The Stationers Guild

Yesterday, I received the following question from Lori London of Write Impressions in Royal Oak, Michigan:  “I’m a guild member.  I have a question that I wish I could pose to other guild members and/or maybe you can help me.  I took down my web site a few weeks ago as we are ready to launch our much improved web site by November 1st. Did other members provide links to stationery vendors … such as Crane, William Arthur, Checkerboard … even though some of these vendors sell directly to the consumer?  I am curious how other stores dealt with this.”

Please find below my slightly edited response to this most interesting question:

Very good question.  I will answer your question (at least try to) as posed, but then if you will stay with me a bit longer I hope to give you a “better” but slightly more technical explanation that might influence your decision. 
 
First, based on my research just under two-thirds of the 285 guild members currently listed in the StationersGuild have their own website.  Of those that do have a website less than 20% have outgoing links to vendor websites.  Those that do link to a vendor’s website do so primarily with companies where  they receive referral commissions (Sweet Pea or Printswell, Birchraft and Checkerboard).  Based on a cursory observation of member websites, I would say that very few Guild members (certainly less than 10 and probably less than 5) link to a vendor website that sells online unless they participate in a referral program.    
 
Now, as Paul Harvey would say “Page 2″:   While incoming links to one’s website are important in determining “search” relevancy, it is the quality and relevancy of  links rather than the number of links that determine whether one site will get a higher ranking than another.  Without trying to bore you, an incoming link from the Chamber of Commerce or a Trade Organization (StationersGuild for instance) is perceived by Google to be more valuable than a link from a paid listing such as www.1Wedding.com.  Authoritative links  from sites with a .gov (government) or .edu (educational sites) ending or websites with consistently high Google Page Rank are generally perceived to be “higher quality links” that will enhance the value of your website (or at least a specific page on your website).
 
The ThereseSaintClair website provides links to most of our vendors.  The reason is quite simple:  People who visit our website are interested in what brands we carry.  We provide them a lot of choice, give them convenient access (i.e. links) to many Fine Paper companies and then give them very strong reasons to shop locally.  In fact, the Therese Saint Clair and Stationers Guild websites have been designed to provide  buyers with  information in one location that would be difficult for them to find elsewhere.  It would be presumptous and silly of me to assume that that an online visitor found “Crane wedding invitations” through a visit to my website.    In other words, we help buyers research online without any aggressive sales pressure in the expectation that a discerning buyer has the common sense to shop locally.
 
Now, most people seem to think that one runs the risk of losing prospective clients by providing links to online suppliers.  You may lose a few, but I believe the risk is minimal.  In fact, Fine Paper companies would be far better served by providing hyperlinks to their dealer’s websites on their “Find a Dealer” page.  It would help their dealers build credible links and it would also help the Paper company promote their brand to customers looking for a local solution with an experienced stationer.  As long as the industry (storefront dealers and the fine paper companies whose lines they represent) fail to act on this simple premise,  companies like www.weddingpaperdivas.com will continue to disintermediate and eventually destroy the industry by substituting fine paper for fine technology.

Storefront stationers and the many fine companies we represent simply must do a better job of giving people the necessary information on whether they wish to shop locally or online.  Burying our heads in the sand and pretending that the consumer is in one camp or the other (online or store) is painfully naive and will eventually lead to an industry where toxic recycled waste paper from China with designs developed from pirated copies of PhotoShop will innundate the market under the pretext that these “beautiful” papers/invitations are “green” and “eco-friendly.”  This is not science fiction, it is happening today!  Furthermore, wedding portals, self-appointed etiquette specialists and “born-again” environmentalists are all tooting the same horn in merchanidizing inferior products on the internet in the hope of prying loose the “green” from your wallet. 

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

I recently came across an article by Schuyler Maedjaja entitled “Wedding invitations: how to win the battle.”  Mrs. Maedjaja is the wedding editor for the Lynchburg (VA) Examiner.    While Mrs. Maedjaja does provide some helpful advice, the article simply does not go far enough to properly explain how bridal couples should select their wedding invitations.

Mrs. Maedjaja suggests two ways of “researching” wedding invitations:  the first is online and the second is to visit a neighborhood stationer.  While the Internet is often used to research wedding invitations, it leaves much to be desired as an unbiased “research” resource.  Specifically, the search results are far too large to be of much relevance.  For instance, today a Google search for “wedding invitations” yielded over 20 million results.

Goggle Wedding Invitations Search

Also, companies listed on the first few pages of search results are interested in “selling” not informing.  The information provided on their websites is generally a sales pitch rather than information. 

While someone who knows what they are looking for can narrow down the search results (for instance, “letterpress wedding invitations” yielded 125 thousand results), it is very difficult to find relevant and unbiased information on the internet to guide your search.  In fact, the only unbiased online reference source for leading wedding invitation suppliers is the Stationers Guild which lists over 50 leading wedding invitation vendors with hyperlinks to their websites.   Some of these companies sell online, but many do not.

Mrs. Maedjaja cites All Wedding Essentials as having an ” . . . amazing selection and many different possibilities. No matter what your taste is, you are bound to find something you love here.”  Perhaps you will, but this is a rather poor and limited sample of the universe of custom wedding invitations. Therese Saint Clair carries two of the three lines listed on the All Wedding Essentials website and they can hardly be considered trend-setters for wedding invitation design.  In fact, one is a commercial printer better known for its business stationery than its wedding invitations.   

For those seeking to avoid template-based online solutions, the best way to research invitations is to visit a qualified stationer. Mrs. Maedjaja suggests The Farm Basket in Lynchburg.   I do not personally know the owners of  The Farm Basket, but seeing paper and printing options first-hand is far preferable to coping with low resolution images and template-based online solutions.  Unfortunately, the article leaves the impression that it is “cheaper” to shop online than it is to do so in a store.   This is generally not the case.

Storefront stationers carry a variety of wedding invitation lines and customization options at different price points.  When you work with an experienced stationer, you receive expertise that is generally lacking in the online world.  These stationers work to create the best custom wedding invitation for your budget.   Furthermore, they are often full of suggestions on how to economize on other aspects of your wedding that online retailers are simply not in a position to provide.

The Stationers Guild has approximately 300 qualified stationers listed on their website.  Nine of these stationers are within a 100 mile radius of Lynchburg.  While this is by no means an exhaustive list of “qualified” stationers, it does provide the consumer with a dependable resource well within their extended neighborhood.  Crafting your wedding invitation with an experienced stationer makes a lot of common sense and may just save you some dollars and cents.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

The syndicated online news release is a great way to create “buzz” about your stationery store and announce important community events.  For the most part, these online services are relatively inexpensive and in many cases are free.  Writing a “good” press release requires a bit of skill since you want to avoid shamelessly promoting your business.  After all, it is a “news release” and not an “advertisement” or political message.

While online services are quite useful in disseminating information to the search engines and local news services, you should be aware that there could be some unintended consequences.  Specifically, your news message can be usurped by banner advertisements.  Also, keywords in your release maybe hijacked by hyperlinks to redirect readers to a third-party website and, perhaps, that of a competitor.  It is as if your news release were simply buried in the classified ads of your newspaper.

An interesting case in point is today’s news release by Blissful Designs, a UK company that provides online invitations and stationery.  The article was syndicated by Live-PR yet it contains banner ads from online competitors and hyperlinked keywords that were added by Live-PR to redirect the reader to competitive websites.  As the snap-shot below illustrates, the competitors get more attention than Blissful Designs.

Blissful_News_Release

As you can see, the two Banner Ads from Paper Divas overwhelm Blissful Designs’ news release.  You have to question whether Live-PR was a useful way to promote their new website.  If you plan to use a “free” or an inexpensive online syndication service, you may well end up promoting a competitor.  Personally, I use PR-Web which allows the user to control how their ads will be displayed.  It is certainly more expensive, but absolutely worth the protection that your message won’t be distorted by advertising parasites.  Furthermore, the success of online printers is more often determined by search engine optimization strategies than by selling fine papers.  Let the online buyer beware!

Today I came across a news release by Paper Divas discussing wedding trends for the 2009 season.   They claim to be a “preferred resource” for wedding style and etiquette, but I have always thought of them as a tech-savvy company selling template-based online invitations and stationery.   Paper Divas has done an outstanding job optimizing their website for search.  Nevertheless, their real challenge is to convince bridal couples to buy wedding invitations online.

While expediency sometimes gets in the way of common sense, buying fine stationery and custom invitations online is downright silly.  Gosh, would you would risk $500 or more for an online wedding invitation when the odds of getting what you want are stacked against you from the get-go? 

First, internet image resolutions are of poor quality and often purposely distorted to avoid reproduction.  With a limited internet color range, different monitor resolutions and poor quality image reproduction, it is almost impossible to determine the outcome of your printed invitation.

Second, paper texture and the weight of the paper stock are vital components in selecting your invitation.  Why not visit a qualified stationer and feel hundreds of paper samples rather than the one or two that might be sent to you by an online store? 

Third, colors change dramatically depending on the printing process you use.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see true color reproduction on different paper stock rather than leave it to chance with your online dealer? 

Fourth, most quality paper companies and designers recognize that crafting a custom wedding invitation is more than filling-in an online template.  In fact, many of the leading fine paper companies do not sell custom invitations online. They simply want the buyer to feel their papers, discuss printing options and receive expert advice from an experienced stationer before making a major financial commitment.  In short, they want the buyer to have a positive outcome based on “real” samples and expert advice rather than the “luck-of-the-draw” with an online store.

If you want expert advice, simply consult a qualified stationer in your neighborhood.  Many of the leading stationers can be found on the Guild website.  Don’t be seduced by the online hype.  Some things are best done in person and creating a custom wedding invitation is certainly one of them.

Richard W. May
Founding Member

I occasionally come across a “serious” news article where you simply scratch you head and wonder if the two martini lunch limit is still in effect. The news article in question is “Bridezilla goes digital” by Mary Teresa Bitti of the Financial Post which I believe is part of the Canada.com network. I say “believe” since when I tried to find out more about the Financial Post, I got a pop-up image of a penguin which I thought resided only in Antarctica.

Paraphrasing Owen Sagness, vice president of the online services group of Microsoft Canada, “the digital wedding . . . is using technology to make it (weddings) faster, easier (and) cheaper. At the end of the day the outcome of the wedding is the same.” While I can certainly agree with Mr. Sagness that a couple passes from a state of being unmarried to a state of being married, I find the suggested “digital” transformation via Microsoft to be practical, but oh so boring!

Imagine receiving a digital wedding invitation in your eMail box. If it hasn’t already been filtered out by a Spam filter you get hyperlinked to a “cool” e-Invite site which displays a fabulous pixilated image of a wedding invitation. You are thinking “Boy this is convenient! I can automatically reply to this e-Invite by clicking on a few fields, select moose steak, salmon or tofu for the rehearsal dinner, get re-directed to the gift registry site and/or chose to participate in the wedding through a webcam presentation.” If you are a traditionalist like me, you may want to print out the invitation in Adobe Acrobat and fax or mail your response card. But “gosh this is so darn convenient” that you decide to respond digitally.

There is no question that technology makes most everything “faster, easier and cheaper” but is it relevant? The Chinese have an old adage that “evil travels in a straight line.” While efficiency is often appropriate for many business situations, I remain skeptical of its value in social situations. Surely, Mr. Sagness would not recommend that his children solely participate in online schools, online religious classes or online hockey. Social interaction on a personal level is the foundation of a civilized society. Over centuries the institution of marriage is considered to be one of the most sacred and cherished ceremonies. Does it make sense to diminish the importance of that occasion to a webcast wedding that may conflict with a local hockey match? If significant events are of value to you, embrace the traditions which link our ancestors and their traditions. I respect technology as much as the next person, but certainly don’t find it a credible substitute for personal interaction.