Printing’s Best Blogs is a compilation of posts on topics of
interest to graphic arts professionals. Bloggers from the
Printing Impressions/PIworld.com, In-plant Graphics and
packagePRINTING magazine websites are featured,
supplemented by links to blogs from outside sources.

Click to view all blog posts in order by date published.

NEWS from

SALES & MARKETING

  • The Sales Challenge

    Bill Farquharson

    Change Your Sales Attitude

    By Bill Farquharson | June 11, 2013

    If you believe the prospects and customers hold all of the power, this blog is for you. You are stronger than you think you are and more valuable...

  • Paul Castain's Sales Playbook

    What To Do During The Summer Selling Season

    June 17, 2013

    Podcast Powered By Podbean Download this episode (right click and save) For many people (here in the US) the summer selling season can be...

  • Margie's Buyer Insights

    Margie Dana

    What Becomes of the Brokenhearted Customer?

    By Margie Dana | May 28, 2013

    What do you do, as a print company CEO or sales manager, when a beloved rep leaves the company? The best advice I can give is this: call ...

  • Building Brands

    Tom Marin

    The Click-through Generation

    By Tom Marin | June 14, 2013

    If you have been trying to think through your next strategic push, consider the click-through strategy. When in doubt, lean toward instant....

  • View from Mount Olympus

    TJ Tedesco

    Tips for Creating Powerful Brand Elements

    By T. J. Tedesco | June 14, 2013

    Are you creating new brand elements for your business? Make sure they’re memorable, meaningful, likable and adaptable.

  • Profitable Print Relationships

    The sixth myth of print sales: selling service and quality is a great way to get new customers

    June 10, 2013

    I have been approached by over 1400 printing companies. That’s a lot of print sales pitches to sit through! So now I play a little game. Here’s...

More Sales & Marketing Blogs >

CROSS MEDIA

  • MarketingSherpa

    Testing: 3 common barriers to test planning

    June 14, 2013

    While there are some very legitimate barriers to testing that arise during planning, the most common explanations of “We can’t do that”...

  • InfoTrends Blog

    The Tiara (Diamond) Toner Conference is Back

    June 13, 2013

    The Tiara Group Toner 2013 Conference was held June 3rd & 4th, back at its original long time location at the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort in...

  • The Direct Marketing Voice

    Quick Tip Tuesday: June 11 – Postcard Messaging

    June 11, 2013

    Here’s a quick postcard messaging and design tip you can put into practice immediately. Think of the front of your postcards as your marketing...

  • Affinity Express Blog

    Happy Father’s Day

    June 16, 2013

    Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, grandfathers and others who served as great examples and supported us!

  • Digital Printing Hot Spot

    Why the PRISM Award Matters

    June 13, 2013

    Xerox’s Chairman and CEO, Ursula Burns, was awarded the PRISM Award today in New York City. The PRISM Award is presented to outstanding business...

  • PrintMediaCentr

    Meet Fabio Seidl – Creative Director Behind Billboard’s Music Playing Magazine

    June 13, 2013

    A little NFC, and a lot of Creativity can go a long way these days. This post takes us to South America where Creative Director Fabio Seidl and...

  • interlinkONE Blog

    Does Your Inbound Marketing Need a Push?

    May 27, 2013

    At the end of the day, the fact is many businesses don’t focus enough on inbound marketing. After all, the concept didn’t exist just a couple...

  • PODi Insights blog by Caslon

    Mutual NDA: The 2-in-1 Sales Tool

    June 03, 2013

    How do you protect your creative ideas and qualify your new prospects at the same time? The answer is simple: use a Mutual NDA. Have you ever been...

  • Converging Technologies and Print

    Thaddeus B. Kubis

    Exponential Sales

    By Thaddeus B. Kubis | June 11, 2013

    Listening is critical, understanding what you heard is also critical. But asking the correct questions, and understanding the needs of your ...

  • Spin Sucks

    AT&T Loses Case; News Release Held Under Paid Advertising Laws

    October 31, 2012

    How many of you have ever referred to something historical in a news release? I know we have. It helps you tell a story about something that might...

  • The Ballantine Blog

    Direct Mail Case Study Featuring Ploughshares Literary Journal

    June 12, 2013

    We have a direct mail case study to share with you for a new client that makes for a great success story. For this case study, we spoke with...

  • The Ricoh Production Blog

    Welcome to Ricoh's Main Street!

    February 11, 2013

    By Kurt Konow, Production Print Marketing Strategist, Ricoh Americas Corporation Graph Expo 2012 may seem like months ago—well actually, it was...

  • Real World Digital

    Noel Ward

    Another Shoe Drops for Ipex

    By Noel Ward | June 04, 2013

    As of the moment, many vendors that have bailed out on Ipex still plan on being at various vertical market events in 2014. Some of my clients...

  • Digital Dexterity

    Email Open Rates are on the Rise!

    June 06, 2013

    2012 saw an increase in email Open Rates and though 2013 metrics are not yet widely published, I am speculating that this upward trend will...

  • The More You Know Blog

    WHY WE WILL NEVER LOVE OUR EREADERS AS MUCH AS BOOKS

    June 05, 2013

    Let me preface this article by saying that this is by no means a bash on the convenient and practical ereaders that are slowly taking over the...

More Cross Media Blogs >

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

More Business Management Blogs >

MAILING/POSTAL

  • Dead Tree Edition

    Mailers Rallying Against Rumored 10% Postage Hike

    June 10, 2013

    Mailing-industry leaders fear that the U.S. Postal Service is on the verge of requesting emergency rate increases of up to 10%. After lying...

  • POSTALNEWS

    Postcom’s nine principles of postal reform

    June 17, 2013

    From Postcom: The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom), in its continuous effort to support... This is a summary- visit postalnewsblog.com...

  • Courier, Express, and Postal Observer

    Bengazi, the IRS, the Associated Press, and the USPS

    June 04, 2013

    This week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold its 2nd hearing on “scandals” at the Internal Revenue Service. These...

  • Pushing the Envelope

    Does a Hybrid Postal Model Have Merit?

    June 17, 2013

    A recent study from a Washington think tank argues the U.S. Postal Service should provide only last-mile delivery of mail and open all other...

More Mailing/Postal Blogs >

LABELS AND PACKAGING

  • Digital4Packaging

    Kevin Karstedt

    Interview with JoAnn Hines, The Packaging Diva

    By Kevin Karstedt | May 17, 2013

    JoAnn is a syndicated packaging writer who is arguably the most prolific “packaging person” on social media. I have been following her for years ...

  • Lightning Labels Blog

    Add Some Heat to Summer Marketing with Custom Hot Sauce Labels

    June 17, 2013

    Hot Sauce Labels Incorporate a Tasteful Kick Into Summer Marketing Lightning Labels, custom label and sticker printing leader, is encouraging hot...

  • The Converting Curmudgeon

    HP Indigo Worldwide VIP Event ahead

    June 10, 2013

    HP Indigo will once again play host to likely a group of 200 packaging and commercial printing professionals next week in Israel. Its Worldwide...

More Labels and Packaging Blogs >

SUSTAINABILITY

More Sustainability Blogs >

PRINT PRODUCTION

  • Print Confessions

    Graphic Arts Professionals

    Kick Off 2013 by Focusing on Your Clients’ Growth

    Marketing Guru | January 10, 2013

    At the start of a new year, have you ever thought of sending an email campaign with a clear strategy in mind for garnering more business—not...

  • Against the Grain

    Dustin LeFebvre

    Double-dipping at the Bankruptcy Bar (Commentary on National Envelope's Chapter 11)

    By Dustin LeFebvre | June 11, 2013

    Why are people so willing to issue debt in our industry, at such low rates, with such flimsy justification, and with such an awful track record?...

  • Making the Grade

    Sabine Lenz

    The Oyster Self-Promotion (Video)

    By Sabine Lenz | June 12, 2013

    This piece, designed by Faust Associates in Riverside, IL, and printed by Rider Dickerson in Chicago, features an unusual hand-folded format—a...

  • RISI Blog

    The ambiguous definition of the major containerboard grades

    June 10, 2013

    At RISI, we are in the process of fully integrating our Mill Asset Database (MAD) with the capacity reports that get published by the economic...

  • Printing Industries Blog

    5 Best Bets for Your Offset Press: If you can’t Measure it, you can’t Control It!

    June 14, 2013

    In an ideal pressroom environment, nothing would go wrong and you’d get consistently accurate jobs from your offset press. Unfortunately, we...

  • Graphicstart

    Hidden Benefit of Social Media Marketing

    May 03, 2013

    Social Media Marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic and attention through Social Media Site just like this Facebook, Twitter,...

  • Blognosticator

    Rewiring the Linotype machine

    June 14, 2013

    I’ve not blogged in quite a while, for which I apologize to my faithful readers. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything going on. It was that...

  • Grow Your Biz

    What is the role of the cloud in fostering process digitization and mobile capture?

    January 07, 2013

    Let's start with process digitization since it's usually the first step in automating processes and then move to mobile capture.  The world is...

  • Print Stories

    Sudoku at 3am

    June 17, 2013

    For many years I’ve polished my word skills working the crossword puzzle. Occasionally I’d glance across the page at the Sudoku puzzle wondering...

  • Printwand blog

    50 Catchy Marketing Phrases That Sell (And How to Improve Them)

    June 07, 2013

    View original at 50 Catchy Marketing Phrases That Sell (And How to Improve Them).Most business writers would agree that creating marketing...

  • Insights blog

    Thermal integrated: A growth market

    June 12, 2013

    The integrated label market has been around for some time, however, there is a new version showing great growth potential and that is the thermal...

  • Printing by Design blog

    Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been….?

    June 16, 2013

    Are you now or have you ever been guilty of being confused about the best way to produce and market [...]

  • the web and print

    Why Launch the W2P Finder?

    May 12, 2013

    The W2P Finder doesn’t select a vendor for you; it simple asks that you think through the highest level components of your strategy in the...

  • LabelValue Label Blog

    QR Codes Could Save Your Life

    June 17, 2013

    While you are likely familiar with QR codes, you may be unaware that they were first created in Japan approximately ten years ago by the...

  • Color Clarity Blog

    Not Just How Well….but How, as Well

    June 03, 2013

    It’s understood that print buyers are concerned with quality and price, and printers are concerned with efficiency and profitability; but a...

  • Printing Knowhow Blog

    Keep Calm and Print On

    June 17, 2013

    At Prime Imaging we’re in full bloom and gearing up for our Summer edition of the Printing KnowHow Newsletter. Are you signed up? Click the...

  • Matreks Printing blog

    Simple, Economical Ways to Test Direct Mail Effectiveness

    June 17, 2013

    Every Twin Cities company would like to increase responses to direct mail campaigns. But not all businesses can afford to roll out several tests...

  • Velocity Print Solutions Blog

    Redefining your brand

    June 12, 2013

    Polyester. The word itself brings to mind images of people in plaid and paisley outfits with big hair from the 1970s. Horrible refrains written by...

More Print Production Blogs >

BINDING/FINISHING

  • foldfactory.com Blog

    FOLD of the WEEK: Criss-Cross Nested Format

    June 13, 2013

    After the wild and crazy format from last week’s 200th episode, we’re going to the other end of the spectrum this week and featuring something...

  • The Finish Line

    Don Piontek

    Put Finishing First!

    By Don Piontek | June 17, 2013

    The more the printer professional "schools" his, or herself on finishing technology, methods, and workflow, the more complete and efficient...

  • Bindery Success

    Bindery Equipment Operators - the Dark Side

    June 14, 2013

    Experience is a double-edged sword. On the plus side, an experienced bindery equipment staffer can bring lots of skill and know-how to production...

  • MyBinding Blog

    Royal Sovereign Introduces Affordable Trimmers

    May 14, 2013

    If you’re in the market for a new electric trimmer, don’t look any further. Royal Sovereign has recently released three wide format trimmers...

  • Company Folders Blog

    99 Best Free Fonts for Print Design

    June 07, 2013

    99 Best Free Fonts for Print DesignWhen designing print media collateral, a good font can grab the eye and captivate the audience—but the best...

More Binding/Finishing Blogs >