Everywhere you look, growth in digital marketing channels is increasing. Print is holding steady (in fact, according to Target Marketing‘s Media Usage Survey 2016, 25% of marketers are increasing their use of print), but the world in which print lives is increasingly multichannel. You may not need to offer email, social, mobile, and web marketing… Read More »
I recently watched a webinar on the changing role of print buyers that featured Elizabeth Howitt, manager of production services for John Hancock Financial Services, and Jeff Dickerson, procurement specialist for State Farm Insurance. Lots interesting things transpired during the event, but there was one takeaway, in particular, that I want to talk about here.… Read More »
We keep hearing that printers aren’t in the printing business anymore, and the evidence of non-print-centric thinking is all around us. But it’s one thing to know that you have to embrace change. It’s another to actually do it. In its 2015 State of the Industry report, Epicomm asked printers what they need to do… Read More »
I just got off the phone with Cheryl Kahanec, EVP-Digital, for Earth Color. The topic was multichannel marketing, and as usual, Cheryl left me with a lot to think about. In particular, there was one client story that impressed me. Not just because of how the campaign was put together, but because of the work… Read More »
We can all debate about what the most important goal in business should be. It’s always been my opinion that the most important goal is to “create a sustainable competitive advantage”. From that point, all things follow. The problem is that of all the goals and objectives you can identify creating a sustainable competitive advantage… Read More »
A difficult economy means that your customers are taking longer to decide if they want to spend money with your printing company. This “wait and see” game may go on for months, perhaps years. In the meantime, your business has its own objectives to meet, and bills to pay. Reducing expenses can only take an… Read More »
What lessons can a 19th-century astronomer and aviator teach us about finding new business opportunities? Back in the late 1990s, when I was working full time for Micro Publishing News magazine, one of our sales guys told me of a conversation he had with a cab driver. When the cabbie asked him what he did… Read More »
Available on the What They Think Webinar archive is a Webinar titled “Web-to-Print Is So Yesterday.” It’s fascinating, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. The speakers are from The Toro Company and LifeLock, and both talk about their reasons for investing in their own W2P solution, how they came to make… Read More »
Your business ebbs and flows. Good months followed by an ‘OK’ or a not so good month. How do these results compare to your plan, what’s working and where is either the plan or the execution falling short. We could be talking about a few of your reps or the entire business. Too often the… Read More »
These days, all the buzz is about content marketing. Whether you’re a commercial printer, digital printer, or a marketing firm, gaining new customers is about drawing people in rather than pushing your information out. When customers are ready, they will find you. Effective content marketing requires more than just having good content on your website… Read More »