There is a local shopping area of retail stores, restaurants, and businesses a mile from my apt. It’s where I do my...
Cultivating Community Connection: A Marketing Strategy for Generating Local Print Business
In the digital age, where screens often dominate communication, it's easy to overlook the power of local community...
Now Trending: Digital Media Needs Print Media to Extend Marketing ROI
The advertising landscape is in flux. Marketers and media planners are moving dollars to follow their audience to...
How to Run a DIY Print Sales Improvement Program
If your print sales team wants to systematically improve -- rather than leave things to chance -- try running a DIY...
drupa next age: Platform for Networking and New Business
The special area drupa next age (dna) sets the scene for newcomers and young talents from the print and packaging...
Why Print Businesses Shouldn’t Dodge Disastrous Reviews
On the most recent episode of PrinterChat, a Podcasts from The Printerverse series co-hosted by me, Jamie McLennan,...
Should You Email People Who Didn’t Ask You To?
Print business owners and marketers: Raise your hand if you have ever sent email marketing to a prospect database...
How Printers Can Build a Strategic Lighthouse to Guide the Business
Where is your print business headed? Not sure? Too many owners rush to the tactical side without a strategic beacon to...
Can Geofencing and Retargeting Work for Your Print Marketing?
Your prospective print customers are everywhere. And yet they can be so hard to find. Quite a few of them are using...
Marketing Strategy + Execution + Continuous Improvement = Long-Term Profit
Every printing company needs a marketing strategy, but most don’t have one. Strategically and logically combining...
When Print Sales Are Down, Who’s Really at Fault?
When printing businesses see their sales drop, there are gaping organizational issues that can be the root cause. The...
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,...
Is Your Print Sales Team Holding You Back?
In my work consulting with sales and marketing teams in printing companies, I hear a common refrain from the marketing...
Why Creating a Search-Optimized Print Website Feels So Good
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) feels so good. Why? Because a search-optimized print website can help you meet...
Do First Things First When Marketing Your Printing Company
When creating a new marketing campaign for your printing company, it’s good -- no, it's imperative -- to do the first...
Cookie Cutter Print Marketing Doesn’t Generate High ROI
Print shop owner #1: “Lead generation is hard, expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating.” Print shop owner #2: “We...
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...
High-Speed Digital Print and Finishing at Hunkeler Innovation Days 2023
This international print industry event showcases innovations and further developments in high-speed digital print and...
2023 CMYK Manifesto: Disrupt, Disclose, Do Better
Greetings Citizens of the Printerverse and welcome to a New Year! For the first time in 3 years, it feels like an...
Busting the Hustle-Bro Marketing Myth
What does it take to succeed at marketing in today’s printing business? I’ll tell you what it doesn’t take. Buying...
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...
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...
Are You Getting Noticed by Print Customers?
Are you getting noticed by your print customers? Do you know how they found you? I recently sat in on a client’s sales...
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...
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...
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...
5 New Business Development Takeaways from KushCon Tampa
On August 6th, I attended KushCon Tampa with Will Crabtree – aka #WillThePrinter, co-host of the PrinterChat series on...
Navigating Sustainability for Embellished Packaging
Have you ever wondered what you or your customers can do with your decorated, embellished packaging and printed...
Video (and More!) Marketing Strategies for Your Print Business (Part 2)
People love video marketing. OK, maybe that’s not true for everyone. People love video! Yes, that is true, especially...
Building the Future with Print
The viable future of print business is dependent upon how print is used, and what it’s used for. We saw this firsthand...
Video Marketing Strategies for Your Print Business (Part 1)
Video is a marketing tool that print business owners should not ignore. Generally speaking, printers just don’t...
But Wait, There’s More: 3 New Business Ideas for Print Businesses
The summer is approaching and that typically means a little slow down for most print businesses, but honestly who...
Sustainable Packaging Needs Warrant Digital Printing Solutions
Sustainability is one of the hottest topics in the world of packaging today. Companies proactively seek ways to define...
Best Digital Advertising Strategies for Printers to Reach Targeted Print Buyers
Part 2 of a 2-part series How can your print business reach print buyers by using digital advertising? There’s no...
A Coffee Table Book for Your Company? Do Tell!
Your business deserves the very best treatment in telling its story. Elevate it with print! Here's why, and I believe...
Print Samples: Why You Need Your Own Magazine
Many years ago, as we were getting ready for Drupa in 2012 one of the sales team members I was working with in Europe...
ISA Sign Expo Delivers Thrills and Stills
Printing innovation and possibilities were plentiful at the International Sign Association’s (ISA) signature annual...
Print Samples: Love Letter to All Our Pals in Print
Have you ever been specifying a print job and couldn’t remember how to spec an element? Do you want A4 or B4? How do...
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...
Paper Shortages and the Impact of Digital Print in Packaging
Everyone seems to be talking about supply chain issues and the paper shortage right now. Though the shortage is...
Should Your Print Business Pay to Advertise with Mark Zuckerberg?
Part 1 of a 2-part series Paid digital advertising is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways for a print...
Marketing to the Lucrative SaaS Sector
Marketing to the SaaS sector starts by understanding the everyday challenges of this type of business. Today let’s...
Print Samples: Create Your Own Magazine
When was the last time you told someone about a great magazine article you read online? For many, reading online is...
Combine the Powers of Digital Printing with Digital Marketing
If you’re like most print service providers, you are trying to grow your business. You want new customers while...
BYOB – Beverage Packaging Gets Personal
It is estimated that the global digital print market for packaging will reach $28 billion by 2024. This segment has...
Print Samples: The Wonderful VIGC Member Package
Do you belong to an association? A bowling league? Intramural golf? What about a print association? Is that...
Build Back Better Brings Print Customers
This is not a political post. It’s a financial one for design, print, and marketing pros. At the end of 2020, the...
Use Print to Ask for Feedback and Improve Customer Relationships
To improve our businesses, we need to continuously learn about the people we serve. Think about the process of asking...
The Real Cost of Print Customer Acquisition
What does it cost you to get a new lead to your website from your digital marketing campaigns? The cost equation...
A Time Travelers Guide to Digital Printed Packaging
Digital printing is all the rage, we hear about it often in the packaging industry. How did we get here? Currently,...
Print Samples Danish Style
Print shows in Europe often bring out displays of amazing print samples gathered by passionate people who want to...
2022 CMYK Manifesto: Know, Show, Do, Share
This annual post has traditionally focused on what is in front of us in order to help customers generate business...
Do Customer Loyalty and Rewards Programs Drive More Print Profit?
This blog is part 3 of a 3-part series: Maximize New Opportunities Through Current Customers. Catch-up here: Part 1 -...
Back to The Future with Fast-Food Packaging
Fast-food packaging is near and dear to my heart since my first job. I joined the packaging team of a fast-food chain...
Wrapping Up 2021 with Bullish Thoughts for 2022
This year has, in many ways been one giant blur. It was January, yada-yada-yada, and here is my year-end wrap-up post....
How A Customer Reference Program Can Help You Sell More Print
This blog is part 2 of a 3-part series: Maximize New Opportunities Through Current Customers How many print buying...
The Four Words That Define 2021
As I reflect on 2021, I almost feel a little guilty about stating publicly what a great year it was for me. I was...
Explore Print Sample TV: Even More Print Samples!
A few weeks ago, we had a chance to create a bucket of new episodes of Print Sample TV! We have some cool things...
Where, Oh Where Did the Print Customers Go?
I have had vast conversations with big-budget buyers and print buyers buying on a budget over the last two years. I...
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...
Sales Notes from a Campaign Trail
Sales Notes from a Campaign Trail Having just run for a seat on my town council, campaigning for two solid months,...
Print Samples: Pushing the Envelope
The folks at the Envelope Manufacturer’s Association have a mission – envelopes. But it is more than that! They share...
Now Playing at a Theater Near You: PRINT!
I recently wrote an article about the return of the theater experience for the Ricoh Business Booster site where I am...
Is Your Print Business Maximizing the Value of Your Customers?
What is a customer worth to your business? The simplest calculation is your customer lifetime value (CLV), which is...
Anything You Can Do She Can Do Better: 5 reasons to Add Women to your Sales and Mktg. team
Ok people I can see that you can see that I am fired up right now, and with good reason. I just spent all day recently...
3 Productive Ways to Follow Up on Following Up
Printers say the craziest things. While that isn’t the name of a new Podcast From The Printerverse series, it might as...
Know, Like Trust: Funneling Suspects into Sales
Most people who have been in sales for even a few short years have heard about The SALES FUNNEL. You might have first...
Do All Your Employees Know the Elevator Pitch of Your Print Business?
No. The answer is no, they don’t. Some of your employees are non-customer-facing so MAYBE it’s not necessary for them...
Print Samples: Why You Should Use Postcards
Postcards are the lingua franca of communication. Even in today’s Instagram world, people send postcards when they...
Control Pricing and Put Print Profits Back in Your Pocket
Assumptions about pricing can kill your business. Here's an example. Recently I helped a printer get rid of half of...
Print Samples: Let’s Play with Playing Cards!
When was the last time you played with a deck of cards? Real cards, not the online solitaire version? Over the last...
Five Magical Benefits of Creating a Vision Board for Sales
This summer was supposed to be my summer of trying new things. I have been talking to a lot of my clients in sales and...
Winning Sales Strategy: The Moment for a Quick Sales Victory Lap
If you read my posts with any frequency or listen to the Print Buying UK v. USA Podcast co-hosted by me and Matthew...
Lead Generation and Marketing Considerations For Printers
The other day a client forwarded me an email that was written by the president of a commercial printing company who...
What’s Your Priority? Sales Revenue or New Lead Generation?
What do you think is the highest-priority marketing objective of print businesses today? To drive sales revenue or...
The Funnel is Dead. Long Live the Customer Journey!
I remember the first time I read about the marketing funnel and how prospects go through an awareness, consideration,...
Should Your Print Business be Advertising on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn advertising is an expensive form of B2B digital advertising. It’s also one of the most cost-efficient. Wait,...
Beat the Summertime Blues One Week at a Time
I’ve been there and I’ve done it. Summer comes. You take your foot off the gas pedal a bit. You tell yourself that...
3 Proactive Plans for Productive Planner Prospecting
Sometime during 2018 a woman walked up to me in the airport and struck up a light conversation about how often she...
E-Commerce Packaging – Past, Present and Future
Past Catalog sales existed in the mid-1600s for seed and book sales, by the last half of the 1800s, mail-order...
The Sales Edit: 5 Tips to Produce MORE in 2021 and Beyond
First, there was the magic of tidying up with Marie Kondo. Then there was Norwegian Hygge. Now, we have The Home...
Print Samples: Unboxing Packaging for Subscriptions
There is nothing like getting a box in the mail, opening it, and discovering what’s inside. Whether you ordered...
Prospect These Verticals Now for 3rd Quarter Success
Even with Americans being vaccinated at an astonishing pace, we are not out of the woods regarding businesses...
How to Sell Print to the Real Estate Industry
No matter what’s going on in the economy, there’s money to be made for printers who can get in the door with real...
Print Samples: Up Your Event Game with Playing Cards
The title on this one spotlights FujiXerox, which is now Fujifilm Business Innovations, but the story still resonates....
3 Ways to Keep Your Current Customers from Your Competitors
As your Intergalactic Ambassador to The Printerverse my vantage point is unique. I am a connection point and...
How To Remain Relevant By Embracing Change
I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to write about lessons learned a year into our shared COVID-19 experience. But...
The Shocking Power of Surprise
Can you think of a time when you were so surprised that you literally fell off your chair, or spit out your coffee, or...
Print Samples: 19 Crimes Taught Us AR with Story
When you have really great Australian wine to bring to market you face some challenges. Australian vineyards produce a...
Using Content Marketing to Drive Print Buyers to Your Business
Google "what is content marketing" and you’ll get bewildered by a dozen definitions. Some say that content marketing...
The Rewards of Collecting Community ‘Vig’
If you have watched as many movies and TV series as I have since March of last year, ‘vig’ may be a term you are...
Say YES to Customer Lists from Colleagues Who Are Closing Their Doors
When the magazine I ran for 22 years closed its doors, the owners offered me all the business data and customer lists...
The Sales Overwhelm and How Ted Lasso Helped Me Solve It
If you are tired of hearing me take some liberal leaps and tie TV shows, Broadway musicals, and movies into lessons...
Print Samples: Menus Make a Difference!
One of the early segments of PrintSampleTV featured an important marriage of content and paper embodied in a...
2021 CMYK MANIFESTO: REFLECT, RELEASE, RECOVER and REBOUND
Greetings Citizens of the Printerverse and welcome to a New Year! It is a new year, right? The calendar has changed...
My 2021 Resolution: To Help More Printers Get More Customers!
My name is David Murphy and I love to help printers bring value to new customers. In fact, it’s been my passion for...
Print Samples! Let’s Get Started!
Over the decades I’ve developed a love affair with print samples. It started back in high school when I worked in a...
Jumping on the 2021 “Word” of the Year Bandwagon
What’s your “word”? You can’t spend five minutes on social media in January without having ten of your friends,...
2020: The Pandemic, the Pivots and the Perseverance of Print
I am counting the days to 2021 as if it were my release date from prison. I’m keeping my head down, not rocking any...