Let me assume right away that everyone reading this is either too young to know that a cobbler is an old-fashioned word for "shoe maker", or wonders why a fruit pie would have children in the first place.
So - now that we've established the meaning of "cobbler", let's also confirm that the reason the cobbler's children have no shoes is because said cobbler is so busy cobbling shoes for everyone else that there is no time left to make shoes for his own family.
If you're a printer, you very likely do the same thing. How many marketing pieces do you print for other companies? How much personalized direct mail have you imprinted for your customers? Or even something as basic as business cards?
Many of us do actually manage to print some things for ourselves. What we frequently DON'T do is get a legitimate plan for telling our own story consistently. Printing yourself a set of postcards promoting your stationery twice a year may be a plan of sorts, but it's not enough to engage your potential customers, and it's certainly not anything that will stand out from the other advertising that clutters everyone's radar.
Here's a test for my printer colleagues: Tell me what the "4 P"s are...
I await your answers!
:) mb, who will give bonus points for examples of how you're using them to "make shoes"...
So - now that we've established the meaning of "cobbler", let's also confirm that the reason the cobbler's children have no shoes is because said cobbler is so busy cobbling shoes for everyone else that there is no time left to make shoes for his own family.
If you're a printer, you very likely do the same thing. How many marketing pieces do you print for other companies? How much personalized direct mail have you imprinted for your customers? Or even something as basic as business cards?
Many of us do actually manage to print some things for ourselves. What we frequently DON'T do is get a legitimate plan for telling our own story consistently. Printing yourself a set of postcards promoting your stationery twice a year may be a plan of sorts, but it's not enough to engage your potential customers, and it's certainly not anything that will stand out from the other advertising that clutters everyone's radar.
Here's a test for my printer colleagues: Tell me what the "4 P"s are...
I await your answers!
:) mb, who will give bonus points for examples of how you're using them to "make shoes"...
Price, promotion, product and place. :-)
ReplyDeleteI might be cheating since I'm still a student, but the print company I work for, D&L Press, has definitely been using these as we've rebranded ourselves as trade printers. I definitely agree with what you say here, though. The sample packets and other promotional materials we've been working on have definitely taken a lot longer than the other tactics we've been using.
Great 1st post! I'm glad I saw your blog on the Print Production Professionals LinkedIn page.
-Susan Hicks, D&L Press
A+ for you, Susan!! And A++ for D&L Press for actually putting the Four Ps into practice!
ReplyDeleteOur print shops are so deadline oriented (as they should be!) that I think the long view of marketing is frequently an unexpected shock, and consequently flounders.
Be sure and look for the "Market Your Printing Company" group on LinkedIn. It's brand new, and I think it's going to be a fantastic forum for our industry!
Thanks for stopping by!
:)mb
PS: Look for "Girls Who Print" on LinkedIn also!