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The 5 Steps Every Printer Should Take to Better Serve Today’s Customers

The 5 Steps Every Printer Should Take to Better Serve Today’s Customers

Nr. 5If a printer stopped me on the street and challenged me to share my 5 best tips for serving print customers today, here’s exactly what I’d say:

  1. Pay more attention to marketing departments. That’s where a good chunk of print sourcing is coming from. In research I’ve done, data suggests that about one third of print customers now work in marketing environments. The 2 other key areas are purchasing and graphics (or creative).
  2. Thoroughly explain & promote your digital capabilities. Position them in ways that marketers can appreciate. Personalization is hugely important and on the rise. Let your audience know what you can produce digitally and give them guidance on preparing VDP campaigns. Make sure you cover its tracking functionality – ROI is key. Many marketers still don’t know how printed materials can be tracked and therefore measured.
  3. Improve your online presence. That’s where prospects will look for you. What will they find? Start with your web site – do it professionally – and expand into the other online channels for which you have a NATURAL flair. You don’t need to be everywhere…but you need to have an impressive and active online presence. I’d start with LinkedIn.
  4. Hire a kid. I’m thinking of a Gen C hire, even an intern. These digital natives (born approximately between 1982 and 1996) can teach all of us about connecting online, the importance of peer reviews, and why visual is much more powerful than copy on its own. They are your customers (if not now, soon).
  5. Get your head out of the printing sandbox. By looking well beyond your own field, you’ll see valuable glimpses of where you should be heading. How are consumers changing their purchasing behaviors? How will mobile and other ecommerce options affect your business? Look at the top 3 industries you now serve: how are they changing? There’s so much going on that affects each of our businesses. Be aware. You’ll be challenged. You’ll be informed. You’ll be inspired.

I feel very strongly about these 5 steps for printers. They can’t be done overnight, but each is a noble and important goal.

Have you focused on any one of them so far this year? How did you implement them and what’s been the result?

©2014 Margie Dana. All rights reserved.