Does Print need ‘reinventing’?

First appeared www.eyeondisplay.co.uk

No. It’s full of invention for those who know about it, choose to know about it and how to apply it. We just need to Trumpet it effectively!

I was interested in the feedback from a magazine publisher, FIPP, at a Congress in Portugal who coined the phrase ‘New Print’ as if it were a new and remarkable concept we had never heard of before. Maybe to also make you raise a wry smile? The conference summary was apparently ‘print is cool right now, especially for luxury brands’. Owners of print businesses would, and have always, conferred this!

I understand the nature of change in interests. What’s fashionable, what’s in vogue. But I was exasperated by what might be described as ignorance of basic facts and understanding. Print has always thrived when used as a high-value proposition as it offers an unrivalled creativity and sensory experience. As I write this, I see an excellent note on LinkedIn from Two Sides, ‘The Revenge of Print’. Print has an intentional power. Print builds brands as it builds a ‘physical temple of a brand’, print has a ‘physical pull’!

The notion of selling value-added solutions is not ‘new’. Many successful companies have been doing just this for many years, and those selling digital equipment have it embedded in their lexicon. I did some work with a print business about its frustration of not being able to impress its current and prospective customers with its capabilities to offer a wider range of print solutions.

Selling solutions is difficult if a customer has got a fixed notion or deaf ears, and so I discussed with them the way ‘coaching’ therapies approach a client to get them to open up and feel comfortable, the type of questions that open up a conversation. I also discussed, to keep all options open, how to depict the universe of print by icons, symbols, or diagrams as an illustration for discussion. It worked well for them as they then placed themselves in the universe of print with themselves at the centre to deliver what was required without a limiting conversation.

Customers are driving the need to shift from a product-centric to a service-centric approach, which new technologies facilitate well. A service-based approach links closely with a solutions approach where value is co-created through engagement and a deeper understanding of the client’s business.

How do you view your own approach and offering? I have reviewed many websites and where products dominate.

I have discussed many times with sales teams the difficulty of a solutions-selling approach as it can limit and define you too early into the discussion. I remember talking to a CEO of what we would say was a ‘model’ print service provider who had characterised themselves as a ‘cross-media integrated marketing service provider’ but had found by characterising themselves as such, they were not filling the three litho presses with print and so losing revenue.

It’s an interesting area to discuss and crack to make it work for you. How effective do you think you are?

Amongst many inspiring words to characterise the power of print from vendors at Drupa, I think Canon’s, ‘Print has the power to move’ captures what we have always known but maybe fallen on deaf ears? I remember over 30 years ago trying to talk to publishers about the power of using data and personalisation and using an example of a catalogue selling stationary using variable data. We had invested in at the time the latest ‘Videojet’ technology.

I am not having a go at publishers, but I have seen and still see a lack of curiosity from customers about what print technology can do to set themselves apart or just compete with what others are doing. It’s up to us then to Trumpet and keep trumpeting the great things print can achieve, has always been capable of, how it can be dynamically linked into digital channels and initiatives and its powers to stimulate cognitive processing. Print is an interactive medium!

The companies that do better have a narrative around the power of print, tell stories about its effectiveness, link this into their websites, and have individuals and teams who link their dialogue with customers. The drum beat never stops, and this is maybe what we need more of. To push through deaf ears, we need to spell it out!

We always need to describe and quantify the value of a ‘product’ and print is not alone in this. For us in the Great world of print, what might be an issue is how the 80: 20 rule might apply to championing the power of print where relevant. Do only 20 % of our print tribe champion print, whilst 80% stay too silent?

Maybe I understand Delia Smith’s frustration a bit more now, not as a drunken lush but who in an attempt to gee up the 20,000+ packed into Carrow Road, Delia stomped onto the pitch in her high heels and uttered those immortal words: “A message for the best football supporters in the world: we need a 12th man here. Where are you? Where are you?! Let’s be ‘avin’ you! Come on!”

Call me to discuss options to increase you market penetration and effectiveness by incremental shifts in approach or fundamental things that will enable more positive outcomes.

I replaced her words with ‘We need an Industry to verbalise just what great things we have always had; where are you? Where are you?! Let’s be ‘avin’ you! Come on!’

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