posted on March 13, 2005 08:42:48 PM new
I am trying to figure out the mail order business so I can create a catalog and mail it to customers who are in the market for my products. Does anyone have experience with this? Any tips on making a catalog?
Thanks,
Toben
I just updated my new website - give me your feedback on it. http://gotflag.com
posted on March 13, 2005 08:57:04 PM new
Personally, I would make a website and e-mail it to all of my past customers. If you have been keeping good records of all of your past customers, you will have a very good base to start with, plus since you have a web site, you won't be limited to just that list. Others will be able to find you as well.
Good luck either way.
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Alive in 2005
posted on March 13, 2005 09:04:59 PM new
I'll be more than happy to help you with basic questions and possibly some recommendations, you just need to give me an idea of what you are thinking. I used to do catalog & mass mailing designs for my former company and did everything from 1 sheets to 40 page full color.
Are you planning to do the design work or will someone else be doing it (if you don't know or are not willing to learn Quark, Pagemaker or InDesign, hand it over to someone else.)
Do you know anything about design for print? (i.e. - photos need to be 300dpi as opposed to the web friendly 72 or 96 dpi)
Are you planing on doing full color, black & white or spot color?
How many are you planning to have printed?
How many pages do you plan to use? (think multiples of 4)
What is your proposed finish size? (If your products are undersized you might want to consider an 5.5 x 8.5 rather than standard 8.5 x 11.
If all of this has your head spinning you might also want to consider a digital catalog.
If you give some more details I, or I'm sure someone else, will be better able to help you.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on March 13, 2005 09:56:57 PM new
I'm surprised more sellers don't send at least a sheet of related items for sale when they ship auction items.
posted on March 14, 2005 04:47:00 AM new
Thanks for the tips - I already have a website and email my customers about it. I also include coupons for people to use when they buy.
Thanks for the tips. My initial catalog will only be a few pages - maybe 4-6 in full color.
I am looking at ideas for layout etc.
I need to reach some businesses that I suspect are not searching the web for my stuff.
The initial run should be around 200-500. I am planing on buying a mailing list of certain chain stores where I know the chain requires them to have a flagpole outside.
You can see my website below.
I just updated my new website - give me your feedback on it.
http://gotflag.com
[ edited by toben88 on Mar 14, 2005 04:48 AM ]
posted on March 14, 2005 07:23:34 AM new
With those types of numbers, your best bet would probably be just investing in a very good high end color printer and printing them yourself. The printer will cost you about the same as having them done and then future printings will only involve the cost of the paper and ink and it will also allow you to do targeted designs.
I would suggest you just do one sheets. Use the front page to sell the US flags and the back for the appropriate state flag, order form and website referral. If you can print your pieces on demand you can tailor each mailing to the state or business type you are marketing too.
In terms of layouts - go find catalogs.. retail, wholesale... you name it. Find tons of them. Sit down one day and critique the hell out of them. What did you like, what did you hate, in terms of general layout, overall look of the page, text size, etc. Use what you have learned from that to create your catalog.
Nice site BTW - the only suggestion I would make is to put a product front and center on that front page. I would move the featured item up to the top and push the detail points down to where your featured box is. First you want to grab a visitors attention... then you pitch them.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
I've been looking for software to do it all my self then have it sent to the printers.
Is there a publishing program sold to the general public that would work.
I talked to one guy a couple years back and they use Quark express however I don't have that kind of money AND pay for printing as well.
40 pages (10 sheets of paper) Once I find a program to format the pages (2 columns each page) it could be 36 pages. 5.5 x 8.5 folded and stapled. Full color and the paper would be either glossy (like magazine papar) or the glossy-type smooth newsprint.
There is no way I could afford the labor to have someone else format the pages.
posted on March 14, 2005 08:41:24 PM new
Toben - nice website but I found one error in several places that you might want to correct before you do mass marketing. It is "attract" attention (not "attrack" attention). I hate to be picky, but I know I would want someone to tell me.
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"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
There are three main programs that are considered industry standard for printing. Quark, InDesign and Pagemaker. You want to stay with them because their programming is optimized for quick rips when doing color separations. You might be able to find something cheaper on the program end but you will pay the price when you go to print when you tie the printers computer up for 12 hours with multiple postscript errors and all of your text looks like someone did the chicken dance on the keyboard (been there - done that) I'm not endorsing such a thing but I do know that these programs can often be found on the LimeWire file sharing site. I recommend Quark but InDesign is also a great program. I think once you try it out you'll see that it does end up being worth while financially.
When you look for a printer, do not go to your local print shop. They will job your work out and then add a 50% mark-up. The trick to finding a color house is do a search for "Club Flyers" that has a price of $125 or less for 5000 4/4 quarter page. (they can afford to do that because they "gang run" the Postcards. Don't let this make you think that your catalogs will be this cheap as well.) When you talk to the sales person regarding pricing, you want to ask how many pages their "signatures" are. Some run 8 page signatures (the number of your catalog pages that will be laid onto a single sheet when run thru the press)others run 16 pages. If you stay with full signatures your price will stay lower. I'd stick with an 70lb gloss text - anything lighter with full color will have bleed thru. If you are going to mail direct (no plain brown wrapper) go with a 100lb cover.
If you have all of the text written, all of the photos edited, can create a sample page and don't mind exporting labor you might want to put the job up for bid on eLance. The majority of designers there are in India but there are some great hungry ones out there ready to take a job dirt cheap in order to start building up their portfolio. You can also put the print job up for bid there.
Oh yeah....It's also important to find out if whoever is gong to rip your file to print has the ability to re-paginate your layout to print signatures or if you have to do that yourself. Most do have the ability to do it in house but it's always good to ask. If they don't.. run.. RUN FAST!!!
Let me know if you need any help. 40 page catalogs are not fun but damn it is rewarding to to crack that first carton open and flip thru the finished product.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Mar 14, 2005 10:26 PM ]
