Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Print Business?
“TikTok is just a fad for kids. Kids don’t buy print, so I shouldn’t waste my time thinking about TikTok.” ~ Old-fashioned printing company executive Wrong, wrong, wrong. First of all, TikTok may or may not be appropriate for your print business, but if it isn’t, the reason is NOT that this platform is just […]
The Perfect Partnership: Collaboration Between Printers and Designers
In the world of printing and design, collaboration is key. From business cards to banners, brochures to billboards, the collaboration between printers and designers each bringing their unique skill sets to the table is a crucial element in producing high-quality print materials that stand out in a competitive market. Now, I realize that this concept is […]
Five Signs You Are a Print Junkie – 2023 Edition
Do you see print everywhere? Do you count down the days until the new printing press or finishing equipment arrives at your print shop? Do you know what Pantone color the sky is? Do you make vacation plans around printing industry events or incorporate them? Do you look at digital marketing and come up with […]
2022: A Year of Tepid Transformation for the Post-Pandemic Printing Industry
Greetings Citizens of the Printerverse! Another year for the printing industry is in the books. It seems like it zipped by although I can remember how slow the days and weeks felt at the beginning of the year. That is all just a blur now. So much has changed this year, and continues to change […]
Twitter Advertising is Dead. Long Live Print!
Print has always been a potent channel for direct marketing and communication, and one of the safest. This is not new information to us. But recent events on Twitter including the image above sent out by ‘Nintendo America’ have sent shockwaves through the socialverse. The reputation and stock prices of brands caught up in the […]
How to Tell if You Are Considered a Print Vendor or a Print Partner
If print customers are thinking of you as a print vendor and not as a print partner, you are in serious trouble. You are interchangeable. You are competing on price. You are a number on a spreadsheet. You aren’t top of mind for recommendations or referrals. You are on the way out and you probably […]
How to Attract the Best Print Customers
“Nobody ever asked me what customers I wanted before.” This was told to me by the VP of Sales at a $25 million revenue commercial print business a few years back. Throughout his career, new print customers came in seemingly randomly by referrals, leads from the website and the phone, and hunting sales reps. So […]
3 Ways to Earn Trust Through Collaboration with Print Customers
The secret to earning referrals and long-term loyalty with print customers for their printing and print marketing needs is really no secret. Creative collaboration is the key to success. Collaboration can take many forms. On the lowest end, we have information exchange and administrative collaboration: emails, calls, job status, pricing, billing, and so on. The […]
How to Help Overworked Print Customers Buy From You
Making print sales isn’t easy these days. Supply chain issues are disrupting the process and the ability to promise everything will be ok with 100% certainty. This situation can make even the most seasoned print customers nervous especially if they work as a print producer at advertising agencies, brands, or corporations that plan their print […]
Is Empathy in Your Marketing Toolkit?
I was brought in as an expert by another marketing consultant. He was working with an international company, and one of their tried-and-true lead gen programs was not doing the job anymore. We met with the corporate marketing people, and they explained the program. Then we got on a Zoom call with the salespeople, and […]
Stunningly Simple: An Uncoated Viewbook Beats Out the Bling
In the past, my client sent top prospects a glitzy book — a sales-oriented white paper. It was packaged in a royal purple turned-edge leather binder with a branded silver clasp. Bling-a-bling-bling! The white paper (created by a big-name agency) was crammed with features and benefits, had pie charts and QR codes, and the typical […]
Project Peacock: A Resource Playground for Printers and Creatives
These days good information is increasingly difficult to come by. Unless you already know what you’re looking for, you may have to dig through a few google pages to find the “right” information. Sure, my keywords will get me towards what I need…but after filtering through all the sponsored information and the various blogs that […]
