PROforma Pow-Wow

The past couple of months I have been spending a lot of time doing marketing for my company as well as for my clients. Unfortunately, it took my time away from posting to my blog. You see, I have been spending a great deal of time explaining to businesses that you can't stop spending your marketing dollars in a down economy.

In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that business-to-business Firms that Maintained or Increased their Promotion Expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession Averaged Significantly Higher Sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased promoting. By 1985, sales of companies that were Aggressive Recession Promoting had Risen 256% over those that didn't keep up their promoting.

In addition, a series of six studies conducted by the research firm of Meldrum & Fewsmith showed conclusively that Promotion Aggressively during Recessions not only Increases Sales but Increases Profits. This fact has held true for all post-World War II recessions studied by The American Business Press starting in 1949.

The past couple of months I have been spending a lot of time doing marketing for my company as well as for my clients. Unfortunately, it took my time away from posting to my blog. You see, I have been spending a great deal of time explaining to businesses that you can't stop spending your marketing dollars in a down economy.

In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that business-to-business Firms that Maintained or Increased their Promotion Expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession Averaged Significantly Higher Sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased promoting. By 1985, sales of companies that were Aggressive Recession Promoting had Risen 256% over those that didn't keep up their promoting.In addition, a series of six studies conducted by the research firm of Meldrum & Fewsmith showed conclusively that Promotion Aggressively during Recessions not only Increases Sales but Increases Profits. This fact has held true for all post-World War II recessions studied by The American Business Press starting in 1949.

Reference Guide for Wide & Grand Format Printing

I am posting this guide so anyone who needs to purchase wide format printing for their company/organization will quickly and easily understand it.  I will be posting this information over the next several days.  

Content to be discussed:

- Wide Format Inkjet Terminologies

- Wide Format Laminating

- Wide Format Mounting

- Grand Format Inkjet Terminologies

- Grand Format Finishing Options

- Wide Format Photographic Imaging Terminology

- Photographic Imaging Finishing Options

- When do Wide and Grand Format Prints apply

Wide Format Wide Format Inkjet Terminology

Definition: Inkjet Printing

Street Verbiage = HP Prints or HP’s

Wide Format HP Printing is any full color or black and white print that is larger

 than 18” wide and does not exceed 59.50” wide. It is the process where ink “jets” spray ink onto the selected substraight (paper, vinyl, fabric) and allowed to dry prior to finishing.

 

Wide Format Printing is normally produced as 4 color process.

• Note: New technology allows us to print in 6 colors, see notes below on 6 colors.
• Note: Process Color is defined as the culmination of 4 primary colors that when maxed create all needed colors. C– Cyan Y– Yellow M– Magenta K– Black
• Note: The Fifth and Sixth Colors used in a 6 color application are Light Cyan & Light Magenta
• Note: HP Printer Paper only comes in one thickness which is equals to 60# offset cover stock.

   The HP’s print on a variety of papers including Matte’, Luster or Gloss.

 

 

Wide Format Laminating

Definition = Lam or Encapsulation

• Lamination: the process of covering any print on both sides with a polyethylene

             base plastic film

• Encapsulation: laminating both sides of a print and leaving a 1/8” clear boarder

            around the outside

• Over laminating: only laminating 1 side of a print.
  

All HP Prints (except the HP 9000 prints) must be laminated w/ Matte’, Luster or Gloss

laminations. This is to protect the print and add shelf life to the product.

• Note: All laminations are 99% crystal clear with a 1% drift to yellow.

 

Lamination Gages

1.75 mil / 3.00 mil / 5.00 mil /10.00 mil

Seal 60” Laminator Image

 

  

 

THE POWER OF INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

A study by The Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE) Foundation confirms the impact of incentive programs offering tangible rewards. In addition to increasing work performance an average 22%, such programs also help create positive emotion in the workplace, which greatly influences commitment to a work task, according to Mike Hadlow, president of SITE Foundation. “Incentive programs may be the single most important performance improvement tool available to executives today,” he says.

Payback You Can Measure

• Non-cash rewards achieve three times the return on investment when compared with cash-based programs, according to a study by World at Work (formerly the American Compensation Association).

• While both types of programs will boost performance, the “extra” increases you get with non-cash rewards can turn a good return on investment into an exceptional return.

Why Cash Doesn’t Work?

Make Your Incentive

Dollars Do More!

Research supports the benefits

of tangible rewards over cash

What’s the better motivator, cash or merchandise? When asked, program participants often say they prefer cash. But time and time again, studies show that participants work harder for tangible rewards.

For example, a study conducted for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company compared the performance of two groups of participants: one rewarded with cash, and the other rewarded with merchandise and travel. Both groups recorded a performance improvement in response to the incentive offered; however, the group receiving tangible rewards had results nearly 50% higher

A major drawback of cash is that it lacks “trophy value.” When 1,010 people were asked in a survey how they spent their last cash reward, cash incentive or cash bonus, close to half responded “bills” or “do not remember.” These answers (detailed below) underscore the limited impact of money as a motivator. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Limitations of

Cash Incentives

In a poll conducted by American Express Incentive Services, 17% of American employees surveyed said they had received a year-end cash bonus from their company; yet a full 32% of those who had been rewarded monetarily admitted the bonus did not impact their work performance.

In a separate study of incentive planners, 68% of respondents said cash bonuses can have a negative impact if they are considered to be too small; three of five respondents said that merchandise and travel are better rewards because they are more like a gift; and three of five respondents said that cash rewards tend to be perceived as part of an employee’s compensation pack.      

 Source: The Society of Incentive & Travel Executives

 

_____________________________________________________________

How Much can an

Incentive Program

Improve Performance?

Research indicates that a well-designed incentive program offering non-cash rewards will increase performance an average 22%. Team incentives increase performance by as much as 44%.*

 The key to success is in program design: targeting the right behaviors, offering rewards that are meaningful to your audience, and executing and tracking flawlessly. It’s critical to choose an incentive supplier with know-how.  Let us put our expertise to work for you!

*Source: Incentives, Motivation and Workplace Performance

Research and Best Practices (International Society of Performance Improvement)  

 

I'm at the PPAI Trade Show now in Las Vegas. This is the largest trade show in the promotional industry. I plan on posting video of new products and/or ideas that may work for YOU! Keep coming back to see what's happening!

Hot New Products for 2010!

 

Innovative Marketing Tools - Part 1

Let’s talk about ways you can build traffic

You have a retail business and business traffic has slowed.  You decide you need something to drive traffic to your business, but what.

Consider TrafficTickets™.  It is an Innovative Marketing Tool to drive consumers into the new your retail establishment. The benefits will be:

• Increase sales

• Improve brand awareness at point-of-sale

• Acquire, retain and cross-sell customers

• Sell product/brand, launch new products/services, seasonal promotions, branch openings, trade shows

• Effective anywhere you need to drive customer traffic

All About Promotional Products

Considering a promotional item for your next marketing effort?  The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) recently conducted a study of end-buyers and promotional products they received, and the findings may help steer your decisions. 

If you are wondering whether or not the promotional products you distributed had a shelf life, you will be happy to learn that 81 percent of promotional products were kept by the recipient because they were considered useful. And most of the recipients – 62 percent – did business with the advertiser on a product after receiving it.  Promotional products work!

New Page on Proforma Pow-Wow

Today we've launched a new page on our site -- Case Studies -- that gives examples of how different marketing needs and issues have been addressed by individual companies.  We hope that you'll be able to use this information to learn more about the latest trends in the marketing industry.  We also think that these case studies might spark an idea or two for your next marketing campaign!

Visit the new page by clicking here.