Meet Our Team: Chris Leduc

Posted on June 17, 2021 by jeremy

Position: VP of Manufacturing, Estimating and Oversaw Production.

Now at Heeter EPIX Manager (Estimating, Procurement, Inventory, Scheduling)

Time at Duke: 35 Years – right out of High School

Pre-Duke Print? Worked in a Bowling Alley Part-Time throughout High School

Time in print industry: Well, my Dad started in our basement and when I was 10, I would pack Envelopes back into cartons for 25 cents a box if that counts, then 43 years.

Favorite project you’ve worked on at  Duke:  Implementing Avanti MIS System and being the administrator for updates and bugs

For fun: Bowling is my main hobby, both participating and being a Volunteer Coach for Junior Leagues.

I’ll be married 24 Years this July, 2 Step-Daughters, 2 Step-Grand-Daughters, a step grandson, 2 Sons and recently added to the family in the last year 2 son-in-law’s.

5 Reasons Print Is Still Thriving

 Remember all of those forecasts about the demise of print? They haven’t come true. Like most offline channels, direct mail took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is still remarkably effective. Research by PFL found that, even during the pandemic, marketers were 18% more likely to see “good” or “very good” ROI when direct mail was in their marketing mix than when it was not. 

 

Let’s look at five reasons why print continues to thrive, even in our digital and multichannel world.  

 

1. Recipients can’t miss it. If your email doesn’t get opened, your message never gets seen (which happens more often than not). With postcards, clear envelopes, windows, and exterior envelope printing, however, they see at least part of your message—if not all of it—as soon as they take the piece out of the mailbox.  

 

2. It’s visually appealing. Online graphics can be lovely. However, a beautifully printed piece will blow away your screen graphics every time. 

 

3. Print amplifies the message. According to the Online Marketing Institute, it takes six to eight marketing touches to generate a viable sales lead. Repetition is critical, and print is an essential part of the mix. 

 

4. Print causes people to buy. Marketers once thought that with the growth of e-commerce, printed catalogs would fade away. History indicates the opposite. Studies find that consumers who receive printed catalogs are more likely to make purchases at the retailer’s website than those who do not. 

 

5. Consumers trust print more. Unless an email comes from a known brand, people are skeptical of claims made by email alone. Because print incurs a production and mailing cost, it carries a weight and authenticity that digital marketing does not. People continue to trust messages communicated in print. 

 

Print remains irreplaceable in today’s “what’s in it for me?” world. While e-marketing is a necessary component in any multichannel marketing campaign, print carries benefits that online channels can’t touch.

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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5 Best Tips for Ordering Branded Products

 If you haven’t added promotional products to your marketing mix, you are missing an opportunity. Promotional products like branded pens and refrigerator magnets, or even more unusual items such as branded toys or back scratchers, reinforce your brand every time the recipient sees or uses them. Branded promotional products also tend to be kept for more extended periods than traditional marketing pieces, giving you a very low cost per impression.

Branded products are powerful tools to have in the marketing arsenal. However, ordering these items isn’t like ordering print. Here is a quick checklist to make the most of your investment.

1. Stick with simple designs.

Don’t try to overload the product with copy or images. Often, a logo and phone number are all you need.

2. Build in lead time.

You may be used to being able to place rush orders for brochures and direct mail, but promotional items require more lead time. Plan at least several weeks in advance.

3. Think in a single color.

There may not be a significant difference in cost between single-color and multicolor printing in the commercial print world. In the promotional products world, there is. Use single-color versions of graphics and logos to keep the cost down.

4. Plan for the price break.

In the world of commercial print, you don’t want to over-order products simply to get a price break, especially when considering the cost of obsolescence. Promotional items will go out of date less quickly, however, and the price breaks with volume can be substantial.

5. Consider the final mailing size.

If you are going to be mailing your promotional items, remember to consider mailing cost, too. A more expensive promotional item that ships flat may have a lower overall cost than a lower-priced but bulky item that needs to be mailed in a dimensional package.

Want to learn more about best-in-class use of promotional items? Talk to one of our business development experts.

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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5 Benefits You Get from Branding

 When businesses plan their direct mail or email campaigns, their goal is generally customer acquisition or retention. But what about branding? Marketing campaigns explicitly designed to build your brand are as important as those for customer retention and sales. Why is branding so important?

 

1. Awareness. When people talk about your category of product or service, you want your name to be part of the mix. Think about categories such as laundry detergent (Tide), carbonated drinks (Coke, Pepsi), and shipping (FedEx, UPS). When people talk about your product category, you want brand recall and awareness like theirs.

 

2. Loyalty. Most people aren’t loyal to their favorite brands simply because of price or products. They are loyal because the brand resonates with them on a deeper level. Say you are a local hardware store that gives its employees days off to work through Habitat for Humanity to help build a house for a family in need. Once the house is finished, you might send a direct mail piece with the faces of smiling employees standing in front of a house with tools in their hands: “We’re more than the corner hardware store. We care!” Imagine the branding power of a message like that!

 

3. Referrals. People who have never used your product or service may still recommend it if they’ve encountered your brand enough times to develop a sense of familiarity.

 

4. Premium pricing. A powerful brand can lift your product or service out of the commodity marketplace. For example, with so many stores selling coffee, what makes people stand in line and pay top dollar at Starbucks? Branding!

5. Lower your marketing cost. Although you have to invest resources to create a strong brand, you can maintain it without having to re-tell your story over and over once your brand is established. Many budget-conscious marketers rely heavily on electronic media, but research shows that people still prefer print — and are more likely to remember it.

 

Successful marketing is built on three pillars: customer acquisition, customer retention, and branding. Make sure you are developing strategies for all three.

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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Your Company Has Changed — Has Your Brochure?

 

Businesses are constantly evolving. You develop new products. You launch new services. You begin focusing on a specific niche or targeting new audiences. Be sure to update your marketing collateral along the way. This includes your company brochure. If you haven’t updated your company brochure in a while, here are seven tips for making the most of it.

1. Keep a tight focus.

A brochure isn’t a catalog. Hit the highlights, including your mission, product and service categories, and what makes you different. Save the details for another time.

2. Break it into targeted versions.

Increase the power of your marketing by targeting brochures to specific audiences. Instead of creating 10,000 of one brochure, for example, try breaking it into four different versions of 2,500 each. Use them to promote various product lines, target audiences, and even different events.

3. Unique imagery.

It might be tempting to keep down costs by using free or low-cost royalty-free images. However, generic photos can hurt your brand. They aren’t you, so they don’t tell your story. Plus, they can damage your brand if people see those images somewhere else. Use traditional royalty images or hire a professional photographer instead.

4. Limit your font choices.

Don’t over-clutter your space or create visual confusion with too many fonts. A good rule of thumb is to use no more than three fonts in any one piece.

5. Use white space.

Brochures are designed as door openers, not sales closers. Be selective. Use white space to create breathing room to keep the design clean and inviting. Tell your audience just enough to pique their interest and get them to take the next step.

6. Use high-quality stock.

People associate the quality of your paper stock with the quality of your products. Don’t skimp!

7. Include a call to action.

Even though you might not want to give a hard sell, you still want a call to action. Otherwise, your audience may just read the brochure, then set it aside. CTAs are critical to getting your audience to take action.

Are you redesigning your brochure or designing one for the first time? Let our designers give you more great ideas.

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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The Essential 5-Point Marketing Checklist

 Ever wish there were a simple way to condense a wealth of marketing wisdom into a nice, neat package? This five-point checklist is a handy resource to have in your back pocket. Use all five “checks” with every campaign, every time, and you’ll get outstanding results.

1. Craft the right message.

Before you start writing copy, know your customer base and what is relevant to them. For example, if you’re a car dealership, don’t try to sell new cars to people who have purchased one within the last 12 months, even if you’re offering a great deal. Send them a discount on their next service visit instead.

2. Target the right audience.

The importance of targeting can be summed up in the experience of one diet and fitness company. The company targeted women in a specific demographic. The mailer had a great product, a great offer, and used a strong call to action. The campaign bombed. Why? The company mailed to the heads of households, which were primarily male in its target area. Make sure you are targeting the right people!

3. Get the timing right.

When you mail or blast, your communication matters — a lot. Think about donations. Charities often solicit in the spring, but unless people are regular donors, they typically do the bulk of their gifting in December, right before tax season ends. Timing can make a huge difference in your success.

4. Select the right channel.

Some people block phone calls, but read email. Others block email, but accept phone calls. Direct mail always gets through. Know your customers and what channels they prefer. Use those channels, and you’ll maximize your opportunity for success.

5. Focus on the right reason.

Successful campaigns are based not just on what people buy, but why. What are the emotional triggers that motivate your audience to make a purchase? New parents want to ensure that their children are happy and safe. New homeowners want to protect their investments. Understand the “why” as much as the “what.”

Get all five of these checkpoints right, and you have a paradigm for success! 

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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New Creative Features Enhance Adobe Photoshop

One of the aspects of Adobe Photoshop that makes it a favorite of creative professionals is its ever-expanding set of features. The most recent release is no exception. 

 

What's new in the Fall 2020 version of Adobe Photoshop? 

 

Powerful new filters: Neural Filters is a new workspace inside Photoshop that lets you explore various creative ideas. Using sliders, you can colorize a scene, zoom in on parts of an image, or change someone's expression, age, gaze, or pose in seconds. To access the new Neural Filters workspace, choose Filter > Neural Filters.

 

Sky Replacement: The new Sky Replacement feature lets you quickly select and replace the sky in a photo. Your scenery colors automatically adjust to match the new sky. Save precious time retouching and get the mood you want, even if the shooting conditions weren't ideal. Choose Edit > Sky Replacement.

 

Version history:  Want to look back at previous versions of your image without undoing the changes? With the new Version History panel, you can access saved versions of your Photoshop cloud documents. Choose (Windows) File / (macOS) Window > Version History. Preview, mark, and revert to earlier versions as needed.

 

Use Photoshop cloud documents offline: Are you going off the grid but want to edit on the go? You can make a recently opened Photoshop cloud document available offline for editing even when you don't have internet access. Go to cloud documents on the home screen, click the three-dot icon, and select "Make available offline."

 

Pattern preview: Want to envision how your design will come to life as a pattern? The new Pattern Preview mode virtually tiles and repeats your design automatically. Try the patterns on your direct mail, marketing collateral, and wide-format graphics. Choose View > Pattern Preview.

 

Other enhancements include:  

• More options for creating and managing shapes. 
• Ability to reset a Smart Object to its original state.
• Faster, easier to use plug-ins. 
• Search feature in the Brushes, Swatches, Gradients, Styles, Patterns, and Shapes panels help you find specific presets easily.
• Easier to use "content aware" tracing tool.
• Enhancements to "select and mask," fill, and other features. 

 

Thought Photoshop couldn't get any better? Think again. If you haven't upgraded to the October 2020 release of Photoshop, what are you waiting for? Happy creating!

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606 for more information.

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