By Ruth Hagopian

Print suppliers are facing continual demands for more services as they cope with a dynamic industry. Will they need to offer design, Web marketing and fulfillment in order to compete in the changing market?

An intrigued audience of printers, brokers and buyers looked for answers at “Future Shock and the Print Industry,” a panel discussion at the PINC Show 2008 in San Francisco. Sponsored by the Printing Industries of Northern California (PINC), the conversation was led by Jim Tracey of Electronics for Imaging and centered on both the advances and the hype currently making the biggest noise in print.

Great expectations
Panelist Andy Poole from Dome Printing in Sacramento, CA, described the dramatically expanded role of the printer in the last 30 years when their responsibilities were limited to generating film halftones and producing printing, binding and finishing.

How many services are printers expected to offer? The seminar’s print buyers said they are looking for convenience and only shop around if one vendor can’t handle all their needs including everything from design, desktop services and color separations to print, digital print, perfect bindery and fulfillment.

One way more printers are expanding their services is by employing one or two designers in-house or using freelancers. Clients appreciate those design capabilities. On the same day he was to travel on business, one designer said he was asked by management to design a postcard. Instead, he asked his printer to take care of it and his quick turnaround saved the day.

The printer as fixer
Now that communications between the creative and print departments has increased with the changing needs of the industry, Casey asked the audience what printers do when they receive work that is designed incorrectly for print.

“Fix it“ was the overwhelming response. With in-house design services, the trick is not only in correcting the problem, but also billing for the additional service. “The answer should not be ‘I can’t do this,’ but let’s find a way to do this,” Poole said.

And how does a small print supplier compete? “Personalized service,” said a small press rep. “When the client needs a print run of 500 to 2000 – yesterday – we can and will do it,” she added.

It’s always a challenge to compete with full service. A Bay Area printer discussed the dilemma of his small company’s abilities to write copy and design, along with their print capabilities. If he advertises those services, his company becomes a direct competitor with their major client, an ad agency.

Problem solvers add quality
While the audience agreed that the idea of print quality is specific to the job, the application and the customer, one attendee said in addition to the results on press, quality also includes the vendor’s service and the sales person’s skills.

Jennifer Rideout, an independent marketing consultant on the panel, spoke of the need for printers to solve problems by understanding the project’s objective up front. “I might not think very linearly,” she said “I need people to understand what that means realistically and give me some options to value add. And that will create a better relationship.”

The myth and meaning of VDP
The next opportunity for printers was the subject most attendees wanted to discuss – variable data printing. Casey complained that having a digital press does not mean a printer can do VDP. “They must have information in the database and without that there is nowhere to go,” he said.

From the many printers he’s contacted through EFI, Casey estimates they’re buying digital presses for future VDP use, but really only using them 25 percent of the time, and that’s for short-run color.

According to Brian Lawler, a professor at Cal Poly University, the potential of VDP attracts interest, but its effectiveness has been inflated by manufacturers’ claims. “It’s cool technology,” he said, “but it’s very difficult to implement, very difficult to price and very difficult to fulfill the expectations that have been created by the producers of the machines.“ By Lawler’s estimate, true response rates are not 60 percent as one manufacturer claims. Realistically, he believes the numbers are closer to between five-tenths to a one percent response rate.

A variable success
Lawler may be a VDP skeptic, but he has seen one truly effective one-on-one marketing effort from a small college in Washington targeted to prospective students.

With a printing plant on campus and 11 full-time Web designers, the college’s Web site asks interested students their ethnic background, their gender and their academic interests. Immediately after responding, the following Web pages pop up with photos using those preferences and a personalized brochure is printed and sent to them the very next day. “Attendance went up significantly using this marketing,” Lawler said, “by focusing on exactly what the student wanted to know.”

The multimedia craftsman
Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department is where Lawler and industry pros produce well-trained grads with skills training and a hands-on approach to each field of print. Now, with more digital print being offered, an attendee asked the panel, “What’s happened to the craftsman?”

“We always have experts controlling our proofing and color,” Poole said, adding that a pressman used to be a garage mechanic who found a career in printing. “Now, when I look at a pressman, I see what he drives when he pulls up in the parking lot. If it’s a fast car and he’s very meticulous, it’s a sign he can run a piece of equipment. If he can’t take care of his own tools and move fast, he’s not going to fit in that environment,” he said.

Today’s printer knows that the industry is more than print on paper. Casey reminded both providers and print buyers to keep an open mind, define their project goals and look for effective ways to achieve results. Dynamic trends, such as Web solutions and variable data will continually expand the role of the printer and ensure a challenging print future.

7/9/08