PIPI Shows how Paper is Affecting Printing Companies, and Suggests Approaches to Consider
Given the vital importance of paper to our industry, in our October 2022 PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) study, we explored the following topics: paper’s effect on meeting customer needs; is the paper situation getting better; how much firms have increased paper inventory; is increased inventory helping; and the impact of growing paper inventory on cash. We present our findings for each of those topics with actionable suggestions. Our last section includes ways to respond to paper supply issues, which we drew from previous supply-chain research and tested in this study.
PIPI Connects a “Comprehensive Strategic Approach” to Printing Firm Performance: Here are Execution Tips
A few years back, we researched effective management practices in the printing industry. We looked at past research on how strategic planning affects firm performance. We found that when printing firm leaders strategically plan, set goals, and analyze financial ratios (those three together), they likely experience enhanced firm performance. We labeled this a Comprehensive Strategic Approach (CSA). We re-examined our original CSA findings in the October 2022 PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) survey. And yes, we again found a positive relationship between applying a CSA (strategic planning, goal setting, and financial ratio analysis) and firm performance. Therefore, to help printing firm leaders effectively apply the three CSA elements, we provide a plethora of execution tips arranged in a simple bullet-point format. Our October 2022 survey also examined “budgeting” as a possible fourth CSA element. Surprisingly, we did not find a clear positive relationship between budgeting and firm performance. We also discuss those findings and provide budgeting execution tips.
PIPI Delivers a Big Picture of The Printing Industry: Revenue Trends, COVID Recovery, Inflation Effects, Business Outlook, Employees per $1m in Sales and Actionable Thoughts
We present a big-picture view of the printing industry drawn from our October 2022 PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) survey. Our big picture includes revenue trends, COVID recovery, inflation effects, business outlook, and employees per $1m in sales. We provide actionable suggestions throughout the report.
Marketing Planning, Sales Team Management, Social Media Usage: Insights from the April 2022 PIPI Study.
Are you planning your marketing approach effectively?
Are you managing your sales team effectively?
Are you using social media effectively?
These are vital, but tough, questions for most small business leaders. Many small business leaders do not have a deep background in these areas, nor do they have the resources to hire marketing managers. Furthermore, small business leaders’ days are often consumed with operations issues, human resource matters, and making a profit (to name a few tasks on their desks). Consequently, do they have time to invest in marketing planning and sales management?
As our industry is changing, a printing firm’s marketing approach and sales management are dynamic, continually changing. Indeed, marketing and sales management are much different from when I led a printing firm 10 or so years ago. We were all ink-and-paper. Now, most printing companies provide a plethora of products and services. Also, social media use is growing immensely, changing the marketing and sales management world. Therefore, the questions above are possibly more crucial to printing company success today… and tomorrow.
To provide actionable knowledge about marketing planning, sales management, and social media use, we studied these topics in our April 2022 PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) study.
Key Takeaways
There is more to come from this study. For instance, we are exploring from this data the extent printing firms use print to market their forms. Also, we are exploring marketing planning as a mediator or moderator (we will explain this concept) of sales management and social media marketing. We will share articles with associations when those findings are complete.
Our April PIPI revenue analysis indicated growth among printing association members. From the multiple printing businesses I connect with, it sounds like business is good for printing firms. However, times change. We don’t know what the macro-economic environment holds for the future. Even if business is good, strive to build the foundations that connect your firm with potential customers. Again, building that foundation is more than grabbing “low-hanging fruit!”
Is Your Firm Growing Like Others in the Printing Industry? Revenue and Growth Insights from the April 2022 PIPI Study.
Key Takeaways
In our April 2022 PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) study, 130 respondents reported their 2021 annual revenue. Respondents’ average 2021 revenue was $9,854,140.
Does this sample represent the entire printing industry? No. However, this data shows that there are printing association member firms who grew in 2021 and see more growth in 2022. As stated above, if you are not growing, and you desire growth, step back with your leadership team and take a critical, strategic look at your firm and its environment. Then make a strategic plan. Hopefully, this information will prompt constructive strategic, critical thinking among your leadership team.
The latest PIPI (Printing Industry Performance and Insights) study produced two reports. One report provides printing firm leaders’ business outlooks and performance metrics (revenue growth, profitability, and returns) from national, regional, and firm revenue size perspectives. The second report sorts printing firms into different groups based on production processes applied and products/services provided. For each group, the report includes performance metrics (revenue growth, profitability, and returns) and the strategic focuses of higher performers in each group.
Aiming to provide helpful performance benchmarks and knowledge to regional printing association members, in our January PIPI study, we sought to identify “strategic groups.” A strategic group, an academic phrase, represents a set of firms pursuing a similar strategy within an industry. Going forward, we use the phrase “printing industry groups” or “groups” for the strategic groups we found.
To identify printing industry groups, we asked what processes companies apply and the products/services they provide, both as approximate percentages of revenue. We used “cluster analysis” for the products and processes responses. Cluster analysis is a statistical tool that sorts objects into groups with similarities. We see our clusters as reflecting groups of firms in the printing industry. However, our groups do not include cold- or heat-set web. The 120 usable responses were insufficient to identify groups of cold- or heat-set web firms. We will hope for more participation in future studies. We will seek to confirm the groups we identified here, possibly add groups, and update performance benchmarks for each group. After the key takeaways, we describe our five printing industry groups and provide related performance benchmarks.
Key Takeaways