From the Editor Looking Ahead
Last month I ventured down to Alexandria, Va., to attend the Print Outlook 05 conference, sponsored by NPES, the Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies. While the sessions were tailored to commercial printers, I did glean some interesting facts and ideas.
The overall message was that print is facing competition, and printers have to try new tactics and move into new areas to survive.
Keynote speaker Joe Cappo, recently retired from Crain Communications, pointed out a decline in magazine and newspaper readership, and suggested that the media that survives will be the one that can integrate with other media.
"Print has to integrate itself with other technologies," he said. For in-plants this means accepting that you are not just printers and acknowledging that sometimes other services are more important than print. Your future will depend on helping your clients integrate different media.
Ronnie H. Davis, chief economist of Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, reported that in the first nine months of 2004, print shipments were up 4.1 percent, ink on paper rose 3.5 percent and digital toner printing increased 5.9 percent. He predicted similar growth in 2005, the highest (3 to 3.5 percent) coming in direct marketing printing.
But threats loom, like the postal rate hike, expected for 2006. Several speakers warned of its effects. Ben Cooper, executive vice president for public policy at PIA/GATF, credits the flat postal rates in recent years with helping the print industry grow. But the predicted 15 percent increase will drive some big print and mail users out of the mail stream and onto the Internet—like the financial services industry, whose mailings represent 25 percent of all mail volume, he said.
One speaker, Vincent Mallardi, chairman of the Printing Brokerage/Buyers Association, offered ideas to help printers differentiate their services. Offer "extenders," he said—warrantees, rebates, reward/loyalty programs. Tout non-product benefits, like environmentally friendly or socially-responsible printing. Also, look up and downstream, he urged. There is more profit in the content and distribution ends than in printing, he said. Move towards them.
Mallardi showed a chart comparing the printing industry with the pharmaceutical and beverage industries in terms of how much they spend on marketing. While other industries shell out millions and reap impressive profits, printers spend virtually nothing—and receive about the same in new business. The message here is that marketing works, and even though in-plants may not have money to spend on it, they should market their many services in other ways if they want to stay relevant in a world where print is no longer the only way to communicate.
- Places:
- ALEXANDRIA, VA