Sarah Blake

Client Strategist
Click to see Sarah’s team here.
  • Connect with Sarah Blake

Grit. Determination. Leadership. Those are the words that I have been told describe me. Growing up in Wauwatosa, WI, I always searched for a challenge and pushed myself to succeed. While studying Communication Arts at Cardinal Stritch University, I kept busy by performing in the orchestra, captained the women’s soccer team (Go Wolves!), and was a student ambassador in the ‘Stritch Office of Admissions.

I fell in love with admissions, so when I graduated I transitioned to a full time position. I grew through the ranks, eventually becoming the Associate Director of Admissions. After nine years, I left Stritch and became the Director of Recruitment and Admissions with the School of Pharmacy at Concordia University Wisconsin.

After a few years at Concordia, I decided that I wanted to explore other options where I could use my knowledge of higher education to help other institutions. During my time at Cardinal Stritch and Concordia, I partnered with Magellan Promotions on a number of projects. So, when a position became available, I reached out to the team and eventually joined the company.

In my role as a Client Strategist, I provide product solutions to collegiate clients. I enjoy using my higher education expertise and experience, customer service skills, positive attitude and creative problem solving mindset on all of the projects I get involved in.

My husband, son, 2 dogs and cat live in Tosa where I was born and raised. In my free time I try to be outside as much as possible– my son and I love going for hikes and walks w/ our pups, checking out new playgrounds, exploring Lake Michigan, camping at Peninsula State Park, or visiting the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and Boerner Botanical Gardens (Margie’s Garden is the best!)

What would be your baseball walk out song?

Thunderstruck by ACDC – This was my favorite song to warm up for soccer games in college.

If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be?

Mia Hamm – she paved the way for women’s soccer in the US and has always been someone I’ve admired

What was your favorite band/artist 10 years ago?

Maroon 5

What job would you be terrible at?

Chef

Variable Data Best Practices

  • At the quoting stage of your project, please let us know how many fields of variable data your piece will have as this can affect pricing.
  • Data should be provided to us as an Excel spreadsheet with only the applicable data included.
  • Verbiage for variable data fields on artwork file should match up exactly with data fields on spreadsheet.
  • Spacing on artwork must allow for longest data entries. We recommend that your designer tests this in advance to confirm that the fields in the design can fit your longest pieces of data.

Postage Permits

We are happy to mail using a client’s USPS non-profit number. Here are a few best practices for this to go smoothly. Let our team know up front on the project so we can make sure to get the information we need right away. 

While our mail house does prefer to use their permit number for the mailing, we can use the client’s permit, If using their permit number, ensure there is enough postage to cover the mailing.

The information we need to in order to use a client’s nonprofit number includes the following:

  • CRID (customer registration ID)
  • Non-Profit Authorization Number (with USPS, not their nonprofit number for the university)
  • Non-profit indicia
  • Return address that is on file with USPS for the non-profit authorization number
  • Permit number

Formatting the Mailing List

Our account team will advise on specific requirements for your project’s mailing list.  We generally recommend these best practices to format the mailing list:
  • Send your data in a spreadsheet, saving it in the comma-separated values (CSV) format
  • International addresses must be separated from domestic addresses
  • Domestic addresses should at least contain data fields for “first name”, “last name”, “address 1”, “address 2”, “city”, “state” and “ZIP code”