Say digital to most printers and they think digital printing. Say it to the rest of the world and they think internet, online, mobile, tablets, e-readers and TV. With the stellar growth of the digital economy, all print providers need to have a strategy that accesses it, says Andy McCourt. Having a website is not enough; having W2P is better but to truly extract dollars from the digital economy, you need an all-encompassing strategy and a heart for change.
The majority of printed products convey information. Even printed packaging, although it also protects and preserves, is there to convey information about the contents; the brand, the ingredients, the use-by date. Sectors such as printed ceramic wall tiles, floor covering, wallpaper could arguably be purely decorative but even these convey information about the culture and aesthetics of their originators.
Today’s information business is operating in two economies and, yes, they are also two-speed economies. The digital, bits and bytes-based economy is roaring ahead to the extent that many of the most valuable companies in the world are primarily players in the digital economy like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon. Print media is stuck in an ‘atoms-based’ physical world where costs are rising, distribution is lengthy using trucks, ships and planes and, although global growth exists, it is tiny at around 1.36 per cent CAGR (source: smitherspira.com). When dissected into Western and Asian/emerging markets, it is clear that print media is declining in the West and growing in regions such as Asia, South America, Africa, the Middle East and former Soviet bloc economies.
This is not to say that all areas of printing are doing badly right now. Outdoor media, for example, posted a third quarter growth of 6.5 per cent last financial year, its 11th consecutive period of growth (source: OMA). Billboards and other roadside attractions were the major earners and these are all currently printed; however there is a nascent digital screen display threat even to this market.
Many digital on-demand printers are doing well such as Sydney’s SOS Print & Media which more than doubled post-tax profits to $520,000 in FY 2010-11, the result of a smart sales strategy and heavy investment in high volume digital production. Melbourne’s On Demand is prospering for very similar reasons.
Some of those bêtes noir of our industry – print managers – continue to grow despite some recent well-publicised failures. Genii Print Management based on Sydney’s northern beaches has just topped $10 million in sales from a scratch start in 2009. Established by former Blue Star web sales manager, Marcus Smith, with a bit of help from his UK mate, Simon Biltcliffe of Webmart fame, Genii claims to buy about 50 per cent of its print within Australia with the rest coming in from China. The sales and production team continues to grow as they win more accounts.
The term that defines virtually all of the success stories in print is digital. Not just the act of printing digitally but, as Nicholas Negroponte said in his 1996 magnum opus, ‘being digital’. Being digital encompasses all manner of digital technology, leveraging the digital juggernaut to move atoms. Take Kogan <www.kogan.com.au> for example: it sells the same appliances, computers, TVs and mobile phones as Harvey Norman but while Harvey’s profits dive, Kogan’s rocket because it is an all-digital sales channel for atoms-based products: – they’ve tapped into the digital economy and printers can do it too. Hopefully these eight steps will set you on your way.
Supercharge your website: So you have a website that was designed five years ago and tells the world you are a craft printer with a ten-colour perfector and a Tiegel. I’ll be frank with you – no one is interested. Supercharging your website is about making it sing and having new information daily. ‘Last updated October 1876’ is the kiss of death on websites. A website is not a substitute for an advertisement or a brag-book. It is a business in itself – or businesses since you can have many. Get professional web designers to make it over, identify the products you offer first not the equipment they are manufactured on, incorporate W2P as a priority, not an afterthought. Sell to the world – the internet is global. What? Who is going to buy 1,000 NCR three-part A5 docket books from me in Iceland I hear you ask? Probably nobody but could you manage business cards with special finishes, books by Australian authors, photobooks with a free stuffed Koala or personalised drink coasters? Even some trade printers know the way to supercharge a website, such as <www.lepcolourprinters.com.au> - take a lead from them.
Embrace W2P: Embracing web-to-print is not an option. Now or later, it is a necessity. In her book, Jennifer Matt of the US webtoprintexperts.com, states it quite succinctly on the cover. Web (where your customers are) 2 (how to reach them) Print (what to sell them). People now spend more time on the internet and mobile devices than reading printed products (source: WPP), so it makes sense to try and reach them there. W2P has other advantages in that it automates the order process, captures all existing and new customer data, enables the selling of additional items (binders, branded coffee mugs, corporate apparel, software, business aids) and can lessen credit risks by having up-front payment options.
Get your app together: Apps, or mobile applications, are the biggest thing in marketing today. They are those things that come free with your iPhone or Android phone or can be downloaded from various app stores such as Apple’s iTunes. While many apps are for entertainment, business apps are rapidly becoming the preferred way to shop for mobile and tablet users. While W2P simplifies customer interaction and ordering in the office or home, apps can push specific customer experiences wherever the smart phone goes. By 2017, around 3 billion smart phones will be in use around the globe and mobile transactions will amount to about $730 billion (source: comScore & Juniper Research). Already mobile apps exist that deliver a printed product: <www.mypersonalpostcard.com> is one and <www.moonpig.com.au> is another. You can even take a photo with your iPhone, upload to an app and have a printed t-shirt delivered within seven days. I am an app developer myself and will be releasing the first one in early 2013 – selling a particular kind of print to the world and producing it all in Australia. If I can do it, you can too!
Appoint a social media/SEO Google-iser: Even with so much evidence around them, some printers continue to drink their own Kool-Aid and see social media, Google Adwords and search engine optimisation (SEO) as petty subordinates to the might of the press. It’s time to reverse the thought pattern. The most successful companies today have whole departments dedicated to seeding, engaging with and fertilising the social media world. The world’s largest media buying company, WPP, will spend more with Google next year than it did with a ‘major’ media group. This will be via Adwords, affiliate marketing, referrals, tagging, YouTube and so on. One of the best practitioners in our industry is @PenguinUKbooks on Twitter – take a look and learn. Whether in-house or outsourced, your SM/SEO Google-iser will be the best investment you can make if you plan to be in business for the next 10 years.
Hey, you get on my cloud! If you are old enough to recognise the play on this Rolling Stones hit of the 60s, you need to take note. Cloud IT services that enable you to accomplish all that is needed to engage with the digital economy mean that you don’t need to buy expensive software and employ geeky IT people. It can all be licensed and operated in the cloud. Cloud computing is an article on its own but, to grasp the point, go to <www.pixfizz.com>, take the demo, set yourself up in an online photobook business for as little as $500 a month and start selling photobooks to the world.
Offer things other than print: When I worked in London, a British comedian by the name of Les Dawson was celebrity presenter at the UK Print Awards, held at the swanky Dorchester Hotel. Les liked a drink and when he came to announce the Gold Award for ‘Self-covered four colour offset catalogues, saddle-stitched and less than 32 pages’, he suffixed it with an aside ‘Whatever the *#@! that means’. You see, we can get obsessively absorbed in the process of print and convince ourselves that it is all people want from us, when in actuality they want a nice warm and satisfying buying experience. If you do a good job on a person’s business cards, who is to say they won’t buy embroidered polo shirts from you? Look at the specials on <www.gorillaprint.com.au> and you’ll see printed tote-bags on offer at 99 cents each, minimum order 500. They don’t even print them; the order goes to an offshore producer who ships the finished items. See the point? Another good example of this ‘full service’ offering is <www.prografica.com.au>.
Stop quoting – start winning business: A popular definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different result. In the printing business, this is: make or receive a sales call; prepare a cost estimate; quote the customer; wait. After a long wait, call the customer and ask, “Did we win that quote, John?” Upon being told sorry, no, say, “OK, well remember us for next time eh?” With W2P and apps-based selling, YOU decide the price, the customer accepts it and pays you up-front, or at least a 50 per cent deposit. Honestly, if I were a commercial print shop today I’d never issue another quote, knowing the job will be touted around five other printers. That’s a race to the bottom. Direct the enquirer to your website and say, “Everything you need to know is there and it’s so easy to use... let me know if you have any questions that are not addressed there.”
Innovate, educate or vacate: Innovation in any business is an on-going essential. Ignore it and you will suffer. Look at Nokia; one minute kings of the mobile phone world, next minute wondering what happened when iPhones and Android smart phones took all the sales away. You also need to educate and share knowledge, not only with staff but with your customers too. Sharing knowledge for free elevates your standing and predisposes the beneficiaries to do business with you if you ask nicely enough.
If all this seems too hard, it could be time to walk into the sunset and direct your energies towards an exit strategy, where you can sit on your verandah with your iPad and connect to the wonderful world of the digital economy in tranquil surroundings while writing a brief for ‘App-retirer’ – the mobile app that makes it easy for anyone to plan their retirement safely and financially soundly – from someone who did just that. Send for free booklet.