Most marketing campaigns fail due to bad data bases, channel driven obsessions and forgetting who we are trying to replicate when planning a marketing campaign.

Data bases represent information and it is not a mystery to anyone that with bad information we can not identify the right target audience neither can we tell them what they want to hear so that they buy our products.

Channel obsession is a trend that is spreading very rapidly. When you start a campaign with a channel in mind often you will fail. Every time you show me that one communication channel is the best for something, I will show you that it is not the best channel for something else. In most cases the channel should be at the end of the process. I believe being market/product/value focused is more important than being channel focused.

Most channels in the market today will increase productivity in terms of contacting/impacting more individuals in a given period of time. Also, they will allow more contacts per individual in a given period of time. But, in most cases they will not reduce the amount of contacts needed to make a sale to one individual. Sometimes we are so convinced that one channel is the greatest that we obsess with that channel and limit the opportunity to see the bigger picture and build the best campaign possible.

Last but not least, we often forget who we are copying when advertising. We should be copying a sales person on a marketing/sale cycle. How come often do we say things that we would never say face to face? It is very easy to understand the fundamentals of Marketing and Selling. It is about saying the right thing to the right person at the right time in the right way. So, when you put your next campaign together think what a good sales person would say to whom, when and how. The What, to Whom and When to say relate to the information that you have. The How relates to how that information is used (sensitivity), presented (creativity) and delivered (channel).

"Advertising is what you do when you can't be there in person." - Fairfax Cone

Last week I was at this year's IFRA newspaper exhibition in Vienna, Austria. Whilst attendance may have been down on previous years, the Kodak booth was well visited by customers and our dealers.

At the show, we proudly launched our new VioletNews Gold plate for newspapers, which along with its developer system offers customers greatly reduced chemical usage, reduced waste, and associated costs - a hot topic with today's newspaper printers. The new developer system reduces replenishment and antioxidation dosing rates and allows higher developer capacity and cleanliness. This product is now fully available, and is a significant improvement over the established VioletNews product.

We also took the opportunity at IFRA to show a technology demonstration of a new thermal newspaper plate being developed that will reduce processing and equipment complexity with improved features and customer benefits.

These technologies are only the start of our future offset plate development path. Reducing complexity whilst maintaining or improving product performance across different customer requirements and conditions is a continuing goal.

Reducing the different stages of processing, as with the "Simple Process" plates being offered in today's market, or full elimination of processing steps, as with Kodak Thermal Direct (Commercial) and PF-N (Newspaper) Non Process plates, will not yet suit every customer or condition. Kodak is developing new products that will meet the various needs of the diverse newspaper printing industry. Certain market segments still need the performance and robustness only delivered today by preheat and/or prewash technologies.

However, our technology demonstration at IFRA showed a thermal no preheat, no prewash newspaper plate system, presently in early selected customer testing, that is aimed to deliver very high press robustness and chemical resistance with a shorter processing footprint and low chemical consumption. The customer should be able to use their existing processor, switching off the preheat and prewash sections, saving energy, water, and waste.

Customers I met with on the stand made it clear that in today's market newspaper printers are being challenged to improve costs, reduce waste, and be environmentally responsible, but they still need to maintain productivity, quality and deadlines.

These customers were keen to tell me that products must meet both today's and future demands, and in particular manufacturers must pay attention to the environmental aspects. Also, customers expect performance in prepress, on press and with the printed copy to be maintained if not improved.

Customer response to our product approach was very positive, confirming that reducing chemical usage, waste and associated costs was a large growing requirement in their business. Customers also confirmed that the need to maintain product performance was key, and our new VioletNews Gold plate and technology demonstration both were on target.

We got away from designing for data and data management over the last few posts to bring the news from the TransPromo Summit in Boston and Print09. It's time to get back to the mission! What perfect timing!

Print 09 is now behind us, and outside of the trade show floor, there was an amazing amount of education taking place in seminars. A theme that emerged from the catalogue of options was the need to get refocused on the customer and how we communicate with them. It doesn't matter if you are a traditional litho printer, a printer who has both traditional and digital kit, a pure digital printer, or a multi-channel Marketing Services Provider - it seems everyone is coming to the conclusion that a well educated market provides the best opportunities.

One way to refocus is to look at what programs you have in place to ensure that everyone in your organization is up-to-date on their skills. Are you using all of the tools you have as efficiently as possible? Are your team members well versed in all of the features of the composition, color management, asset management, and other tools in your shop?

Then look outward. How educated are your customers? Do they know what you have to offer, or are you just fulfilling the same orders? Do they understand everything you can do for them? Do they know the power of variable data? Have you discussed data driven programs to enhance response rates?

Another common conversation at Print 09 and other venues this year has been right-sizing. It might include some reduction in print, but well-designed programs look at using a number of customer communication channels and making them work together. Often, for a well-outfitted provider, that might mean selling less print but more services. It you can sell your print for more money because it is smarter and drives a higher response rate, that's a win-win for all in the supply chain!

And, finally, reaching out! When was the last time you went to visit a customer? When was the last time you had a customer event in your facility? When was the last time you participated in a local user association event or a national event? Reaching out into the community raises your profile and establishes you as a thought leader with your customers. It is a sure-fire way to grow your business!

Have you walked this path? Have a story to share? Drop me a note: twitter.com/PatMcgrew - we'd love to share your success story!

During a sales meeting back in January 2008, Kodak's Graphic Communications Group committed to sponsor a Habitat for Humanity home in New Orleans. By partnering with NOAHH (New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity), the GCG team laid the ground-work (literally) for Tula Lindsay and her family to achieve the American dream of homeownership. The home construction began with what was appropriately titled a "wall raising" ceremony that took place on July 15, 2009. With the support of many local volunteers, NOAHH began the approximately 4 month project.





While many of us were unable to personally attend the wall raising event, I am happy to share photos of this momentous occasion. A special thanks to Debra Benson who will be volunteering her time during construction, as well as coordinating with a local Kodak customer - the Louisiana Print Shop and the NGPA -- National Government Printing Association, to offer landscaping services at the Habitat house.



In an otherwise dismal economy, and in a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina a few years back, this is certainly a bright spot worthy of recognition.

Stay tuned as we get closer to the completion date & dedication ceremony when the home will officially be presented to this deserving family.

Back in early November I wrote a post about my experience using Twitter to connect with people in China. At the time I had just spent a couple of months really focusing on the site and my network. Prior to that, I had been using it sparingly and had not truly considered the possibilities.

"The more you put into it, the more you get out of it." - social media. If you don't consider what it is you want to achieve or take time to think of how you want to do this, you will probably FAIL. Its like going to a Networking mtg and not talking to anyone or giving out a business card or two and then returning to the office declaring it a waste of time.

I decided I had 4 points to consider:

1. Grow existing connections and new relationships within the graphic arts industry
2. Learn from, and educate, others in the online marketing community
3. Create awareness and demand for Kodak B2B technology
4. Engage and excite people about creativity in print

I am happy with my progress to date on the first 3 points and decided that I needed to focus on the 4th point for a while.

Working for Kodak affords me an almost endless supply of leading edge products to talk about. From the Kodak ZX1 pocket video to the amazing developments in high volume inkjet we call Prosper, I could spend the rest of the year talking about revenue generating ideas and differentiating yourself from the competition with Kodak.

But lets just take it 50 tweets at a time shall we...

For my first attempt at a Tweet Campaign, I chose the Kodak Nexpress and the dimensional ink solution. It allows you to 'add feeling to print'. Unlike raised ink from long ago, dimensional ink can be 'controlled'. The first time I saw felt it, I stated to those around me that if I was still doing print creative, "I could come up with 50 ideas for this in a heartbeat".

I decided that, pumping out one amusing or potential use for it each day would be fairly easy and would help me cover points 1,2,3 and add focus on point 4.

For 50 days I posted a potential use of Kodak dimensional ink and how it could truly differentiate yourself and your client. I actually thought of one each morning over a coffee - live without a net...on the net! Some im quite proud of like the use of Braille, the fake 'wax seal, the cheque holders for restaurants, the individually themed menus for each restaurant tables...its quite fun doing this and im confident it ads value for the people that follow me.



Success.

Several people asked me about the technology, each day people 'RT'd' posts or messaged me as to where they could get it done or more information about it. Some Kodak Nexpress owners received inquiries everywhere from Ottawa, New Jersey to Wellington New Zealand and Mumbai, India.

People discovered that it was for Commercial printing and not a Kodak AIO printer, as amusing as these conversations were, it showed that I had informed more people about the breadth of our commercial products.

Two actual Kodak Nexpress owners sent ideas in for me to tweet. Some consumer oriented Kodak employees even suggested ideas for the technology.

A Kodak customer from India asked for templates to try the idea from a blog I did last year.
2 digital printers have since demo'd the Nexpress.

From a marketing communications perspective, it was a success. With print followers on Twitter seeing the support the Kodak team enjoys providing to its Customers. It added credibility to our statement, helping customers grow their business and some of the ideas made people smile!

A search on Google for Kodak dimensional ink showed that my twitter account had risen to the top 10 results page - even after I had completed the campaign over 8 weeks ago.



Hmmm...what will happen with live search and ports like Google?

...if I were to research a new product and the search results showed 5 static sites with mostly outdated content - or 3 or 4 live links to employees on a social network that I am already a part of...I would choose the live ones. Consider where this will take the internet in the next 24 months.

I have since reposted an idea or two each week and have translated the ideas into Chinese language for posting on local sites here in China. I actually repost the ideas a few times each week on twitter, and they still get retweeted like it was new.



Creativity has been and will always be the true game changer for companies, technology and people. Business just needs to listen!