Kendall PRess @ Work

"Her Majesty's Consul General cordially invites you to a breakfast to celebrate and watch the Royal Wedding of His Royal Highness Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton.

Friday 29 April 2011

Dress: Business or wedding attire - Hats Optional

Please bring your invitation with you as you will need it to gain admittance to the event."

And so, I did bring my engraved Invitation that the team at Kendall PRess had created just days earlier. Ever grateful that I was one of the lucky few invited to celebrate and WATCH VIA NECN STREAMING, direct to Boston.



Engraved invitations, digital satellite images transmitted over the Pond. Few came without hat on head for this was an occasion to dress up, and do things the right way, with class. Thousands of years of tradition carefully preserved and handed down to the next generation. And yet, with speed and distance, we were all there in real-time, sharing in the religious ceremony. Old and New; carefully working together to succeed in the modern technology driven world.

Hence, once again, the confluence of #paperNpixels.

Clear Communication requires attention to the transmission of the message. Hence, engraved invitations, Hats, the Royal contingent. Last year I reported on the very healthy state of a 17th Century invention, the business card. Despite the need for speed, no meeting ever takes place, even now, some 400 years later, without the exchange of business cards.



(Lower right is the Fascinator- all the rage right now in the UK and Boston!)

"You have to wear a hat in the UK, it's tradition" said Philip Treacy in an ABC News video with Barbara Walters on April 21. Treacy, a famous hat designer in the UK designed hats for some 100 guests at the Royal Wedding. Fascinators are all the rage. Business cards are all the rage. Smartphones are all the rage. And so you have a raging torrent that defines the CONFLUENCE OF TRADITION and Pixels.

Cheers to the royal couple and we salute a Right Royal Knees Up!
Keith

Labels: #paperNpixels, business cards, engraved, invitations, Prince William and Catherine Middleton, royal wedding, William and Kate

The 2011 kickoff to STEP INSPIRE took place at the Microsoft NERD center on Monday evening. While most of us in the tech and start up community focus on new business launches and product releases, the folks at STEP INSPIRE invest their energy getting the next generation of talent ready for the business world.

STEP seeks partnerships with companies and non-profit organizations committed to bridging the gap between professionals and the next generation. Their mantra is very simple ONE PERSON OR EXPERIENCE CAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF AN INDIVIDUAL'S LIFE.

They are all about INSPIRING STUDENTS and ENGAGING COMPANIES in collaborative efforts. Call them and join the many other businesses that open their doors to give tours to their students. Take on a mentoring relationship and open the world of business opportunities to this highly motivated group of kids. Kendall Press has been working with STEP for about a year. We are gratified to see the first graduating group turn out in large numbers at the Johnny Cupcakes presentation. We're proud of them all.

Johnny's story is an interesting one and while this may seem a little self serving, he reinforced several times the importance of having business cards. Yes, even high school students, he said should have them. They are the coin of the realm when it comes to meeting others and extending a means of introduction. To our chagrin he kept talking about the big box store in the cloud with their free business cards. No, no, no. Nothing is ever totally free. There is a time and a money or quality tradeoff, but he also talked about quality and passion for a job done well. We applaud his efforts on behalf of STEP and we encourage the thoughtful creation and use of business cards as one tool in that arsenal of skills that will help open doors. To all the students at STEP: We congratulate you on your first ''step" and encourage you to keep learning and keep growing.

Here are the images from Monday's wonderful event.
Keith
(whose photos grace the front page of STEP's website)

2011-01-24

Labels: business cards, NERD center, STEP INSPIRE

Somehow my tweetdeck served up an old Xconomy column by @wroush about how to Banish Business Cards Yet, in carefully re-reading Wade's commentary, I found he never did 'banish' them, but rather, he was able to transform them into Digital Business Cards. I was left disappointed as I too have piles and stacks of cards that I have collected and wondered how best to file them. The information they contain is important.

This whole topic and a drawerful of cards got me to thinking. Why are some cards more useful to me than others...and that's why I always look at the other side. Side two sometimes contained extra information but more often it contained my handwritten chicken scratchings - contemporaneous note taking about the owner of the card, where I met that person and why I might want to retain the connection and follow up.

BANISH BUSINESS CARDS? No, not quite yet. I can answer in two words, Wade's musing of mystery as to "why the traditional paper business card, a descendant of the 17th-century visiting card, seems to hang on so tenaciously, at a time when other manifestations of our old paper culture—snail mail, personal checks, faxes, newspapers, magazines, books—are fading away so rapidly," INSTANTANEOUS BRANDING.

The instant you hand over a card to another human being, you are making a total branding statement. The color, the texture, the thickness, the words printed on it all communicate nearly instantaneously many things about you beyond just how or why to get in touch. These little 2 x 3.5 inch darlings are as fast as or are even faster than digital and more persistent as we all have found. There is a great article by Michael S. Rosenwald as to why business cards thrive.

BANISH BUSINESS CARDS? Look around. Does anybody dare go to a networking event or job search without them? No, even job seekers and children's playgroup participants exchange cards and not those puny little moo cards that you see. Too small to record even the slightest observations and easily lost, the moo card offers no more value than cow tipping after a long night out on the town.

Should we digitize our business cards so we can rapidly sort through information? Maybe yes, maybe no. Seems like what we need to do is strike the right balance between #paperNpixels the tenacious business card and it's digital opponent. The reinvention of the business card is not something the public and particularly the techno leadership part of the public is clamoring for. iPhones and Androids may snap pictures of cards and sort them...but their owners are still trading cards like the Topps baseball cards of a winning team..... Your name in print on a card of your design, handed to a worthy friend or fencing with a worthy competitor as in The Business Card Scene in American Psycho.

BANISH BUSINESS CARDS? No thank you. I like to see my name in print. Don't you?

Keith

Labels: #paperNpixels, branding, business cards, Wade Roush

In an article at MarketingProfs, Dean Rieck says a direct-mail campaign might be just what you need to drive targeted online traffic to your website. "According to the 2009 Channel Preference Study by ExactTarget," he notes, "direct mail influences 76% of Internet users to buy a product or service online."

This is the link to MarketingProfs article
and here are three of Rieck's tips for successful integration in your print/online campaign:

Give direct-mail recipients a good reason to visit your website. Something of value to the client (this is not about you)

Keep it very simple. They have to type the URL into a browser so make it easy and make the end result a desireable one for the client/prospect.

Drive traffic to a landing page created for the direct-mail campaign. This helps you track and guide the experience but it also lets the client know that you are on topic and not introducing other extraneous thoughts.

At Kendall Press, we believe that no exclusively print nor exclusively internet based communication can reach the several generations of buyers and clients in today's workplace.

This isn't about reaching Gen Y or Milleniums but common sense courtesy to reach out to your prospects in several mediums so your message is received in the recipients preferred communication mode thereby creating comfort in receiving and even thinking about your message.

Event Marketing Solutions are a perfect example. Ever been to a conference devoid of Conference Posters? or Corporate event marketing without promotional marketing materials? You know, pens, notepads, business cards, SWAG....They still play a role.

Keith

Labels: business cards, direct mail, event marketing, promotional marketing materials

I should more correctly identify this blog entry as "marketing your business or yourself in this new social media world."

With Twitter, Facebook, blogs and a myriad of other forms of electronic communication, why would anyone use paper? There is a simple answer. It is a personal connection. A Tactile Trigger; and very tactical these days.

Proof - Go to any networking event, local watering hole gathering or random/chance encounter during your day. You might remember a name or scribble down a website or have your PDA contact my PDA but more than likely, and more professionally, you'd like to hand over your business card and say "give me a call sometime."

Holiday cards - Thank you cards? Not many people take the on-line version and print them out to tape onto their office bulletin boards unless it's a very special message from a very special person, very far away.

Finally there's the persistence factor- Thank you notes in particular and holiday cards this time of year, both lend themselves readily to being touched, opened and touched again. It's the nature of the beast. So, if you always text message and email - surprise your contact and send paper. If you don't have a website, facebook, email, or on-line presence, time to get one and broadcast regularly.

Variety is the spice of life and varying your tools keeps you sharp, your connections vibrant, and your message personal.

Keith

Labels: blogs, business cards, marketing, note cards, reinventing paper, social media, twitter