I am hoping that within the next couple of weeks I will finish a project that I have been threatening to do for several years. I am currently putting the final couple of sections together for a little handy bookl which is a guide to the printing process.
It will have a hints and tips section, glossary of printing terms, paper guide, digital printing guide and other bits and pieces that should prove helpful to anyone buying print.
I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about printing, but hopefully my quater of a century in the business has helped me put together a book that will be useful to those who need some guidance in this wonderful industry of ours.
If you wish to pre-order (and get a FREE copy), please email printguide@srpm.co.uk and we will add you to the list.
It seems that this world cup has had the longest build up ever. From the moment England qualified in September 2009, it seems we have been counting the days to today. This world cup if fairly good from a television point of view with most games being in an evening and the others being towards the end of the afternoon. Business wont be too disrupted, although Englands final group game is on a Friday afternoon - so I suspect a late long lunch may occur accross the country.
The “sound” of the World Cup 2010 is undoubtedly going to be the Vuvuzela Horn. More details about it can be seen in this article at the Telegraph online…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/7817867/Vuvuzela-horns-invade-England-as-World-Cup-2010-kicks-off.html
It could be the most annoying part of the whole tournament. Perhaps it could be slightly less annoying if you had one yourself… to this end, we will be giving some away with orders this month Call or email for more details.
Finally, lets hope this World Cup is the one that England win… it may be a dream, but it is one many of us will have for at least the next week.
This week we welcome new employee Stuart Mills to SR Print Management. Stuart joins the Customer Services team with a wealth of print knowledge and should fit in quickly as most of us have known him for years in his previous roles.
Stuart’s knowledge of a variety of sectors in the industry should serve us well. He has managed a small offset printers, worked in the large format retail environment and also worked in estimating, production and sales roles in the industry over the years.
I’m sure customers and suppliers will welcome his expertise and we look forward to his impact upon the business.
Did you know… we can also produce page-turning, online brochures now. If you want an online version of a brochure or document, you can make it much more exciting and user friendly than a plain old boring pdf download. Why not take a look at the latest one we have produced at SRPM. This is the second year we have produced “Editables” for Swissotel The Howard in London. They have both a printed version and this online version.
The online version allows you (the customer) to track who has opened the document, where they are, which pages they looked at - and for how long. As well as text, you can also add sound, video and flash to make it really special (ask us for examples). The text in the documents is also search engine friendly.
Click the booklet above to launch the full edition in a new window.
For more details, and a FREE preview edition of your brochure - please contact us on 0844 884 2260.
I was honoured to be invited to attend the Staffordshire regional finals of the Young Enterprise company awards last night. I have had the pleasure of being a Business Advisor to year 11’s at The Friary School in Lichfield over the last couple of years (although I was a less frequent visitor this year). This year, the Friary students team “Simply Cooking” won the Lichfield and Tamworth event, and last night was their opporunity to compete at the Regional Finals.
Young Enterprise involves the children (young adults) setting up and running their own company for a year. It is a real company too - with bank accounts, properly registered with directors etc. The team have to decide on a product or service which they can promote and sell during the year. This year “Simply Cooking” my team from The Friary decided to write and publish a Recipe Book. They contacted celebrity chefs who agreed to supply some of the recipes. We helped them with sourcing the print at the best price to keep their overheads down (we didn’t make on the deal by the way!)
Last nights event was held at the presigous head quarters of JCB in Staffordshire. They provided a wonderful setting (they have their own conference theatre) for the 6 teams to do their presentations. All the teams did remarkably well in from of approximately 200 guests. Simply Cooking came second overall and won the “Most Entrepreneurial Team” award sponsored by the Federation of Small Business.
I look forward to working with next years students and trying to emulate their success.
2010 marks the tenth anniversary of SR Print Management being “born”. Having been in the print business many years already, I decided to start SR Print Management to try to be different from just being “another” printer. I wanted to be able to handle all my customers requirements. Not having one specialism means we can supply almost anything printed, and not being tied to one production schedule means we can be lightening fast on deliveries where required - these are just two of the things that differentiate us from other printers.
Many companies claim “Customer Service” as one of their Unique Selling Points, but I truly believe ours to be great. A recent survey we conducted, thankyfully confirmed this. In the survey 100% of respondents said that they would recommend us (thats better that 8 out of 10 cat owners recommending Whiskers!). Thank you to those that took the time to complete the survey, the results were very positive, a few suggestions were made which we are now trying to put in place (some already have been). Perhaps the most surprising result on the survey was that 56% of respondants turned down the opportunity to get sweets or chocolate as a reward
To celebrate 10 years, you will notice a little emblem appear on our paperwork from now on. This is because we are very proud of the achievement in what is a tough market place at times. I am sure I speak on behalf of my staff when I say that we still “love” print. If you read the trade press it pretty much mirrors the national press… doom and gloom. We don’t believe in doom and gloom at SRPM, we relish the challenges that our clients set us on a daily basis. Living up to and exceeding our customers expectations is the reason we take on those challenges, employing great people helps us achieve this.
We have a great offer on at the moment, act quickly to take advantage of it…
Have you ever thought of having your own “Things to do” pads? These are an ideal way of promoting your brand and can be used as an inexpensive give-away for your customers.
In an effort to keep costs down, we are currently putting together a batch run of 1/3rd A4 Notepads, so this is the ideal time to give them a try. The standard specification is 100gsm bright white bond printed in full colour. The overall size is 210×99mm with 50 sheets per pad.
Please provide artwork BEFORE 12th March 2010 for inclusion on this run of pads. If you would like our standard design, simply provide your logo and required details and we will do this FREE of charge. The above prices exclude VAT which will be added at the prevailing rate.
If you have any questions on this offer, or would like to discuss any other print requirements you have, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0844 884 2260.
Season’s Greetings to all our customers and prospective customers. 2009 has been a strange and challenging year for many people, the news has generaly been miserable and there hasn’t been much to cheer about.
Whilst I am not niaive enough to think a short break and a new “date” will make all the difference, we at SRPM hope that the break gives everyone of our customers and suppliers the chance to relax, re-group and come back in January with a positive and happier outlook on the year ahead.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their continued business… and our suppliers without whom we wouldn’t be able to back up our promises.
Happy Christmas and a Prosperous and healthy New Year.
In an attempt to keep people informed, you can now also follow us on Twitter @print_expert is what you need to search for. We also have a Facebook page if you search under SR Print Management.
Digital printing has opened up a whole raft of products which are now within the reach of most companies to use as Christmas gifts for clients.
The easiest way to keep your company name in front of your clients all year is a calendar. In the past these were expensive for small quantities… not any more! Digital print means you can order as few of anything as you like…. so if you just want to send to you best 25 customers that is now possible (ask for details).
Other ideas to help your customers remember where you are include… desk pads, note pads, pens, mouse-mats - all of which we can supply.
Call or email for more details.