Portable Document Format (PDF) files give you a great way to send documents that recipients can view exactly as you designed them. But how do you make PDFs that work best for your specific application?

With the variety of options in Adobe® Acrobat®, you can create PDFs that fit precisely what you need — from protected documents to interactive forms. Or you can easily get lost.

Read on to discover how to make better PDFs and get the most out of this versatile software.

Get the right Acrobat product

Adobe makes Acrobat in a variety of flavors, but the three primary versions are Reader, Standard and Professional.

• Reader — Free, but allows only viewing, searching and printing documents (but not creating PDFs). Most users have this version on their computers, so you can feel sure that those receiving your PDFs can view them. Download Acrobat Reader here for free.
• Standard — This basic version lets you create a PDF from any application that prints (Microsoft® Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, etc.). You can add pages to a PDF, merge two into one, leave comments, password protect the file and more.
• Professional — The top-of-the-line version allows you to do everything Standard does, plus create forms, use advanced editing and create workflows that automatically e-mail the document to your choice of recipients and let them attach comments.

Another version, called Elements, is geared toward large corporations with many users and offers features similar to Reader, plus PDF creation and password protection.

See the complete comparison chart of features in all Acrobat versions.

Decide how the PDF will be used

Before you touch the keyboard, you need to decide what the PDF will be used for. What function will it serve? Will it be printed or simply e-mailed? This will help you determine how to format and save it.

• Print — If the PDF will be printed, such as a final production sent to a printer or a design to be approved or marked up, Acrobat will let you retain the fonts and will reproduce graphics well.
• E-mail — If you’re simply creating a file to e-mail information, you can optimize it for the smallest file size possible. Graphics will be compressed (which may lower image quality) and fonts will not be embedded (which may make the text look different).
• Interactive (forms) — If you want to distribute forms, you can create a PDF that allows recipients to enter their information and send the form back to you.

Create PDFs

In order to create good-quality PDFs, you need at least the Standard version of Acrobat. Some applications can also create PDFs — for example, CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, QuarkXPress® and any Macintosh OS X application that allows printing. However, the quality of PDFs created by these applications may be inferior to those created by Acrobat (i.e. fonts may not be embedded so type may not reproduce accurately, image quality may be poorer, etc.)

When creating your PDF on a system with Acrobat Standard or Professional installed, start by opening the document you want to convert into a PDF. Select Print from the File menu. In the place where you select your printer, select Adobe PDF. On a Mac, choose PDF Options in the Copies & Pages drop-down menu. Specify the quality of your PDF in the Adobe PDF Settings drop-down menu. In Windows, click the Preference or Properties button and then specify the quality of your PDF in the Default Settings drop-down menu.

The three most useful quality settings are:

• Press Quality – Use this for saving PDFs that will be printed. This will give you a high-resolution PDF with graphics and fonts that look exactly as you intend them to. File size may be large.
• Smallest File Size – Use this for files that need to be small because you intend to e-mail them. Many e-mail servers do not allow large files, and many PDFs of layouts will be very large and may cause problems for the people receiving them. This format will not embed the fonts, so use it only for those people you are sure already have the fonts you used in the file.
• Standard – Use this when you need a good overall PDF with reasonably good graphics and reasonable file size. This is the happy medium.

Set security options

If the content of the PDF is sensitive, you can add security options to the file that will prevent other users from doing things with it that you don’t want. Using the Standard and Professional versions, you can password-protect a variety of functions.

To set password protection, go to the File menu and select Document Properties. Select the Security tab. (Or you may have a Security button on your toolbar.) There you can assign passwords for allowing:

• Opening the PDF
• Editing text
• Printing
• Printing comments (see below)

You can assign different passwords for each function if you want to allow certain people specific functions but not allow others.

For more information, download Adobe’s PDF security guide.

Add comments

Commenting allows users to leave notes and other items to flag specific parts of your document. They are allowed by default, but you can disable them in your security settings. Users will need Standard or Professional versions to use commenting features; comments do not change the PDF content or layout.

Recipients use the Comments & Markups button, which includes:

• Notes to type their messages
• Drawing Markup Tools such as arrows, shapes and text boxes
• Commenting Tools that allow users to highlight text and use stamps such as Approved, Received, Sign Here, Void, Confidential, Draft and more

Create forms

Another useful feature of PDFs is the ability to create forms that users can fill out electronically, such as vacation requests, expense reports, etc. Users will need Standard or Professional to save a form with their information; users with Reader can print filled-out forms but not save them.

To create forms, use Adobe Designer (Windows only), a separate application that comes with Professional. Or you can go to the Tools menu, select Advanced Editing and select Show Forms Toolbar. Using the toolbar you can create text fields, list boxes (drop-down menus), programmable buttons, checkboxes and more.

Learn more

See these useful links for more information on Acrobat features and products:

Adobe Acrobat main page
More on Adobe Acrobat PDF features
Acrobat FAQ page

PDFs give you a wide variety of ways to send layouts, forms and any other documents that nearly any recipient can use. Master the basics and you’re on your way to trouble-free PDFs.

Need better results? Creating and using PDFs is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results.
We call it Communication with insight.^sm

Your company creates unique products that are protected by trademarks. But are you using your marks correctly? What’s the difference between a registered and unregistered trademark? And what the heck is a service mark?

If you know how to properly apply and use your marks, you’ll not only make a better impression with your customers, but you’ll also guard against losing your special position in the market.

Keep it all straight by reviewing our trademark tips, and keep your marks working hard for you.

Understand trademarks and service marks

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, design — or even a sound, smell or color — or some combination of these, that helps consumers identify the source of a product and distinguishes it from other sources or products. A service mark, on the other hand, identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a physical product.

In addition to what they identify, marks can also develop a “secondary meaning,” indicating a level of quality the product or service has. Some well-known marks have acquired so much recognition and associated quality that they have become extremely valuable to the companies that own them. For example, McDonald’s® Corporation’s trademarks are worth far more than all of their restaurants combined because of the recognition and quality that the marks carry with consumers.

Beyond these two marks are trade dress, which refers to the overall look and feel of a product, and trade name, a word, name, term, symbol or combination that identifies a company itself rather than its products. For now, we’ll stick to explaining how to use the two most common — trademarks and service marks.

Use it or lose it

You can establish rights to a trademark simply by using the mark. You can use “TM” for trademarks and “SM” for service marks any time you want to claim rights to a mark. You may use the “circle-R” registered trademark designation, however, only after you have registered your mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. (You can also use the words, “Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office”). Registration lasts for 10 years (registrations granted prior to Nov. 16, 1989, have a 20-year term) and can be renewed at 10-year intervals (renewals granted before Nov. 16, 1989, last 20 years) for as long as the mark is in use.

Registering your mark with the USPTO provides extra advantages, including the ability to defend your mark in federal court in matters of interstate commerce, obtain registration in foreign countries and prevent importation of infringing products.

To make your trademark effective, you must “affix” it to a product, either directly or to a package, label or tag. Service marks must be affixed by using them in places such as signs, advertisements, letterhead and invoices. For registered trademarks, you must actually sell the product before you can register your mark with the USPTO.

If you don’t use your marks properly, you could lose your exclusive rights to them. In some cases, consumers have used the trademark names to refer to a type of product often enough that the trademark has become “generic” — describing a category, or species, of goods or services. For example, the makers of aspirin, cellophane and the escalator have lost these once-trademarked terms, which are now simply generic names for a type of product.

Mark it properly

Follow these guidelines to ensure you use your trademarks properly and retain your rights to them. These guidelines apply to service marks and to print as well as online text.

• Always distinguish marks from surrounding text with at least an initial capital letter.
• Always use your mark as an adjective followed by a noun that it modifies. The noun is generic for the type of product. You may also use the word “brand” after your mark to further guard against improper use. (Examples: Kleenex® facial tissue, Rollerblade® brand inline skates, Captiol One® No Hassle Cashsm credit card)
• Never use a mark as a noun. (Example: You ride a Harley-Davidson® motorcycle, you don’t ride a Harley®.)
• Never use a mark as a verb. (Example: You make photocopies on a Xerox® copier, you don’t Xerox® something.)
• Never make the mark plural. Instead, change the generic noun from singular to plural. (Example: Oreo® cookies, not Oreos®)
• Never make the mark possessive, or change it from its possessive form. (Example: Altoid® mints’ new flavor, not Altoid’s® new flavor; Jack Daniel’s® whiskey, not Jack Daniels® whiskey)

As a test, remove the mark term from the sentence and see if it still makes sense. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably used the trademark as a descriptive term or as a verb and not as an adjective followed by a generic noun.

Service marks are often used alone, since they are frequently statements rather than words. (Example: A.G. Edwards^sm Fully invested in our clients^sm.)

When placing the “TM” or “circle-R”, you don’t need to use it next to your mark every place the mark is used. Placing it in the heading or the first or most prominent place on the page is enough.

Add trademark symbols in your documents

You can easily add “TM” and “circle-R” symbols to your text. For example, Microsoft Word features several keyboard shortcuts for adding these symbols to your document.

On a PC:

• Registered trademark symbol (®) – Ctrl+Alt+R
• Trademark symbol (™) – Ctrl+Alt+T
• Your Autocorrect function may also convert certain characters to the correct symbol. Type “(r)” for ® and “(tm)” for ™ and Word should automatically change the text to the symbol.
• Unfortunately, there is no shortcut for a service mark. You’ll have to type “sm” and manually superscript it.

On a Mac:

• Registered trademark symbol (®) – Option+R
• Trademark symbol (™) – Option+2
• The Autocorrect and service mark instructions are the same as for a PC.

Finally, remember to keep your customer in mind. After all, trademark law isn’t intended to protect you and allow you to use your mark however you want. It’s designed to protect consumers from confusion about the source of products and services.

Need better results? Trademark issues are just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm

Exciting things are happening at your company, and you think everyone should know. But is anyone outside of your company interested in your new products, recent awards or current accomplishments?

Deciding what story to pitch to the media — and how to pitch it — can go a long way toward gaining publicity for your company. But first you need to understand what makes something newsworthy, and why people will care.

In determining news, reporters and editors often decide based on a traditional set of news elements. Read all about them in our checklist of what makes news, and attract the attention you deserve.

Timeliness

Something that just happened is usually more newsworthy than something that happened a long time ago. That’s why it’s called “news.” This is especially true in today’s environment of up-to-the-minute news coverage on TV, radio and the Web. Did you just release a new product? Did you recently make a technological breakthrough? Did your company just land a new important client or contract? All these things are more newsworthy because they happened NOW.

Impact

How many people does the story affect? The more the better. You might also ask, “Who cares?” Your company’s anniversary, though important to you and maybe to your employees, is not newsworthy to anyone outside. If you decide to give away free products to the public as part of your anniversary celebration, or if you donate money to build a new youth center named after your founder, then you’ve affected many people and have bigger impact. The greater the impact, even if it is an old story, the more likely that it is newsworthy.

Prominence

We all complain when celebrity breakups or trials dominate the news. But the simple fact is that prominent people make more news. People care because they recognize these newsmakers. If your father had open-heart surgery, no one beyond your family and friends would care because no one else knows him. But if former President Bill Clinton goes under the knife, you have an international news story. If the subject of your story is well known, such as your company president, even the most common event can make the story newsworthy.

Proximity

The closer to home a story takes place, the more newsworthy it is. If your new product affects only customers far away, that’s not as newsworthy to your local media as if it affects everyone in the surrounding community. But even if the story takes place far away, you can find a local angle. Journalists call this “localizing” the story. Say you’re a hospital and a new strain of the flu breaks out on the other side of the country. A physician or expert from your organization could offer the media your evaluation of whether or not the strain might affect people locally, as well as tips on how to avoid getting sick.

Conflict

As much as people complain about negative news stories, bad news is often more newsworthy than good news. If city residents turn on their faucets and water comes out, no one cares because it’s routine and expected. If the water plant breaks down and townspeople have to boil their water, that’s newsworthy because it’s a break in that routine. Of course, you don’t want to promote bad news about your company. Instead, look for conflict to which your company has developed a solution.

The Unusual

“Dog bites man” is not news. “Man bites dog” is. Something that is out of the ordinary is news, which is why so many of us love to read unusual factoids and about strange happenings. In fact, some news programs devote part of their time to these oddball stories. We are obsessed with records, too, that indicate the biggest, longest, shortest, smallest, tallest, etc. something. There are thousands of news stories in the Guinness Book of World Records because of our obsession. Did your company invent the biggest, fastest or longest-lasting something? Did an employee accomplish something unusual and interesting?

Hook your readers

Whichever of these news elements your story has, it must have a news “hook” or “peg.” This is the most important element, the one your story “hangs” on, the one that really makes people interested in hearing about it.

Adding it all up

So how many of these elements does your story need to be considered newsworthy? Two? Three? More?

In short, there’s no easy answer. A newsworthy story may have only one of these elements if that element is sufficiently important enough. Or it may have several and not be particularly newsworthy. A story could be local and timely, but not impact enough people. A story could impact a lot of readers, but be passed over because it is too commonplace.

If you don’t have a journalism or public relations background, the best way to get a feel for the importance of these elements is to read news publications to see what kinds of stories they publish. Even better, talk with editors to see what kinds of stories they’re interested in.

No matter your company or industry, knowing these elements allows you to make better decisions about what makes a good story. And about what makes your company newsworthy.

Need better results? Gaining publicity is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm

Spam chokes everyone’s inbox. Filters fight to keep pace with shifty spammers. New laws struggle to regulate it. Recipients delete unrecognized messages without reading them. The Internet has made communications easier and harder at the same time.

E-marketing offers efficient and valuable ways to broadcast your message, but you have to compete with spam to make sure your target audience notices. Follow these simple rules and you’ll avoid spamming and deliver what your audience wants to see.

Obey the CAN-SPAM law

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) took effect Jan. 1, 2004. The act aims to stem the tide of spam by penalizing spammers with fines up to $2 million for a number of common spamming practices.

The act requires unsolicited commercial e-mail messages:

• Be labeled as a commercial message in a “clear and conspicuous” manner (though not by a standard method), unless the recipient has given you prior permission to receive the message.
• Include instructions to opt-out, or cancel, future e-mails. You should process these requests within 10 days.
  Contain your physical address.
• Have a functioning return e-mail address or other Internet-based mechanism that is clearly displayed.
• Not use deceptive subject lines and false headers.
  In addition, CAN-SPAM preempts state and local anti-spam laws, except where they prohibit falsity and deception such as misleading origins information, headers, sender identity, transmission information, subject lines and falsely registered IP addresses.

Get recipients to opt-in

People want their inboxes reserved for conversations with people they know. This is why opt-in is so important. By opting-in, recipients give you permission to send to them.

According to the law, you can send once to your customers and prospects without consent if you follow the rules outlined in the law. This is known as the “one free shot” approach. Using this “free shot,” and using an e-mail marketing service that offers an automated system, you send recipients an opt-in e-mail inviting them to join your mailing list. If they want to join, they click on the confirmation link and are added to your list. If they don’t want to join, they do nothing and are not added. To entice recipients to join, your invitation should communicate the benefits they’ll get by receiving your messages — exclusive offers, information not found anywhere else, great ideas to grow their business, etc.

Double opt-in is even better. When meeting prospects, ask if they mind joining your mailing list. Other prospects might sign up at your Web site. This is the first opt-in. Once they agree or sign up, send them the confirmation e-mail. That’s the second opt-in. This will ensure you have adequate permission.

Construct your message to move your audience

Once you’ve gotten them to opt-in, remember to follow some important rules for building and sending your e-mail message:

• Make your “from” line accurately and clearly identify you.
• List your offer in your subject line or make it relevant to your benefit.
• Match the contents of the message body with the subject line.
• Personalize the message by using the recipient’s name, preferences, tastes, etc. Five to 10 personalized elements will triple your chances of getting a response.
• Understand your audience’s needs for mailing frequency — mailing too often will annoy them and not mailing often enough will make them forget about you.

Deliver relevant content

In addition to obeying the letter of the CAN-SPAM law, you need to obey the spirit of the law by giving your audience interesting, relevant information. If you don’t keep content relevant, they will delete it or unsubscribe.

Match your offer to your audience. Don’t just talk about your product. Think of other things that are important to them. For example, if you sell displays to retailers, include stories on topics such as the latest holiday sales predictions or tips on how to reduce shoplifting. There are many inexpensive subscription services that provide stories relevant to the topic you need.

Use the right vehicle

Your e-mail marketing can take several forms:

• Newsletters — Use these to offer news, both about your products and about related topics.
• Announcements — Show new products, preview upcoming products or communicate special offers or events such as trade shows.
• Discussion forums — Invite recipients to comment on your product, service or a topic related to your industry. It’s a great way to gain customer feedback.
• Event triggers — Use birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc. to give customers discount coupons, make them special offers or just wish them well and stay on their radar screens.

Need better results? E-mail marketing is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your specific e-marketing goals, e-mail or call Matt Harlow at 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm

One of the biggest advantages of using traditional direct mail and e-mail to generate leads is your ability to target specific prospects based on common criteria … and efficiently move them through the sales cycle.

Effective direct marketing programs establish an ongoing dialogue based on your customer’s position in the sales cycle, his obstacles and needs, receptiveness to key messages and the appropriate next step toward closing the sale. Tracking every stage of the process is vital for success.

Follow our top 10 guidelines for your direct marketing programs and drive the sale home.

#1 Pull in your sales team

Do as much research as possible, develop a database and involve your sales team from the beginning. They know which leads have the most potential and they’re accountable for closing them. Your database should capture all relevant information about the entire universe of prospects that can buy your product or service. It is important to have buy-in from your sales team on the criteria used to develop the list and the method for identifying valuable prospects.

#2 Call and boost response

Typical response rates vary from one-tenth of one percent up to 4 percent. Using telemarketing to supplement direct mail efforts can boost response rates into significant double digits. This type of one-two punch works well in B2B direct marketing programs and for offerings that have an extended sales cycle.

#3 Remember other response factors

Overall, the key variables in determining response rates are:

• Respondent database – Fifty percent of your chance of success comes from the fit and quality of your mailing list. Consequently, developing a comprehensive list of sales prospects can have the biggest payoff in terms of higher response rates and closing sales.
• The offer – We’re all pragmatic and can be persuaded to respond. An appealing offer that reinforces your message and value proposition can make or break your response rate. The incentive level should correspond with the perceived value of the product or service. Run a small initial mailing featuring different offers to test which one generates the most response.
• Creative format – Although the package generally has less impact on response rates than the list and offer, it reflects your brand and communicates your key messages.

#4 Target your target audience

The package needs to be tailored to the target audience by tapping into their fears and/or greed — the two basic emotional drivers — and communicating a unique and highly relevant value proposition. Throughout your program, integrate communications in terms of messaging, media, formats, incentives and tracking.

#5 Talk directly to your prospect

Readers pay more attention when you speak directly to them, so personalize your direct marketing package as much as possible. You can do this by addressing the prospect by name and with messaging and an offer that moves him through the sales cycle. Variable data printing technology enables you to do this cost-effectively, even for smaller lists. In body copy, address the reader directly by using the word “you” as well as other individualized words rather than “group” words such as “customers” or “people.”

#6 Track your leads

Direct marketing is a hands-on process and measurement is imperative. Track leads individually and overall based on the source, sales potential, stage in sales cycle and conversion rates. This type of lead tracking system can be integrated with CRM systems to report a set of meaningful metrics to evaluate and optimize your direct marketing program.

#7 Examine lead quantity and quality

Once your program is generating sales leads, evaluate both the quantity and quality of those leads. Based on your quantity/quality objectives, you can decrease lead volume (and increase lead quality) by adjusting your offer, providing a free gift or premium and making it easier to respond by using a toll-free number, user-friendly Web site or postage-paid reply card. You can increase lead quality by asking the prospect for more information, changing the offer and eliminating unrelated gifts or premiums.

#8 Get your e-mail message through

For permission-based e-mail campaigns, the time and day of the week you send the message will impact deliverability. When your audience opens and reads your e-mails will depend on their habits — B2B customers most likely will open them during the workday, while B2C may open them in the evening after work or on weekends. Experiment with different days and times and track which work best.

#9 Keep your e-mail clean

HTML e-mail messages should be less than 40KB in size, or smaller than a Web page. To maximize response rates, keep the design clean, use the above-the-fold area to communicate your offer (not your product shot or elaborate graphics) and lead the prospect to a customized landing page. To avoid spam blockers, make sure your text takes up a lot of space compared with the space taken up by your images.

#10 Stick to the subject

The subject line is a critical element in e-mail campaigns and it can be the sole reason the message gets opened or deleted. Don’t risk losing the audience with redundant subject lines like your company name, date or document name (e.g., Sep. 2004 newsletter). Provide some meaningful or content-related reason for the recipient to open the message and test alternative subject lines before launching a major campaign.

Need better results? Direct marketing is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm

The study had students perform cognitive tests, such as completing tasks on computer screens with red, blue or neutral backgrounds. Participants seemed to do better on detail-oriented tasks (such as memorizing a list of words) while looking at red backgrounds and better on creative tasks (such as thinking of creative uses of a brick) while looking at blue backgrounds. This may be why warnings are typically done in red. Maybe it re-orients our brains to pay attention to important details. When students rated ads, those who saw red backgrounds tended to focus on what to avoid (favoring toothpaste that stressed cavity-fighting over whitening) while those who saw blue backgrounds focused on creativity (favoring a camera that showed travel images over one that touted its zoom lens). Other studies have also indicated that color can affect performance, but the results are still a little hazy to say anything definitively.

One part of the study makes me a bit skeptical. To measure creativity, a panel of judges looked at each group’s “creative” ideas (uses of a brick). Even though each group came up with the same number of ideas, judges rated the blue group’s responses as more creative. For example, the red group tended to list practical things such as “build a house,” while the blue group offered more creative ideas such as “make a paperweight” or “build a pet scratching post.” I’m sure this was done blind (the judges didn’t know which group was which color), but any time you introduce subjective judgement into the process the less reliable the results are. Also, the same color can symbolize different things in different cultures. So the phenomenon may be learned rather than instinctual. Finally, the study didn’t take into account the brightness and intensity of the colors.

Will it work for you? Give it a try. Change your computer background color depending on whether you’re brainstorming or proofreading. Use a blue room for brainstorming sessions. Or use colored paper depending on the task. See if it helps. I’ll give it a shot, too. Let me know your experiences.

See the articles for more…

Reinvent Wheel? Blue Room. Defusing a Bomb? Red Room.
NY Times, Feb. 5, 2009

The psychology of color: Study suggests blue sparks brain creativity, red’s for details
Associated Press, Feb. 5, 2009

Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances
Science, Feb. 5, 2009

A digital camera is handy to take shots for company brochures, newsletters, ads or other marketing materials. But other than pointing and shooting — and crossing your fingers — you may not know how to produce good quality shots that will make your materials look as professional as they should be.

If you’re not careful, you could have shots that are badly composed, poorly lit or too low-resolution to use in your printed piece. Follow our tips for better digital photos and you’ll get great-looking shots that will make your materials sparkle.

High-res means high-quality

If you haven’t purchased a digital camera yet, make sure to get the highest resolution you can afford. Prices are continually falling, so you may be able to get a better camera than you thought you could.

Cameras are rated by megapixels (one million pixels). A pixel (PICture ELement) is the smallest element of a digitized image. These small squares of light make up your photo. The higher the resolution, the more pixels the camera uses.

To produce usable shots, you need to know a few things about resolution:

• Shoot at your camera’s highest resolution setting — It gives you plenty of pixels in case you need to crop or reduce the photo. You can’t enlarge it without losing quality. (Increasing the number of pixels once the image is on your computer serves only to make the file bigger. It doesn’t increase the quality.) If you shoot “big,” then you can always reduce it for low-resolution uses such as the Web.
• Buy a bigger card — The memory cards that come with digital cameras typically offer very little storage space.  For a 3-megapixel camera, get at least a 128 MB card, 256 MB for 4-megapixels and 512 MB for 5 megapixels and bigger so you’ll have plenty of space. A 2-megapixel camera is probably too low-resolution for most marketing use.
• Use 300 dpi for print — Digital photo dimensions are different than dimensions for print. A high-end digital camera picture of 1600 x 1200 pixels at a camera’s default resolution of 72 dpi (dots per inch), for example, would output at over 22″ x 16″. However, at 300 dpi (the resolution used for print), that same image would output at 5.33″ x 4″, or about the size of a postcard.
• Save it — If you edit your photos, always keep a copy of the original. If you’re sending the photos to a designer or an agency, don’t bother editing them.

Compose yourself

How you arrange your subject in the frame, called composition, can make your photo either dull or dramatic.

• Level with your subject — When taking people photos, try to shoot at their eye level, or from a little above, to grab a viewer with their gaze. For kids, you’ll need to kneel.
• Watch the background — A plain background shows off your subject best and is less distracting. Make sure no poles and other objects are growing out of your subject’s head. And that your subject isn’t the same color as the background. For portraits, don’t stand against a wall. Have the subject take a step forward to avoid a harsh shadow.
• Fill the frame — Sometimes our minds exaggerate what we see through the camera, giving you photos with huge areas of wasted space. Get in close by taking a step or two toward your subject. Think about how the photo will be used and shoot just what you want to show. For a mug shot, you don’t need to shoot someone’s entire body.
• Lock the focus – If your subject is off-center, the camera may focus on the background instead of your subject, since most auto-focus cameras focus on only what’s in the center. Move your subject back to the center, press the shutter button halfway down to lock the focus and then recompose your shot so the subject is off-center. Press the button all the way to take the shot. Blurry shots are impossible to fix later.
• Use picture modes — In “Auto” mode, the camera selects the proper exposure, focus and flash, and is good for general picture taking. To achieve superior effects, you’ll need to explore other modes. Use “portrait” for single subjects such as a person, “landscape” for expansive subjects that are far away such as mountains and skylines, “sports/action” for capturing subjects that are moving quickly and “night” for low-light conditions (you may need to use a tripod).
• Use a tripod — Digital cameras have a delay between pressing the shutter button and the camera taking the photo. The act of pressing the button can move the camera during this delay and create blurry images. A tripod offers a stable support, especially with a remote or shutter-release cable.
• Direct your subjects — Don’t just take photos passively (unless they’re supposed to be candid). Take charge by choosing the right location and props and arranging people to get the best shot.
• Keep shooting — Remember, you don’t have to pay for unwanted prints. So take more shots than you think you need to give yourself plenty of chances to get a good shot.

Watch the light

Understand how lighting affects your photo and you’ll produce great shots.

• Light it up — In general, you’ll need more light than you think. Try for plenty of ambient light, but avoid bright light that casts harsh shadows. When outdoors, take photos early or late in the day to create more texture. Shooting at noon will create ugly shadows beneath noses and brows. In addition, avoid shadows falling across your subject. Try to shoot from the same lighting condition your subject is in.
• Use flash outdoors — If the background is lit more than your subject, set your camera to “fill flash” mode (or “flash” mode if your camera doesn’t have a “fill flash” mode or you’re more than five feet away). In this mode, your camera exposes for the background first, then adds just enough flash to illuminate your subject.
• Know your flash’s range — Most digital camera flashes reach only 10-15 feet, so make sure not to stand too far away. But if you’re too close, your subject could get blasted and look washed out. Check your manual for your camera’s flash range.
• Set white balance — Different types of light bring out different colors in your subject. For example, fluorescent lights make things look slightly green/yellow. Use the white balance setting on your camera to correct for this.

Your camera has lots of settings. Experiment to see what effects they have. Remember, you’re not paying for any wasted shots.

Cameras don’t make beautiful images. Photographers do. You may not win any contests, but with a little knowledge and a little practice, you can create digital photos that are picture perfect.

Need better results? Digital photography is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to get great photos, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm

At first this may seem scary to a creative. We’ve believed for years that, even though robots could replace assembly line workers, they could never replace writers or artists. Could they? Rather than being scary, this actually gives creative types another tool to make even better ads. Now you can get almost immediate feedback on what works and what doesn’t. You can get real results. I’m all for that, because learning what works the best makes you a better creative.

Check out the article for more information.

Web Marketing That Hopes to Learn What Attracts a Click
NY Times, Dec. 3, 2008

You may print hundreds, or thousands, of catalogs featuring your product line. You may send thousands of brochures featuring your top-selling products. But your audience may care only about some of what you’re trying to sell them. Or they may ignore you completely.

For a price, you can print your catalog, brochure or other marketing pieces using variable data printing (VDP) and send a different message to each customer, grab his or her attention immediately and cement a valuable relationship. Check out our guide to variable data printing and show your customers you know exactly what they need.

Talk to a person, not to a market

The technology of the Web has caused a shift away from speaking to a market toward speaking to a specific customer. You now have more ability than ever before to market one-on-one instead of mass advertising. To engage in a personal conversation with individuals rather than shouting messages at them. In print, this translates as something called VDP.

In general terms, it’s talking to the customer in his or her own language. Using this technique, you produce customized mailings that are different for each customer, featuring only what he or she is interested in, rather than producing the same mailer for everyone. The technique is made possible by short-run color digital printing and database integration.

An important tool for improving your customer relationships, this kind of personalized communication will be required to meet customer expectations in the future. But it comes at a high price. You get no price break for quantity. Instead of incurring setup cost that’s spread over thousands of pieces, VDP incurs a setup cost for each piece. So at higher quantities it may become cost-prohibitive. For example, if 10,000 four-color self-mailers produced using traditional printing cost $2,000, those same self-mailers printed using VDP would cost around $13,500. In addition, you need to either have, or be able to get, all the customer data that drives the personalization.

Choose your type of variable data printing

VDP is divided into four categories:

• On-demand short-run — The most basic form and the simplest to produce. You print pre-defined pages in short runs, typically 50 to 200. Even though the contents of the page don’t change, the piece can be focused to a customer, organization or event when used in presentations, binder covers, proposals, focused marketing collateral, etc.
• Personalization — The most common type, you print a person’s name or organization on the page, such as a form letter or sweepstakes entry.
• Selectable printing — The page has defined parts that are static and other parts that are variable and specialized for each customer. The variable objects can be text, images, graphics, account information and more. Customer information from a database determines what will be placed in the specialized sections, which are changed from printing to printing like swapping a puzzle piece. This type is often used with direct mail.
• Full variable — The entire page is filled with text, images and graphics based on database information on customer preferences, demographics or psychographics. This is the purest form of one-on-one communications.

Leverage all types of communications

You can take advantage of VDP in a variety of ways:

• Newsletters — You can pick the cover story based on the customer’s information. A newsletter from a pet store to the owner of a Jack Russell Terrier puppy might feature a story on caring for dogs during summer, with a photo of a Jack Russell. Even better, it could feature a cover article on caring for puppies.
• Direct mail — A Ford owner could receive an offer from Ford for an oil change at his local dealer and feature a photo of his model car, in the color he bought. Or his favorite grocery store can send him coupons for products he enjoys based on his purchase history as recorded by swiping his customer loyalty card.
• Magazines — You can print literally dozens of different versions of the same magazine featuring articles and ads specific to your target. For example, a farming magazine could print one version for corn growers, one for pig farmers, one for vineyards, etc.
• Special offers — If you know what a target owns, you may know what she will likely buy next. If she bought a small SUV several years ago, you may send her a special offer on purchasing a larger SUV.
• Dealer support — Send materials showing customers who their local dealers are. You can also let dealers create their own letterhead, business cards, ads, slick books, etc. Dealers can also use variable technology to create masters used for printing their own materials.
• Customer orders/requests — Customers can request printed materials that will contain exactly what they asked for. Send a customer forms already filled in with his contact information, simplifying the process of completing the forms and increasing return rates. Then send him a personalized binder containing information on just the services he bought, with a personalized welcome letter.

Make an impact your customers can’t ignore

VDP allows you to cut through the clutter of mass marketing and capture a customer’s interest immediately. It’s much more effective and valuable than typical fliers or a “shotgun mailing” that is generic and typically thrown away.

It connects you to your customers in a meaningful way. It boosts retention and response to your message and drives new and cross-sales efforts. The end result is a greatly improved customer experience, greater brand integrity, higher customer retention and new revenue.

Need better results? Variable data printing is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your specific literature goals, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Making your documents easy to read and understand takes more than good writing. You need to take a long look at how all the images in your manuals and instruction materials are working as well.

Knowing when and how to use photos and illustrations increases the readership, understandability and clarity of your documents. Using them improperly can leave your readers scratching their heads.

Take a look at our guide to designing for increased readability and help your customers see more clearly.

Review how you will use your images

From experience, we know that consumers prefer images to words. However, you need to ask yourself some questions before figuring out what type of images to use.

• Size — What are the exact dimensions? Space must be left in the document for the image. If you do not have the image yet, insert a box in the process description that is the size of the proposed image.
• Point of view — The image must show the angle of view and how much of the related or adjacent equipment, background, etc., is visible. Decide which elements of the image should be emphasized.
• Detail level — How much detail does the image need? What would best communicate the information: a simple line drawing, a photograph, a complex illustration or something three-dimensional? Give the reader only enough detail to accomplish the task. Any more just invites confusion.
• Contents — How is the item or action portrayed? For example, if your image is to indicate a cable connection, does it show a hand holding the cable or simply the cable end with an arrow? The contents of the image will depend on the complexity of your product, your audience, their level of expertise and what you want them to accomplish (the more complex your audience, product or task, the more detail that’s needed).

Determine the best use of call-outs

When labeling images, all your call-outs must be clearly marked. But should the picture itself be labeled with text or should it be numbered for reference?

When text-labeling art directly, remember:

• If the document needs to be translated into other languages, it is much more difficult, expensive and time-consuming when the artwork needs to be changed for each language.
• Text labels work best if you need only moderate to few labels. Too many words in a piece of artwork can make it difficult to see the references and to read all the text.

When using numbered references, remember:

• The reader should be able to see the piece of art from where the text is explaining the numbered references.
• Label the call-outs in consecutive numbers in a clockwise or a counter-clockwise pattern.

Decide between photos and illustrations

How do you know if a photo or an illustration is best? Answer the question, “What communicates the information most simply?”

For photos, keep in mind:

• Photos most often include too many irrelevant details.
• Arrow lines that point to things are often more difficult to see on a photo.
• Take the background of the photo into consideration (make sure it’s not dirty or reveals top-secret information).

Photos can generally be done quickly and less expensively than illustrations.
For illustrations, keep in mind:

• An illustration can favor, preserve or even emphasize some qualities while sacrificing, suppressing or omitting other characteristics that are not the focus of attention.
• The illustration has a clearer picture of shape, structure and material composition (the background can be whatever).
• Illustrations usually cost more to produce than photos.

Example
Whirlpool Corp. wanted to make its installation instructions easier, thereby reducing the number of people calling into the help line.

By changing from a photo to an illustration and increasing the size, the customer’s focus was directed to where it needed to be instead of trying to decipher an entire photograph. Also, by adding text labels to pinpoint key information, the customer could understand more of the installation by just viewing the illustration.

Need better results? Using illustrations to make after-sales support easier to understand is just one business communications solution we’ve provided over the past 25 years. To explore some innovative ways to reach your audience, e-mail Matt Harlow or call 800-800-9547.

Ideas are our product. We work to analyze your markets, isolate your key brand benefits and send clear, focused messages right to your target audience. Messages that build your brand image and achieve what you’re really looking for … measurable results. We call it Communication with insight.^sm