The printing industry is constantly facing challenges regarding its place in messaging, its environmental impact, and its future. As recently as January of this year, Google launched a campaign to “Go Paperless in 2013,” and who can forget Toshiba’s ill-fated “National No Print Day,” announced in the summer of 2012? Both campaigns encouraged switching from paper to electronic communications as a means of protecting the environment. These are only two of the most recent cases. With industry giants making false claims about print, it became clear we needed to fight back. Printing Industries of America created the Value of Print campaign in March 2012 as a response to false claims about print’s negative impact on the environment and the loss of its effectiveness. This campaign has served as a resource for the industry to spread the message about the power of print and is available in a printed Flip-Book, PDF version, and a mobile app. Our President and CEO, Michael Makin, even referenced facts and statistics from the Flip-Book in his open letter to Google in response to their “Go Paperless in 2013” campaign. What started as direct mail pieces—including a brochure, poster, and a PR tool kit—grew into a bigger campaign, crossing several platforms. The campaign is now promoted on Printing Industries of America’s social media channels—you may have even seen our #FlipbookFactFriday tweets, which include quick statistics from the Flip-Book. The purpose of social media is to discover and share content you wouldn’t find though normal means. This campaign has reached audiences that we wouldn’t have been able to reach with just a social media campaign, or just a direct mail campaign. By integrating the various outlets available, we have been able to maximize our reach. The industry knows its value. When you marry the power of print with the efficiency of electronics, you can create an extremely effective marketing mix that is also environmentally friendly. Coming this spring, the campaign will even cross over to television. Printing Industries of America will be featured in a video to be aired on In Focus, a television series on PBS. The video promotes the industry’s sustainability and print’s effectiveness and features segments from Tim Burton, President, Burton & Mayer, and Chairman of the Board, Printing Industries of America; Michael Makin, President and CEO, Printing Industries of America; and Lisa Rawa, Vice President, Marketing, Printing Industries of America. Stay tuned for more developments from the Value of Print Campaign by visiting printing.org/valueofprint and be sure to download the mobile app for the latest facts and statistics to support our industry.  Lisa Rawa in a behind-the-scenes image from the In Focus Video Shoot. Lisa stands in front of Printing Industries of...

Below is a guest blog post from the team at Performance Plus Global Logistics, the newest addition to the National Buying Program at Printing Industries of America. For more information on how members can take advantage of the great savings as part of this program, visit www.printing.org/buyingpower.  The year has gotten off to a busy start with an array of new customers for our team thanks in part to our recent partnership with Printing Industries of America. Performance Plus Global Logistics is excited to have had the opportunity to team up with Printing Industries of America as part of the National Buying Program. This program officially kicked off in January, and we have already seen great success. We have multiple webinars scheduled throughout the weeks with the PIA affiliates and their members, and we have also fielded numerous requests from PIA members to send more information and details regarding the program and how we can help. There are a great deal of benefits provided to PIA members when it comes to utilizing the Buying Program of Performance Plus to better suit your transportation and logistics needs, all of which have been outlined more specifically on the PIA website and can be found at www.printing.org/performanceplus. The key feature of utilizing Performance Plus that we would really like to express to the PIA members is the use of our transportation management system portal. The portal that we use and are offering to each of you at no cost is much more than just a rating tool and is full of time-saving features that allow you to manage your freight and invoices as well. For those affiliates and members who are interested in the program and have not yet gotten set up, please contact us today so we can send you more information and get you signed up for one of our upcoming webinars. We have a demo account that we can send to you to begin rating immediately. All we will need from you to be set up in our system is a credit application. Once the credit application has been received and approved, we will get you set up. The setup process for our program is as simple as utilizing the program itself. We look forward to working with each and every one of...

Below is a guest blog post from the team at Performance Plus Global Logistics, the newest addition to the National Buying Program at Printing Industries of America. For more information on how members can take advantage of the great savings as part of this program, visit www.printing.org/buyingpower.  The year has gotten off to a busy start with an array of new customers for our team thanks in part to our recent partnership with Printing Industries of America. Performance Plus Global Logistics is excited to have had the opportunity to team up with Printing Industries of America as part of the National Buying Program. This program officially kicked off in January, and we have already seen great success. We have multiple webinars scheduled throughout the weeks with the PIA affiliates and their members, and we have also fielded numerous requests from PIA members to send more information and details regarding the program and how we can help. There are a great deal of benefits provided to PIA members when it comes to utilizing the Buying Program of Performance Plus to better suit your transportation and logistics needs, all of which have been outlined more specifically on the PIA website and can be found at www.printing.org/performanceplus. The key feature of utilizing Performance Plus that we would really like to express to the PIA members is the use of our transportation management system portal. The portal that we use and are offering to each of you at no cost is much more than just a rating tool and is full of time-saving features that allow you to manage your freight and invoices as well. For those affiliates and members who are interested in the program and have not yet gotten set up, please contact us today so we can send you more information and get you signed up for one of our upcoming webinars. We have a demo account that we can send to you to begin rating immediately. All we will need from you to be set up in our system is a credit application. Once the credit application has been received and approved, we will get you set up. The setup process for our program is as simple as utilizing the program itself. We look forward to working with each and every one of...

Printing Industries of America has teamed up with Staples Advantage to offer an unbelievable cost‐saving program exclusively for its members through Printing Industries of America affiliates. With this Buying Program, your business is eligible to save on office products and more via the Staples Advantage program. This program allows you to leverage the Buying Program of all participating members through Printing Industries of America affiliates. Staples Advantage can help you reduce expenses through our competitive prices on more than 180,000 products available through the proprietary Order.StaplesAdvantage.com® website. The website allows you to place orders, track orders 24 hours a day, check product availability, review pricing, set up reusable shopping lists, and make returns. You can count on Staples to provide you with: Significant savings—an average of 55% off of list prices on office product purchases Online ordering, returns, and control on Order.StaplesAdvantage.com® Hassle-free 30-day return policy Ability to order by phone and fax FREE Next-Day Delivery on minimum orders of $30 Reporting capabilities Members also have access to a dedicated account manager for assistance and special pricing on business machines and supplies, furniture, electronics, bulk purchases, and special order items (i.e., rubber stamps, notary seals, etc.). For additional information or to get started, go to www.printing.org/staples. To see a listing of all the National Buying Programs, visit www.printing.org/buyingpower. For questions regarding the Staples program or any of the Buying Programs, contact Justin Goldstein, Director, Member Services, at Printing Industries of America, at info@printing.org or...

Printing Industries of America has teamed up with Staples Advantage to offer an unbelievable cost‐saving program exclusively for its members through Printing Industries of America affiliates. With this Buying Program, your business is eligible to save on office products and more via the Staples Advantage program. This program allows you to leverage the Buying Program of all participating members through Printing Industries of America affiliates. Staples Advantage can help you reduce expenses through our competitive prices on more than 180,000 products available through the proprietary Order.StaplesAdvantage.com® website. The website allows you to place orders, track orders 24 hours a day, check product availability, review pricing, set up reusable shopping lists, and make returns. You can count on Staples to provide you with: Significant savings—an average of 55% off of list prices on office product purchases Online ordering, returns, and control on Order.StaplesAdvantage.com® Hassle-free 30-day return policy Ability to order by phone and fax FREE Next-Day Delivery on minimum orders of $30 Reporting capabilities Members also have access to a dedicated account manager for assistance and special pricing on business machines and supplies, furniture, electronics, bulk purchases, and special order items (i.e., rubber stamps, notary seals, etc.). For additional information or to get started, go to www.printing.org/staples. To see a listing of all the National Buying Programs, visit www.printing.org/buyingpower. For questions regarding the Staples program or any of the Buying Programs, contact Justin Goldstein, Director, Member Services, at Printing Industries of America, at info@printing.org or...

Below, Michael Walters, Executive Director, Distributor Services, ASI, discusses how the newest National Buying Program will help your business. So what does the new National Buying Program with ASI mean to you and your business? More revenue! Distributors (like you) who sell promotional products find it very lucrative. Here’s a little background on this $18.5 billion industry and why it makes sense to offer a new service to your clients. What is a promotional product? Also known as ad specialties, promotional products are any item that can be imprinted with a company’s logo. Top Promotional Products in 2012 Shirts Bags Writing instruments Other apparel Caps/headwear Why would my customers want to use promotional products? Two main reasons: Exposure. Companies increase brand recognition with these products, because they are designed to be used or worn on a repetitive basis, constantly putting a company’s name and logo in front of potential buyers. Affordability. Promotional products are very affordable, with the cost per impression being less than other forms of popular media, including TV and radio. What kind of revenue can I expect? There’s a high profit margin on promotional products—up to 40%, and average yearly sales for a distributor are around $775,100. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Want to learn more? Offer customers a new service and gain new clients! Visit www.printing.org/asi to learn more about Printing Industries of America’s National Buying Program with...