Is it the Right Time to Sell Your Print Business?
Printers ask me: “When is it time to sell or exit from my business?” Good question. Whenever that time is, we can’t wait until the last minute to position your business to attract a buyer. Here’s one way to see where you are on the “readiness to sell” scale. Think of a strike price. A […]
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 […]
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 for customer feedback, for example. While it’s not specifically a marketing activity, it shows customers we care about our relationship with them and we want to serve them better. When you ask for customer feedback, […]
This is Your Brain on Marketing
Remember the 1980s public service announcement: “This is your brain on drugs. (Egg sizzles in a hot frying pan.) Any questions?” As kids, we all made fun of the ad, and it became the meme of its time. But it made an impression. It had a short, simple message with a shocking image. No long explanations […]
Being a Better You is a Marketing Advantage
How do you create the kind of business that people want to work for, sell for, and advocate for? You have to start with people. In my experience, when my clients work on improving themselves, the ripple effect creates a distinct marketing advantage for the business — including the ability to market to potential employees […]
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 […]
Do You Have What it Takes to Build Your Print Business?
Many years ago my printer called me to ask me to help Ed, a customer who was struggling financially and more than 120 days behind in payments. “Ed’s a great guy,” the printer said, “It’s a long shot, but if there’s any hope of getting his business turned around, we think you’re the one who […]
Email Marketing is Easy, Affordable, and Gets Results
Email is a basic tool, but it is very powerful and has decades of marketing practices behind it. It’s perfect for a printing company on a budget. Using affordable and strategic marketing tools such as email on a regular schedule will help plant your brand firmly and positively in your prospect’s mind. BENEFITS OF EMAIL […]
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 his business that was dragging him down. He had spent ten years using loss-leader pricing on half his products. For an entire decade, he made pricing assumptions without backing them up with facts. He had […]
10 Things To Do When Updating Your Website
Whether you bring in a pro to help you update your website — or do it yourself — there are 10 things to do before you hit the publish button. But first! I’d like to talk about one of my early clients. Mike Hasson was the founder of the Hasson Company, a luxury real estate […]
Timing is Everything When Educating Customers About Print Marketing
Timing. Is. Everything. Do your print customers know this? Do they know the clock is ticking? Do they know that time is flowing and tomorrow things may look very different? Are you prepared to educate them so they can get time on their side? Then and now. I help a friend sell ads for our […]
Lessons from a Printing Company Working with Netflix
I toured a printing company that printed the DVD packaging and disks for Netflix, back when the entertainment giant sent DVDs to people’s homes for viewing. The printer was growing and had the floor space to install a brand new specialty press with a dedicated production area — exclusively for Netflix. At that time, Netflix […]
