Raising Marketing Awareness
Thank you for your coverage of marketing in the February issue ("A Taste of Marketing Success," p. 44). The article raised awareness throughout our supply chain of just how valuable good marketing programs can be.
I'm certain that because of very good writing on Darin Painter's part, and a wonderful layout from your art director (Roxanne Rash), Print Solutions has gone a long way toward creating a deep sense of appreciation for marketing's creative possibilities. And that's what distinguishes it from other disciplines--that hope, that possibility that something never imagined at the start of a project will blossom and bring a dynamic and new solution to a customer need. Yes, marketing has structure, but it's the creative possibilities that make it different.
You have a number of ways to further raise marketing's effectiveness in our industry. For example, I haven't heard anyone comment on the very sophisticated level of "big-time consumer brand marketing" that already exists in our supply chain. Just walk into any Staples or Office Depot and go to the "Papers" aisle. There, you will see the likes of Kodak, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Mead and others offering a number of surfaces and substrates for imaging on laser and ink jet printers. The packaging is absolutely superb--the equal of anything you will see from firms such as Proctor & Gamble, Scott's or Colgate. We're already in the "big time" without realizing it.
What's the point? Margins at retail firms are tight. But business in paper is booming. What if IBM or Kodak began to brand custom forms and labels? Could it be done? Is the sky blue?
And what about end users? Congratulations on your monthly department (End User Speaks), which reviews the demands and pet peeves of key end users. Isn't it remarkable how terribly little we know about the people who consume our products? Effective marketing brings us closer to our customers.
Thanks again for a fine story.
E. Brooks Warner
President
101
North Granby, Conn.
Targeting the Right Markets
We target the manufacturing market because of the environment that exists in manufacturing. Departments such as production, shipping and receiving all have respective needs that are easily identifiable and resistant to e-document solutions. Labels, tags, shipping documents and production orders are a few examples of needs that aren't easily converted to
e-solutions.
Robb Tipton
Owner
Star Business Products
Kemah, Texas
American General Business Systems has succeeded by targeting credit unions for 26 years. Our accounts see us as part of their industry. I attend local chapter meetings and exhibit at their data-processing users meetings.
Ron Morse
President
American General Business Systems
South El Monte, Calif.
Our company manufactures looseleaf binders, indexes and other information packaging. When talking to distributors, we try to assist them in the particular industry to which they're selling. For example, if we've furnished a quotation for binders and know the binders are going to be resold to a bank, we let our client know we can furnish them with items such as checkbook covers, check imaging binders, teller manuals, certificate-of-deposit wallets, and sales and marketing binders.
Regardless of how far we've moved into high-tech information handling, the bread and butter for us and our distributors is still ink on paper. We try to steer distributors toward what people are buying elsewhere.
Alan Bellman
President
Bell Binders Co.
Toledo, Ohio
TALK TO US
What interesting partnerships are succeeding for your company?
CORRECTION
In the caption on page 104 of the April issue, DMIA CEO Summit attendees weren't discussing ways to "set prices." They were participating in a speaker's exercise, discussing the variables printing professionals need to consider before determining prices.
