Gazing Beyond Graph Expo --Sherburne

HAVING RECENTLY returned from Graph Expo, I felt it was important to highlight a few things that came out of the show that might not have been covered elsewhere. First, as might be expected in the current economic situation, it did appear that attendance was a bit lower than the show company and exhibitors had hoped. Some booths were very busy; others less so. This year for the first time, though, the show company (GASC) conducted an integrated cross-media marketing campaign to drive attendance. Initially, three target markets out of a possible seven were targeted. In the end, however, all seven were included, since it wasn’t that much more work to do so.

The show company had two objectives in conducting this campaign. First, was to drive attendance to the 2008 show. But, secondly, there was a desire to build a library of e-mail addresses that could be used in promoting PRINT 09 and to test the efficacy of this type of promotion prior to that show. This is a clear indicator that the GASC has its eye on the long-term ball and plans to use this strategy into the future—a strategy its customers (the exhibitors) encourage their customers to use.

While specific results weren’t available as of this writing, GASC did express satisfaction with the results. One wonders whether attendance might have been even lighter without this campaign.

PURL Opportunities

The campaign included personalized URLs (PURLs) for the more than 200,000 addresses included in the campaign. These PURLs allowed visitors to register online for a free gas giveaway—a powerful incentive during the period when gasoline in the United States was running at or near $4 a gallon! The personalized URL also offered the opportunity for visitors to register for the show and to easily gain access to the Personal Attendee Assistant to begin networking with others in their special areas of interest.

GASC has begun to describe Graph Expo as several shows within a show, and it has made it easy for attendees to focus on specific areas of interest. Special audiences included book printers and publishers, creative professionals, transactional printers, in-plant printers, mailing and fulfillment companies, and quick printers.

The Personal Attendee Assistant, a form of social networking, was also new this year. The site invited visitors to “create a profile, share their challenges and tap into the collective wisdom of the graphic arts industry.”

Both of these approaches, the cross-media campaign and the social networking site, are leveraging leading-edge marketing techniques that all of you should be considering. And GASC should be applauded for leading by example. With this as the “beta,” I can hardly wait to see what they do for PRINT 09!

The other annual event surrounding Graph Expo that gets less attention than it should is the identification of top technologies critical to survival for printers in the coming year. Bill Lamparter, of PrintCom Consulting, works with the show company to assemble a panel of experts. This panel identifies the specific products and offerings on the show floor that visitors should pay attention to as part of the “Must See ’ems” program, and that gets lots of ink, especially as vendors tout the Must See ’ems that were awarded to them at the show. But it also helps focus the attention of attendees on key emerging technologies and solutions that they should be paying attention to.

Almost more importantly, the panel also identifies the top technologies that printers should be employing in their operations. This one seems to get a lot less ink.

For the third year in a row, MIS was identified as No. 1. Based on Lamparter’s research, about 50 percent of sheetfed commercial printers have implemented an MIS system, but most have not implemented their systems fully or are not taking full advantage of the capabilities. He believes that only about 15 percent of commercial sheetfed printers have implemented these systems fully and are taking full advantage of them to better manage their businesses. So, we have a way to go on that one.

A related capability, new to this year’s list, is the No. 2 priority: to develop information technology (IT) as a core competency. Lamparter points out, as I have many times in this space, that printers must diversify to be successful in today’s marketplace, adding such things as data-related services. “On top of that,” he adds, “print production has become computer-centric. This leads to the assertion that printers should have IT as a core capability. You can’t do everything that is demanded of printers today and have zero IT competence.”

Without it, you certainly would have difficulty following GASC’s lead in leveraging cross-media campaigns and social networking for self-promotion, let alone making money and building stronger customer relationships by doing the same for customers.

As you plan for 2009, those are the top two priorities you should be addressing, and they are related. You will make better use of your MIS, if you have IT as a core competency.

What are the rest of the technologies identified as critical for survival in 2009?

I will list them here, in case you didn’t see them elsewhere. There were four other technologies identified in the First Tier, and they are:

3| Color management—throughout the production process.

4| Workflow—analog and digital applications.

5| Digital production printing—toner now, ink-jet in the future; color and black-and-white.

6| Web-to-print.

Second-tier survival technologies included:

7| Advances in offset lithography technology, including automation of varying individual functions, but not fully integrated prepress to binding/finishing automation.

8| Ability to use technology as a differentiator.

19| Computer-assisted materials management, including purchasing, materials testing, inventory control and waste/spoilage control (materials and labor).

10| Integrated cross-media workflow, including cross-media production capability.

Graph Expo 2008 is behind us and, if you didn’t attend, I am sure you had good reasons. However, it was a missed educational opportunity for sure, since there were more than 70 free and fee-based formal educational opportunities associated with the show, as well as the learning opportunities provided by simply walking around the show floor, talking to the exhibitors and listening to their presentations.

Either way, the Top 10 Critical Survival Technologies list gives you something to chew on as you plan for what is likely to be a difficult economic environment in 2009. And, now is not the time to back away from making these necessary investments.

In an article written for AllBusiness.com dated October 28, 2005, columnist Chuck McKay noted, “Over the last 100 years, there have been 20 recessions—10 since World War II. Simple arithmetic would indicate that we’re roughly two years away from the next one.” In hindsight, he was off by about a year, but he still looks pretty smart.

He goes on to say, “This is not a prediction of doom and gloom. It’s an attempt to draw your attention to an opportunity. Like the proverbial ant, you’ll be preparing for winter, while the grasshoppers are playing. When the economy heads south, 75 percent of U.S. companies respond by cutting back, hunkering down and trying to ‘tough out’ the tough times. Advertising is the first expense that gets eliminated.”

History shows, though, that companies which aggressively market and invest in themselves during tough times end up ahead of competitors that don’t, once the economy rebounds—and it always does.

So don’t just wait it out. Determine which top survival technologies you can afford to implement—or which you can’t afford not to—and keep up those marketing efforts, taking advantage of the increased visibility you will get as others drop out.

Pull out your old issues of Printing Impressions; there are lots of marketing ideas and examples of successful firms that have implemented these technologies. Maybe a few will strike your fancy.

I look forward to seeing your company emerge from this latest downturn stronger and more profitable than ever before. 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 printing industry publications and has written three books, which are available for purchase through the Bookstore section on Printing Impressions’ Website (www.piworld.com). Sherburne can be contacted at Cary@SherburneAssociates.com.