Advertisement
Advertisement
Working with Generation Next
A new era of industry professionals is reshaping the way companies do business.
What printing professional wouldn’t want to read a blog that links printed products to everything from the U.S. Postal Service and environmental consciousness to Bill Clinton and “Girls Gone Wild” DVDs?
When Bob Makofsky joined family business Conformer Products, Inc., Great Neck, N.Y., seven years ago, the first thing he did was consolidate the company’s four separate lists of customers and prospects into one, using a content management system. This allowed Conformer to connect with customers and prospects via a monthly e-newsletter. Since then, 34-year-old Makofsky, vice president and general manager of Conformer, founded by his father, Marv Makofsky, CFC, has applied his dot-com background and taken advantage of social media and free internet tools to transform the way the company is marketed. “We literally don’t have an advertising budget,” Makofsky says. “I haven’t paid for an advertisement in years.”
Conformer also has added a blog to its arsenal of online marketing strategies. Makofsky says this method is the push versus pull strategy. You can either push the product to your customers or “put tons of stuff out there online and people searching the internet find it and come to you looking for more information,” he says. Since beginning the newsletter, Conformer has expanded its web site to include the blog and videos in one location and allow users to “share” content via 25 different social media sites. Makofsky says he and his father work as a team. Although his father may not understand how to implement all of these online tools, he does have a thorough idea of who the audience should be and what messages should be conveyed to them.
While many young printing industry professionals focus on technology and marketing, Pete Redondo, director of value-added services at Regency Office Products, Raleigh, N.C., looks to the next generation to build up his sales force. Redondo attended his second Print Solutions Conference & Expo this year, bringing with him 16 young salesreps to immerse in the industry. While most of Redondo’s new hires are fresh out of college with only a year or less of sales experience, he says they are willing to learn and work very hard.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Next Page »
Post A Comment
To submit a comment you must be registered with Print Solutions Magazine. Please click here to
complete our short registration form.
