Optimize Spring 2015 by Hopkins Printing

FALL 2014 SPRING 2015

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

FROM FOLD FANATIC TO DIRECT MAIL DIVA

TRISH WITKOWSKI TALKS DIRECT MAIL

HOW TO... Marketing Hackathons are Coming! Are you ready? Straight Talk. Advice on Producing Niche Magazines From the Pros

w tc ay o s ve r

G FR OU IV WE Se O R F ING ’R M A E e TH VO AW in fo si IS RI AY r g de IS TE SU S iv fro E! ea n

Proximity: the Fifth P of the Four P’s of Marketing

We’re giving away our favorites from this issue!

The Design Deck (Insights, page 3) A deck of playing cards that doubles as a practical guide to graphic design. Each card contains useful information about design, typography, color theory, techniques, history, and more, with beautiful visual examples. The Smartass Marketer’s Handbook (5-Minute Expert, page 5) It’s all about how to get stuff done. Ideas for over a dozen categories of B2B marketing tactics. The handbook can quickly bring anyone up to speed on marketing nuts and bolts.

Fold-tastic Coffee Breaks (Cover Story, Trish Witkowski, page 6) Share your enthusiasm for folding over a cup of coffee in these stylish mugs. Then go online to browse foldfactory.com and rockthemailbox.com for great information and resources on folding and direct mail.

WELCOME

Spring 2015

EXPERT OPINION Read insights from the following contributors in this issue:

Welcome to the Spring issue 4 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HOPKINS PRINTING

Roy Waterhouse President, Hopkins Printing

1 Optimize Magazine You probably noticed our previous issue of Optimize magazine had a fully variable printed front cover. We used the first name of each of our customers and printed a unique cover directed specifically to each person. It’s a simple, yet highly effective enhancement to your direct mail, and you can utilize variable data as well as variable messaging, offers, and images.

2 AdFed Hopkins Printing is a proud supporter of AdFed and recently we were an in-kind sponsor of the Addys by printing the awards booklet. As always, it proved to be a very exciting evening with many of our customers receiving muchdeserved awards for their exceptional creative work. A big congratulations to all the winners!

Karen Macumber Karen has spent over 22 years at the leading edge of digital media and marketing in leadership roles at companies she has founded and/or at successful start-ups. She explains what proximity marketing is and why we should be paying attention to it.

3 New Clients So far this year we have landed more than ten new accounts. Being a proud supporter of our local community and trying to have a strong presence here has helped us reach out to local creative firms, colleges, and manufacturers in the first quarter of this year. As we continue to grow, so will our services and capabilities. Growth is a win-win for everyone.

Ben Barrett-Forrest At 22 years old, Ben tackled a design project idea and Kickstarter with fearless enthusiasm. His goal of raising $600 was realized in under 24 hours, with a final funding amount of $27,215.

4 Wide Format Print We have continued to expand our wide format printing capabilities and in doing so, continue to add new accounts that are benefiting from point-of-purchase signage for the local retail market. We welcome your inquiries and questions about how wide format printing can help broadcast your brand.

facebook.com/HopkinsSolutions

@hopksolutions

Carro Ford Carro gives us a sneak peek of what you can expect to find inside the pages of her new marketing handbook. Don’t forget to enter to win a complimentary copy.

linkedin.com/company/hopkins-printing

Optimize is printed on 100# U Velvet Cover/100# U Velvet Text paper

01 Welcome

Discover four new things about Hopkins Printing, plus a section of the key contributors writing in this issue.

02 Insights

10 Marketing Hackathons

A new trend that is replacing old-fashioned off-site retreats.

Executive Editor

12 Straight Talk

Contributing Writers

Ideas, opinions, news, and trends.

Experienced publishers talk about the challenges they face producing their magazines.

06 Trish Witkowski Interview

16 My Working Day

Expertise in direct mail and folding has catapulted Trish to stardom with designers and marketers.

Mennelle Straight-McCahill, Director of HGTV Marketing Operations, explains how she supports her creative teams.

Cindy Woods, cmoteam.com Carro Ford, Karen Macumber, Tim Sweeney, Sara Walstead Design

Printed and distributed by Hopkins Printing www.hopkinsprinting.com

Spring 2015

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

TALKING POINTS »

Selfies A Marketing Tool with Big Impact and Low Cost It was at the 2014 Academy Awards that selfies—once considered the domain of teenaged girls and desperate reality stars—revealed their potential as a powerful marketing tool. We all know the story of Ellen Degeneres’s star-studded selfie, sponsored by Samsung and featuring a gang of A-list actors, that was live-tweeted from the Oscars. By the time the show was over, the photo had been retweeted 1.3 million times, Samsung had received 900 online mentions per minute, and the resulting PR (“Ellen and Samsung broke the Internet!”) had given Samsung the kind of exposure and brand credibility that most brands only dream of. The lesson? Selfies are immediate and engaging—and can be a smart addition to a larger marketing strategy or can make great social campaigns. The trick is to leverage their inherent real-time characteristics to show personality, people, and brand transparency. Put a human face on your brand. People always rank “authenticity” as a key factor in their decision to buy from a given company or brand, and nothing is more authentic than selfies. Among other

things, it provides social proof in the form of advertisement that didn’t come from the company. Best places to use selfies? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even a Pinterest board for contests. Demonstrate your corporate values. Consumers are increasingly looking to do business with companies that share their values, especially around sustainability and community involvement. Selfies that show employees or stakeholders actively living these values add credibility. “It really works!” Marketers know that the best advertising they can get is a recommendation or referral from a satisfied client. Selfies of clients and customers, showing them using the product or service, is a great way to show prospective clients that your product really does deliver. Use humor to increase engagement and virality. Getting potential customers to engage with your brand—and to tell their friends—is the first step to making a purchase, and funny photos are more likely to spark engagement.

8 EASY WAYS TO USE SELFIES TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS OR BRAND Contests Offer prizes for posting the best/ funniest/most original selfie involving your brand, using your service, wearing your product, or in support of a charity or cause.

Build interest in a new product/service There’s no greater “proof” of the fabulousness of your new offering than a happy customer selfie showing the product in action.

Leverage charitable efforts Offering to make a donation to a charitable cause every time someone posts a selfie to your Facebook page is a good way to draw attention to your community involvement. (Samsung ended up donating $3 million to two charities after the Oscar tweet, thereby extending their PR even further.)

Build your employment brand When people see your employees regularly posting selfies from “that fun office meeting” or “the office pizza night,” they start to think your organization must be a great place to work—which helps you attract A-list talent.

Bring customer service to life Customers love to see that real people are behind a brand. From customer service people answering the phone to a shipping clerk lovingly packing and labeling your box for in-home delivery, we appreciate the people behind the scenes.

more mileage 6 Get out of an event Encouraging employees to post selfies as they are preparing for a corporate or customer event, as well as during and after the event, will generate buzz beyond the invite list.

a selfie for a special promotional offer 7 Trade Offer a discount, trial offer, free appetizer, or sample-size product for selfies posted as part of a social media campaign.

8 Drive foot traffic

Want more traffic in your restaurant, retail space, or trade show booth? Invite people in to take selfies in front of fun backgrounds or with a local celebrity or celebrity look-a-like.

INSIGHTS

Spring 2015

COOL FINDS » VIDEO MARKETING

8 GREAT

VIDEO MARKETING IDEAS

THE DESIGN DECK PROJECT The Design Deck is the brainchild of designer, animator, and musician Ben Barrett-Forrest of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. If you’re one of over three-quarters of a million viewers of his “The History of Typography” video (bitly.com/ yukonbenvideo), you’re familiar with his passion for graphic design. His animated video was featured in the likes of The Atlantic, Fast Company, and Gizmodo.

Customers require an average of four to seven pieces of content before your company or solution makes it onto their “short list.” A great deal of their time will be spent consuming information from your website, which is exactly where your videos should live.

Following are 8 great video marketing ideas for you to try out:

HOW-TO CONTENT LIBRARIES

Showcase your expertise with a how-to video hub on your website.

REPURPOSED WEBINAR CONTENT

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP INTERVIEWS

Record “video shorts” of key points from your webinars, breaking them down into searchable topics.

Capture one-on-one chats with your company’s CEO and other VIPs or industry superstars.

FUN CONTENT SHOWCASING COMPANY CULTURE Show off your quirky staff, show what your employee game day looks like, show us why we should care about you and why you do what you do.

DETAILED PRODUCT DEMOS

Short videos demonstrating how your product works is the best way to convince a buyer it will work for them too.

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

VIDEO CASE STUDIES

Casual “on-the-street” style interviews with your current clients make great testimonials.

Tell your story through casual-style DIY case studies. Prepare a script and keep the length to under two minutes for best results. It can be as simple as recording directly from your laptop as you show a PowerPoint.

FAQ VIDEOS

Don’t just post FAQs on your website; go to the source of the answer and film a quick video response. And, of course, have fun with it when the opportunity presents itself!

BEN BARRETT-FORREST Designer, Animator, Musician Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

From Animated Short to Playing Cards

Viewers were captivated by the simplicity and ingenuity of his five-minute video, and anyone who can be that creative with snips of black and red construction paper has a voice worth listening to. But Ben wasn’t finished. That experience convinced him people wanted to learn about design. “I began thinking seriously about graphic design education and how I could play a part.” Turns out he knew exactly what to do, and once again, like his YouTube video, it wasn’t what you’d expect. Ben’s Design Deck is a complete set of actual playing cards. The style and utility that made his video so appealing infuse The Design Deck, too. Each card explains an aspect of graphic design. Players learn about terminology, techniques, letter anatomy, color palettes, and more.

Kickstarter Comes Through Today, at 22 years old, Ben is the design equivalent of a digital native. And how else would a digital-design native fund a project, but with Kickstarter? Ben was back to work again with another video describing his Design Deck project. In no time at all, he had 899 backers and had raised $27,125, blowing past his goal and fully funding his project in April 2014. This isn’t just the story of design and typography, but what happens when someone with a passion sees no limits. “I absolutely love design,” Ben declares. “The world would be a better place if everybody knew about this art going on all around us.” His calm, bemused confidence is contagious, and because he’s so sure people will enjoy learning about design, we do too.

Capture the QR Code with your smart device or visit hopkinsprinting.com/ spring-giveaway

Spring 2015

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

PROXIMITY MARKETING »

The Present and Promise of Proximity Marketing All signs point to 2015 as being the breakout year for proximity marketing— the ability to turn a consumer’s location into real-time targeting context. Guest writer Karen Macumber @kmacumber

here are three reasons 2015 will be the breakout year for proximity marketing:

• New technology (Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE) makes the mainstream use of beacons feasible for marketers. In fact, Forrester Research predicts 80% of smartphones will be BLE enabled in the next 12 months. • W ith iOS 8 (and already in Android), there is now the potential to turn a simple push notification into an interactive experience without requiring the consumer to be in the app. This is the same evolution we saw in email, where simple text is now replaced by fully embedded, interactive experiences.

• There’s a lot at stake for brands since all lines between the physical and digital paths are now blurred. Proximity marketing solves this issue by allowing for anytime, anywhere messaging across platforms. While there is great potential for proximity marketing, there are immediate, challenging issues to be resolved. Ask yourself this question: What is valuable enough to you as a consumer that you would not only keep your smartphone location turned on, but you would also download and install (with certain permissions) at least one app that listens for beacon BLE signals? More importantly, marketers must carefully watch consumer reaction and privacy thresholds. For those marketers who approach

THE BASICS OF PROXIMITY MARKETING Proximity, sometimes called hyperlocal marketing, uses cellular technology to send marketing messages through beacon technology to mobile-device users who are in close vicinity to a business. According to a recent study by NinthDecimal (formerly JiWire): • 5 3% of consumers are willing to share their current location to receive more relevant advertising and offers • 6 2% of consumers share local deals with friends • 6 3% of consumers feel a coupon is the most valuable form of mobile marketing

Beacons are not new—they are a transmitter of signals, used for years in navigation. They are now available to marketers from several manufacturers for about $10 per unit, and they are simple to install anywhere. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The beacon hardware is only half the equation. You need a “receiver” to use these signals for marketing. Today’s beacons transmit BLE signals. So if a smartphone is actively Bluetooth enabled (location is turned on) AND there is an app installed that is listening for that BLE signal, then a consumer/brand interaction can begin. The interaction is most often in the form of a push notification—a simple text message delivered to a mobile user in conjunction with an app. The notification can be informational and more relevant

once in store (e.g., the price has dropped on an item you want that is in stock), or it can be an offer to drive booth traffic at a trade show (e.g., special membership discount if you visit our booth by noon today). Proximity marketing has been said to be the fifth “P” in the marketing mix. An effective proximity marketing strategy will connect customers to offers at or near the point of purchase, or it will enhance an on-site experience at a venue by delivering rich media messages directly to your device. Proximity marketing has tremendous revenueproducing potential, allowing everything—retailers, hotels, concert and tradeshow venues, and more —to deepen their connection with consumers, encourage more loyalty, and greatly improve the customer experience.

INSIGHTS

Spring 2015

5-MINUTE EXPERT »

this the right way—providing a real service with relevant information and full permission —the consumer will accept and appreciate proximity marketing. For those who attempt to force fit this highly personalized environment into old ad models (cookies and retargeting), the results are likely to be poor and to work against the industry at large.

Successful Copy Doesn’t Just Happen Carro Ford has written just about every type of marketing content for dozens of clients. She recently poured her 30+ years of copywriting experience into The Smartass Marketer’s Handbook, a new guide to the nuts and bolts of creating marketing tools.

Q: What can marketers do to ensure copy gets off to a good start?

Here are four tips for approaching proximity marketing the right way:

1 2.

Think like an experiential marketer. They have a different view of what context is. While most of us think about context as related to content, for proximity marketing the context has to be a combination of location, intent, and moment in time.

Remove all friction. That means mobile-first design. Remember that smartphones are great for a quick scan, swipe, or text—but frustrating when typing many characters or numbers (like addresses or credit card numbers).

3 3.

Make it about what the consumer wants. Find a way to start capturing audience interest and intent data now. According to a recent L2 Digital Report, 67% of departmentstore apps feature a registry. That’s an example of a treasure trove of intent data.

4 4.

Design the right experience. Remember that you are bringing virtual and physical worlds together. In the physical world, phones are used for communication and gaining on-the-spot information. In the blended world, consumers scan a code or “check in” to receive an incentive or reward. Use this natural and learned behavior to your advantage. In closing, there’s no doubt beacon technology and proximity marketing will have a dramatic impact on advertising and retail. However, we’re very early in the game. The required infrastructure must be in place and consumer expectations aligned before proximity marketing goes mainstream. If you assume Forrester is right in their predictions, that looks to be in the not-so-distant future. n

Carro Ford: Getting good content from a

copywriter depends not only on their writing skills, but also on how well they understand what you need. Whether you use in-house writers, outsource the work, or write it yourself, a thoughtful content brief will keep the project focused and on track.

Be clear about the next step in the marketing process.

• What do you want the reader to do or know as a result? • What’s their motivation for this?

Q: How do these answers benefit marketing? CF: The answers to these questions will give

needs to know?

your writer a very useful, time-saving content brief. They also just might help struggling marketers think more strategically about their marketing materials.

CF: Provide your writer with the answers to

Visit smartassmarketershandbook.com to

Q: How do you capture everything the writer these questions, and resulting copy will be closer to the goal sooner and require fewer revisions. Be as specific as possible. Don’t use broad claims and fluffy jargon in your responses. Remember, you’re not selling—yet. Answer these questions about the audience.

• Who is the target audience? Think in terms of title and interests. • What does the reader already know about your company, product, or service? • What keywords and phrases are relevant for this audience/product/problem/market? • What market trends, issues, or opportunities relate to this piece? • Where is the reader in the sales process: New prospect? Current customer? Knows the company, but not convinced yet to buy? • Is this about something new, or does it introduce an existing product to a new audience?

download a free chapter of Carro’s book, and enter today to WIN a COMPLIMENTARY copy at: hopkinsprinting.com/spring-giveaway.

WIN A COPY OF CARRO’S BOOK! REGISTER TODAY!

Define the value proposition for the writer.

• What problems will this product solve for the target audience? • What are the top three to five messages? • What features and benefits should be included? • What is the background on the project? • Why is the piece needed?

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Spring 2015

COVER STORY

From Folding Fanatic to Direct Mail Diva,

TRISH WITKOWSKI Gets Real About Direct If it doesn’t exist, she creates it. That’s how

make it more interesting.” That frustration

Trish Witkowski rolls. Take this example.

and the desire to know her options sparked

Early in her career, when she worked in the

her interest in the world of folds.

university publications department at the

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), they

any information about folding. Nothing.

produced tons of print materials, but with

She decided to do her master’s thesis on

just a handful of folding styles. “Once in a

brochure folds for mass production. After

while, I would come across a printed piece

completing two years of thesis research

folded in a way I had never seen before and

and getting her degree, Trish kept at the

didn’t know was possible,” Trish says. “If we

project for five more years. The result

had known about that fold format, maybe we

was an 850-page, two-volume folding

could have used it on one of our projects to

resource for the printing industry.

The problem was, she couldn’t find

Learning Fold Math Folding involves a lot of math, which means there’s a lot of opportunity for humans to make mistakes with their file setup. Once again, it was time to create something from nothing. “When you talk about folding in general, multiple panels have to get smaller as they fold into each other,” she explains. “So, we took the folding compensation mathematics from my folding research and applied them to a software program that would do the math for you—and this became the popular FOLDRite Template Builder service that we offer at Foldfactory today.”

Spring 2015

“ Monitor fatigue” has led to a return to the power of a tactile touch of the direct mail piece.”

People pick a folding style, and FOLDRite calculates folding templates that are accurate and industry approved. The system labels and measures the panels and applies the folding guides and marks. In a split second, subscribers can download production-ready custom InDesign templates in up to 85 folding styles. It takes all of the stress out of file setup for folded materials. Putting Sexy Back into Folding Granted, folding isn’t a sexy topic, and people weren’t that interested in talking about it. Trish changed that, too. Five years ago, she launched a fun weekly video to push out a cool fold from the many ideas stashed in her research files and boxes. Everyone perked up when the videos started showing interesting, real-world solutions. “No one gets excited until they see a real-world project,” she notes. And as a fun little video gimmick, she decided to put a different funny folding slogan on her T-shirt every week, with sayings such as, “What the fold?” and, “That’s fold-tastic.” Her fans now look forward to the folding ideas, as well as the shirts and mugs. Fast-forward a few years, and Trish is now at Episode 276 on YouTube and is poised to hit one million views in 2015. Her weekly dose of folded inspiration goes out to thousands of loyal viewers, and her global audience of folding fanatics constantly surprises her with new samples. “What’s amazing now that Foldfactory has a solid following is to see people influenced to try new formats, or to modify formats I’ve shown on the series. The bar seems to keep getting higher and higher.” Even after five years, she feels it’s just getting started.

Process and Strategy Lead the Way Format is her specialty, but as her viewers’ questions went beyond that, she began putting the broader process together for them. That led her to take on direct mail as a topic—and it’s really clicking with people. Now mail is a huge focus and the beginning of a new brand: RocktheMailbox.com. (See page 9.) “Folding out of context isn’t always interesting to people, but when it’s viewed within the context of creating effective mail, marketers get it and want more.” Now she helps people understand the process of direct mail. “Process and strategy have more to do with success than anything else.” Direct Mail: Far from Dead Some observers say print and mail got out-marketed by digital. Social channels can put marketing messages at our fingertips, but now everyone is saturated with social. “Monitor fatigue” has led to a return to the power of the tactile touch of a direct mail piece.

“The truth is, there’s never been an issue with the power of sending printed communications. On average, direct mail returns more than $12 for every $1 spent. It’s actually one of the industry’s best-kept secrets,” says Trish. “Marketers spend money and effort perfecting materials, so when they have success, they keep it close, but people thinking about spending money want to know it works.” Forget Design. Focus on Drivers. Trish says people often start with the creative, but direct mail success doesn’t rely on aesthetics. It’s about message and offer and audience. Marketers must craft a compelling message and offer, and get it into the right hands at the right time. “That’s all direct mail is, but people get tied up in brand and marketing.”

A Fanatic About Learning Trish Witkowski never stops learning—and she finds inspiration in all corners of the direct marketing world. Some of her go-to resources listed here might help you, too. DirectMarketingIQ.com

TargetMarketingMag.com

“The home of direct marketing intelligence.” Awesome online bookstore and even “TV.” E-learn through webinars and virtual conferences. Find a prospecting tool for suppliers. Enough topics to last you a long, long time.

Direct marketing sections include B2B, copywriting, email, lists, and more. Resource for industry events, webinars, and awards. Bookstore, magazine, and newsletter. Successful Direct Marketing Methods by

WhosMailingWhat.com

Bob Stone and Ron Jacobs. Hailed as the bible of

Boost your “creative mojo” by learning from others. Searchable database. Direct mail samples archives. Multichannel marketing intelligence. World’s most complete library of direct mail and email campaigns.

direct marketing for over 30 years, updated and expanded with the latest tools and techniques for today’s digital, multichannel marketplace. The Cross-Channel Copywriting

1to1media.com

Multimedia resource for CRM and customer experience professionals. Will take months to explore all the white papers and webinars. Weekly digest and community for best practices and emerging tactics.

Handbook by Pat Friesen. Essential insights for the evolving cross-channel landscape, from unlocking writer’s block to using type; to increasing response; to what subject lines, headlines, and direct mail teasers have in common.

Spring 2015

COVER STORY

Visit foldfactory.com and sign up to receive Trish’s “60-second Super-cool Fold of the Week” videos. There’s a big difference between brand design and direct-marketing design, and sometimes it’s hard for a brand designer to change gears and do direct. “Design is valuable, but if other things are out of alignment, design doesn’t mean anything. Design becomes a powerful tool to create engagement, but it’s not the main driver. Forget about the design in the beginning,” urges Trish, the classically trained designer. Focus on the drivers: the message, the offer, and the audience. Direct Mail Is Counterintuitive “Often marketers and designers try to wow prospects with their best pieces. The logic is that if we look impressive and send people something really nice, it will make them want to buy from us. The psychology of that sounds good, but you have to first build the relationship.” Timing and relevance have a lot to do with it, too. Is it relevant to the audience? Is timing right within the selling cycle? “Direct marketing is about relationships, and people need to get to know you, so send a few things and see if they raise their hand first, before you send them your highest-value mailer.”

Swinger Fold

Test Every Step of the Way Format choice is an engagement strategy, Trish explains, as is paper choice and even postage— and all those elements contribute to the success of mail pieces. “After message and offer and audience, get the format right and it can be gold for a mailer. That’s why testing is important. But often testing gets skipped over, and that’s a mistake,” she says. You should be constantly looking to improve and to beat your current control piece. Test the message, but also test the process to make sure it all works together. Make sure you have clear tracking on every channel, so results can be attributed correctly. Everyone involved, from creative to production and the web team, has ownership of their part and agrees on a schedule and process. Then test those elements together and attribute properly, so you know where you’re pulling response. More than anything, goals must be clear. Know what success looks like from the start. What’s Hot Trish is intrigued with the newer trends at the high end of direct marketing. “I love creative ideas. Things like cleverly integrated zip strips, tabs, small

windows for sneak peeks, and extra-thick inserts are also engaging. I love dimensional mail, too,” Trish says. She notes that people love to do fun things and create the wow factor, but emphasizes that it has to accomplish the goal. “I also like the integration of sound, fiber optics, and video into direct mail. Personalized URLs, image recognition, and marker technologies are great, and integration with mobile continues to be a strategy that should be considered. If you have a product or service to demo, augmented reality could be a great option. But it only makes sense to spend on those if you have properly targeted the audience and if the potential increase in response is worth the expenditure,” Trish cautions. “Maybe you’re getting three percent with an envelope mailer and you can get eight percent with a cool pop-up or embedded technology. In many cases, it comes down to math and knowing what your audience will engage with.” So what’s next on the direct mail horizon? Who knows, but you can bet Trish Witkowski will figure out how to turn it into something that works for direct marketers.

Two-Way Circular Gate Fold

Spring 2015

RocktheMailbox.com One-Stop Resource for Rockin’ Direct Mail Information and Education. From mail creation to distribution, it’s hard to find a resource more committed than RocktheMailbox.com. The site is home to a global database of companies who serve the mail industry. “This saves time for marketers,” says RocktheMailbox.com founder, Trish Witkowski. A Neutral Zone for Direct Mail Help

Rock the Mailbox focuses specifically on direct mail, and the goal is a highly detailed, noise-free search experience. Mail experts manage and curate the site, keeping the content objective and useful. An interactive

mapping feature shows where to find services in over 60 categories. Anyone can search Rock the Mailbox for free, but only qualified companies can join the global database of mail-production and mail-related services. “Maybe you’re a small business looking for a creative format, but you don’t know what it’s called. Or you need a specialized mailing list or help finding your audience. You might be looking for smarter postage options or a direct mail strategist. You may not know how to find them, or you may have to spend a lot of time searching and doing due diligence on what you find. So, we’re making it easier to search for answers,” Trish explains. “And you’re holding in your hands an

Looking for folding inspiration? View hundreds of real folding samples at Foldfactory’s video library. Browse the categories and feel your folding anxieties fade away as you view some of the most unique folds you’ll ever see. www.youtube.com/foldfactory

Bidirectional Accordion

Stepped Accordion

awesome direct mail publication that came from a great resource when it comes to direct mail know-how,” she adds. RocktheMailbox.com is what happens when a trained designer/fold guru/direct mail diva sets out to solve the big problems and the nitty-gritty details associated with creating successful mail campaigns. You’re welcome. :)

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Spring 2015

MARKETING TRENDS

MARKETING HACKATHONS FRESH THINKING, FAST Want to quickly generate content marketing ideas, develop a product launch, or plan a lead-gen campaign? Try a “marketing hackathon.”

n the tech world, these energetic events combine creativity and coding to produce a lot of work in a short time. Now, the idea is catching on in marketing departments. Big brands like Honda and Kraft and Home Depot have used this tool, but it’s a technique any-size business can try. One of your first steps is to decide what your hackers will work on. Prepare a brief and organize one or more teams in advance.

The hackathon can be as long or short as you need it to be. The intense schedule helps teams prioritize and push harder to reach goals. HubSpot gathered 40 volunteers for a marketing-hack night to plan a campaign. Teams had from 5:00 p.m. to midnight to produce emails, landing pages, tests, and promotions. This demonstrates the power of hackathons to quickly plow through many man-hours of work.

TEAMS BRING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES A hackathon thrives on diverse perspectives and an interdisciplinary approach. For cross-pollination, pull people from across your company. By tapping into other departments and possibly outside consultants, even small companies can come up with a good mix of players. Sales, marketing, web and IT, customer service, R & D, or even your ad agency—mix it up. This encourages results that play across your organization. You’ll want at least six to eight people if only using one group, or a minimum of three teams consisting of three to five members each. Good qualities for team members include knowledge of your customers and business, willingness to share ideas and the limelight, and flexibility to move quickly in uncharted territory. PLAY NICE Successful hackathons let groups do some work ahead of time so they hit the ground running and deliver more complete projects and solutions at the end. The prework can include research or talking to colleagues or customers. Publish a few ground rules to encourage positive team dynamics. For example, “Be respectful of other ideas,” and, “No idea is out of bounds.” If you are assigning teams, try to balance the leaders and the doers. As Babe Ruth put it, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” And neither will your hackathon.

Spring 2015

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD Hackathoners need plenty of fuel. Offer a variety of noshes and ask in advance about food allergies or dietary restrictions. Some planners recommend food trucks for a fresh-air nutrition break. Schedule food and surprises at set times throughout the event to keep people hacking through to each milestone. Recruit roving, on-site moderators to help teams when they stall. Have a support crew to keep things running smoothly, refreshing supplies such as coffee essentials, power strips, dry-erase markers, and flip charts. With fewer interruptions, teams can better focus. WHO WILL JUDGE? One difference between off-site brainstorming meetings and marketing hackathons is the use of judges to decide winners or review the solutions for consideration. Groups should be prepared to present their ideas to a panel of judges at the end of the hackathon.

“ Good qualities for team members include knowledge of your customers and business, willingness to share ideas and the limelight, and flexibility to move quickly in uncharted territory.”

Judges should be familiar with the need or reason for the hackathon and the business and marketing goals of the organization. YOU MUST HAVE SWAG Experienced hackers stress a strong connection between great hack events and great swag. While tech events often award big monetary prizes and gifts such as computers and cameras to the winning team, marketing hackathons can deliver multiple winning ideas. Expect greatness from your hackers and reward them accordingly.

For a personal touch, outside of any agreed upon compensation, consider putting together a very swanky swag bag for each participant or making a contribution to a charity of their choice for the winning team. FREE-RANGE INNOVATION Whether you call it a hackathon, off-site, retreat, brainstorm, or boot camp, the results can be transforming. Slip off the harness of the day-to-day routine and let your teams loose for free-range innovation.

Ideas to Hack What can a marketing hackathon help you with? See if these examples prompt any ideas.

Unilever collected about 60 people over two and a half days. Participants from research, digital, brand development, and outside agencies came together to solve the puzzle of lifetime brand appeal. Kraft took a unique approach, including app developers alongside the marketing teams. The hackers got briefings on problems with Ritz cracker brand engagement and on making Toblerone chocolate a more ordinary snack choice. Just 28 hours later, Kraft had over 40 app concepts. The winners were a Ritz cracker-stacking challenge app and a Toblerone star filmmaker camera app.

Do Something with Your Big Data Marketing hackathons might be the answer for the mountains of big data that companies have accumulated. Bringing many perspectives, teams can look at data from angles others might not see. Coke used big data in a hackathon to optimize its supply chain. EMI hackathoners explored how to use data from one million interviews to learn how and why customers buy music and how musicians connect with fans. You could ask similar questions about customers and products, using big data to hack answers.

Where Does Marketing Need Help? One challenge could be creating a list of big questions facing your marketing organization over the next decade. Or focus on more immediate needs, like a new approach to a product launch or upcoming trade show. Maybe ask, “What is the biggest problem our customers face that we can help them with?” You may come out of your hackathon with not just one, but several projects worthy of further development.

Spring 2015

CONTENT MARKETING

Straight Talk Insight and Advice from Four Niche Magazine Publishers By Tim Sweeney

RICK KAHL Editor Ski Area Management (SAM) The voice of the mountain resort industry

SAM has remained sustainable since 1962 by delivering content only we can provide. Because we make it our job to look for trends and developments in our industry, we often develop an understanding of them before many of the resorts themselves. We’ve also developed a service angle based on our position as industry experts, and we take our goal of helping resorts become more successful very seriously. BIGGEST CHALLENGE. Our biggest challenge is staying on top of trends and providing the information our audience needs. Production keeps getting easier, and resources are not an issue in our case. Many of our readers are willing and able to advise us on content and even produce it. I find that experts within the industry are often capable writers who appreciate the editing we do. To track and manage projects, we have begun using Google Drive, which makes it easier for staff to see where they can help out when needed. We also use project-sharing services like Google Docs for projects with several contributors.

LEVERAGING THE INTERNET. SAM was never a news source until the Internet gave it that ability. One of the ways we use the website is to post three stories from each issue online, so that our online audience can get a taste of what they’re missing by not subscribing. The page views and comments that our online items generate provide a very clear window on the issues and concerns that resonate with our readers. That can lead to further reporting, both online and in the magazine. People are as hungry for information as ever, and in niche markets—especially those undergoing great innovation and change—a magazine can fill a real need. But it will only be successful if the company is committed to it. It takes time and effort to imagine and then generate the original, meaningful content a successful magazine requires. A magazine must create impact and leave readers thinking, “Wow, that was amazing! I never thought of that.” There’s no problem with returning to key ideas time and again, but each time the story must have a unique angle. It can be extremely useful to an association if it has a clear mission and the magazine firmly promotes that mission. THRIVING IN PRINT. To thrive today in print takes big ideas and a willingness to see the overarching issues and address them head-on. The old staples of news and information can be handled by many media outlets, but the game-changing perspectives, innovations, and investigations are best handled in print, where they can receive the thought and consideration they require.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Find experts in your industry to be guest writers. Be careful to let them know that their writing will go through an editorial process. • Publish two or three of your articles on your website as “teasers” to get people to subscribe to your magazine.

Spring 2015

edition offers more feature-type stories, while the website serves as a hub for information on current events. Having multiple media outlets means more places to cover members seeking to impress sponsors. Our future plan is to use a digital version of our magazine as an element for a new fan club.

TELL YOUR BRAND STORY. Niche magazines are a great way to tell your brand story the way you want to tell it. While social media is great, there is limited fact-checking, and misinformation can be spread within seconds. By having an official magazine of the WPRA, readers know that the information will always be accurate, and our members love seeing their names in print.

ANN BLEIKER Managing Editor Women’s Pro Rodeo News Official publication of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association

As a member-run organization, we publish Women’s Pro Rodeo News as a member benefit. Unlike other mainstream sports, most of our members have to self-promote to sponsors while juggling full-time jobs with their love of competitive barrel racing. By telling our members’ stories in our magazine, they receive media coverage that could not be achieved through any other channel. Concurrently, we serve a need for our sponsors, who advertise directly to the top athletes in the sport and its followers. Our goal is to keep our members informed, provide a branding opportunity for our sponsors, and highlight our rodeo committees, who are the backbone of our sport. BIGGEST CHALLENGE. Our biggest challenge is covering as many events and people as possible month to month. In barrel racing, competitions take place all over the U.S. and Canada. Our subjects are moving targets we need to track down for interviews and photographs—all on deadline. Preparation and persistence are crucial. We call, text, email, and reach out via Facebook until we reach the people we need to speak with. Covering live events with results means we are publishing more “in the moment” than most journals. A huge benefit is that our writers understand the sport, so the learning curve is removed and they can take a story assignment and run with it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

CONNECTING ONLINE TO PRINT. To connect our website to our print magazine and grow print subscribers, we do a sneak peek of each month’s issue on our home page. Our readership ranges in age from 8 to 80 and, while the younger segment prefers the digital version, the older demographic relishes the print edition. The print

• Work with writers who are knowledgeable in your subject matter to save time and deliver accurate content. • Offer a sneak peek online of the print edition, and run stories in print that can’t be found via the web.

5 TIPS FOR MAGAZINE PUBLISHING SUCCESS:

Create an editorial committee that regularly meets to plan and review topics for your publication. Keep the committee small and focused on the mission of the publication.

Have an annual editorial plan that organizes your approved themes and content topics. The plan can be adjusted as needed to accommodate breaking news or new trends.

Develop a branded information sheet to use when you reach out to thought leaders, industry experts, and persons to interview. Include distribution numbers (print and digital editions), frequency and longevity of your publication, target audience, methods of distribution, and mentions of previous notable interviews and cover stories. This will add credibility to your publication and professionalism to your approach, as well as support your request for their valued time.

Develop a bank of articles that are appropriate to use throughout the year should an article or writer fall off the schedule at the last minute.

Include digital engagement opportunities within your printed publication to move and engage readers online. Whether it is a contest or expanded content, your readers should be invited to experience your website, microsite landing pages, or social media platforms and communities.

Spring 2015

CONTENT MARKETING

JASON SMITH Art Director The New Brewer

ADVANCED PLANNING. Planning is a crucial element to our success. Each August, we build the publication calendar for the following year. We rely on reoccurring meetings during the publication timeline and multiple layout reviews prior to proofs. We also have “postmortem” discussions on what worked and what needs improving. Due to a desire for an organized process for all staff involved, we implemented the project-management software Basecamp in 2014. Basecamp keeps all communications between the Editor-in-Chief and Art Director in one place, organized, and accessible. It also allows everything to be tracked, viewed in real time, and archived.

The bimonthly journal of the Brewers Association Included with a paid Brewers Association membership, The New Brewer was established to help commercial start-up breweries find their way during the early days of the craft-beer revolution. Today our content includes features on brewing technology and problem solving, quality standards, pub and restaurant management, raw-material world reports, industry reviews, and news. Our member breweries range in size from fewer than 500 barrels per year to more than 800,000. Our goal is to inform and educate them, enabling the U.S. craft-beer industry to thrive and grow professionally and responsibly as a collective group with a similar vision. ONLINE ACCESS. We make The New Brewer digital edition available online to members in a semi-interactive format that is searchable, with active links throughout the editorial and advertising sections. Members can also access 15 years of archived issues. The digital content is the same as the print edition, with the exception of a digital-edition sponsorship opportunity. We track page views for our News posts and have access to open rates on the digital edition. Members receive an email announcing the new issue, and it includes an advertising sponsor that helps generate revenue for the publication. These touch points pique interest in the new issue and notify our members that it will be in their mailbox soon.

GENERATE REVENUE. Niche magazines allow trade organizations like ours to generate revenue, provide topical information to their members or audience, and create a benefit to the reader who is interested in the topic. Most industries have some sort of trade organization that represents them or the products they use or produce, and those organizations need an outlet for their voice, education, and knowledge, as well as a way to connect their community. A magazine is the perfect way to accomplish that, but before jumping into a print publication, research the wants and needs of your members or community. Make sure your audience will support your publication through subscriptions or membership dues and that your advertiser base is strong enough to add additional revenue to your efforts. Then ensure you have proper staff to handle your publication. Finally, create a strong look and feel for your publication and hold true to your organized layout templates and editorial voice.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: • Before launching a publication, understand the organization’s goals and research whether the community can and will support its own publication. • Consider using a project-management software system, which could free up your team to build the bridge between print and digital. • Many publications today get their start online, develop a following, and expand into print later. Photo © Brewers Association

MAGAZINE STRUCTURE BASICS FLATPLAN Similar to a storyboard, a flatplan is a diagram of thumbnail pages in which each story is represented by the number of pages it occupies. Ad pages are included and identified differently from the editorial pages for quick reference. Flatplans are used to arrange pages in a particular way so that the magazine has proper flow, breaks, balance, and pace. Due to almost daily changes, it is imperative that all staff have a printed copy of the current flatplan.

COVERS Outside Front Cover (C1 or OFC); Inside Front Cover (C2 or IFC), typically the second-most expensive ad page; Inside Back Cover (C3 or IBC), third-most expensive ad page; and Outside Back Cover (C4 or OBC), which holds the title of the most expensive ad page.

Spring 2015

MISSY MARTINETTE HILLS Owner and Publisher L•O PROFILE Magazine Covers the lifestyle and commerce of the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri

L•O PROFILE is an oversized, coffee-table feature magazine promoting the best that the Lake of the Ozarks has to offer by illustrating and producing high-quality images and features that reflect the lifestyle and commerce that has developed over the years at the Lake. Magazines are unique as a visual, three-dimensional book. They combine marketing elements with entertainment. Keeping content fresh and offering information through pictures and good stories in an oversized format helps to secure the magazine’s value and longevity. I believe keeping true to our purpose and quality is what has kept L•O PROFILE successful through the electronic era. LOPROFILE.COM. We publish the entire current issue online at loprofile.com, where consumers can purchase it and view it page by page. The majority of our online readers are ages 21-45, while our retail-print readers are 45 and over. To survive today, you must have both online and print options that coexist. Online availability has helped broaden the readership scope of PROFILE, giving us the ability to sell photos, subscriptions, and digital copies on an international basis. Where our distribution truck can’t go, the Internet is there. Still, as much as we want to rely

FRONT OF THE BOOK KEY PAGES Impressum is the list of people that work in the magazine, including editorial, marketing, ad sales, publishers, and production staff. Editor Letter welcomes the reader and explains the content of the issue. Section Starts and other key pages in the Front of the Book can include short, one-page topics; news sections; reviews; trends; columns; and opinions. These pages typically have a uniform, standardized grid structure design in place.

on or promote the digital world, the majority of consumers are in an age bracket of 45-80, and print magazines and periodicals are where they want to get their information and entertainment. BIGGEST CHALLENGES. Our biggest challenges are deadlines for space commitment and ad copy. Business owners and marketing agents are busy, so meeting a deadline for marketing projects takes a backseat to running their business. That’s why magazines require great organization and teamwork. Communication between writers, photographers, layout and design, and sales has to be precise and detailed so that all areas know what the other is doing, even before the pieces come together. Because this is so important, we have developed our own project-management methods to stay on the same page and efficient. We rely on Google Drive, which seems to work well for all administrative documents, scheduling, calendars, and miscellaneous items/tasks.

or connecting via social media, email, radio, cable, or community events. Today, all of these contact points must be utilized to keep the product healthy and alive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: • O ut of sight is out of mind. Complement your print efforts with social media, email, and other means of connecting with your audience. • Hire staff members who will mesh well with your team. You’ll spend too much time depending on each other to not get along.

NICHE MAGAZINES‘ GROWTH. Because consumers have specific hobbies and interests that they want to be informed about, there will always be niche magazines to educate, inform, and entertain. The key is staying in front of the consumer as a brand, whether that means they are holding your printed issue; looking at it online;

FEATURE WELL The largest part of the publication, the feature well contains feature articles and the cover story. Lengths of articles can vary, and it is better to intersect short with longer features when developing the flatplan to create proper flow.

BACK OF THE BOOK Similar to the Front of the Book, shorter articles, news, listings, and remaining columns are placed here. A similar rigid structure and design is followed, with only slight changes from issue to issue to maintain a familiar and consistent look. The final editorial page can be reserved for a columnist, short essay or interview, or similar casual content as a close to the publication.

Spring 2015

MY WORKING DAY

My Working Day

Supporting the Creative Teams Mennelle Straight-McCahill Director, Marketing Operations, HGTV and DIY

ennelle Straight-McCahill oversees the operations and production side of a very successful creative team at HGTV. In short, she and her team handle what creatives might call the “labor” part of the labor of love: contracts, budgets, logistics, workflow, and project management.

When Creative and Strategy are ready to kick off a project, my team lays out the road map in terms of logistics and schedule. We also source the production partners and vendors and determine the budget. When a great idea bubbles to the

ensure we have a balance of skills and experience. Everyone has a unique background. That diversity works well when working with a large team, since much time is spent simply communicating via emails, texts, phone, or face-to-face meetings.

Often it takes as much time to hand off info and tasks as it does to do it myself, but I have to make sure I don’t let myself get lazy about taking the time to properly delegate/train/hand off assignments. Keeping things synchronized can be a challenge, but as a team we maintain a relatively simple approach, focusing on the elements that are universal—delivering stellar creative on time within the allotted budget and always being solution oriented.

has been a huge challenge. On-air spots are the bulk of our workload, but we’ve done digital campaigns, print magazines, consumer marketing events (like music festivals), movie trailers, radio ads, and out-of-home advertising. The ever-changing way media is consumed on social and digital platforms keeps us constantly on our toes. Our team has worked on some innovative ways to reach consumers in recent years, and

‘The ever-changing way media is consumed on social and digital platforms keeps us constantly on our toes.” top, our role is to find a way to make it happen. It’s a highly collaborative environment, with great respect for how decisions impact other areas of a project. We like to ensure the creative team makes very informed decisions. Fortunately, I have five amazing direct reports on my team—the result of hiring carefully over the years to

WHAT INSPIRES ME? RECOMMENDED READING Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury is helpful for your personal as well as professional life. Negotiation is definitely an art form, and it’s worth examining if you want to improve your success rate. ON THE WEB I don’t follow many bloggers, but I enjoy a website called Brainpickings.org. They always

It sounds simple, but I am a to-do list person. I try to write my list of tasks, organized by project, every morning. Inevitably, I add as much as I subtract as the day wears on, but at least it’s all in the same place and not in my head! It’s sad but true that checking off my to-do list keeps me motivated.

seem to find really interesting and inspiring topics that hit me on different levels. OTHER MEDIA I enjoy several music blogs: Paste, Stereogum, Noisetrade. Music is a personal passion, but we are quite focused on music with our creative as well, utilizing our fantastic in-house composers and also licensing quite a bit of music. Our team is always shooting links to one another when something catches our ears.

We spend a lot of time looking at the best way to manage media, share assets and info, and stay as efficient as possible while constantly updating our workflow and best practices. In addition to HGTV, we now cover the marketing for the DIY and GAC networks, so streamlining processes without losing flexibility

BEST ADVICE Manage in all directions and don’t burn bridges. Your job as a manager doesn’t end with your direct reports. We are constantly managing our relationships with our peers, partners, and bosses (and their bosses), whether we are aware of it or not. It’s really not enough to put your head down, do a good job, and go home. Being a valued team member means understanding how you impact the story and being aware of that with every interaction.

there is a learning curve to that, but I love the challenge and being able to say, “Yes, I can do that!” Pulling off a complex, multiplatform creative campaign is an amazing high, but seeing the strong ratings on a show you promoted is the ultimate payoff when you know everything is working together and your brand is strong. Moving forward, I am fascinated by the shift in media consumption off the TV screen in general. It’s a really exciting evolution to be a part of and presents interesting opportunities for programmers and marketers. My kids are being raised to consume media in a completely different way. When I hear them talk about YouTubers or making Vines, it makes me realize how fast the landscape is changing.

CALENDAR SHOWCASE Each quarter, Hopkins Printing produces and distributes a quarterly calendar and notepad that have been designed for Hopkins Printing by one of our talented design clients. We are pleased to showcase the design by Cardinal Health Creative Services, for our 2015 Q2 calendar project.

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