By cyndie Shaffstall

Blanks, or pre-manufactured papers, can run the gamut from simple pre-die-cut door hangers to triple-fold self-mail and return mail envelopes (think Publisher’s Clearing House), customer-loyalty cards (like those from your local grocery store), to pre-numbered, stubbed tickets printed on safety paper to prevent unauthorized reproduction.

Figure 1 (below) Blanks/USA provides a variety of door-hanger impositions ready for the desktop or digital press.

In the past weeks, I have worked with two companies that specialize in blank, pre-manufactured papers: Blanks/USA and Convertible Solutions. While each has their specialty, they are common in their ability to enable you — the designer, small business owner, or print shop — to produce fabulously creative and effective marketing pieces without the cost of custom or hand-worked bindery.

I’ve known for some time that I could purchase pre-scored, pre-die-cut, and other ready-made paper products, but I hadn’t given a lot of thought as to the unbelievably wide variety of options that blank paper stocks provide these days.

Figure 2 (below) Convertible Solutions specializes in pre-converted products are a perfect fit for any size operation: web, digital, or sheet.

You may or may not have any exposure to blanks, but a quick trip through your local paper supplier’s retail store and you’ll get the idea rather quickly. Blanks are papers where all or part of the finishing processes are done up front. This may include embossing borders, die-cutting, perf-ing, scoring, or even pre-printed security patterns. What this can mean to you is that your creativity has a lot fewer limitations and that you will find a lot fewer budget constraints.

I think we can all agree that when we look at a self-mailer/return mailer such as the Publisher’s Clearing House® packet, it simply looks expensive — and, well, it probably was. However, you and your client are likely not able to discern the differences between PCH’s custom project and one that you can easily produce (or have produced) on a standard digital press using one of the blanks available from Convertible Solutions. These fold ‘em up and mail ‘em out envelopes have all the glue applied. You simply lay out your design using one of their templates, send it off to the press, and violà, ready to fold up and mail out! You get an affordable, highly creative campaign that not only captures the receiver’s attention, but that is also highly functional — in a way that will likely garner you better open and response rates.

Open your wallet. How many store club or loyalty cards do you have right now? This is the most popular marketing campaign since the direct-mail postcard, and using a manufactured paper from Blanks/USA, it is firmly within the budget of even the most cost-conscious small business. You can design or produce a piece that enables your customers to issue loyalty cards that are completely custom and store-branded.

Figure 3 Loyalty cards are more popular every day. Both Blanks/USA and Convertible Solutions offer options for this innovative marketing piece.

Figure 4 Repositionable adhesive (Ad-A-Peel) is a step up from the magnets that are left behind by your plumber and other service techs.

Both companies offer an integrated-card sheet. These are standard sheet sizes that have a card, such as a discount card, embedded in the sheet for easy removal. Blanks offers several formats: two cards, single card, and a card with respositionable adhesive. This is a notch above the traditional magnet that your plumber left behind because it will stick to nearly any surface, but has the same great leave-behind reminder benefit.

Figure 5 Convertible Solutions has an integrated card that is designed as a self-mailer.

Blanks/USA has a line up that differs from the origami-like envelopes and marketing pieces from Convertible Solutions, but don’t mistake that to mean fewer offerings. Blanks/USA has a catalogue of more than 55,000 product iterations that include binder tabs, door hangers, table tents, stubbed raffle tickets and coupons — printed on security papers (so they cannot be reproduced) — signage on vinyl media designed for a digital press, and even assemble-your-own pocket folders, built for 8.5 X 11, 11 X 17, or 12 X 18 output devices.

What impressed me most about Blanks/USA was not just what they had, but more what they were willing to do. According to Andy Ogren, CEO, Blanks/USA, “Custom products account for 25% of our business each year. While it’s true that we do a bit of printing, it is not our focus. Most of our printing is value-add and limited to numbering tickets and other types of customization. It’s designed to ease production requirements. The majority of our customers are printers who overprint our substrate and utilize our limited printing to enhance their production.”

Even with all those papers, I identified a product that I wanted to offer through Quark Promote, but for which they did not have a stock item. After a bit of discussion with their operations managers, several samples were produced and I shuttled those off to Sir Speedy Centennial for testing. The results are in and the paper is spectacular.
As a designer, you want to be able to entice your customers with new and creative projects, but that can be difficult when constrained by today’s bare-minimum budget.

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