By Jeff Lewis
Early in my career, I had a job in Manhattan. Living in the suburbs of New York City, I had the same routine every day: drive to the train station, take the train to another train, take that train to mid-town. I’d work an 8-hour day and then do the reverse commute. For the most part, the day was reliably predictable and predictably reliable.
It was, however, a stagnant existence that resulted in perpetual stagnancy. What if I had shaken up the routine somewhat…what could have happened?
Hindsight tells me that had I reinvented my role and responsibilities, perhaps the repetition could have been replaced by profitable mobility.
To stay profitable, companies must shake it up occasionally as well. They constantly need to re-invent themselves. Particularly print service providers (PSPs) who are finding the need to incorporate digital technologies (but may be struggling with that reality) into their offerings so they can efficiently work with their current client base and expand into new markets.
PSPs must tap into their customers’ wants and needs and mix up their offerings to appeal to their cross-media desires. Reinvention isn’t easy; it requires the right mindset, a willingness to change, a thorough understanding of clients and their needs. An occasional chat over lunch isn’t enough. Reinvention requires capturing the right data and making it work.
Cross-Media Marketing requires PSPs to:
- analyze the value of their current offerings
- evaluate new media choices and new market opportunities
- reinvent their company and position it for growth
- approach the business from a marketing (instead of sales) perspective
- transition from a being a printer to being a partner
There are many excellent programs, and some of them address marketing, coming up at this year’s Graph Expo. A complete list of them can be found here. In particular, I can vouch for one of them (because it happens to be hosted by my boss, the founder of Group M, Rosemarie Monaco), and it addresses the issues I have outlined above. If you’re interested in figuring out how to shake up your routine, you can find out more information about it, here.
Jeff Lewis is the vice president of Media Relations for Group M Public Relations & Cross Media Marketing in New York. He is a former journalist who still carries with him a journalist’s mindset. His clients have “magically” appeared on websites, in technology publications, on cable news networks, and in newspapers of all sizes. Jeff has also contributed to the PrintMediaCentr’s blog previously, discussing social media and press releases. You can find more of his helpful marketing nuggets by connecting with him on LinkedIn, following him on Twitter, or liking Group M’s Facebook page. When he is not securing placements for his clients he can be found skiing, gardening, or yakking it up on his radio show every Friday at noon following the news (streamed live here, when it isn’t on hiatus).
