By Margie D

ana

Print buyers can really help themselves and their careers by doing one thing really well:
keeping plugged in.

Regardless of courses you take or seminars you attend, you need daily news about printing, paper, design, and communication trends and technologies. What you learn will inform you in ways that propel your career forward and enrich your professional role.

Here are 6 easy ways to keep on top of what's happening in the field of printing and print buying – and all you need is 30 minutes a day. Isn't your career worth it?

1. Visit www.printingsbestblogs.com. This new site, by the team at Printing Impressions, is a terrific collection of several blogs written by a variety of professionals. Check it out daily, as content is always refreshed. Full disclosure: I write the buyers' blog, but honestly? There are more than a dozen writers on all the topics you need to 'own,' like sustainability, folding, paper, marketing, direct mail, design, digital, new technologies, and on and on.
2. Visit www.piworld.com for its news coverage and its e-newsletter. Also, visitwww.whattheythink.com for industry news.
3. Build up your LinkedIn profile. It's the most powerful professional online resource available today. It keeps you connected to people in the field and vice versa. Connect with other print production professionals as well as print service providers. Pay attention to what they post. You'll connect the dots and start sensing trends and common issues.
4. Join a few print production groups on LinkedIn. Our own group, Print Buyers International, is vendor-free (by design and by vote). This means you can connect with your peers and not worry about service providers posting sales pitches. At the other end of the spectrum is Print Production Professionals, a group that has about 15,000 members. Everyone can join. Sniff around the Groups on LinkedIn to identify which ones suit you. Don't bite off more than you can chew; be realistic about your time. And then participate.
5. Contact your local PIA affiliate (if you're in the US). The Printing Industry of America is the industry's largest trade association. PIA has about 30 regional affiliates. Many offer print buyer programming. Find your affiliate by visiting www.printing.org, and on the lower left, enter your zip code in the “Find Your Affiliate” box. Or just go here: www.printing.org/affiliates. Call up your affiliate and ask them what they offer print customers.
6. Create a printing section in Google news. It's simple and free. Find the directions on Google news. Basically, you enter key words like printing, graphic arts, print buying, paper, & commercial printing, and news stories that feature your key words will be aggregated into your very own news section. Visit it daily.

That's it – six easy ways to keep up with

printing and print buying. Spend about 30 minutes a day following these tips and you'll have a good sense of what's happening in the industry.

© 2011 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

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