Uncategorized

Direct mail… Back-in-the-day or Future Play?

With all the talk of social media, cell phone apps, email marketing, spam and the list goes on and on of “relevant” ways to keep in touch with and obtain new clients, I’ve asked myself if good old fashion direct mail is a back-in-the-day solution or a future play?

I don’t know about you, but I assume that Google and Yahoo know a thing or two about marketing, and I have been receiving direct mail from them recently promoting new ways to advertise my business and promote my products on their sites! Seems like a pretty strong case for direct mail to me. Can you appreciate the irony? Google and Yahoo using snail mail to promote their high tech web services.

(more…)

Uncategorized

Commercial Printing Awards are nice… but that’s not why we’re here!

Winning awards is nice.  There’s no other way to put it. When you work hard, doing your best day-in and day-out, it’s just nice to feel appreciated.  It’s ESPECIALLY nice when you are appreciated by your Professional peers.

PrintImage Excellence Awards Icon

Earlier this month, we were fortunate to receive awards in 3 categories at this year’s PrintImage Excellence Awards.  It’s a national competition and the judges are graphic designers, professional print buyers, printing professionals, and ad agency representatives… so pretty much people that understand printing from all sides.

Of course, it’s an honor to be recognized for our efforts but it’s important to point out that awards, while wonderful to receive, aren’t our motivation. We’re passionate about what we do.  We enjoy putting ink-on-paper… the technology behind it all… and working with our often-demanding but incredibly loyal clients.  Taking their projects, and applying our skills and experience to deliver better than imagined results, is something that really pumps us up! As Bob Moura, the president of our company likes to say, “We’re in the WOW business!”

So yes… winning awards is nice. We’re glad to have won, and we hope to win more in the future. We’ll continue to keep you updated, but in the meantime we’ll continue to do what we do: Offer innovative  printing services, high-tech business solutions like ePrint our web 2 print storefront and Symphony, our Multi Channel Marketing solution, fast  turnaround, and the commitment and experience to tie it all together in order to deliver a WOW experience for our clients.

arlier this month, we were fortunate to receive awards in 3 categories at this year’s PrintImage Excellence Awards.  It’s a national competition and there were several outstanding entries this year. The judging panel is made up of graphic designers, professional print buyers, printing professionals, and ad agency representatives… so pretty much people that understand printing from all sides.

 

 

Of course, it’s an honor to be recognized for our efforts but it’s important to point out that awards, while wonderful to receive, aren’t our motivation. We come to work each day, and give it our fullest and best efforts because we’re passionate about what we do.  We enjoy ink-on-paper… we enjoy the technology behind it all… we enjoy working with our often-demanding but incredibly loyal clients.  Taking their projects, and applying our skills and experience to make them better than imagined, is something that really pumps us up!

 

 

 

o yes… winning awards is nice. We’re glad to have won, and will hope to win more awards in the future. We’ll continue to keep you aware of our progress, but in the meantime we’ll continue to do what we do: Offer quality printing services, high-tech business solutions like ePrint and Symphony, fast  turnaround, and the commitment and experience to tie it all together.

 

Uncategorized

Green Printing…. what does it really mean?

We love paper… LOVE it!  Our slogan for the past 30 years has been “Making You Look Better On Paper, ON TIME!”  It’s something we truly believe in and strive to accomplish daily. We also hope that it’s something that all printers, graphic designer, and marketing professionals all agree on: Paper ROCKS!

(more…)

Uncategorized

Direct Mail isn’t going anywhere…

For years we’ve been hearing about the “paperless office” and the death of the printing industry.  While it’s true that the industry has been changing, printing is still a very trusted method of communication. What’s even more surprising is that even among the coveted 18-34 year old market segment, print is the preferred method of receiving information.

Let me say that again… (more…)

Uncategorized

Tips to enhance your graphic design portfolio

John Francis, Art Director for Universal Printing, has created some helpful videos of “tips and tricks” for helping you get noticed and stand out from your competition. Before setting up your files, watch some of our helpful tutorial videos like the one shown below.

(more…)

Uncategorized

The Dog Didn’t Eat Our Homework…

Last Spring we went through our GRACoL qualification process. I was told to expect a couple of days, a few thousand press sheets, several sets of plates, and a potential risk to the sanity of my press-operator. In reality, it was much easier than any of us could have anticipated. Our G7 Expert Color Consultant from Fuji gave us credit for already following many of the “best practices” that GRACoL recommends for a successful qualification.

The benefits: Making colors print sharper and more consistently across multiple printing devices allowing you to benefit from the best-priced print technology without compromising quality. Not as easy as it sounds, since we offer lots of different color devices and each use their own inks or toners, papers, and their own software RIPs. GRACoL 7 bridges the gap . For those techie-geeky types that want to know the in-depth explanations of GRACoL, GRACoL 7, and G7, feel free to click here.

Fortunately, we do our homework (and kept it away from the dog!) We start with quality papers from environmentally responsible sources and use eco-friendly inks and toner. Then we follow that up with regular calibration and an industry leading QA system to monitor our color. The final ingredient is skilled and knowledgeable staff, who continue to monitor color through the entire run.

Seems simple, but apparently it’s not! I guess that’s why our G7 Expert Color Consultant seemed surprised when our first test sheets, from our first test plates, were almost within specs without having changed a thing. A process that could have taken two days, took just over two hours on press.

So we proudly became one of the first printing companies in the Carolinas to qualify as G7 Master Printers. And now, one year later, we’ve gone through our first RE-qualification process and are STILL only one of seven G7 Master Printers in the Carolinas. GRACoL has made some changes in their qualification criteria and expectations are a little higher. We weren’t scared, though… hit it on our first pull. Piece of cake!

Uncategorized

So… it’s time we entered Blogiverse…

It’s true… Universal Printing has decided to enter the Blogging phenomenon.

There are many reasons for a business to establish an internet presence, but why a blog?

Some might ask:

“Isn’t that overkill?
“Is it really necessary?”
“Why even do it?”

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, there are several reasons we wanted to start a blog. There’s certainly an advantage to having a blog when it comes to search engines, and search engine optimization LOVES blogs. In fact, Google and other search engines rewards sites that are linked to Blogs that are updated often. No harm in wanting more web-traffic and exposure, right?

Also, in this age of “Social Media,” a company almost HAS to broaden their internet presence and have a corporate identity that spans well into the web. The web is the way we communicate now. It’s where we get our information. It’s where we research, and where we shop. When you factor in the impact that YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook have had on all of us, it just makes sense to reach out where the people are!

Which really brings us to the main reason: why we Blog… why we bother… why we’ve bought into the hype: For our customers! If you are reading this, YOU are why we blog. We want to reach our current customers, our potential customers, our future customers. We want to share ideas, hear your feedback, share our expertise, and provide good information. When it’s all said and done, it’s really just that simple.

So tell us what you think. Give us your ideas on how Universal Printing can become a better partner. How can we help you do your business better? We look forward to your comments.