Written by Joel Basa
eMarketing Manager
Xerox Corporation

Technology. Inkjet. Workflow. Finishing. Digital Press. Offset. Those are probably some of the topics that come to mind when you think of drupa 2012.

How about these topics? Social Listening. LinkedIn. Twitter. Facebook.  Blogs.

The latter group of topics has seen a huge spike in interest and has growing importance in the print industry. Social media has become an integral part of the way businesses market, communicate, educate and service their customers.  Social networks have also has become a large source of printed content for many of the print applications that consumers are looking to purchase.

How mature is your social media practice within your business? Do you need help getting started? Are you looking to further develop and expand your practice? At Xerox, we realize that businesses fall across this spectrum. At drupa, Xerox would like to help you with your social media practice.

We’ll be offering Social Media Clinics. Our Social Media Experts (aka “Doctors”) Joel Basa, Andy Hill and Christina Klos will help answer your questions on social media and provide 1:1 consultation for your business. We’ll provide you a “diagnosis” and prescribe a recommendation (“medicine” if you will) to accomplish your goals. You’ll walk away with a Information Sheet as well as 1 of 3 Social Media resources that will match your needs.

Please stop by our Social Media Café in our Xerox Stand in Hall 8b. Our clinics will be from 10:30-11:30 and 2:00-3:30 daily. If you have questions, please comment below or tweet using #xeroxdrupa.

We look forward to sitting down with you at drupa 2012!

Written by:
Matthew J. Volpe
Smart Press Production Consultant & National Customer Trainer
Xerox Corporation

Depending on your workflow, you may be asked to make color corrections to a file on press to match a target print. Most press operators immediately create a color curve to change the color of the print, which may not be the best approach. Typically, this takes several revisions of the curve to get the color close to the target. That also means it takes a lot of your time and materials. Here are 3 easy steps to help streamline your color correction process by using Source Color Emulations:

1. Know what’s in the file: Run a pre-flight check to see what’s in the file. Is it CMYK, RGB or spot color data? Color curves will affect RGB and CMYK data. However, creating a Tonal Reproductive Curve on FreeFlow Print Server, a Gradient on Creo Print Server and editing an Output Profile on a Fiery Print Server will NOT affect spot colors in Legacy Mode.There are exceptions. Using the Color Wheel/Curves tabs in the Image Viewer of the Fiery Print Server will affect spot colors in Legacy Mode. Plus, color curves will affect spot colors in pdf files when you enable Adobe PDF Print Engine on all 3 color servers mentioned above.
2. Rely on your CMYK and RGB emulations (Source profiles): Once you know that you are working with RGB and/or CMYK data, you can quickly change color by changing emulations. Emulations will not affect your Spot Colors. Copy (duplicate) the file and submit at least 3 copies of the same file with different CMYK and/or RGB emulations. Check the prints and see which is closest to the target print you need to match.

   Each RGB and CMYK emulation change will affect color differently, so get to know the emulations. For instance, if the file contains RGB data, changing sRGB to Adobe RGB will increase the color intensity in your file since the Adobe RGB emulation gamut is much larger than sRGB. Also, remember that changing your Rendering Intents will also have an effect on your color, especially with RGB. Normally, submitting the file with different emulations is a quick way to produce the color you need.

   

3. The very last step, only if needed: Choose the emulation that comes closest to your needs and THEN create a color curve. This will make the curve much easier and faster to create since you are starting out close to the color you want to achieve.

Please ask your Xerox SmartPress Production Consultant for other ideas that can help you streamline your workflow. Why not give this technique a try the next time you are asked to correct color on the press?

True or False? Investment in Direct Marketing has risen versus investment in general advertising.

True or False? The marketing department and its surrogate creative agencies have been the greatest source of corporate opportunities for graphic communications providers.

The answer to both of these questions is a resounding TRUE.  So how do you tap into this key market? For years, it was enough to simply deliver attractive printed collateral pieces and/or advertising promotions. But the game has changed.  More consumers use “always-on” electronic media. The media landscape is increasingly complex and ever changing. Marketers have change their approach and have an increased need to show ROI.

The following three of seven tips are a sampling of a Xerox Whitepaper: Seven Tips for Selling to Direct Marketers:

1. Target the right prospects: Know your customers. Rank who is most profitable and understand their industry. Also, sell more to your current customers as they are often have “low hanging fruit” for you business. Once you identify your high value customers, target prospects that resemble them.  When venturing outside your “comfort zone, “choose wisely.  Focus on the areas that offer the greatest potential return.
2. Demonstrate your market knowledge: Did you know that 92% of marketers said they would engage in a sales discussion if an agency produced some research or insights in their vertical category (MediaPost, The Winterberry Group)? Finding this insight is the challenge. Trade publications, web searches, magazines, newsletters are all sources of information. However, one creative way to understand the market is to become a customer of your target. No better way to learn more about their business then doing business with them.
3. Communicate your value proposition: “The mark of many successful graphic communications companies is their ability to serve as trusted advisors who lead customers to new and innovative solutions. “ Defining your business with a value proposition that reflects a realistic understanding of what you do well and what you don’t. Once you can articulate that you’re a step closer to being a trust advisor to your customers.

The remaining 4 tips are: Overcome objections from prospective customers, Leverage data to drive results, Capture powerful synergy by integrating multimedia campaigns and Build windows of opportunity

For detailed information on these 7 tips, please add your comments below and we’ll choose one person to receive the full Xerox Whitepaper.

Written by:
Al Lautenslager
Author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days, Speaker, Consultant

Mention Guerrilla Marketing and people think street marketing, camouflage, sneaking around, etc. That might sound extreme but it really is more than that. Guerrilla Marketing is marketing, using time, energy, imagination, information and knowledge instead of big checks out of check books for advertising that may or may not work. It works even for marketing and print service providers.

When used properly, guerrilla marketing is one of the most effective weapons available in today’s print service provider’s marketing arsenal to develop business, increase sales and make more deposits in bank accounts.

The best way to start thinking about an effective guerrilla marketing campaign is to determine where your target customers are, and find a unique way to reach them. This might mean using a wacky, attention getting headline, a different marketing vehicle to carry the message in a different way to the target market or something extreme to get noticed, all without spending big bucks. While there are a host of ideas that we will communicate to you over time here are some starters:

Create your own holiday, (e.g. Dec.1 is National Take a Customer Out to Lunch Day or National Thank You Letter Day or even Send a Postcard to Your Favorite Prospect Day) and then garner all kinds of PR coverage.

You might consider staging a protest for, “Good Customer Service,” outside your business, or even something like, “This business beats all customer deadlines,” also getting attention and potential coverage by the media.

The last idea I’ll leave you with in this post is the Pay It Forward Idea. I learned of this when in Chicago and going through tollways and paying daily tolls on the way to work. Pay the toll for the person behind you and give the toll collector a business card and a notepad from your company to give to the person following. You never know who is behind you and who might recognize your good gesture, contacting you and ending up doing business with you. You can also do this at the movie theater or any place that collects money from a line of people. People love the free notepads and it may bring them back for more.

These are just a few ideas and they work! Let go of your imagination, get noticed, be remembered and let people talk about your guerrilla marketing ways and you will increase your bank account deposits. Happy Marketing!!

Written by Joel Basa, e-Marketing Manager at Xerox Corporation

In part one of this series, we spoke about operational prints per hour and the basic concept of how do you measure productivity of your digital press. In part two, let’s talk about one aspect of productivity for you and your business: predictability.

Predictability is a major aspect of productivity. Think about it, with just about anything, if you could accurately and consistently make predictions, aren’t you almost guaranteed to be more successful? For example, football (American) season is on the horizon again, and if your team could predict the strategy and plays of its opponent, wouldn’t your team increase its chances of winning significantly?

The same applies to the printing process. If we again look at printing as a manufacturing process, predictability is one of the ultimate goals. Your ultimate goal, as an owner or as an operator, is to be able to start a shift and for 8 hours be able to know you’re going to stay productive and produce output that meets your customer’s requirements. You want your process to be predictable.

In our industry, predictability applies most to the area of color management. Your color management requirements may be one of the following:

1. Match colors between an original printed page
2. Match colors between different devices in the workflow
3. Match colors on the same machine over time
4. Match colors among multiple printers of the same type in one location or remote locations
5. Select colors during the design phase that can be matched to the final output
6. Make fast and inexpensive color modifications

If you have the tools to make one or more of these requirements predictable, wouldn’t you be more productive? Not being able to quickly meet one or more of these requirements results in “waste” or in other words a re-work that is downtime now that you or your operator are performing non-value added steps that is taking time away from getting to your next job. “Whack a mole printing” or taking time to identify a problem, implement a potential solution and then re-try the job results in a process that is not lean in nature.

Adding predictability to the color management process needs to be fully comprehended and part of your digital technology. In addition to providing you the capabilities to meet your customer’s requirements, it’s equally important that the tools in place make it straightforward for any operator (experienced or not) to know what to do, when to do it, how to do it or better yet…automate the entire process for them.

Think about color management for your press, do you have the automated tools in place to make it predictable and productive?

Not all solid colors are spot colors. Solid colors can be defined directly in CMYK or RGB by the source application. Some applications are capable of using all three color spaces (CMYK, RGB, spot color) within a document, while others only allow one. Most Microsoft Office applications use only RGB and do not have the ability to create or define CMYK or spot colors. One exception being Microsoft Publisher 2003 and later versions, which have the ability to use CMYK and/or spot colors. To learn how to setup this feature, please click here.

Xerox Fiery’s have the ability to key in on any CMYK or RGB color within a document and change it for another color. To use this feature you must first know the values of the colors you want to change. Each application has a different way of defining colors so reference the application’s documentation to find out how to identify the desired target color in your document.

Acrobat/PitStop method: If you have a Fiery Server that includes the Fiery SeeQuence Suite (either Impose or Compose) it includes a handy tool for identifying colors within a PDF document (the most common source of print ready files) called Enfocus PitStop, an Acrobat plug-in.

To identify a color’s values in a PDF document open it in Acrobat from the computer where any Fiery SeeQuence Suite module is installed (Impose or Compose). Click on the PitStop tool “Show Inspector” icon in the toolbar.

Select the target object to see what kind of color space it is and the associated values. In the below example we see that the red is a CMYK color and its values are 0, 100, 100, 0 (magenta and yellow are 100%). If there are other objects you wish to identify and note the color spaces and values, you can click on any of the objects on in the document.

Note that substitute color does not work on objects classified as an image, or photograph. Only solid objects that have been drawn with lines and filled with RGB or CMYK in an application (known as vector objects) are eligible for color substitution. Spot colors are also not eligible for color substitution since Fiery provides another method to handle spot colors.

The yellow text is selected in the example below. Note that the color space is defined as Separation (Spot Color) and the spot color name is “m25j100” with alternate CMYK values of 0, 25.1, 100, 0. This color is not eligible for color substitution, however, it can easily be defined in a spot color group as described in the section “Capturing spot colors with an ES-1000”.

Once you have identified all the objects and noted all the color spaces and values close Acrobat. We will be using the Fiery substitute colors feature to identify and modify these colors.

Microsoft Office Method: If your document is a Microsoft Word or PowerPoint document you can identify the colors of any object by selecting the object, then from the Color palette select the “More Fill Colors…” to display the values of the current object. It is important to note that Microsoft uses an RGB Device Code scheme whereby colors have values from 0 to 255 instead of 1 to 100% as in other applications. In the example below the RGB values are 120,162,47. The Fiery can handle this scheme, as you will see later.

These are two examples of how to identify colors that are eligible for color substitution. Other applications have similar methods.

To create a substitute color group: From the Spot On window click on the green “+” symbol and select “Substitute Group”. Type in an appropriate name, such as “My Substitute Colors”, then click “OK”. Note that the Output Profile will affect the test prints, so please make sure you are using the most appropriate profile for you target paper as discussed in section “Background”.

Right click on the new substitute group and select “Add Color”

Select the color space that you are targeting and enter the values that the Fiery need to search for. Notice that RGB can handle both 0-100 and 0-255 values. In this example we are targeting the CMYK values 0, 100, 100, 0 that define the red used in my first example. The tolerance setting can be set at small or large. Tolerance allows for some applications that generate decimal values of colors that differ slightly but are basically the same color. You will need to experiment with these settings if some colors are either not being selected or extra colors are selected that were not intended to be selected. Click on the “Edit” button to define the substitute color’s new values.

The initial color, as shown in the left screen shot below, represents the CMYK values of the original target color. Use the procedures in the section “Fine tuning a spot color using Spot-On” to hone in on the desired color. Alternatively you may enter the CMYK values directly in this dialogue box. For this example we will enter 100,70,0,0 to replace the red with a blue. Click “OK”.

Your substitute color is now ready. To use this substitute color you must enable substitute color in the job properties of each job, or select substitute colors in the print driver.
In the Color tab select Substitute Colors as shown below. Print your job with and without substitute colors enabled to see the results.

All vector objects that had CMYK values of 0,100,100,0 (red) have now been converted to 100, 70, 0, 0 (blue). Spot colors are not affected.
Our sample document before and after enabling substitute colors.

This concludes my series about spot colors and Fiery. All of my previous posts can be found within our Color Management category, so please read them and add to our discussion with your comments and questions!

When it comes to spot colors, we’ve already talked about what spot colors are, creating and using new spot color groups, and how to use Fiery Spot-On to manage and fine tune spot colors. Today I’d like to focus on capturing spot colors with an ES-1000 Spectrophotomter.

If you have an ES-1000 spectrophotometer you can use it to capture a spot color from an object or hard copy print out. This is especially helpful if the color you want to reproduce is not known to be part of any color matching system.

Make sure your ES-1000 is plugged in to the computer where Command WorkStation5 is loaded. This can either be on the Fiery Server when there is a keyboard, monitor and mouse (KMM) connected, or a networked PC or Mac. Note that some Fiery controllers do not allow KMM connections.

Follow the procedures in the preceding section “Creating and using a new Spot Color group” to make a new group, or select an existing custom made group that may have been created before.
Click on [Instrument] and select “EFI ES-1000”

Make sure that the ES-1000 is squarely sitting on the cradle and that no dust or obstructions are inhibiting the head.  Click “Calibrate” and wait for the window to close.

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Right click in the white space while your custom group is selected and select [Add Color]

A search pattern window will open.  Name your new color.  In this example I am capturing the color of a blue candy so I am using “MM_Blue”.

Carefully position the head of the ES-1000 over the target object and click the button on the device as shown.  The color will now appear in the search pattern window.  You can further refine this color by printing the search pattern as described in the section entitled “Fine tuning a spot color using Spot-On” or simply click “OK” to complete.  Your new color will be selected any time a spot color with the exact same name (case sensitive) is used within an application.

Stay tuned for my next post about creating and using substitute colors with Spot-On!