Margie Dana

4 Digital Marketing Ideas for Printers

Printers develop new business in lots of ways, including direct mail and cold calling. But I’m very vocal about printers using digital marketing to grow their businesses, too, especially through great content. One key reason? Great content that’s valuable to the reader gets shared.

Here are 4 simple ideas for marketing your company using digital means.

1. Maintain a decent website.

Your site shouldn’t be neglected: it’s where people go to check you out. Make sure it articulates what you do and who you serve. It should reflect your company’s personality and make it very clear just what makes you different.

Your website needn’t be deep, but the content must be well written and interesting. Some site content should be refreshed often. There should also be some content that serves as a resource to your market. And the site should be contemporary in design.

2. Have an email marketing campaign.

A regular email (monthly is fine for most printers) sent to customers and prospects will keep you in touch with your market. It’s a communications channel that keeps your audience close and engaged. The key is this: delivering valuable and relevant content. It can’t be a promotional email. People will unsubscribe.

Your email campaign helps you build your database of prospects. It’s also a way to learn more about the people you serve (and want to serve). Naturally, you want to find a way to post this content on your website – and this means your site will be refreshed with every newly sent campaign (taking care of having fresh content on the site).

3. Get social.

Social media is truly about sharing interesting information. It’s easy. It doesn’t require any special skills. And it can drive enormous amounts of traffic to your website. Anton Koekemoer called social media a “social instrument of communication” in his slide presentation about digital marketing. Check it out.

Pick a few platforms that are naturals for your target audience as well as for your company. Is it YouTube? Instagram? Pinterest? Facebook? Twitter? Remember: social media, unlike any other channels, can go viral. If you don’t participate, you’re missing opportunities to grow your reach.

4. Pay attention to your LinkedIn profile.

I’m surprised by how many weak profiles I find on LinkedIn. It’s where I go to check out a business professional, so assume your prospects or potential partners will, too. Keep your profile in tip-top shape. Fill it out with background information on your career and education. Add impressive recommendations. Build your LinkedIn community. All direct connections will have access to your contact information, which I find incredibly useful. Finally, add a good, professional-looking headshot. This means no selfies.

Your digital presence is important, especially to prospects who haven’t met you yet. Establish your reputation through digital marketing. It will help grow your business.

if I can be of service. Developing great content is my specialty. No charge for a phone consult!

6 Easy Ways to Market Your Very Small Business

To me, it’s hilarious that the SBA defines a small business as one having fewer than 500 employees.* If that’s small, you’ll find me under the teensy-weensy classification.

As a sole proprietor, I pay attention to how other “can’t-get-any-smaller” businesses market themselves. Some do it expertly. Others just seem stuck and do very little.

This post is for the non-marketers, and let’s get one thing clear: a mix of channels is mandatory. That said, here are 6 easy ways to market your own little business:

Your website. It’s the first place we’ll go to check you out. You don’t need a deep one, but it should be professionally designed, and it must accurately reflect your specialty. Products and services must be easy to find (and understand). Infuse your site with your personality so it’s the opposite of a boilerplate site. Make sure there’s a brand ID with enough color and visuals to make it memorable. This theme should be used in all of your other marketing channels.
Email marketing. This is the horse’s mouth talking: email marketing works. I’m not saying it’s easy to figure out, but if you deliver value to people who’ve opted in to your regular emails, you’ll grow your business. It is my #1 marketing tool. I’m always striving to improve, but when all is said and done, solid email content will expand your community and build your reputation. (I like this post, which is basically a cluster of infographics about the value of email marketing.)
LinkedIn. My personal opinion is that this is the #1 site for all small businesspeople to use, not only so others can learn about you, but as important: so you can learn about and from other businesspeople. The research function is terrific. Be an active (not annoying) poster, and if you’re a writer, take advantage of the Publishing function, which I’ve been using for a year with great success.
A blog. In many ways, blogging is easier than email marketing. You’re an expert in your field and surely have ideas, suggestions, insights and stories to share that will help your audience (market). You should write a regular blog – monthly is fine – and upload it to your site, then share it in your social channels. Practice makes perfect. A blog can be short or long (400 to 1000 words).
Use real mail. Nothing gets one’s attention like a card, postcard or letter that’s clearly not a bill or a piece of junk mail. I enjoy getting real mail so much that I’ve amassed quite a collection of note cards to send out regularly. Use cards to send to new clients, to people you’ve met networking, to someone who’s done you a favor such as a referral, to a person who hired you to present, to an industry influencer you admire – and so on.
Make the most of your email signature. Set up your business email account to include the obvious: name, email, URL, address, and phone/s. But go further by adding your social media handles if you’re on Twitter and LinkedIn, for example. I also added a shortened URL for my own blog.

Chances are – with the exception of building a decent website – you can do all of this other marketing by yourself. What matters is that you’re actively marketing your business in different channels. Don’t give up. It will become a habit you enjoy.

* This Forbes post from 2013 has great statistics about SBAs.

Through Pith & Skin

There’s a delicious grilled chicken marinade recipe my neighbor Sue gave me, which we really love. It involves crushed garlic and brown sugar, oil and cider vinegar, salt and grainy mustard, and the juice and zest of two limes.

Those limes are the kicker. They brighten the flavor and add a true layer of freshness to the marinade.

But it’s in the zesting of those limes that I prove my love for this recipe. No matter how carefully I go at it, I always grate a knuckle or two. And still, I make this dish about once a month in the summer, willing to shed a little blood in the process.

If we want something badly enough, and we know from experience there’s some risk involved – be it physical, professional, financial, or psychological – we steel ourselves and just go for it.

Taking risks in our personal and professional lives can be empowering and quite often, exhilarating. You’ll kick yourself for not trying something new, or doing something you’ve done before even though it didn’t go perfectly well the last time.

Don’t let small risks rob you of your zest for what you’re trying to accomplish. Push ahead. Experience that sense of accomplishment.

Nothing tastes so sweet.

Margie Dana is a ghostwriter and blogger-for-hire. Her specialty is printing & the graphic arts. She writes marketing content that attracts and engages clients’ customers and prospects. She also likes writing case studies – and occasionally posts musings about life in general. Learn more at Margiedana.com.

4 DIY Marketing Ideas for Printers

What’s that? You don’t have any budget for marketing? You don’t even have the time to stop and THINK about it? OK, it’s not uncommon. But it doesn’t mean you get a pass on marketing efforts. You can’t just sit there waiting for referrals to materialize and prospects to discover you serendipitously. It. Ain’t. Happening.

It only means you have to figure it out for yourself. What are you currently doing to market your services? Which channels are you using? How do prospects find out about you?

I’m here to help. These are just 4 Do-It-Yourself Marketing Ideas that every printing company can implement. As an added bonus, they don’t have to cost you a penny.

Plump up your email’s digital signature. This goes for all employees, too. Digital signatures should include your LinkedIn profile address and Twitter handle, if appropriate. Adding your site’s URL is a no brainer, and I’d also suggest adding phone numbers and email addresses if you haven’t already. Now, there’s marketing value in every email you send.
Improve your LinkedIn Profile. When I want to check someone out for whatever business reason, I go to that person’s LinkedIn profile and then to the company’s web site. Pretend that every prospect of yours does the same. Now, work on your LI profile so it presents you as the smart, experienced expert you are. Make sure you have a photo there. Take the time to describe your role, your skill set, your experience, and do spell out your specialties. For a good post on this subject, read what HubSpot recommends.
Write down a list of the top 5 challenges or problems your customers deal with. You may need to consult with your sales and service teams. Now go somewhere quiet. Unplug. Take this list, and underneath each problem, while you imagine that a customer’s standing in front of you, write down how you’d fix it. Turn each of these 5 answers into a few solid paragraphs, making a compelling headline out of each problem topic. Voila! You now have 5 blogs and also 5 customer emails and also 5 topics for a direct mail campaign to showcase your smarts. Repeat every few months.
Ask every employee from the top of the management team to the newest hire just learning the trade to take a photo of the one thing about your company that makes them the proudest. It could be another person, a box of samples, a written letter of thanks from a customer, a piece of equipment or other technology, or some sign that you support your community, for example. Have them email you the photo, along with one sentence describing why it’s the one thing that makes them proud to work there. Then take these “Insider Applause” pictures and share them on any or all of the following channels: your site, your blog, your FB page, your Twitter account, whatever. It may be built-in bragging, but it’s the best kind: from the heart.

Маркетинг (marketing). Красное слово на светлой поверхности If you follow this advice and are diligent about using your best media channels, your company’s name and reputation will spread. Your communities will get to know folks who work for you and why they love the company. And prospects and customers will get deeper insights into how you can help them.

They’re all easy to do, and two of these ideas (#3 and #4) can be repeated a few times each year. You haven’t spent any money, yet in a pinch and with little effort, you’re marketing your company with original content.

Do it. Do it now. Do it yourself.

12 Golden Rules of Marketing for Printing Companies

As I’ve developed my marketing business over the past two years, I often find myself giving the same advice to my clients. These 12 tips are some of the most common suggestions I share with print company owners, so I decided to compile them here “in brief” to help other print CEOs who might be struggling with their marketing plans.

Always approach any marketing effort from the perspective of your ideal customer. Get inside their heads. Don’t think like a printer; think like a print customer. What matters to them? What would impress them? What do they need to know about what you offer?
Remember this: what’s common knowledge to you may well be new and helpful information to your prospects. Basic print industry know-how and technical tips make for great content marketing.
If you serve particular markets or distinct types of customers (designers and print buyers and brand marketers, for example), develop marketing messages specifically for each type.
Make your marketing personal. Tailor it to your audience and make it about them. And give your marketing campaigns your personality. Try not to sound like every other printer. Put your own stamp on your web site, your direct mail campaigns, your videos, and so on.
Keep in mind that marketing your company is not about your equipment. It’s about what you can accomplish with it. What are its special features and capabilities that directly affect customers’ needs and/or solve their problems?
Keep in touch regularly with your customers and prospects. Use some combination of these channels: direct mail, email, social media, phone calls, events, videos, and blogging.
Confer with your sales and service reps regularly. What are they hearing from customers? What kudos keep cropping up? What complaints or other issues? This is important information for your marketing.
Load up your marketing efforts with visual imagery. It’s your business, for Pete’s sake.
Your sales reps are not in charge of marketing. Somebody else has to be.
Marketing is not a “one-and-done” situation. It’s a constant. It’s ALWAYS time for marketing.
Your marketing materials need a consistent look. Make them professional and proofread everything a thousand times. Recently I came across a gorgeous magazine ad for a printer. There was an unfortunate typo in the company’s tagline.
You don’t have to be everywhere – find the appropriate marketing channels and develop those muscles. Do what comes naturally and get comfortable with that. Maybe it’s videos, or blogging, or an Instagram account. Create a plan you can commit to and live with for at least 12 months, and go from there.

The late, great Michael Jackson sang “ When it comes to marketing your business, just don’t stop. Period.

*Got you up and dancing now, didn’t I?

Don’t Let the Inbound Marketing Bus Pass You By

I’ve just celebrated my first year of blogging weekly for a key client. They’re based on the West Coast, and they are truly a “dream client” (more on that in a later post).

It’s a big milestone. In 2013 I started a whole new business. For 10 years I’d produced dinner programs and conferences for print buyers, but writing is what I love doing the most.

When I started my new business, I built a new site, sent out a news release, and shared my news in an email with select colleagues as well as with my email subscribers. Then I just started publishing online more regularly and with purpose.

How did my blogging client (and every other new client) find me? From reading something I’d published on the web.

I don’t place ads anywhere, and I don’t send promotional direct mail. There’s no “MargieDana.com sales force” knocking on doors or cold calling. I have never cold called. It’s not my style, and I’m not a fan.

In 1999 I started my enewsletter, because it was cheaper than printing and mailing. Besides, I wanted to grow my list quickly and organically, and email (back then) was a great way to do this.

Then the term “blogging” was born, and with it, so many sites and channels for us solo proprietors to use for sharing content. Now we don’t have to depend 100% on email marketing, or direct mail, or even our web site, to develop an audience and therefore, our business.

You’ve heard this so many times before, from so many marketing experts: you can’t rely on one or two channels to develop new business.

For most small businesses, your web site sits there, acting as a good-looking repository for all sorts of interesting content and facts about your company. It’s the mother ship. It’s where people land when they’re considering contacting you to talk business.

But what gets them to your site is what’s important. Enter the value and the significance of inbound marketing.

By sharing your expertise and your ideas online, your audience will grow. As long as you provide value to your market, you’ll establish a voice in your field. The key? Do it regularly and do it with a passion.

This picture shows a tweet that caught my eye recently. I had to share it. I sent it to a few clients who have yet to dip their toes in the inbound marketing ocean. It’s a picture of a slide from a presentation given by best-selling author and inbound marketing expert David Meerman Scott at Inbound Marketing 2014:

“You are what you publish on the web. If you’re not publishing, you’re nothing.”

Every one of us who’s running a business has expertise in what we do. Share your expertise on the web in blog posts or videos or pictures or presentations. If you’re that good, and if you publish regularly enough and in the right places, new business will find you.

And lest you get discouraged, just know that it’s never too late to jump on this bus.

How to Work with Your Freelance Blogger

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Since I revamped my business in 2013 to do more of what I truly love – writing – I’ve been a blogger for several clients.

Today, with almost two years under my belt as a bona fide blogger, I come to you with tips based on my own experience. They’ll help companies looking to hire freelance bloggers as well as writers contemplating blogging.

If you’re seeking a blogger for your company, these tips are for you.

TIP #1: Hire someone with expertise in your field.

Whatever your field may be, find a blogger with experience in it. Don’t hire just any writer. You really need someone who doesn’t need an education in your industry.

Check out the writer’s LinkedIn profile and resume (if he or she has one). Get references and contact them. Chat with your prospect on the phone to get a sense of his or her experience.

Finding someone who has recent and/or ongoing experience in your field is the best piece of advice I can give you.

Someone with passion for your field is also a good indicator, as long as he or she is a good writer. Example: I’ve never worked in the fitness field, but I’ve belonged to one health club or another for 40 years and exercise 7 days a week. I’m qualified to blog about “women working out.” Similarly, I’m no vet or dog groomer, but I have such a love affair with my mini poodle that I could blog about owning and loving a dog.

Hire someone without any sort of experience or familiarity in your field, and you’ll get crap for writing.

TIP #2: Ask to see writing samples.

Ask for samples of blog posts the writer has published. If someone’s new to blogging, ask to see other types of writing, and ask the person do a blog post or two on a topic that you provide. See if you like what you get.

Ideally, when you get posts from your blogger, you shouldn’t have to do much more than read through them. They should be ready to post. If not, and you find you have to do more than a light edit on the posts, this could be a red flag. Grammatical or spelling issues are inexcusable. No one’s perfect, but you shouldn’t have to correct your blogger’s grammar or spelling.

TIP #3: Get the housekeeping details nailed down from the get-go.

Make sure you communicate your business goals and expectations with your blogger. Start by addressing these basic questions:

What’s the schedule?
What format should the work come to you (probably Word)?
How long is a blog post?
Who’s supplying visuals? (Usually it’s the client unless you want to compensate the blogger)
What’s the financial agreement?

I supply my posts in Word, and my clients supply the visuals (I strongly recommend you include a visual with each post). If my agreement is weekly and I have to skip a week due to some reason, I make up for the missed week within the month.

A blog is generally a few hundred words in length. Typically, it’s closer to 500 words for me, although they can run shorter or a bit longer.

TIP #4: Give your blogger your input.

Regardless of the blogger’s expertise, the client must be a good communicator. Here are some points you need to make with your blogger. Keep in mind they will change as time goes by:

Who’s your audience?
What do you want the audience to know about your company?
What products/services should the blogger focus on? (This will change, of course.)
What key words are critical? (They will change, sometimes with every post.)

TIP #5: Encourage questions from your blogger.

Let your blogger know that she or he shouldn’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, ideas or concerns. Trust me, we won’t take advantage of your time. It means when we’re stuck or drawing a blank on a post, we can shoot you an email with some questions to jumpstart our creative juices. Having one contact person on the client side is ideal.

TIP #6: Feedback is a fine thing!

While handholding isn’t necessary, you shouldn’t be totally AWOL when it comes to dealing with your freelance blogger. We need your input. Inspire us. Feed us topic ideas to think about for future posts. Point us to web sites, news articles, or other posts that you like for whatever reasons. This helps us write posts that relate directly to your business, your specialty, and your goals.

You’ll be much happier with the work written by your freelance blogger if you follow these practical guidelines. Keep the channel open as your relationship grows. Writers aim to please, no matter how experienced we are.

Appealing to Millennials

Maybe most of your customers are Baby Boomers (born approximately between 1946 – 1964) or Gen Xers (1965 – 1980). But what if they’re on the younger side, and fall into the group known at Gen Y or the Millennials? This describes those born between 1981 and 2000 or so.

Are you appealing to them differently?

Print service providers should be mindful of certain characteristics that define the Millennials, if not to serve them better now, then certainly to prepare for their entry into the workforce within a few years.

These 12 traits in particular should influence how you appeal to this generation:

They’re digital natives, having grown up in a totally digital environment.
They’re social animals (and I mean this in a good way). They get most of their information on the internet, and they socialize in the same way.
They’re also referred to as “Gen C” for Generation C as in Connected. It’s because they always are – by smartphone, mostly.
According to Pew Research, ¾ of them have created profiles on social networking sites and 1 in 5 have posted a video of themselves online.
Also according to Pew, they’re on track to become the most educated generation in American history. Fascinating, right?
In a report called “The Rise of Generation C: Implications for the World of 2020” by Booz & Co., I read that “The proliferation and increasing sophistication of communication, interaction, and collaboration technologies and tools will result in knowledge workers traveling much less frequently. The opportunity to meet face-to-face will be accorded primarily to top management, and business travel will become a valued luxury.”
Relationship-oriented purchasing is significant. What their friends and peers think about a product, service, event or travel/dining destination is highly valued.
They crave innovation.
They display a truly playful mentality.
Visuals matter more than other types of content.
In an insightful post by the Boston Consulting Group in January, it reminds us that by 2030, this generation will outnumber Baby Boomers “78 million to 56 million.” And Millennials are defined by the “reciprocity principle,” meaning that they “expect a two-way, mutual relationship with companies and their brands.
Millennials express their feedback freely, regularly, and always socially – and this means, according to the BCG post, they “also help define the brand.”

Sit back and reflect on just these 12 traits of members of the Millennial generation. How might they influence how you’re marketing to them, and how you’ll serve them as customers?

The bottom line is (or will be): Is your business appealing to Millennials?

Lights, Camera, Action! Printers’ Videos

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As 2014 began, I became obsessed with video marketing. I started looking for commercial printers who use videos to shine a light on their businesses, but finding them myself was inefficient. So I spread the word here and in social media, asking for links.

Here are just some of the ones I received:

One of the best videos is from the McClung Companies, in Waynesboro, VA. Their video features an animated character of a direct mail letter package. There’s zippy music, and the narrator has a British accent (bonus points!). This video tells a story, includes customers on camera as well as several McClung people, and it has a strong script. It moves fast for a 3-minute video. I love it. AND it stands out on the home page with a red “Check out this NEW video!!!!” note up top. Smart.

This video for PDQ Vegas is also very funny and effective. Love this one! The two characters will make you laugh, and the music is a perfect match. There’s another good video on their home page, starring their CEO. Excellent! Both clock in under a minute – big points for that.

Two little videos on the Arandell site are beautiful and professionally crafted, produced, and directed. They impress me for many reasons: They are lovely. They are short. They have peaceful piano music in the background. They’re fully integrated with the look of the site – down to the red, black and white color palette. The first one, their welcome video, uses just typography, narration and music, which forces viewers to read the copy that’s shown: it’s more memorable than just hearing the words spoken. are the best examples of web site integration. Exquisite.

Thanks to Norman Glick for sending me to his company’s excellent video on their home page for eDOCcommunications. High production value, strong script, and attractive and fun animation, showing us an illustrator in action. I like this one a lot.

In this from Quad Graphics, they feature interactive print using a product called Actable. Nice music, under 1.5 minutes, and a good example of showing us how to use this app with our smartphone.

My home state of NJ weighed in! I got a video from . Here’s a about the printer’s focus on reducing the carbon footprint. The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” is the soundtrack. Cool!

Music in a video sets the tone, and the winner in this category HAS to be Lithographics in Nashville, TN. They teamed up with the Country Music Hall of Fame to a special book called, “Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player.” You’ll for the music if nothing else! Chet Atkins was known as Mr. Guitar. Bravo!

Right here in my neck of the woods is The Print House, which has multiple locations. showcases not only the facility and its capabilities, but also reinforces the logo (a very neat looking “tph”), company name (repeated multiple times), and its URL (appears on the upper right the entire time). I couldn’t find the video on their site, however, just on Youtube. Greg Doucette wrote to say they’re redoing their web site, and when the new one’s ready, the video will be there.

Didn’t Warren Werbitt of Montreal’s Pazazz Printing kick this whole video thing off with his famous video? What, you haven’t seen it? its called “Printing’s Alive!” Prepare to laugh. “No, Steve Guttenberg did not invent the printing press!” Go, Warren.

This for in Georgia uses animation well. I wish it had mentioned the URL and the company’s location. And Paul Edwards of Form Store has a lot of older videos on his I like the casual and conversational quality of these videos he’s done. Accessible. Friendly. Personal.

A few of the videos sent to me weren’t for commercial printers, but trade groups:

From Apex Brazil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, there’s a super-professional video describing the organization that helps send Brazilian companies across the world. The production value is exceptionally high.

PIA (Printing Industries of America) sent me a link to their “People First” video on the MyPrintResource.com site. Very hip, contemporary video, just a minute long. Only typography and music are used. I like it. I’m told it’s part of a multichannel campaign to get HR professionals in graphic arts firms to share their best HR practices.

The APAOC in California has a poignant video about a fundraiser they held last fall for a friend. It’s worth sharing here. While it might not have been a big budget production, it is moving and human. There’s an emotional thread that captures your heart and attention. You really enjoy watching this video – lots of interesting scenes here. Must watch! Of course, the music that plays is a perfect match.

Overall, it’s a great group of industry videos, with a focus on how printers are promoting themselves through videos. I tend to prefer shorter ones (a minute or two). I want to see or hear the company name, location and the URL at least once. Humor works if it’s done right and tastefully (we can’t all put it off). A strong story line helps. And if it’s a general intro video to a company, it absolutely belongs on the home page or at least the home page should link to it in a prominent way (see how McClung does it, in paragraph one).

What I like is that all of these are different – as they should be.

I’m also very fond of videos featuring someone at the company. Maybe the owner, maybe a sales person…it personalizes the company. Again, it’s not for everyone, because you have to be comfortable on camera and have a certain amount of stage presence.

Have these videos inspired you? Which is your favorite? If you have one I’ve not seen, please reply to this post with a link so we can all enjoy it.

Thanks to everyone who sent me their videos – much obliged! Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.

What One Thing Do You Stand for?

This one’s for small business owners. In your clients’ eyes, what do you stand for? What one quality, one outstanding virtue, best defines your work, your output, your services to clients (current and future), whatever the project?

This “one thing” can help guide your marketing plan, your web site message, your proposals, and your professional introductions. It can definitely help you focus as you develop new business.

Use it as part of your unique selling proposition. It will make you memorable. It will help define you, especially if you have tons of competitors.

When I sat myself down to ask this question of myself, I knew right away what it was: I do what I say I’ll do.

Is my writing great? I think so. Am I professional? Absolutely. How about my pricing? Higher than some, lower than others. But can I be counted on to do what I promise to do? Always.

When I think of service providers that I hire, this is also the one quality I assume they all have, even though it’s not always so.

Do you do what you promise? Can your customers count on this?

Regardless of the quality of your work or the affordability of it, being trustworthy and following through matters most to me, the customer. It’s probably why I live by this same quality. And this is the guarantee I’m comfortable giving to clients.

Your turn: What do you stand for? How is it made clear to current and future clients?

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