The Blaze Blog

Brown box phobia, the marketer's curse

The hairs are standing up on the back of my neck, my breathing turns shallow and there’s a tight feeling in my chest.  I take a deep breath and steel myself for the challenge ahead.

No, I’m not faced with a sabre tooth tiger or about to face Simon Cowell with my unique rendition of ‘I will always love yoooouuuu’.  I am, in fact, standing eye to eye with a pile of seemingly harmless brown boxes, inside of which are our new brochures fresh off the press.

Sound familiar?  This is a moment that can go in either of two ways.  Either, when opened, the box shall produce the best brochure our company has ever seen in its full gloss laminated glory or upon opening the box I shall be smacked in the face by the worst typo ever, the wrong logo, the wrong title – or God forbid all three together.

Now don’t get me wrong, this very very very rarely happens, but this knowledge doesn’t do much for my blood pressure when faced with those devious brown boxes.

This sensation is a complex one, whereby (logically) the more experience you have in marketing and the more times you have signed off print, it is less likely that such an error may have been made.  Yet conversely the years of experience gained make you more acutely aware of the impact of such an error that only serves to fuel this brown-box-phobia.

Sadly this is an incurable ailment, so I bid farewell at this point to all seasoned marketers (see you same place same time next week).  For any newly fledged marketers or non-marketers who are responsible for purchasing print on behalf of your company, here are some top tips to help you avoid succumbing to the phobia of the unopened brown box.

Proof read – yes, I know this sounds obvious.  But do it, then do it again.  Then ask somebody else to do it.  If you’ve written the copy, you’re unlikely to spot any errors within it.

Check all phone, email and web details – Call all the telephone numbers, test all the urls and confirm all the emails.  NEVER take these details over the phone, a mumble or usual accent can easily mean incorrect information is taken down.

Proof read all the titles again – the most obvious place is often the easiest to overlook, double check titles again and again.

Check the page numbers – are they in the correct order? Are any references to page numbers made within your document correct?  They may well have been at the first version of artwork, but following all your requested changes, are they still correct?

Layout – Again this sounds obvious, but do you and your printer agree on how your item is to be put together?

Check the print spec – is the quantity right? The price? The number of pages? The paper stock and any finishing required?

Check the images – make sure all your images are hi res.  Lo res images (or logos) may look fine on a pdf proof, but are unlikely to print well.  If in doubt, ask your designer.

Confirm collation – are you sure your printer is going to collate all those inserts into your desired order? Have they included for this in the quote?

Confirm delivery details – have you confirmed your delivery details? If they’re to be delivered to you at an event, is there somebody there who can sign for them?  How may boxes are going to arrive?  Do you have room for them all in your store cupboard?

Having completed this check list (and if you’re anything like me, upon completing it, going over it just once more to be sure) then you’re ready to hit the button and send your item to print.  Just remember upon opening the boxes to take a big deep breath and then you’re ready to face your marketing demons.

If you found this post useful, you may also be interested in reading Six Steps to Effective Direct Mail or Brand Building For Budding Businesses