Graphic Arts Media

Learning to survive and profit

Yes, survive! With an increasing number of print providers failing short in the key area of profits, attending my presentation at the Print Community Forum November 13 and 14 in Vaughan, Ontario will provide you with clear advantages to survive and expand. My presentation will not only get you ready for the future, but will provide you with the information, knowledge and wisdom from which you will gain profits.
Only a portion of our industry is profitable
Is printing going away? No. But printing in North America is down and will continue to decline. However, worldwide print is growing by about 8% and will continue to grow, slowly. But for most of you and your competitors, a new model, formula and a secret advantage are needed. That advantage is called integration! Developing a business model based on an applicable understanding of the needs of your customers and prospects is not only a sound strategy, but it’s the path to a successful future.
Research indicates that only 20% of the commercial print industry is profitable! Are you part of that 20%?  No?  Well you can join that stellar club, but only if you follow some key steps and are willing to think differently – very differently.
A new age demands a new strategy – Vertical Marketing
Have you heard of Vertical Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications or Media Convergence? Developing a new business program based on the very same foundations that your clients live and die by, will allow you to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” of the vertical markets you select and target.
Print endures and evolves
Print in some fashion will always be needed. Integrated print – print converged with other media – will be needed at a higher rate than traditional, legacy-based print. Just look around you and see what’s happening. Tools like personalization, variable data, augmented reality, NFC, Wi-Fi and ready watermarks are now the norm. This will not change. The rate at which these print-based technologies can and will be used will only increase, aided by even more and newer media and emerging technologies.
Join me at the Forum – a profitable future is calling
I am a print-centric evangelist of the integration of legacy media, new media and emerging technologies – not for the sake of integration itself, but for the sake of profits. Your profits. I see integration, collaboration, cooperation, and partnerships’ convergence as the tools that will allow you to focus on profit advocacy, then on profits. Your supply chain is compressing and consolidating; so is the supply chain of your customers and prospects. What is needed is to provide a new, proven, value-based series of benefits that will assist your customers prospects to reduce costs, gather qualified responses and increase their profits. Enter the ultimate relationship, that of a trusted advisor!
Be what you are – only better
You do not need to be a marketing agency, an advertising agency or a design shop. You need to understand the pain points of your self-selected targeted market – what keeps them up at night and how you can provide solutions. What you need and what you will learn from my presentation is how to develop fact-based proven strategies to institute a vertical marketing effort and how to understand the concept and theory behind your customers’ processes. And yes, you will understand the tools that are needed to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk” of your customers and prospects. Hopefully I’ll see you at the Forum.
Print Community Forum dates, times and ticket prices
Graphic Arts Magazine’s Print Community Forum, endorsed by the CPIA, will be held November 13 and 14 at Le Jardin Conference & Event Centre in Vaughan, Ontario. Other speakers will discuss the Forum’s four main topics:  sales, equipment, new technologies and success stories.
Tickets are $20 each
If you order tickets online by Friday, October 31, there is a 50% discount (Use coupon code LASTCHANCE 3). For tickets call Jenna Lyons at 905-473-9111 or visit www.printcommunity.com.
For booth space inquiries call GAM publisher Joe Mulcahy at 1-877-513-3999 or e-mail joe@graphicartsmag.com.
Watch for more detailed information over the next few weeks right here and at www.printcommunity.com.


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