This blog was adapted from “Position Web Design Service in Your Print Shop” by Brent Weaver, CEO, uGurus. You can read the full article in the April, 2014 issues of Printing Industries of America: The Magazine. Brent is a featured speaker at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit, June 2–3, in Dallas. Did you know that between 2008 and 2013, global print revenue shrunk by 5.2%?   The rapid growth of digital is giving printers many more options. If contracting print margins are hurting your profits, it’s time to take action. If you’ve considered diversifying your business by adding digital services to your existing portfolio, you could be on the track to recurring revenue and greater profits. Some of the digital services you may want to offer initially for your clients are: Web development for company websites and e-commerce sites Supporting services like SEO and social media Marketing automation, including managed email marketing But, unfortunately, you can’t just add this new service and expect your customers to beat down your door for them. To avoid confusing customers when integrating digital, one of the important things to considerer first is your brand: How are you going to position these services externally to your customer base? That’s where we looked to the expertise of Web design pro Brent Weaver. The CEO of uGurus, Brent helps Web professionals build their business and consults with Web entrepreneurs. You’ll have the opportunity to meet him at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit when he presents “Selling the Online Business Ecosystem.” But for now, here are two smart branding options and his tips for how to position Web services without deterring or confusing your customers. Option 1: Add to your existing offerings Bundle print and Web services and advertise new services under your existing brand. Why this is a good option: A quick way to advertise without a large investment. Since your existing customers are already familiar with your brand, it’s an easy way to educate them about new services. Bundling services and advertising, “we do Web too!” is relatively simple for any size business to implement. What to watch out for: Existing customers may be confused by the change With a marketing message already focused on print, Web services may not sync with this message Option 2: Create a separate brand and offer Before you completely commit to a new offering, create a new, digitally focused brand even though internally you still do all the work. Why this is a good option New digital offering is separated from your brand’s primary offering Acts as a test for your new service before you fully commit Your existing internal team can manage the new brand What to watch out...

When you boil it down, a financial ratio is a simple mathematical formula that compares two or more sets of numbers. However, as our market still struggles to find solid ground post-Recession, this formula is critical to maintain control of your firm’s operations. Financial benchmarking is the number-one way to take the reins and control operational costs. Few people understand financial ratios—and how printers can apply them—better than Stuart Margolis, CPA, MT, of Margolis Partners, LLC. If you’ve participated in the Ratios, you probably recognize his name. He’s a long-time partner of Printing Industries of America who helps industry members increase profits with Ratios financial benchmarking. Why is financial benchmarking so vital to success? If you’re a business owner or manager, you know you need to keep your costs in line with sales. The Ratios let you 1) track operation costs, 2) compare them to those of industry profit leaders, and 3) pinpoint areas for improvement. As an active consultant for Printing Industries of America, Stu has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to how some companies control their operations. We sat down with Stu to find out how top firms are taking back control of their operations and developing a strategic plan for the future using Ratios. Through Margolis Partners you’ve published many guidelines for effective management strategies using Printing Industries of America Ratios. What are the top three best practices you’ve seen your clients implement to benchmark their company against industry profit leaders? SM: Well my number one best practice IS always to benchmark your company, so if you do that, you’re already ahead of the game! But the top three best strategies I urge all my clients to employ are: 1) Structure your financial information in the standard format for the printing industry. Although it may seem obvious to some, it’s an important, often overlooked step that allows you to organize your statements and make direct comparisons to other financial reports. Since the Ratios survey is formatted to this structure, participants can do this easily allowing a side-by-side comparison of your numbers to those of industry profit leaders. 2) Set up a “Profit Plan” for the next year that describes how you will operate in the future. With consistent benchmarking, you can begin to compare your current performance to previous years. This strategy reveals specific areas for improvement and challenges you to perform as a profit leader. 3) Benchmark, plan, repeat. Although that’s a rather simplified statement, essentially the companies that continuously repeat this process of benchmarking and then setting up the following year’s Profit Plan are the ones that I see succeed most often. These are the firms that build...

When you boil it down, a financial ratio is a simple mathematical formula that compares two or more sets of numbers. However, as our market still struggles to find solid ground post-Recession, this formula is critical to maintain control of your firm’s operations. Financial benchmarking is the number-one way to take the reins and control operational costs. Few people understand financial ratios—and how printers can apply them—better than Stuart Margolis, CPA, MT, of Margolis Partners, LLC. If you’ve participated in the Ratios, you probably recognize his name. He’s a long-time partner of Printing Industries of America who helps industry members increase profits with Ratios financial benchmarking. Why is financial benchmarking so vital to success? If you’re a business owner or manager, you know you need to keep your costs in line with sales. The Ratios let you 1) track operation costs, 2) compare them to those of industry profit leaders, and 3) pinpoint areas for improvement. As an active consultant for Printing Industries of America, Stu has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to how some companies control their operations. We sat down with Stu to find out how top firms are taking back control of their operations and developing a strategic plan for the future using Ratios. Through Margolis Partners you’ve published many guidelines for effective management strategies using Printing Industries of America Ratios. What are the top three best practices you’ve seen your clients implement to benchmark their company against industry profit leaders? SM: Well my number one best practice IS always to benchmark your company, so if you do that, you’re already ahead of the game! But the top three best strategies I urge all my clients to employ are: 1) Structure your financial information in the standard format for the printing industry. Although it may seem obvious to some, it’s an important, often overlooked step that allows you to organize your statements and make direct comparisons to other financial reports. Since the Ratios survey is formatted to this structure, participants can do this easily allowing a side-by-side comparison of your numbers to those of industry profit leaders. 2) Set up a “Profit Plan” for the next year that describes how you will operate in the future. With consistent benchmarking, you can begin to compare your current performance to previous years. This strategy reveals specific areas for improvement and challenges you to perform as a profit leader. 3) Benchmark, plan, repeat. Although that’s a rather simplified statement, essentially the companies that continuously repeat this process of benchmarking and then setting up the following year’s Profit Plan are the ones that I see succeed most often. These are the firms that build...

  No one ever said change was easy. But that’s never stopped you in the past, has it? Those of us in the printing industry have always had to learn new technologies, incorporate new equipment, and provide new services to our clients. Change and learning are part of our DNA! Another industry experiencing major change is education, where there is a significant growth trend in online learning. You may have heard about more and more college students taking virtual classes, while some are even earning their degrees entirely online—amazing! This trend is also very evident in employee education. Today, eLearning is a $56.2 billion business and is expected to grow to over $100 billion by 2015. In fact 40% of Fortune 500 companies are turning away from traditional instruction-based learning and investing in online learning (ELearning Magazine, 2013). But it’s not just the huge corporations that are benefitting from virtual education. Printing Industries of America is set to launch a variety of Web-based, industry-focused workshops via a brand new online platform, the Integrated Learning Center. Whether you call all it eLearning, Web-based training, or virtual education, the Integrated Learning Center platform is developed to provide a one-stop-shopping solution to your training needs. This platform raises an exciting opportunity for progressive print and graphic arts companies that view online learning as a competitive weapon, rather than merely an added cost. High-quality employee performance, a key to business success, relies significantly on high-quality training. Online learning, as evidenced in the statistics below, can prove to be more efficient and effective than traditional learning methods and results in greater productivity and competitive gains. Need more convincing that virtual training is right for educating your staff? We’ve highlighted five of the most valuable benefits for our industry members as they apply to both managers and employees. 1.     Quality education on demand Managers: One of the biggest differentiators between online and instructor-based learning is that you can access it virtually any time, anywhere. Since most eLearning programs allow unlimited access, managers have greater flexibility in scheduling training time for employees. Employees: Education is a valuable career asset. eLearning is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25% to 60% over traditional learning methods. (Corporate eLearning Exploring a New Frontier, WR Hambrecht) And since eLearning is self-paced, employees can learn at rates appropriate to their individual knowledge level. 2.     Less time and expense compared to off-site learning Managers: Time and money—two resources most managers wouldn’t mind saving. Recent research shows businesses save at least 50% by replacing traditional instructor-based training with eLearning. Additionally eLearning cuts instruction time by up to 60%. Employees: Those who have online training are more valuable employees. According to a new report...

  No one ever said change was easy. But that’s never stopped you in the past, has it? Those of us in the printing industry have always had to learn new technologies, incorporate new equipment, and provide new services to our clients. Change and learning are part of our DNA! Another industry experiencing major change is education, where there is a significant growth trend in online learning. You may have heard about more and more college students taking virtual classes, while some are even earning their degrees entirely online—amazing! This trend is also very evident in employee education. Today, eLearning is a $56.2 billion business and is expected to grow to over $100 billion by 2015. In fact 40% of Fortune 500 companies are turning away from traditional instruction-based learning and investing in online learning (ELearning Magazine, 2013). But it’s not just the huge corporations that are benefitting from virtual education. Printing Industries of America is set to launch a variety of Web-based, industry-focused workshops via a brand new online platform, the Integrated Learning Center. Whether you call all it eLearning, Web-based training, or virtual education, the Integrated Learning Center platform is developed to provide a one-stop-shopping solution to your training needs. This platform raises an exciting opportunity for progressive print and graphic arts companies that view online learning as a competitive weapon, rather than merely an added cost. High-quality employee performance, a key to business success, relies significantly on high-quality training. Online learning, as evidenced in the statistics below, can prove to be more efficient and effective than traditional learning methods and results in greater productivity and competitive gains. Need more convincing that virtual training is right for educating your staff? We’ve highlighted five of the most valuable benefits for our industry members as they apply to both managers and employees. 1.     Quality education on demand Managers: One of the biggest differentiators between online and instructor-based learning is that you can access it virtually any time, anywhere. Since most eLearning programs allow unlimited access, managers have greater flexibility in scheduling training time for employees. Employees: Education is a valuable career asset. eLearning is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25% to 60% over traditional learning methods. (Corporate eLearning Exploring a New Frontier, WR Hambrecht) And since eLearning is self-paced, employees can learn at rates appropriate to their individual knowledge level. 2.     Less time and expense compared to off-site learning Managers: Time and money—two resources most managers wouldn’t mind saving. Recent research shows businesses save at least 50% by replacing traditional instructor-based training with eLearning. Additionally eLearning cuts instruction time by up to 60%. Employees: Those who have online training are more valuable employees. According to a new report...