I n n o v a t i v e T e c h n o l o g i e s i n P r i n t

March 2010 Volume 8 Issue 2

In This Issue:
USEFUL INFORMATION ITP, a full line Information N I NF
IO OR
Distribution Company, UT M
enhances its customers’ IB Customer

AT
R
ST
business communication

I ON
DI
process by providing Information Content
innovative solutions that Users Owners
extend beyond applying ink
on paper. We have grown Facilities
Management
• Do the Eyes Have It?
beyond the “traditional”
Delivery Project
model of a printing company • ITP Fleet Management
• Punctuation Counts
to a complete single-source • Common Carrier • Consulting
• Segmenting the • Training
Segments
for all of our clients’ • Implementation

information management Mailing

• Anyone Beg to Differ?
and distribution needs. • Presorting Content
• Art or Science • Barcoding Management
ITP incorporates services • Reporting • Graphic Design
• A Slight Miscalculation • List Management • Preflight
like print-on-demand, • Electronic Prepress
• Another Legal Concern conventional printing, • Content Repository

• Crawling Back inventory management, Warehousing

& Fulfillment eBusiness
• Perceptions eBusiness, variable • Kit Assembly • Web Access &
• Packaging
and more... information and mailing Data Transfer
• Print On Demand
solutions into value • Electronic Ordering
& Inventory
packages that create Binding & Management
Finishing • Form Creation
complete solutions.
Our comprehensive array
Printing
of services can be bundled • Digital
• Offset
or utilized separately to • Variable Data
help you achieve your Documents
An Information specific goals. Marketing Materials
Direct Mail
Distribution Company Point of Sale
Specialty Items

• This edition of ITP Notes was produced on ITP’s Indigo Digital Press.
 I T P NOTES

DO THE EYES HAVE IT? SEGMENTING THE SEGMENTS

Designers and publishers Not all members of a frequency (frequently mislabeled
need to consider visual “loyalty”) program are the same. Carlson Marketing has
issues involved in color, divided members into four psychographic categories and
comprehension, retention, estimated the percent of members that each represents:
readability, and eye fatigue,
• “
 Passives” prefer shopping convenience more than
particularly if printed matter
special rewards (60%).
is targeted at mature read-
ers. Type size smaller than • “Privilege Seekers” value special access and
nine point can present a program benefits (21%).
problem – and the problem • “Loyalty Fanatics” relate closely to a program
is exacerbated if a sans serif and constitute a good source of word-of-mouth
type face is used. Now, promotion (10%).
recent research has uncov- • “Points Junkies” have little emotional
ered evidence that visual dif- connection with the program but like its economic
ficulties may not be confined aspects (9%).
to older segments of the
population. Researchers ANYONE BEG TO DIFFER?
have determined that the The word “differentiation” is commonly used these days.
number of cases of near- However, it is not always used correctly, and is often confused
sightedness (“myopia”) has with two other words: “different” and “branding.” “Differenti-
nearly doubled since the late 1970s. Thirty years ago, about ation” is based on customer perceptions. It’s synonymous
one in four Americans required corrective lenses because of with USP – Unique Selling Proposition – and is a credible,
the problem; the figure is now 42%. Epidemiologists theorize meaningful reason to do business with a supplier. “Different,”
that the increase may be attributable to one or both of on the other hand, does not necessarily involve elevated
these issues: perceived customer value. “Branding” involves recognition
• Increasing use of electronic devices and computers, and awareness and may, or may not, reflect competitive
particularly among younger members of the population. differentiation.
• Children who spend too much time indoors.
Lack of ambient light “sends a signal to the eye to ART OR SCIENCE?
stop growing.” One consequence of the
recession in the business
community is pressure to
PUNCTUATION COUNTS
produce evidence of the
Many, if not most, customer surveys seek feedback about effectiveness and efficiency
perceptions of an organization’s service, as well as the prod- of the marketing and pro-
uct. It sounds simple, but it contains the seeds of confusion motion functions. There has,
and ambiguity whether a survey is conducted verbally, in general, been an unprec-
through the mail, or on the Internet. The source of possible edented emphasis on metrics (“units of measurement”) even
confusion: does the question pertain to “customer service” as though integrated marketing’s use of multiple media makes
an organizational issue or does it refer to Customer Service it extremely difficult (and some would argue irrelevant) to
Department activity? Distinguishing the meaning in a mail or isolate the effectiveness of individual media, such as e-com-
Internet survey is simple: it involves capitalization, or lack merce, direct mail, or telemarketing. The emphasis on met-
thereof, as used in the previous sentence. A verbal version of rics has opened a dialogue about the essence of the marketing
the question used in an interview requires some explanation. function. Guru Jack Ries says, “Marketing is a discipline that
In any case, take pains to clarify the question. Failure to do so can only be learned by exposure to marketing case histories
runs the risk of misinterpretation of the feedback. over an extensive period of time. Mathematics is logical.
Marketing is not.”

I n n o v a t i v e T e c h n
POSTAL ISSUES
A SLIGHT MISCALCULATION?
The Postal Service makes annual multi-billion dollar payments to
the Civil Service Retirement System to fund retirees’ health benefits.
The agency’s Office of Inspector General now claims that excessive
payments totaling about $75 billion have been made since 1972
due to a problem in the formula used to calculate pension costs.
Despite the Postal Service’s dire financial straits, it is unlikely that
the alleged overpayment will be returned to the agency any time
soon, if ever. Claims for repayment were not accompanied by an
explanation of the U.S.P.S. accounting procedures and controls that
may have contributed to a $75 billion slip-up over a period of
twenty-eight years
HEMORRHAGING CONTINUES
Despite aggressive marketing efforts and the holiday season, the
Postal Service continues to report substantial operating losses. Net
losses in October and November 2009, the first two months of the
federal fiscal year, totaled $476 million. The good news: there are
some positive signs, albeit modest. Sales are increasing despite a
decrease in unit volume.
ANOTHER LEGAL CONCERN
Publishers have to concern themselves with copyright issues.
Now, publishers of instructional materials and self-help books need
to be concerned about consumer safety issues – even if there has
been no reported problem. Responding to a complaint from the
federal Consumer Product Safety Commission that errors in wiring
instructions and technical diagrams in nine books dating back to
January 1975 could cause a fire hazard or shock users, publisher
Oxmoor House has recalled more than 950,000 of the books, some
of which are sold under the brands of “Sunset” and “Lowe’s.”
CRAWLING BACK
Advertising in consumer magazine improved somewhat during the
last quarter of 2009, but the recovery was too late to rescue a year to
forget for many publishers. Publishers Information Bureau reports
that, for the full year, advertising revenue decreased 18.1% and the
number of advertising pages dropped 25.1% compared to 2008.
PERCEPTIONS
A great deal has been written about buyers’ perceptions of suppli-
ers. Less has been written about consumers’ perceptions of them-
selves although those self-perceptions are important to sellers. A
London-based research company found that teenagers want to be
treated as adults...many younger adults want to be treated like teen-
agers...and seniors picture themselves as active adults. These obser-
vations have important implications for many marketers.
Quick
o l o g i e s i n P r i n t
QUICK NOTES
Notes
SALES AT BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS
Amidst the dialogue about electronic readers, such
as Kindle, Nook, and e-Reader, and sales of the
hard copy version of books, one book seems to be
unaffected: the Bible. It’s the best selling book in
America despite the fact that the average household
has four copies.
THOUGHTS ON HEALTH CARE
“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”
– Erma Bombeck
“As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more
than chemists.”
– Joan Gussow
THE PRICE OF RESISTANCE
To those who resist sponsoring or participating in staff
training during these turbulent times, we offer this
observation by the late quality guru W. Edwards Dem-
ing: “Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.”
NEW DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
Consumer marketers are generally unaware of a recent
demographic phenomenon: the number of unmarried
couples living together in the United States is now
greatest among those age fifty and above.
DEFINING TERMS
The word “optimism” shouldn’t be confused with “pos-
itive.” They are different concepts. A gambler is opti-
mistic but the casino owner is positive.
SHOVEL-READY TERMINOLOGY
Lake Superior (Michigan) State University has pub-
lished its thirty-fifth annual “List of Words to Be Ban-
ished from the Queen’s English.” Words and terms
that are overused, misused, and generally useless are
included. Leading the list this year: “shovel-ready” and
“tweet.” These words are joined by “app,” “czar,”
“teachable moment,” and “transparent.”
RESEARCH LIMITATION
If, more than thirty years, you conducted a massive
survey asking people for their best new product
idea, do you believe that anyone would have suggest-
ed a two-dollar T-shirt with a twenty-eight dollar
image of a reptile? In general, people have difficulty
conceiving products or services not rooted in their
respective experiences. Any research instrument has
its limitations.
 I n n o v a t i v e T e c h n o l o g i e s i n P r i n t

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

Print-on-demand has been with us for decades. Variable data color reproduction was intro-
duced in 1993. Toner imaging is fifty years old, dating back to the days in which Xerox
Corporation was known as Haloid Corporation. Along the way, the word “digital” entered the
graphic arts industry’s everyday vocabulary. Most people
Information Distribution
agree that “digital” can be defined as a process other than
Graphic Design
traditional offset printing. Beyond that, the word means
different things to different people. Some, including Print- Printing
ing Industries of America, define the word as any device Mailing
using toner. However, two of the most popular variable Fulfillment
data output devices use pigment other than toner. Some Bindery
define “digital” as excluding digitally-driven offset press- Warehousing
es. The bottom line: establish the operative definition of
“digital” before using it in a conversation. ITP is an information distribution
company in Elizabethtown, PA.
This newsletter is intended to give
our peers brief details of industry
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’ happenings. If you have any
Economists predict continued weak demand for trucking in 2010, with disappearance of questions regarding our services,
please visit us at:
about two-thousand firms by year-end. They forecast that rates will increase well beyond the www.itpofusa.com
rate of inflation in 2011 and recommend negotiating and “locking in” rates for the next few
years for companies in a position to guarantee a specific level of volume. ITP of USA
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