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Complete Your Listing Form for the Top Trade Printers Issue
Don't miss the opportunity to be included in Print Solutions' Top Trade Printers issue in May. You're eligible for the list if you're a printer, and the majority of your sales are to individuals or companies that resell your products. Being included is easy. Simply complete a survey form and turn it in by 5 p.m., EST March 21.

Why participate? Here are our top 5 reasons:

• Print Solutions' Top Trade Printers issue is the most accurate, definitive and credible list of its kind.
• The list will reach 34,000 readers, many of them printing sales professionals.
• Those sales professionals study the list and use it when selecting vendor partners.
• The listing is free. And, your company can be included even if your sales were too low to make the list in previous years. For the first time, all trade printers completing the form will be listed.
• You could win a $150 Amazon.com gift certificate. To be entered in the drawing for the gift certificate, be one of the first 100 printers to complete the survey.

Call for PEAK Awards
Get recognized! If you developed a creative product or solution that helped solve a client's problem or improve a client's business, you should enter the 4th Annual Print Excellence and Knowledge (PEAK) Awards. Deadline for entries is May 9, 2008; click here to download an entry form. Both trade printers and print distributors are eligible to enter the contest.

Mark Mecklenburg, president of Solution Graphics Inc., in West Chicago, Ill., entered the PEAK competition last year. "We're a relatively small company, and we thought it would be cool to get some recognition--if it worked out," says Mecklenburg. Work out it did. The distributorship was the Grand Award Winner in the Affixed Products category for a project it designed for an insurance company. "We were definitely surprised," Mecklenburg says. "We're not a big distributor."

After winning, Solution Graphics sent a promotion to existing clients and prospects touting its success. So far, the company has sold a similar project to a new client in the insurance industry, and a few other prospects are interested in its work. The news of the award was "very well received" by the client for whom Solution Graphics designed the original project.

"If you've got work you're proud of, I don't see why you wouldn't enter," says Mecklenburg.

Print Solutions: A Valuable Industry Resource
Jamie Mentzer may win a new client soon--thanks to information he read in Print Solutions magazine. Recently, Mentzer, president of Mentzer Printing Ink in Indianapolis, read that FormStore, one of his manufacturers, purchased renewable energy credits equal to 100 percent wind power at its two Fenton, Mo., manufacturing facilities. Since then, Mentzer has been touting FormStore's commitment to the environment.

As a result, one prospect is seriously considering moving all its business to Mentzer Printing Ink. Top managers of an existing client may increase their business with the firm, as well. "Print Solutions helps us stay on top of what's going on and what's new," says Mentzer. "I think that's a very powerful reason why people should read the magazine--and that's why I do."

Mentzer says the magazine also leads him to new vendors. For example, he found AmeriPrint Graphics, a current supplier, through an ad in Print Solutions. He learned of FormStore from its ads and from information on a PSDA listserv. Repetitive advertising works, he says. "I might have read the same ad four times and it didn't mean anything to me," Mentzer explains. But when a need arises, an ad from a company may suddenly pique his interest and remind him who to call to solve a current problem.

Mentzer studies the listings in the Top Trade Printers issue, too. He notices which manufacturers are strong in certain product categories. The next time he needs a vendor for a product he doesn't sell often, he contacts one of those manufacturers.

Print Solutions is so valuable that Mentzer reads the electronic and printed versions "religiously." The magazine's web site allows him to stay current on industry news, he says. He takes the printed version home to read longer articles when he wants to unwind.

Meet Rebecca Trela
When Rebecca Trela was in middle school, she wrote a report about The Hershey Company. Even then, Rebecca, now assistant editor at Print Solutions magazine, knew that conducting a phone interview was crucial to obtaining the right information. So, the plucky 11-year-old called the candy company and asked for Milton Hershey. She learned a valuable lesson about doing adequate research; Mr. Hershey had been dead for years. Her efforts were not in vain, though. The company sent an investor relations report that she used for her project.

At the time, Rebecca never considered being a writer. Like many girls her age, she simply wanted to be Nancy Drew. Fast forward a few years to high school. Rebecca, a stickler for proper grammar, walked into the office of her small town's local newspaper. After she pointed out some areas for what she terms "grammar improvement," she was offered a part-time job. From there, she went on to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where she majored in journalism and specialized in political science and Latin American studies. She honed her skills further by interning for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire for a semester in Washington, D.C.

When Rebecca learned of a job opening at Print Solutions nearly two years ago, she applied. She was eager to move to Washington and wanted to write for a magazine. From the outset, the position appealed to her because business writing provides the opportunity, she says, to "chronicle the hopes and dreams and successes and failures that anyone can relate to." She says it's exciting to talk to company principals every day, who she says are "the heart and soul of the industry."

A self-described techno-geek, Rebecca soon discovered that the printing industry "is not the stodgy industry that friends at cocktail parties thought it was." While at Print Solutions, she has written about a wide range of technology topics, including digital printing, RFID and pURLs. In a first for Print Solutions, Rebecca hosted an online web chat with business owners about the challenges facing a distributor who was trying to grow his business. "I was surprised that so many people signed up for the chat," she says. "People are looking for new ways to network and communicate."

Outside the office, Rebecca enjoys travel, gardening and running. She is a voracious reader of nonfiction books and serves on her neighborhood's land use committee.

Rebecca Trela can be reached directly at (703) 302-8784 or via email at rtrela@psda.org.

Advertiser Profile: Why I Advertise in Print Solutions
"Print Solutions has really helped Wise establish itself as a reputable manufacturer with long-term staying power," says Jeff Prettyman, executive vice president of Wise Business Forms, headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga. "We used to advertise in several trade magazines, but we've found that Print Solutions' articles are very relevant, and the quality of the readership is the best."

When Wise first advertised in the magazine more than 25 years ago, it used its ads to introduce distributors to the company. Now, the company's advertisements are designed to "reinforce our image, identity and reputation," says Prettyman. He adds, "We believe in the whole marketing communications approach where advertising is an extremely important part of establishing who your company is and what it does best."

Wise's current ad campaign focuses on document security. A series of ads features something hidden in the background "that you can't see until you really look at the picture long enough," says Prettyman. For example, one ad includes a moth on a tree that is the same color as the tree bark. "Our intent is to get our audience to take a second look at our ads, which gives us more recognition in the marketplace," he says.

Even when the economy slows, advertising remains paramount, says Prettyman. "You still have to keep your name in front of your target market," he says. "In a soft economy, it is very important to coordinate your marketing communications so that all the pieces fit together--for instance, timing an ad that hits about the same time as direct mail and email marketing."

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