Margie Dana

Maybe you’re lucky and work with a BIG team of print-buying and design colleagues. Probably not, though. Most corporate print buyers work alone or with one or two others. It can be isolating. It can also be hard to keep up with your field.

Worry not! I’ve come up with the Top 6 ways to help keep you plugged in:

Visit www.piworld.com daily. Full disclosure: I blog for them a few times a month on print buyer issues -but they have a couple of dozen other bloggers, too – in their “Printing’s Best Blogs” section. Tons of helpful content, representing a lot of different viewpoints. PIworld.com is a great printing portal, period.
Visit www.whattheythink.com daily. WTT is another dynamic printing portal for print industry news. Like PIworld, WTT offers webinars, videos, and some of the most engaging content on printing available anywhere. They offer a Premium Membership to give you access to all the content on the site. It’s under $200/yr.
3. Use LinkedIn daily. Make sure your profile is robust, accurate and current. This is a top professional resource that keeps you connected to people in the field and vice versa. Don’t think that it’s just a site you use when looking for a new job. Nay! Nay! The search function alone is worth playing with. Search by people, companies, jobs, groups, and on and on. Connect with your peers. Find service providers. Check out the titles and job descriptions (sort of) of people listed here. Honestly, you’ll be amazed how much you’ll learn about career opportunities.
4. Join a few print buying groups on LinkedIn. Our own group, Print Buyers International, is vendor-free. This means you can connect with your peers and not worry about service providers bombarding you with sales pitches. Ask questions when you’re in a bind or need to find a resource. Take advantage of your peers’ knowledge here.
5. Create a printing section in Google news. It’s simple and free. Go to and begin by personalizing the site for your tastes. Basically, you enter key words like printing, graphic arts, print buying, paper, & commercial printing. Then all news stories that feature your key words will be aggregated into your very own news section. Visit it daily or more
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often. Do it with other topics that relate to your work as well.
6. Contact your local PIA affiliate (if you’re in the US). The Printing Industries of America is the industry’s largest trade association. PIA has about 30 regional affiliates (mine is PINE – Printing Industries of New England). Many affiliates offer print buyer programming. Find your affiliate by visiting www.printing.org and on the left, enter your zip code in the Find Your Affiliate box. Or just go here: http://www.printing.org/affiliates. Call up your affiliate president and ask him or her what resources they offer print customers.

These 6 ideas are a great way to keep informed about printing and the graphic arts. News, blogs, online peer groups, tapping into a large trade association, and meeting peers and industry leaders for networking and learning – all solid advice.