One of the hardest things I do when telling strangers what I do is define “print buyer.” In fact, I found out recently when speaking at a trade event for printers that I should have defined the term right at the beginning of my speech.

I presumed everyone in the industry defined it as I do, but afterwards discovered that it ain’t necessarily so.

Print buyers are the people in an organization who are responsible for getting materials printed and delivered.

Materials can be promotional, transactional, or informational. They include corporate ID materials like stationery and business cards. They can be legal and/or regulatory materials such as prospectuses and annual reports, contracts, and insurance policies.

For my purposes, and in general throughout the industry, any print materials manufactured by commercial printers are the responsibilities of buyers, as opposed to something you’d print off your personal desktop printer.

“Print buyers” encompasses those professionals who have expertise and experience in print production. They are typically part of one of these departments or units in a company: marketing, communications, corporate communications, publications, design or creative, media, purchasing or procurement.

There are dozens of corporate titles for print buyers, which makes analyzing their trends challenging, not to mention reaching them as a potential service provider.

Most graphic designers also design for print, and many if not most of them also source, or buy, print directly. This makes them print buyers as well, though designers don’t identify with this term.

This much I know: the term “print buyer” oversimplifies the role and function of the vast majority of corporate/agency print buyers.

Typically, buyers are responsible for scheduling, budget development, spec development, competitive bid procurement, print provider pre-qualification and selection, production troubleshooting, fulfillment management, proof review, acting as liaison for all internal (corporate) stakeholders, overseeing and scheduling design of materials, budget projections, on-press job approvals, approval of delivered materials, and invoice approval and processing.

Additionally, buyers are often expected to develop or recommend processes and products that give their firms an edge and/or improve efficiencies and reduce expenses.

In short, print buyers are their firm’s resident print experts. This is the traditional description. Their roles are changing. New communications channels plus the decline in print materials have contributed to the modern evolution of corporate print buyers.

The sharpest, most sophisticated print buyers I know are in charge of their own growth. They are rewriting the rules for their positions. I predict that in five years’ time, this career will look totally different than it does today.

© 2011 Margie Dana.