Over the last few years I’ve noticed an interesting trend over the holiday season: nobody sends out holiday cards anymore! A decade ago, people were more than a little enamoured with e-cards and it didn’t stop there. Print as a whole took a downturn as folks embraced online marketing concepts, email campaigns and they posted their collateral online. Today, the industry continues to reinvent itself as it deals with this “new age” of print.
Back when I worked on the print side (I was a typesetter and art director who occasionally had to shoot her own film if the need arose), the holidays were a busy time. Sure, there were clients who ordered their cards out of the many books available, but there were some who took pride in creating a unique card – one that embraced their brand and delivered the right message. And the printers? We took advantage of the varieties of stock we had on the floor and the creativity within the team to really hit some home runs and to share our capabilities and talents with our customers – all in the form of a greeting card. So what happened?
Logically, you would think that printers would want to showcase their abilities now, more than ever, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. And it’s not just greeting cards, either. I honestly can’t recall the last time I received a printed promotional item from a printer (flyers don’t count). Sure, I’ve received phone calls. I’ve received emails. But where’s the print – that wonderful thing that you touch and feel and smell? How can printers expect to convince their customers to invest in an “archaic” solution, if they’re not prepared to invest in it themselves?
As a print buyer, I can tell you that a lot has changed. Running the marketing departments for both small and large global organizations, I know that very few understand the nuances in selecting the right stock, working with the printer to ensure that the design translates optimally onto paper, that the colours are crisp, or that the fonts are pleasing.
I remember that, no matter what, we always had to do print runs of our collateral when we exhibited at tradeshows. But that’s no longer the case. More often than not, we now bring a mere handful of material and put the rest on USB sticks because we know that it all ends up in the garbage. I know that most customers who are really interested will visit the website and download the same collateral they threw out days earlier. As a marketer, that’s what I want! Now I can track who comes to the site. I can see which items are downloaded. I can better qualify my lead. But as a designer, as someone who has ink running in her veins, it saddens me, because I also know that there is most definitely a place for print in this insane digital world.
I attended a tradeshow not too long ago and one company did something remarkable. At their booth they had produced eight different postcards. Each one had a nice graphic featuring a separate solution. Each one had its own individual QR code. This was a technology company who understood the value of a really good printed takeaway!
Printers have the ability to educate and showcase the myriad of things that can be done when you put ink on paper. With unique personalization capabilities, highly intelligent database integration, QR codes and augmented reality, there is just no excuse why print can’t be woven into an overall marketing campaign with successful results.
Although printers usually have in-house designers or pre-production staff, they don’t typically have marketing departments. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have access to very talented people. If they have agencies as clients, they should work out an exchange of services. Or they can approach consultants who specialize in helping companies market themselves.
But doing nothing is not the answer. Because if the printers can’t put the time into marketing themselves, then they truly will go the way of the cobbler who has no shoes. So…what are your plans this holiday season?
