Tips and Tricks Archives - Cascade Print Media

Increased Client Communication

FAQ, Marketing, New, Tips and Tricks

We are so excited to be able to offer increased, real time communication with our clients. Everything from when your order goes into production queue, to when it goes out for delivery, to the moment it gets delivered, we have enhanced our systems to give you updates about your job, down to the minute.

You will receive an email notifying you that your job went into our production queue, with an estimated date of completion. While this can sometimes get delayed with art submission and proof approvals, it helps you plan on when you can expect your projects.

You will receive an email notifying you that your job is out for delivery and when it gets delivered. Not only is this feature available for our trusted shipping partners, but also with our local delivery team. It even allows us to attach a photo of where the package(s) were dropped so you know exactly where to find it!

How to Use Our Proofing System

New, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized

Please see our quick guide below on how to use our new proofing system. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to your CSR.

Please note that if not action is taken, you will continue to get email reminders until action is taken. You must approve, reject or delay your proof to stop the reminders.

**Please note this quick guide was provided to us by our partner, PlanProphet, in order to help our clients better navigate the proofing process

Different Ways to Bind Booklets

FAQ, Marketing, New, Print Marketing, Tips and Tricks

Looking to make a handbook, workbook, and other marketing piece to help show your customers all your products? Binding helps to make larger presentations or other large pieces of information look professional, clean and organized. There are several different binding options – the biggest factors to influence this are usually the use, budget and look you want to go for. See our list below of different binding options to see what the best fit for your project might be.

Saddle Stitch:

Saddle stitch works very well for smaller page booklets and is usually your most economical option. These types of projects usually have the fastest turnaround time as well. A saddle stitched book can be as few as 8 pages, and then increases in 4-page increments. Saddle stitched books will lay flat when opened and flipping through the pages. Most examples you see of saddle stitch in daily life are school workbooks, weekly magazines, or grocery flyers and often times calendars.

Perfect Bound:

Usually, the most popular and luxurious of binding options. They are durable, high quality and ideal for publications with higher page counts. You can start with anything from 28 pages, and added in page increments of 2, up to 2 inches thick with pages (paper type often varies with thickness). If the spine is thick enough, many people put designs on the spines to further attract customers. The most common examples of these are soft cover books and some luxury magazines.

Spiral Bound:

Plastic coil that is typical seen in reference material or workbooks. The nice thing about spiral bound is you can usually choose from different spiral coil colors, and it works great for any sized booklets. Usually there is a fairly quick turnaround time on spiral bound books as well. You can have any size page count and usually stops around 2 inches in thickness (again, paper type varies in thickness). Most examples of these books are some handbooks or company manuals.

Wire-O:

Very similar to spiral binding, only metal wires and looped, giving it another dimension. This type of binding can start with any page count, and go up to about 1.25 inches thick usually, depending on paper type. This often costs a bit more than spiral bound books but does look more professional and lavish than spiral bound books.

Still have some questions about your binding options? We can help! Contact us today, we would be happy to talk to you about different options and best uses!

example of wire o binding

example of spiral binding

example of perfect binding

example of saddle stich

Embossing vs. Debossing

FAQ, Marketing, Print Marketing, Tips and Tricks

What is the different between embossing and debossing? They are basically the same thing, just stamped paper, but the difference is in the location from where it is stamped. Both are created using metal plates to essentially stamp the paper. Debossing means the paper is stamped on the front, making the image, text or graphic indent and make a depression down, or away from the front. Embossing is taking a metal plate and being stamped from the back back of the text, image or graphic. This raises or elevates the graphics.

Both embossing and debossing a great way to create a 3D effect and enhance certain texts or simple graphics that you want to highlight on your project. To further increase effect, many people add colored ink or foil stamping to certain words and images, as well as various depths of the embossing or debossing. This is a great way to make certain things stand out.

You usually see embossing and debossing on business cards, invitations (especially to weddings and other formal events) and sometimes on letterhead and greeting cards, among other marketing material. These help to add a feel and look of luxury and add a special touch to help you stand out, with very little expense.

Almost anything can be embossed or debossed, along with foil stamped. There are only a few restrictions such as paper type, certain graphics, and time allowed for completion.

Contact us today to learn more about embossing, debossing and foil stamping for your next project.

Example of Embossing

photo courtesy of wristbands.com.uk

Example of Debossing

photo courtesy of elito.com

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Reasons Why Your Direct Mail Campaign Did Not Work

Direct Mail, Marketing, New, Print Marketing, Tips and Tricks

Have you heard that direct mail campaigns are the best return on investment than any other form of direct marketing? You tend to get more readers, more people responding to your call to actions, and the biggest bang for your buck. All that said, have you sent out some postcards or catalogs and not gotten the results you had hoped for? Check out our list below of some things that could be holding you back from some of those great results.

Target Market:

Sending to the correct target market is the key to getting great results. You wouldn’t send a new child dentist announcement to a community of retiree’s, right? Make sure when creating or asking for a list, you have really homed in on the type of people and businesses you want to react to your mail piece. Looking for help on the best list? We can help!

Compelling Offer:

Did you look over your list criteria meticulously and you still didn’t get the reaction you wanted? This could all come down to your offering or lack thereof. You need to make sure that your offer for people to act is compelling enough to actually make them act. Maybe you need to provide a steeper discount, offer a product for free, or give a longer or shorter timeline for someone to act.

Poor Printing:

Although there are certainly ways to save on paper and other printing costs, make sure you are not going to cheapest route possible. Remember that you are representing your brand with your postcards, brochures, catalogs, and other direct mail pieces. The paper, patterns, colors and logos should be consistent across your brand and the image you are trying to portray.

Setting Goals:

How can you track goals if you don’t have any set in the first place? Although it may sound obvious, be sure to have some sort of goal in mind before sending out that first direct mail piece. Don’t know where to start? We can help! Your goals should be tracked so you can see where you started, and where you ended up. Don’t have enough time to track? We can help with that too!

Consistent Mailing:

Still waiting to see those results? Don’t worry! If you’ve only sent out one piece, you can’t expect success overnight! You need to make sure you are consistent with your mailing and getting the word out there. Be sure to make sure you stay on a schedule, and track the results accordingly. The more a company or individual sees your brand and offerings, the more likely they are to remember it and look you up when they are ready to buy!

Check out more of our tips and tricks on direct mail marketing and other business printing. Did you know we offer promotional products, apparel and vehicle wraps as well?