Sibling Revelry - Not Rivalry —Dana
A funny thing happened over the past year or so: Corporate and agency print buyers and printers grew more and more like each other. Sure, there's still tension between those who manufacture and sell print, and those who buy it. That's natural. Customers have the upper hand—haven't they always?—not solely because they have choices galore: there are more than 30,000 printing companies in this country alone. The supply so outstrips the demand for print that buyers can shop till they (or prices) drop low enough to suit them.
Quality is less of an issue than it's ever been, not only because printing technology has improved so much, but also because newer generations of print customers don't seem to rank quality very high these days—or what's worse, they just don't know good print quality when they see it. It's enough to bring strong printers to their knees.
For now, put aside the intrinsic wariness in the print buyer/seller business relationship. Buyers will always look for the best deals, no matter what they're buying. The search for the perfect print partner is more competitive because there's a veritable cornucopia of print manufacturing options for customers these days. E-commerce-only print sites, "real" brick-and-mortar printers, and print and copy centers in big-box stores, give corporate and agency buyers more choices than they can handle, plus they can source print off-shore.
Shopper's paradise? Perhaps. But for many, it's more like shopper's madness—so confusing are the options.
Focus instead on how much printers have in common with their customers, the corporate and agency buyers and print designers. To wit:
• Both have a deep commitment to, and affinity for, print as a medium.
• Both consider themselves printing specialists.
• Both speak the secret language of print.
• Both have felt personal and/or economic pain from the effects of the recession on the printing industry.
• Both need to defend print as a preferred medium when the situation calls for it. What's the ROI of a printed campaign when compared with other media? Printers need to be able to articulate this to their customers, who in turn need to convince their own employers.
• Both need to understand how newer, electronic media are measurable and how they best integrate with print. And this demands that they figure out how to measure print's effectiveness.
• Both need to keep current with new media that impact the use of print in business and in society, including social media (whether or not they take part themselves).
• Both struggle with knowing how much (if at all) they need to master some of these new media in order to remain relevant in their own roles, so that they can develop professionally and not become dinosaurs.
• Both are experiencing varying levels of anxiety over the future of print as it relates to their own livelihoods.
• Both are taking to Groups on LinkedIn like ducks to water.
• Both are being squeezed to produce more with less—less budget and less staffing.
• Both are having identity crises. They struggle with titles and job descriptions (buyers) or corporate names and service descriptions (printers).
• Both are working on differentiating their expertise better to help them remain viable in this market. Since being "just" printers or print buyers is something of a handicap, both are exploring how to better define their special strengths and/or develop more of them.
• Both perform better when working in teams, not in isolation. They are in the communications business, not just printing or print buying.
• Both are standing together on the same side in the middle of a revolution in communication technologies.
On the Same Page
See what I mean? That's a lot of shared characteristics. The general printer and buyer communities have more in common than not. I believe that the majority of printers and buyers who have these common traits dominate the field, not those on the fringes who have nothing positive to say about each other.
Printers and buyers don't always have a Hatfield-McCoy thing going on. The challenge both face is finding ways to capitalize on their mutual causes and concerns. Maybe it will manifest itself in new types of events, forums and online discussions. Maybe new kinds of associations will spring up, or networking opportunities enabling manufacturers and customers to put their heads together for the common good.
Individual print buyers and their preferred printers are already pooling their ideas and working for their mutual success, based on the anecdotal evidence I've seen. Bumping it up to an industry-level commitment between buyers and printers is a goal we can all work toward. It's certainly something we'd all love to celebrate.
With tongue in cheek, I give you my version of "Hurt So Bad," recorded by Little Anthony & The Imperials in 1965:
"Standing by Print.
Why Does It Hurt So Bad?"
I know you
Don't have even half a clue
Wond'ring why I chose this path
Well let me tell you that it hurts
so bad
You make me feel so sad
It makes me hurt so bad to have
to defend
Like needles and pins
People say, "Throw that printed stuff away"
"Go online—don't fight anymore!"
Well let me tell you that it hurts
so bad
Naysayers make me mad
It's gonna hurt so bad if you
walk away
Why don't you stay and let me
take you to a plant
The presses make some moves
that Twitter can't
You loved Print before, please
love Print again
I can't let you go back online…
Please don't go
Please don't go
Please don't go
Please don't go
Hurt so bad
Come back, it hurts so bad
Don't treat Print like a fad
I'm begging you please
Oooooh oh oh oh
Come back, it hurts so bad
Come back, it hurts so bad
I'm begging you please PI
—Margie Dana
About the Author
Margie Dana is the founder of Print Buyers International (www.printbuyersinternational.com), which offers educational and networking opportunities to those who work with the printing industry. She produces an annual print buyers conference (www.printbuyersconference.com) and has written her popular e-column, "Margie's Print Tips," since 1999. Dana speaks regularly at trade events and offers consulting services as a print buyer specialist. She can be reached at mdana@printbuyersinternational.com.
