Shades of Success — Sherburne

ONE OF the things many printers pride themselves on is their knowledge and understanding of color. After all, we spend a lot of time and effort on managing and matching color to meet critical customer expectations. That color expertise can be a great marketing tool as you work to build better and deeper relationships with existing clients and to acquire new ones.

Of course, your ability to produce the colors a customer is expecting—accurately and consistently—is the primary way we think about applying our color expertise. But as we transition into this new world we find ourselves in, with competition from all sorts of traditional and nontraditional sources, there are some very interesting and creative ways to leverage your color knowledge to bring additional value to customers. It is those added-value services you offer that can take your business out of the commodity zone and narrow the competitive playing field for you.

In future columns, I will share other ideas for narrowing the competitive playing field and differentiating yourself in the market. This month, the focus is on color.

To get more information about how print service providers could expand their color value add, I turned to one of the most recognized names in color, Pantone Inc., and its vice president of marketing, Doris Brown.

Brown started by pointing out that she had been seeing quite a few mainstream articles about how companies use color to differentiate themselves. One in particular appeared in LinuxWorld and talked about color themes and color-based marketing strategies in the computing industry, ranging from IBM’s Big Blue to Red Hat’s red fedora and Extreme Networks’ signature purple. To view the entire article, visit www.linuxworld.com and search for “colorful story.”

Colors that Separate

Articles such as this one demonstrate that our customers may be thinking about color in a different way, especially as they try to “break out of the clutter,” as they say. Understanding the other dimensions of color can be helpful in extending the range of color expertise you can offer your customers.

So where do you start? Brown suggests that you bone up on the meaning of, and the reaction to, various colors in order to better help clients understand how colors can help them. Then, the earlier in the process you can get involved with the customer and/or the customer’s designer as new branding is being considered, the better positioned you will be to help them avoid what could be costly decisions.

One good place to start is by visiting www.colorexpert.com. Leatrice Eiseman and her associates are experts in making correct choices in colors that sell. Consider the following quote from her book, “The Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color.”

“The power that color wields is seen at every level of communication: in corporate identification, packaging, signage, advertising on television, billboards, in print media, on the computer, at point-of-purchase and in the product itself. Color is often called the ‘silent salesperson,’ and in many cases must immediately create a brand identity and, most importantly, help to make the sale. At the very least (as on a Web page or in a print ad) it must create enough interest or curiosity to induce the would-be buyer to find out more about the product or service.”

Let’s look at a few examples. Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, red is a good place to start. According to Brown, “We know that red is a hot color and conjures up a lot of conflicting emotions. Consider Cupid red versus devil red. Studies have shown that red can have a physical effect, even raising blood pressure. But it also stimulates hunger, and that is why you will often see the wall behind a bar in a restaurant painted red.

“Blue, on the other hand, is a cooler color. It is America’s favorite color and one that corporations have historically viewed as a safe business color—IBM and AT&T are examples,” she continues.

Another color that has been gaining popularity recently is orange. You’ve seen the Vonage and Cingular commercials, and France Telecom’s mobile division is even named Orange. Brown adds, “We have seen a big pickup in the use of orange, especially for packaging. It is warmer, vibrant and, as a combination of red and yellow, shares a lot of attributes of those colors. Orange conjures up energy, warmth and the sun. It is not as intense or aggressive as red, but carries a lot of the cheerfulness of yellow. Both are stimulants, so it can even conjure up appetite.

Selling Process Expertise

It is here that the print service provider’s color expertise demonstrates real value. Orange is out of the traditional color gamut space of four-color process, but resides in the Hexachrome process. “For a printer, orange can be very difficult to reproduce,” Brown notes.

“Printers can explain to designers the technical difficulties in reproducing orange in general, and designers would be smarter in making sure their customers understand it is a continuing investment, that they will have to run spot colors or use Hexachrome.

“Also, they need to think about what these colors will do when they are executing in a Web format, matching fabric, or working in other color spaces. It is a big trend, but the technical hurdles of reproducing colors are very misunderstood,” the color expert concludes.

Take a new look at color and see how exploring these new dimensions can change the way you market to—and work with—clients. By taking your color expertise to a new level, you can differentiate yourself, and perhaps add more fun and profit in the process. PI

—CARY SHERBURNE

About the Author
Cary Sherburne is a well-known journalist, author and strategic marketing consultant working primarily with the printing and publishing industry. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, a regular contributor to industry publications and has written three books, available for purchase through the National Association for Printing Leadership (www.napl.org). Sherburne can be reached at Cary@SherburneAssociates.com.