Margie Dana

Here’s what I’d do right now if I were a printer…

– I’d bolster my online presence. First, I’d make certain my web site is solid. If you don’t have one, you don’t exist to your audience.

– I’d do a blog a week (at least) and share it.

– I’d pick one social media channel that feels right to me and I’d work it. That means not just a one-post-a-day working it, but several. Having conversations in social media means you pay attention and respond.

– I’d hire a kid if I didn’t already have one on my payroll. By kid I mean someone under 30 who could show me how he or she uses Facebook and other media to converse, to search, to access news, to share.

– I’d send my customers a short online survey to find out “How are we doing?” and “What could we do better?” among other things.

– I’d join my local chapter of either the DMA or the AMA and start attending their programs to find out what marketers want.

– I’d sit down with my management team, including whoever’s in charge of customer service, and sketch out a practical and do-able marketing strategy for 2014. What are you doing now to attract new customers and connect with current ones? What might you be doing, with traditional as well as new media channels?

– I’d start planning my end-of-the-year thank you/holiday note cards to my customers. The more personal you can make them, the better.

Jeff Dickerson

November 12, 2013 at 10:22 am

I would buy, read and assimilate Dr. Joe Webb and Richard Romano’s book, “Disrupting the Future”. Develop and sell a marketing service package, (that includes print), to businesses who do not already market well. Leave the big people alone. We already know and have what we need.

Katherine

November 12, 2013 at 4:03 pm

These are all great ideas. The only one that raises a red flag to me is #4. I’m 30, and I kind of resent the notion that “kids” should be teaching business owners about social media in a professional setting. It’s been my experience that while young people may be adept at performing basic functions on social sites, they likely won’t be able to tell you that Pinterest, for example, allows you to build followed links. They are not using these sites for marketing purposes, so they may not be very helpful in terms of developing your social strategy.

Margie Dana

November 25, 2013 at 11:27 am

Hi,Katherine,

thanks for your comments on my tip about “If I Were a Printer.” It’s all relative: to me, you’re a kid! I was trying to say that printing companies should look for people in younger generations to learn from them – about searching in different, quicker ways on the Web, about new/popular social media, and to see how Gen Y (Millennials) work in a business environment. In my experience, learning about such things in this way – maybe from college interns, as I have – is a wonderful education and can be really enlightening. I wasn’t suggesting that company owners put someone in charge of marketing just because he or she is young.

Thanks much,

Margie Dana

December 02, 2013 at 2:39 pm

Hi Margie,

Thanks you the response. I know you didn’t mean that companies should hire inexperienced people based on age. It is valuable to have new blood in an organization so to speak. I appreciate your valuing my generation’s contribution to the workforce