There are opportunities to bring modern print offerings through data-driven technology to a flurry of businesses if you look around, assess the print experience they are offering, and strategize on how to improve it for everyone.
Recently, I went to a doctor’s appointment in a medical complex and was aghast at the “reading materials” print experience offered to waiting patients. Magazines from 2022 and 2023, and a newsletter about the medical group. Needless to say, everyone, including me, was scrolling on our phones. But did we have to be? That was the question I pondered as I waited to be called.
The lowest-hanging fruit would be to convince the medical group to subscribe or resubscribe to publications so that the waiting area materials are current. But what’s the point of that when you can read the same content, or enough of it, online? That isn’t a unique or relevant print experience.
I looked at the printed newsletter. In classic form, it was all about the medical group. The information wasn’t connected to patients beyond establishing credibility for the practice and validating their choice of medical providers. Not a relevant print experience.
The complex is like a mall of doctors’ offices and treatment centers, from eye exams to chemotherapy. There was an opportunity to educate all waiting patients at every office about everything offered in the complex, highlight feel-good patient stories, welcome new practices, and more. Instead, it was filled with brief “press release” information clearly targeted at the people who worked there. It was a true printed newsletter. It had a purpose, just not one I can correlate with sitting in a waiting area—unless the format was updated or a second version was created for patients.
What relevant print experience would keep me off my phone? That was the question. And I knew the answer. I would have turned to print if there was relevant, topical, and timely information about the area I live in, like upcoming street fairs, festivals, concerts, and events. Or about the area I shop in, such as new stores or special offers for readers. Or about new restaurants, and established ones, I may not have heard of.
A community magazine isn’t a new concept, but it could be a fantastic print experience and opportunity for marketers and printers to reinvent what it is and monetize it as a product. Office by office, business by business, neighborhood by neighborhood. And I met someone who has done that.
We filmed two episodes of Project Peacock with Deborah Brandt, the founder of FIG Industries in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, her team, and her printing partner, Sam Kirchner from The Standard Group. They share how their collaboration brings a wow factor to each edition and how the move to uncoated paper from Domtar elevated the look and feel of this unique city guide.
It can be done. Watch the videos!
Create A City Magazine to Celebrate Your Community
Collaborating with Paper and Printing Partners
After my appointment, I was waiting by the elevator and saw a flyer hanging on the wall. It promoted a series of podcasts featuring doctors from the medical group, covering topics from the common cold to cardiology. There was a QR code to scan that brought you to the site where the podcasts live. Finally, a relevant print experience for patients, created with nothing more than a color copier.
This was a Print Experience to Build Upon
What if the flyer were transformed into a mini-magazine? It could be an extension of the newsletter or a standalone piece with more information about the podcast offerings. And yes, it could be done, because I had done it.
David Drucker, founder of highresolution printing and packaging, and Noel Tocci, founder of Tocci Made, are my co-hosts for the Making It With Print series on the Podcasts from The Printerverse channel. We presented at the Digital Book World Conference in NYC in 2023 and created a print experience through a podcast brochure to share with the digital publishers. I wanted to show them that it was possible to educate, promote, market, and sell digital media through a digital bridge from print. They loved it.
The biggest takeaway from that event was that the digital publishers weren’t averse to using print at all, or creating a print experience. They just didn’t know how. They don’t work in print, even though many of their companies are among the largest print publishers in the U.S. and beyond. Different divisions, different businesses. We helped them connect the print possibilities to their world.
You Can, Too.
Venture out and experience the print experience offered by businesses. Make a note of the places where it’s missing or could be vastly improved. Then do something about it. These businesses don’t know all their options—or that they can collaborate with a printer, marketer, and designer to create meaningful, personal engagements that matter to their customers and their bottom lines.
What Are You Waiting For?
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See Deborah’s recent post: Meaningful Messaging is the Print Marketing Metric That Matters Most
Deborah Corn is the Intergalactic Ambassador to the Printerverse at Print Media Centr and Executive Director of Girls Who Print, a global nonprofit supporting women in the industry. She’s a ‘Print Buyerologist’, international speaker, blogger, and host of Podcasts From The Printerverse. Deborah also leads the Print Production Professionals Group on LinkedIn, the largest print group on the platform, and is the founder of Project Peacock, an educational initiative that has connected with more than 8,000 print customers, students, and printers through live events, online programs, and streaming content on ProjectPeacock.TV. She is also the founder of International Print Day, an annual global celebration of print.
Through all her work, Deborah delivers printspiration, education, and valuable resources to print and marketing professionals around the world. She’s the recipient of multiple industry honors, including the 2016 Girls Who Print Girlie Award, and serves on advisory boards and technical committees supporting print education and career development, including the Advertising Production Club of NYC, Graphic Communications Education Association (GCEA, Lewis-Clark State College, and Five Keys Schools and Programs.
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