Benevolence at BPI

If you want to know what kind of people work at BPI Media Group, you can always check them out on LinkedIn,FaceBook and Twitter for some, but there are some things you won't find posted on any of these social media outlets. One of the best-kept secrets is what amazingly generous people make up the team of BPI.

At a recent United Way ceremony, BPI was recognized for the largest per capita giving in 2012. That means our team contributed more than any other local business. Why? Because many of BPI's team members have been on the "needing" side of help before, so we believe in giving back and helping those in need. Ask those who have lost their homes to fire or struggled through tornado damage that affected the North Alabama area where BPI's plant and workforce are located, and you'll quickly see that they help one another through the tough times. This benevolent attitude was nice to be recognized, and BPI continues to give to various civic and non-profit organizations. There's even a Rex Davis Memorial Scholarship that is given to a local high school senior who would like to continue his or her education but may not financially be able to do so. BPI also donates all web development and print to Hospice of Marshall County. BPI is also an official sponsor of Parkinson's Walk Greenville, which is an event in my neck of the woods, Greenville, SC, to raise awareness of Parkinson's Disease since my Mom struggles this disease.

To see other community involvement, check out our "community" page of website.

Until next time...Elizabeth

Resolve to Market

This week, I want to share with you ways that BPI Media Group can help kickstart your marketing campaign for 2013. This letter from BPI's President, Alan Davis, sums it up nicely.

The New Year has arrived and is a time for most people to create their 2013 resolutions. What are your resolutions for this year: weight loss, read more productive books or control the road rage? Because most individuals do not write down their resolution goals, make lifestyle changes or realize that changes don’t happen overnight, most resolutions are only a memory after the first couple of months into the new year.

The same is true for your marketing objectives in 2013. By laying out a clear plan of objectives and getting away from the “that’s the way we have always done it” attitude can lead to measurable growth in 2013! BPI Media Group offers a number of services that can be used in a variety of combinations to make your marketing dollars produce the results to meet your goals.

• Variable Data Printing to personally speak to your customers
• Big Data Analytics to control marketing cost with precise offerings
• Storefront portals to assist in marketing collateral management
• Print on Demand to reduce inventory levels
• Online proofing to reduce costly customer alteration charges
• Web Development so customers find you instead of you finding them

The major aspect that ties all of these together is the ability to track and report all activities so that each activity is measured, analyzed and modified. This year make your marketing resolutions stick by making company “lifestyle” changes, evaluating results to make changes based on data and create a system that will stand the test of time.

For more information about the offerings of BPI Media Group, contact us to speak with an experienced sales representative.

Until next time...Elizabeth

What Does BPI Stand For?

One of the biggest questions we were asked yesterday at the Greenville Business Expo was "what does BPI stand for?" Well, here's our version of what it means and what we have to offer.

B-BRANDING. We can help maintain your corporate branding through templated print on demand and an image library.

P-PERSONALIZATION. Creating 1:1 communications with your customers and prospects can lift your response rates.

I-INTEGRATION. We have the tools to create integrated campaigns, so you can use multiple channels within a campaign to reach your customers and prospects.

M-MOBILE MESSAGING. We can help with sms and mobile messaging to create contests, sign-ups, etc with your customers who are mobile savvy (and who isn't these days?).

E-EMAIL BLASTS. Using complementary graphics as your printed pieces, we can set up email marketing messages to your customers and prospects and even version them, so that they receive unique messages and offers based on their buying patterns.

D-DIRECT MAIL. With two mail machines in house and trained staff on how to manage lists to get the best postage rates, we can process your mail quickly to get it in the mailboxes of your customers.

I-INVENTORY MANAGEMENT. With our online storefront, managing inventory of your collateral, stationery, promo items, etc is easier than ever. Reports keep track of real-time inventory.

A-ANALYTICS (data). Need to mail to a very, very specific demographic? We can analyze your current data to determine the criteria of those who buy from you to get a "good list" for you to target.

G-GENERATE sales. With print and other forms of media, we can help you create campaigns that will not only improve your ROI but also boost more sales from qualified leads.

R-REPORTING. Our storefront system has reports available 24/7, so you and your team can view order history, inventory levels and user groups.

O-ONLINE and web marketing. Our web development team can help with your website to make it fully optimized to boost your online traffic and sales.

U-UNBELIEVABLE customer service. Our CSR team are there to help answer questions, troubleshoot, track and manage each project from start to finish.

P-PRINTING. The premise of BPI Media Group is our flexibility of printing services ranging from long runs on our offset presses to shorter, personalized runs on our digital device.

I look forward to hearing form you to see how BPI can help you! 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

11 Years-My How Time Flies!

Last week, I celebrated eleven years of working at BPI Media Group. It only seems like yesterday, but in that time, so many things have changed at BPI. I'll share a little "me and BPI" history with you this week as I'm feeling a bit sentimental.

The day was January 29, 2001. Fresh out of a job and green in the world of business, I had interviewed with Alan and Steve Davis (owners of BPI)two weeks prior. They were looking for a CSR, and I was looking for a good place to work.

The job: CSR (customer service rep) at Boaz Printing (this was long before the name change). I worked alongside three other CSR's who helped train me in estimating. I spent a day in each department (stripping/proofing/plating, pressroom, bindery and shipping) to learn the production side of things. What were all these terms??? Blueline, sheetwise, saddlestitch??? What did we do with so much film? Boy, did I have a lot to learn!

The opportunity: Eventually, I learned the ropes of estimating and even got to ride along on some client visits. I really liked those days because it meant getting out of the office, visiting folks, and learning a little more about the sales process. We had added 20,000 square feet, a new press room, warehouse space and become a more modern, CTP shop (no more film! After 3 1/2 years as a CSR, I was presented with the opportunity to move into sales. Of course, I jumped at the chance to be in front of customers and prospects more and become a road warrior.

Installation of 6-color press in 2004 after addition of square footage.

The challenges: In the summer of 2004, I hit the road for my first solo sales calls. I thought learning the terminology and processes of printing were tough...welcome to sales. While there were definitely challenges, and I was inexperienced as a salesperson, I learned the importance of relationships. Some of those first prospects I called on that summer are still customers today. For that I am very grateful and continue to value those relationships. That is one thing that BPI has done consistently--nurture relationships and grow with our customers.

Over the past 7 1/2 years, I've had the privilege of travelling the Southeast and meeting some wonderful people who often becomes great customers. While it is still a learning process, and I certainly learn from my mistakes every day, I can wholeheartedly say that I love my job! It is great to work for people who treat you well, respect everyone and put customers first. The motto of BPI has become "Our success is measured by the success of our customers." This is so very true. If I can help a customer create, execute and measure a campaign successfully, then I feel like a million bucks.

Being part of the team at BPI Media Group is part of me. If you'd like to learn more about some of the fantastic staff who help me every day, click here. Without their help, I'd still be struggling even after eleven years. Let me know if you have any questions about BPI or ways we can help with your marketing, mail, fulfillment, specialty products, traditional or digital printing, setting up a storefront, graphic design or web development. I can't wait to see what the next ten or eleven years have in store for BPI and our customers!

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Give Me Your Top 4...

While making TONS of prospecting calls over the past three weeks to help grow my business in 2012, I'm asking a pretty loaded question. Before I ask this question to prospects, I had to make sure I was ready to provide answers. After all, my credibility as a solutions partner is on the line here. The question I'm asking is this, "What's your top four marketing challenges you face in your company right now?"

Curious to know what others are saying? Keep reading...

The challenges I'm hearing that most marketers are facing are some with which BPI Media Group can certainly help. And as always, we are glad to help because "Our success is measured by the success of our customers." -Alan Davis, President of BPI Media Group.

Challenge #1: How to produce all the necessary materials on a reduced marketing budget.

BPI solution: With BPI's digital printing technology, you can take advantage of reduced costs by lowered print quantities thus resulting in less waste (hooray for the environment too!). Other advantages of digital printing include: fast turn-around times, no minimum quantity orders, incorporation of variable data or personalization and in-line addressing (our digital press allows us to address/barcode each piece as it's being printed). We can also assist with mailing database clean up to help reduce your postage costs.

Challenge #2: How to manage collateral materials and manage corporate branding.

BPI solution: With BPI's storefront solution, we can not only help protect your branding, but we can also help manage your print quantities, orders and inventory levels. Other benefits of using an online storefront include:

• Improve the effectiveness of your sales materials via localization or personalization
• Automated email alerts to confirm order placement and shipping
• Enhanced Reporting (can be downloaded as a csv based on parameters you enter)
• Confirm and track orders
• Query order activity by year, month, or date
• Online approval system for management control of product
• Minimize - or eliminate - storage and waste cost

Challenge #3: How do I increase traffic to my website and boost SEO?

BPI solution: BPI's website specialist, Brandon Rome, can help with your site's look, functionality and work behind the scenes to improve your SEO. We're working with a client who, just this week, realized their web traffic is far less than what it should be, and their site is not coming up on key word searches as one might expect. Our fix: using Google analytics, set up key word searches and tie in with social media to circulate traffic back to the site, blog and e-commerce site. Read more ways BPI can help enhance your website here.

Challenge #4: How to be more efficient with proofing (it takes up too much of the production time which is a narrow timeline anyway)

BPI solution: Using Kodak Insite proofing technology, proofing doesn't have to take days. Instead, it can take minutes. Our customers are raving about how quickly they're able to upload, review and approve files for a project that would take hours to upload and a few days to review a hard-copy proof. The speed with which you can review and approve a proof is amazing. Once files are approved in Insite, the hard-copy proof is output for inplant use even if the client doesn't need to see it. Other benefits of Insite: approval levels (some users can have permission to review only while others have permission to actually give approval), upload only pages that have changes and approve them on the fly, and the detailed pre-flight report flagging any potential problems with files before it goes into production. Read more about BPI's Insite proofing system here.

As I learn more about challenges other marketers are facing, I will keep an updated list here, so we can all continue to learn from one another. It is a bit scary to ask a question like this, but I am confident that BPI has the "tools in our toolbox" to help marketers like you!

Until next time...Elizabeth

I'm new to twitter, so please check it out & follow along if you'd like.