Print Solutions Magazine, February 2002 -- The E-Files

Launching the CD Line

One of Quick Link's first clients was Fire-Lite Alarms, a Northford, Conn.-based firm that designs fire-safety systems for large facilities. Fire-Lite Alarms used CDs to give its customers information on the systems' schematics and assembly instructions. Fire-Lite developed most of the CD content, while Quick Link located manufacturers and provided packaging. "I've received numerous repeat orders," says Bill Olsen, national account representative at Quick Link. "The response has been very positive." Quick Link also has provided the firm with other CD-based solutions, including miniature CDs that contain product-training information.

Quick Link Information Services™ Inc., Branford, Conn., offers a variety of CD-ROM solutions, including a business card-sized CD that's used for direct mail campaigns, sales presentations, web site promotions and more.

Recently, Quick Link created 25,000 CD-based quarterly office manuals for a health maintenance organization. With the CDs, Quick Link also included business reply cards that recipients could fill out to request the printed version of the manual. Approximately 5,000 recipients returned the cards. As a result, the HMO was able to cut postage costs from as much as $8 per mailing to $0.34 per mailing.

So far, Quick Link has sold CD-based products directly and through ad agencies. According to the firm, prospective clients frequently have two misconceptions about CDs. "They often back off because they think it's expensive," Olsen says. In reality, Quick Link can produce CDs very inexpensively, he says. Clients also wonder whether it's wise to replace a printed product with a CD. George Heudorfer, national sales manager at Quick Link, encourages them to view CDs as an enhancement for existing marketing collateral. "It kind of spices it up a little," Heudorfer says. "Everyone loves the links we put on these CDs so customers can go directly to our clients' web sites."

"Everyone loves the links we put on these CDs so customers can go directly to our clients' web sites."

George Heudorfer

National Sales Manager

Quick Link Information Services™ Inc.

Branford, Conn.

Typically, Quick Link communicates closely with clients through conversations, faxes and emails. Adjusting its consultative style to clients' levels of expertise, Quick Link sometimes designs storyboards to help clients develop their project visions. Quick Link pinpoints the clients' expected results, which tend to emphasize either corporate image or usability.

After consultation, the client develops the CD's content, and Quick Link coordinates production. Quick Link provides a variety of packaging options and works with manufacturers to turn the client's vision into a reality--right down to the small details. For example, Quick Link can make self-starting CDs for end users who aren't computer-savvy. In addition, Quick Link offers training for clients who want to learn more about using software programs.

Selling Through Distributors

Olsen and Heudorfer say they hope to sell Quick Link's products through print distributors. Olsen promotes CDs as a way to be a "little different from the next guy," he says. He also emphasizes the importance of distributors' problem-solving skills. "If you can give [end users] some added value, it's an important feature on the product," he says.

Distributors can find a wide variety of applications for CDs, Olsen says. For example, CDs serve as good trade show giveaways. Ordinarily, trade show attendees lug around pounds of corporate literature. "The CD is more convenient to take back to their offices, and there's a much greater chance [it will be used]," Olsen says. Another idea is adding CDs to college admissions packets. "My daughter just went through college applications," Olsen says. "She used CDs, but most of the printed literature went on a bookshelf someplace."

Quick Link also is developing ways to attach CDs to magazines and books more conveniently and inexpensively. Publishers often poly bag CDs and package them with publications. Quick Link is exploring other options that involve binding and gluing. "It's a very healthy marriage of tech and tradition," Heudorfer says.

One of Quick Link's hottest new products is a small CD that doubles as a business card and marketing tool. "It's the tip of the iceberg," Heudorfer says. "We're definitely excited about what's out there."

Use Email Aliases to Test Ads

Constantly test the effectiveness of your advertisements. If your web space provider gives you unlimited email aliases, try running more than one ad in the same or different print publications. Include different email addresses on each ad (contact@xyzcompany.com, tryus@xyzcompany.com, inquiries@xyzcompany.com, etc.). By the responses you receive, you'll determine which ad is most effective.

Get Up to Speed

Statistics show that you will lose at least half of your potential viewers if your site does not load within 15 to 20 seconds.
Do your pages load quickly? Are they too image-intensive? Have image file sizes been minimized? Even with a site that requires a great number of images, you can employ many techniques that allow users a speedy load time.

Update Before Promoting

Web site traffic typically increases during the period immediately following successful direct mail promotions. It's wise to tweak your pages--especially ones that deal with the product or service you're promoting--before the marketing campaign begins. First-time visitors will see something new, and repeat visitors will notice something fresh.

Give Visitors Options

Customer service can make or break your web site (as with your business). First and foremost, make your contact information easy to find. Give visitors at least two contact options--phone, email, fax, mailing address, etc. A site lacking contact information and customer service options can actually turn away business.

Promote Your Site

Include your web site address in all media (print, TV, radio, etc.) and on all documents your business uses (letterhead, brochures, business cards, etc.). Many companies now seek corporate information via the internet first.

IPRINT TECHNOLOGIES , an e-business supplier based in Redwood City, Calif., announced it would shave approximately 30 percent of its workforce following its merger with Wood Associates, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based supplier of promotional and marketing programs to Fortune 1000 clients. iPrint said the cuts would include several high-level executives. iPrint's chairman, Royal Farros, stepped down from running the firm's day-to-day operations and agreed to repay a $721,000 loan. In addition, iPrint plans to buy back 278,000 shares from Farros.

CREO PRODUCTS INC. , an e-commerce solutions provider based in Vancouver, Canada, invested $23.6 million in printCafe Inc., a developer of supply chain management software for the printing and publishing industry, as part of a $39.6 million private placement of equity and debt. Other investors include Mellon Ventures Inc. and HarbourVest Partners LLC of Boston.

APPLETON PAPERS INC. , a supplier of carbonless and thermal papers based in Appleton, Wis., enhanced its web site (www.appletonpapers.com) to extend its "customer focused quality" philosophy to the internet. Appleton's enhancements include an online Customer Service Center, enabling clients to access account information and place orders any time; a New Ideas section, where visitors can learn more about Appleton's coating chemistry, coating application and microencapsulation capabilities; and an Our Products section, where visitors can view the company's paper brands.

ACOM SOLUTIONS INC., a Long Beach, Calif.-based e-business supplier, introduced an option to its EZPrint/400 electronic forms software that enables users to convert any AS/400-iSeries 400 spool file with Printer Command Language commands to PDF formats.