Three Ideas for Prospecting Print Sales in 2021
Imagine having to drive 45 minutes for a haircut, or to get clothing altered. Imagine no malls or shopping centers to stroll through on a rainy Sunday. Imagine no family-owned restaurants to bring out of town guests, no local bars to watch the big game, no local small businesses when you need to run and […]
How to Make Business Decisions for a Wonderful Life
A printer came to me with a dilemma. One of his customers wanted to buy his family printing business and turn it into an in-house print-design department. Since he had the only print shop in his small town, he felt a responsibility to stay independent and serve the community, just as his parents did before […]
9 Tips on How to Get New Customers From a Nine-Year-Old!
Is it possible to get new customers in this topsy-turvy time? Here’s a story about a little kid who not only did it but created a winning nine-point formula. My son, Nate, was nine years old when I was laid off from my corporate publishing job. The business had not bounced back from the Great […]
2020 Marketing Trends to Watch For Print Business Growth
COVID-19 has brought us the future of digital marketing even faster than the rapid pace we were experiencing. These changes are not something we can wait out until things return to business-as-usual. This month I’ve looked at 2020 marketing trends and how a commercial printer can respond. When faced with unknowns, I look at what […]
Buckle Down and Write for Crisp Communication
Just for fun, I get together with copywriters, speechwriters, ghostwriters, and all kinds of cool writer types. We practice persuasive writing as a group. We use games, prompts, and timed sessions to keep ourselves “fit.” Quick and confident writing. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Why we should be reaching out through the written word Whether you […]
Are You Effectively Communicating To Your Customers During A Crisis?
Change. Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, is credited with saying “The only constant in life is change.” While this is generally considered true, particularly in these technology-infused times, change is not constant. It sometimes comes in disruptive leaps and bounds. We’re in one of those times today. In last month’s blog post about Business Communication […]
Working From Home With Kids | #WFHWK
In the eternally wise words of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air… “Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down.” (Thank you https://www.azlyrics.com/) There is no other way to say this than that we are living in strange and challenging times. The COVID-19 virus, from the professional perspective, means […]
Are You Selling Print Like It’s 1989?
In 1989 fax machines were state of the art communications. America Online was still in its early years. Batman was playing in the movie theaters, rejuvenating the superhero genre and reestablishing the Batman brand. Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall were in the news. People read their monthly trade journals, went to trade shows, and relied on their […]
Earning Trust is a Marketing Imperative
Trust. It’s a big topic in the marketing world right now. Google search on brand or marketing trust or “brand trust” and “marketing trust” over the past few months and you’ll see articles in websites like Forbes, AdAge, TechCrunch, Business2Community, and Social Media Examiner. A combination of data security concerns and the political climate may […]
How Well Do You Know Your Sales and Marketing Goals?
Guest post by Kenneth Theriot, TheRiot Agency We bet you know your overall sales targets and marketing themes. But does your marketing team know what the sales team is up to, and vice versa? Picture this: A global print and packaging company has a robust team of sales representatives trekking across the world to connect […]
Print Industry Education: Whose Job is it Anyway?
I just flew back from Chicago and the last ever Print show (sigh) and boy are my arms tired. That’s a Dad joke for those who don’t know. I spend a good lot of my time creating new and hopefully valuable content for the print industry as it relates to sales and marketing. I see […]
Profitable Print Relationships with Print Champion Matthew Parker
This PMC podcast travels over to my side of the pond to hear from Matthew Parker, print consultant and founder of the website profitableprintrelationships.com. Matthew was a print buyer himself for 20 years, working for a variety of organisations before striking out on his own on the consultancy side. Now, he uses his inside knowledge […]