A Wise Investment

The financial sector won't be able to erase the stigma of some troubling numbers—no matter how much cleanup is involved. Just look at the advance data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Economic Census, for instance. According to the report, the finance and insurance sector cut more than 390,000 jobs from 2007 to 2012. Actual revenue fell $1.4 billion, or 4 percent.

But where many distributors see "money pit," Kimble Bosworth, owner of Proforma Printelligence, Nashville, Tenn., sees value. She shared a story where her company was tasked with creating a full calendar program for a bank trying to shed costs. By providing options and considering the client's target audience, Bosworth locked in repeat orders.

Here, she shares the thought process behind the project.

Print+Promo (P+P): Describe a promotion of yours that you consider one of Proforma Printelligence's best.
Kimble Bosworth (KB): Our best promotions are always the ones that mean the most to the customers who receive them. One of our customers, First National Bank (FNB) of McMinnville, had a really unique challenge. Its customers are spread throughout a very large rural area and have close ties with individuals at the bank. When FNB tried to cut back on expenses it made some changes to its annual calendar program, and its customers were very disappointed. So, FNB turned to Proforma Printelligence for a full calendar program that would be useful and meaningful to its customers.

P+P: What items were featured in this promotion, and what influenced that decision?
KB: We gave the client a range of options, and they decided on an almanac with a mini pocket calendar. This piece was for a farming community and the almanac calendars really suited their needs. The bank also solicited pictures from employees and selected winning entries as the custom images for the almanac calendar. These were images of the local area, familiar to the customers. They were submitted by and photo credited to the employees those customers knew so well.