Dec. 4, 2006—When it comes to print, knowing who you are going to sell to and how to reach them can increase the return on investment for a piece by huge margins. In today's fiercely competitive print market, being able to offer clients more bang for their buck is the way to get and keep the lucrative jobs that not only keep your company in business, but help it grow and prosper.

According to Tom Wetjen, vice president, Worldwide Graphic Communications Industry, Xerox Corp., digital technology is going to capture an ever-increasing share of the print market, as new technologies compete for the attention of consumers.

One demographic many are trying to capture is the young professionals, those in the 18–30 age range who are savvy with new media—everything from Blackberries to e-mail to personalized URLs. This market wants the information immediately, and in small, personalized bits and pieces, which is where variable data and digital print technology play a huge role. Print providers who learn to embrace and work with what Mr. Wetjen calls the invasive technologies will be the ones to get ahead.

Education Is Key
According to Mr. Wetjen, the first step before entering any new market is to educate yourself. He advocates going to seminars, reading trade journals, and getting out to talk to people before making any attempt to target a new demographic.

For most printers, it is advantageous to partner with a creative agency to design campaigns and targeted materials for third-party clients. While offering creative services in-house is a value-added service many can take advantage of, for full-blown, multi-media campaigns, an ad agency is probably a better route to go. Before courting these relationships, however, Mr. Wetjen advises printers to know what they are talking about. He says print providers should know their technology, what their capabilities are, and to have some ideas and examples on hand to demonstrate these capabilities and open up the possibilities. Partnerships, he adds, work in two ways—if you want it to be profitable for everyone involved, you need to bring something besides the basic print technology to the table.

One way to get this information is to go to the printer manufacturers, Mr. Wetjen advises. Some, like Xerox, offer extensive customer programs to help printers move beyond the basics. These include everything from full campaign ideas and how print can tie it together, to individual pieces that can be adapted to specific situations.

The young professionals are not just a market the client, or the client's customer, is trying to reach, however. Mr. Wetjen notes that printers themselves need to focus on this market.

This is also the market many graphic communications companies are trying to hire from—and they are not the only ones.

Printers are no longer just competing with one another for the best talent. They are competing with telecommunications companies, dot-coms, and almost every other business out there with a need for technical expertise. Even second- and third-generation printers are getting more involved in the digital and software side of the business, rather than in traditional offset technologies.

All this means that printers must be aware of what is going on in the industry, and be flexible to change. If you want to attract the best and the brightest, you have to give them a reason to work for you.

A Changing Landscape
All of this does not mean that offset is going away, however, Mr. Wetjen notes. There will always be a place for it in the print market, he says, where long runs or other factors make it far more cost-effective to stick to the older technologies. However, digital will become increasingly more prominent, especially, he notes, in black-and-white or spot color work.

In the past, full-color variable data was the sweet spot highlighted as the application that would grow digital print. Mr. Wetjen disagrees, and notes that applications such as one-off or short-run books and textbooks are a large and growing market. This is an area that will explode in the coming years, he predicts.

A related part of this is shifting the focus away from cost-per-piece. Printers, Mr. Wetjen notes, can no longer afford to nickle-and-dime themselves into the ground. The discussion should have moved on by now from "How much per piece?" to "What's the ROI?"

At the end of the day, demographics plays a huge role in every part of your business, from who you hire, to how you sell, to what your clients are asking for.

One customer Mr. Wetjen recently visited went so far as to tell those clients and potential clients who focused on cost that they were "getting their mail from the wrong stack." In other words, they are focusing on the very short-term goal of the mailing at the expense of the broad campaign.

Still, young professionals are not the only demographic printers can and should be targeting. In fact, Mr. Wetjen says that while every community has its share of basic industries, there is always a specific slant or market that is either being underserved, or not served at all.

For example, he references the real estate and automobile markets. These are both broad categories that exist in every community across the country, but the printer who treats his own market as unique will be the one to win the business. Silicon Valley and Upstate New York, he says, are two different markets and need to be approached in two different ways for just about anything you are selling.

Mr. Wetjen gave one example of how a printer can target a market and offer a solution, rather than just offering print. If a printer presented a mattress supplier with a campaign that ultimately let that supplier empty his warehouse of merchandise, who do you think he will go to the next time he wants to do the same thing?

At the end of the day, demographics plays a huge role in every part of your business, from who you hire, to how you sell, to what your clients are asking for. The print providers who go beyond print and look for ways to capitalize on not only the emerging technologies in our own industry, but also those that complement them, will find the future bright and profitable.

The Changing World of News in Print
Sidebar By Toni McQuilken

According to graphics posted on the Project for Excellence in Journalism (www.journalism.org), the demographics for readers of news—both printed and online—is changing. In fact, even as the age of print readers continues to climb, the percent of individuals going online daily for their news is seeing dramatic increases.

From 1995–2005, the average age of an adult in the United States has risen from 41.5 to 44, on a fairly steady incline. In this same period of time, however, the age of news magazine readers has jumped from 41 to 46. The age of these readers is going up faster than the general population—one possible cause of this is that younger readers simply are not turning to older technologies for news, instead finding alternate sources, such as online Web sites or e-mail newsletters.

The picture for daily newspapers, from 1999–2005, is even older. For this medium, readership is in steady decline across all age groups, not just the young. In the categories encompassing those 18–34, the percent of readers has declined from about 43 percent to only 37.5 percent. However, even the highest percent of readers, those 65 and older, has seen a decline, from 72 percent to 69 percent. This overall decline means publishers and their printers need to find new and innovative ways to reach their customers.

One such way many publishers are seeking to retain their audience is by offering the news and information from the printed products online, as well. Mediums such as Web sites, online newsletters, e-mail news alerts, and customized news feeds are all competing with print for the same readers. They are seeing gains where the printed products are not.

In 1995, just over 5 percent of those polled said they went online daily for news. In 2006, however, that number took a dramatic jump to just under 30 percent.

When paired with the declines in printed new readership along with the aging population of print readers, this poses a significant challenge to the graphics industry. Publishers are simply moving their readers from one medium to another, but printers need to find new ways to make print sexy again. New technologies such as variable data and personalized URLs tied in to campaigns are one way to do it. The most innovative and forward-thinking among us are moving even beyond that to ensure they continue to dominate the world of communications well into the future.