Business Management - Marketing/Sales

You don't know me. We've never met. You've never been to my department. We've never done business together. But we could, couldn't we? What would I/could I/should I do to get your attention—to get you to consider me instead of the others who do what I do?

It's a fact: the easiest and least expensive way to grow sales is to sell more to current customers. By rewarding clients and giving them an incentive to keep working with you, you'll earn their continued loyalty and more of their business.

If you look over last year's issues of IPG you will find articles about how in-plants are evolving from solely providing print and mail services to offering more marketing services. In the December 2011 issue, however, Lisa Cross of InfoTrends questioned the reality of that observation when she wrote, "The graphic communications industry is in the middle of an evolution to expand services beyond print to include cross-media and marketing. Unfortunately, the in-plant market is largely absent from the move."

THE IN-PLANT industry, like many other industries, has been knocked off balance by the economic turmoil of the past several years. As companies have been forced to cut costs, print has been identified as an area of potential cost savings. Gone are the days of 500-page, end-of-year reports and formal printed presentations. These major drivers of print volume have been replaced by documents housed on SharePoint sites and PowerPoint decks to be presented digitally. And now that companies have made this behavioral change, they are unlikely to change back.

Fox Valley Technical College held its first Open House and Technology Expo on May 24, in partnership with Ricoh Business Solutions. Nearly 100 attendees from 44 statewide organizations, including commercial printers and in-plant professionals, came to view the facility, get personal tours and attend sessions on digital printing, industry trends and workflow.

There was something about the recent In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference in Charleston, S.C., that really made it stand out; something more than the great sessions and packed vendor fair; something beyond the fact that Ricoh Americas launched a major color print system there, bringing the event into the national spotlight.

For the second consecutive year, Document Solutions at The University of Texas at Austin has captured IPMA’s Promotional Excellence Award for its extraordinary in-house marketing efforts. This award recognizes excellence in promotional campaigns developed by and used to promote an in-house corporate publishing facility.

I'm on my way home from the IPMA 2011 conference in Charleston as I write this. After spending four days with in-plant managers from around the country, it's a little sad to have to say good-bye to them all and head back to real life.

IPG talked with Richard Beto of UT-Austin about why he markets his in-plant and how open houses help bring in business.

YouTube is the most popular video-sharing Web site available right now. It allows you to upload as many videos to the Internet as you want, for free.