Be different or die, Dunn warns

Printers must push themselves into niche areas to survive, according to Kate Dunn, who delivered the keynote address at today’s PODi Forum.

Dunn, (pictured) co-founder and CEO of American strategic marketing company DIG (Digital Innovations Group), cast no illusions on the state of the printing industry in her presentation at today’s PODi ANZ AppForum.

“It’s way scary out there right now,” Dunn said in her opening. Yet, there are bright lights at the end of the tunnel, including the changing communication landscape which has a strong focus on one-to-one communications, “which is great for us,” Dunn said. “It’s a huge opportunity for our industry to help clients do this [relevant marketing] better,” she added.

Quoting from marketing guru, Seth Godin, Dunn told the audience, “The mass market is dying – a million micro markets are in its place and each micro-market has its best; the best is subjective, the customer decides.” 

What does this mean for printers? “We can now find people that like the way we work. We don’t have to be all things to all people,” Dunn said. “We will not be successful being all things to all people. Our clients won’t be able to tell us apart and price becomes the differentiator.”

Dunn cited the printing industry’s clone-like nature as the biggest problem they face. “I think that is the single biggest problem we have as an industry – we look alike.”

The proliferation of emails is another boon for the printing industry, as consumers are getting increasingly overwhelmed with emails populating their inbox. Additionally, younger generations are viewing direct mail as a novelty, as opposed to well-worn, which is the path email is tracking. 

“It’s not getting easier. You have to do different stuff here,” she concluded.