Are you one of the hundreds of entrepreneurial startup companies that has developed an innovative technology this year? Now that you’ve invested resources into product development, a solid marketing strategy is critical if you want to earn an ROI. Printing Industries of America provides technical support to countless industry members, and we’ve seen that many of them share a big challenge—getting their technology in front of the right customers. Small startups may have fewer resources to devote to sales and marketing, while some larger companies are searching for new or additional avenues to get in front of their target audience. Although we can’t give you the magical marketing plan that is going to catapult your brand new technology to market success, we can provide some vital core tactics. Here are five essential strategies to keep in mind. 1.   Create a marketing plan. Though it may seem like an obvious step, it’s one many companies fail to plan out completely. Ensure you are strategically assessing all the angles. What is the target market for this product? Who are our competitors?  What is our total budget? What makes our product unique? Essentially be sure to conduct a comprehensive Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Finalize a solid strategy that meets your main objectives. 2.   Research different promotional avenues.To reach a wider audience, some companies may need to take another look at their marketing promotions. At the core, a media mix that integrates print and digital communication mediums, such as email, direct mail, and social media, is most effective. But are you missing out on other ways to reach your target customer? To make your product stand out from the competition, you may want to try entering relevant industry award programs. Those like the InterTech ™ Technology Awards, which recognizes innovative technologies, can provide valuable, industry-wide exposure and positive PR. 3.   Set your launch date and stick to it.You’ve done extensive research and made a creative plan to strategically promote your product. You know that a launch date helps keep you and your team on track by providing a deadline to work with. Even though some of the best laid plans can still go awry, remind your project leaders that sticking firmly to this date motivates the team to stay focused and in control of the project. 4.   Network, network, network!Like most things in life, success really is all about who you know. Companies that spent time widening their social circle can get more face-to-face time with potential clients. Attend conferences, trade shows, and other professional events relative to your business to make valuable connections. Other professional networking resources include industry forums, LinkedIn groups, and listservs. 5.   Stay focused on your...

This article was submitted by T.J. Tedesco, founder and president of Grow Sales, Inc., and keynote speaker at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit. In 2012, would you have predicted that a book manufacturer would increase its sales 50% in 2013? Or that a postpress equipment manufacturer would grow sales more than 15%?  “Whoa there, T.J.,” you might be thinking. “Are these significant companies?” Absolutely. Both have been around for decades, and both crossed into the eight-figured sales level last year. The book manufacturer client has reached heights that would’ve been unthinkable five years ago. The equipment manufacturer client may have been larger once, but that was nearly two decades ago. How did they achieve this growth? Better operations execution? Better marketing? Better selling? Together these activities might boost sales and profitability a smidge. But double-digit, sustainable growth? Keep dreaming. In this industry, better execution alone isn’t enough. Change the Game These companies grew because they moved their markets. They’ve both tapped into our industry’s growing on-demand segment. Not by simply subbing in digital for offset, but by completely re-orienting their approaches to their production workflows, their customers, and their businesses in general. It’s not enough to keep moving the chains. You have to change where the game’s being played. Leadership discussions at your business should begin with this question: Where should we play ball?  Stay Competitive Bill Gates had an awesome quote about twenty years ago: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.”  All printing company leaders would do well to keep this thought in mind today. Let’s not panic and forget to block and tackle. Doing the fundamentals well will keep us competitive for the next two years. But if we don’t reimagine our companies, industry, and competitive landscape within the next ten years, we’ll likely be out of business. T.J. Tedesco will deliver a keynote presentation, Gloom or Bloom—Setting the Course For the Future, at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit, June 2–3 at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, TX. T.J. is founder and president of Grow Sales, Inc., an outsourced sales growth services company serving the graphic arts industries since 1996. Grow Sales, Inc. has helped many dozens of companies grow their top and bottom lines by carefully guiding their sales, marketing, public relations and graphic and web design efforts. T.J. is the author of eight books, three on marketing and sales. T.J. can be reached at (301)...

This article was submitted by T.J. Tedesco, founder and president of Grow Sales, Inc., and keynote speaker at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit. In 2012, would you have predicted that a book manufacturer would increase its sales 50% in 2013? Or that a postpress equipment manufacturer would grow sales more than 15%?  “Whoa there, T.J.,” you might be thinking. “Are these significant companies?” Absolutely. Both have been around for decades, and both crossed into the eight-figured sales level last year. The book manufacturer client has reached heights that would’ve been unthinkable five years ago. The equipment manufacturer client may have been larger once, but that was nearly two decades ago. How did they achieve this growth? Better operations execution? Better marketing? Better selling? Together these activities might boost sales and profitability a smidge. But double-digit, sustainable growth? Keep dreaming. In this industry, better execution alone isn’t enough. Change the Game These companies grew because they moved their markets. They’ve both tapped into our industry’s growing on-demand segment. Not by simply subbing in digital for offset, but by completely re-orienting their approaches to their production workflows, their customers, and their businesses in general. It’s not enough to keep moving the chains. You have to change where the game’s being played. Leadership discussions at your business should begin with this question: Where should we play ball?  Stay Competitive Bill Gates had an awesome quote about twenty years ago: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.”  All printing company leaders would do well to keep this thought in mind today. Let’s not panic and forget to block and tackle. Doing the fundamentals well will keep us competitive for the next two years. But if we don’t reimagine our companies, industry, and competitive landscape within the next ten years, we’ll likely be out of business. T.J. Tedesco will deliver a keynote presentation, Gloom or Bloom—Setting the Course For the Future, at the 2014 Print Leadership Summit, June 2–3 at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, TX. T.J. is founder and president of Grow Sales, Inc., an outsourced sales growth services company serving the graphic arts industries since 1996. Grow Sales, Inc. has helped many dozens of companies grow their top and bottom lines by carefully guiding their sales, marketing, public relations and graphic and web design efforts. T.J. is the author of eight books, three on marketing and sales. T.J. can be reached at (301)...

Each year, you analyze your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs). You use the Ratios to compare your numbers against industry profit leaders—the top 25% in terms of profit as a percent of sales. Then you note discrepancies and come to educated conclusions, like “Our paper costs are out of line with industry averages we need to review our contracts with our vendors” or maybe “Our waste and spoilage figures are higher than average” or “Our sales per factory employee are too low to support our current staffing; we need to increase sales to current customers, develop new market opportunities, or reduce our staffing levels.” But what does it really take to be more profitable? Our members wanted to know, so our Center for Economics and Market Research team designed a revealing new survey. It uncovers how profit leaders get successful and what strategies they’re using that you’re not. The Strategic Management Survey looks deeper at the management processes profit leaders use. It goes beyond asking printers to share their numbers to really discover what makes a profit leader a “profit leader.” If you want to know, just take the survey to find out! We asked Ed Gleeson, Director, Center for Economics and Market Research, about this new survey and how it will help printers increase their profits. You just released the new Strategic Management Survey. Can you tell us more about and how it helps printers become more profitable? When we consult with members about how they can benchmark their financial ratios to the profit leaders, the feedback we often get is that they already know where they have to improve. What they are more interested in is “how” profit leaders earn more per every dollar in sales. Using the Ratios for financial benchmarking is a great starting point for developing a strategy to become a profit leader and can help you determine some of your strengths and weaknesses. The Strategic Management Survey is designed to help take you to the next level by determining which practices help lead to increased profitability. For example, according to the 2013 Ratios, on average a profit leader with $3 million in sales spends 32.6% of sales on factory payroll, while the average printer allocates 37.0% of sales to factory payroll. In this example the profit-leading firms save $132,000 a year in factory payroll costs. How do the profit leaders produce the same volume of work at a significantly lower labor rate? This survey is designed to determine how and why profit leaders are more efficient and productive. It also determines what strategic management practices correlate most with profitability. To put it in perspective, the Ratios provide the “where” do we need to...

Each year, you analyze your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs). You use the Ratios to compare your numbers against industry profit leaders—the top 25% in terms of profit as a percent of sales. Then you note discrepancies and come to educated conclusions, like “Our paper costs are out of line with industry averages we need to review our contracts with our vendors” or maybe “Our waste and spoilage figures are higher than average” or “Our sales per factory employee are too low to support our current staffing; we need to increase sales to current customers, develop new market opportunities, or reduce our staffing levels.” But what does it really take to be more profitable? Our members wanted to know, so our Center for Economics and Market Research team designed a revealing new survey. It uncovers how profit leaders get successful and what strategies they’re using that you’re not. The Strategic Management Survey looks deeper at the management processes profit leaders use. It goes beyond asking printers to share their numbers to really discover what makes a profit leader a “profit leader.” If you want to know, just take the survey to find out! We asked Ed Gleeson, Director, Center for Economics and Market Research, about this new survey and how it will help printers increase their profits. You just released the new Strategic Management Survey. Can you tell us more about and how it helps printers become more profitable? When we consult with members about how they can benchmark their financial ratios to the profit leaders, the feedback we often get is that they already know where they have to improve. What they are more interested in is “how” profit leaders earn more per every dollar in sales. Using the Ratios for financial benchmarking is a great starting point for developing a strategy to become a profit leader and can help you determine some of your strengths and weaknesses. The Strategic Management Survey is designed to help take you to the next level by determining which practices help lead to increased profitability. For example, according to the 2013 Ratios, on average a profit leader with $3 million in sales spends 32.6% of sales on factory payroll, while the average printer allocates 37.0% of sales to factory payroll. In this example the profit-leading firms save $132,000 a year in factory payroll costs. How do the profit leaders produce the same volume of work at a significantly lower labor rate? This survey is designed to determine how and why profit leaders are more efficient and productive. It also determines what strategic management practices correlate most with profitability. To put it in perspective, the Ratios provide the “where” do we need to...

As you know the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), which means a new to-do list for many printers. Last time we told you about the EHS resources available even if you missed the initial training deadline of December 2013.  Here is a “Who, What, Why, When, and Where” overview to give you a clearer explanation of what you need to do and when to do it to remain in compliance. WHO Do These New Standards Affect? All printing operations are subject to the Hazard Communication Standard because of the use of chemicals such as inks, toners, cleaning solutions, etc. As a printing operation, you must provide information to your employees about the hazards associated with your chemicals, including how to work with them in a safe manner through labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), which are replacing the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and provide more detailed information in a uniform format. WHAT Actions Must My Company Take? The Hazard Communication Standard requires all employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces to: Prepare and implement a written hazard communication program. Develop a written inventory of products that contain hazardous chemicals. Obtain, maintain, and make available to employees SDSs for all products on the written inventory. Ensure all containers, including in-plant or secondary ones, are properly labeled. Conduct employee training. Due to the revisions made by OSHA to incorporate the GHS (the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling Chemicals), there are several changes printing operations need to make within the next two years to meet the new requirements. The main areas covered follow. Initial employee training to be completed by December 1, 2013. If you have not started training your employees yet or need help, see the training materials here (member login required). The deadline for revising  chemical container labels is December 1, 2015. The completely revised product label requirements mandate that specific information must be included on each label. These new requirements state that labels will now require all of the following: Product identifier Signal word Hazard statement(s) Pictogram(s) Precautionary statement(s) Supplier information For more information on the pictograms, see theSafety Poster – Pictograms Quick Reference. In-plant container labels also require special attention. The revised standards acknowledge the same secondary container rule: If an employee transfers a material from a labeled container to a secondary container, which is intended only for immediate use by that employee, and that employee understands the hazards associated with the material, then that container does not have to be labeled unless it is either stored for future use or passed to another employee.  One major change to the in-plant labeling system is to the Hazard Materials...