Warwick Publishing Posts

Kirby Hasseman, President, and Founder of Hasseman Marketing recently featured our very own Phil Martin on his weekly YouTube show, Delivering Marketing Joy.

Watch these two promotional marketing veterans discuss the best and worst changes to the industry over the years, tips for how to succeed as a newbie in the industry, the importance of USA Made products, and much more!

Highlights from the interview:

Kirby: What are some of the best and worst changes that you’ve seen in our industry?

Phil: There’s an open-ended question! After doing this for 30 years, I’ve got a lot of bests and worsts. One is this little thing called the internet. Think back to many years ago—I started when the fax machine was just getting started.. then we had FedEx, then email.. but the internet has changed everything for the good. The tools that it provides for the customer in terms of order tracking, product research, the search engines tools out there that our industry provides, the internet is an outstanding thing.

That being said, it is also probably one of the worst things to happen in the industry BECAUSE, all of our end users and distributor customer all have access to this information now, so t’s an open door. The end buyer is becoming a well-educated consumer, and it’s keeping the distributor on their toes.

Phil: Another thing that fits into both the best and worst category is expedited shipping and rush orders. We’re working on yesterday delivery. We don’t know how we’re going to do it yet, but we want to anticipate the order coming in before it comes in. That’s the wave of the future. Things are being turned around so much faster now—and that’s good, buy yet it’s also bad. From the supplier side, we manufacture, we start from scratch and build this stuff. We’re not just imprinters where we bring something in and slap an imprint on it and ship– so fast turnaround, when customers expect 2-3 days, there are some things we can do that on ourselves, but it’s also hurt the industry a little bit in a way. In order to do things faster, we have to increase over time, and we have to buy more equipment, which drives costs up. So everybody loves the fast turnaround, but I want to go back to the old days where you mail me the order…I mail you the proof… you mail me the proof back, (laughing)… 6 weeks delivery was the norm!

On the other side of the coin, we have a lot of great things happening new product offerings.  You walk around a trade show and some things are amazing- the product offering have grown dramatically over the years which is a positive thing. But once again, this clutters the waters a little bit too.

Social media has been outstanding for the industry. We just recently hired a gal, our Digital Marketing Manager by the name of Kelsey, and she’s done some wonderful things here at Warwick when it comes to social media.

Phil: Now, I may be a bit politically incorrect here, but I’m going to talk about something from the supplier side ( and I’ve only been on the supplier side for the last 30 years) – but I think this has hurt the industry , and that’s EQP and rebates. I’m not a big proponent, here at Warwick we don’t provide EQP on the entire catalog (though we do offer it on select items) , I realize it’s kind of the nature of the beast now days – but I truly think that EQP and rebates have caused a whole new set of problems in terms of profitability for the supplier. It costs a whole lot more to make 50 of something than it does to make 10,000 of something, so how we’ve combated that Is by reducing our end quantity which is now 2500 instead of 10,000. It’s great for the distributor and helps them out a lot, but if we went to our suppliers and said hey, we’re doing x amount of dollars of business with you and we want an x% rebate, from you at the end of the year, they would go—what? What the heck are you talking about? That being said, I know other industries have it, but I don’t think its great for our industry.

One other item that I think has changed for the worst is the fragmentation of the industry. Going back to the old days where everybody – supplier and distributor were at the same shows together and you really made friendships and  good camaraderie. Now the industry’s gotten so big (and that growth is a good thing), but its’ just fragmented and harder to get to know everyone. That’s why things like PromoKitchen are so good thing to help reduce that fragmentation.

Kirby: As a grizzled veteran, what are some tips you’d give to new sales people?

Phil: I truly believe a new sales person coming into this industry should GET INVOLVED in the industry. A great way to do that is with Promo Kitchen — it’s a great networking opportunity to mingle with the seasoned veterans. Get involved in your regional association, and our national associations, that is key. Another thing I try to tell newer people in the industry is – don’t sell the product—sell what the product is going to do. We are not in the “product” business, we are in the solutions solving business.  For instance — I don’t sell calendars, I sell year-long communication programs. Sell what the calendar is going to DO, not what it is.

Kirby: We’re surrounded by tech now, and that should be a part of the marketing mix, but what are some other things that an entrepreneur should consider when building a marketing campaign? 

Phil: We just recently hired a Digital Marketing Manager — somebody that knows the social media world, and search engine optimization (SEO) – 20 years ago that wasn’t included in the marketing mix. We’ve also recently dabbled in snail mail direct marketing, Nowadays, we can get locked in too much on the technology aspect of it, and we’re forgetting the old standbys. We get inundated with emails, so I think the old snail mail postcard gets a little bit more attention. It’s really finding a balance to differentiate yourself from everyone else, but looking at marketing packages as a whole. Look at our own industry catalogs — print advertising alone doesn’t have the impact that it used to, so you have to consider a whole marketing mix.

Kirby: One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Twain along the lines of, “Whenever I find myself standing with the majority, I try to reconsider.” So to your point, whether it’s old school or new school, doing something different from the rest of the group makes sesnse. So you’ve answered my questions, and I give everyone a chance to ask me one, so do you have one for me?

Phil: Being a small family owned business here at Warwick, all of our products are made in the USA — so for the distributor, is that still as important to your buyers as we think it is?

Kirby: It totally depends on the buyer. I have buyers that it really, really matters to, and then I have buyers that are more international and ship internationally from a company standpoint,  focused as a business, so it’s not as important to those types of businesses. It’s funny. I was just working on a project and my initial reaction based on the quantity was “we can probably do this overseas” — but, because of the timeline and who we were selling to, it made a lot more sense to do it domestically.

At Warwick Publishing, we’re proud to call ourselves paper experts. We make it a priority to print our line of promotional calendars, frames, folders and greeting cards on the best quality papers for consistency and durability. We recently sent a few team members out to the paper mill to keep up to date with the latest technology and practices in papermaking, and to get a first-hand look at how paper is actually made. Each employee who attended represents a different division at Warwick, to ensure that our entire team has a cohesive understanding of the papermaking process and how it impacts the products we manufacture.

Here’s what they had to say about the experience:

Phil Martin – National Sales Manager

I’ve been working with paper in some way, shape, or form for the last 30 years, but before this visit, I’d never seen how it was made. Bottom line – there’s a lot that goes into making paper. It all starts as simple wood pulp or recycled paper pulp and 90% water, then ends up with less than 10% water at the end. The water composition changes with the season, which adds challenges with the paper making process.

This being my first time at a paper mill, I was like a googly-eyed little boy walking through the facility.  You cannot even fathom how huge the equipment is that makes the little pieces of paper that we see and use every day.  The largest machine was two football fields long, and about 50 feet tall, and I believe it made paper rolls 26 feet wide.

I was also impressed by the minimal number of people it takes to run the equipment.  Here you have a machine two football fields long and all you see is about three people at computers.  BUT, from what I understand, if there is a break or malfunction– it becomes all hands on deck. These machines run 24/7 – 362 days a year.  If one goes down, it can take up to 12 hours or more to get it back online and running.

Sustainability in Papermaking 

The paper mill has their own water treatment center which pulls water in from the river to be used in the paper manufacturing process. The filtration at the facility results in cleaner water output than what originally came into the mill. They also recycle their manufacturing excess. If there’s paper waste leftover after a run, it goes back into another batch of paper.

Positive Impact on Our Team and Our Customers

Our partner mill is definitely on the cutting edge of paper making, which can only benefit our clients. They have some very high-tech quality control and can trace exactly where our paper came from if we have a problem —  right down to the specific roll, and when it was made.

I now have a much better understanding of the differences in paper sizes, thickness, and coloration, which is extremely helpful from a sales perspective. The knowledge I gained helps me make better product recommendations to our distributors and clients. I can see us utilizing some different papers in our product line down the road as well.

I got hands-on training with running the printing press, which I really enjoyed.  The mill we partner with is one of the few paper manufacturers that actually has a printing press in-house…most mills go outside to test printing of papers.  Our mill has a Komori press similar to the one at our facility, so we know that what they’re testing at the mill will reflect the printing process we have in our factory.  I have been by our press a hundred times, but getting a hands-on opportunity to operate a four color press for myself was very useful.  I have a new respect for our printing team and press managers — and I never realized how much ink it takes to print.

Another interesting exercise that we did towards the end of training was looking at some client complaints, and we diagnosed whether the problems were caused by the paper, ink, press, or press operator.  After learning about how paper is made and how the various printing processes affect the paper, I know that we’ll be able to educate our customers more effectively and improve our production.

Jamie Michels – Printing Manager

This was my first visit to the mill. It was fascinating to see what goes into making all the different kinds of paper. The high-quality standards and production processes at the facility are very impressive. We’re definitely working with a mill that provides excellent raw paper products with virtually no waste material. We work with paper all day every day, so it’s really helpful to get the full view of what our paper can do from an inside perspective.

Technology and Color Matching

The mill uses state of the art technology to ensure their product is as good as it can get. My biggest takeaway from the trip was learning about different brightness and grades of paper and how colors appear differently under certain types of lights. Matching colors and printing high-quality images is what we do here at Warwick. Having knowledge of how ink colors and paper shades reflect differently under specific lighting allows us to achieve better color matches. It also allows for smoother printing from our four color process screens. Certain shades of brightness will enhance pictures differently, so that knowledge helps us educate our customers on making the right paper choices for their final product.

Quality Control

Seeing and understanding how the paper mill tracks their quality was very helpful as well. We’re able to identify paper issues much more efficiently by tracking the information that comes from the labels on each skid of paper.  If we have a paper issue, with the right information, the mill can track when it was made, by who, what exact time, and any contributing factors that took place during the paper making process.

Sandy Peterman, Purchasing Manager

This was my second trip to the mill. I had been several years ago and wanted a “refresher” course. It’s great to see the family atmosphere and breadth of knowledge they have there. The group of owners all stem from the original management team, and everyone works together really well. They’re such a great mill to work with, and they really care about our relationship. Many of their managers and reps have visited our factory too, and they will check up with us periodically to make sure everything’s okay. In my experience, not many other mills are like that.

Purchasing the Right Paper for the Job

When it comes to buying the paper for our products, it starts with me. When we get custom jobs, I need to look at all of the different aspects to determine the ultimate goal of the paper for each order. The experience our team gained at the mill helps us to educate customers on the different options they have, and what paper stock will be the best fit for both their vision, and their budget.

Seeing the papermaking process first hand allows me to guide our customer service team in asking more detailed questions like —  how much does the customer want to spend? And, is there a certain reason they want 12 pt versus 16 pt? What will be printed on the product, and how much ink coverage will there be? What is the ultimate look they’re trying to achieve? Will they be mailing these or handing them out to their recipients? One thing to consider with mailing is how far the product will be going– it can be more costly to mail product made of a thicker paper. On the flip side, if it’s a bigger size product like an 8×10 photo folder, they’ll probably want a heavier paper stock to make it sturdier. With some basic knowledge about the end use and delivery method for the product,  I can determine the type of finish the paper should have, the brightness, opacity, and appropriate coating, if any. Then, I can find the best paper at the right price point for what they’re trying to do. I can help our customers create a promotional product that’s really cool and stylish, or guide them towards something more economical that will still achieve what they want.

Ink Testing and Paper Problem Solving

I buy our paper by the truckload, and if we ever have an issue with the stock we receive, our mill is great about testing the inks and testing the solutions to come up with a fix for us. Their chemical engineers are some of the best in the business. In my role, I may deal with anything from a paper coating issue, to something getting stuck into the paper when it was being made. Issues can even stem from when we receive the paper on the floor – maybe they didn’t wrap it properly and there’s paper falling off the skid, or simply the paper wasn’t cut properly.

A Unified Production Team

As a result of our visit to the mill, we’re all more knowledgeable. Each department here at Warwick plays an important part in production, from sales to order entry, to design, to printing – everyone who’s involved sees what’s required to get the correct paper for what the customer wants. We’re all on the same page in making that our ultimate goal, and we’re more understanding of what it takes from each department in order to make that happen.

Lindsay Fritch, Assistant Prepress Manager & Designer

This was the first paper mill I’ve visited, and I thought the whole set up was great. We were able to speak one-on-one with our reps and chat with other customers who work in different fields of the paper industry to learn about their presses and production techniques.

While touring the mill, I couldn’t believe how big the facility was, and was amazed at the size of the machines there.  They took us through the whole process of how they create different formulas of paper for different customers. I really enjoyed learning how they apply different types of coating and the different types they offer. We even discovered some that we don’t use now, but could benefit us in the future.

Digital Printing and Design

Along with prepress, I also run the digital printers. Learning about the paper coating process helped solidify my understanding of what we can and cannot do when it comes to digital printing. Learning about different brightness and grades also helps our team with the whole design process. Because colors and shades can reflect differently on different paper coatings and with different grades, the knowledge we gained at the mill helps a great deal when matching color. Having an understanding of the various factors that impact color matching like brightness and coating helps match photos and select the best paper to help enhance a specific item.

Overall I really enjoyed going to the paper mill! I thought it was extremely helpful not only as a prepress manager and working with design and digital printing, but also gave me a better understanding of the Komori jobs and how presses run out in the factory. I would highly recommend this class for almost all our employees. There is so much to gain from it and I think it will make me a better designer, printer, and prepress manager.