BPI's Ladies of Print

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 was National Girls Who Print Day! I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize the other ladies of print at BPI Media Group who I work alongside.

My long-time friend and mentor, Wendy Sherrod, has been with BPI Media Group for 22 years.

She is fiercely driven and takes excellent care of her customers. This shows by how many of her customers have been loyal for such a long time. Wendy's experience at BPI transcends that of most as she has gone through the changes in technology seeing film fall by the way side as the digital world of printing closes the gap on traditional printing methods. Her knowledge of "how things work" in print bring something special to client meetings because she sees things from a start-to-finish perspective and offers good insight when planning a project.

One of our newest additions to the team at BPI, Ann Dunaway, has been with us a few months, but she is very eager to help our sales team reach new heights! Ann's positive attitude and sales & marketing experience give her insight into her customers' plans for a campaign or strategy.

Ann says, "I am still fairly new to the industry, but I thoroughly enjoy learning everything that our company is able to do! We have many different services to offer that can truly help our customers be successful. It is a great feeling to know that you were able to help someone in their success!"

Other ladies who rock at BPI are our customer service team of Pam, Jolie and Angie--without them, we would be lost. We have several other awesome ladies on our team at BPI who help us make things happen: Renee (specialty products), Susan (accounting), Jan (prepress), Leisa (creative design team), Doris (mail and fulfillment) and Judy (shipping). Don't get me wrong, we have some great guys working with us at BPI to make it happen, so take a look at our staff page to learn about all of the team members.

Just a shout-out to all the ladies of BPI who are seldom recognized for all their hard work! They have each taught me so much over the past eleven+ years, and I'm sure the learning will continue as we learn and grow together in the print industry. Celebrate Girls Who Print every day!

Until next time...Elizabeth

Full Steam Ahead!

The summer holidays are over, and it is clear that everyone is back to work this week. After a S-L-O-W week last week, presses and other equipment at BPI Media Group are running non-stop. That is a great thing for us! When the plant is buzzing and everyone is busy, we are all more productive. We don't have time to stop and think, we just do.

Much like a crew on ship, our team works together to make each project run smoothly and to meet our customers' deadlines. To make sure that this happens, here's what each of us are doing to keep running full steam ahead.

• Sales Team: We keep making calls (despite the rejections and voice mails), making appointments with prospects and customers and closing the deal to make sure the busy season rolls from summer to fall to winter and on into next year. (We welcome two new sales team members, Ann & Colby, as they join us with marketing experience that will help them have an insight into what marketers look for in a print production partner. Welcome to the BPI sales team!)
• Customer Service: This fantastic team is quite possibly the busiest of all at BPI. They churn out quotes quickly while searching out the most efficient ways to produce each project, enter order details and manage each project throughout the plant until it is out the door.
• Creative Team: This department spends countless hours generating ideas for both print and web design for our customers who trust us with the "look" of their sites and projects. Attention to details is an understatement and one of the strongest assets they possess as they create ideas to make your company look great.
• Prepress: Troubleshooting files and outputting proofs are day-to-day tasks for this team, but they also work closely with customers service and sales team members to communicate ways to help customers prep files to help projects flow smoothly during the proofing process, especially utilizing our Insite proofing system.
• Pressroom: These guys are highly skilled and pay careful attention to each job as it is being printed. Set ups to ensure press sheets match proofs, color calibration and constant checks throughout the run make each project top notch as it comes off our presses (both offset and digital).
• Bindery: This crew works on a variety of equipment to fold, trim, collate, bind, drill and/or shrinkwrap each project to your specifications. While doing so, they carefully monitor for quality to make sure everything is finished properly.
• Mail & Fulfillment: This department is diligent in every aspect to make certain that not only the best postage rates are utilized, but they also prep and package each fulfillment order carefully checking off items that are picked and packed.
• Shipping/Delivery: The last but certainly not least step for projects is handled with care as packages are either shipped to customers or delivered on our trucks by drivers who are professional and courteous when they knock on your door to deliver your project.

Each of these departments work hand in hand with one another to make sure that projects flow smoothly through the plant. You can rest assured that when you hand over an order to BPI, it will be managed from start to finish by your sales and customer service reps as we check on the status in each of these departments. Or course, none of this would run as smoothly as it does if it weren't for great captains of our ship steering us all in the right direction toward success for both ourselves and for our customers. If you haven't been in a print shop, or if it's been a while and haven't seen our updated workflow and equipment, we invite you to do a plant tour any time. Visit our website for directions to Boaz, and we hope to see you soon!

Until next time...Elizabeth

And the Award Goes to...BPI's Creative Team

On a visit to BPI Media Group's plant in Boaz, AL on Monday, I learned some very exciting news from our design and creative team director, Leisa McGowan. Some of the graphic design projects our team has created for an auction company have received numerous awards. I think this is quite news worthy, so I wanted to brag on our creative team just a bit.

These particular awards were for catalogs/brochures. Six first-place awards were won based on the graphic design done by BPI. The competition received more than 650 entries, which were judged based on their creativity, effectiveness, clarity and visual appeal by a panel of marketing and advertising professionals. The NAA-USA TODAY poll is the most esteemed in the auction industry, and it recognized the best marketing and advertising materials. Needless to say, we are quite proud of our designers. GOOD JOB!!!!!

Not only do our designers create aesthetically-pleasing pieces, but they also create pieces that include strategic calls to action because including effective marketing best practices is part of what we do and offer our customers. We want all of your marketing materials to be successful. Keep in mind that all of this is done under very tight deadlines, making last-minute revisions and fine tuning until it is a piece that can be printed, mailed and/or shared with pride.

If your marketing team needs help with design, or you're short handed, let BPI's creative team lend a hand. We guarantee you'll love the results!

Until next time...Elizabeth

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BPI by Design

As I trekked across the state of Georgia toward Alabama, my wheels (in my brain and on my vehicle) were turning quickly. Recent client meetings seemed to circle back to the design phase of the printing process. With budgets and personnel being cut, having a designer on staff seems more like a luxury than a necessity. This trend in marketing departments has led many clients to pose the question to BPI Media Group, "Can you guys do design for my company?" With additional staff being added to BPI, I can answer confidently, "Yes, we can absolutely help with your design projects."

Part of our growth over the past few years has been to assist you, our clients, with as many aspects of the print solution as possible. Some of our clients do have designers on staff or have long-term, existing relationships with freelance designers. For those folks, we definitely will not step on anyone's toes, but for those needing design services, we would be happy to help. We have a team of designers, each with exceptional talents, who can help from a simple typesetting or layout project (such as a form) to a collateral brochure or catalog. We can also create or update logos to help with your branding if needed. Click here for a simple case study from a pleased client for whom we did the print and design. I can gladly share a portfolio of our design capabilities to give you an overview of our work.

I thought this summed it up nicely!

Here I'll share a few links, ideas and resources for designers and those in need of design assistance. Not sure if you need help with design or considering tackling it yourself? Here's a great article about when to reach out to a design professional. The list of top 10 resources are a must read!

Whether you're a new marketer or simply don't have the time or staff to tackle it in house, BPI's design team can help and here's why:

• Our toolbox is full of expertise and experience.
• We know how to design for print (thus eliminating the back and forth of missing fonts, links, low-res images and other common file issues such as insufficient bleed).
• Multiple concepts are provided, so you can find the style that's right for you and your brand.
• Revisions and edits are made upon your suggestions quickly and follow your guidance (after all, it's YOUR brand and YOUR print project.)
• Online proofing through our Kodak Insite proofing system is available where you can "comment" virtually to communicate with our designers. (Click here for more about this fantastic proofing option.)
• Final files of the completed design are available to you in various formats (native files, usually Adobe InDesign, pdf, jpg, etc) to use/share/post.
• Need help with your web design too? With BPI's new on-staff webmaster, we can help with this too. Check out our website review offer.

For the designers out there (of whom I'm immensely jealous because I lack the creative/artistic gene), keep in mind that designing for digital printing is a little different than designing for offset printing. Click here for some tips on successful designing for digital printing.

• If you don't already subscribe to this magazine, it's a good one: Graphic Arts Monthly. Our prepress and design staff find this one full of great info!
• Another cool publication is CMYK Magazine. This one is quite inspiring!
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• Lastly, check out BPI's latest edition of Graphic Advisors (should be in your mailbox this week!). It has a great article about Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and what's in it for you as a designer.

Please leave a comment if you have a question or would like additional information. If you'd like to subscribe to BPI's Graphic Advisor (a quarterly publication), click here. As always, thanks for reading, following, sharing, commenting and until next time...Elizabeth