In times of uncertainty, look for toe holds where you can wiggle into new verticals or open doors in your market. Small openings can lead to big opportunities. Toe holds are especially important when your competitors are distracted and not paying attention. Stick...
When I was a kid, there was this thing called the Helping Hand Program. If you were hurt, lost or in danger, you could knock on the door of a house that had a handprint sign in the window, and the family would watch over you while they called your parent. Even though...
“HEY, printers! How will you use email in 5 – 10 – 20 years?” Have you thought about it? Have you planned how email will be part of your business? How will you use it to make money and get print customers? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane to 25 or so...
To help print thrive, we must find ways to share our personal stories about print with those outside the industry. Emotional stories and vivid, life-changing memories remind people of the role that print has played in their own lives. Do you have print-powerful...
How do you communicate with your customers? Are you stuck in one channel or are you mixing it up and keeping it spicy? Many printers prefer to handle customer communication through email. Email is quick, immediate, efficient and affordable. As a way to stay in touch...
Create a three-cornered marketing communications powerhouse to open doors, get recognized, and make yourself indispensable. I am a huge believer in print plus email as a powerhouse marketing combination, and I write about that topic a lot. When you add a third...
Remember the 1988 romantic comedy Bull Durham? Every season baseball groupie Annie Savoy adopts a single-A league player from the Durham Bulls as her project, to improve, using her own homegrown rules. Like Annie, every year I, too, take on a project (just the...
I’m sitting down with a solopreneur to help get marketing under control. “It’s been about five years since I really worked on marketing,” she says. “It’s a real beast.” Beastly — ha! — I like that. Yes, I can see how business owners would view their marketing program...
Should we use seasonal content in print and email if we want people to engage, remember and even share? The answer is YES if the seasonal content is fresh, original, memorable and has a unique point of view. Here’s how to add a seasonal element to your...
Freshman year in college, a friend “willed” me her work-study job in a campus library. Located in a beautiful white marble building, the library was a simple room with glass-front barrister bookcases, glossy wood tables, and clerestory windows. In the afternoons, the...
“Marilee is distraught,” said my friend. “I gave her your name.” My friend’s boss, Marilee, published a beautiful printed magazine. Marilee had not raised her rates, even though all of her costs had gone up. “She’s losing money,” my friend said. “There’s no place...
My client, King, sold new and used videos, games and fan collectibles. He printed a newsletter every month. When I started working with him, King’s newsletter was mostly canned, with syndicated reviews. He wanted to produce something original, distributed in-store to...
