Getting Found

Feb 23
2009
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Today I saw a banner ad on a web site that was borderline profound.  It said " Be Found Before They Start to Search," or something close to that. The message was simple.  The challenge is not about being found. It's about having customers who never look for anyone else but you.

Once customers start to search, the gig is up.  You're already a commodity.  One of many competitors who need to stand out to attract a customer. A better game plan is to be so solidly entrenched with a customer that he or she would never fathom to look around for anyone else. 

In the web 2.0 world, you constantly hearing about search optimization.  It's true that customers more and more use the web to find vendors, but it's also true that great partners, vendors and suppliers are not a commodity and are not searched for as if the customer were looking for a local plumber or lawn care service.  Once they are looking for you on Google, you have been relegated to lawn service status. 

Bottom line:  Graphic arts and printing companies are more special than that.  Let's be found long before a customer starts searching.

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Marketing, Web/Tech | Tags: , , ,

A Fuller New Year

Jan 04
2009
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Some consider Buckminster Fuller one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Going into the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it's clear his teaching is still critical reading.  I recently stumbled upon a site called Ready, Aim, Inspire that provides leadership insights and quotes. A write up on Buckminster Fuller by authors Medard Gabel and Jim Walker on the site synthesizes his thoughts into a 10-step blueprint for problem-solving leadership in an age of rapid change. If one thing is certain it is that we are in a period of rapid change. Therefore, I'll be highlighting some of the 10 steps in future posts. If you believe as I do that problem-solving leadership is a key talent for this century, then it seems fitting to start this year with a tip of the hat to Buckminster Fuller, or Trim Tab as he liked to be called.   More on that also in a future post.  

Not surprisingly, this year's Top Management Conference keynote presentation is dedicated to the topic of leadership.  Dave Ulrich, author of Leadership Brand: How to Give Yours the Competitive Edge will discuss how leadership drives company performance and real leadership endures over time. Perhaps that's why Buckminster Fuller remains relevant. His insights endure and inspire.

In the beginning of every year, we make lists of our resolutions to help us set goals or realize dreams. Most consumers fail in their resolutions exactly where we as businesses fail in meeting missions — in staying focused on them. Life, or business pressures take over, and we allow them to take attention away from stated goals. That's where Fuller is said to have excelled and differentiated himself.  The authors write: "Fuller was always considering not just important things — but perpetually attempting to discern the most important things and placing them in the context of extraordinary times. 

NAPL's approach to staying focused on the important things is a consistent focus on strategic planning. NAPL President Joe Truncale is a sought-after speaker on the topic and conducts several customized on-site planning sessions at printing companies around the country. In addition, Strategic Planning is a dedicated track at the annual Management Institute held in August in Washington, DC. And, this year, NAPL is creating a workbook that outlines its unique approach to strategic planning and facilitates companies starting the planning process on their own. For more information on the workbook, e-mail our internal strategic planning expert — Joe Truncale.

The morale I'm taking away from studying Buckminster Fuller is this:  in extraordinary times it's more, not less, important to stay focused on what's important, and strategic planning helps leaders keep the company on course. Serious goal setting, unlike pie-in-the-sky resolutions, is a hallmark of leadership and a key step to staying focused on the right things particularly during challenging times.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to our LInked In Group.  If you just recently joined the group, please look at past posts, and note the current deadline of February 1, 2009 for NAPL's new Marketing Award. It's just one way to start the new year off on a positive note!

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Leadership, Strategic Planning | Tags: , , , ,

Marketing Shoes

Dec 13
2008
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It’s the end of the year and a great time to look back on all things accomplished, particularly because it has been a difficult year. After all, it’s easier to get things done when times are good.  It’s exceptionally noteworthy if you can point to accomplishments during the lean times. 

Tooting our own horns is something this industry does not excel at. Ironically, it’s also something marketing people don’t excel at — on their own behalf. They are trained to promote a company, a service, a product or a person, but rarely take the time to promote themselves and what they have accomplished on behalf of their client, which is also frequently their own employer.  No wonder that marketing CMØs have short career spans or that marketing is, many times, the first department or service to be cut from a strained budget. 

That’s why I’m happy to announce that NAPL has just launched a new Award for Marketing Excellence that will showcase not only great marketing done on behalf of a graphics company, but also on behalf of a client.  It’s a new award sponsored by Xerox and open to the entire industry. Of course, there is a break in entry fees for NAPL and NAQP members as well Xerox Premier Partners, but even for the unaffiliated entry fees are reasonable and the potential rewards great for differentiating your company in the marketplace.

Announcement of the award first went out on Friday and the award will be promoted more heavily in the next two weeks, but as a Linked In Group member, you’re getting early notice of this opportunity. To access the award form online, go to www.napl.org/marketingaward.   

If you’re not a marketing person, please forward the link on to someone who is and deserves recognition.  By design, we’ve made entry easy as we all have more than enough to do these days.  But like the shoemaker who doesn’t fix his own shoes, Marketing and Print people don’t toot their own horns nearly enough.  So, here’s an end of the year horn tooting opportunity  that you can do long before the New Year’s horn tooters start in.

Hope to see your entry soon!

~ Rhona

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Marketing | Tags: , , , , ,

Investment and Diversification

Oct 13
2008
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With the seemingly never-ending bad news coming out of Wall Street and the banking industry, it’s a great time to review the value of diversification, but not just in finances.  Certainly the lessons of not diversifying are hard learned particularly in these financial times, but here’s a glimmer of good news.  Financial pundits claim that markets go in 10-year cycles, and in reverse Newtonian logic, what goes down will again go up.  As NAPL’s economists note in the October 8 post of NAPLBizTrends.

"Although economic recovery may not be on anyone’s radar screen, it will at some point begin to make an appearance."

The bigger question may be when the economy comes back, will you be positioned to enjoy the fruits of the recovery? Do you have the right customers, talents or business base?  Just over ten years ago, industry wisdom was to specialize and come out of the world of "general commercial" printing and into the world of niche marketing.  The analogies were always made to the medical world, where the days of the general practicitioner were long gone, and the era of the specialist was upon us. But, if you had a majority of your business in the real estate, or the financial markets, that wisdom doesn’t seem so wise in retrospect.

Niche marketing is still valid, but likely the lesson of the times is to have a degree of diversification in terms of talents, customers and market bases.  The lesson is one not just for companies, but for individuals as well. In today’s world of lean operations, the employee who has a strong specialty but is also flexible and capable to do many things is the one most valued and most secure in an otherwise insecure world. The person who is a great manager, financially savvy, plus a solid technician has three times the value of either just a great technician or a great people person.  It’s the new world of multi-tasking, multi-talenting and just plain diversification in all walks of business life. Pie chart yourself and determine what percentage of your talents or skills fall in various categories and then determine if you are, in fact, correctly diversified or diversifed enough.

Rumor has it that ,at least locally in the NY area, graduate schools and various degree programs are being flooded with applications from ex-Wall Streeters going back to school for extra credentials rather than attempting to beat the streets.  They are banking on a better or equal job tomorrow rather than any old job today. Their goal is to invest in themsevles, diversify their talents and build credibility for when the job market eases.  I’m sure this strategy is only true for the few who have a healthy savings to tide them over, but the lesson is to continue investing both in yourself and your business.

~ Rhona

rbronson@napl.org

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Marketing | Tags: , , ,