One thing I’ve learnt in my career is that there is strength in numbers. While you may have many great ideas of your own, those ideas are often made greater by access to business trends, “insider” information on technology and solutions, and talking about new ideas to grow your business. I’ve also learnt that some of the most useful information, resources and people are dotted across the globe and often hard to find.

It’s with those thoughts in mind that Xerox decided to create the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners Global Network – an exclusive, global community consisting of the world’s top digital printers.

Undoubtedly, achieving growth is on everyone’s mind at the moment. Here’s how the three essential ingredients of Xerox’s Premier Partners Network are helping the world’s top digital printers grow in today’s challenging marketplace.

Industry Knowledge – understanding customers

Backed by over fifty years of experience, we provide our Premier Partners with the right knowledge to address their target markets. Members are free to make use of our exclusive learning programmes, business development tools, print and marketing services trends and case studies targeted at specific industries like automotive, retail, medical and legal. All designed to help our Partners better serve their clients.

Peer-to-Peer Networking – learning from others

Our global network consists of hundreds of partners, and our community just keeps on growing. Partners across the world attend our exclusive events, from peer-to-peer networking sessions to social media conversations – there’s always something going on to keep them in contact with their global business peers or new customer opportunities.

Connection and Collaboration – working with others

Our online search directory connects Partner company capabilities and services with enquiries and opportunities. Partner company profiles enable them to e-market their business. Plus, whether it’s sharing ideas, responding to multi-location print needs, taking advantage of a business partner offer or sharing experienced insights, Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners enjoy community connections and collaboration.

For thirteen years now, the Premier Partners Programme has been opening eyes to different ways of doing things and opening minds to new ways of thinking using these three pillars – all to help grow businesses across the world. Why not join us?

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For further information on the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners Global Network visit us at http://www.xeroxpremierpartners.com/ or, in Europe, contact patrick.bont@xerox.com

If you enjoyed this post, you may also be interested in:

• If it’s the Government’s Data, it’s your data too
• A Closer Look at the Growth Projected in Digital Printing
• QR Codes: More Than Just Shortcuts
• Learning from “The Worst QR Code Fails of All Time”

A few weeks ago, a new show model was introduced at the Inkjet Summit. This show brought together industry consultants, potential buyers and suppliers to share experience and ideas in an open forum which included presentations, case histories, and one-on-one meetings. Another interesting aspect of the show was the after-show communications which included a new LinkedIn forum, as well as a special section that will be part of an upcoming Printing Impressions.

One of the first conversations to emerge on the LinkedIn forum focused on paper choices, paper vendors, and paper production issues. This is because the choice of paper is more critical in inkjet production than it is in offset or electrophotographic printing. In fact, we talked about this in one of the opening sessions when we discussed the three critical components of the technology which are the inkjet heads, the ink, and paper.

One of the messages we heard from many experienced users was the need to create

their own paper testing processes. Included in this process are: selecting appropriate test images, printing metrics, subjective evaluations, and an approval criteria. This is very similar to what GATF and RIT have done in the past with new printing technologies or new paper certification programs. Generally you start by creating test targets with specific images that are sensitive to the unique issues of the different print technology and presses and combine that with the specific applications printed by that company. This becomes the “test suite.”

Once you create the test suite, you need to create the evaluation process which includes both objective measures and subjective opinions. That means using an instrument such as a spectro-densitometer and identifying people as your image quality judges.

The identification of metrics and the approval criteria emerges once you start comparing different papers, different measures, and different opinions. It doesn’t take long before you learn what is acceptable and what is not and then identify your upper and lower control limits of your metrics. This becomes the paper testing process which can evolve into a standard operating procedure, a statistical process control program, or even Six Sigma implementation of quality.

We are already seeing paper manufacturers offering to help in the selection and identification processes. If inkjet production printing continues to grow, we will see more and better paper choices come to market and the need for testing may decline.

If you are utilizing inkjet technology today, do you have a paper testing process in place? What have you found works well and what criteria do you test for?

Looking for similar topics? Check out these other Digital Printing Hotspot Blog posts:

• Evolving, Transferrable Impressions – Carbonless Paper
• Custom Media Solutions – Making the Output Look Easy
• Craving Offline Experiences: In Today’s Digital World, Do you Turn to the Physical and Tactile?
• Promoting Value of Print: Communication that is Environmentally and Socially Responsible
• What Would NASA Use? – A paper that can take it!

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Howie Fenton is a consultant and business advisor at NAPL as well as a paid contributor to this blog. Howie advises commercial printers and in-plants on benchmarking performance against industry leaders, increasing productivity, and adding digital and value services through customer research. For more information click here.

There’s a good chance that prior to the economy taking a major hit in 2007 and 2008, you didn’t have to spend too much time pulling hairs over your sales process and strategy. Business was running well, sales were high, and your printing presses were running non-stop. And your sales rep – why would you have possibly worried about him? He was achieving the organization’s goals, customers loved him (he was always on the phone with them!), and he was a likable guy who had worked at your company for many years.

But now you have customers who don’t love him. He is not connecting with customers and prospects on his phone, e-mail, or social media. His cubicle was always vacant from being onsite with customers, but now he is always in the office. The fact is that most sales processes have changed over the last 5 years. The graphic arts industry has become a high tech business, where automating business processes to reduce costs is a key to survival. If your commercial department hasn’t grown to meet outside changes, you are probably facing challenges with sales and proposition.

Here is a list of 10 challenges in the sales process:

1. If you can’t explain the added value of digital or litho print, you will end up with customers basing their purchases solely on price comparison. Always sell using return on marketing investment (ROMI). Even business cards deliver ROMI.
2. You don’t understand the environment of your customers. Are they specialized in specific markets with specific requirements? Are there trends that you can use to offer recommendations and solutions?
3. Your proposition doesn’t match your online profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) or your website is old and out-of-date. Keep online information updated and use free metrics software such as Google Analytics to see how you’re doing online.
4. You don’t actually know what problems to solve. When you are offering digital print, always ask if you are solving a logistic or a marketing problem for your customer. Otherwise you will run into the same price comparison problem mentioned above.
5. You are not familiar with the changed landscape of communication. Today we have more channels to communicate with. Be prepared so you can use them to your advantage. Integration is key.
6. You do not have a system in place to calculate and discuss return on marketing investments (ROMI).
7. Maybe you have calculated ROMI, but you still present it as a proposal. Communication plans should always be presented as projects, not proposals. Help your client visualize the experience.
8. You have a top-10 list of your customers in order of % revenue in your account plan but you haven’t asked your customers who comprise their top-10 in % revenue. Also ask what kind of headaches they have in communication, marketing, sales and adding/selling value. This will help you help them.
9. Are you a sales (500 doors to cover), account manager (100 doors to cover), key account manager (5 doors to cover) or trusted advisor (customers come to you)? Knowing your role can improve the quality of engagement with your customers.
10. You don’t know what customers think about you and your company. If this is true, you almost certainly don’t know what your customer’s end-users think of them. Knowing this information can help you to improve your customer’s business, and as a result improve your business as well.

Don’t start to panic as you read all of this. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and improvement is a constantly evolving process. Try to improve your quality of sale by starting with a goal to focus on 3 of these 10 points. I am convinced that this will help you improve your relationships and interactions with customers, and in turn, impact your business.

Interested in similar topics? You may want to check out:

• Profit Leaders Automate with Print MIS Systems More
• 5 Keys to On-Call Staffing Strategy
• Four Web-to-Print Issues You need to Overcome
• Direct Marketing: Get Relevant, Get Results – Part I

Guess what? Your tax dollars just bought you more data — or at least better access to data. That’s the hope anyway.

Last week, President Obama signed an executive order, with the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy released an “open data policy” declaring that data gathered by the government is a national asset and should be easily accessible by the public. Much of this information is available already, but the goal, according to the administration, is to make it even more so.

In a press release, the White House Press Office gave several examples of how open data has spurred innovation and product development that ultimately has helped the economy. Examples include the economic sector of agricultural advisory services stemming from government weather satellites and ground stations (something we can thank for The Weather Channel, too) and commercial GPS-based products resulting from the release of formerly military-only data.

While much government data is already available to the public, the White House is declaring its continuation of this commitment and intent to make the data even more accessible. As part of this commitment, you can watch for a re-invigorated and improved data.gov (the central hub for open government data), including new services such as easier navigation, better mapping tools, and robust API access for developers.

For XGPPN members and print providers alike, this is an open invitation for your business development and IT staff to poke around and see what business opportunities you can generate. You’ve been handed a treasure trove of data at absolutely no cost, and over time, that treasure will become increasingly easy to use. What will you do with it?

Interested in other topics similar to data and how to leverage data in your business? Check out:

• Define Your Target Market as Tightly as Possible
• Current Trends Present New Opportunities: 7 Tips For Selling To Direct Marketers
• The TransPromo space is alive and well – are you taking advantage? This Printer Did, Reducing Client’s Statement Costs by 30%
• Direct Marketing: Get Relevant, Get Results – Part I:

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Interested in becoming a Premier Partner or looking for more information on the Xerox Premier Partner Global Network and the many benefits received by its exclusive membership? Click here.

DMA states the response rate of direct mail is more than 30x higher than that of email, with an average response rate of 4.4% compared with the 0.12% of email. Offering direct marketing services can help you deliver endless value to your customers, transitioning your company from a print provider to a trusted adviser for marketing strategy and print production.

But becoming a strategic partner involves more than simply adding to your service offerings – you’ll also need a sales team in place capable of selling direct marketing services. If this sounds intimidating – just remember, you aren’t alone and Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day. If making the jump into marketing services was so easy, everyone would be doing it!

We recently gathered with a large group of print providers, marketing service providers and industry experts to discuss everything-direct marketing at the Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation in Webster, New York. Our Thought Leadership Workshop covered:

• Psychology based marketing and how to trigger the unconscious minds of your consumers
• The art and science of selling direct marketing
• Real examples of how customer database information can be utilized to market more personally
• Integrated direct marketing opportunities using XMPie offerings

Psychology-Based Marketing: Direct Marketing that taps into consumers’ unconscious mind
During our workshop, Jeanette McMurtry of e4marketing explained the importance of understanding the thought processes and unconscious mind of your consumer. This allows you to better position direct marketing campaigns for success. Brand loyalty doesn’t exist today like in the past. 52% of a company’s ‘highly loyal’ customers will be reduced in one year’s time, with 33% leaving for a competing brand. 60% of brands will lose at least half of their customers from year-to-year.

So what does ESP and direct marketing have in common? Jeanette explained how human behavior is based upon two fundamental premises: the avoidance of pain and pursuit of pleasure. Identifying the pain your customer’s end-users are trying to avoid, and addressing through a well-thought out direct marketing campaign can drive incredible results. Each consumer’s behavior is guided by its id, ego, and superego, as explained in Freud’s theory of personality. If your customer is looking to create a campaign to reach 100 consumers, they are actually reaching out to 300 because of the varying personalities! As a marketer – it is critical to understand how different personalities affect loyalty to brand and purchasing behavior.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you know what makes your customer’s target audience feel happy and what they value? Happiness and an understanding of what is important to them can drive purchase behavior. By knowing what messaging will resonate with end-users, a campaign can more accurately be designed. Edelman Good Purpose Survey found that 71% say they will make a point to buy from companies with similar values as their own. Is it a coincidence that this year’s Super Bowl ad that generated one of the top purchase-intent scores was created for Got Milk? They understood their female audience and what messaging would resonate, crafting an advertisement that conveyed how their product can help in the caring for their family.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jeanette then went into detail on the importance of color and messaging in campaigns, and how they each uniquely affect consumer response. Studies show within 90 seconds, a consumer will make an unconscious judgment of a product, and 60-90% of that judgment is based upon the use of color. Choosing the right messaging can help tap into consumers’ unconscious. Words such as ‘dependable’, ‘limited time’, and ‘approved’ are proven to be emotionally charged. How a message is framed is also a critical consideration, as ‘free’ speaks louder than ‘two-for-one’.

Easier said than done, but by understanding the unconscious mind of your customer’s end-user, you can better develop a psychologically relevant campaign that will drive a desired behavior.

A Look Inside Relevant Direct Marketing Programs
Shelley Sweeney, Vice President Service Bureau/Direct Marketing at Xerox, shared several examples of direct marketing campaigns that have utilized database information to market more personally. One that really stood out was a campaign for the New York Mets, who were moving into a new stadium but were struggling to drive attendance. In a typical day, a consumer is exposed to roughly 3,000 media messages. They pay attention to 52 and will positively remember 4. For the Mets, a relevant and highly personalized campaign was necessary to drive a behavior – purchase of season tickets!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The campaign targeted group sales, using a database of 3,000 groups that had attended games in the past, as well as a purchased mailing list that brought the total to 6,800 groups. Database information included the organization name, contact name, address and email address. Variable marketing pieces were created and included the name of the organization, the group leaders surname sprawled across the back of a jersey (using XMPie uImage) and specific messaging and imagery reflecting the group’s category and likely interests (boy scout organizations included different messaging/images than business organizations, for example).

The list of 6,800 groups was split in half to create a test group (Shelley emphasized this during the workshop), with 3,400 receiving static mass-marketing pieces similar to what the Mets had been sending in the past – while the other 3,400 received the newly- created customized mailers. Three weeks later, a follow-up mailing was sent to the same divided list.

The results were quite impressive: the data-driven mailer saw a 57.2% increase in group ticket sales over the static control mailer. Revenue from the data-driven mailer was 40.9% higher than revenue from the static mailer. Even more impressive, the Mets saw an 80% increase in group ticket sales over the previous season.

What have you found to be critical considerations for successful direct marketing? Check out these other direct-marketing related posts:

• Define Your Target Market as Tightly as Possible
• Tough Questions about the PSP-MSP Evolution
• Leveraging a Self-Promo Direct Marketing Campaign to your Benefit
• You Don’t Have to Become a Marketing Services Provider to Offer Marketing Services

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Part II of our Direct Marketing recap will discuss the art and science of selling direct marketing services, as well as a look into integrated direct marketing opportunities using XMPie. Jeanette McMurtry of e4marketing can be contacted for more information on the Psychology of Direct Marketing.

In Greek mythology, the phoenix is a resilient bird that is regenerated or reborn. According to the legend. the phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. For the last few years, there has been a lot of gloom and doom predictions about the future of books, but the latest data suggests that books, like the phoenix, may be rising from the ashes and reborn.

Some critics have said that book sales and book readership are dying. Others have said that the future of books is not printed books, but electronic books. The most recent evidence suggests that neither is true. Books are not dying and electronic versions of books are not displacing printed versions of books.

According to the Association of American publisher’s report on the 2012 sales, book sales are up 7.4%, which amounts to $451 million in additional revenue for total sales of $6.5 billion. Of course some of that is tied to the most recent blockbuster books such as Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games, but every year there are a few best-selling books.

In addition, conclusions on the impact of e-books is changing. While the percentage of e-books increased by 42% in 2012, resulting in $1.2 billion in sales, that actually represents a decline in growth. As a result, there is a growing consensus of opinion that digital book readership is slowing and could plateau somewhere around 20-25% of all book readership.

That’s not to say that there is a declining interest in electronic book reading devices such as e- readers, templates and even smart phones from Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and Microsoft. But part of the good news about these devices is that they are reducing the rate of returns of unsold inventory of print books. According to the analysts from Publishers Lunch, book returns were down $318 million last year.

The question about book sales, book readership, and the impact of electronic books is an ongoing debate. The controversy can be traced back to 1835. There is evidence to support both the critics and fans of books in general, printed books, as well as electronic versions of books.

What do you think? Are printed books in decline or stable?  Are electronic books stable or growing?

If you enjoyed this post, you may also be interested in:

• Enduring #PowerofPrint: How Print Stays Relevant in a Digital World
• Printed Books Making a Comeback Over E-Books
• Are E-Books & E-Readers Killing Printed Books
• Markets and Apps: E-Books vs. Printed Books
• Amazon’s New Kindles: Disruptive Price of a Disruptive Technology for the Book Industry?

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Howie Fenton is a consultant and business advisor at NAPL as well as a paid contributor to this blog. Howie advises commercial printers and in-plants on benchmarking performance against industry leaders, increasing productivity, and adding digital and value services through customer research. For more information click here.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Google+ Hangout on the future of print design and the value of design in business. Xerox was the host and sponsor, appropriate because it has long been an advocate for print and Xerox products have done so much to advance the graphic arts industry. Google+ Hangouts are an interesting new option for meetings; I found the technology reasonably easy to adapt to, and it invites a relaxed and informal give and take. My sense is that the camera put about 10 years on me – maybe twenty. Just kidding. I can’t blame Google for the extra years, though I would if I could.

The heart of our hangout was an exploration of the myth that “print is dead.” Luckily, our magazine, Graphic Design USA, has been polling on this issue for half a century, and had just completed our 50^th annual survey on just this topic. So I was loaded with rebuttal information. And, luckily, no one loves the feel and smell of a printed piece more than me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The conclusion we reached during the Hangout is simple but profound: print is unique and powerful because you can touch and feel and hold it. Print creates a human connection missing from the ephemeral and desensitizing media world of digital communications. Designers value print for its classic strengths – tangibility, sensuality, permanence. The good and great designers know how and when to employ these traits to advance a message, a brand, an emotion, an idea, a cause, a sense of authenticity. That is the fundamental take-away; all the rest is but a footnote.

That said we collectively managed to mine several other nuggets about the strength and prospects of print. Among them:

• Print is practical. It is portable, convenient, accessible, easy to read, unplugged, it goes anywhere.
• Print is crucial to how designers make a living. 93 percent of designers work in print as part of their mix, and 75 percent of their time is spent on print-related work.
• Print is a team player. Print may no longer be the superstar, but it is an excellent complement and collaborator, a vital component in the marketing mix. From print to inbound telephony, or online to direct mail, print drives and motivates consumers.
• Print is getting smarter. New technologies to customize, personalize, sharpen, target, interact and integrate are wringing out the waste and infusing responsiveness.
• Print is novel. As the digital deluge, the online onslaught builds; print will be even more effective because it is fresh, rare, different, and welcome.
• Print is sustainable. I hate the canard that print is dirty and digital is clean. I ran out of time to harangue the Hangout audience on this point so let me do it now. Print and paper are becoming “greener” and more transparent up and down the supply chain; the online world should only be as honest about its energy use and other sustainability issues.

GDUSA has been conducting our Print Design survey for 50 years. So let me close with a question. What do you think designers will be saying about the role of print 5, 10 or even 50 years from now?

Interested in other topics similar to the practicality of print, its many benefits, and its future? Check out:

• Enduring #PowerofPrint: How Print Stays Relevant in a Digital World
• Promoting Value of Print: Communication that is Environmentally and Socially Responsible
• Optimism about the Future of Print Highlighted by Printers in Survey
• A trip to Dusseldorf paints a global picture for the future of print

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Gordon Kaye is editor and publisher of Graphic Design USA magazine. He joined GDUSA in 1990 after a first career as communications lawyer for a private law firm and then for the NBC Television Network where assignments included NBC News and Saturday Night Live. He received a BA from Hamilton College, and a joint degree in law and public policy from Princeton University and Columbia Law School. Gordon lives in New York City with his wife Susan and has two daughters, Sasha and Charlotte.

Contact: editorial@gdusa.com

Two firms with starting points in different locations and decades have had their paths indirectly cross by how they have chosen to serve their customer bases. QuantumDigital began business in 1986 specializing in postcard mailings for real estate agents, while PIP Printing and Marketing Services Columbus got its start in 1974 as a general-purpose commercial printer. Today, the two firms have arrived at a similar place: finding growth by aggregating production volume from small and medium-sized businesses that share industry-specific marketing needs.

Both told their stories during a recent webinar in the 2013 Xerox Business Development Webinar Series, “Targeting: Small and Medium-Sized Businesses…the Volume Aggregation Opportunity.”

And a good-sized opportunity it is with about 6 million SMBs in the United States, according to InfoTrends. “They want to do what every other business does: gain new customers, expand existing relationships and do customer retention effectively. But they are constrained by a lack of budget, time and expertise,” said Barb Pellow, group director, InfoTrends, the webinar’s moderator.

Those are the needs QuantumDigital and PIP Columbus are meeting with solutions that blend print, mobile, social, email and Web components. “We automate marketing to take it from a random act to a systematic one that frequently takes place whether the client touches it or not,” said Eric Cosway, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Austin, Texas-based QuantumDigital.

For years, QuantumDigital focused on real estate clients, building an information technology expertise that helped them guarantee 24-hour turnarounds. More recently the firm has leveraged its expertise to win work with franchise businesses, such as Hallmark Crown Stores, Michelin and John Deere.

In addition, QuantumDigital partners with AT&T Systems to run Digital Express, an end-to-end direct mail service that serves small businesses from a QuantumDigital-hosted Web site. “We make small businesses look bigger than they are,” Cosway said.

Columbus, Ohio-based PIP Columbus has long counted small- and medium-sized businesses as its heartland customers, but recently began offering marketing services and targeting verticals in a systematic way.

“We’re all aware that a lot of printers who are only printers are going out of business,” said Susan Layman, general manager, PIP Columbus. The franchise took the advice of its franchisor, Franchise Services, Inc. (FSI), she said, “to broaden our base, and develop the expertise to provide a range of marketing services to our customers.”

Among their targets: the 700 dentists in the Columbus area. “They don’t have time to develop marketing plans,” Layman said. “We show how we can help grow their business, and they appreciate it.”

To hear a replay of the “Targeting: Small and Medium-Sized Businesses…the Volume Aggregation Opportunity” webinar, click here. And to sign up for upcoming 2013 Business Development Webinars, including “Targeting: Vertical Markets…The Enterprise Opportunity on June 12,” click here.

Do you target the SMB market? What’s your approach? Is it working?

Interested in other topics similar to growing your business through strategic opportunities? Check out:

• Define Your Target Market as Tightly as Possible
• How to Increase SEO and Generate Sales Leads
• When it comes to Direct Marketing Campaigns: Practice what you Preach
• How do I Market Better and Offer Marketing Services?

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Susan Weiss, manager, Xerox Worldwide Customer Business Development, is Xerox’s host for the 2013 Business Development Webinar Series.

I mentioned in a presentation recently that the print industry has been in the midst of a perfect storm for a decade now, leading someone to ask if I thought we had bottomed out, or better yet, if we are moving toward a recovery. I thought the question was incredibly relevant and worth expanding on in a blog.

As most people know, the concept of a perfect storm usually involves two or three major storms combining to create a super storm, as the folks in the Northeast experienced with Hurricane / Superstorm Sandy.

In the printing industry our perfect storm is the result of several major disruptions such as the cyclical changes in our economy, the structural changes like rising postal rates, more work done on local printers and copiers, technology changes which include both Internet tools like the web and new printing technologies such as inkjet, and last but not least, changes to the business model such as the decline in purchases of traditional products such as offset lithography and the increase in new products such as digital printing and digital services.

The question of whether we’ve bottomed out or not, really depends on who you ask or what data you look at. If you look at the big picture, we see that the percentage of money spent on lithography from 1998 to 2012 fell from approximately 90% to 50% and is not bottoming out. If you look at the number of printing companies in 1992 compared to 2012 you see that companies declined from approximately 40,000 to 26,000 and is not bottoming out.

But if you look at some specific indicators such as print sales, we are seeing a modest, albeit inconsistent improvement. In a recent NewsTalk live webinar sponsored by Xerox, Andy Paparozzi, NAPL’s VP and Chief Economist said, “Business picks up, but then slows right back down. It’s nothing sustained; it’s nothing we can count on. Let’s look at sales. Sales from all sources were up 1%, on average, during the first half of 2012 for the owners we survey. As always, results varied dramatically from company to company, with sales up an average of 22% for the top 20%, but down an average of 15% for the bottom 20%. And while one-fifth report sales growth of 10% or better, nearly one-fifth report sales fell by 10% or more.”

So if you’re one of the leading companies, not only has the recession bottomed out for you, you are also in the midst of a recovery. The next group of companies under the profit leaders are not achieving a 20% growth, but are seeing a 10% or modest growth. If those two groups make up about one third of all companies, then we could say that third are doing well and two thirds are still struggling.

If you are one of those companies struggling some questions to consider are:

What are you doing to create your own recovery? And,

How are you going to increase sales, decrease costs, or identify new revenue streams?

If you enjoyed this post, you may also be interested in:

• In-Plant Professionals were In-the-House, Sharing Strategies to take Business to the Next Level
• Understanding the True Cost of Printing
• Four Web-to-Print Issues You need to Overcome
• Bolstering the Bread-and-Butter Production Role of Black-and-White Printers
• Is Digital Printing Killing Offset Printing?

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Howie Fenton is a consultant and business advisor at NAPL. Howie advises commercial printers and in-plants on benchmarking performance against industry leaders, increasing productivity through workflow management, adding and integrating new digital services, and adding value through customer research. He is a paid contributor to this blog.

Xerox DocuColor 8080 Digital Press

Whether you are a seasoned digital print provider or new to the world of digital print after making the leap from offset lithography – one thing remains constant: your customers of today and tomorrow have choices. To remain competitive and capture their business, you must stay on the cusp of the latest technology and provide customers and prospects with a compelling reason to choose your offerings. What sets your business apart? Is it print quality, outstanding service, a wide gamut of substrate offerings, the fastest turnaround times in town, web-to-print capabilities, or variable data services? What about expanding your business’ offerings by becoming a one-stop service provider to your clients?

In an early 2013 PrintWeek feature, the Staffordshire-based British printer, KJB, shared their experience of this first-hand when they decided that the £1,000 worth of work per month they were outsourcing to local digital printers warranted a conversation of acquiring a digital press of their own. This was completely unchartered waters for KJB, who in their twenty-year history had owned nothing but offset lithographic presses. Commercial Director, Stephen Egerton, described the need to venture into digital offerings as one that would allow the company to “better serve the clients we had and also to expand that list of clients.” KJB began a rigorous search for the right digital press for their business, and found many advantageous offerings with the Xerox DocuColor 8080 Digital Press, including the ability to produce 80 A4 pages per minute at a resolution of 2,400dpi, and auto duplex capabilities at rated speeds on all weights and sizes up to 300gsm.

Quality-driven automation is also a key component of the DocuColor 8080, as its Automated Color Quality Suite helps to streamline automation within your print shop. This is done by delivering excellent color quality that is consistent and repeatable; reducing operator intervention and increasing uptime through auto calibration, advanced profiling and spot color calibration. While KJB initially began by just producing the £1,000 worth of jobs they had previously been outsourcing, the company slowly began moving some of the shorter-run offset jobs onto the DocuColor 8080, opening the company to new growth opportunities. They slowly began to see a steady increase in the usage of their digital press – from three hours a day, to five hours a day – making way to the now daily 10 hours of print runs that have become commonplace – with roughly 300,000 impressions per month. Egerton states that quality has been the key differentiator, as it has “meant existing customers have increased their work with us and have kept coming back. It has also meant we have won work from the customers of print shops with older digital gear, looking for the highest quality possible.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

With the addition of their new Xerox DocuColor 8080, KJB was able to grow their business by expanding their offerings to clients. How do you differentiate your print business? Is it through superior print quality, streamlined automation, or the ability to deliver a wide range of specialty substrates to clients such as polyester, vellum, magnet, NeverTear and vinyl?

Interested more posts related to delivering value to your customers? You may also like:

• How do I Market Better and Offer Marketing Services?
• Productivity and Versatility: Meet the New Xerox J75 and C75 Color Presses
• You Don’t Have to Become a Marketing Services Provider to Offer Marketing Services
• Tough Questions about the PSP-MSP Evolution
• Business Development: Everything you Need to Grow your Digital Printing Business

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Visit Xerox.com to see how the Xerox DocuColor 8080 can help you grow your business, reduce costs through automation and expand your offerings  – delivering a commanding ROI to your business