Lucidiom Newsletter

April 30, 2004 • Issue #6

Thank you everyone who filled out the recent Lucidiom Marketing Survey. We received some helpful feedback about our products and services. You will notice that this newsletter is a bit longer than the previous issues, which is in response to many of your comments. If we missed you on the survey list and you would like to participate, please contact marketing@lucidiom.com.

As always, if there is anything you would like to share with us or with the rapidly-growing family of APM owners out there, please don't hesitate to drop me a line. And, if any of you will be attending the PMA Dixie Division annual meeting in Asheville at the beginning of June, I'll be there, so keep an eye out!
Sincerely, Rachel

May SALES...What's on sale? APM 1000, Mitsubishi CP-9000DW and APM add-ons: Print Station software, thermal receipt printer, VIP Event Software, APM Merchant Services. Sale prices good only during the month of May. Click here for details.

John Goodine, President of Elm City Photo in Waterville & Augusta, Maine sent us a brilliant marketing idea he's allowed us to share with you.

John spotted an opportunity to increase his digital print orders by offering his traditional film customers a choice: Conventional develop and print or they can try his money-saving "Select and Save Processing."

With Elm City's "Select and Save Processing," the lab processes the customer's negatives and gives them a CD in 30 Minutes. The customer puts the CD in the APM, scrolls through the images, chooses only the ones they want printed, waits for 20 minutes and the prints are ready. According to John, "The response is overwhelming. Customers usually wait or go shopping for a bit and return. Or they will browse my selections of frames, albums etc. while I am processing their selected prints."

The best part is that Elm City can advertise a lead-in price of $2.99 per roll and beat out the bigger film developer stores. The Elm City employees assist the customer in placing their first order and encourage them to order enlargements on the spot. "This works like a charm," John says. "The total sale off each roll of film has averaged $17.35 not including add-on items such a frames etc. The CDs are labeled with our store email and also information on how to reorder off the web. Film customers at my store are now doing digital and I will need 2 more [APMs] before summer hits, I am sure."

So, John inspired our marketing staff to create some materials to go along with this idea. Click the image to see a larger sample of what you can find at http://www.lucidiom.com/marketing.htm

Read the interview with John Goodine in "Spotlight on Elm City Photo" further down in this newsletter.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has created a Special Interest Group (SIG) devoted to advancing the digital imaging industry and Lucidiom is one of the founding members! The SIG kicked off its first meeting on April 21 and two of Lucidiom's own were there. Digital Imaging SIG activities will include media tours, market research, and general product category promotion. See ce.org for updates, press releases and more info.

Mitsubishi has a new dye sub printer, the CP-9000DW. This printer is rather small (W x H x D is 11.8 x 12.7 x 14.3) and boasts a 20 second print time for 4x6 prints, 17 seconds for 3x5. It allows a USB 2.0 or SCSI-II connection. You can set it to fine (346 dpi) or super-fine (692 dpi) mode. A paper roll is good for 600 4x6 prints. According to the manufacturer's marketing materials, it has a revolutionary new ink system, in which the ink sheet has built-in Color Imaging Chips that contain specific data about the media, which the printer uses to accurately control color characteristics.

Dye sub printers are an inexpensive way to give your customers more print options. Customers are usually willing to pay a little more for immediate gratification! If you aren't using a dye sub printer as an "Express" print option with your APM, consider the Mitsubishi 9000. The printer cost from Lucidiom is $1800. (Click here for the May SALE price!) The per print media cost (from Lucidiom) is just 21¢ for 4x6 and 18.5¢ for 3x5.

Click here for the manufacturer's pdf brochure.

Click here for an order form for dye sub paper from all manufacturers!

We posed 5 questions to our friend, John Goodine, of Elm City Photo. John is a 3rd generation photo finisher. His mother founded the company in 1946. Elm City Photo has 2 locations in Maine and is a member of the Independent Photo Imagers (IPI) buying group.

Q: After setting up the APM, how long was it before your first order?
John: Coincidentally, we had someone waiting while the setup was occurring. There were several other orders done just after setup. The setup went smoothly and took only 45 minutes.

Actually, I think the main contributor to our success in setting the APM up was our preparation. We had all the wires and cables setup and ready to go when we received the APM. Additionally, two of my employees have good computer knowledge and that made the communication with Lucidiom easy. These days computer savvy employees are extremely valuable.

Q: What type of printer are you connected to and how are you connected?
John: Our APM is connected first to the Lucidiom Print Station and ultimately to a Fuji Frontier 370. We use the hot-folder method to communicate with the PIC. So far, the setup has been great and created no problems. However, the PC we chose for the Print Station is a little under-powered and we are going to upgrade it.

Again, having computer savvy employees has made this very easy on us.

Q: Has the APM been more or less successful than you anticipated?
John: The APM has been as successful as we anticipated. We knew we needed to provide these features to our customers. We have not even had our Grand-Opening for this location and I am pleased with the results. We have had many comments about the ease of use. Most of our customers have used other brands of photo kiosks and have not been pleased. With this product, customer satisfaction is very high.

Q: What is your favorite feature of the APM?
A: While at PMA, I investigated most of the photo kiosks and really was taken with the APM. The main reason was the ability to order multiple sizes on one screen and see what you have ordered. The Tabs on the ordering screen are my favorite feature. It really is simple for the customer to understand what has been ordered. I would like to see Flatbed support as soon as possible.

Q: You have an interesting way of introducing the APM to your 35mm customers, can you describe it?
A: We have a method that we call "Select and Save Processing." We developed this strategy by looking at the Big Box stores and figuring out what they can’t do (Guerilla Marketing). We knew we wanted to leave the customer with the impression that we are just as affordable as the Big Box stores, but with more options.

It all starts with a sandwich board outside our store. "Select Processing, Free CD, and an Index Print for only $2.99." Basically, when a customer brings in rolls of film we immediately process the film, scan the film and make a CD. Rather than make the prints immediately, we walk the customer over to the APM and show them how easy it is to select individual pictures for enlargements and reprints from the CD. The process has been so successful that after only 2 months of using the APM we are adding 2 more. We also offer incentives to keep the customer in the store while we process the film. For example, first time users are offered a free 5x7 to test the process. Additionally, we offer a 10% discount on frames with any processing purchase.

Elm City Photo (check out their website!) Does your APM setup look great? Want to share tips and photos or volunteer for our next newsletter interview? Email news@lucidiom.com.

Photo Finale: Own a customized version of Photo Finale? Use it with the APM-- click here to find out how.

Sending your XML Files to Support: In the configuration menu of both the APM and the Print Station software there is a button to send configuration to support, should you need any help fixing or adjusting APM settings. Click here for more info.

USB Devices: The APM 1000 can accept images from USB storage devices! Click here for directions on how to set up.

You need more and better marketing materials available.
We have a set of materials available for download on lucidiom.com and try to add a new piece each week. If you have a special request, please email your request to marketing@lucidiom.com and our marketing staff will try their best to accomodate you.

If you have a great marketing idea, sales tip, sign, banner, flyer or other piece you would like to share, send it to the marketing@lucidiom.com. We will post your piece, give you credit and (if you would like to fulfill any print orders) post information for others to purchase the item directly from you. Our newest additions are the marketing pieces from Techlab that were highlighted in the last newsletter. Check them out at: http://www.lucidiom.com/marketing.htm.