Printing/Production

1. Get the best price. Be flexible about the paper brand. Instead of asking for a specific brand, say, “What’s my best buy on a No. 3, 60 lb paper, and I prefer blueish tones to yellowish tones,” to find the best-price options in your range. 2. Be flexible about paper grade and weight. If you’re willing to trade down, sometimes the savings are substantial. 3. Get quotes from your printer and broker. Include all costs. 4. Ask your printer about its “house” papers. Printers have a full range of papers they regularly buy in large volumes. 5. When buying your own paper,

Last week, I blogged about getting the most out of your printer. This week, I’ll talk about some things you should never do when producing your catalog and managing your expenses.

The way to ensure your return on investment in the catalog business is to pay close attention to your catalog expenses, namely, printing, mailing, postage, design, prepress (these days called “premedia”), lists and service bureau. Coupled with cost of goods and operating expenses, they are the fundamental numbers you need to work up in order to define your break-even point for a particular mailing.

Carefully handling that break-even point by tightly managing catalog expenses is

A few points to add to last week’s article on where to start, then on to today’s topic.

The good news is, there are many places to learn about catalog marketing.

Earlier in my direct marketing career, when I switched to the specialization of catalogs, I found Catalog Success magazine to be an enormous resource. There also are a lot of great books on general direct marketing, but not many about cataloging. The one book I found, which has become the go-to guide for me, is “How to Profit Through Catalog Marketing” by Katie Muldoon (NTC Business Books, 1995). While it’s currently out of

I’d like to address the must-have core competencies you’ll need when either starting or maintaining a catalog. But first, I’ll respond to Micah and Rob’s comments from last week. Yes, the Internet is both a pull AND push medium. I didn’t forget e-mail to drive business. I just left it out for the sake of contrasting pull vs. push. Thanks for speaking up.

On to the topic of the next few weeks: What does it take to start a catalog business?

Many of the people who ask this aren’t necessarily sitting at their kitchen tables, looking to be the next Lillian Vernons. They’re accomplished retailers,

Recognizing excellence in printing quality, Gold Ink Awards were handed out in August to 17 business and consumer catalogs. This year’s catalog winners joined more than 1,500 entrants in competing for the 19th annual awards in more than 40 printing categories. Aside from catalogs, these include hardcover and softcover books, magazines, direct mail, annual reports, brochures and point-of-purchase displays. Entries are judged on the quality of print production, paper choice, binding, finishing and other measures. The year’s winners “often push the limits of what can be achieved using the materials, treatments and available technologies,” says Noelle Skodzinski, editor in chief of the Publishing Media

Prepare for key classification changes next year. This is a column for those who understand that they’re in the direct mail business. Believe it or not, many catalog marketers refuse to acknowledge this fact, even though some 30 percent to 40 percent of their operating costs come from mail-related marketing and fulfillment expenses. Those in the direct mail business know all too well that postal rate cases usually are harbingers of rising postal costs. They also know that by the time higher rates are put into effect, they must have a plan in place to accommodate the rate and operational changes every rate case brings. As you

Not long ago, a client of mine was all but certain that by upgrading the paper used for its catalog, sales would increase. Unfortunately, the client scoffed at the notion of running a pro forma break-even analysis to determine how much revenue was needed to offset the additional paper and postal costs. In fact, it took the client’s paper merchant, printer, service bureau reps and myself to convince the cataloger to set up a test before making a global change to this new paper grade. Simple A/B Split Test Once convinced, the client set up a pretty straightforward, scientific A/B split test, sending

When postage rates increase, catalogers really feel the pinch. For example, in January of this year, we experienced a 5.4 percent rate hike. This was the first rate increase since June 2002 (which, at the time, was the third increase in two years). Brace yourself for yet another increase in 2007. What’s more, rumor has it the U.S. Postal Service wants to increase rates again in 2008, which would make three rate hikes in three years. These increases could be steep enough to push some smaller catalogers over the edge. They could mean the difference between profit and loss on an income statement.

Do your photos look off-kilter? Is your printed catalog not as vibrant as it used to be? Is your image quality erratic? Just as good design and good copy increase sales, good image quality with bright, true colors will improve sales for most catalogs. But since the switch from film to digital photography, many catalogers have experienced inconsistencies or a decline in image quality. Digital doesn’t mean you have to accept lower image quality. You can capture and print great digital images, but you need to understand how to manage the digital process. Why Is My Catalog Dull and Gray? Problem: All

We’ve refocused the Chronicles/Adventures in Cataloging column to a “problem/remedy” format and renamed it The Catalog Doctor. Do your photos look off-kilter? Is your printed catalog not as vibrant as it used to be? Is your image quality erratic? Just as good design and good copy increase sales, good image quality with bright, true colors will improve sales for most catalogs. Since the switch from film to digital photography, many catalogers have experienced inconsistencies or a decline in image quality. Digital doesn’t mean you have to accept lower image quality. You can capture and print great digital images, but you