Why it’s good to be different

The owner of a North East company that specialises in printing says he can see business confidence growing because increasing numbers of his clients are seeking more individual products.

Alastair Smith, who runs Print & Mail Runner, which is based in Hexham, Northumberland and which also carries out direct marketing, said: “We are definitely seeing a greater focus on quality from our clients and driving that is increasing confidence.

“If you go back to the time of the recession, the printing industry was seeing clients who were primarily chasing the cheapest price. It was all about the cheapest stationery, the cheapest business cards, the race to the bottom.

“However, that is changing and we are seeing more and more clients who say they wish to be different. They do not want to follow the flock and have the same thing that everyone else has.

“They want people to look at their business cards or their leaflets and say ‘that’s different’.

“That means that they are asking for things like rounded corners or heavier, higher quality paper or maybe products that are laminated, anything to make their business stand out from the crowd.

“I think that means that they are feeling more confident about themselves. They have moved away from a pure focus on price to something with a stronger emphasis on quality and they are prepared to increase their marketing budgets to achieve it.”

The company can be contacted at Office 1, 36 Gibson Fields, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 1AS Tel: 0191 580 2031 E-mail [email protected]