Just about every owner of a small printing business I have ever spoken to faces the same set of problems. They are so busy running the shop, supervising employees, keeping the presses rolling, staying on top of paperwork, keeping up with technology, and putting out fires in all departments, that they never get to the marketing.

Even if they have a marketing plan and have employees with the talent and resources to do good work, they seldom get to pull all the pieces together and get the marketing out of the door.

Not surprisingly, the result is disappointment and frustration. Marketing becomes haphazard and occasional, the owner is rarely proud of what is sent out, and it doesn’t seem to work well, sapping the motivation to do more marketing.

Set this against the backdrop of a sour economy, shrinking markets and encroachment from commodity oriented competitors, and marketing for printers might look like a losing battle.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, then here’s your take away – marketing, done well, can connect you with your ideal customers, keep a steady supply of new customers in the pipeline, and position your business as a valuable partner, able to command a premium over commodity printers.

What’s more, you can now forget the hassles of creating your own advertising, because we are here to take care of the hardest parts for you.

You don’t have to worry about marketing strategy, research, writing, design concepts, image searches, layout, editing, etc, etc. – we’ve done it all for you, making it a breeze to run effective, professional marketing campaigns for your printing business.

Integration of sales and marketing for printers

Here’s the model in a nutshell: marketing is the process of attracting and keeping customers when you can’t talk face to face, and sales is the process of attracting and keeping customers when you can.

The conversations started by marketing should ideally flow along to a point when sales can take over. The transition happens when you determine the prospect or lead’s degree of engagement justifies the resources needed for face to face communication.

Ideally, accurate qualification and timing is built into the system, so no one has to waste time with prospects who are not ready. Sales does not have to beat the bushes for new leads, as systems for contacting and engaging qualified prospects are automated and run month in and month out.

To get a more complete idea of how this system works, please take some time to explore your options with our marketing for printers programs.

The Printer’s Marketing System removes the obstacles that prevent most printowners from doing a good job with their marketing. It will move you from thinking of marketing as something that would probably help, and you should be doing more of if only you could get to it, to an essential, highly automated, systematic process of pumping new customers into your business, and cementing relationships with existing customers.

The Printer’s Marketing System has the potential to transform your business, even in these challenging times of transition to online marketing and commoditization of printing.

I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please let me know if you would like information on any particular topic, and do consider joining my newsletter list for tips and advice on marketing your printing business.

Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn too!

Sincerely,

Colin Dodgson
President, PressReady Marketing