February is In-plant Awareness Month

By Bob Neubauer

If you were waiting for a reason to promote your in-plant, here it is: February is In-plant Awareness Month, an annual event created by the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA). The idea is to recognize and celebrate the special contributions of in-house design, printing, mailing and distribution professionals.

The University of Texas, Austin, held a showcase event in a university ballroom one year for In-plant Awareness Month.

Though in-plants all around the country will be promoting the value they provide to their parent organizations this month, they'll be doing it much differently than in years past. Holding an open house or inviting customers over for coffee and muffins aren't options any more.

Here are some other ideas:

Create signs or banners announcing In-plant Awareness Week and position them where people will see them.
Post an in-plant related status once a week on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Hold a drawing each day of the week and encourage customers to enter online.
Display your competitive pricing.
Create signs throughout your organization to show your savings compared to outside vendors.
Post a video on YouTube (e.g., virtual tour of your in-plant, meet the team, etc.)
Put thank-you notes in boxes of finished work.
Invite upper management or customers to a virtual social gathering, and have food delivered to their offices to enjoy during the call.
Offer online “how-to” seminars for customers.

Don’t forget to show appreciation to your own staff this month too. Leave each staff member a personalized note of appreciation, suggests IPMA, or host a socially distanced free lunch. Whatever you do, send us some pictures so we can show others how you promoted your in-plant.

For more ideas on how to celebrate In-plant Awareness Month, visit the IPMA website.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited nearly 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, cosponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

It's In-plant Awareness Month