Margie Dana

The Only Thing that Distinguishes Your Printing Company

One thing sets you apart.

Almost exclusively, my clients are in the printing industry. When I ask a new client what makes his or her commercial print company special, I hear “Service” a lot. They say this with conviction. But there’s some bristling when I question them on what exactly they mean. I can’t help it; I hear it all the time.

There’s only one thing that makes a printing company different from another, and that’s its people.

Regardless of how fantastic your service is, how magnificent your presses are, how efficient your production workflow may be, how fast you deliver, or how low your prices are – you have competition.

So unless your employees can be in two places at once, they are your aces-in-the-hole.

And because business print buyers (as opposed to consumers) like building lasting relationships with the people at printing companies, printers should find ways to feature their employees.

Start with your sales and service reps. Make their skills and other specialties known. You can do this on your web site, in blogs and in newsletters, on Facebook and your company LinkedIn page, in email marketing efforts, and in direct mail. You could do short videos that feature different team members. Let people know whom they’ll be working with. Impress them.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about industry professionals that got my attention:

A CSR with not one but two degrees from RIT;
A rep who volunteers his time every week playing music at a home for the elderly;
A company owner who has decades of experience working in the paper industry;
A sales manager who used to be prepress manager at other companies, making him a tech/preflight expert;
A prepress specialist who’s earned IDEAlliance’s Mail Pro Certification;
Service reps who are gourmet chefs and who rebuild cars.

Such expertise, or industry experience, adds value to your company’s reputation. Some employees may have deep roots in the industry; others may have outside passions that customers will identify with. Either way, sharing more information about them gives dimension to your company.

Individual sales reps may mention certain skills in their prospecting materials, but what about everyone else in your company? How is word getting out about these jewels in your crown?

Work it. As you develop materials and publish regular content to promote your company and build your community, find ways to feature the one thing that’s truly unique: your people.

This post first appeared on www.piworld.com. I blog for them from time to time.

5 Things on Print Customers’ Wish Lists

Print customers in business settings are always eager to share with me what they want from their printer partners – not in regards to the holiday season, but all year long.

Their wish list includes things that range from enhanced customer service to a deeper understanding of certain technologies and manufacturing processes. As the year nears its close, I’ve put together this list of the Top 5:

1. A better understanding of personalization applications and options available to them. Help your customers appreciate how easy variable data printing can be. What should they know about putting together the right types of data to be used in campaigns? Can you help? I’m being facetious. Of course you can.

2. Educational information throughout the year. This can be done in so many ways: seminars, lunch-n-learns (or breakfast meetings), after-work events, webinars, videos, valuable blogs or enewsletters. So many options. Pick one or two. Just do it.

3. Insights into new printing technologies and applications. Most print customers do not attend print industry events, and they’re not particularly proactive in learning about the latest manufacturing capabilities from industry web sites. It’s up to you to tell them what’s new.

4. Recommendations about how to make their print materials more effective. Give them ideas that will improve their jobs. Is it the process, the format, the substrate, the design – or literally the whole approach that needs to be rethought? What would you have them do differently so that the results are better? Do you even know what results they expect? I’m pretty sure once you know, you’ll have suggestions for improvement.

5. A relationship built on honesty, professionalism, and trust. Print customers want a lasting relationship with a printing company. It’s too much work and definitely too stressful to replace printers. If your capabilities and price points are both good matches for a customer, the rest is up to you. The people in your company who serve your customers are crucial in the world of print buying. Customers need to trust you. You need to be responsive. Qualities like integrity and honesty come up a lot in conversations with buyers. Without them, you’re doomed.

If you’re a printer, why not tackle any or all of these as your New Year’s resolution? They’ll help strengthen customer relationships, which leads to more business and more referrals.

Why a Printer’s Gallery Page Is So Important

How good is your gallery?

I’ve discovered something interesting about commercial printers’ web sites: often it’s their page of Sample Products, AKA “Gallery,” that is most important.

Here’s why.

If the site copy elsewhere doesn’t make it clear to visitors what you’re really good at, and what types of printing you do, the Gallery Page can tell the story better than any words. And much faster.

This happens frequently. I land on a site and can’t tell what the company’s sweet spot is. Then I move to the Gallery page and think, Oh……NOW I get what they’re about.

I like seeing a variety of products on this page, plus a short description of each image (Chalkboard Printing, Floor Graphics, Posters, Catalogs, Variable Data, etc.). It gives me a good sense of the breadth of your offerings.

Based on this one page, I might decide if you’re a good fit for my business or not.

My hunch is that corporate and agency print customers (including marketers and purchasing pros) will do the same thing – zip on over to your product sample page and decide on the spot if a printer’s a good fit.

So when words fail you, good images won’t.

Shop Around for a Better Experience

Keep your eyes open.

Sometimes it’s the experience that makes the difference between service providers.

That includes doctors, dentists, mechanics, health clubs, hair stylists, and yes, even commercial printers.

I’m not trying to dissuade customers from being loyal. Rather, I hope people recognize the value of testing the waters to see if they could get a better experience elsewhere.

It’s easy to move on if a current provider is not delivering the product or service to your liking. Something negative is propelling you out the door. I’ve switched doctors and other professionals, not because they weren’t qualified, but because of the experience. It was negative enough to make me leave.

I switched primary care physicians once, because my doctor consistently kept me waiting over an hour and never acknowledged it. I switched an eye doctor because the practice was run like an assembly line. I was passed from one eye technician to the next like a hot potato and then hustled out the door so the next spud could be handled.

A customer experience typically means how you treat your customers when they’re interacting with you. It’s what you say and how you say it. It can be subtle, but when it’s negative, it can trigger our search for your replacement.

What if you’ve been dealing with the same service provider forever? You’re comfortable, but (let’s be honest) you have nothing to compare it with. It’s still smart to check out the competition from time to time. This goes for commercial printers. How else will you know if there’s something incredible, or new, or both, that you’ve been missing? What if you could be treated better elsewhere?

Recently I took a few fitness classes at a different club than the one to which I belong.

The dance moves were the same.

The music was the same.

The instructor was the same.

But the experience was totally different. It was a combination of a few things, but taken together, they made the classes refreshing and fun and brand new for me – after all these years. Based on that experience, I joined the club. Experiencing working out in a new environment was a change I didn’t know I needed until I tried it, purely by chance.

So for any print customers reading this post, keep your eyes open. Visit new printers from time to time to see if the experience they can offer you is different in a positive way. Talk to some of their existing customers. Think of it as a test drive. Maybe you’ll find your current provider is still the best choice for you, and it’ll strengthen that relationship. But maybe you’ll uncover something that blows you away for any number of reasons, and you’ll make a switch, or add this printer to your group of providers. That’s what I did with the gym.

Printers reading this post should recognize the importance of customer experience. All things being equal, would your customers say that none of your competitors could beat the great experience you deliver?

If Your Employees Are Unhappy, Your Customers Will Care

Photo courtesy of Luminaire Foto

I love the lazy river that the just built at their Bonita Springs property. For a different reason, so does at least one of their employees.

This gorgeous and relaxing new attraction had a soft opening on Monday, our last day in Florida. The sun was shining as I practically skipped down the sidewalk to take another ride. I couldn’t help but share my delight with a man working on finishing touches at the property.

To my surprise, he exclaimed, “I love it, too! It’s so easy for us to work on this!” He smiled broadly and continued his task.

This short encounter impressed me. I literally thought, “Great – everybody’s happy. Not just us guests, but also the people building this attraction. Good on Hyatt.”

It reminded me of comments I’ve received from print customers when asked what qualities they look for in printers. Many cite the well being of a printer’s employees.

You see, print buyers pay attention to this. Sales and service reps are pretty quick to share their sentiments with some customers. Even if they don’t come out and say whether or not they’re happily employed, customers pick up on what’s what.

A while back I interviewed some experienced and pretty powerful print customers about plant tours and prequalifying potential printers. What do they look for? One thing they notice is the demeanor of people working in the plant. Do people seem happy or sullen? Do salespeople treat pressmen and –women with respect and civility, or are they rude and dismissive?

Bottom line? Your customers pick up on how you treat your employees. If customers spend time at your facility or interact regularly with staff members, they’ll get a sense of how people are treated. They’ll recognize misery if it exists. And it will reflect poorly on you.

How to Put Together a Winning Print Buyer Panel

Building a winning print buyer panel

A print buyer panel is always a popular draw for any print industry event.

Printers in your audience, as well as other print buyers and industry suppliers, will all benefit. But you must build such a panel with purpose.

I’ve done panels for countless trade groups since 2005, and I’ve learned from my rookie mistakes. Now I want to share my eight best tips with you.

Have a panel of three, maybe four, panelists – tops. Typically a panel discussion lasts 45 minutes to an hour, and a panel of four is the max you should have to allow everyone time to contribute. Consider having a back-up in case someone has to cancel.
Engage a facilitator who’s qualified. Don’t underestimate the role and the value of a good moderator. (Just watch the current election debates if you don’t believe me.) The moderator should know the industry intimately, be assertive, know how to advance the line of questioning, and be astute enough to digress. This requires someone quick on her feet.
Have a focus. There’s no way you can cover a broad range of issues in an hour with three or four panelists, so decide what the primary issue should be for your audience. Examples: How millennials view/work with the print industry today and what would influence them regarding print? How do print customers choose their printers and what qualities/services matter the most? How are marketers mixing print into their campaigns?
Inform your panelists about the topics to be covered. Call each of them to go over the agenda, the event’s goal, the audience, and what’s expected of them. Make sure they’re OK with the overall plan and that they’re excited to participate. Get short bios and headshots to use in your event promotion.
Choose panelists who like to talk – but not dominate. Not everyone is comfortable being on stage and speaking extemporaneously (same goes for webinars). So each panelist should have a suitable personality as well as the right amount of experience. And no one panelist should dominate the discussion. If you don’t know your panelists, you won’t know if this is a potential issue unless you do a dry run ahead of time. Regardless, the moderator is responsible for dealing with “over-talkers” during the live event.
A little controversy ain’t a bad thing. Don’t try to get four people who you think will agree on every point and tell the audience what they think they want to hear. Live sessions are much more interesting when different viewpoints surface and panelists are frank.
Diversity is preferred. Unless you have a reason to build a panel of print customers in a particular vertical, one that’s made up of professionals from different fields is a better event. Also, have both men and women on a panel. Bonus tip: mix up the age range.
Share your questions with the panelists. Everyone should be prepared to discuss the same key issues. Solicit panelists’ input as well. In my vast experience, print buyers know what’s going on and can identify the hottest issues they face. Good communication is vital, with the panelists as well as the facilitator.

If you’ve done your work building a strong print buyer panel, everyone on that stage will be comfortable, well prepared, and excited to participate. The discussion will be lively and enlightening, and the audience will get more than their money’s worth.

Why I Prefer Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies

Though they’re my husband’s favorite cookies bar none, chocolate chips are my go-to cookies to bake for one reason: I don’t have to grease the pans.

Know that I’m a baker. Whether we’re talking cookies, pies, breads, scones, brownies, muffins or the occasional cake (a small family can’t eat through a whole one), I LOVE to bake.

But chocolate chips are my fallback cookies to bake because they save me a few steps. They’re efficient and quick. And I’m a busy person. Frankly, I don’t even like them all that much.

Which brings me to your printing company. If you use a process or a technology that shaves time off of customers’ jobs, well, toot this horn early and often.

Is it a proofing procedure or review process? Is it a production capability or a finishing technique? Do you do things inline that speed up a job’s time-to-market?

Tell your customers. Tell your prospects. Your step-saver may be the sweet solution they’re looking for.

Print, the Tie that Binds

One of the nicest things about being me is getting to meet incredible people.

Like Greg Mroczek, a savvy and super-smart book manufacturing expert who works in publishing at Hahhhvaaaad.

We go way back. About 13 years ago I started a print buyers group in Boston and ran dinner meetings throughout the year. Greg started attending those dinners from the beginning, and he came to the annual conferences I produced, too. We’ve kept in touch ever since. Now and then he weighs in on one of my blog posts, and he tends to email me when he comes across some cool print- or publishing-related article. I consider him a leading resource in book manufacturing. He’s absolutely the real deal and, like so many of us, a fool for print.

Over burgers and fries recently (let me be clear: the fries were his), we talked about printing people we knew back in the ‘80s. There were a lot of them, many quite colorful characters, and we swapped too many stories to share here. The 90 minutes flew by.

Greg scolded me for being such a Kindle fan (he works on physical books only) and we discussed our love-hate relationship with digital newspapers. He got the last word in when he stated unequivocally that ebooks are declining in popularity and sales, so long live real books. I certainly have no problem with that, but I do love my Kindle.

Greg Mroczek, the real deal.

It would be great to see Greg more often, not only because he’s smart and funny and tells great stories, but also because – maybe primarily because – we share this thing about print.

If you’ve read my stuff for a while, you know what I’m talking about. Being with kindred spirits who “get” print and who know what it’s like working with (and in Greg’s case, once upon a time, for) printers is a real gas.

The reason we met was because he wanted to give me a broadsheet from the NYT that came out in August. It’s an excerpt from a long piece of fiction by Colson Whitehead called The Underground Railroad that was available only in print.

Even this ebook fan had to admit: it’s a lasting thing of beauty.

Where Will the Enthusiasm for Print Come from Tomorrow?

Professional print buyers working in businesses and agencies are the print industry’s most powerful influencers, bar none.

These print production specialists, particularly those who are baby boomers, are responsible for keeping print part of the discussion within their organizations.

But they do much more than just keep print in those conversations when marketing considers channels for a campaign, because experienced print buyers tend to have a history in print manufacturing. Many were once employed in commercial printing as sales or service reps. Many are trained as graphic designers. They identify with print.

As someone who’s studied print buyers for over two decades, I know all of this to be true.

Experienced print customers in industries and in agencies are their organizations’ de facto print experts. Their managers and team members, their bean counters and their purchasing agents, all look to them for recommendations. Who should print this job? What’s a fair price? When do we need to find additional print manufacturing expertise? What paper or other substrate will work best? And at the heart of it, why should we print this at all?

Whether you’re a printer reading this post or a print buyer, you recognize these print customers. You serve them or work alongside them or identify as one yourself.

I know many of these “print insiders” personally. And to a person, one quality they share that needs to be acknowledged is their passion for print. They strive daily to share this enthusiasm with their colleagues and to enlighten them about advances in printing technologies.

Imagine how difficult this is today, in our world of Facebook, Twitter, mobile apps, and Pokémon Go.

These experienced print insiders bring an acute appreciation of all-things-print to their roles. They are the keepers of the print flame inside of their organizations. They wield enormous clout in the decision-making process where print is concerned. And if they happen to work in marketing environments, this clout is even more significant.

Here’s what I’m talking about. When a marketing team plans a new campaign and the issue of which channels to use (and why) comes up, print buyers working with them are – best case scenario – more likely to offer ideas, reasons, examples and arguments for print. (If this marketing team includes a print provider in this discussion, so much the better. But in a study I did with John Zarwan, only 16% of brand owners invite printers to the marketing table.)

John Zarwan and I conducted a webinar recently for PRIMIR, on a white paper we developed for them about brand owners and the print purchasing process. While I was speaking, I had a few “a-ha moments,” like this one:

If highly experienced print buying professionals are the primary champions of print for and within their organizations, what happens when they’ve exited the workforce?

Do you think the new wave of entry-level marketers and media staffers will take up the torch of print? How well do colleges and universities cover print as a medium in marketing and media curricula, or even in graphic design programs?

When the baby boomer print buyers retire, will those who fill their positions bring the same enthusiasm and print sensibility to their roles?

This changeover in personnel isn’t about to happen this month or even this year. But as old positions are filled with new marketers, the graphic arts industry stands to lose some of its most stalwart supporters: the print insiders.

Getting ahead of this changeover is what I’d recommend to the print industry. Now’s the time to develop strategies for dealing with a generation of marketers and purchasing professionals who lack print manufacturing knowledge.

How can the industry generate enthusiasm for print, once senior-level print customers take their passion out the door with them when they retire?

How to Promote Printing without Talking about Printing?

Many printers face the dilemma of being labeled as “just printers.” I get it.

I struggle with this. I have been thinking about it for a long time in fact. The general public associates “printing” with a desktop laser or inkjet printer. They’re clueless about commercial printing. This is not going to change.

And those ridiculous marketing messages encouraging us to “save a tree and go paperless” are everywhere. They’re not helping educate people about the medium, the magic, and the value of print.

On top of that, every one of us has a cornucopia of digital means of communication to choose from. We’re all using them. And many are free.

These realities make it difficult to talk about print as the channel of choice for marketers and other businesspeople.

Yet the printing industry has been evolving in ways that laypeople don’t recognize. They don’t even know about it. I think many still believe that commercial printers (if they even know what this means) just run printing presses and do nothing else.

To combat this myth and reflect their own evolution, some printing companies have changed their names. Out with “Printing,” in with “Media” or “Marketing.”

I admit, when this trend started I was skeptical. Today, I think that those printing companies that rebranded themselves were visionaries. Of course they still print, but they do a lot more. They have added marketing expertise, data expertise, full-blown campaign development and management expertise. Not all of them, but many. (You know who you are.)

Recently I did some research about how early in the process a marketer invites a commercial printer to that table. As you might expect, those invitations are few and far between. This has to change for the print industry’s sake. Modern print companies provide campaign solutions and multichannel strategy that are valuable to customers, but if the printer’s not sitting there at that table, how does the information get shared?

I think too many marketers equate printing with manufacturing, and only with manufacturing.

This identity crisis is a major challenge for the print industry. How do you rise above an outdated perception without turning your back on your core business?

I think it has to be done individually, company by company. It requires a carefully planned balance between promoting your print production expertise and services with information about everything else you do. How you describe and define your company matters tremendously, and this includes your online presence and every other type of prospecting material. Photos of most printers’ buildings and presses typically don’t help; they date you and your company.

I don’t have all the answers. As I said, I struggle with this. But it needs to be dealt with.

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