This past month, I attended a great industry talk hosted by the Digital Imaging Association (DIA) at the Xerox Research Centre; and I don’t think I could say enough good things about the experience!
Laureen Chudzinski, director of business development strategies at InfoTrends, was the evening’s speaker, and she talked about social media marketing. What I really enjoyed about her presentation was her use of examples. I find that a lot of us talk generally about the influences of social media. This is probably in part due to the fact that social media is quite new and not well understood.
Her background at InfoTrends however, meant that Laureen had lots of great examples to share. She pointed us to effective marketing campaigns such as the personalized ketchup bottle from myheinz.com and incredible self-promo work done by Tukaiz. Laureen explained that customers are turning their marketing budgets toward these new outlets because they cost less and deliver more results than the traditional streams, emphasizing that printers can be a part of this solution.
In particular, this space can and has been very well integrated with digital press technology. In this month’s issue, Heidi Tolliver-Nigro takes you through one way to look at the digital press. She explains, “Print is no longer print. It’s simply a tool in a large and expanding marketing toolset.” While the technology is important, impacting both the cost and quality of a printed piece, with digital print it really comes down to what you do with the specialized capabilities. Creative solutions, such as QR codes and personalized URLs, can be used to generate new prospect traffic. They are also unique because they are more measurable. I encourage you to take a look at the article as Heidi simplifies some of the math behind the magic.
Interestingly, this month’s My Customer Asked Me also has a focus on social media, and, in particular, social networking. Personally, I have been involved in this space for some time, choosing to complete my Masters of Management Science on the topic. The reason I became interested in social networks is the same reason that many are still skeptical about them; I wanted to identify their use and, more importantly, their value.
While I would love to be able to answer this in one issue, it will likely take several to explore the concepts.
I know that some of us are worried about the impact of this space. If we examine it carefully, I believe there are great opportunities yet to be had.
We have been printing the high school newspaper on glossy paper since 2000.