The 2007 XMPie Users Group
Conference provided many opportunities
for networking and learning.

Meet us in Las Vegas

2008 XMPie Users Group Conference
February 6 - 9, 2008
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino,
Las Vegas, NV

Register Today and Rocket to Success at Planet Hollywood!
The conference will be held February 6-9, 2008 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. If you have not registered, visit www.xmpieusers.org today. While you are there, you can register for users group membership or renew your membership if you have not already done so. Membership is valid through December 31, 2008.

Informative Keynotes
Although we are still finalizing the details for all of the keynotes, we have confirmed a keynote speech from Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council, who will share the results of the CMO Council’s 2008 Marketing Outlook. Learn about the top issues and concerns upon which marketers are focused, and how to leverage those in your own sales and marketing efforts.

On Friday, February 8, the day will start with a keynote by InfoTrends’ Barb Pellow on the Future of Mail, based on the company’s most recent in-depth research on the subject. Find out where marketing is going so you can be there to capitalize on all of the latest trends.

Another highlight will be an update from XMPie. Be the first to hear about new developments and near-term strategies directly from the experts!

In-Depth Tutorials
New to the conference this year are pre-conference technical tutorials. In these sessions, being held on the afternoon of February 6 and the morning of February 7, attendees with a focus on design will learn how to create uImage templates. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from XMPie and Adobe experts and get details on innovative implementations from your peers, as well as creative implementation for the development of XMPie campaigns using ICPs, Dreamweaver and Flash.

For those with a programming interest, focus on how to use XMPie APIs to automate workflow and design custom web-to-print sites, as well as how you can use XMPie to track campaign results.

The Best of the Best
The Users Group is holding its first Best of the Best contest. Entries are due before January 25. If you need more information feel free to drop an email to the XMPie Users Group at marketing@xmpieusers.org. We have top quality judges lined up to judge the entries. How does your campaign stack up?

• Degree of innovation
• Use of multi-channel communications technology
• Data integration
• Effective use of survey techniques for customer learning
• Business effectiveness and measurement of response metrics
• Overall aesthetics for print and web sites
• The degree of use of XMPie technology across all of the different phases of the campaign

Users Group Sponsors
We are thrilled with the support from the vendor community in the form of sponsorships that help make this conference possible. Platinum sponsors include Adobe, Kodak and Xerox and XMPie.

Our other generous sponsors include EFI, HP, Press-sense, PB Systems, and Tecra.

We are also grateful for the in-kind services that have been donated by AdMail West, DME, InfoTrends, Trekk Cross-Media and Yoffi Digital.

Our Platinum sponsors will be participating in an exciting panel discussion, moderated by Barb Pellow, during lunch on Friday:

Technology, when it meets the user’s needs, drives market growth. This is clearly the case in the Print-On-Demand market, where digital print technology (supported by software, substrates, and end-to-end solutions) is changing the graphic arts market. This panel discussion will provide an overview of these technologies that will give conference attendees insight into the market impact that these advancements are having on the market. System vendors will discuss how they are promoting and using these technologies to meet the needs of their customers. They will also discuss how these emerging software and equipment technologies can impact overall profitability.

The Anatomy of a Marketing Campaign
A marketing campaign can be dissected into six critical components. Each part is conceptualized and created to complement the others. The components are combined to build a synergistic communication to the right prospect at the right time with the right offer.

Over the course of the discussions at the Users Group Conference, marketing professionals and your peers will discuss the following elements and the impact on the success or failure of a campaign.

Step One: Define Campaign Objectives
Defining what you want to communicate and setting measurable objectives will help your customers make the right choices for your direct-mail strategy. Measurable objectives, such as qualified sales leads, response rates, specific close rates, customer retention or simply gathering additional customer data, allow you to track a campaign’s success.

Step Two: Identify the Right Target Audience
To reach target audiences, you must first define them. Does the client want to attract existing customers, new prospects, or both? Do you want to talk to decision makers, purchasing influencers, specifiers, or all three? Is there a specific vertical or horizontal market that makes the most sense?

Step Three: Understand Audience Hot Buttons
To determine what will cut through the clutter on your prospects’ desks and entice them to respond, identify the audience’s business issues. For example, if you are trying to reach marketing executives, the top issue on their minds is marketing ROI. If you are working in the retail segment, it might be driving store traffic or traffic to a web site. If you are working in the automotive industry, it is driving customers to a showroom. If you are working with not-for-profits, it is raising more money.

Step Four: Find the Right List
All the work you did in steps one through three will go to waste if the mailer is not directed to the right prospects. First, find out what lists are available for the specific target market as well as how to sub segment existing customer data. Then you will need to test list quality to ensure that the list will yield the right business results.

Step Five: Choose the Right Format and Offer
Since there are a myriad of choices, here are four important rules of thumb: Copy should be clean and limited; critical data should be in call outs or boxes so they visually “pop” for the reader; unique sizes and envelopes should differentiate the mailer; the format selected needs to be based on effectiveness of getting the message across versus price.

Step Six: Measure Results and Evaluate Effectiveness
This may sound simple, but most companies skip this step. Measure and communicate the results of every campaign and make appropriate adjustments during the execution. Tools are available for real time monitoring and it is time to use them. Measurement and evaluation are never optional. They are your only means of assessing the success of your efforts to determine how to improve performance.

Tech Talk from XMPie
Technical tracks, like the technical tutorials, are divided into two areas: design and programming. Mix and match for the best possible learning experience. Topics range from best practices in uDirect, uImage and other XMPie modules to measuring campaign success for the Design track. In the Programming track, dig in to Personal Effect and learn how to integrate XMPie into your workflow. This is your chance to interact directly with XMPie technical experts and to hear about innovative implementations from your peers. Both tracks feature an open Q&A wrap-up that gives you an opportunity to get answers to any remaining questions and provide feedback to XMPie.

Designer Track
Six action-packed sessions will send you home with plenty to think about and lots of ideas for new campaigns. The sessions start with an interactive forum with XMPie experts sharing best practices with uDirect. Come prepared to share your experiences and get all of your uDirect questions answered!

In the next session, you will learn how to effectively use the XMPie rule editor. This knowledge is critical to designing campaigns both simple and complex, and the XMPie technical staff will share tips and hints about how to make it easier. That is followed up by the popular uImage tips and tricks session which will build on the preceding tracks and share some dynamite designs.

There will be in-depth discussion about uStore, as well. And there are some great XMPie user stories out there that will inspire you to leverage this solution for outstanding web-to-print offerings.

Finally, learn all the tips and tricks about measuring campaign results. XMPie experts will be joined by Trekk Cross Media’s Jeff Stewart, who is well known in the XMPie user community for innovative use of XMPie solutions that push the envelope. You won’t want to miss this opportunity, since measuring results is what your customers truly care about.

Programmer Track
For a more technical approach, join the Programmer track, which starts with a two-hour session on PersonalEffect Best Practices. Dig in to the full capabilities of PersonalEffect for campaign creation and management. If you don’t own PersonalEffect yet, by the end of this outstanding session, you will have it on your to-do list.

An efficient workflow is critical, and XMPie solutions can enhance your operational efficiency. Learn how as XMPie technical staff and leading XMPie users share how they have leveraged the XMPie suite as a central command center to facilitate collaboration among all of the many stakeholders it takes to create and deploy a successful campaign.

Beyond that, you will learn how to leverage QLingo and XLIM to streamline creation and execution of cross-media campaigns and to help you better measure their results.

Don’t Miss This Exciting Event!
We look forward to seeing you there.

February 6-9
Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

If you aren't yet a member, find out how to join

For members who wish to register, click here or contact marketing@xmpie.com

XMPie, Inc.
767 Third Avenue
New York, NY, USA
Phone: 212-479-5166

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