PrintFest and DMA Join Forces

January 21, 2008 -- PrintFest 2008 will be held at the Anaheim Conference Center in California, March 27th to 29th, 2008. As many of our readers will remember, the predecessor of this show was the Gutenberg Festival which was founded in 1973 and sold to GASC in 1999. Following the final year of the Gutenberg Festival in 2005, Chris Jacobson, whose father founded the Gutenberg Festival and Horsetrader Magazine, resurrected the Southern California show in 2006 as PrintFest and has gradually been rebuilding attendance and exhibitor levels.

Chris Jacobson
PrintFest 2008 is particularly interesting because Jacobson is collaborating with the Direct Marketing Association of Southern California (DMAsc) to host PrintFest and the Southern California Direct Marketing Expo under one roof, bringing print and marketing together, with an event that is targeted equally at printers, marketers, designers and other creative professionals.
“Our belief is that in a changing industry such as ours,” said Jacobson, “you cannot continue to do things the way you have always done them. Our objective at PrintFest this year is to bring customers and printers together with manufacturers and suppliers, paying special attention to the education of creatives and marketers relative to the changing world of print.”
Printers need to understand that all of this new media and alternative media is not the enemy. It is the wave of the future as the worlds of marketing and print collide, and it is part of the package that printers must bring to their customers in a consultative solution. -- Gary Mack, Primary Color
One way PrintFest is adapting to a changing environment is in the way the show is being promoted. “In the past,” says Jacobson, “we have promoted the show in the same way that most others have, with static mailers. Not so this year. We are walking the talk with a full integrated cross-media marketing campaign.”
Gary Mack of Primary Color, a pioneer in cross-media strategies, is spearheading the campaign design and execution. He says, “I was on a panel with Bob Hughes, Executive Director of DMAsc, last year at On Demand. That’s when the idea for the cross-media campaign promoting PrintFest was born and Chris was thrilled with the concept.”
Variable mailers will be sent to past PrintFest and Direct Marketing Expo attendees as well as other targeted lists beginning this month. When recipients visit their customized Web URL included on the mailer, they will be asked a series of questions. Business rules programmed into the site will determine what conference sessions are most suited for each individual attendee and present them with a proposed conference agenda, which they can modify as they like, and they will be given the opportunity to register. There will be a series of automated follow-ups by print and e-mail, depending on responses, to keep the dialog going and excitement levels high.
A cornerstone of the PrintFest conference is Thursday’s session, an in-depth case study built around the design, development, execution and results of this multichannel campaign. “We are using ourselves as the guinea pig,” explains Jacobson. “And we are going to provide all of the details, warts and all, about how this campaign was orchestrated. It will include what we did right, what we did wrong, the results we achieved and our conclusions. It will be very educational.” The case study will begin with a joint overview session and break out into marketing and print tracks for detailed discussion.
Bob Hughes and DMAsc have been PrintFest supporters since its inception. He says, “Our members are excited about this joint venue. There will be conference tracks tuned to both marketing and printer attendees, and lots of networking opportunities for both. Although we have been doing an Expo for 30 years and have had good success, like Chris, we realized that in this changing world of ours, we needed to change too. The joint PrintFest/Direct Marketing Expo event is the perfect platform for that change.” Hughes indicates that included in the marketing tracks will be hands-on learning sessions about a series of hot topics, including search engine optimization, e-mail pay-per-click, and multichannel cross-media communications. “We will be teaching them how to do it themselves,” he adds, “This is not just theory; it is solid hands-on exposure with a real-world backdrop.” Printer tracks will focus on how to use the latest cross-media techniques, including personalized Web URLs.
Jacobson indicates the show is on target to have 250 to 260 booths, with 2,500 to 3,000 total attendees between the print and marketing sides of the show. WhatTheyThink is a show sponsor and our own Dr. Joe Webb will be there to moderate a keynote panel of experts as well as a number of conference sessions on Friday, and will be offering his own somewhat contrarian opinions throughout the conference. The keynote, with the topic, “The Integration of Print with the Future of Marketing Communications,” will include Jeff Jacobson, President & CEO of Presstek; Charlie Corr, Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Mimeo, and others yet to be announced, in what should be a lively and very informative session on Friday morning.
“One thing I find interesting,” comments Jacobson, “is that at PrintFest, about 10% of attendees come for the conference and exhibition, and 90% are exhibition only. It is exactly the opposite for the Direct Marketing Expo. The majority of attendees—and there have been more than 400 in recent past Expos—come primarily for the conference, but do take time to visit the Expo.”
Hoping to boost conference attendance, the PrintFest strategy for 2008 is very focused. “In Gutenbergs gone by,” says Jacobson, “we have had over 60 classes, and there might only be three people in some of the classes. We wanted a fresh perspective, with new people coming in to speak at sessions with content we think is important for attendees. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, there are fewer, more focused conference sessions, and this will raise the overall value of the conference.” The group has also taken into account the demographics of attendees on a daily basis to further target conference content. “On Friday,” says Jacobson, “you generally see attendees from larger companies. Saturday draws the smaller printers, freelancers and people from small creative and design agencies who cannot afford to close up shop on Friday but still want to take advantage of the educational opportunity. We have designed conference sessions with their individual needs in mind.”
Jacobson points out that everything that is new at PrintFest in 2008 is being added to, and not in place of, traditional content for the printer audience. “Printers still need to be informed of the latest in both current and future technologies and systems, and how to transition profitably from today to tomorrow,” he says.
“Printers need to understand that all of this new media and alternative media is not the enemy,” concludes Mack. “It is the wave of the future as the worlds of marketing and print collide, and it is part of the package that printers must bring to their customers in a consultative solution. That is what we are spotlighting at PrintFest—focusing on the print component, but bringing it all together in a comprehensive approach. The case study of our cross-media campaign to drive conference attendance will be a terrific launching pad for the discussions that will go on over the course of the event.”

Federal Reserve Plays Russian Roulette with US$

In an age where governments of every political stripe distort data to promote their own self interests, it’s hardly surprising that they present inflation data in a manner that is best suited to their particular needs. By the same token, it’s entirely natural for official inflation data to be wildly at odds with the reality that is faced by consumers and businesses, and to be regarded with utter disbelief.
So it wasn’t shocking to hear Federal Reserve officials insist last week, that inflation in the United States is under control, before telegraphing another tidal wave of liquidity injections into the US economy in the months ahead. “Stable inflation expectations give the Fed a lot of room for maneuver. If the evidence suggests that substantial policy easing is appropriate, I don’t think we’re going to face a risk of adverse inflation consequences,” said St Louis Fed chief William Poole on Jan 9th.
In an election year for the highest office in the land, American politicians from both sides of the isle, are quick to propose all kinds of fiscal stimulus and pork barrel projects to jump start the sputtering US economy. But adding more monetary stimulus to the mix has the potential to ignite hyper-inflation in the US economy, and a speculative attack on the US dollar in the $3.2 trillion a day currency market.
“It’s difficult enough to make good policy in a complex economy and complex financial system,” said Fed chief Ben “B-52” Bernanke on January 11th. “Political considerations will play no role, and I assure you as strongly as I can, that we will be objective and analytical, and we’ll do what’s right for the economy,” he said.

It’s now becoming increasing clear, that the only prices the Fed is focusing on these days are home prices and those for toxic sub-prime mortgage debt. The Fed is pegging the federal funds rate in the direction of US home prices, mimicking the Bank of England as an asset targeter. Last week, nearby futures contracts on the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller, an index of home prices in the top-10 US cities, fell below the 206-level, or roughly 7% lower from a year ago.

Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist, and co-founder of the widely watched house-price index, predicted on Dec 31st, a possibility that the US economy would stumble into a Japanese-style recession, with house prices declining for years. “American real estate values have already lost around $1 trillion. That could easily increase threefold over the next few years. This is a much bigger issue than sub-prime. We are talking trillions of dollars’ worth of losses.”

He noted that Chicago futures markets are pricing in further declines in US home prices, with farther dated contracts on the S&P Shiller Index pointing to losses of up to 14 percent. In the third quarter of 2007, US homeowners withdrew $20 billion less in equity from their homes than in the prior quarter, and since housing prices have continued to tumble, the outlook for cash-outs has continued to dim.

Article marketing 'drives traffic'

One way for marketers to draw people to their website is article marketing, where the prospective customer is offered free, no-obligation information through news stories on their site, an expert has commented.Michele F Richardson, a small business consultant, made her comments through an article in online marketing publication the Internet Wonders Ezine.She explained that a website's visibility is vital to its success and suggested article marketing, pay-per-click advertising and offline advertising could work together to bring a website to consumers' attention."It doesn't matter how great your website is, if no one ever sees it, it might as well not exist," continued Ms Richardson.Ryan Even, an industry commentator, recently wrote in his internet marketing blog that relevant and unique content can be a "solid and practical" means of promoting a product or boosting a website's rankings.However, he argued that many websites may lack the skill or time to effectively use article marketing.

Room 214 Renews Integrated Web Marketing Program with Best Promotions

Room 214 Integrated Web Marketing Agency

Boulder, Colo., Jan. 17, 2008 – Room 214, a Boulder, Colorado-based search engine marketing and social media agency, has renewed its web marketing contract with Best Promotions, a promotional products company.Best Promotions renewed it's web marketing and search visibility program with Room 214 to execute search engine optimization, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, analytics and conversion tracking, reputation management, blog development, podcast production and awareness.The integrated program combines online marketing disciplines such as SEO, pay-per-click, landing and conversion pages, with social media outreach through blogging and podcasting to give Best Promotions a true position and voice in the promotional products business.“We have been working with Room 214 for two years now and have seen triple digit growth in our business every year,” states Brian Cerra, vice president of sales for Best Promotions.com. "What I like is how they focus and present programs that leverage our internal strengths, decrease our customer acquisition cost and don't put a resource load on our business as it grows due to their efforts.”Best Promotions, http://www.bestpromotions.com, is a leading online promotional products company whose mission is to offer the best products for the best prices, backed by the best customer service in the industry. Best Promotions can put your company logo on wide selection of apparel, bags, totes, business cases, chairs, mugs, food items, golf accessories, umbrellas, pens, pencils, wooden nickels and many others. Visit http://www.BestPromotions.com, or call 1-866-881-2378.Room 214, http://www.Room214.com, is a Boulder-Colorado integrated web marketing and social media agency offering outsourced search marketing services that includes: web development, custom blog development, podcast production and promotion, online syndicating press rooms, optimized press releases, RSS marketing, online article marketing, search engine optimization, pay per click campaigns, email management and social media campaigns leveraging Facebook, StumbleUpon, YouTube, Google Video, iTunes and others.Download Room 214's recent RSS or Die ArticleVisit:Best Promotions, http://www.bestpromotions.comRoom 214, http://www.Room214.comCapture the Conversation Blog, http://www.capturetheconversation.com

Search Engine Marketing Blog, Pay Per Click Journal, Announces Site Redesign with Additional Resources

PayPerClickJournal.com, an extraordinarily helpful website for anyone interested in learning more about the marketing power of Pay Per Click advertising, is very pleased to announce the redesign of the site with additional PPC management resources.
Boston, MA (PRWEB) January 16, 2008 -- PayPerClickJournal.com, an extraordinarily helpful website for anyone interested in learning more about the marketing power of Pay Per Click advertising, is very pleased to announce the redesign of the site with additional PPC management resources. PPC advertising can achieve remarkable results for any website but to realize the maximum gains from this search marketing approach, it is essential that keyword research and other factors are considered before the launch of the PPC campaign. The site redesign features a cleaner layout and blog posts are organized into several categories so that readers can quickly find the information that interests them.

An integral part of the Brick Marketing blog network founded and managed by Internet marketing expert Nick Stamoulis, the goal of PayPerClickJournal.com is to provide site visitors with helpful information on how to maximize their investment in PPC advertising. For over ten years, Nick Stamoulis and experts and Brick marketing have been helping clients achieve their goals through Internet marketing strategies such as PPC advertising. This facet their extensive blog network is part of his ongoing effort to educate his clients and help them make informed decisions about Internet marketing.
Nick Stamoulis said, “Achieving results from Pay Per Click advertising is not merely a matter of outbidding your competition for the best page position for selected search terms. There are many factors that must be considered such as target audience identification, keyword research, ad copy, and much more. The goal of PayPerClickJournal.com is to help readers understand all that goes into any effective PPC advertising campaign.”
The blog posts are updated daily and written by the PPC experts at Brick Marketing so that readers gain from his insight and many years of experience in PPC management. The blog entries approach PPC advertising from a number of different angles and shed light on all the aspects that Mr. Stamoulis considers as he crafts each Pay Per Click campaign.
Anyone interested in learning more about the marketing potential of PPC advertising as well as take part in discussions on various topics is encouraged to visit the site at http://www.payperclickjournal.com/.