How Printers Can Start a Relationship Marketing Program

a light orange image of a group of people hands interlocked to illustrate relationship marketing

Are you ready to start a relationship marketing program that strengthens ties with your best print customers? We’ll use targeted email and add deeply insightful print to bring customers closer and transform our relationships with them.  Here’s how to get started, what to watch out for, and how to take it up a notch once […]

Why Print Businesses Should Wait to Ditch Twitter

twitter x logo abstract

The decline of Twitter aka X as a social media platform has had many print businesses and individuals wondering if they should dump their accounts. There are many practical reasons why you may not want to delete your account quite yet.  For the sake of expediency, I will refer to “Twitter” and “tweets” rather than […]

Why You Must Hang Out With Smart People In the Print Industry and Life

a brain in a multicolor background brain power

No matter where we are in our print careers and life, we must cultivate a large circle of smart people as colleagues and friends. Most of us have tight relationships with just a tidy handful of trusted, smart people. However, strategically, it’s essential to find and hang out with a variety of smart people – […]

How to Get the Most Out of Your Chief Marketing Officer

chief marketing officer writing on a whiteboard

Printing company owners think I’m kidding when I say that a Chief Marketing Officer can do even more than they’re doing now. Many CMOs in the printing industry are not working to their potential or ability. And most are not being utilized in the C-suite the way they could be. The reason for this starts […]

How to Run a DIY Print Sales Improvement Program

orange bar chart with a rocket illustrating increased improved sales performance

If your print sales team wants to systematically improve — rather than leave things to chance — try running a DIY team program. The key is to choose training materials from a top sales trainer who understands the printing industry. Here’s how to lay out your DIY program, choose the right materials, and get started. […]

Are You Choosing the Right Chief Officer for Your Printing Company?

choosing the right person

As a printing company advisor, I help clients hire Chief Officer positions for sales, operations, and business transformation. Before we design a C-suite level role (let alone meet with recruiters and post job openings), I talk with the client about why hiring for the print industry is different – and special.  When hiring Chief Officer […]

How Printers Can Build a Strategic Lighthouse to Guide the Business

lighthouse at night

Where is your print business headed? Not sure? Too many owners rush to the tactical side without a strategic beacon to guide the printing company’s success. Printers need a master strategy – a solid lighthouse that can survive the turbulence of the business environment. Here are tips on how to build your strategic lighthouse and […]

When Print Sales Are Down, Who’s Really at Fault?

an orange image of a finger pointing

When printing businesses see their sales drop, there are gaping organizational issues that can be the root cause. The printing company itself may be the one at fault, and that’s the core reason the sales team struggles to do its best work.  We’ve talked about how print sales teams can hold companies back. In this […]

Is Your Print Sales Team Holding You Back?

a purple image of hands breaking chains

In my work consulting with sales and marketing teams in printing companies, I hear a common refrain from the marketing side: “Sales reps want more print sales from leads, but they’re not converting the ones they have.” Sales managers agree that “lead burning,” as I call it, creates morale issues and generates antagonism between sales […]

Do First Things First When Marketing Your Printing Company

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When creating a new marketing campaign for your printing company, it’s good — no, it’s imperative — to do the first things first. Successful marketing teams look at the big picture, outline the program, create a plan that everyone understands, and – only then – take action. If that doesn’t happen, even an experienced team […]

How to Break Through the Creativity Block

breaking through a creative block

You can have all the right people in the room and still have a creative block when you do marketing for a printing company. Here’s my perspective on how to get the creativity flowing when you do print-digital-media marketing in the printing industry.  This story is about a client who does specialty screen printing and […]

How to Build Your Print Business From the Inside

a hand laying bricks

Want to see what a difference it makes to have a well-built business? It can mean more sales, higher profits, and better morale. Let’s talk about how to build your print business from the inside so it works better on the outside. Working on the inside of the business sounds lofty and philosophical, but what […]