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Author: Kimberly Cronk

Ideas That Work: Connecting The Branding Disconnect

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Print & Mail, Case Study.

When you’re a member organization whose members are providers of lifelong learning and continuing education for nontraditional credit-seeking students, you have a lot of people and businesses watching what you’re doing. Namely, the colleges and associations to which you’re delivering exclusive content. And being a practicing example of the principles you teach is non-negotiable.

So what happens when you realize your organization’s marketing efforts could use a little tweaking? Or that your recently revamped website was merely the first step toward enhancing your entire branding presence and that the scope of work involved in a refreshed-branding project is beyond your current capabilities? You seek out a partner who will listen to your concerns, bring ideas to the table, and work collaboratively with you to match your existing brand while unveiling a fresh and consistent new image.

This was precisely the case when Learning Resource Network (LERN), headquartered in North Carolina, partnered with The F.P. Horak Company, a print and marketing solutions provider, based in Saginaw, Michigan.

THE BACKGROUND

As the world’s largest association representing the lifelong learning industry, LERN provides its members with marketing, finance, management, sales, and product development tips and information via exclusive reports, publications, and tutorials. There is also an online portal, which serves as an interactive forum where members can ask questions and share ideas with their colleagues. With an active community of 1,100+ members, communicating a unified message across web, print, and digital marketing channels is imperative. All branding components must be easily recognized by members and prospective members, and marketing messaging must be coherent and cohesive. Further, as a thought-leader and consultant in the continuing education sector, LERN’s own marketing collateral must be of the same caliber it suggests to its members.

In short, LERN needs to walk the walk.

THE PROBLEM

After a careful and critical review of LERN’s marketing and branding, one thing became clear: It was not achieving the unified presence it was looking for—and that it recommended to its own member organizations.

Because the LERN team had a stable of several graphic designers and copywriters from which to pull, the intended cohesive message became blurred as all of the associates brought their own flavor to the marketing pieces assigned to them. And while the projects looked and functioned well as standalones, they ultimately didn’t fit a “total package” look and feel. In order to create strong brand recognition and set the tone for future marketing project consistency, parameters would need to be set and adhered to by the entire LERN team.

After consulting with The F.P. Horak Company, the decision was made to move forward with a branding package. The biggest challenge? With LERN stepping into its busiest time of the year—its annual conference season—many large projects, including materials for conference attendees, needed to be completed all at once; coordinating timely deliveries was essential.

brandDis

THE SOLUTION

With a monumental challenge laid out before them—creating a unified image prior to LERN’s annual conference in Baltimore—the F.P. Horak team set to work. In addition to tying together all of LERN’s day-to-day marketing efforts across all platforms, from print to web to digital, the team was also tasked with creating the annual conference collateral for the meeting’s 750 attendees. An engaging, user-friendly conference notebook complete with session schedules, visually appealing reports, note pages, and attention-grabbing fliers enhanced the attendees’ experiences, as did a custom conference app, for which F.P. Horak designed the logos.

If there had been a disconnect between LERN’s previous design elements, it was no longer apparent. Instead, a coherent user experience had taken its place, allowing LERN to shine as the valuable resource it is to its members.

THE RESULTS

LERN is now walking the same walk it recommends to its members.

“F.P. Horak exceeded the mark when it came to deadlines and was able to keep up with us every step of the way,” says Katie Lynch-Morin, LERN’s director of communications.

In addition to compliments from attendees on the annual conference package and the refreshed, cohesive branding, LERN is also realizing cost savings on a newsletter project as a result of its collaboration with F.P. Horak.

“By their suggesting a change in our printing, mailing, and shipping plan for one of our newsletters, we’re saving $6,000 per year, just on that piece alone,” says Lynch-Morin.

Cost savings and “wowed” end-users: Now that’s a branding win!

BY LIBERTY KONTRANOWSKI

CIO Review

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in B2B E-commerce.

cioReview

20 Most Promising E-commerce Solution Providers 2017

With the rapid growth of e-commerce today, modern enterprises and online retailers are adopting systematic approaches to make the shopping experience a hassle free for their customers. A successful e-commerce strategy requires strong focus on mobile marketing, socially inspired shopping and cross-channel integration of channels for a bird’s eye view. By removing costly and time-consuming processes to keep up with customer expectations, these approaches play a key role in optimizing an organization’s success parameters. Aimed at this, solution providers are delivering an array of innovative features across the length and breadth of e-commerce functions.

Aside from SaaS and cloud-based marketplaces, plethora of features including one-click mobile shopping carts, digital wallets, smart button ordering systems, supply chain and inventory management, data collection and analytics, and a lot more, make the selection of a right solution a herculean task for the businesses.

To help organizations select the best vendors that offer the most promising solutions, CIOReview presents to you a listing of “20 Most Promising E-commerce Solution Providers 2017.”

A distinguished panel of prominent CEOs, CIOs, VCs,and analysts, along with CIOReview’s editorial board has assessed hundreds of e-commerce solution providers and shortlisted the ones that are at the forefront of providing cutting-edge technology solutions. The listing provides a look into how the solutions in this domain are put into use, so that you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how they will boost your business.

We present to you 20 Most Promising E-commerce Solution Providers 2017.

F.P. Horak

A Self-serve Solution for Organizations

Over the course of its storied 70-year history in Michigan, the name of the game for The F.P. Horak Company has been transformation. Time and again, it has adapted its businesses, to keep pace with technology and to seize new opportunities.

Today, its focus is on the twin service of supply chain management and B2B e-commerce–leveraging buying power and lowering costs–and full-service print and marketing. Together, they contribute directly to a stronger bottom line for companies, creating a lean and efficient enterprise.

“Our role is to augment an organization and create self-serve methods which improve and streamline marketing, purchasing, financial and other operations,” says Tim Dust, president of the company.

F.P. Horak has leveraged B2B e-commerce technology and its potential for clients. Its B2B e-commerce platform and supply chain solutions address key tasks, allowing clients the liberty of freeing themselves from repetitive tasks and focusing on strategic goals. F.P. Horak was among the earliest adopters of the cloud, taking its first step toward the emerging technology in 1997.

“We have since evolved into a platform-agnostic, distributed SaaS model,” says Dust. “We serve a gamut of companies, from large multinationals to local organizations and we have different tools for each.”

Dynamic pricing and on-demand fulfillment are key benefits of F.P. Horak’s solutions. In each case, it delivers based on performance analytics and  customer trends.

“We take pride in creating a dynamic, flexible program that optimizes our clients costs and budgets,” says Dust. “We don’t want our clients to incur unnecessary costs related to inventory obsolescence or underutilization.”

At the other end of the spectrum is pricing, the importance of which has been underscored by a Gartner prediction: By 2018, 40 percent of B2B digital commerce sites will use price optimization algorithms and Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) tools to deliver dynamic  product pricing.

“Customized program pricing is already an inherent part of our offering,” says Dust.

tDust

We take pride in creating a dynamic, flexible program that optimizes our clients costs and budgets

 

Establishing its quest for innovative solutions, Dust cites the example  of a client that struggled to manage costs and efficiency of an incentive program for its end users. The company ran a successful benefit program for marketing resellers, handing out free marketing dollars or points based on sales targets. But administering the program was a nightmare, with staff spending an inordinate amount of time on  calculating benefits.

When F.P. Horak stepped in, it reviewed all the processes–particularly the manual ones–and accounting procedures. “We looked at it holistically, and put together an e-commerce platform that would take care of all the accounting,” Dust recalls. “We also set up marketing automation protocols with access to the resellers so that they could implement their own campaigns, within the broad scope laid out by the company,” Dust adds. The solution not only saved time and money, but also freed up the client’s staff for other strategic activities.

This year, F.P. Horak aims to expand beyond the print industry, and also envisions new internet strategies to add to its e-commerce strengths. Options include product catalog management, technology management solutions, etc., with the goal of creating and adding value and solving  problems for organizations.

Link to article here

Digital Magazine here

 

BUILDING FOR YOUR FUTURE

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Omnichannel Marketing.


BUILDING FOR YOUR FUTURE
The F.P. Horak Company is pleased to announce an 87,000-square-foot expansion to our Straits Drive facility, allowing the company to shift all operations to this location.

This expansion shows our commitment to the community, to our customers and employees, and to continuing to grow and invest in advanced technology and manufacturing that delivers print and marketing solutions to our clients.

Ten Mind-Blowing Stats About Mobile Marketing

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Omnichannel Marketing.

mMarketing

By: Laurie Hileman

Think that mobile marketing is just about optimizing your website for viewing on phones? Think again.

According to Marketo, a leading marketing automation software company, mobile marketing is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices via websites, email, social media, and apps.

And mobile is H-O-T. Here’s why it’s so important to execute a mobile marketing strategy that reaches today’s on-the-go consumers:

1. By 2020, there’ll be roughly 6.1 billion mobile users.

2. More Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the United States and Japan.

3. 81% of shoppers do online research before making big purchases.

4. 90% of C-suite executives use smartphones to research business purchases.

5. 61% of local searches result in a purchase.

6. 65% of consumers say that a poor online experience has a direct impact on their opinion of a brand.

7. Two-thirds of emails are read on either smartphones or tablets.

8. 91% of adults have their mobile phone within arm’s reach 24/7.

9. 53% of smartphone users feel more favorable toward companies whose mobile sites or apps provide instructional video content.

10. 81% of millennials say it’s important for retailers to have high-quality mobile apps.

Ideas That Work: Going Beyond The Norm

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Case Study, Omnichannel Marketing.

Let’s face it, whichever marketplace you’re in, it’s probably crowded. Customers have more options than ever and are no longer bound by geographical restrictions. The entire business landscape is at their fingertips via the web, and choosing the company they’ll work with can be decided with a click. That’s why capturing the attention of prospects during the infancy of a creative project is essential. And in order to get a prospect’s attention, businesses must do one thing well: Stand out.

Knowing how important offering “something more” is to creating long-term business partnerships, Millcraft, a 96-year-old independent distributor of paper and packaging headquartered in Cleveland, called on The F.P. Horak Company, a print and marketing solutions provider, based in Saginaw, Michigan. The request was to help Millcraft develop a campaign that would establish itself with customers and prospects as a full-service partner, capable of taking creative projects from the earliest brainstorming phases all the way through to printing and production. Together, Millcraft and The F.P. Horak Company set out to show clients how to take “the norm” and turn it onto its proverbial head.

justAsk

The Background

Millcraft, having been in the paper and packaging industry for nearly a century, knows the business well. Strategic partnerships with paper mills and a talented team of staff sales personnel have resulted in satisfied, long-term clients.

Yet while Millcraft was (and is) certainly revered for the work it does to support the production of a customer’s project, it was rarely looped in during the project’s inception. Why? Most clients didn’t realize Millcraft had those brainstorming capabilities.

A growth opportunity became very clear: Understanding how the idea-generating stages of the creative process could help clients become more efficient, effective, and increase production speed was that “something more” Millcraft could offer. If interaction with the end-user (that is, printers, graphic designers, and creative agencies) began early enough in the project’s life cycle, Millcraft could identify out-of-the-box materials options to create lasting, attention-getting marketing campaigns that really wow.

The Problem

Because most clients had settled into the buyer/supplier relationship with Millcraft, educating clients on the importance of selecting the right materials to enhance their marketing initiatives became imperative. Thus, if a campaign was to be created, the approach must not be scattershot. Identifying highly targeted prospects and vetting them to ensure the campaign reached the proper decision-makers was essential. Sample paper stocks needed to be sourced from mills, and the creative concept and design had to sparkle. Prospects needed to be reached multiple times in order for Millcraft to establish brand awareness and promote client engagement. And “touches” needed to include a specified online location (a landing page) where prospects could go to learn more about Millcraft services or request a meeting. The campaign was going to be a huge undertaking that would span the course of months.

The Solution

Having extensive experience in creating multi-touch marketing programs that deliver solid results for customers, The F.P. Horak Company set to work, creating the “Materials Matter” campaign.

Five marketing mailings bring the campaign to life for the 750 recipients that Millcraft targeted, with Touch One being an introductory fly sheet and Touch Five asking the prospect for the meeting. In between, sleeves of sample stocks collaboratively sourced from paper mills introduce prospects to the myriad of options available to them. Clever quotes printed on the sample papers convey the “feel” of the material so that prospects can get a true appreciation for how the end-user might perceive it. The sleeves themselves are even showpieces, made from a durable, water-resistant, synthetic paper called Yupo, and with Millcraft branding prevalent to drive home awareness of capabilities.

Each of the touches promotes a trackable landing page, where prospects can request additional paper samples and complete survey questions that help Millcraft learn more about the potential customer’s needs and interests. Additionally, a hit to the landing page’s URL triggers an alert to the Millcraft team, allowing the local sales rep to follow up immediately.

The Results

The strategic timing of the campaign’s touch points has ensured that prospects receive relevant messaging in a swift manner, driving home brand recognition and keeping Millcraft top of mind. Because the primary focus of this campaign was to introduce Millcraft as a start-to-finish project resource, making contact early in the project process has been a huge win.

“We’ve seen enhanced engagement and have scheduled meetings and education sessions [with prospects],” says Courtney Enser, Millcraft’s director of marketing and sales alignment. “We’re getting that crucial face-to-face time with prospects, and that’s what it’s really about—being a resource to the agency or end-user and generating ideas to tie together print, paper, and creative.”

BY LIBERTY KONTRANOWSKI

Marketing to Millennials

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Omnichannel Marketing.

millen

By Laurie Hileman

To reach millennials—the largest generation of Americans (approximately 83.1 million), ranging in age from 18 to 35—you need a content marketing strategy that understands the value they place on peer-to-peer recommendations along with their desire for authenticity and personalized experiences.

Check out these three facts about marketing to millennials and the quick tips on capturing the hearts, minds, and wallets of this powerful generation.

1. Millennials crave content. They spend plenty of time each day consuming media (some reports suggest up to 18 hours a day) for a variety of reasons, including entertainment, news, and research. And they’re open to branded content—more so than other generations—as long as the content is targeted to their interests and needs.

Tip: Demonstrate your expertise by providing useful, relevant content as part of an overall content marketing plan.

2. Inbound is in. Millennials want to determine when, how, and where they learn about your brand. They prefer inbound marketing materials such as blog posts, videos, and eBooks, rather than more disruptive, outbound methods such as ads and pop-ups.

Tip: Put your audience in the driver’s seat and offer content in formats they prefer.

3) Speak their (tech) language. Millennials consider smartphones and other mobile technology an extension of themselves. In fact, almost 90 percent of them say their smartphone never leaves their side. High-quality mobile apps and an engaging social media presence are more important than ever before.

Tip: Create a multi-platform strategy to make sure your content lives in the same channels as your audience.

3 Ways to Make a Lasting (Favorable!) First Impression

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Omnichannel Marketing.

By Laurie Hileman

businessSuit

In today’s competitive environment, where it’s easier than ever for customers to take their business elsewhere, making a lasting and positive first impression is critical to long-term success. (As the saying goes, you never have a second chance to make a good first impression.) Start every new customer relationship off right with three simple steps.

1. Give them your full attention. When you first sit down with a customer, focus all of your attention on getting to know them. What’s working, what’s not? What are the issues that matter most to them? Don’t get distracted by your own thoughts, your to-do list waiting back at the office, or worse, your phone. Once you understand their needs, tailor your solutions around them.

2. Be passionate about what you do. When introducing your products or services, clearly define what your company does best in a way that’s relevant to the customer in front of you. Be authentic and interesting. Paint a picture in their minds of how their business will be better off with you working alongside them. Remember: Customers buy solutions, not products.

 

3. Follow up with a personal note. After meeting with a customer for the first time, immediately send a handwritten note or personal email thanking them for their time. (You’d be amazed by how many people don’t do this.) Revisit what you enjoyed learning about them and their business—and mention what you’re most looking forward to working with them on. Very often it’s the little things that make a big difference.

Shedding The Stereotype

Written by Kimberly Cronk on . Posted in Omnichannel Marketing.

crossMedia

By Laurie Hileman

If the idea of finding and vetting a new vendor for your first-ever social media campaign or private-label magazine leaves you feeling overwhelmed, you might have a secret weapon in your back pocket.

Your printer.

Consider asking the folks whom you’ve trusted for years to deliver high-quality print materials on time and within budget— and see what they can do. Chances are they’re already intimately familiar with your organization, your marketing strategy, and your long-term business goals. And they just might be able to help you with:

  • CONTENT MARKETING, CONTENT STRATEGY, AND CUSTOM CONTENT
  • CUSTOM PUBLISHING
  • DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
  • eCOMMERCE SOLUTIONS (B2B)
  • FORMS PRINTING
  • FULFILLMENT SERVICES
  • GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION
  • HIGH-SPEED INKJET PRINTING
  • INTEGRATED MARKETING
  • LABELS PRINTING
  • MAILING SERVICES
  • OFFICE SUPPLIES
  • PACKAGING DESIGN AND PACKAGING MATERIALS
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
  • PRINT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
  • PROMOTIONAL ITEMS
  • SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
  • TRADITIONAL, FULL-SERVICE PRINTING
  • VIDEO DEVELOPMENT
  • WAREHOUSING
  • WEARABLES
  • WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
  • WIDE-FORMAT PRINTING

What if your printer can’t help you with these solutions? Well, then, it might be time to find a new printer—or should we say a print and integrated marketing partner?