Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Request info on Course Pack program

Thank you for your interest in our Course Pack program. It is not necessary for you to fill out a form, since your access information was captured when you clicked on the email link. We will contact you shortly via email or phone to discuss the program with you.

If you arrived here by Facebook, instead of through an email link sent directly from us, you should contact Sherry Perry directly at sperry@alphagraphics.com or 214-363-1101 to discuss your Course Pack needs.

We can help you handle arrangements before, during, or after the holiday break - just let us know what is most convenient for you!

We look forward to helping you and your students have a great course pack experience!

AlphaGraphics Campus Services

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

O, What a Tangled Web!


If Sir Walter Scott had envisioned today's internet, he might have changed the lines of his famous poem to read "O, what a tangled web we weave, when media crosses to confuse." We have so many ways to communicate now that we often feel tangled in the web. Do people want to read from paper, on the internet, via email, texting, blogs, billboards, TV, radio, in magazines, or what?!

The Rochester Institute of Technology is home to an industry think tank called "Print in the Mix". Their scholarly research carefully tracks data surrounding communications. One of the more interesting results I've read concludes that response rates improve dramatically when the information combines or layers media (hence the term "cross media") to broadcast, or even "narrow"cast to the audience. We've certainly found that to be true. We get a certain amount of response to email marketing, as well as specific response from our Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and to our print campaigns, but our best response occurs when we layer internet, email, print and personal follow-up.

The cross media part of our marketing services requires a bit of electronic hocus-pocus. When we "layer" our communications so that we have an electronic component, we're easily able to gather metrics, giving us unprecedented access to data and client interests that we would only guess at otherwise.

You no longer have to be a top tier corporation to afford top tier marketing communications. We've learned how to make it accessible to all budgets. Our cross media solutions are scalable to any size organization, and we will work with you to plan an effective campaign that you can measure and use as a springboard to plan ongoing campaigns.

Is it a little confusing? Yes. That's why we've spent the last several years mastering the techniques, the software and the marketplace so that we can untangle that web of confusion for our customers' benefit.

When you're ready to start untangling your next campaign, call us.

Mary Beth Smith
for AlphaGraphics Campus Services

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To discuss your fundraising and campaign needs,
call Sherry Perry at 214-363-1101, or email her at sperry@alphagraphics.com

Visit our website: http://www.agcampus.com

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

In Search of Good Design...

Can you define "good" design? I think most of us agree that even if we don't exactly know how to define it, we certainly know it when we see it! Common attributes of good design are easy to spot, such as pleasing shape, form, color and size. Other clues include imagination, appropriateness, and perhaps even efficiency.

My earliest forays into design always seemed to involve box tops. I didn't really do anything very creative with them, but somehow I felt that the inside of the top of a gift box made a natural frame that was suitable for my crayon princesses with their funky high heels and lavish crowns. By second grade, I was designing books and passing them out to my friends.

I loved expressing myself with art, and still enjoy playing with color, substrates and shapes. My formal education took me in a different direction, though, and I've spent my career as a musician and then in marketing. I've learned to hold a great deal of respect for the professional designers who spend countless hours mastering the science of art, particularly the creation of graphic design. Their skills touch our lives continually, from the look of our cereal boxes in the morning, to the mail we receive, and countless other forms of communications that cross our desks daily.

We maintain a full-service graphic arts staff, who are in our art studio daily working on projects that range from websites to business cards to direct mail, and almost anything else you could imagine. Their ability to understand the ins and outs of demanding software and unforgiving files is a real gift that they have honed by constantly updating their education and refining their craft.

The biggest talent they bring to us? Their willingness to spend time cheerfully educating our customers in how to create files that don't disappoint, and making sure that when your own imagination fails, theirs is always ready to help!

When you need professional design services, we're ready...even if you bring us a princess on a box top!

Mary Beth Smith
for AlphaGraphics Campus Services

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Our professional designers can bring your ideas to life.
To discuss a project, call Sherry Perry at 214-363-1101 or email her at sperry@alphagraphics.com

Please look for us online at http://www.agcampus.com


Friday, July 29, 2011

"Oh Happy Day"

Happy people, jumping with excitement - the dream of everyone who's ever had to send announcements or mail to lots of people, right?

Actually, sometimes just getting a printing project finished makes ME jump for joy, whether the people who receive it even read it. Really, though...it IS all about the people you're sending it to, isn't it?

Finding ways to string words and images together with your message in a way that makes people happy to read it comes easily sometimes. And then there are those times when it feels like you're about to mail out a lead balloon.

Sometimes words and a picture are enough, but other times you need a little help. We once mailed a wind-up toy that danced to "Twist and Shout" as a promotion. Definitely got attention. One of our favorite promotions was a little easel-book we created and distributed in a shiny red "glam" envelope, that was basically a red foil bubble-wrap pouch. Our driver hand-delivered them, and then we followed up with phone calls and had a great response - lots of happy people on the receiving end!

I wish we could stock creativity on a shelf and sell it - THAT would make a lot of people happy. While we haven't figured out quite how to do that, we HAVE learned that our customers really like it when we just sit down with them and brainstorm until we come up with the "just right" way to craft their message so that when people get it, they GET IT!!

Now that's something to jump and shout about!

Mary Beth Smith
for AlphaGraphics Campus Services
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Contact Sherry Perry (214.36.31101) for a complimentary consultation on all your communications needs: printing, direct mail, campaigns, website design and more!
Or...just email her at sperry@alphagraphics.com.

Visit our website at http://www.agcampus.com


Friday, June 24, 2011

Course Pack Publishing - Request for Information

Thank you for your interest in our Course Pack program. It is not necessary for you to fill out a form, since your access information was captured when you clicked on the email link. We will contact you shortly via email or phone to discuss the program with you.

If you arrived here by Facebook, instead of through an email link sent directly from us, you should contact Sherry Perry directly at sperry@alphagraphics.com or 214-363-1101 to discuss your Course Pack needs.

We look forward to helping you and your students!

AlphaGraphics Campus Services