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Gone are the days when a print firm could boost its business simply by installing a better press; clients are now more demanding and premium quality is expected to come as standard.

And so, at a round-table event held last month, Printing World brought together a group of marketing and print specialists to discuss how the industry can find other, more creative ways to increase revenue and grow their businesses.

Back to basics
The discussion kicks off with the nature of marketing. Adare sales director Steve Williams says: “In simple terms, marketing is about understanding your own business, understanding your client’s business, and making sure there is synergy between the two.”

A host of different activities come under the marketing umbrella, such as PR, advertising, exhibitions, direct mail campaigns and even annual birthday parties, which all work to boost a company’s brand and sales.

Ed Reid, marketing and sales director at Simpson Group, explains: “Time frames and return on investment depend massively on the kind of marketing you are investing in. For some activities, such as exhibiting at a trade show, you’ll want a pretty quick return on investment. But there are other strategies that are longer term and offer all-round development. This, for me, is when you create an environment in which you are selling successfully.”

To get long-term returns from marketing investments, printers have to strategically plan and monitor campaigns. “Sometimes people fail to understand marketing or the value of marketing,” says Louisa Moger, marketing director at Richard Edward. “Instead, there is too much emphasis on the quick wins and money back.”

Target markets
Reid agrees: “You have to take a structured approach. Quite rightly every business has a relentless desire to just go, go, go. But unless you take a little bit more time to think about what you want to do, you won’t get the long-term results. Before you spend a single pound you have to understand what your markets are and who you are marketing too, otherwise all you will end up with is a broad-brush approach and you will hit absolutely nothing.”

“Everyone thinks marketing is all about the communications part – the exhibitions, the events, the PR – but actually, unless you have done the strategic part, then forget it,” says Moger. “I think the reason some people think like this is because marketing is often considered to be a quick fix to a problem. But you have to remember that a firm gets one chance to deliver and if it fails, its reputation is at stake.”

London-based Richard Edward is a medium-sized commercial printer that specialises in playing cards as well as a range of stationery, brochures, newsletters and posters. Since joining the 56-staff family business over four years ago, Moger has worked hard to boost sales and brand identity, rigorously monitoring her marketing strategies. “I have a marketing calendar and measure lots of things. I monitor my team, my web statistics, cash flow, bottom line and customer satisfaction and feedback. It is thorough because it has to be.”

Moger believes that every print firm can create a strong sales and marketing strategy, no matter the size or specialisms. “If you sit down and think about it and give yourself some time, we can all come up with stuff,” she says. “The most important thing is to remain impartial and to look at your business with fresh eyes, considering all of the options.”

Reid recently joined Simpson Group from a non-print background, having worked for firms including Nestlé Rowntree, Diageo and British Steel. “I had to be given an outsider’s role because I didn’t understand the industry in the first place,” he says. “I came from a company that was exactly like one of our main customers. I truly understood our customers as opposed to understanding them from a print perspective, which is an entirely different thing.”

Lick managing director Linden Kitson agrees. Kitson, once responsible for a £3m print spend at a large advertising company, formed Lick with a creative and marketing-based approach. “That is the reason that we have been successful in a lot of ways. We can talk to someone on the same level, understand them and know exactly what their problem is.”

To achieve sales and marketing goals, it is crucial that firms have a strong idea of their identity within the sector and what they represent. “I think a name is massively important,” says Kitson. “Our name has opened doors for us. We want to be recognised as being a creative-thinking firm. But ultimately we stuff envelopes and we’re not going to hide from that. That’s where the name comes from. Although you don’t lick envelopes anymore, it incorporates the value of our business.”

In contrast, book printer Biddles has a traditional name that is well known in the publishing community. “However, when we created a new service offering for our clients, choosing an appropriate name was vital,” explains managing director Rod Willet. “We quite deliberately branded our new service Publisher’s Choice. One of the reasons we chose this name was that it worked well on internet search engines. Since its inception, Publisher’s Choice has become a brand rather than a company name.”

Being able to communicate effectively with customers is essential for any successful sales pitch. “Much of our marketing has been designed around the fact that we take a role in influencing market change rather than responding to market change,” says Willet. “Yet we didn’t have experience in communicating. We had experience of selling from a traditional sales proposition, but not in communicating an intelligent message.”

One of the biggest surprises for Reid since joining the industry is that print firms often think sales is marketing. “There has been too big a reliance on companies confusing selling with marketing,” says Reid. This can sometimes lead to printers using the wrong approach with clients. Moger agrees: “Without a marketing lead approach I think you tend to push products at people rather than pulling customers in to work with you.”

Adding value
Profit in the print sector is heavily reliant on adding value and business-focused thinking. “I don’t think the market is about sales people anymore. It is about having consultants and business development people that will add value for the client,” says Adare’s Williams. Biddles’ Willet has realised the same thing. “Our sales team were finding it progressively difficult to get access to customers because customers didn’t have time,” he added. “We had to find a way to push messages across to other people in organisations that did not typically see the printer.”

Finding the right contact within a client’s business is a key concern. Reid says: “The print buyer is one person in a chain of decision makers. You actually need to be tapping into three or four other people. It is about understanding the key touch points in a business. You might have to approach a range of staff including marketing and finance directors rather than rely on one person in the business to influence others.”

But this can be treacherous as it risks undermining the printer’s relationship with the print buyer. Adare always involves the print buyer. “They help to make sure all of the different business units come together to make a collective decision,” says Williams. He also highlighted the need to tailor your approach when contacting different departments within a client’s business. “You might be talking to the same client, but use different language and terminology for different stakeholders.”

Staff at Lick also understand the need for customised communications and think carefully about what to say in their first approach. “We have tried to adapt our marketing strategy to suit the people we are talking to,” says Kitson. “It is quite interesting really because I’ve sent marketing we’ve produced to charities and they’ve replied asking us never to send that filth again because it says Lick on it. You’ve have got to be very careful in terms of who you are approaching. Our biggest customer is Durex and when they saw the Lick brand they absolutely loved it. We almost have different marketing pieces for all the people we talk to.”

Soft sell
Willet makes sure Biddles avoids overly technical terminology to ensure pitches are not weighed down, while Moger also mentions the negative affects of confusing jargon. “If clients don’t understand something they get scared of it, and when they get scared, they don’t go out and learn about it, but resist it,” she says.

The current unpredictable economic climate makes attracting new customers and strengthening business presence doubly important. Yet some printers still debate marketing’s importance  when spending cutbacks are made, it is often one of the first business areas to suffer. But Willet argues that signs of an impending recession are even more reason to strengthen your marketing.  “When there are financial pressures and markets go into decline, where should your investment be? If you take the view customers will also be under a similar pressure, then the likelihood is they will be seeing a problem they didn’t realise they had before, or they will be more inclined to change supplier to address issues of profitability.”

The assumption that flagging profitability can be fixed with new kit misses the bigger picture. “What has really stung me since being in the industry is the thought that machines are the panacea,” says Richard Edward’s Moger. “Print is pigeon-holing itself as a complete commodity, which is being bought purely on price, and sadly there are lots of companies still trading on price,” she says. “The whole marketing piece has to extend beyond our own organisations to our clients and their customers. Until then, or until we as printers all start saying the same things and selling back the value into the sector, then we will all be up against it.”

Key conclusions

• Efficient marketing means understanding both your business and your client’s business, and making sure there are synergies between the two
• A host of different activities come under the marketing umbrella
• Time frames and returns on investment depend on the kind of marketing you invest in
• Create long-term returns by strategically planning and monitoring campaigns without putting too much emphasis on the quick wins and money back
• Before you spend money, you have to understand what your markets are and who you are marketing too
• It is crucial you have a strong idea of your firm’s identity within the sector and what it represents
• Communicating effectively with customers is essential for a successful sales pitch
• The print buyer is just one person in a chain of decision makers and you might need to talk to different departments in an organisation, including marketing and financial directors
• Tailor your approach when contacting different departments within a client’s business
• Look at the terminology you will use to ensure pitches are not weighed down with technical terminology

The delegates
Ed Reid, marketing and sales director, Simpson Group
Linden Kitson, managing director, Lick 
Louisa Moger, marketing director, Richard Edward
Rod Willet, managing director, Biddles
Steve Williams, sales director, Adare

The sponsor
This round-table on sales and marketing was sponsored by Kodak Graphic Communications Group

Contact
www.kodak.com
01923 233366