Complete Story
06/05/2023
Five Signs You are a Print Junkie
Source: Deborah Corn, Print Media Centr, June 2, 2023
Do you see print everywhere? Do you count down the days until the new printing press or finishing equipment arrives at your print shop? Do you know what Pantone color the sky is? Do you make vacation plans around printing industry events or incorporate them? Do you look at digital marketing and come up with 10 ways print marketing could support the campaign? Do you think about print in the shower?
If you answered yes to any of the above, you might be a Print Junkie!
Unlike other addictions that may require interventions and medical care, standing up and declaring yourself a Print Junkie can be liberating and rewarding with your print customers.
Here are 5 signs you may be one, and how to turn your passion into profits.
5. You have no less than three rulers at your disposal.
Measure twice, cut once. Now apply that to customer communications. Are the right people getting the right message at the right time? If not, get out the ruler and segment your customer lists, again. Many print customers have changed companies since 2020, and have new roles and new responsibilities, some with access to new budgets. Revisit.
4. You examine everything printed to decipher the types of presses, processes and inks used.
Curiosity is contagious and can be fun. Consider sending your customers a sample kit of your capabilities across printed materials and have a contest where the winner has identified the most on each piece, correctly. Make the prize something fun for customers and rewarding for you. Perhaps you can invite them for a VIP tour of your print shop and give them personal printed items from photos or files they send over before their visit. Avoid the “gift card” and anything else that could be an issue for some corporate and agency buyers. Ask them if you aren’t sure what crosses the line – they know! Adjust as needed.
3. You are a print sniffer! And when you do it, you close your eyes and savor the sniff! Bonus print junkie points if you do this in public, bonus points if anyone asks what you are doing, and you don’t even realize you are doing it.
Print LOVE can also be contagious! Send customers cool things you see and share how they could be applied to help achieve print marketing and communication goals. You can also send aspirational examples. I had a ‘draw of print dreams’ in every agency I worked at just waiting for the right client or creative brief to come along and manifest them into reality. You want to be the first print shop I call when discussions start. Buyers may still need to triple bid the project, but if all is equal, they will usually reward the printspirational source – I know I did.
2. You use your fingers as a paper stock weight gauge. Bonus print junkie points if you can also detect the specific finish on coated paper.
Supply chain issues have certainly made more customers more flexible when it comes to “their paper” and getting comparable options to honor brand standards. Invest some time to share paper possibilities with your customers this year. Invite paper merchants and mill reps to your print shop and have a paper sample party with customers and prospects. Produce blogs and video content with the paper people and use it to inspire projects and creativity. Repurpose for your social media and you have a marketing campaign guaranteed to generate ROI on many levels.
And the #1 sign that you are a Print Junkie…
YOU ARE STILL HERE!
It’s been rough for many print junkies looking to score big over these past 3 years. They kept it moving, did whatever they could to keep the presses churning and made it work to make it here. Congrats to all of you! But the work is not done.
