Over the past few years, I have done all my four-color printing in Korea through a company called Graphics International. I have always found the quality to be excellent, the turnaround time only slightly longer than using a domestic printer - and the price considerably lower.
In February, Moshe (Mr Graphics International) told me he wanted a site on the World Wide Web. As usual, I read him my list of caveats - a presence won't guarantee business, it takes time to establish a presence, seventy per cent of a site's success is in tedious, time-consuming marketing and so on.
Moshe was persistent. I succumbed to his blandishments.
A flurry of eMail correspondence established design and information criteria. The site would be small (5 linked pages), would download quickly and would provide solid information on the cost and mechanics of printing overseas through Graphics International.
Within a few days, I had come up with a logo suitable for Web use and established a consistent style for use throughout the site.
A tug-of-war ensued. Moshe wanted more graphics, more information. I convinced him that "less is always more", and that a heavy graphical content would detract from the attractiveness and utility of the site.
While the site was taking shape and form, further eMails between us concerned the precise audience we would target. We agreed that, while large corporations were a preferred market - annual reports and long-run brochures - this was too amorphous a category to be of any practical use.
We settled on the broad sector of "graphic designers". Here was an audience which would appreciate quality, was knowledgeable of printing and, if of any size, bought 4-color printing on behalf of clients.
I spent a very tedious few hours combing Web directories and search engines, compiling a list of eMail addresses.
Next I wrote a brief, friendly eMail inviting recipients to visit the site.
One Friday morning, Moshe cut and pasted the addresses into 100 individual mails and sent them out.
The results were immediate and impressive:
The counter on the GI homepage immediately went from zero to twenty-five;
A fax arrived from a firm in Canada requesting a bid for 20,000 16-page 4-color catalogs.
Since then - all of four weeks - Graphics International has received 4 requests for bids through an organization called
Lithobid, and has established a relationship with a company in Southern California to print a considerable number of calendars.
Moshe devotes about an hour a day to identifying potential clients and inviting them to visit his site, and to discovering new directories in which to register his site.
There is no doubt in his mind that the Web is a potent, fast and cheap means of promotion. It allows him to contact potential clients in numbers and of a quality he was unable to previously - and this is rapidly turning into business.
The Graphics International website is at:
http://www.netwizards.net/~grin
