What’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and how to remain relevant in the future.
By Jules Van Sant, Executive Director, PPI Association

To decide where you should go, a look in the rearview mirror lends perspective. Today let’s review the history of print communications—its slow steady growth, historical relevance, and how the numbers game has changed it all.

DID YOU KNOW: When the printing press was invented in the 1450s, the population of Europe was approximately 50 million people. The literacy rate at that time has been estimated at 1 percent—or 500,000 people capable of reading what was printed. It took about 100 years to get the literacy rate to 50 percent. By then, the population was about 70 million—which means it took 100 years for the number of people who could read what was printed to hit 35 million.

What this also means is that it took more than 100 years for the number of users of print to reach 50 million. On the contrary, it took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took television 13 years to reach 50 million users. It took the Internet 4 years to reach 50 million users. It took the iPod 3 years to reach 50 million users.

But then Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months. iPhone application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months. The number of Ashton Kutcher’s and Ellen DeGeneres’ Twitter followers exceeds the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama.

Why should you care?

The past is the story of the way the future has been disrupted by technology and innovation. We must ourselves learn to disrupt the future with technology and innovation (from Disrupting the Future: Uncommon Wisdom for Navigating Print’s Challenging Marketplace by Dr. Joseph Webb and Richard Romano).

As with the popular television show Dancing with the Stars, there are many talented people and firms out there with specific skills, success stories, or luck and good timing to hang their hat on. Some can tango, while others waltz, and still others find comfort doing the jitterbug. The competitors throughout, as is true within our evolving business space, are challenged to transition into a new business model where they face competition, critics to contend with, and a different-looking stage in which to showcase their abilities than they’re used to.

Our industry of commercial printing has some of the same challenges. We know what we know, and we’re darned good at it. But being asked to take on new skills, new markets, new products and capabilities—well, we can come across looking clumsy and lost. Sometimes we’re lucky; sometimes the patience that comes with hard work and practice pays off. Most important is to acknowledge weaknesses, work through them, and come across looking good the next time. That’s when you get traction with your audience and keep dancing another week.

For those without the necessary strengths, the writing is on the wall and they eventually do the cha-cha out the door. Not everyone wins. Lucky for the communications industry, there is room for a few more winners.

The print market space continues to contract. Yet communications continue to grow. The landscape of the competition is changing—you can fight it, but you can’t change it. To be a player, facing and embracing this fact gets you bonus points. Then the work just gets started.    The updated paradigm of “commercial print” as a business model has forever shifted.  Many strengths of the past play well with the communication and information evolution we have been experiencing for over 10 years now. Other industry and organizational legacies limit, if not stall out, our momentum. So let’s discuss the opportunities and how to play for the win.

Whooooo are you?
No matter your niche, it’s now more than ever an important, regular exercise to understand your business and be ready to change. Do you print for the commercial, trade, packaging or specialty markets? Do you work for a corporation within an in-plant firm or marketing department? What add-on benefit do you bring as a marketing firm, advertising agency, bindery, fulfillment house, direct mail expert or marketing communication advisor?

And do you find the lines starting to blur in one or more of these areas?

In the book Business Transformation – A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry, author John Foley Jr. outlines the steps to help evaluate and update your traditional print business model. It’s strongly suggested that commercial printers consider retooling into a Printer-Plus/Marketing Services Provider/Marketing Communications Specialist role—aka a “business formerly known as a printer.” Whatever you want to call it, let’s just suggest there’s new avenues to win in this business. Here’s the simple outline to get you going:
• Make the decision to change.
• Evaluate your current clientele.
• Determine exactly what services you plan to offer.
• Write your business plan.
• Look for integration of other technologies and partners.
• Look for accessibility and support.
• Hop on board the learning train (over and over again).
• Practice what you preach—and preach!

One size does not fit all, so pick your position and build upon it. Be agile and ready to move to the left or right a few steps as our markets continue to change. Make this a committed, ongoing process throughout the life of your business so you don’t get left in the dust.

Two step onto the floor
Okay, so you don’t want to be Vista Print, but you want to make money. Once you decide to go on the journey, be prepared to support your new plan.

Either reenergize your current identity or create a brand that means something to the market you’re going after. That doesn’t mean you have to change your name—you need to update your image within the marketplace. And as the competitive space has changed dramatically, it’s key you nail down where you play. This is most assuredly a different space than it was 10 years ago.

If you’re an established business, you have a few key points to consider: Experience with your services and productivity and history of adapting over the years; wisdom to understand a client’s needs and execute them efficiently and effectively; and your nimbleness with change and willingness to adjust your culture to capture technology advantages and innovative solutions and turn them into revenue.

If you’re a new business, you lack experience, which can mean that you aren’t tied to the brick and mortar of history and may more easily adapt as historic levels of change continue to swirl around us. This also might pay forward into opening up opportunities that established firms either don’t have the foresight or the comfort level to exploit.

Find out who you are. Figure out where you want to go, then start practicing.

What percentage of your business model is print? What other modes of print, communication and marketing will complement what you do, and how can you integrate them all? Decide if you want to be in the business of communications or commodity sales, then start marketing.

And for goodness’ sake—understand that the sales staff you have must learn to sell new ideas, and differently. They will require new tools, talking points and internal buy-in to be successful. So many transitions into just digital vs. offset sales have fallen flat thinking you can stick a square peg in a round hole. Don’t make the same mistakes again. Set yourself up for winning.

Actions speak louder than words
Like it or not, perception is reality. It can add flair to or hinder a positive perception from your audience. What they think, speak, write—and what they don’t—should be taken into consideration. Your messages need to resonate and match your business plan and corporate culture. There are more arenas now than ever before in which to make your point, and so much more noise to compete with.

With the advent of electronic communication through blogs, social media outlets and mobile access to all, it’s never been truer that “all the world is a stage.” What’s on your printed brochure or Web site isn’t the only key. What is the rest of the world saying? Yelp, Facebook, Twitter and other online interactions can be a friend or foe. All of a sudden our audience is huge, and often we don’t even realize it. Be sure to always address those outside your current circles.

Set the tone and target. Your voice should be consistent in all the sales, marketing and public relations in which you engage. Do your best to implement this consciously; often there are multiple messages without a solid theme. Take the time to consider the following when crafting your messages.
• What do your current clients think about your company? Consider both your strengths and weaknesses.
• What do they know about you and the individuals who bring it all together?
• Outside your present contact, do others within the customer’s organization know you exist?
• What do they tell others about you?

Finally, what are you doing with this information? You’d be surprised sometimes what’s out there and how it can help shift your marketing message and develop new channels and products.

How do you sell it?
The sale just ain’t what it used to be. Helping to navigate the platform of mediums can bring the value-add that makes a vendor relationship invaluable. Consider honing in the markets you go after currently. Become an expert in their needs, their goals, their pains and successes. If you understand their bigger challenges, you can help produce successful marketing in print. You show them greater MROI (marketing return on investment) and bring increased margins and revenues to your bottom line.

First, they need to know you have “it”. What’s your wow factor? Ongoing, perpetual, fresh marketing through all mediums is critical. Your mix should include most, if not all, of the following: print, collateral and advertising, direct mail, community outreach, a healthy Web presence, partnerships, and solid word of mouth.

Show them what you can do with the capabilities and partners you have. Make sure they see your quality and expertise. Create a level of trust that a strong self-promotion piece can instill. Use all the mediums your market reads, uses, and should use.

Finally, don’t ignore new generations. They have a huge impact on the consumers, users and drivers of media and communications moving forward. Bridge the employee gap between a younger generation and experienced personnel. Make sure your sales and marketing gets their attention and speaks to your company’s value proposition.

In the end, it’s survival of the fittest
To not try is to accept failure. Luck happens to those who put themselves out there and take the risk. Nothing is ever perfect by nature, nor do I think it should be. But to not make decisions consciously, to not study, to not practice and improve is the essence of failure. Sure, things happen beyond our control, so be aware, have a plan and a core of people in your camp rooting you on. Just know the route to get there has forever changed.

Print is alive and well; tactile and interactive. Let’s get excited about the future and share that enthusiasm with those specifying media messages. Have the energy come from the inside out into the markets you currently serve and want to develop. Take the dive, make the adjustments, practice, practice, practice, and watch potential become reality.

Reinvent yourself—everyone else is.