Inexperienced DM Designers

Why oh why would you want to go with an inexperienced designer.

Oh, that’s right they don’t cost as much.

REALLY?

I propose that they do cost as much, perhaps more—at the very least you break even after you’ve paid for the revisions at the printers or the reprints due to errrors.

What about your time to make sure they get things right?

How about file set up?

Here are some things your designer should be providing your print vendor:

SLUG LINE:

■ File Dimensions are correct and match bid specs

■ Window size and position correct

■ Fold and perf information included

■ Special or unusual format information included

■ Note colors and paper stock

FONTS:

■ Correct fonts are chosen; not styled in application

■ Collect all fonts

LAYOUT:

■ Spell checked complete document

■ Folds and perfs are marked in FPO

■ Bleeds are pulled out

RASTER IMAGES:

■ All images are high-resolution

■ All 4/C process images are CMYK (not RGB or Index Color)

■ Signatures are high-res

■ All images have been cleaned up

VECTOR IMAGES:

■ All spot colors and process builds checked

■ Unused colors deleted from palette

■ Placed/embedded images included in print files

COLOR PALETTE & TRAPS:

■ Delete unused colors

■ Verify process, spot, and FPO colors are correct

■ Traps are checked

■ Laser text is set to overprint not knock out of background

SEPARATIONS:

■ Verify files separate correctly

■ Ink density checked

LASER TEXT:

■ Save laser text to Word document, if requested

■ Supply information to data shop (font, size, leading)

■ Be prepared to supply PDF (at 100%) for text layout measurements if requested

SEND TO PRINTER:

■ Document layout file

■ Fonts

■ Images (including placed/embedded/Photoshop layered files if necessary)

■ PDFs (composite & separations)

This is what I do as a matter of course on any given file. That’s what you pay me for. So your printer won’t have to make a lot of changes and charge you for them.

Is your designer doing this for your printer?

If you don’t know, you should ask. Better still ask your print production vendor.

Acquisition Mail Rant.

Acquisition Mail Rant.

All you mailers who have decided to not mail any more to save money. All I can say is ARE YOU NUTS?

Did you learn nothing from 9/11?

Those who did not mail were in a world of hurt, and those who did, managed to survive and keep their coffers somewhat full, Those who didn’t mail faced a short term gain and a long term pain.

Face it, there’s a lot of churn in your membership/donor bases. You have to feed that monster by bringing in new members all the time. If you just stop, where will you be in two years?

I have a commercial client who took the risk when I told him, that he needed to mail twice as much to stay in the same place.

He took that advice to heart, and actually mailed even more frequently than that and is having the best year ever, though back in February he was thinking that it was the wrong thing to do. That was until the first drop hit and his website and phones lit up with good solid leads.

It’s a numbers game. The more you mail the better your chances of reeling in a member/donor.

There are a lot of folks who have never had to exist in this rough economic climate. They were used to mailing something and reaping the rewards. Now their response rates are down by 20-25% and they don’t know what to do about it.

Don’t freak out, just mail. Don’t mail stupid. Mail smart. Make sure you have a good offer or compelling story to tell. Mail to your base and scrub those lists.

Nothing has changed. You still have to be good at your job, you still have to motivate your audience to act and you still have your core mission.

Favorite Packages—Entry 1

One of my favorite packages is the only mailing I’ve ever done for Nuclear Threat Initiative while working at SQN.

I got to work with some of my favorite people. Pru Bovee (Prudence Bovee Copywriting) , Steve DelVecchio (DelVecchio Consulting), Kristin McCurry (MindSET Direct) and Laura Colley (Production Solutions).

The package raised a total of $187,000. One single donation of $100,000 and eight single donations of $10,000. The package was fun and totally collaborative.