connect Engaging Marketing Minds
Vol 1, Issue 1, June/July 2011
RESPECT why marketers don’t get the respect they deserve from bean-counters
INSIDE Marketing Supply Chain Ink Under Your Fingernails Consumers Purchasing Behavior War in the Boardroom
published by
THE POWER OF PRINT Fineline has you covered. Printing is often taken for granted. Perhaps it’s because print has been the world’s number one communication medium for so long, we tend to overlook its impact and power. The oversight could be fatal to a marketing campaign, a product launch, or a branding initiative that is trying to target and connect with people. People trust print. They feel comfortable using it. And, they can’t fast forward past it. When you want to persuade, inform, or entertain, include print. Fineline Printing Group has been printing over 30 years. With 56,000 square feet of the best “iron on the floor,” Fineline has you covered.
317.872.4490 (228) Info@FinelinePrintingGroup.com FinelinePrintingGroup.com/contact
publisher’s letter
3
Connecting W
e live in a world that is highly connected. There isn’t any piece of information or person that can escape us. However, even with all of the connection devices at our disposal, sometimes we seem less connected than ever before. In our head-down world of Blackberries and iPhones, we are taking a shot at connecting on a different level. Welcome to Connect, a magazine dedicated to engaging marketing minds. Our magazine goes deeper than a 140-character text message. We research the ideas that are relevant to you and explore new concepts that could benefit anyone who considers themselves a marketing personality. We believe that the only sustainable advantage lies within marketing. Often overlooked, marketing encompasses everything that successful companies do. History has shown that the greatest organizations have a solid marketing culture and corresponding marketing disciplines. As we enter a new economic landscape, it seems that we are at the dawning of a new age. All kinds of people and businesses are reassessing their strategies and their core strengths. In turn, connecting with clients in a more meaningful way is critical to long-term prosperity. Marketing minds are poised to take the lead. This magazine is about you, and Fineline’s first issue of Connect addresses what is a subtle, yet significant matter for many companies across the globe. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” explores the idea that marketing has not received the appreciation that it so deserves. Typically, marketing is cast aside as promotional work and not considered germane to the success of an organization. With perspectives from some of the best known marketers in the country, we elevate the concept that marketing is at the core of success
Publisher Fineline Printing Group
Managing Editor Jill Wangler
and that it needs to take its rightful place in the hierarchy of business. Connect is dedicated to the marketing mind. In turn, the graphic arts industry is a cornerstone to the marketing world. The transformation that the print community has gone through is extraordinary. Many of the country’s finest companies and brands are part of our world and afford us the chance to present the latest in marketing concepts. Our second article, “Ink Under Your Fingernails,” delves into the evolution of printers into a sophisticated group that can offer you marketing services beyond your imagination. Richard Miller, Connect is a bimonthly vehicle with articles devoted President/Owner to marketing, marketing services, and strategic concepts for marketers. Along with organically researched articles, we’ll provide you with a comAll kinds of people and businesses are pilation of marketing trends, reassessing their strategies and their facts, and commentary. We want to provide you core strengths. In turn, connecting with thought-provoking and with clients in a more meaningful way digestible content. We want to spotlight the things that is critical to long-term prosperity. matter to you most. We want to connect with you.
Welcome and enjoy.
Contents 03 Publisher’s Letter
10 Ink Under Your Fingernails
connect is published bimonthly by Fineline Printing Group, copyright 2011. All rights reserved.
04 Marketing Supply Chain
14 Consumers Purchasing Behavior
For more information contact 877.334.7687 FinelinePrintingGroup.com info@FinelinePrintingGroup.com
06 R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Art Direction
Connecting
The Evolution of Print
Sandy Kessel
Operational Effectiveness & Optimization
Why Marketers Frequently Don’t Get the Respect They Deserve
15 War in the Boardroom
Why Left-Brain Management and Right-Brain Marketing Don’t See Eye to Eye
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cmo council study
Marketing Supply Chain T here is an epidemic that threatens the optimized Marketing Supply Chain. As marketers seek to provide the most timely, fresh and of-the-moment content to customers and channel alike, Understanding old, over-ordered or un-utilized the Critical Factors materials tend to be stored, destroyed or ignored, left to sit and to Achieving occupy costly space in offices to Marketing Supply warehouses. High levels of waste can generally be attributed to Chain Operational limited access to material utilization, a lack of visibility into Effectiveness & the operational process, and a Optimization general lack of forecasting and operational rigor. All of these factors combine to create an epidemic of waste that can be summed up most accurately as Obsolescence.
What promotional materials and marketing consumables do you produce?
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Obsolescence is not a single excessive order or single pile of un-used collateral. The pile is merely the visible symptom. In fact, it is what cannot be seen—what is behind the scenes and invisible—that makes an indelible impact on marketing effectiveness and can derail, detract or damage the customer experience. The shelf-life of marketing consumables and promotional materials has never been shorter or more challenging to manage. Marketers are spending billions of dollars producing, warehousing and shipping marketing literature, packaging, documentation, point-of-sale displays, premiums, giveaways, signage and hand outs for all channels of market contact and engagement. How well this portion of Marketing Operations is managed and controlled can materially impact go-to-market effectiveness, as well as the optimal use of marketing dollars in creating business value and competitive advantage.
The Ramifications of Marketing Supply Chain Inefficiency
84%
Print collateral
72%
Presentations
66%
Folders and hand-outs
57%
Direct mail
55%
Product documentation
54%
Signage
39%
Multimedia products
29%
Premiums
26%
P-O-S display
There are two key aspects to investigate while discussing impact of obsolescence: the impact on budget and the impact on experience. Even as marketers admit to the criticality of content, 51 percent also admit to having sent out old materials containing out of date content. Why you may ask? For a small few, warehousing error (2 percent) can be blamed. And an additional 61 percent can point to their printer/agency/creative for not having the materials ready in time for launch. It is the 23 percent of marketers who simply did not know that the old material was sent that is the concern. Are these marketers not interested in this point of the experience and engagement? Or could it be more likely that regardless of their desire to have this level of visibility, it is simply not available?
25%
Packaging and inserts
Waiting for a Priority Shift
25%
Demo software
18%
Samples
14%
Print coupons
10%
Other
The question still remains that if content is king, and if content is constantly updating and changing to deliver the most relevant and timely information to customers, why are marketers not applying more rigor to managing the flow of these critical consumables within the supply chain? However, there are still companies who are finding transformation to be a challenge. Most sim-
5 ply do not view the reduction of obsolescence is not a key priority (50 percent). As one marketer stated, “Waste is just taboo and a can of worms. To open it holds little reward and no compensation, so there is little motivation to start down this road.” Yet transformation is on the minds of savvy marketers dedicated to operational efficiency and effectiveness. Additionally, there are very real strategies and opportunities to engage that can work to streamline the Marketing Supply Chain.
How much of your marketing budget is spent on marketing consumables, including packaging, literature, promotional items, signage, exhibits, or point-of-sale materials?
Obliterating Obsolescence The opportunity lies with marketers to transform the Marketing Supply Chain operations and make significant strides to reduce obsolescence and in turn, redeploy budget that was once wasted on these out-of-date materials. Leverage digital printing strategies – including Print On Demand (POD): Digital printing technology has come of age, enabling economic production of low print. Lower production quantities result in a lower total cost of ownership by reducing capital investment in inventory, storage charges, and waste. A POD strategy can further reduce costs by eliminating inventory, storage, and inbound freight costs. POD also enables more current and customizable content through the application of Web-to-Print and variable data printing, allowing marketers to send personalized messages with up-todate content, without fear of wasted material with out of date of off -strategy messages being stockpiled in inventory. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Marketers are looking to work more closely with cross functional teams in finance, sales, procurement, warehousing and operations to better forecast and eliminate over ordering. Far too many marketers indicate that orders tend to revolve around “per piece orders” or on unknown utilization levels. Through collaboration across various functional areas, marketing will be able to better forecast, monitor and manage Marketing Supply Chain operations. Go-Green to Gain-Green: When it comes to the reduction of obsolescence, the more impact made on waste reduction, the greater the green-gains. Obsolescence creates a very real environmental impact that goes beyond paper. Excessive ordering and a lack of process, visibility and measurement in the Marketing Supply Chain often necessitates rush ordering, additional shipping, handling and logistical demands that
all impact emissions, natural resources and carbon footprint. By applying a clear strategy that is focused on reducing obsolescence, marketers can transform the Marketing Supply Chain into a greener operation that optimizes spend and operates as a global green steward. Bringing in the Big Marketing Supply Chain Brains: Marketers are sensing that to truly affect change, they must turn to experts and third party resources who are better equipped to identify key areas of needs and transformation. As noted in the Define Where to Streamline research, less than one quarterof marketers have undergone a comprehensive audit of their Marketing Supply Chain. As customer experience and budget are on the line, and as more marketers are becoming attune to the money being left on the table because of a poorly managed and constructed Marketing
9%
More than 60%
2%
50% - 60%
7%
40% - 50%
12%
30% - 40%
30%
20% - 30%
21%
10% - 20%
20%
Less than 10%
Supply Chain, experts who can apply leading practices and measures to help optimize operations have become essential to transformation. Marketers must begin to look at these individual symptoms of inefficiency with the Marketing Supply Chain in order to optimize budget allocation, operational management and even the delivery of customer experience. Obsolescence is one of the most serious challenges to Marketing Operations as it looks to undermine budget and operations. The good news is that a streamlined Marketing Supply Chain is possible. The challenge is that in these critical times where customer engagement is top of mind and budgets are restricting how far and wide programs can potentially reach. Waste and unchecked obsolescence are no longer issues left to other departments or hidden in a marketing closet.
How do you forecast the utilization of these items and materials? 33%
e do not forecast or manage inventory W of materials – we order what we need when we need it
30%
Organization-wide forecasts based on current and anticipated usage
23%
aterial requests from field sales, M marketing or channel groups
4%
rders to replenish made automatically O based on inventory, not usage forecast
3%
Don’t know
2%
onthly estimates from M procurement and operating teams
6%
Other
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Getting RESPECT
R E S P o f r s a little i ’ n i k s a r e m ’ spec I l l t “A
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publisher’s letter
7
I
n American culture there are feuds that have become legendary: Alexander Hamilton versus Aaron Burr, the Hatfields versus the McCoys, Al Capone versus Bugs Moran and….Marketers versus Management. Though no blood is spilled in board-
rooms, these opposing forces battle it out routinely, and far too frequently, it’s the marketers who are overruled, undervalued and disrespected. So, why don’t marketers get the respect they deserve? Reasons range from complex physiology and sociology to simple economics.
Here are a few for your consideration:
ECT R-ROI (Return on Investment) ROI is a term often used to subdue marketers, says Jeffrey Hayzlett, hailed a “Celebrity CMO” by Forbes Magazine. “One of the reasons that marketing seems to take a back seat to sales and finance is that people fail to see the value of marketing. They continually push for an ROI for marketing and many elements associated with
when
Why Marketers Frequently Don’t Get the Respect They Deserve by Lorrie Bryan
economy, most executive leadership teams have gone into a mode of extremely low tolerance for exploratory growth and high reliability controls. “Most leadership teams are content to grow the bottom line with the low-risk
a t l i s t t u j le bit… — e m o h e ” m o c you
marketing, but they also miss the other ROI—Return on Ignoring. Metrics and numbers are extremely valuable but, it’s about hearts and minds.”
E-The Economy Corporate America is in a financial crisis with no clear end in sight, and the effect of the crisis on the role of marketers can’t be ignored. Steve Jones, former CMO at The Coca Cola Company and principal at (r)evolution, says that as result of the
approach—reducing costs and increasing efficiencies—not by investing in revenue growth drivers. The recent financial institution crisis and mortgage collapse has led to new SEC regulations, tougher reporting rules, stricter banking policies and, for many companies, a loss of credit lines. The “cash is king” mentality fueled fears of investing in real revenue growth. Most organizations became so risk averse that they overtly communicated intolerance for any high-risk, unproven marketing initiatives. Unpredictable results scared most leaders. They stopped playing to win and started playing not to lose.”
– from Respect sung by Aretha Franklin, number five on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
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Getting RESPECT
S-Social Media
brand, is busy introducing high-priced cars. And the high-price brands are doing just the opposite—introducing low-price cars.” “In all of the meetings we have ever had with management people, we almost never hear words like focus or eliminate or contract,” adds Al Ries. “What we hear over and over again are words like expand, leverage the brand, develop new markets or line extensions. Management needs to recognize the difference between the two ways of thinking. They need to make sure their marketing departments are staffed with right-brainers before they allow their marketing people to formulate strategies.”
Marketing is stuck in second gear. Al Ries, marketing guru and best-selling author of The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, says that if marketing were an automobile, it would be making a lot of noise, but not getting anywhere. “Second gear is social media. The entire marketing community, including the trade press, is fascinated by social media and spends endless hours discussing its uses and functions. It’s as if the success or failure of a marketing program hinges on just one thing—the proper use of social media. There hasn’t been as much chatter about a single marketing concept since the rise of television in the 1950s, so perhaps the excitement is understandable—apparently a new medium C-Confusion about Marketing appears only about once every 50 years or so.” So, just what is marketing? Dr. David W. Rosenthal, So, is social media important? Yes, but, as a professor of Marketing at Miami University, notes “The proliferation Ries points out, “It’s only a tactic. And tactics are that the confusion about the definition of marketing and fragmentation of never as important as strategies. A company can is problematic. “I think that there are two very differbe successful with a good strategy and poor tactics, media and the advent ent definitions of marketing. I’ll call them MARKETbut almost never with good tactics and a poor stratING and marketing. MARKETING is the version that of e-commerce have egy. The excitement about social media has blinded we teach in our colleges and universities. It encomtrivialized the perceived passes the 4Ps (product, price, promotion, and place) many marketing people to the importance of developing a good strategy. They seem to think that and much more. It includes segmentation processes, role of the marketer.” executing an effective social media program is all customer behavior, competitive positioning, envithat’s necessary to achieve success.” ronmental scanning and linkages to the rest of the – Dr. David W. Rosenthal, professor of Marketing, organization. Overall, MARKETING represents a Miami University philosophy of putting customers and their needs first; P-Processing differences in the brain everything else flows from that.” In their recent book, War in the Boardroom, Al However, the common definition of marketing is essentially equivaRies and his daughter and business partner Laura Ries propose lent to promotion. “If one asks someone on the street what marketing that fundamental differences in the way people process informainvolves, they will immediately launch into illustrations of advertising tion—whether the left or right hemisphere of their brain is domiand sales promotion. This narrower definition has become so widenant—lead to conflicts within businesses. Management tends to spread that it dwarfs the broader meaning of MARKETING in the be left-brained (verbal, logical, analytical) and marketing tends to be right-brained (visual, intuitive, holistic). Right-brainers tend to make the public’s perception. “I fear that the confusion is so deeply established that we have lost best marketing people, but they seldom become top management types. “Marketing is considered by most management people as nothing but “the rights” to the term and need to find another “brand” for our function,” “common sense.” And who has more common sense than the CEO? This is Rosenthal adds. why many chief executives don’t hesitate to overrule their marketing people when it comes to deciding on marketing strategies. It’s been our experience T-Technology that the CEOs of most companies today are the ones who are conceiving and Technology fueled the Information Age which has allowed rapid global comdeveloping their companies’ marketing strategies. And they tend to treat their munications and networking to shape our modern society, marketing notmarketing departments as the people who execute the strategies developed withstanding. Rosenthal contends that technology has eroded the prestige of by the top management team. And frankly, most corporate strategies today professional marketers. “The proliferation and fragmentation of media and are weak, with the possible exception of companies like Apple, Oracle and a the advent of e-commerce have trivialized the perceived role of the marketer. handful of other companies,” Laura Ries explains. With so many communication avenues and stories of teen-aged technical whizzes creating million dollar Web sites, the prestige of professional marketers has eroded. Ironically, the increased complexity calls for more profesE-Expansion v. contraction Is marketing common sense? No; most of marketing’s most important principles sionalism, not less.” “To be certain, the ability to communicate with customers in two-way are illogical. Laura Ries cites the expand-contract argument as an example. “The best way to build a brand is by narrowing its focus: Driving in the case of BMW, dialogues and the application of technology to mass-customize efficiently will Prestige in the case of Mercedes-Benz, Safety in the case of Volvo. But manage- be critical,” says Rosenthal. “But the essential task of marketing won’t change. ment thinks otherwise—most management people want to expand what a brand Find a need and fill it, efficiently.” stands for in order to attract more customers. That’s why Hyundai, a low-price
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T C B : Take Care of Business
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take care…TCB.” The last line of Respect is often misquoted as “Take out, TCP”, or something similar, and many published music sheets which include the lyrics are inaccurate. TCB is an abbreviation that was commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s, meaning Taking Care of Business. TCB later became Elvis Presley’s motto and signature, from his necklace to his band and private jet plane. So how should marketers take care of business and earn respect? Here are some suggestions:
T - Tolerance
C-Credibility
Marketers need to advocate tolerance for exploratory solutions. We now know that we are not going back to any previous state of economic expansion and spending any time soon, and business leaders are also realizing that cost cutting and efficiencies are not enough to grow the bottom line. Marketers have an opportunity to be a respected player as analysts and investors start to exert pressure for better
Marketers need to regain credibility by understanding the new landscape and creating a new marketing model. Jones contends that marketer’s credibility is questionable because they haven’t figured out the true value of new technology. “They haven’t figured out how to use it in a way that new young consumers want to use it. They abdicated their responsibility to the ad agency whose only interest
and welcome the challenges and opportunities that it brings. “Marketing is such a dynamic field, and with technology evolving rapidly, it is becoming ever more complex with even more creative outlets. I think the best marketers are those that embrace change while knowing their brand and what it means to customers. They should constantly be learning about themselves, the market, customers, and new technology they can utilize.”
“Marketing is such a dynamic field, and with technology evolving rapidly, it is becoming ever more complex with even more creative outlets.” – Jeffrey Hayzlett results driven by top-line revenue growth. However, as Jones points out, it is essential that marketers develop within the C Suite a tolerance for exploratory and insightful solutions. “They need to make the case for managed risk taking. They need to demonstrate that they understand the company agenda, can explore possibilities responsibly without betting the farm or burning unpredictable sums of cash. They need to make the case that the landscape has been shifting since we all put our heads down in September 2008. New players from India are providing better services; new producers from China are increasing quality products; new middle classes are emerging that we need to penetrate. Consumers have completely shifted their attitudes and values and need to be approached in a new way. And marketers need to act like business leaders, not flakey ad guys.”
is the preservation of their old financial model. “To regain credibility and respect, marketers need to take back responsibility for understanding how to use the digital and Web technology as a meaningful marketplace. They have to abandon the traditional TV advertising campaign mental model. They need to stop translating from advertising into digital. If a marketer abandons all that is old and immerses themselves in new technology and new consumer attitudes and behavior they will emerge with a whole new credible marketing model that will generate more sales revenue and earn them a seat at the C Suite Table.” Hayzlett suggests that marketers should be prepared for the landscape to constantly change
B-Big Picture Marketers need to maintain their focus on the big picture. To be a valued player, Jones says you need to understand the current macro business context, “And figure out a valuable strategic contribution to the CEO and total company game plan.” As predominantly left-brain thinkers, lawyers, accountants and most management professionals are more inclined to focus on the details—bean counters are good at counting beans. But as Al and Laura Ries purport, the traits that make a good lawyer or accountant are almost exactly the opposite of what makes a good marketing person. “Someone in the boardroom needs to focus on the big picture, and that is the role of the marketing specialist,” Al Ries affirms.
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evolution of print
ey are not just pro h T “ vidi ng a
pr od uc t;
capa b i l i t i e s . ith new ” tly w ien ffic de an ly
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sc eir client ommunicat e g th m o lpin r e he e f f are ec t ey ive th
– Peter Muir, president of Bizucate
I
t has been widely rumored that Nostradamus predicted 9/11: “In the year of the new century and nine months, from the sky will come a great king of terror. The sky will burn at 45 degrees… fire approaches the great new city… there will be thunder… The third big war will begin when the city is burning…”
The Evolution of Print
11
But the truth is Nostradamus did not make predictions about the World Trade Center attack or, at least, none that could easily be understood from his writings. He did not mention “the new century,” or “nine months” and New York is not at 45 degrees. Nor did he predict an apocalyptic end to the print industry. And it’s probably safe to say that the Mayan Calendar Prophecy doesn’t point to the dramatic end of the print era—in 2012— either. Yet the epic demise of the print industry has been the source of much debate and has garnered merit with arguments ventured on either side. With 20/20 hindsight, it’s probably safe to say that print did not die and is not going away, but the industry is experiencing a significant shift. In the last two decades, an industry that has had no significant technological changes
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evolution of print
since Gutenberg invented moveable type in the 1400s has gone beyond adjusting to evolving. What was once a craft industry dependent upon the skill of the person driving the equipment is emerging as a manufacturing industry driven by technology. Further, businesses that once provided just print services are increasingly providing adjunct comprehensive marketing services. As the adage goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” And many would contend that this is the case with the print industry. Savvy printers are reinventing themselves, and increasingly becoming marketing service providers, not just print providers. According to David Murphy, director of Marketing Americas, HP Graphics Solutions Business, the tipping point is yet to come, but there has been a shift in the last four years that is gaining momentum. “There have been a successive series of points—technology, user behavior, economics—that have made it necessary for printers to reinvent themselves. And many printers have reacted and responded with changes that will ensure their future success. No longer an ink-on-paper business, they are evolving, becoming holistic—differentiating their services with a scope of offerings that compliment print, arming themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills to become marketing service providers rather than remaining commodity providers,” Murphy says. As Peter Muir, president of Bizucate points out, 20 years ago, fast turnaround on a quality product at a reasonable rate was all that printers needed to offer to survive. “However, 20 years ago, there were only four primary ways to communicate—radio, TV, print and phone. Now there are multiple communication channels and being seen or heard is harder than ever. Ads are everywhere and there are so many more messages. Few of the companies that continue to do things the way they did them 20 years ago will survive in today’s competitive business climate.” Fortunately for printers, the technology that led to communication competition was not the only innovation of the decade. Nearly 20 years ago, Benny Landa, inventor of the Indigo press and often considered the father of digital offset printing, predicted, “Everything that can become digital will become digital—and printing is no exception.” Just 15 years ago, printers could not print a one-off product. But with the development of digital printing, we now have Internet companies that have 100 digital presses printing photo books one-off. Joe Truncale, NAPL president and CEO, remembers the early predictions about the potential of digital technology to change the game. “I recall the NAPL (National Association of Printing Leadership) Top Management Conference in 1995. We had two keynote speakers who really set the tone for the future. First was Nicholas Negroponte, who at the time was the director of the Media Lab at MIT. The second was Don Tapscott, who, even in those early years, did extensive research on digital communications. Their message was clear. As communication technology moves from analog to digital, the possibilities are nearly endless. Most of what they predicted has come to pass—though it took a bit longer than they initially thought.”
Print remains an essential part of most multi-marketing campaigns
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13
Fi v pr e y m int ea a ba des ilin ers rs a se ign g sta go se r , ar a s e na er rv ted inn PU ad ly v ice o o an R di sis ice s, ff vat m d m Ls a ng , an s an gra erin ive ar o n W d d p g ke b d eb n d hi tin ile QR d ow at c g an c es th apr d od ig e og e- es n, y ra ma , m il s.
With digital technology now in place, many industry firms have made the leap and have become “digital printers.” Truncale says that these firms are now coming to terms with two undisputable truths. “First, it does not matter what your process is—in fact, when you describe your business by your process, you are in the process of going out of business. What matters most is what you can provide for your customers and how what you provide helps them meet their objectives. Second, the promise of digital printing is not found in the box—no matter which digital press you chose—but it is found in the data. More to the point, the promise of digital printing lies in the ability to understand, store, manage, measure and analyze data.” Muir says that printers will not just survive, but thrive by continuing to add additional services to leverage print services with other channels. “It’s been proven that multi-channel marketing produces the best results. Five years ago, innovative printers started offering mailing services, graphic design services and data-base analysis, and now they are adding Web design, PURLs and QR codes, and mobile and e-mail marketing programs. They are not just providing a product; they are helping their clients communicate more effectively and efficiently with new capabilities.” The transition from print providers to marketing service or solution providers is not a tremendous challenge for many printers. As Murphy points out, many of the elements needed for printers to become marketing service providers are already in place. “They are inherently creative, they have problem-solving skills and experience, and they are communicators at their core with more ways to reach buyers than ever before. They will have to constantly educate themselves so that they can continue to add value to their services.” Perhaps the single biggest obstacle for traditional print companies on the path to evolution is a lack of a comprehensive customer-
facing strategy. “In order to become a marketing services provider, you must begin by knowing and understanding the customer’s business and what they are trying to accomplish. This selling method is far different from how sales have been generated in our industry for years,” affirms Truncale. “That means forgetting what worked in the past—for the most part, that doesn’t work anymore. Or, more likely, it means the painful path of implementing a new business development process while hanging on to what we are doing—and getting—at least for the near term. Some sales professionals are capable of making the transition, most are not.” Marketing service providers…marketing solution providers… printers? As the industry works through the process of redefinition, what is the best name for this evolving print and marketing services provider? “There is a great deal of uncertainty over what exactly we should call ourselves,” acknowledges Truncale. “Clearly, we provide more than printing alone, and that is a good thing. But that naming part has emerged as a significant challenge. I recently spoke with one NAPL member who told me that after struggling with this for some time, he finally hit on an idea. He asked a few of his best customers this question: ‘When you leave your place of business to come and see us, where do you say you are going?’ The majority of his customers responded, ‘To the printer’s.’ So he decided that if it was good enough for his best customers it was good enough for him and he kept printing in his name.” Regardless of what you call this evolving industry, the fact is that print remains an essential part of most multi-marketing campaigns. “We can’t forget that print is part of the equation. People are looking for solutions and print offers more options than ever before,” adds Murphy.
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print in the mix
Consumers Purchasing Behavior
P
rint in the Mix and ATG partnered to survey a pool of 1,054 respondents, age 18 and older, living in the continental United States to explore the consumers purchasing behavior aligned with multiple channels of Web sites, brick-and-mortar stores, catalogs, mobile devices, and customer service representatives. In addition, the survey studied consumers’ reactions to the experiences found using different shopping channels.
Methodology: Online survey commissioned by ATG, and deployed by independent online market research firm, MarketTools, during the fourth quarter of 2009. The survey has an error rate of +/- 3% for each 1,000 respondents.
Six out of 10 consumers surveyed say that make purchases via catalogs four times a year or more. How frequently do you purchase products or services by looking at catalogs?
Top-Line Results: Consumers are using multiple channels to research, shop and purchase. Nearly one-third of consumers say they rely on three or more different channels (online, in-store, print catalogs, mobile devices, customer service reps) from the time they start researching products and services to when they complete their purchase; Eight out of 10 (78 percent) report using at least two or more channels to perform purchasing research. Catalogs are a strong traffic driver to the Web. 78 percent of consumers said they use catalogs to browse and discover new products and services. Catalogs remain an integral part of the multichannel shopping experience. How frequently do you browse/research products or serverices by looking at catalogs? Daily
4%
Weekly
Weekly
3%
Monthly
9%
4-6 times per year
47% 41%
Never 0
10
20
30
40
50
Mobile commerce is playing a role in the cross-channel experience, particularly with younger consumers. 27 percent of consumers 18 and older are using their mobile devices to browse or research products and services at least periodically--this number jumps to 41percent for the 18-34 year-old age group. 13 percent of consumers are using mobile devices to make purchases at least four times a year.
17%
Monthly
Take-Away: “On average, more than three-quarters of consumers are using two or more channels to browse, research, and purchase products. Because consumers are coming to merchants through multiple channels, it’s necessary to link those experiences and create a continuous conversation to avoid gaps where the sale could be lost. Merchants don’t have to necessarily serve up the identical experience in each channel, but rather optimize and connect channel interactions to deliver consistent brand experiences.”
24%
4-6 times per year
34%
Never
22% 0
June/July 2011
1%
Daily
The 18-34 age group makes the greatest use of mobile devices for commerce – 23 percent say they make purchases on their mobile devices at least four times a year, 15 percent make purchases monthly, and 8 percent say they do so weekly. Social media is another emerging marketing channel. Like mobile, the use of social media and networks is currently being adopted more frequently by the 18-34 age group. When broken down by age group, 42 percent of 18-34 year olds, 23 percent of 35-54 year olds, and 8 percent of those aged 55+ say they incorporate online purchasing activities into their presence on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. 22 percent of all consumers surveyed aren’t aware of social media as a purchasing channel. Consumers often start browsing and researching online, yet ultimately make purchases in the store. 39 percent say they went to a store because they preferred to touch and feel the product. 36 percent said they visited a store to compare several brands of the same product. 22 percent said they opted for the store because they needed the product immediately.
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connect – Fineline Printing Group
book recommendation
War in the Boardroom
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Why Left-Brain Management and Right-Brain Marketing Don’t See Eye to Eye – By Al & Laura Ries
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any people consider Al Ries’ “22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” to be the Bible to marketing success. It has long been considered to be a fantastic reference guide for market-
ing minds and is easily digestible. So when Al and Laura Ries came out with “War in the Boardroom,” we just had to pick up a copy. And we were not disappointed.
Some people expect us to promote books that teach sales or printing techniques. And although we appreciate some of the printing and sales literature available, we believe it is critical for us to deeply understand what makes marketers tick. Therefore, diving into a book like “War in the Boardroom” has catapulted our perspectives to another level. Al and Laura perfectly explain the difference between management and marketing through the use of well known brands like Coke, Starbucks, and GM. They eloquently point out that marketing and management are at war in today’s boardrooms. The reason for the war is that marketing and management don’t understand each other. The reason they don’t understand each other is that their brains are different. Management people tend to be left-brain thinkers; they are verbal, logical and analytical. Marketing people tend to be right-brain thinker; they are visual intuitive and holistic. This father and daughter combination explores the conflict between marketing and management and documents how it is bad for companies. The purpose of this book is to get marketing and management to better understand and appreciate each other’s roles in helping brands to succeed. However, it also provides a fantastic template for anyone working with or
You will have a better understanding of marketers’ objectives when you realize that most right-brain marketers answer to management. within a corporation. In other words, it allows us to consider the thought process of others and explains how we may need to adapt our thinking to make progress. Selling a marketing program to top management can be extremely difficult. Left-brain management is not on the same wavelength as right-brain marketing. You will have a better understanding of marketing objectives when you realize that most right-brain marketers answer to management. Therefore, to gain the support that marketing deserves, you need to learn how to help them deal with left-brain thinkers who are highly verbal, logical, and analytical. Read “War in the Boardroom.” You won’t be disappointed!
Fineline Printing Group – connect
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June/July 2011
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