s Information age.

Before I forget.....our competition for March is to win an iPod Touch.....see what other people have won here and enter now..............

....and I want to be top of Google!

Oh how I love to hear the above phrase as I discuss a website project with someone who has a £300.00 budget...... Still with the right work and motivation and a willingness to put some effort in, you don’t have to pay silly prices to drive traffic to your website.

PROACTIVE is the keyword, now I am going to assume you want your business to succeed and that you want to work hard to make this happen, I will also make the assumption you have had a website made by a professional (not your cousin in his Bedroom for 50 quid) and that at least the basics are covered. Then the following should be what you’ve done or intend to do.

Key Words / Page Descriptions Analytics

You must know at this point what your traffic is like, what it is doing when it arrives and what to do with the results of analytics other than worry how many unique hits you get – I can offer help and advice here so feel free to email me (Andrew).

Ok so what words best describe your service / business? Don’t worry about the obscure terms, try and offer what you do – Here at Apple Print and Creative we print and design in Newbury so “Graphic design Newbury” or “Digital Printing Berkshire” would work for us, these specific key phrases or so called Long Tail Keywords tend to get a better conversion rate and lower bounce rate. Multi word phrases work better than single words as well when you are on a budget!

Make each of your web pages unique and give each one a description, spend some time on it or pay (me) someone to do it for you...don’t rush it – please make the content of your site relevant, make sure all the images have "Alt Tags" so google can index them, make sure it's interesting and update it all the time, I want something new every time I come back, if it’s a brochure site then get a news/twitter/blog/FB/Circles feed going. If you get those going get an RSS feed active .......ok ok....

..........all these terms can seem like a massive mountain to climb but we can help you plan and spread you budget, what you can do and what (we) your technical guys can do. There can be no NO.1 position promise – though results can be great.

More next week on this....remember that I am no marketing Guru but one thing for sure.... if you don’t do anything then your online position will suffer.

Follow me on Twitter, Apple Print on FaceBook and Linkedin to stay up to date with what we are doing. Re-Tweeting my blog is good for my rankings :) and will make you special!

Near Field Technology and QR codes....Variable printing and more......

There are more and more products coming to market that are helping the technology orientated printer / designers grow their businesses. I thought this week I would point out some of the emerging systems and talk about the ones I hope to see growing.

Variable Data – now this phrase is used a lot but I don’t think it’s truly understood or used enough to gain that extra impact. Send a 2D Direct Mail with personalisation and you are increasing your chances of the recipient following your call to action by 30%, who doesn’t like to receive a piece of mail with their name up in lights? So by Variable we mean personalised, directly targeted to the Person, gender, age or many other demographics if you have the data to support it – these days there is no excuse for not personalising DM campaigns of under 5000 runs, design and go.....the results speak for themselves.

QR Codes – Today our phones are smarter than us....with a QR scanner you can follow printed “call’s to action” from posters, Direct Mails and Point of Sale. QR codes are the Square 2D Barcodes turning up on stuff, Popular? I am not sure, they are being used and we are printing more of them on products but I think more people need to understand what they are for, both users and Business owner / managers need to understand where they fit in. A downside also is that for many people’s phones you need an App for scanning. There are also a couple of QR rules:

1.       MUST go to a Mobile enabled landing page – example scan the QR at the bottom. (Mobile Only) Although this is our main Url when you use a mobile it defaults to our mobile Url

2.       Must have the item designed with a QR, don’t just plonk into a spare space.

3.       If you are hoping to drive traffic to a main mobile optimised website.....have a little landing re-direct page so you can count the success on your analytics – if you have posters in multiple locations then use multiple landing re-directs to judge which location send the most traffic.

NFC Technology – Here is a new one, some phones and one day I imagine all phones will come with the ability to receive a RFID signal from a printed piece of Material. Here at Apple Print Ltd we can print a Label that transmits a signal that a phone or NFC enabled device can pick up, unlike QR’s there is no app required, you just need to move your phone to within 10mm of the transmitter / poster / DM. We can encode wrist bands, Business cards, Key Rings, Posters and Direct Mails with the ability to send the user off to a website, download contact info and many more applications. A great Client and Partner business, Kremer Signs, will be using them in Estate Agent boards to provide passersby with Property details with the swipe of a phone. This will be the big one, swiping for info will be second nature in a few years. Many of the rules for QR’s count here as these will be used by mobile devices.

Although I did not mention it above I am going to look into 3D printing over the next few weeks.....I will keep you up to date should we choose to invest. For now......give great Service and remember to tell everyone.

But I am not selling Elevators........

A few years ago I watched a presentation by Jeff Hayzlett on Social Media and Elevator pitches. Jeff called them your “One Eighteen” which was in reference to the average wait for an Elevator in NYC (18 seconds) and the average journey length (1 Minute), I may or may not have those the correct way round. What he was wanting was a short sharp pitch that summed up what you did and why the listener should care....to use a fishing metaphor, Hook you first and then reel you in, 18 seconds to hook and then one minute to reel in. If you get a chance look Jeff up and follow him on Twitter.....you will not be sorry.


With this in mind I thought I could give some details of how to approach your own 1-18 or Elevator Pitch.....Barbra has been working with Anthony, who was off to Speed Networking in Swindon, to make sure he used his one minute perfectly.....


1. Strong handshake.


2. Good eye contact.


3. Keep it brief – 60 seconds or less.


4. Try to follow the “W” technique
- Who are we?
- Where are we?
- What do we offer?
- Why choose us?
-
5. Be interesting. Don't bore them to death. Try to come up with ways to make your elevator pitch unique and exciting enough so that you will be invited to tell them more.


6. Be clear and concise. Tell them what you have to offer in easy to understand bullet points – DON’T USE JARGON unless you are talking to someone from a similar industry.




7. Be credible. Tell them how long you have been in business, awards won, tell them about client testimonials etc.


8. Be likeable. Be friendly and SMILE Give the impression that you are someone who is easy to work with and who is fun to be around. Show that even though you take your work seriously, you still know how to have fun.


9. Be enthustiatic. People want to work with people who believe in what they do.


10. PRACTICE makes perfect. Do lots of roll play with friends & colleagues until you are word perfect. Don’t um and ah – be confident in what you are saying. Don’t fidget.


If you would like to hear ours then please give Anthony a shout or alternately we could send you a written copy. anthony@appleprint.co.uk 01635 521654

Give your Business a Promotional Push in 2012

Give your Business a Promotional Push in 2012

Continuing with a marketing tips theme this week I asked our Creative and Marketing expert, Rebecca Miles, to share her top ten marketing ideas to help improve small business sales and customer relationships:

1.     Write a plan

Now this may sound obvious, but it's surprising how many companies don't have a well thought-out marketing plan. There's nothing wrong with being spontaneous, but the lack of focus can often lead to mixed messages as well as blowing the budget within the first few weeks! Take the time to really think about what you want to achieve and explore all of the avenues you can take to do this.

2.     What's your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

You need to know what makes your product or service stand out from your competitor's. This may inevitably be the reason that a customer chooses YOUR business. Again, this may sound obvious...but get it down in writing so that everyone is aware of it.

3.     Understand your customer

Who buys your product or service? You may have had an initial idea of who your target market was at the beginning, but have they evolved? There may be more than one category you can segment the market down to. Once you know this, you can easily tailor your marketing plan to capture each area and even target the segments in different ways. 

4.     Build a strong brand

Once you have a clear idea of your unique selling proposition and target market you need to determine your brand values and ensure they are kept consistent. Your identity, your staff, your advertising message and the product itself must reflect them. Building a brand can take time, but it will add value and recognition to your company.

5.     Use different media effectively

Would your customer engage with an interactive email or would a personalised leaflet mailed to them be more appropriate? There are so many ways in which to inform potential customers of your business, it's just about getting a good balance and more importantly the most relevant for the target market.

6.     Make sure you have a website and update it regularly

In today's culture, people like to be able to access information at any time of the day (or night). How can you expect potential customers to fully understand your company without having some form of internet presence. If you already have a site, you need to keep this updated so that returning visitors have something new to read and can engage in your company developments and up-coming events.

7.     Ensure search engines know you're there

First and foremost, make sure you register your site with the popular search engine using their webmaster tools. This ensures that they know you are there and will add you to their index. You also need to make sure that all of your pages have correct and relevant content and that the key words from this are added to the background coding to help with searching. Finally, you need to sit and wait for a while as it can take up to ten weeks for your site to be trawled and ranked.

7.     Try to use innovative advertising

It no longer pays to have a simple poster with your company name and contact information on... you need to really engage your client, their expectations and the environment in which the advert will sit. Having an innovative approach will help your marketing stand out. For example, if you know you are designing a billboard poster, try to utilise the surroundings of where it will be displayed.

9.     Simply – be green

Everyone is very environmentally aware now-a-days and it pays to let your customers know how your company conserves resources and cuts down on waste (it can actually save you money too!)

Ideas like turning your equipment off when you're not using them, encouraging more internal communications by email (rather than leaving notes) and choosing suppliers and services with green credentials can all be beneficial.

10.  Never underestimate word-of-mouth

Positive messages through word-of-mouth not only increases the reach of your marketing, but also builds upon your reputation and brand whilst being absolutely free! Clients will often refer their peers to a company who has shown them great service and this is no longer just by face-to-face or telephone. Social media has opened up a whole new scope of 24/7 conversations whereby messages can quickly be exchanged and company information sent at the click of a button! 

Whether you are after a complete re-brand, a one-off marketing consultation, a brand new website or simply ideas on alternative ways you can use print then Apple Print and Creative are here to help! We have over 25 years of experience within the print, design and marketing industries and work with clients to understand their existing brand or offer innovative solutions.

Marketing and Design

We can help your company and brand get noticed and will make sure your message is simple and clear but delivered with a considered strategy. 

We can help you make a measurable improvement to your business through web design, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and system integration and offer full business reporting and click-through feed-back to make the most of this resource. 

Print

We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and are proud to be part of the 5% of UK printing companies to have the prestigious FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) environmental accreditations.  

If you are interested in speaking to one of the team about your next project, simply give us a call on 01635 521654, send an email to hello@appleprint.co.uk or visit our website www.appleprint.co.uk

Running in (Google) Circles

It has been a big old week here and in many ways I am glad it’s coming to a close, I have a couple of major projects leaving the building in the next hour and I will then sleep better tonight. I have also still got a last thing (Pub) meeting with Cricketts about Mobile Web and an updates project to the site we developed two years ago.

So how are we going to approach 2012:

FaceBook – We are going to employ a new role at Apple Print of Social Monkey, a person who will work on our clients social media needs as well as our own, watch this space for more details.

Twitter – Carry on as we are, we are getting into some great conversations and feel we are expanding our reach in a great way - @Appleprintnews @MrApplePrint @AnthonyMeikle1 @Jamesshearne @mslade1969 for some Apple Tweeters

LinkedIn – Again we are aiming for more from this service in 2012, using it to effectively stalk potential new clients as well as keeping up with what existing ones are up too. Again find our team here...........

YouTube – in the past we have used this service for a bit of fun and testimonials, in 2012 we will be doing short interviews, Service offerings and much more.

Blog - well you are reading this so I will leave it at that.

Google Circles - *Shrugs Shoulders*

Reading, Berkshire is also going to be a target for the first 6 Months of 2012, our successful West Berkshire Marketing plan is going to be expanded in include our neighbour – If you are Reading based look out for our name at Reading FC, The Hexagon and local media. I have high hopes for this enlarged marketing plan and I am excited about the growth opportunities the expansion of our business is offering us.

Next week tune in to learn about our latest investments in technology......have a great weekend.

Social Media, is it Micky Mouse?

This week I have been pushed by a great client to update my blog, it's been a super start to the year on the back of record month after record month last year - Apple Print is running 25% more work now than this time last year, was that social media attention a great result or what?

It's various factors and social media had a part to play, with that in mind I had the below text sent to me by Richard Bett's, managing director of ECEX, he understands our business and Social Media and thought he could help me by providing some text for a blog....I thought it was worth using.

"The problem with being a media marketer is that unlike Disney’s Mouseketeers it is not simply a case of putting a Mickey Mouse hat on.  

Driving the changes through and providing Apple customers with maximum VFM (value for money) requires a commitment to all forms of media that were hitherto unknown.  

So every day must start with a Tweet or three before moving on to Facebooking and circling with Google.  

Social media completed and it’s time to start on professional networking with LinkedIn before dealing with emails and arranging appointments to spread the word according to Apple.  

Do I enjoy it?  

Of course I do because this is how the world turns on its axis nowadays.  

You have to be in it to win it and with Apple you always will be."

Thanks Richard - I think you understand us quite well and look forward to working with you in 2012.