Recently, Facebook’s user base experienced a major shift in access: For the first time, more users were accessing the site via their mobile device as opposed to sitting down and logging in via their desktop.

This is important for several reasons, not the least of which is underscoring how important social media and mobile marketing has become for businesses to consider.

Real-time, location-based information is something customers are demanding across the board, in all segments of industry. They may not expect you to answer the phone 24/7, but they do expect to get an answer to their question regarding your company at 2 a.m. They want the information now, and here’s the kicker for you: They want to share it with their social networks. That means you need to be thinking about how well you present to that mobile user:

Is your website mobile optimized? Do you incorporate automatic social media sharing options into your mobile website?

Are you taking advantage of mobile-only mediums, such as the hot photo-sharing app Instagram or its video counterpart Vine?

Blending your marketing into mobile and using social media to set it on fire is a recipe that many businesses are using to try and find success.

Some areas though will require some fine tuning. For example, many websites now routinely include social media CTAs: “Click here to share this article with your friends on Facebook!” However, the format for that automatic share will sometimes result in an unappealing, ineffective “share.”

Possibly it is true that a poor share is better than no share, but wouldn’t you rather have that automated share result in a post that has compelling copy and is accompanied by a useful link and engaging thumbnail picture?

The lesson here is to make sure your efforts at marketing include the awareness of how important mobile access is and that sometimes you need to “put it through the paces” to make sure the social automation is indeed the right formula.

These people also probably think a crab souffle is as simple as tossing ingredients into a pot and throwing into the oven, clicking a button and turning a dial, and waiting for the final, delicious, finished product.

Of course, this isn’t how the real social world operates. It takes time to research, compose, and identify the content and messaging that will really unlock a successful communication strategy to help you reach your business goals. And that’s not all: The immediacy of social media means that you have to read carefully when using one of the primary tools for helping you solve the time/content conundrum: scheduling.

If you’re involved in social media, you know the constant pressure of being able to put out quality content in a regular fashion without keeping yourself tethered to your computer screen or staring at your news feed or Twitter stream. Enter: Scheduling.

Scheduling allows you to focus your efforts, improve your synchronized messaging strategy, and most importantly: Get a lot of it out of the way at once.

Don’t let it keep you from the more organic, in-the-moment, postings that should also be present in your content streams. On Twitter, especially, you don’t want your stream to look like it’s permanently on auto-pilot. But there are several areas that you can utilize scheduling for, and that’s what we focus on here:

1. Blog posts: Because of the scheduled nature of blogging, if you stick to one, have it work to your advantage on Twitter: Schedule your blog post tweets ahead of time and generate your future URLs to incorporate as well.

2. Marketing posts: Generally speaking, content should follow the 80/20 rule when it comes to self-promotion: Only 20% of your content should be a direct “sell” of your products. With this in mind, you can get those “marketing” Tweets out of the way ahead of time since they constitute a much smaller percentage of your overall stream.

4. Topic posts: If you take advantage of bookmarklets provided by your Twitter software management system, you can cover a lot of ground for scheduled tweets based on the website links/articles/postings you come across while web surfing. Start stockpiling.

5. #FollowFriday: There are people on both sides of the fence as far as whether #FollowFriday is a fad worth, well, following. But if you’re in the pro-#FF camp, this is another easy one you can get out of the way ahead of time. Pick out the followers you want to shout out and get to scheduling.

Scheduling can be a very useful strategy that saves you plenty of time, but use it smartly or else people will tune out when you come off sounding like a automated megaphone.

That’s a lot of shingles hung out on the doorstep.

Hagadone Printing Company is on LinkedIn, and like us, there are millions of options out there for you to connect and follow on this social media platform. Simply go to the search box at the top right of LinkedIn and type in the name of an industry, specialty, company size, or company location. Another way to find companies to follow is to look at what companies the people in your personal network are following.

Keep an eye on the people you know who are also following the same companies as you and use it as a way to set up a coffee date. This is a great way to keep in touch as well as seek out potential business or job opportunities.

Be sure and check out active job openings the company has listed either for yourself or to share with your peers who may be looking to make a jump. And don’t forget to check out the news and product updates the company posts, as this information can be a great way to stay ahead of important trends impacting the industries you care about.

And if you are tasked with managing a LinkedIn Company Page, be sure and click here for some tips and tricks.

There are a plethora of paths to take in finding ways to maximize your readership, but one route some people are unaware of is via LinkedIn. Wait, isn’t that the resume-networking-business-job-hunter website? Yes, but it’s so much more.

It is THE professional web. If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, or a working person who is blogging, you should consider LinkedIn as a valuable place for getting more exposure.

Keep reading to discover five ways to use LinkedIn to drive more traffic to your blog.

If you are active and engaged on LinkedIn, members are going to click through to view your profile.

  1. Add Profile Links

Your LinkedIn profile is where members are going to land to learn more you.

From your profile, the most natural next step that members will take if they are intrigued or interested in what they see is to click through one of the links that you showcase on your profile under Websites.

Get creative with your LinkedIn profile website links.

Showcasing descriptive and interesting links on your LinkedIn profile will encourage visitors to click through!

You can link directly to your blog homepage.

2: Bring More People to the Blog Party

If you want to grow your visibility on LinkedIn, connect with anyone who presents a good reason for connecting, and as you grow your connections, your updates on LinkedIn will be visible to more people – hence more opportunities for people to view your blog!

3: Take Action – Be Active

You can’t win if you don’t play. And you can’t get noticed if you don’t take action on LinkedIn. Every action you take on the network will show up as an update on the homepage of your connections. If you’re active, some of your updates may even show in the “Network Update” that LinkedIn sends to members via a weekly email.

Ideally, visiting LinkedIn a few times a week to post interesting and compelling status updates, join in a few group discussions and answer a question or two will keep your profile active. Do not forget to engage with connections as well

4: Use LinkedIn on the Go

Mobile devices are accounting for an increasing amount of LinkedIn traffic.

LinkedIn has developed robust mobile applications to make networking on the go easy and fun. When you participate on LinkedIn through your mobile devices so that you can stay engaged and visible with your connections on the fly.

5: Post Blog Articles as Status Updates and Link to Relevant Articles

It goes without saying that to drive traffic to your blog from any social network, your blog posts need to be shared with your network.

• Manually post a link to a particular blog post in order to pull an image and control the messaging.
• Don’t be afraid to repurpose your blog posts as status updates from time to time (see image below).
• Post during high-traffic periods (lunchtime and afternoons).
• Edit your comments to engage your connections.

Hagadone Installs State-of-the-Art Hewlett-Packard Indigo 7600, Only One of its Kind in Hawaii

HONOLULU >> A little more than four years ago, Hagadone, Hawai’i's largest commercial printer, upgraded its technology by acquiring a state-of-the-art Hewlett-Packard digital printing press, the HP Indigo 5500.

And they’ve done it again.

Hagadone announces today the successful installation of bleeding-edge print technology from HP’s industry-leading Indigo 7600. The fastest 13 x 19 inch format digital sheetfed press in the market, the Indigo 7600 combines proven quality, versatility, and breakthrough productivity. A special VIP unveiling and Hawaiian blessing will take place at Hagadone Headquarters, 274 Puuhale Road, on Tuesday, Feb. 19, from 5-7 p.m.

“We expect this upgrade to triple our production speed and slash turnaround times,” said Hagadone President Clint Schroeder. “And the new special-effect capabilities, like raised print and textured effects, will give our customers the chance to set themselves apart from their competition with accurate, high-quality and innovative print solutions.”

The Indigo 7600 enables embossed-style textures, raised effects using layers of transparent ink applied, and digital watermarks that afford increased document security.

“Our ability to deliver fully customized pieces and incorporate embossed-style textures reinforces our ability in customers minds to provide them with marketing materials that are tailored to individual recipients,” continued Schroeder. “And this press is 80% faster than our old Indigo 5500, which means a much faster turnaround time – another essential quality our customers expect from us.”

Underscoring Hagadone’s commitment to the environment, this is the first HP Indigo press with carbon-neutral manufacturing, designed for sustainability at every stage of its life. And it boasts 30% lower energy consumption.

Hagadone has completed installation of the Indigo 7600 and is now being put into service for its customers.

For over 25 years, Hagadone has been a trusted, local business partner. They provide clients with innovative design services, high-quality print and promotional products, and are one of the largest mail houses on the island; allowing for a complete package of services. They also lead the charge in PrintGreen efforts with Carbon Offset, a Solar Output, and Community Recycling programs. Additionally, every second Saturday of the month, Hagadone opens up its recycling bins to accept any and all junk mail and magazines from the public.

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Every business needs a Lead Generation System, but the essential habit businesses should nurture is to be able to use that system in conjunction with other strategies and systems. It’s not a standalone – it should be part of the overall strategy.

Many businesses confuse an actual Lead Generation System when, in fact, what they really have is simply a way to collect names and emails, and they are confused when this data does not produce significant results or improvement in sales.

If a Lead Generation System is producing traffic but not sales, it may not have anything to do with the actual Lead Generation System.  It simply may be more a byproduct of processes that feed into it and off of it – and this can cause the entire system to fail.

An effective Lead Generation System will do several things:

• Pre-qualify your prospects
• Cultivate a relationship
• Obtain relevant data
• Result in ongoing engagement

   

With these end goals in mind, take a look at your Lead Generation System, or rather, the processes that feed into and off of it, and how they accomplish those goals. Do you have a method in place to assess incoming prospects? After initial contact is acquired, what is the next step? Do you have a strategy in place to foster ongoing relationship with these contacts?

These are things to think of that will help you determine how effective your Lead Generation System is and how you can improve it if it’s not producing the results you want.

Eye-catching images are essential to a successful social media engagement strategy for any business. Recent HubSpot data indicates that Facebook posts with images generated 53% more likes and 104% more comments than the average post. If you’re a business, you simply can’t underestimate the importance of useful, compelling images to go along with the written content they push out.

There is a challenge to finding the right image content all the time. Sometimes there is a message to share, but no immediately obvious image. Try to think outside the box. For example, if your business is promoting a new product, try finding a very popular image off another Facebook page to share that illustrates the place where your product might be used (e.g., a beautiful Lanikai beach shot for your company’s new line of snorkel gear), and then in the written section of your post, describe your product. This avoids the overtly “sell” aspect of your image, and also is incredibly alluring with the image of a Lanikai beach.

It may take some brain power, but if you get creative with your imagery, either pulling off other Facebook pages, Tweets, or perusing the catalogs of image storehouses like istockphoto.com, you’ll get more engagement and reinforce your community with strong images.

And as anyone but an NFL newbie would know, this is about more than the game: It’s about parties, ono food spreads, family and friends getting together, a star-studded halftime show, and of course: the commercials!

Buyers, vendors, and marketers will all be paying even closer attention during breaks in the action to see which companies come up with the catchiest, wittiest, most viral commercial spots. There’s more sashimi on the table? Oh, that’s nice, I’ll get it when the game comes back on: Right now, the Bud Light commercial is about to come on!

Marketers will be wondering: Should we still be spending so much money on a seemingly untargeted and an untrackable event? Should we replace it with a ramped-up digital program? Or is doing both the right course of action?

There’s more content to consume online on special sporting event days, and there are more people watching those special events on TV. Not every business can be a big spender to buy airtime during the Super Bowl, and so focusing on digital reach can be a way to leverage some of that game-day excitement. Recognizing that many people will be watching the game away from their computer desks, businesses should gear their digital outreach even more to mobile platforms: Think short video clips, brief messaging, and if you’re able, finding ways to weave in the zeitgeist of the game itself into your business messaging.

But what makes a successful, effective, great business card?

1. Clear, visual display of the essentials.

Never lose sight of the functional purpose of a business card: to provide contact information. Consequently, it shouldn’t be a puzzling process to decipher how your new acquaintance will be able to contact you. Make sure the key details are easy to see: bolded, or displayed in certain fonts. And be sure to include multiple ways to contact you: phone, e-mail, and now many people are including social media routes as well: Twitter handle, Facebook URL, etc.

2. De-clutter your design

Don’t let an abundance of good design ideas get in the way of your business card’s effectiveness. Make sure your design elements have a purpose, and stick to clean lines, legible fonts and just the pertinent information that makes your card function properly.

3. Stand out from the crowd

Find a unique image, test out an uncommon (but still legible) font, or maybe an unusual color or shape that will help your card leave a lasting impression. Making your card memorable increases the chances of you being the person that people call over your competition.

Holding it here in Hawaii is only natural given the melting pot of different cultures, races, religions. One of the characteristics in Hawaii that we can hold out to the world as an example is our aloha spirit, our welcoming behavior, and our ability to see each other’s different backgrounds as an opportunity to learn. Rotary, with its goal of improving the lives of others, and the mission orientation of helping others, pursues peace through service – and so all of it coming together is a perfect fit!

Click here for a full program of the entire weekend.  Tonight Anuhea and Kapena will be performing!

And click here for walk-in registration information.

And among those cell phone users, approximately 35 % in the U.S. are using smartphones, which come equipped with cameras, operating systems, and offer a richer, more sophisticated user experience. Smart businesses are tapping in to this demographic and utilizing mobile-empowered packaging.

They see the ever-crowded store shelves with competing products as an opportunity: Savvy marketers have discovered that mobile-armed, purchase-ready consumers create a perfect storm when placed in close proximity to product packaging.

Quick response (QR) codes and other types of mobile barcodes in packaging designs can prompt offline-to-online engagement.  This extends the in-store experience by further promoting a product on a mobile device. Mobile barcodes are a great way to enhance the in-store shopping experience and build bridges that connect the offline shopping experience to engaging online environments.

To prompt consumers to interact with packaging, early adopters have employed campaigns and programs that are:

•          Entertaining, like contests and games

•          Educational, providing product information or offering product tracking

•          Social, to allow sharing with peers

Ideas for cranking up virality for a business include a QR code on packaging that links consumers to its mobile site that contains additional product information, advice, tips, and videos. Or what about a a QR code initiative that enables consumers to receive product information, reviews, how-to guides, tips and videos from the retailer?

Businesses need to think outside the box on ways to set their products apart from the competition on the shelves and enlarge the user-experience for consumers. QR codes and mobile barcodes are two ways to make that happen.

The Mobile Coupon and Click-to-Call Promotion will run from March 1 – April 30, 2013. This promotion provides an upfront 2 percent postage discount on the integration of mail with mobile technology – it will drive up the value of direct mail.

First, it combines the power of print and digital for customers. Second, it will drive consumer awareness and increase usage of mail with mobile barcodes that provide click-to-call functionality. Registration starts tomorrow, Jan. 15, and runs through April 30, 2013.

Click-to-call is a web-based communication tool in which a person initiates a phone call by clicking on a button, image or text to connect with another person through voice communication.

Contact your Hagadone sales representative or email us at info@hagadoneprinting.com to obtain a quote on how you can take advantage of this discount and the added value of mobile optimization in your direct mail.

Generally speaking, the grumps can be clumped into two categories:

• A person who honestly sought a satisfying experience with your product, however a poor experience left this person in need of venting and in search of a solution from your end to make things right.
• Someone who employs social media as a tool to drive business AWAY from you, and couldn’t care less about the response you provide. In fact, he or she probably hopes you reply simply for the fact that they will try and escalate the discussion into an ugly public fight that leaves you smeared with mud and stinging.

The best way to approach either of these two types of complainers is to bring a balanced, polite approach.

1. Do not dally: Timely response, as immediate as possible, lets your customers know they are a priority and you are paying attention. And more importantly, it lets OTHER customers who observe the social media interactions know these are your values.

2. Keep your tone and messaging in response polite and friendly, and be personal. Do not match the complainer’s anger or respond with snark or sarcasm. Remember: Others are watching.
3. Find the solution and work toward it, and if necessary, talk offline. A good rule of thumb is to respond once via public post, and then take the conversation offline if more discussion is needed. You don’t want a long stretch of back-and-forth taking up too much real estate in your social media stream: Just enough to demonstrate to others that you responded promptly, sufficiently, and addressed the problem appropriately with style and grace and friendliness!

A brand story envelops your mission as a company, your culture and your history. Some of the questions this might answer are: How did you get started? Why do you do what you do? Where are you going?

You also will want to detail your core value and humanize your brand by expanding your idea of value and giving your brand a voice.

Your company’s real value is about what you believe in, what you’re trying to do in the world, and how you make others’ lives better. Think about what your office culture is, how people interact behind the scenes, external causes your business is involved in or helps support. These are things that can help inform your messaging on the real value.

In social media interactions, you need to settle on the type of person that could best deliver that message, and develop your company’s “voice.” Is it feminine or masculine? Mainstream or quirky? Opinionated or open-minded?

Humanizing your business will help you be successful in the social space and strengthen the bonds between your brand and your customers.

When it comes to charity, we have a diversified giving strategy. Much of it is in-kind, through donated or discounted printing services for Hawaii nonprofits. And as a percentage of income, our total donations constitute one of the highest percentages in the state.

We are also a hotbed of volunteerism, with our executives and employees serving as members of, or on on the boards of, more than two dozen community organizations. That’s the way of life in Hawaii: Successful businesses are the ones that are present, the ones who are at the table when the work needs to be done.

We have the capability for Hawaii nonprofits to solicit our help, either financially or through in-kind donations, on our website. Click here to go to that page.

Don’t be that guy (or gal). Here are a few tips on ways that you can zip up your presentation to make it effective, engaging and accurately convey to the audience why it’s important they be there.

1. Connect with your Audience:

No presentation should be devoid of emotion, no matter how cerebral the topic or the audience. Consider opening with an anecdote or personal story, or including some other personally-relatable conversational tool to bridge that emotional gap. It will pay off.

2. Don’t Read From Slides

PowerPoint is great, but don’t expect it will do your job for you, and don’t confuse it with a crutch. Don’t just read your slides; your audience can read them from their seats. Use slides to reinforce your message and outline your data points.

3. Don’t Use Complicated Graphics

A common practice in brainstorming graphic ideas is to have a group put out three ideas: And then strike through all three. Those are probably the three ideas that will occur to most people, and to stand out, individuality is a must. Apply this concept with your graphics in presentations: To make your presentation stand out from the crowd, don’t go for the obvious images. Push for more creativity and break through those cliches.

Also, be sure to include simple graphics that highlight the important data points, use a single color background, and use large, simple fonts.

4. Don’t Speak in Jargon

Even if you think your audience is comprised of people in similar fields of expertise as you, it’s still a good idea to ixnay on the argonjay. Ooops, did we just break a rule? Cut out the jargon and you will avoid alienating certain people who may be thrown off by an unfamiliar term or word and end up missing an important piece of information!

5. Don’t Go Over Your Allotted Time

Presentations that are too long often offer more information than the audience wants to know. A great presentation goes by quickly, a bad one seems like it will never end.

Keep this in mind: People have a presentation tolerance of 30 to 40 minutes. If you go over that, they will get bored and won’t pay attention. The law of diminishing returns applies here!

Apps are only part of the equation. For many companies, and for a variety of reasons, utilizing a specific app is not a good move. So maximizing the mobile version of the company’s website becomes even more critical. Regardless of where you stand, these principles will still be applicable.

Throwing the kitchen sink at your customers is never a good idea. Even besides the chiropractor bills you’ll face, your mobile-accessing customers will appreciate it if you provide them with the information they’re looking for, and then leave the appliance hurling for when they are in-store (or even when they’re sitting down in front of their desktop).

So try to predict what kinds of things your mobile customer might be hunting for: store locations? Store hours? New items? Specials?

Sharing is caring. And show YOU care by making it as easy as possible for your mobile customers to share your content. Consider incorporating the ability for your mobile customers to click on your mobile page and automatically create a Tweet with a link back to your site, or a Facebook post that pulls in a picture of your product.

Mobile access means you have an opportunity to gain more engagement and provide more information to your customers and hopefully draw them in to close more sales. But you won’t make headway unless you’re being strategic about it.

And triggered email messages continue to gain favor with consumers, generating higher performance. Those generated from Welcome, Thank You, or Abandoned Shopping Cart rose 10.3% to 2.6% of total email volume in Q3 2012 compared with the year-ago quarter, according to a study released Dec. 17.

The “Q3 2012 Email Trends and Benchmarks” found that non-bounce rates from triggered emails remained consistent at 1.4%, lower than the business-as-usual industry (BAU)metrics. Triggered open rates performed at 75.1% higher than BAU in Q312.

These and similar trigger data provide important lessons. Chief among them: Triggered email doesn’t work because it is email. It works because it is triggered — it offers really, really good timing based on something the consumer does. That kind of relevance works for print, too.

Targeting is proving to be an effective and essential characteristic of any direct mail or online marketing campaign. You can drive more activity through your doors if you base your engagement off activity by your customers. And don’t just limit it to physical activity (e.g., an in-store visit where a customer leaves contact information) or an online store checkout. You can measure and gauge customers’ social media activity for an added dynamic in forming your campaign strategy.

Have you wondered how video can help your direct mail efforts? Here are a couple of ways:

1. QR codes. By creating a QR code that links to a YouTube video, you can create immediate conversions across channels, as the user in transported directly to your YouTube Channel or a custom landing page on their smartphone. And with PURL (personalized URL) technology, you can track and collect information as each user is whisked away to the land of your business video. Host these videos on your social media platforms, and that increases the level of detail to your multichannel experience.

2. Die-cut / video combo. Modern day print machinery can do amazing things. Die-cutting on a postcard allows the video to fill the space left clear in the print piece. You can direct the recipient to a simple YouTube URL or use a QR code. Use a creative design team to come up with a print piece that incorporates the video link into the die-cut space.

Direct Mail is not dead: But it can always readily use a multichannel spin, and what’s cooler than video?

There are few people who need to be convinced of the effectiveness inherent in online communications. But have you been hearing conversation snippets that hint at the death knell of direct mail? If you, or anyone you know, needs a reminder why marketing budgets continue to devote significant percentages to printing and mailing, consider these details.

1. When you change your email address, do you fill out a card and drop it off with the Worldwide Email Address Monitoring Agency? No. Because there is none. Multiply that across the legion of email addresses that change each year, and you’ll see why the NOCA, FastForward and ACS, as well as the US Mail system’s own forwarding process are such invaluable tools. Once a piece of mail with a valid address enters the US Mail system, it’s probably going to get delivered.

2. As ubiquitous as Internet connectivity is, it still lags behind the accessibility of the US Mail system. Having a snail mail address is free. Not so for your ISP. And what gets delivered in person is full-size. How much more effort is required of emails that have to be altered for presentation on a variety of sized device screens?

3. Direct mail can continue to be a viable marketing channel now and into the future. But you need to make sure you’re using it in conjunction with an effective, targeted online outreach program as well. These allow both components to play to each other’s strengths and give you more punch on your campaign.

Rather than see this as a problem, retailers should view it as an opportunity to leverage that technology and provide in-store customers with the information that will make them realize THIS store is where they MUST buy that particular product.

QR codes are one way to change your strategy around and deliver relevant details about the product that are only obtainable in your store. It’s up to you as the smart business owner to highlight those pertinent details. QR codes are an effective way for you to close the sale.

Home Depot drops QR codes onto in-store circulars highlighting the weekly deals and highlighted products. They will call up videos and tips from experts onto the customer’s mobile device. Hewlett-Packard places QR codes directly on printers to give shoppers access to reviews, advice on accessories for that specific model. And Starbucks is even getting into the craze, by placing QR codes on its coffee bags to give customers an inside look at flavor profiles and other recommended roasts.

How can YOU differentiate yourself from the competition that is selling the same, or similar, products? QR codes can be that difference, giving you another platform to educate the customer on why your business is best.

To that end, they’ve released a 2013 Mailing Services Promotions Calendar that includes six promotions designed to generate continued interest in the various uses and benefits of mobile bar codes. Do yourself a favor and look through this offering so that you can better prepare for the year ahead!

The first promotion is scheduled to run from March 1 – April 30, 2013. It’s a Mobile Coupon/Click-to-Call special. This promotion provides an upfront 2 percent postage discount on the integration of mail with mobile technology and will promote the value of direct mail in two ways. First, it will encourage customers to integrate hard-copy coupons in the mail with mobile platforms for redemption. Second, it will drive consumer awareness and increase usage of mail with mobile barcodes that provide click-to-call functionality. Registration is Jan. 15, 2013, to April 30, 2013.

Digital experiences are meaningful everywhere and the portable nature of the mobile phone unlocks the ability for consumers to access digital experiences anywhere. QR codes let consumers launch contextually relevant digital experiences, crafted by the marketer to meet the consumers’ needs.  Brands must think beyond the impression and extend the value of their media by serving contextually relevant, sticky digital engagements to meet their marketing goals.

To qualify for the promotional discount, the materials must include a mobile barcode or print/mobile technology that can be read or scanned by a mobile device and lead recipients to a mobile optimized shopping website.

We can help you with this. Our design, mailing and digital solutions can integrate all of the above and produce for you a top-notch mailing piece that takes advantage of this shipping discount. And with our direct mail capabilities, we can make sure the end results is your piece in the hands of qualified potential customers.

Direct mail, combined with mobile technology, can be a convenient method for consumers to do their holiday shopping – help yourself by helping them!

We hope this day finds you healthy, happy and in the company of your own good friends and ‘ohana.

All of us at Hagadone wish you a blessed Thanksgiving Day, and we look forward to a joyful time of the holidays as we head toward the New Year.

Mahalo’s Thanksgiving Recipes HD app provides video-based tutorials on how to make Thanksgiving dinner. You start with an intro course, then graduate to “Turkey 101.” You’re free to explore “Alternative Cooking Methods,” like the famous “turducken” (duck stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside the turkey). Lessons also feature written recipes and tips, so you don’t have to watch the entire video as you’re cooking. You can download recipes, favorite them, and mark them as complete.

Turkey Day apps highlight an essential trait of useful application development: Identify a need and customize your app to address that need. Sometimes it helps to think about the everyday life of your customers and find a way that your company can address a need through an app.

It’s a tough time: the TV is only good if you’re able to stay in one place, the radio never tells you enough of what you WANT to hear, and all the stations are saying to “keep the phone lines free for emergency responders!” Thankfully, Hawaii has a lot of on the ground social media professionals that are very reliable about communications in the event of an emergency; be it on their wifi cards, smartphones, tablets or even on a completely different island. It seems like most of the news in these situations come from media outlets and particular individuals, rather than the usual company sources. @HI_CivilDefense DID step it up in their posts and should be commended…

Most importantly on this topic, we wanted to call everyone’s attention to our friend, Tara Coomans’ blog, over at Akamai Marketing and her post on “Social Media During Emergencies”. It’s a great, thoughtful read and worth looking into as an example of how to set your communications apart by being available to help when it’s needed most!

How did YOU fare last Saturday night and did you turn to Social Media for coverage on the tsunami, hurricane Sandy, or the earthquake?

Well the secret is simple and easy on that one: it’s not able basing everything on one media, it’s about diversification. That being said, let’s come back to topic: is it dead or not?

Social Media: Pro-Life AND Pro-Choice

We just saw a pretty insightful article on SimplyZesty that helped to make the outcome a little more clear.

“[...]Social media is far from finished. Although the fundamentals of how we understand and approach it mightn’t change, we are only now beginning to see the outcome of these social layers; only really beginning to see what societal shifts these layers can support and the instigating role social media can take in modern society. Having successfully facilitated concepts such as collaboration, crowd-sourcing, individuals as media, two-way communications and real-time information, we are now ready to really experiment with these and see what we can achieve. This applies for brands as much as it does for societies as a whole.”

Transitioning from static direct mail to variable mail is how to stay ahead of the competition. In fact variable data printing allows the smallest business to compete with Fortune 500 businesses because when properly executed it can return up to 30 times the ROI of a static piece according to data from Cap Ventures.

Variable data printing is embraced by businesses that have data on their customers like grocery stores, retailers, cataloguers, casinos, boutiques, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Casinos such as Harrah’s, as used in this case study, increased their customer spend 13% — from 36% in 2000 to 43% in 2002 with its Total Rewards program that involves monthly VDP mailings to four different customer segments. This concentration on personal motivation jumped Harrah’s profits $251 million in just one year of its implementation, according to a research study released by ICMR.

VDP Resistors and Users

While most organizations have an existing customer database, most of the time the data is not contained in a single system. This makes it difficult to get a 360 degree picture to target your messaging. If this rings true for your organization, the sooner you tackle the integration issue the better. Leaving it for years later limits your ability to create strong response rates today. An analysis of 40 months of data, from January 2009 through October 2011, demonstrates the growth of personalization/VDP (variable data printing) in the direct marketing and mailing process:

• In 2009, 28% of direct mail pieces were personalized.
• In 2010, the number of personalized mail pieces increased to 34% — a 21% increase.
• In 2011, seven of the 10 months recorded saw even higher VDP usage – another 21% increase from the prior year and a 46% jump from the 2009 levels.

(Source: Target Marketing, Nuts & Bolts – Trends : 2011 Direct Mail Trend of the Year: VDP, March 2012)

Stats to Prove VDP is Beneficial for Growing Business

Although some may think the work to organize the data isn’t worth using VDP, the numbers make that argument fall flat:

• VDP success is enjoyed by many sectors, from travel to education. La Salle Academy used a VDP self-mailer for an alumni fundraising campaign and increased the average donation by 67%. Source: The Print on Demand Initiative. La Salle Academy, 2010
• A restaurant franchise used VDP to create customer cards printed with a unique URL and drew a 27% patron response. Source: The Print on Demand Initiative. Beef O’Brady’s. 2010
• A municipal federal credit union used VDP postcards to drive $1 million in loan activity and achieve an ROI of over 2,700% for the first year of interest income. Source: The Print on Demand Initiative. Wallingford Municipal Credit Union. 2010
• Combined with personalized URLs, email, and telemarketing, a local travel club found that variable data and imagery printing boosted bookings and membership. Source: The Print on Demand Initiative. CLUB ABC Tours Travel Campaign, 2010
• VDP plus cross channel marketing earned Hershey Entertainment and Resorts a 17% higher revenue and 10% more bookings. Source: DM News: July 27, 2009.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence instead of implementing VDP, follow the lead of the savvy marketers above and build a marketing campaign made of bricks – a strong foundation of variable data printing (relevance, customization) and blow your competition away!

How do I jump on this now?

Our data processing capabilities can help patch the holes in your current customer data if need be.  By combining a demographic mail list and your current customer data, you can gain insights on your existing data and customize your message to those targets closer than before.  If you’re interested, give us a call and we’ll show you how it works and you can be on your way to a full-fledged targeted marketing campaign in a matter of weeks!

Let us know what thoughts and questions you have about a custom message below, we’ll be happy to answer!

We’ve been helping entrepreneurs, fellow marketing professionals and nonprofits with direct mail marketing for a while now and based on our experience with hundreds of campaigns, here are five tips to improve the response of your next direct mail marketing campaign.

1. Keep it simple

I list this tip first because everyone struggles with it the most, no matter what industry you’re in!  Hey, you’re proud of what you do, you want to tell people!

But remember:  your prospects have a short attention span. The less you include, the more likely they are to pay attention to your message. White space is your friend. Do you feel obligated to include every feature of every product or service you offer? The logic is that the feature or product that you omit may be the one that’s most relevant to the recipient.  The truth, however, is that no one is going to read all of the info that you cram on a marketing piece. You have just three to five seconds to capture someone’s attention. Focus your efforts on getting your prospects’ attention, not drafting the Magna Carta.

2. Have a give-away (something real)

Everyone likes to get something for free, but many have become skeptical of discounts and coupons. Try giving away a real, tangible item. Your give-away doesn’t need to be something expensive, it just needs to have value to the recipient. Examples include a Starbucks gift card, an umbrella, a book of recipes or a white paper. The key is to think of something that will appeal to your target audience, it doesn’t necessarily have to relate to your product or service; but double points if it does!

3. Have a limited supply

If you’re doing a give-away, you should always advertise a limited quantity. This creates urgency. Urgency is a very important, often overlooked, critical ingredient to success. You want people to respond to your direct mail offer before they set your mail piece aside and forget about it. You can offer limited seats for a presentation, or limit the amount of physical items that you give away. This will help you to manage your budget as well. Urgency increases response.

4. Have a deadline

A second way to generate urgency is to provide a deadline for response. Your natural inclination will be to make your deadline too long because you don’t want to alienate anyone, but this is the opposite of what you want to do. If your offer is good for six months, this will not create urgency. If your offer expires in just a few days, prospects will feel compelled to respond quickly.  Remember, if someone contacts you after the expiration date, you can always make an exception and still honor the offer. In this scenario, you get the best of both worlds by creating urgency, but not disappointing a new customer.

5. Make it relevant

All successful marketing requires that you know some key information about your prospects. Be sure to use this information in the message that you craft and the offer that you make. Don’t send a senior citizen discount to an audience of new mothers. However, if you have a mailing list of avid anglers, send them a link to a video with fishing tips if they sign up for your e-newsletter. You must always have your audience in mind when crafting your message.

In summary, you can increase the response of your next direct mail marketing campaign by keeping your message simple, including a freebie with a limited supply, adding an expiration date to your offer and making your message relevant to your audience.

Do you have questions or need help executing a direct mail marketing campaign? Please contact us for help.  We have several examples of different options that you can mix and match to find your own unique voice.

What tips do you recommend to improve response rates? Please share your comments below.

Like what you’re reading? Make sure to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter yet or follow our RSS feed.

• First: Don’t. Worry. We’ll help handle this beast.
• Second: How soon does your message need to get to homes?  A few days?  A week?
• Third: Oh, wait… you’re done!  (Shoot… Where’d I put that “easy button”?)

So, whatever the method, just let us know the timeframe and we’ll get the most cost effective postage rate possible to meet your deadline!

Sept. 7, 2012

Winners of distinguished sales and marketing awards and categories: Jason Kama, Hagadone Printing Co., media sales.

Aug. 3, 2012

Rotary International Metropolitan Honolulu Chapter

Clint Schroeder, president of Hagadone Printing, is president of the board for 2012-2013.

Who says Hawaii Island is all about coffee?

If you’re a current or potential future business owner, this looks to be a valuable event to attend on Aug. 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The website to check out all the event details is TechConKona.com, and Social Media Club of Hawaii members can receive discounted tickets!

This all-day tech event is going on at Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, and with speakers from around the country (and from here at home in Hawaii), the event will feature discussions on how technology impacts business and how you can take advantage of existing and emerging technologies for your business.

Heading up the speakers billing are keynoters Paul Hawken, of OneSun, Inc., and author of “Natural Capitalism”; and Dustin Luther, Social Media Director for Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp.

Paul Hawken’s work includes starting ecological businesses, writing about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.

Paul has founded several companies including some of the first natural food companies in the U.S. that relied solely on sustainable agricultural methods. He presently heads OneSun, Inc., an energy company focused on ultra low-cost solar based on green chemistry and biomimicry.

How do I get there??

Tickets to the event are $100, but tables of 10 can be purchased for $600. Tickets are $100, with tables of 10 available for just $600. And as mentioned earlier, SMCHI members can receive a discount. Registered attendees receive full conference access, lunch, a post event networking reception and access to exhibitors. An open discussion forum to learn specific topics of interest from the speakers and other business professionals is a projected highlight.

For more information, go to www.techconkona.com. Or e-mail julie@ziemelis.com

But did you know that for all the God Bless America patriotism that holiday evokes in us all, there’s a large chunk of the holiday that actually comes to us from overseas – namely, China? Yep, if you were waving a mini version of Old Glory during that holiday parade, you might have noticed a little “Made in China” sticker somewhere on the item.

According to Foreign Trade Statistics, in 2011, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags was $3.6 million. The vast majority of this amount ($3.3 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.

Now don’t go puffing out your chest in indignant pride just yet: There’s a valid reason for importing goods and services, and our state and country don’t operate in a vacuum. But there are reasons why supporting local businesses and the employees they support is a good thing.

At Hagadone, you can take satisfaction in knowing that over 150 local people come to work each day at our facility because of the jobs you bring to us. We’re not just filling orders – we’re your partners in success.

If we in Hawaii take a little extra effort to “buy local,” we can do quite a bit to built up our sustainability – whether it’s farmers markets, mom and pop shops, or other small businesses, every bit helps. Out here in the middle of the Pacific, we all know that we have to depend on each other. And YOU can depend on us.

Have a great day, and we hope your week is terrific!

It’s more than just the warm fuzzies though. Using bio-renewable raw materials will, in the long run, makes sense because the more we all can help nurture more sustainable forms of materials and energy, the more quickly we can move off our over-reliance on imported fossil fuels to get the job done.

One of the ways we push the needle in that direction is by using low-VOC inks. VOC stands for “volatile organic compound,” and while that may sound like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, it’s really referring to their ability to evaporate under normal conditions. Think about what you smell when you pump gas: Gasoline is a VOC, and those stinky fumes go into the air and contribute to pollution.

Printing has traditionally been a high-VOC process, but as you can see, we’ve changed that at Hagadone. sheet fed inks are low VOC  and contain on average 65% by weight bio-renewable raw materials. Our heat set inks are made with soy and other vegetable oils. The inks we use here at Hagadone are made with quality and the environment in mind.

Our unique partnership with natureOffice, an international organization dedicated to helping companies operate in environmentally responsible ways, allows all of our clients to buy carbon offsets from Hagadone to neutralize their entire job with us. natureOffice certifies our plant and procedures, ensuring we know the exact size of the carbon footprint every step of the process, from creation to shipping.

The added cost is only literally pennies on the dollar to offset your carbon footprint, and it’s something you can be proud of as you let your customers know how much you value the environment by operating in a carbon-neutral manner.

June 29, 2012

Leianne Pedro has been named vice president of sales and marketing. She had been audience development director at PBN.

First of all, we’re not talking about abusive, foul, loud-mouthed belligerent trolls who, unfortunately, populate the online world all too frequently. What we’re focused on instead are those people who challenge your views, criticize your positions, or offer feedback that might be a little too pointed for your taste.

Criticism is not something to fear. It’s an opportunity to either defend, and therefore strengthen your own understanding of what you’re putting out or it can also serve to highlight areas or aspects of something you have written that perhaps needs more refinement. It’s a chance to grow.

Another bright side to criticism is that it indicates people are listening (or reading, as it were)! This is ENGAGEMENT, that holy grail of social media we all aspire to encourage, and if you handle it right, you can forge strong relationships out of it and develop something of a “brand loyalty” among your blog readers. If you take the time to reflect and respond in a civil fashion that shows you are truly listening to what your readers say, that will go a long way toward encouraging them to return and continue the dialogue.

How you handle criticism is a key point. Don’t take it personally: People are, above all, individuals, and they have their own opinions and ideas. Be flattered that someone took the time to put together their thoughts in a meaningful way to express their own take on what you’re saying.

There’s an old adage that says: Acquaintances will tell you what you want to hear, but real friends will tell you the truth. How do you currently handle public criticism and how does it help your business grow?

With limited budgets and staff, non-profits don’t have the luxury to enlist glitzy agencies to handle their marketing. Oftentimes, everything they do, from point of contact to collecting donations, is done in-house. They need to take advantage of the tools that are out there and easily accessible (read: inexpensive or downright free).

QR codes are an attractive tool. They are easy to configure and they have already been incorporated in established nonprofit organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and others.
QR code generators can be free: Kaywa, delivr and QR stuff are all services you can use for free. These allow you to create a QR code associated with simple text, a URL, phone number, SMS, contact details, etc. This QR code you generate can then be placed anywhere you want, and your audience can click and connect.

Graphic designers can also help you design special, customized QR codes that are visually compelling as well as functionally specific. They’ll pop off the page, with branded color schemes or unique image arrangements of the code itself. For example, see this image that Polo Ralph Lauren introduced:

It’s a nimble messaging outlet that gives you flexibility and control over what and how you deliver information. And you can scale up or down in terms of complexity or sophistication of design as you see fit to learn.

But why do some blogs see massive traffic while others struggle to get the visitor counter into double digits? Here are some ideas to consider if you’re not seeing the numbers you’d like, or even if you’d like to increase what you have:

On the design side, have you built in a unique logo to your page. This may seem like window dressing, but it’s not. Your logo is like a welcome sign, and it’s the first image your visitors will likely see. Try to find a custom logo and don’t just use some stock imagery or the graphic that came with your blogging software. Look through your own picture albums, or try to come up with ideas that are unique yet still relevant to what you’re talking about.

“Do not stay with all gray.” Is your blog a river of copy from top to bottom with no pull-out quotes, mugshots, photos or captions, or other formatting tricks that can break up a visually imposing batch of copy? If so, you’ll want to trim down sentence lengths, incorporate formatting your page with things like bullet points, headlines, images. These will increase the likelihood people will stick around to read what you have to say.

Search engine optimization: If you aren’t familiar with this idea, you need to get a basic understanding of it, and start writing with this idea in mind. It makes your content more palatable to the search engines and thus will get you more notice that way.

Follow these starter tips and you likely will see an increase in your audience. Get blogging!

But are you using them right? Like most things in life, there’s a right way and a wrong way. Check that. There are MANY right ways, and MANY wrong ways, so tread carefully lest you step on a virtual landmine while implementing.

1. First, consider logistics. Your QR code must not only be large enough to be easily readable, but it also ideally should be on a stationary object. Why? Have you ever tried to scan a QR code on the bus you just missed as it lumbers down the street? Granted, the image of a QR code with your object will still generate impressions, but as for usability, exterior locations on moving objects are not worth the effort.
2. Value is another aspect you should consider. What is the reward for someone to scan your QR code? Keep in mind the person has to pull out their mobile device, launch the QR reader, take a few moments to lock in on your QR code, and then wait for the Internet connection to pull up the linked information. Those are not overly burdensome steps, but they are enough to elicit the expectation that what lies on the other side of the QR code matches the trouble it took to scan it. So you’d better deliver.

What’s the pot of gold at the end of the QR rainbow? That’s your call: It could be an automated Facebook “like,” a discount coupon, an exclusive event invitation. The sky is the limit!

What can we say?  We’ve been inspired.  First there was the Super Moon right on top of Cinco de Mayo, then the Transit of Venus across the sun; with all these “once in a lifetime” phenomena happening all around us, we thought we’d tackle something that we plan to do more than just once this lifetime.  Let’s write a blog post!

Actually, we’ve really taken more than one look at this and drew from our relationship with the Social Media Club of Hawaii and, specifically, Tara Coomans‘ advice, to commit to taking on an idea-sharing blog.  To get there, we completely redesigned our website to take full advantage of what we hope is a fun, insightful and idea-generating trip through all the marketing and media that we use every day.  We’re excited about our new website design and welcome any comments, but we’re mostly excited about the interactions, conversations, and great ideas to come!

What are we  sharing? In the everyday Hawaii we all share, there are so many challenges that businesses face: how to reach to your targets, what’s responsible to the community and environment, how do I not get left behind?  We’ll talk about communications and online marketing, we’ll talk about effective design and printing, we’ll even talk about some examples drawn from our experience and featured clients; a wide variety of other business-related issues, we’ll touch on them all.  And if you see something you think we’re missing – let us know!  This space is for US, that includes YOU, and it’s just another way we hope to help you reach your business goals faster, more efficient, more effective … more akamai!

So click around our new website, and let us know what you think! Click here to e-mail us at info@hagadoneprinting.com, and on Monday, be sure to check back in here for our first topic!

“We are honored and humbled to be recognized for what we considered an extremely important effort here in the community of Kalihi where we work – saving Pu’uhale Elementary School,” said Hagadone President Clint Schroeder. “And we’re grateful to Pacific Edge for shining a spotlight on the other areas we have focused on for giving back to Hawaii: recycling, reforestation and other operations that show our commitment to protecting the ‘āina.”

Schroeder stressed that Hagadone’s idea of giving back goes further than just cutting a check. The company firmly believes in supporting Hawaii’s community, causes and organizations, and it established a rubric for determining which causes it will get behind. Hagadone calls it the three Pillars of Excellence: education, literacy and the arts.

In singling out Hagadone for this award, Pacific Edge Magazine also credited Hagadone for its operations that are both clean and green.

“In addition to our environmentally sound printing practices, we offer a carbon-offset program that helps re-forest koa trees on the Big Island, we offer printing options for clients that eliminate harmful chemicals and toxic materials from the printing process, we have invested millions of dollars in zero emissions state-of-the-art printing equipment, and we implemented a lighting retrofit to generate solar electricity,” said Schroeder.

For over 25 years, Hagadone has been a trusted, local business partner. They provide clients with innovative design services, high-quality print and promotional products, and are one of the largest mail houses on the island; allowing for a complete package of services. They also lead the charge in PrintGreen efforts with Carbon Offset, a Solar Output, and Community Recycling programs. Additionally, every second Saturday of the month, Hagadone opens up its recycling bins to accept any and all junk mail and magazines from the public.

Pedro comes over to Hagadone from Pacific Business News, where she served as Director of Business Development / Audience Development. Her new role with Hagadone will encompass responsibilities over strategic planning for key accounts, new business acquisition, seeking out and leading on new growth opportunities, and overseeing all of Hagadone’s sales divisions: commercial, publications, mailing, marketing, specialty, electronic media and digital printing.

“We are very excited to hire someone of Leianne’s caliber and experience,” said Clint Schroeder, president of Hagadone. “Leianne has deep local roots and passion for Hawaii. Combined with her strong ethical business principles, we know she will be a perfect fit with our company and be a strong, effective leader for our sales staff.”

Pedro’s background at Pacific Business News, and before that the former Honolulu Advertiser, saw her progress through a series of promotions, culminating in her management of a staff of more than 70, employees, including supervising a sales force of more than 40. She managed a division of over $18.9 million in revenues while taking the lead on all forecasting, market analytics and sales team training and development programs.

More than 150 applicants were the initial response to Hagadone’s first job opening.

“We were amazed at the response,” Schroeder said, with regard to the reams of resumes that poured in. “It was absolutely essential we find someone local, with a strong business network and excellent reputation in the community, someone whose business ethics matched our own. We found that in Leianne, and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

And the new hire is equally excited about the new opportunity to distinguish herself further in the community.

“I recognized at Hagadone an opportunity and a challenge. I’m excited to be able to work for a company so well-known for their quality, leadership in their industry, and commitment to community. Being local, that means a lot to me. And as someone who’s motivated by taking on new challenges, this represents a larger role and I can’t wait to get started,” said Pedro.

The announcement also signals a slight restructure within the sales division of Hagadone. Dawn Hirayama will assume the role of Sales Operations/Mailing Director, and Susan Chinn will step into the position of Marketing/Major Accounts Director. “As we transition into a new era at Hagadone, it is critical that we have the right people in the right roles. As Leianne prepares to lead the department, we need to be able to offer the highest level of support, and access to the best talent Hagadone has to offer,” said Schroeder.

For over 25 years, Hagadone has been a trusted, local business partner. They provide clients with innovative design services, high-quality print and promotional products, and are one of the largest mail houses on the island; allowing for a complete package of services. They also lead the charge in PrintGreen efforts with Carbon Offset, a Solar Output, and Community Recycling programs. Additionally, every second Saturday of the month, Hagadone opens up its recycling bins to accept any and all junk mail and magazines from the public.

# # #

HONOLULU >> Hawaii’s largest commercial printer, Hagadone, presented today the second of two cash awards to the top-performing schools in its recently concluded phonebook recycling contest. Hauling in 4,400 books, Leihoku Elementary School in Waianae claimed First Place in the contest and a $2,500 cash prize for the school, presented in a school-wide pep assembly this morning. Holy Family Catholic Academy came in Second Place with their delivery of 1,177 phonebooks, and they received a $1,000 cash yesterday morning in an assembly before the entire school. Photos from both events accompany this news release.

“Everyone here at Hagadone, and the larger community of Oahu, is so proud of these kids and their commitment to our environment through recycling,” said Clint Schroeder, president of Hagadone. “Talking about helping the environment is one thing, but for these kids, they were able to see, in a very tangible way, how their hard work had a direct, positive impact on the island they live on.”

At Holy Family yesterday, some 500 students cheered as their Principal, Christina Malins, received the $1,000 check from Hagadone President Clint Schroeder. And at Leihoku Elementary School, on the Waianae Coast, the entire school turned out to witness their receiving a $2,500 check. School officials stated that the money will fund a field trip to see the movie “Chimpanzee,” a film about helping the environment, for the entire second grade class who spearheaded the school’s phonebook recycling drive. Also, money will help purchase Crown Royal plants and caterpillars to help the school’s science education and studying how caterpillars become butterflies.

Overall, Hagadone’s phonebook recycling contest diverted than 8,700 phonebooks from their original destination on Oahu’s landfills. In addition to a variety of its other environmentally-conscious, proactive programs, Hagadone sees a vital importance in eliminating additional unnecessary waste being sent to Oahu’s landfills.

Each year, Hagadone’s industry-leading environmental initiatives lead to a real and significant positive impact: 60,000 trees are saved from being chopped down, more than 44 million gallons of water are conserved, almost 60,000 BTUs are conserved, almost 4 million metric tons of solid waste are diverted from landfills, and almost 12 million tons of greenhouse gases are averted from entering into Earth’s atmosphere.

For over 25 years, Hagadone has been a trusted, local business partner. They provide clients with innovative design services, high-quality print and promotional products, and are one of the largest mail houses on the island; allowing for a complete package of services. They also lead the charge in PrintGreen efforts with Carbon Offset, a Solar Output, and Community Recycling programs. Additionally, every second Saturday of the month, Hagadone opens up its recycling bins to accept any and all junk mail and magazines from the public.

# # #

By Jennifer Pang

HONOLULU Hagadone Printing Company, Hawaii’s largest commercial and specialty printer, is furthering its commitment to environmentally sustainable printing by being one of the first businesses to install a load-side feed-in tariff solar panel system in Hawaii, designed and installed by Hawaii’s largest solar provider, RevoluSun.

The 1,408-panel array spreads across 25,000 square feet of existing roof space at Hagadone’s building on 274 Puuhale Road in Honolulu to power a quarter of the energy used by its administrative and printing operations. The 433.7 kilowatt (kW) system began producing clean power in September.

The $2.7 million project will allow Hagadone to contribute excess energy produced back to the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) grid, and is expected to pay for itself in about six years, saving Hagadone more than $160,000 in electricity costs in the first year alone.

With the recent launch of HECO’s feed-in tariff program, all kilowatt hours (kWh) produced by the system in excess of baseline use will be purchased by HECO at market rate prices. About 80 percent of the kWh produced on non-operational days, such as weekend days and holidays, will be put back into the HECO grid. This brings Hawaii half a megawatt (MW) closer to achieving its renewable energy goals, set in October 2008 under the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

“The impact of our industry-leading ecological initiatives is real and significant,” said Clinton Schroeder, president of Hagadone Printing Company. “We are proud to showcase how a variety of different solutions can reduce our impact on the environment and help local communities.”

In the past several years, Hagadone also underwent a state-of-the art energy retrofit of its building that included switching to a new type of frictionless chiller that is extremely efficient, a complete super T8 lighting retrofit, and a building energy control system. These energy retrofits are expected to pay for themselves within four years of use.

Hagadone has also recently launched a successful partnership with natureOffice USA to carbon offset its printing projects, partnering with Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods to restore a historic koa forest on the Hamakua Coast. It is also continuing various environmental programs, such as free paper and phone book recycling, ensuring that less paper waste ends up in landfills.

With these combined efforts, Hagadone’s savings of resources this year alone total:

• 60,000 trees
• 44.4 million gallons of water
• 59,789 BTU’s (British Thermal Units)
• 3.8 million metric tons of solid waste
• 11.8 million tons of greenhouse gases

“Hagadone is a trailblazer when it comes to being sustainable in its business practices, and now is leading the way by being the first company to install a load-side feed-in tariff solar system,” said Todd Georgopapadakos, RevoluSun Principal. “We’re pleased to be working with such a forward-thinking company, and this system is one more step toward helping our state move toward clean, renewable sources of energy.”

Hagadone Printing Company employs 140 people in Hawaii and services more than 3,000 accounts. The company offers state-of-the-art printing services as well as consultation on marketing program management. The Hagadone Corporation, based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is recognized as the greenest printing company in the nation, with highly awarded environmental programs setting the standard in the industry.

By Linda Dela Cruz

Little did Hagadone Printing Co. employees who volunteered to read twice a week to Puuhale Elementary School students for one of their community service projects know they would soon be rallying the community to keep the school open.

Kalihi and Puuhale Elementary schools were on the state Department of Education’s list in 2010 of schools it was considering closing and consolidating to nearby schools in order to save the state $1.5 million.

After some research, Hagadone President Clint Schroeder said they found out that Puuhale Elementary had good scores in math and reading.

“We also found out that Kalihi Kai, where they would be going, would be one of the largest schools after consolidation,” he said.

Hagadone participated in a letter-writing campaign, then the company started to help the school think of proposals to generate revenue and reduce costs such as utilizing solar electric.

“We wanted to present alternatives to be a model instead of a problem,” Schroeder said.

Lorelei Karasaki, Puuhale Elementary School’s principal at the time, appreciated Hagadone’s efforts, which included a Facebook page as well as sign waving at rush hour and during the Great Aloha Run.

“They really took the lead,” Karasaki said. “They were the voice of the school. They have so much experience and expertise.”

Schroeder noted that all 150 employees were involved and other businesses also offered to help out.

“It was so gratifying to me to see everyone jump on the bandwagon,” he said. “People do care, and businesses do have influence. We provided the battle cry. We asked the question, if we close important schools, how do we expect to become a good state?”

Rolling up their sleeves with parents, teachers, students, other businesses, politicians and community leaders, Hagadone’s efforts contributed to the Department of Education’s decision in February to keep Puuhale Elementary open.

That was just one of the company’s community service efforts.

“What we do is we sit down and we have a strategic planning meeting,” said Jonelle Rezantes, vice president of sales. “This past year we chose three pillars of excellence — children’s arts, education and literacy.”

When the company chooses to help out, the project must fit one of those three areas, she said.

“When it comes to the service projects, we wanted something where we could get involved,” she said. ”We allowed our employees to help out on company time and money.”

Other projects they helped with included donating posters, programs, social media, and public relations expertise for a fundraiser which resulted in a $10,000 check presentation to Hale Kipa from the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu. Between the department heads and the sales force, the company is represented in 45 organizations, Schroeder said.

One of the resources that the company has been able to use in its community service efforts is its H1 Marketing Division, which offers services that can help its 3,000 clients with website design, content design, graphic arts, and social media so that they can have a consistent online image with their print materials.

The community partnerships Hagadone employees form benefit the company, Schroeder said. .

“I look at those people that do the most in the community,” he said. “I always think of those people first.”

Hagadone Printing Company, which prints most glossy magazines and brochures in Hawaii, has gone solar.

The company installed a 433-7-kW solar PV system on its rooftop, with a total of 1,408 panels spread across 25,000 square feet of existing roof space. That’s a pretty large system (RevoluSun did the job).

With a price tag of $2.7 million, the new PV system is expected to power a quarter of the energy used by its administrative and printing operations.

It’s also one of the first commercial installations to take advantage of HECO’s feed-in tariff program. That means that any excess energy produced by Hagadone will by purchased by HECO at market rate prices.

The system is expected to save Hagadone more than $160,000 in electricity costs in its first year, and to pay for itself in about six years. I would imagine other commercial businesses will follow suit.

Hagadone also offers a carbon offset program in partnership with natureOfficeUSA.

In the relatively short time that Clint Schroeder has been president of Hagadone Printing Co., he has expanded the state’s largest printing company through new divisions and partnerships.

Schroeder, 35, joined Hagadone in early 2010 after serving as vice president of sales, advertising and marketing at The Honolulu Advertiser. Despite a tough economy, he was able to adapt to changes in the business climate and implement programs that reflected the needs of the community.

Schroeder established Hagadone’s H1 Marketing Division to provide marketing services to small and mid-size clients who traditionally couldn’t afford the services. He also launched ShopH1.com, a digital storefront that allows users to securely order personalized projects online and have them delivered within days.

This year, Schroeder was instrumental in Hagadone’s support of Puuhale Elementary School in Kalihi. Hagadone employees donated time to the school’s literacy program, and initiated a yearbook, food drive and careers program for the students.

The biggest challenge facing Hawaii: Our energy dependence is going to become an “energy crisis” in the very near future. We need to collectively solve this problem before we are faced with an epic emergency.

Looking 10 years into the future, my greatest concern: Energy and infrastructure are equal concerns to me as I look forward. Solving the energy-dependence issues and building the proper infrastructure to sustain and support growth are the keystone elements to our sustained positive development in Hawaii.

Does the brain drain still exist for Hawaii’s young adults? I think it is less of a factor today than it used to be. I feel like more young adults are finding value in staying in Hawaii, and legitimately trying to make a difference here at home. It seems like Hawaii’s industry has changed enough to provide more jobs for qualified college grads, where they can contribute to making their home state a better place to live.

My advice to recent college graduates: Plug in and work hard. Nobody’s first job out of college is perfect.

How I start my day: I wake up at 5:15, take the dogs for a quick walk (while reading my news feed via iPhone), slam down a cup of coffee and leave for the office by 6:15.

The way social media has changed the way I do business: Online and social communities are playing a larger role in each of our lives every day. No question about it. The look to social media/communities for consumer decision-making, research and services vetting is more common today than any other one media source. Lesson to be learned: Build online communities, start conversations, share your expertise, be recognized in your industry, be present and smart about using all the tools available.

The most important cultural figure of my generation: I feel that Steve Jobs has had the most influence on my generation and my industry in particular. He has been recognized as a marketing and technology genius with Apple having solidified itself as the most valuable brand on the planet.

What I do to unwind: I am an avid scuba diver. There is nothing better than flying in the currents above majestic coral beds and shimmering sea life. I was trained locally here in Hawaii, and do most of my diving in Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai. I have been fortunate enough to dive in Guam, Palau and Yap, some of the most beautiful water in the world.

As a child, what I wanted to be when I grew up: My entire childhood I wanted to be an airline pilot. I imagined flying all over the world, seeing amazing things, meeting exotic people. My eyesight was never perfect, and I was told that would hold me back so I started to focus on being a business-type. Interestingly enough, my career has allowed me to travel all over the world, see amazing things and meet exotic people.

The best trip I ever took: Two years ago, while on a mandatory furlough, I met some friends in London and Paris for a week, and then went to Rome and the Amalfi Coast for a second week. It was amazing. No work calls, and lots of R&R. It was a rejuvenating experience to people-watch in sidewalk cafes and sip fine wine on the banks of the Seine.

The one thing most people don’t know about me: I love to sing. In the car, in the shower, home alone or in a Karaoke Bar. I put on my best concerts when I think I am alone.

Here are a few facts that ANYONE should know about the Pu’uhale closure:

1. The building has been slated for use as a DOE OFFICE BUILDING. It’s climate controlled and will make SUPER offices. Unbelievable. Refer to the Consolidation … [more]Study on the Farrington Complex – PG 22.

2. Pu’uhale Elementary has historically scored significantly higher in reading and math when compared to Kalihi Kai – the proposed consolidating school. (IE: 2010 Reading Proficiency 63% at Pu’uhale compared to 53% at Kalihi Kai)

3. Pu’uhale Elementary is on track with No Child Left Behind – Kalihi Kai is not (IE: 2010 Pu’uhale scored 15 or 15 adequate progress targets, Kalihi Kai scored 13 of 17).

4. Pu’uhale could accommodate up to 300 more students through Redistricting and General Exemption which have not been thoroughly examined yet. This would bring them up to the AVERAGE recommended size. Kalihi Kai would be 170% of the recommended elementary school size by accepting the consolidation students.

There is a hearing today at 3:00. I am going to testify. Hopefully after today and tomorrow we know more.

We are holding a Community Awareness picnic on March 6th in the afternoon on the school grounds (permit has been approved). Manahan, Chun-Oakland, and Hanneman will be in attendance. We need to make sure the community is there in force.

As a concerned citizen, tax payer, community leader, a voter, and most importantly, a neighbor of Pu’uhale elementary, I think it is time that we stand up for what is right – and stop the downward spiral of our public school system. Have you ever wondered why we have a homeless problem? Why the prisons are overcrowded? Heard the conversations at various fundraisers and social events about the state of our public schools? Ever considered that the first two concerns are closely correlated to the last? If so, ever done anything about it?

Now is our chance. You see, it all begins with us. The children of Hawaii should not be a budgetary “burden”. They should be regarded as the solution. Instead, we are herding them into overcrowded schools. Increasing the student to teacher ratios, disregarding the individual language and learning challenges that are so prevalent among particularly the Leeward and West side schools, all the while we are wondering why the public school system is such an undisputable mess. All in the name of what? Budget cuts. I don’t know about you, but thankfully, no one ever sacrificed my education in the name of budgetary relief.

It’s like the chicken and the egg. If the public school system wasn’t so flawed, politicians, teachers, executives, and top business leaders would have their kids in public school. If that were the case – the problems wouldn’t be so insurmountable. Why? Because we defend our kids education – and we care about what happens to them when they leave the house each morning. Consider the fact that some parents don’t feel like they have a voice, and some kids washout of the system because they don’t have an advocate. It’s time to speak for those who feel they can not. It is time to provide the education that Hawaii’s children are guaranteed as citizens of our great country. Most importantly, it is time to ensure that we as taxpayers are getting our moneys worth.

The current situation with the Kalihi community school closure proposal, Pu’uhale Elementary specifically, is unacceptable.

I would like the opportunity to share some of the specific area statistics and facts that have not been adequately considered in this decision making process (such as redistricting, additional geographic exemptions to reach the maximum capacity of nearly 600 students in Pu’uhale Elementary, and the fact that more than 30% of these students have special language needs currently being addressed by the intensive program offered by the Pu’uhale staff members). We have formed a formal organization (the Friends of Pu’uhale) dedicated to the rights of the current student body – and most importantly to ensure (legally and otherwise) that the parents and students have a voice in this matter, and are not discarded as irrelevant, and not discriminated against for color and socio-economic reasons. The precedent that has been set in the case of the Hawaii Kai schools (GE acceptance and redistricting) has PROVEN that there are alternative solutions – and standing up for the right thing to do IS possible.

Why is this important, you may ask? Because Pu’uhale Elementary is a safe, secure environment for these kids that in many cases, have no other alternatives. Learning more about the school, I have discovered that the smaller class sizes, student demographic and psychographic diversity, and intensive teacher focus and interaction have created a very specialized environment. This evolved environment is teaching these children that they have options outside of drugs, violence and the cycle of poverty that they are exposed to in their neighborhood each and every day.

It would be a shame to see these kids forced to walk across Nimitz Highway and Dillingham (nearly a mile) each day to be subjected to overcrowded classrooms, higher teacher to student ratios and less intensive learning programs due to consolidation and reduction in resource. Kalihi Kai’s student population is ALREADY in excess of 600 students. How can we improve the quality of public education if we herd children into classrooms like cattle? As school board members, and community members, we share the obligation to the children to ensure a solid and comprehensive education. After all, these kids are the future adults of this community. It is in our best interest to serve them as well as we can. If I had the resources to personally correct the deficit for Pu’uhale Elementary, I would. The reality of the situation is that we will all have to continue working together to find a solution.

As taxpayers and community members, I would like to invite you to join my staff and I as we read to the children in February. See for yourself what an amazing group of kids we have at Pu’uhale Elementary. See their handwritten signs pleading to “Save Our School”. See the difference we can make as a community and as leaders. I would be honored to read beside you.

As a contributing member of society, and a business leader, I find it reprehensible that the DOE has chosen two schools from the same district for recommended closure. The fact is, this recommendation is discriminatory, and the Kalihi community is being specifically targeted. It is my civic duty to prove that this decision is filled with socio-economic bias, and is being rushed without consideration because the spirit of this neighborhood is generally not to fight back and is passive in nature. Pu’uhale Elementary has the capacity for more than 300 additional students, The community of Kalihi needs this school. The kids of Kalihi need the security and attention the school provides. The ‘ohana of Hawaii needs healthy, educated children.

I beg you to call upon the School Board Members to consider all of the options. We need to ask that they to defer this decision to allow the community to assist with helping to find a viable, profitable solution.

Sincerely and Aloha,

Clint Schroeder
President
Hagadone Printing Company
(808) 852-6301