EMPOWERING MARKETING SERVICE PROVIDERS
FEBRUARY 2018
FEBRUARY VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 1
24
This cover: Enhanced on a Scodix Ultra Pro with Foil Digital Enhancement Press.
CANVAS P1
Inside this issue
BOILERPLATE
28 22 32 36
ALSO INSIDE CREATIVE CORNER
AIGA’s Gage Mitchell on how today’s designers are helping transform the world
04
Publisher’s Note
The Right Side
STAT PACK CORNER OFFICE
TOPSY TURVY
Turn your sales strategy on its head
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
12
08 10 P2
Actionable Augmented Reality
CANVAS FEBRUARY 2018
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
MAKERS’ CORNER Print is optional
CANVAS Buyer’s Guide
Your seven pillars to management success
Why you’re the most important product you sell
Industry news & awards
06 14 CORNER OFFICE
THE TAO OF YOU
16 17 18 19
20
Game changer thINK 4.0 A new generation Folex Synthetics Collection
‘Rules of Mail Engagement’ you can use to engage your target audience
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
40
A harbinger of change
ICONIC INKJET FORCES
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Inside this issue| Publisher’s Note
BOILERPLATE
The Right Side
Y
ou know, CANVAS is more than 10 years old and when I first got started, my business bible was a book called “A Whole New Mind.” Written over 10 years ago by Daniel Pink, the general gist is that computers have taken over the left brain and that emerging roles will be born from the creative part of our mind. The wear and tear on that book reminds me that its message is more applicable than ever. You have seen it. Heck, you have lived it first-hand. First, machines replaced the sweat and muscle of humans and in the past century we could argue that they have replaced a great portion of white collar tasks. Algorithms and technology calculate faster than the human mind and much of our daily activities are delegated to Siri, Alexa and the rest of their friends. I get up every day, grab my coffee and say “Hey Google – what is the temperature outside?” We have online legal support, WebMD, TurboTax, and automated cashiers. In the old days, anyone with basic computer skills could get a job as a programmer. Today, you can have a computer write code. A couple of weeks ago, my son and I decided to attend a hockey game about two hours before the start. In the past, the only way we could make that kind of decision and actually attend the game would be to walk around outside the arena and make a clandestine deal with a scalper. But, today, I simply type in the event on SeatGeek or StubHub and I am on my way. When we step back and look at the roles that have been eliminated over time, it is clear that they are more task-oriented and left-brained. As a result, the pressure on the right side of our brains – the creative side – should be building. As Pink stated, “We’ve progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society of knowledge workers. And now we’re progressing again – to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers.” Ten years later, we continue to worry about our relevance. However, we are the lucky ones. We are the storytellers. Our industry may have been born in the Industrial Age, but it is full of people who can both see a bigger picture and communicate with others. You cannot outsource empathy to a machine. An algorithm will never be able to share experiences. And a computer won’t wake up in the middle of the night to consider new ideas. In short, we are the right-brainers and we will rule the future. CANVAS continues to walk the talk. We are committed to engaging through thoughtful content and we aim to inspire. In this issue’s cover story, “Vanity Metrics,” we discuss the fact that intelligent storytelling is based on the right metrics. In our second feature, “Extreme Consumerism,” we delve into how you can strengthen your intimate interactions with your customers. This issue is “right” on.
You cannot outsource empathy to a machine. An algorithm will never be able to share experiences.
Warmest regards,
Mark Potter, Publisher @MarkRicePotter
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CANVAS FEBRUARY 2018
CONTRIBUTORS
Sarah Mannone Executive VP Trekk @sarahmannone
Linda Bishop, President, Thought Transformation @Linda_Bishop Ashley Welch Co-founder Somersault Innovation Ashley@Somersaultinnovation.com Justin Jones Co-founder Somersault Innovation Justin@Somersaultinnovation.com Chris Harrold, VP Creative Director, Mohawk Fine Papers @tweet_convert Greg Retzer Senior VP Sales & Marketing Western States Envelope & Label Greg.Retzer@wsel.com
GET IN TOUCH WITH US @THECANVASMAG
2180 Satellite Blvd., Suite 400 Duluth, GA 30097 WWW.THECANVASMAG.COM
THE CANVAS TEAM MANAGING EDITOR michael j. pallerino ART DIRECTOR brent cashman SALES/MARKETING mark potter
EDITORIAL BOARD tom moe Daily Printing gina danner NextPage david bennett Bennett Graphics scott hudson Worth Higgins
PUBLISHED BY CANVAS, Volume 12, Issue 1. copyright 2018 CANVAS, All rights reserved. CANVAS is published bi-monthly for $39.00 per year by Conduit, Inc., 2180 Satellite Blvd., Suite 400, Duluth, GA 30097 Periodicals postage pending at Duluth, GA and additional mailings offices. Periodical Publication 25493. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CANVAS, 2180 Satellite Blvd., Suite 400, Duluth, GA 30097. Please note: The acceptance of advertising or products mentioned by contributing authors does not constitute endorsement by the publisher. Publisher cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of an opinion expressed by contributing authors. CANVAS magazine is dedicated to environmentally and socially responsible operations. We are proud to print this magazine on Opus® Dull Cover 80lb/216gsm and Opus Dull Text 80lb/118gsm, an industry-leading, environmentally responsible paper. Opus contains 10% post consumer waste and SFI and FSC chain of custody certification.
If they aren’t biting...
CATCH THEM WITH CONTENT channeling content & connections | conduit-inc.com
STAT PACK
ALL ABOUT THE TOOLS
Marketers stress importance of ROI
ROI. You can’t live without it. Interestingly, with three-quarters of marketers having quotas tied to revenue, measuring the impact of their work is still a challenge. According to BrightFunnel’s “The 2018 State of Marketing Measurement and Attribution” report, 51 percent use only Excel spreadsheets and haven’t yet implemented CRM, marketing automation tools, or a dedicated attribution platform. Here’s a look at what marketers hope to get from their attribution platforms in 2018:
72%
Show impact on pipeline and revenue
68% Show ROI on investments
32% 26% Track investments by channel
Improve sales and marketing alignment
25%
Track velocity between funnel stages
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Insights
THE NUMBERS GAME
89% The percent of the decision-makers who say that the silos existing in their companies are impacting the ability to deliver cohesive messaging. In addition, 72 percent of these companies feel limited by short-term expectations.
Take that, Social 78% (“Future Ready” survey by Penn Schoen Berland, Wunderman)
Survey poses even better news for the power of print
T
witter. Don't need it. Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Pass. According to data from a Harris Poll survey (which polled 2,160 adults in the U.S.), some Americans can do without social media. For example, 46 percent would like to see Twitter disappear, 40 percent can do without Snapchat, and 32 percent say no thanks to Facebook and Instagram.
The percent of Americans who expect to use email as much or more than they do now in five years. In addition, 26 percent of consumers went to a website and 26 percent made a purchase after engaging with a brand via email. (“Inbox Report 2018” by Fluent)
77% The percent of B2B marketers who say they plan to emphasize the creation of share-worthy content in 2018 to improve the effectiveness of earned media. In addition, 52 percent say they plan to generate more case studies and success stories. (Earned Media Influential in Performance Marketing” report by Cision)
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CORNER OFFICE
Perspective | Leadership | Insights BY JAN MAKELA
Your seven pillars to management success
L
et’s face it – people management has drastically changed over the years. The operational model for today is mission, purpose and sustainability. Today, more than any other time in history, teams and team leaders are kings. So, how can you improve your team or organizational bottom line? The question centers on how you improve the process. There are seven proven methods that can point you in the right direction. These seven pillars can help you separate your organization from the competition in your marketplace. If you are team leader, it can help you and your team stand out within any organization. Here are your seven pillars for successful leadership in 2018:
Most people want to do quality work. Part of that is having the tools and resources. Ask your people tell you what you can do to make their job easier.
you believe in their abilities and expect them to do well, they will.
No. 4 – Feedback
Feedback is craved by high performers and by all employees. Positive feedback grows and negative feedback stifles. Catch your employees or team members doing the job right and watch as they continue. They will do more of what generates positive feedback.
No. 5 – T reat everyone fairly, but not equal
One size fits nobody. The people you work with are all unique, and although you need to treat each one fairly, that does not necessarily mean equally. They have different values, wants, backgrounds, skill-sets, experiences, and are likely at different stages of their careers. Great managers play chess; average managers play checkers. Which one do you want to play?
No. 6 – P rovide tools and resources to do quality work
No. 1 – Vision and mission
What is it that you want? What is in it for others to follow you? In his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People,” Stephen Covey wrote, “Start with the end in mind.” There has to be something bigger than yourself that others can grasp and buy in too. Workers today want to work for organizations that show a purpose.
No. 2 – Goals
Goals are not just for the first of the year. You cannot just write them down and put them in a drawer. The key is to put your goals on display so that you and your team can see them daily. Out of sight means out of mind. Check them frequently. Check your progress. Have your team check their progress as a team exercise.
No. 3 – Expectations
Only 30 percent of employees know what is expected of them at work. That is a sobering statistic. As a manager, your goal is to get people to work and perform together. People will live up or down to the perception of your expectations of them. If they think
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Most people want to do quality work. Part of that is having the tools and resources. Ask your people to tell you what you can do to make their job easier. This will help reaffirm your commitment to them. If you provide them with the resources they need to succeed, they will have a better chance to do so.
No. 7 – Celebrate success
What do organizations do when they accomplish a big thing? They move on to the next “big” thing. It is important to stop and celebrate with your teams. Allow people to share in, and celebrate, what has been accomplished. Jan Makela is an executive coach, highly sought-after speaker and best-selling author of “Cracking the Code to Success” and “Be the Manager People Won’t Leave.” Makela’s specialty revolves around strengthbased leadership development, with a particular focus on working with senior and mid-level executives, business owners and professionals. For more information, visit www.StrengthBasedLeadership.net.
CORNER OFFICE
Perspective | Leadership | Insights BY SARAH MANNONE
Actionable Augmented Reality
M
ost of us have at least heard of augmented reality. Some of us have dabbled in it, testing it out as part of our own sales and marketing initiatives. A few of us have even begun offering it as a service and are experimenting with how to best position this technology that just five years ago sounded like science fiction. In case you’re in the “What’s AR again?” camp, a quick definition: augmented reality is a technology, usually deployed via a mobile app, that adds a layer of digital content to a mobile device’s camera view of the real world. That content can be anything from an informational video to a dancing cartoon character. Ever used the selfie filters in Snapchat or Instagram? That’s AR. Trekk has been developing AR experiences for seven years and counting, and during that time I’ve learned a few things about how to pitch it in a way that actually serves clients and their customers. As this technology gets even trendier, it’s important to guide our clients away from the gimmicks and flashy tricks and toward AR that delivers results – what I call actionable AR. Here are five augmented reality applications that I’ve seen make a measurable impact:
1. AR and Direct Mail
One of the hurdles with any direct mail program is measuring the campaign’s ROI. Did that new customer call you up because they heard about you from a friend or because of the postcard you sent a few months back? Customer surveys only go so far to glean this valuable information. PURLs get the job done better, but how can you increase the likelihood that a recipient will move from that printed piece to a digital conversation? Enter AR. We’ve found that augmenting direct mail pieces is a great way to move people from paper to the mobile web. Include a clear teaser of the AR experience – whether it’s a video of the product in action, the chance to unlock a prize, or access to premium content – as well as simple instructions for how to interact with the AR component of the piece.
2. AR and Sales Collateral
We all want our sales collateral to work harder and go further for us. We put a lot of work into leave-behinds and sample books, and we don’t want them to be immediately recycled or left untouched in someone’s desk drawer.
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We all want our sales collateral to work harder and go further for us. We put a lot of work into leave-behinds and sample books, and we don’t want them to be immediately recycled or left untouched in someone’s desk drawer. Use augmented reality to pack collateral with information. Imagine swatchbooks that feature explainer videos about each paper, application samples that come to life and tell you how they were made, or even objects like notebooks and coffee mugs that have a digital layer. AR can help create sales collateral that customers actually want to keep, and the best part is that these items can be designed to stay evergreen – just update the AR experience with new information monthly or quarterly and you’ve got a built-in content delivery system.
3. AR and Product Catalogs
Catalogs lend themselves to augmentation as well. Take the recipient from passive perusal of 2D images to active interaction with 3D models. With AR, potential customers can explore products at scale in their own homes. IKEA has done this with its app, allowing you to test out that new sofa or side table before you buy. This digital exploration seamlessly leads to e-commerce conversions. Especially as more conversions are taking place on
mobile, AR is a good way to usher customers to that final step.
4. AR and Packaging
I personally love AR that tells a story, and augmented brand packaging is the perfect opportunity to integrate visual storytelling. Every brand has a unique story to tell – think of a bourbon bottle whose label launches a video about the history of the distillery, a subscription service whose box launches a personal walkthrough of each hand-picked item inside, or a children’s clothing brand whose tags feature an augmented cartoon version of the child who inspired the brand. When augmenting packaging, it’s all about the customer relationship. The viewer has already bought the product, but how can we deliver even more value to ensure that the customer loves it, tells friends about it, and becomes a repeat buyer? Things like video product demos, interactive FAQs, or an AR button that offers a direct connection to customer support are all great places to start.
5. AR and Event Marketing
We use AR at events to drive traffic. The technology works particularly well for gaming and for exploring new environments – both features were at play in the hit augmented reality game Pokémon Go!, and both translate well to conferences and large exhibit halls. The key isn’t to create a fun game and call it a day. Yes, you want your booth to be memorable, but you’re also at the event to capture leads, so make sure your AR experience is able to collect contact information so that you can follow up after the event. Follow-up is key for any AR experience you create. Once you’ve built an experience that is valuable enough to entice someone to download your app, use the attention you’ve earned to keep the digital conversation going – it’s through these conversations that you’ll see the impact of AR. Sarah Mannone is executive VP of Trekk, a tech-driven creative agency obsessed with exploration. She thrives on infusing new ideas and technologies into multichannel marketing programs. Connect with her at trekk.com or @sarahmannone on Twitter.
Perspective | Technology | Insights
3 things every CMO should do in 2018
Being a CMO is hard work. That’s most likely the first thing any CMO will tell you. Regardless of the job or industry, the job requires a good team, solid building blocks and concise and measurable objectives. During the recent 2017 CMO Awards, a roundtable of 22 leading CMOs from across the country spelled out the three things that every one of their counterparts should have on their to-do lists in 2018. Take notes:
No.
1
SIMPLIFY EVERYTHING
No.
2
BE A RISK TAKER
No.
3
BE CURIOUS
Disruption. Fragmentation. Deadlines. More deadlines. The best thing to do is create a single-page marketing plan. Reduce your brand’s promise to a few words that can inspire everybody on your team, your customers and your prospects.
When you’re a CMO, the clock is ticking. But it takes time to implement that new marketing program. So, play it safe, right? Not necessarily. Good CMOs must be ready to take personal risks. If you set the crux of your game plan in stone, you will have time to experiment. It’s about taking your best shot.
Build brands. Sell stuff. Capture new audiences. Your duties are set in stone. But you should find time to learn new things. If curiosity becomes a habit, your job performance will improve. Challenge your team to discover new things about your customers – things that can lead to new products and innovation.
CORNER OFFICE
Rating the workforce of the future Robots. Automation. The kid next door. In a time when every industry is focusing on the future generation of workers, the question is, “What can we really expect?” LendingTree’s “Worth in the Workplace” study took a hard look at “who values who” equations; doling out grades for Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. The report, which queried 1,000 workers across the country, asked them to rate their co-workers’ skills/qualities, including work ethic, willingness to learn and creativity — on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 least exhibiting the quality, and 7 most exhibiting the quality. Here’s what it uncovered:
5.6 5.4 5.2 Gen X
Baby Boomers Millennials
Great personalization helps drive a virtuous cycle of loyalty in which the customer is engaged, provides data that improves the personalization further, which increases customer engagement, and so on. As loyalty improves, revenue goes up. Generally speaking, marketing to loyal customers is more profitable than spending elsewhere.” – Jeff Rosenfeld, VP of customer insight and analytics for The Neiman Marcus Group, on how personalization is the new loyalty
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BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Around the industry The FP3 (Functional Printing, Process and Products) Conference has named five industry-leading companies as sponsors of the event. The sponsoring companies include the M&R Companies (Diamond level), and FUJIFILM, Memcon, Mimaki and Proell (Platinum level). Presented by the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA), the event will be held June 4-6, 2018, at the Westin Chicago Northwest hotel in Itasca, Illinois. Along with a plant tour, the event will feature three educational tracks: industrial technologies, business strategies and printed electronics. Dscoop’s new online community, which was launched in January as a way to connect creatives and marketers to the world’s most innovative printers and projects, will feature thousands of world-class print projects. The list includes production details, technological innovations, and results for building brand awareness, market growth and consumer loyalty. The platform will also offer the latest in live and digital education as well as tips and trends from industry leaders. To ensure the success of the platform, Dscoop has named Leta Wood as its Chief Innovations Officer (CIO).
Partnerships Brazilian online printer Printi is partnering with Pixartprinting, the Boston-based online printer that caters to creative professionals. Under the Printi brand, the companies plan to establish a greater presence in the North American market, including an expansion of the North American product line and an investment in the technology powering the product ordering and customization process. Printi’s North American base will be in Boston. The National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) Board of Directors has announced its increased support of Two Sides North America, the non-profit organization that promotes and encourages the responsible production, use and sustainability of print and paper. John Copeland, NAPIM executive director, and George Fuchs, director regulatory affairs and technology, will be joining Two Sides’ Anti-Greenwash Task Force to ensure that the views of NAPIM members are considered in Two Sides campaign activities. Membership discussions are also underway with specific companies in the ink manufacturing sector to ensure representation within the Two Sides network of companies and governance.
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Awards & Recognition FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division has recently been named “Vendor Partner of the Year” by Flexo Label Advantage Group LLC (FLAG). Since 2010, independent label converters have looked to FLAG for support in becoming more competitive in the marketplace by leveraging their purchasing potential for group savings – allowing them to uncover new growth opportunities and become more competitive. Each year, FLAG assesses all the products and support provided by its vendor partners to membership and recognizes one with outstanding deliverables. The Ben Franklin Honor Society of Printing Industries of America (PIA) formally inducted seven industry leaders. The inductees include Daniel Adkison, president and COO, Wright Business Graphics; Marina Poropat Joyce, Founder, INTAGLIO; David Olberding, co-CEO, Phototype; Dennis Pottebaum, President and CEO, QRG; Jacob Shaffer, CEO and President, Mccormick Armstrong Co. Inc.; Regina Testa, VP, Graphic Communications Industry Business, Xerox Corp.; and Bradley Thompson, President, Inland Press. KBA North America has received the “2017 Harold W. Gegenheimer Corporate Award” for Industry Service from NPES – The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies. The prestigious award, named for the former NPES president and Baldwin Technology Company chairman emeritus, recognizes leadership and participation in NPES and industry activities, civic leadership and technical innovation. KBA was recognized as an industry leader that continues to provide technological innovations that have served to drive the industry forward. The organization was particularly cited for its past support and contributions to NPES and the industry. Tim Burton, previous president of Burton & Mayer, was presented with the “2017 Lewis Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award” by Printing Industries of America (PIA). Established in 1950, the Lewis Award pays homage to business leaders who have made major, long-term contributions to the graphic arts industry and have been a significant force in shaping the business of printed communications. Over the years, Burton helped push the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsinbased company to a $15-million sheet-fed and digital printer that runs three shifts with 85 employees. The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) named its 2017 award winners, which recognize BMI members who not only contribute to the success of the Institute, but also to the continued success of the book manufacturing industry. The “Signature Award” was presented to John Edwards, President and CEO, Edward Brothers Malloy. In addition, the “Cased-In Club Awards” honorees included Jay Diskey, principal, Diskey Public Affairs, Jim Fetherston, President and CEO, Worzalla Publishing, Ted Green, Partner, GP2 Technologies, Mark Levin, Americas Director of Executive Accounts, HP Inc., and Suzanne Wiersma, Director of Operations, Wallaceburg Bookbinding, 7 Mfg. Co. Ltd.
Industry news & more
Personnel Moves Travis Huff will be taking on the new role of Business Development Manager for GPA. Serving Southern California, Huff will focus on bringing greater innovation and profitability to customers in this market while continuing GPA’s tradition of offering exceptional products and service. For the past two years, he has been an Inside Sales Representative out of GPA’s Chicago headquarters. Huff plans to split his time between local accounts, while continuing to support key customer relationships developed during his time in inside sales. NPES, The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies, has named Mark Hischar, president and CEO of KBA North America, as its board chairman. A NPES board member since 2011, he most recently served as the association’s treasurer for the past two years. In addition, James P. Dunn, retired president of Heidelberg Americas Inc. and interim chief operating officer of the KSU Foundation, has been named chair of the Kennesaw State University Foundation. He succeeds Jo Ann Chitty. Dunn was also presented with the “2017 Chairman’s Award,” in recognition of his work as a champion for both Kennesaw State University and the Kennesaw State Foundation. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2005. The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) has elected two new members to its board of directors and made two reappointments. The new board members include Joe Stapley, Noble Environmental Technologies (ECOR), and Nicole Papadakis, North American Plastics. In addition, Lynn Krinsky, Stella Color, and Brett Thompson, Piedmont Plastics, had their terms extended three more years. The Printing Industries of America (PIA) has named Bryan T. Hall, President and CEO of Graphic Visual Solutions Inc., as the new board chair of the association and its foundation. KBA North America has named Richard (Rich) Dreshfield as its new senior VP of sheetfed sales. Based in KBA’s Dallas office, he will oversee the
entire North American sheetfed sales team. Dreshfield will report to Mark Hischar, KBA’s president and CEO. Presstek LLC has appointed Monika Collins as Marketing Manager. Leading the company’s marketing initiatives, Collins will focus on its wide range of digital offset and CTP printing solutions, as well as new products and technologies targeted toward growth market segments. PIA also elected a number of new board members, including Michael S. Wurst, Henry Wurst Inc., First Vice Chairman; Paul L. Cousineau, Dow Jones & Company, Second Vice Chairman; Michael M. Marcian, Corporate Communications Group, Secretary to the Board; John E. LeCloux, WS Packaging Group, Treasurer; and Curt A. Kreisler, Gold Star Printers, Past Chairman of the Board Miami. Additional board members included Lana Siewert-Olson, Ideal Printers, Jim R. Russell, New Direction Partners, and Michael Peluso, Shawmut Communications Group. Mohawk has promoted Bruce Hogan to COO. Hogan will continue to ensure that the needs of the company’s business are met with manufacturing capability, scheduling, logistics, IT and business analytics. In addition, Mohawk has made a number of other promotions, including Melissa Stevens to Chief Revenue Officer; Paul Biesiadecki, Chief Strategy Officer; John O’Connor, EVP, Human Capital, Ted O’Connor, EVP, Converting and Envelopes; John Angleson, SVP, Supply Chain; Tom O’Connor III, VP, Sales Operations; Harold Cropsey, VP, Corporate Controller; Ben Whitaker, VP, Business Process Management and IT; and Barb Meuth, Supervisor, Inside Sales. thINK, an independent community of Canon Solutions America production print customers, has named Bob Radzis, Chief Customer Officer at SG360, president of its Board of Directors. Radzis will be joined by Lori Messina, executive VP at Access Direct Systems Inc., and Larry Vaughn, sales manager for Thomas Printworks, as thINK VP and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively.
Looking at the future
SGIA scholarship program helps students build their acumen
Attention all companies. The Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) is currently accepting applications through April 30 for its annual scholarship program in conjunction with the Specialty Graphic Imaging Foundation (SGIF). With the continued support of donations from endowment investors and industry leaders, the program will award $2,000 to 15 students - an increase in recipients from 2017. Under the scholarship’s guidelines, prospective applicants must plan to or currently be enrolled full-time at a nationally or internationally accredited college or university for the fall 2018 academic year. The school must hold an SGIA Educational Institution membership. Students must show a demonstrated commitment to pursuing a career in graphic communications, printing technology or printing management and maintaining at least a 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale). As part of the online application process, students will write an essay and provide two professional or academic letters of recommendation. Entries will be evaluated on scholastic achievement, financial need, extracurricular activity participation, work experience, achievements and awards. The selected recipients will be notified and announced no later than May 31. The scholarship award may be used during the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters toward tuition, room and board or books.
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Makers’ Corner
Print is optional
O
nce upon a time, print was an indispensable way to distribute and archive information. Newspapers and novels, love letters and lists, bonds and business deals all relied on print to convey their message. Print was essential. Print was ubiquitous. Print was the accepted norm. But as we all know, things have changed – big time. Print is now optional. Print is an off-menu choice in a smorgasbord of high-powered digital platforms. Print is a challenged medium. That’s the bad news. The good news is that print is being rediscovered. The very thing that threatened print is helping it survive and stand in stark relief to the pervasive, always-on, digital-first world we live in. Every time it seems that print is about to be relegated to the ash heap of outmoded technology, it’s pulled into the limelight and embraced for all its glorious, tactile goodness. Print has staying power. In my column this year, I want to explore some of the ways print can play a new and powerful role through cultural observations and real-life examples. All with the goal of helping you state the case for print. Trust me, you can’t get there by selling on price, reciting your equipment list or the speeds of your new digital press. It’s all about helping designers and brand owners understand how emotive and powerful print can be. It’s about carefully restating the role of print with highimpact projects that prove it. Consider this when building your case for print, as so well stated by Jake Walker, VP at Vision Graphics in Denver. “Print’s physicality gives it immense power to solicit emotion, inspire feelings and bring a substance to brands that you can touch, feel, smell and hold. The consumer can physically engage with your brand on their terms which creates relational equity. The more senses you engage through your medium, the stronger the impact on the consumer.” Late last year, I saw an amazing example of this in a consumer apparel brand’s holiday catalog. Based on positive results with their 2016 catalog, they doubled down on the effectiveness of print. To that end, the design team suggested producing
The very thing that threatened print is helping it survive and stand in stark relief to the pervasive, always-on, digitalfirst world we live in.
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By Chris Harrold VP, Business Development & Creative Director Mohawk Fine Papers
>> Visit Mohawk Connects.com an oversize book, printed full color on textured paper using a storytelling photo essay in equal measure to traditional product shots. This represented a total departure from standard-issue, glossy catalogs. Their design solution resulted in a 2017 catalog that is equal parts coffee table book, brand narrative and window shopping tool. Sales were robust, the client was thrilled and they quickly committed to a series of catalogs using this new strategy. In every way, this project is a perfect example of the unique and differentiated power of print. It engages the reader and amplifies the brand for a deeply motivational experience. The moral to this story is this: Printing creates emotional impact and is far more experience marketing than information delivery. If you can get your head wrapped around that, good things lie ahead in 2018. Be bold and present your own examples of how print is so much more than just ink on paper. It stands apart as a powerful tool for marketers and designers as they work to create strong brand impressions and cut through the clutter of digital. We are all longing for meaningful content beyond the glass screens we stare into all day, every day — and print may just be the perfect antidote.
WHAT WILL YOU MAKE TODAY? Inspiration + Education + Tools right at your fingertips. The New mohawkconnects.com Coming Soon...
CANVAS BUYER’S GUIDE
PRINTER SERIES
Game changer
Why the Ricoh Pro C7100/C7100X Series is turning heads
So you want to be an industry game-changer? You want to open the door to new opportunities and increase your profits across the board? Ricoh’s 5th Color Station Pro C7100/C7100X Series may be just what you’re looking for. Set yourself apart from the pack with outstanding image quality, support for specialty stocks and substrates up to 360 gsm, plus a 5th color station for Clear, White, Neon Yellow, Neon Pink and Invisible Red* toner. Today’s forward-thinking printers want to produce a broader range of applications in more sizes, on more substrates creatively, efficiently and profitably. That is exactly what this printer provides. Whether you want just CMYK or are looking to branch out and explore the latest possibilities, this machine will not disappoint. Choose the four-station or five-station color production printer or MFP that can most accurately meet your unique workflow and customer requirements. You may need
Choose from high-volume black and white digital presses, to light and high-volume color solutions with 5th Color capabilities that rival offset quality.
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only conventional CMYK colors. You may want to pursue new revenue opportunities using all five colors. Or, you may want to share information in more ways for more clients with copying and scanning capabilities, as quickly as possible. Imagine the possibilities. Choose from high-volume black and white digital presses, to light and high-volume color solutions with 5th Color capabilities that rival offset quality. Here’s a glimpse at some of the options you have at the ready: • Produce up to 90 color pages per minute for faster transitions between jobs • Use the 5th color station to offer more types of output at a lower price point • Create images with up to 1200 x 4800 dpi resolution to impress customers • Print on more media, including: traditional paper products, synthetics, envelopes, textures, and more • Share information quickly with advanced scanning capabilities • Use it as a primary device or as part of a Ricoh Managed Document Services (MDS) strategy to reduce costs Whether you’re entering new markets or deliver shorter runs at lower costs, put the Pro C7100 Series and RICOH Pro C7110 Series on your wish list.
For more information, visit www.ricoh-usa.com.
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thINK 4.0
CONFERENCE
Fourth annual user group conference again delves into growing world of inkjet technologies
Keen insights on inkjet technologies. Best practices. Networking. When it comes to delving into the emerging world of inkjet technologies, the thINK user group conference has everything you need – and more. Led by some of the country's most successful inkjet service providers, thINK is an independent community of Canon Solutions America production print customers, solution partners and industry experts. This year's conference – Sept. 5-7 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club – again will host more than 500 production print professionals, analysts, partners and press. Across the three-day event, attendees will take part in more than 40 sessions designed to reach all levels of inkjet experience and awareness. Attendees can also take advantage of the
"Inkjet 101" session, which helps support those on the verge of making an inkjet decision, as well as provides an in-depth look at a particular line of inkjet presses. "We expect thINK 2018 to showcase the spirit of what makes this user group so successful: The ability to listen and learn from each other and provide education that can transform our members' businesses, both now and in the future," says thINK President Bob Radzis, who also is Chief Customer Officer at SG360. Registered thINK members will receive more information and registration details about thINK 2018 in the months to come. As in the past, thINK membership is free and exclusive to Canon Solutions America production print customers. thINK members can access thINK 2018 Conference materials and other resources by To join, register joining the thINK Community.
Led by some of the country’s most successful inkjet service providers, thINK is an independent community of Canon Solutions America production print customers, solution partners and industry experts.
at thinkforum.com.
CANVAS P17
CANVAS BUYER’S GUIDE
MID-RANGE INKJET PRINTERS
A new generation
Fujifilm’s powerful and versatile SpyderX UV press from Inca Digital offers the ultimate in all-around performance and flexibility
Designed and manufactured by Inca Digital, the SpyderX platform incorporates state-of-the-art technology, including FUJIFILM Dimatix printheads, and Fujifilm Uvijet ink. The robust 126 inches (3.2 m) wide, six-color plus white SpyderX is available as either a flatbed or a combination flatbed/rollfed model, for handling rigid and flexible substrates, This SpyderX including PVC sheets, foam board, corrugated, polystyis ideal for PSPs that rene, window cling, wallparequire versatility per and banner material. With the SpyderX advanand speed, while tage, the flatbed and rolllooking to upgrade to-roll UV inkjet press allows from legacy printers for both rigid and flexible printing, resulting in a wide to experience the variety of applications from benefits of a highmenu boards, to banners, end inkjet platform. to backlit signs, and permanent indoor displays. And with light inks (Light Cyan and Light Magenta) in the standard channel configuration, SpyderX allows for finished prints with smooth tones and gradients while still printing at remarkable speeds. “The SpyderX is a new generation of mid-range inkjet printer,” says Becky McConnell, product manager, FUJIFILM
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North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division. “This press is ideal for PSPs that require versatility and speed, while looking to upgrade from legacy printers to experience the benefits of a high-end inkjet platform.” The Inca SpyderX features: • High quality flatbed output up to 1,981 square feet an hour • High speed roll-to-roll output up to 2,476 square feet an hour • iNozzle (nozzle) mapping technology • Unique Print-a-Shim technology for consistent quality across the entire area of the print bed • Remote diagnostics software with IncaVision • Versatility of the Fujifilm Uvijet XS ink series Since 2001, Inca Digital and Fujifilm have collaborated to bring best in class solutions to the sign and display market, with Fujifilm being the exclusive North American distributor.
Download the CANVAS Buyer’s Guide app Products and resources just a tap away
Folex Synthetics Collection
SWATCHBOOK
This swatchbook spans GPA’s collection of Folex® synthetics, The customer is at the heart of everything that GPA does. available in North America exclusively through GPA. Every Their wide selection of innovative, beautiful and duraswatch is a resource with information on possible uses, its ble options provide solutions for the consumer’s every product code, and more. The products can be used for a varineed. Constantly working ety of printed projects, including: to create new resources, • point-of-purchase graphics products and inspiration • weatherproof manuals for the people who matter • graphic overlays most to their business, they • product and bottle labels are leaders in the industry • decals for a reason. • and more. “GPA continues to find exciting new ways to provide With pressure sensitive, and non-adhesive options, they work graphic arts professionals beautifully using HP Indigo sheet-fed equipment. The calipers with the resources they need inside range from 2 to 10 mil in white, clear, and silver sheets. to stay ahead of the latest With 19 x 13 sheet sizes readily available and select items offered industry trends,” said David in 20.8 x 29.5 sheets, the user can create stunning graphic works Maucieri, Senior Vice Presifor a huge variety of purposes with minimal stress. dent of Sales at GPA, the market leader in substrate solutions for digital, wide format, and offset printing. To obtain a copy of GPA’s Folex® swatchbook, The company, once again, has found a way to give their buyers the best products in the current customers can contact their Business market in a user-friendly and easy-to-naviDevelopment Manager, and all others can reach gate resource: the Folex® Synthetics Collecout to Customer Support at 800-395-9000 or tion for HP Indigo swatchbook. This compact tool showcases the entire line of Folex® customerservice@askgpa.com. premium substrates.
The calipers inside range from 2 to 10 mil in white, clear, and silver sheets.
CANVAS P19
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
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I
BY GREG RETZER
‘Rules of Mail Engagement’ you can use to engage your target audience
t’s true: Direct mail steadfastly continues to be an effective communication channel for reaching individuals and businesses. But what makes or breaks this medium is how well you engage with the target audience. Statistics in the USPS Mail Moments 2016 Review reveal that 87 percent of consumers of all ages prefer mail over telemarketing calls. And while they receive less mail, Millennials (18-39 years old) actually spend more time engaging with and sorting their mail than Gen Xers or Baby Boomers. Successful direct mail results start with understanding your target audience’s preferences when you formulate your marketing strategy. Let’s refer to them as "Rules of Mail Engagement" you should consider when planning the next campaign:
1
WIIFME or Bust
The tried-and-true “What’s in It For Me” marketing principle is paramount. Customers don’t care what you provide – they care about how you help them solve challenges. If your product or service has value they can benefit from – Voila! – you’ve made a connection.
2
Connect cerebrally, too
Making an emotional connection to your target audience is also, important. Simple sentiments like birthdays and anniversaries have an emotional appeal that can yield results. Have fun with it: Honor an online shopper’s “first buying birthday” or a company’s anniversary with a special offer.
3
Handling Habits
Successful direct mail results start with understanding your target audience’s preferences when you formulate your marketing strategy.
Know how your target audience handles their mail. Do they scan and half save it? Or, are they “sorters” who have a strong attachment to mail and prefer to categorize what they receive? When you know how your audience consumes their mail, you can reach them with the greatest impact.
4
Show What You Know
Your messages should reflect what you already know about your customer. If your target audience prefers text followups versus phone calls, entice them with a special offer in that desired medium. Say
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texting is the most convenient communication method for me and you’re offering $25 off my first mobile order — you bet I’m going online shopping.
5 6
Channel Your Tactics
Multi-channel marketing interacts with customers on various platforms used traditionally (ads, direct mail, website, etc.). Cross-channel or Omni-channel marketing is about synergizing various mediums to provide a seamless customer shopping experience.
Measure, Nip and Tuck
It’s critical to measure the results of every campaign. By tracking the response rates and other attributes of your efforts, you’ll know what worked best with your target audience and how to tailor future campaigns to maximize effectiveness. Plus it’s simple and free to track results through sources like Google Analytics.
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Cost or outcome? Or both?
Direct mail takes time to create and the upfront costs may be more significant than starting with an email campaign, but the results of a welltailored campaign more than make up for the time and money spent. What does a 3 percent to 4 percent return with direct mail mean to your customer engagement initiative? Direct Mail can drive online behavior faster and more profitably. In marketing, you must be seen to be noticed and the U.S. Mail is guaranteed (unlike most other channels) to get your message seen. Remember – how well you design your offer will get you noticed (opened).
Greg Retzer is senior VP Sales and Marketing for Western States Envelope & Label, a national market of printers, distributors and mailing service providers. Retzer began his career at Western States as a sales representative in 1985, and continued as regional sales manager, label products sales manager, national sales manager and and VP of sales and marketing. For more information, visit www.wsel.com.
THE ONLY LABEL RESOURCE GUIDE YOU’LL NEED. Western States Envelope & Label’s new and improved Label Resource Guide is now available to help create profitable opportunities for your business. Featuring an easier than ever to navigate layout and design checklist will ensure you ask the right questions to create the perfect label. Get your complimentary label resource guide here: wsel.com/label-resource-guide/c
888.887.6485 | wsel.com
CREATIVE CORNER
AIGA’s
Gage Mitchell on how today’s designers are helping transform the world
It was during a long overseas trip that the inspiration for his latest change hit Gage Mitchell. Beautiful people in beautiful countries were mired in a sea of Western trash – much of which had been designed by someone like him. He knew what he had to do. Part of his new mission statement was to create a better world by designing a responsible studio that could work with mission-driven brands and spread sustainable design knowledge. As a design studio owner/principal, creative director and strategist, Mitchell practices what he preaches. Through his company, Modern Species, and AIGA Seattle, where he serves as president emeritus, Mitchell continually pursues his passion for changing the world. Along with his company and association responsibilities, Mitchell currently serves as the incoming President’s Council Chair of AIGA and on the Design for Good and Living Principles National Task Force. We sat down with him to see why today’s design community is earning an important seat at the table in all facets of business and life pursuits.
Give us a snapshot of today’s graphic design market?
I’d say we, as designers, have more opportunity now than ever. Not only can we use our training in traditional graphic design to jump into branding, packaging, environmental, user experience, strategy or whatever field your heart desires, but we’re also finally getting a seat at the table in business, government and in community development.
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Society at large is beginning to wholeheartedly respect a designer’s power of empathy, our iterative design process, and our ability to merge strategy and execution. While we’ve certainly had some opportunities in the past to demonstrate these powers, it’s exciting to see how universally valuable our skill sets are starting to become. With business schools teaching design thinking, governors hiring design strategists, and impact-focused designers proving their value by helping communities improve their own conditions – we’re witnessing a rebirth of what it means to be a designer.
What are your clients looking for today? Creative partners, not vendors. There are a ton of options out there for getting visually appealing graphic design work done these days – from crowdsourcing, to the local and international freelance market, and design agencies. Being at the higher-cost end of that spectrum, our clients could easily get cheaper designer services elsewhere. What keeps us flush with work is that we don’t just execute beautiful artifacts, we also act as creative partners to our clients and their brands. We focus on what’s right for the brand, what will resonate with their consumers, what makes sense for the business, what impact the project will have on their community or the environment, and what the most impactful thing is that we can do within their budget. This means we don’t pitch our clients ideas we just think are cool. We pitch them ideas we think are smart for their brand, for their budget, for their project specifically,
Creative corner: Sponsored by GPA
because we care as much about their success as they do, largely because we share their values.
What’s the one quality every art director must have today?
I’m going to answer this from two angles. The first is the traditional authoritarian creative director type who has a strong vision and merely needs a team who can execute that vision to the highest level possible. For that type of creative director, I think creative vision and high standards are the most important attributes because that will allow you to set a winning strategy and push your team to make it as good, if not better, than you envisioned. On the flip side, there’s the creative coach type who doesn’t necessarily set a firm direction, but instead sets the strategy and guidelines, and then mentors the team toward finding their own creative solutions for that challenge. For this type, I believe emotional intelligence and communication skills may be the most important because this angle is all about developing your team as individuals. The former can create awe-inspiring, awardwinning results. The latter can create more diverse results and a more fully developed team. I think there’s a time and place for both types, so maybe the ideal quality is knowing when to be authoritarian and when to be a coach. What are your three biggest best practices when working with a client? 1. Learn about your client’s business and industry so you can suggest solutions that align with and enhance their positioning. There’s too much design out there that fails to achieve its goal because the designer’s only goal was beauty. We designers can do better than that. We just need to elevate ourselves above the pretty-maker stereotype we’ve unfortunately gotten our industry labeled with. 2. Whenever anything is unclear or up for interpretation, ask questions to get clarity (a phone call is 10 times better than email). Not only will this help you give your team better direction so they can create stronger solutions – especially since you can now deliver what the client needs instead of only what they asked for – but you’ll also have more insights to justify your solutions when presenting. 3. Have compassion for your clients. Instead of the typical frustration that your client didn’t choose your favorite concept, take the time to put yourself in their shoes to understand why they’re coming to that decision. It might be because you missed a critical point in their strategy. It might be fear. It might be because you failed to pitch the work in an effective way. Whatever the reason, it’s been my experience that clients are never intending to be a “bad” client. So a little compassion will go a long way. And who knows, maybe they’ll become your favorite client.
Define print’s role in reaching consumers today.
In the retail-centric consumer packaged goods industry, where I spend a good deal of time, a brand or product’s packaging is the primary touchpoint with its customers. It’s what grabs their attention as they walk through the store. It’s what communicates the qualities and benefits of that product. It’s what sets my client’s brand apart from their competitors. And it’s always printed. So for most of my clients, print is the main way to reach their customers.
What’s the best piece of advice you can offer today’s designers?
Keep evolving. The world is changing. Business is changing. The design world is changing. So unless you want to get left behind, you’d better be growing and changing, too. In other words, there should be no such thing as a plateau in your career. Why? Because the moment you get complacent, the industry will veer off into a new direction and you’ll wind up being that grumpy old designer who sits around complaining and talking about how things used to be instead of the one leading the design troops into the future.
What’s the biggest thing on your to-do list right now?
If we’re talking about Modern Species alone, and not my other roles (AIGA roles and some new companies in the works), the biggest thing on my to-do list is finishing up the three-year Society at large vision I plan to present to my is beginning to team during our yearly internal wholeheartedly planning meeting. Ideally, it will respect a designer’s be our roadmap for the next one power of empathy, to three years, which is pretty our iterative design fun to think about. The trick, as process and our always, is finding the time to ability to merge tackle that while also getting strategy and our client work out the door. execution.
What does 2018 hold in store for the sector?
My hopeful guess is that 2018 is going to be full of designers finding their true calling. I’m not sure if it’s the increasingly divided political atmosphere, the growing list of possible career paths in our field that make it easier to align your passions and work, or if it’s something else entirely contributing to this trend, but I’ve been seeing a lot more people stepping out of their comfort zone and into unique niches and it gets me excited. So I’m predicting that we’ll continue to see this trend grow as more designers learn how beneficial, flexible and, ultimately, portable their knowledge and skillsets are in these modern times.
CANVAS P23
PERSPECTIVE
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Cover Story
By Michael J. Pallerino
“Build it and they will come.” But what if they don’t?
I
n the age of content marketing – you know, that thing that everybody, everywhere, just can’t stop talking about – what if the content you create does not solicit engagement? In short, what if no one cares? It’s a pretty sobering thought. Print. Social. Video. Audio. Blogs. Whichever medium you choose, you have to find a strategy that works. You have to find information that’s part creative and part metric building. You have to create content that can be optimized and personalized for each communication channel.
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Vanity Metrics Enter intelligent content. What’s that? In her book, “Managing Enterprise Content,” Ann Rockley defined intelligent content as information that is “structurally rich and semantically aware, and is therefore automatically discoverable, reusable, reconfigurable and adaptable.” Intelligent content is the natural, organic content that consumers no longer have to seek out. “Consumers want to commune with their favorite brands, not be sold by them,” says Danica Kombo, CEO of the Everywhere Agency, a leading social media and content marketing firm that works with Fortune 500 companies crafting and executing successful campaigns. Depending on which study you reference, the average American sees around 4,000 ads per day. That’s why the goal is to cut through the clutter – that “advertising noise” – and start a conversation with your customer. “Your consumers want to be talked to, not talked at,” Kombo says. “Think of your consumer as an information junkie. They are so exposed to data, images, video and information that they expect to get lots of insight about your brand. If you’re selling shoes, they want to know about the fit, possible outfit pairings, material and what others think about them.” One of the most powerful ways brands convey this type of information is through user-generated content. Having your customers tell your story avoids using brandspeak to convey your message. “What better advocate for your brand than someone who loves it so much that they want to share pictures, videos or testimonials?” Kombo says. “Trust in advertising is at an all-time low,” Kombo says. “Trust in what your friends or family tell you remains at an all-time high.”
must provide the validation needed to reduce risk or increase confidence of the buyer to make a purchasing decision,” Thomas says. “Knowing who’s visiting the content and modifying the messaging to that unique individual provides increased value to resonate more with visitors.” This customization allows for Account Based Marketing (ABM) and enables better targeting of benefits to personas. Thomas says there are three stages to create content for: Awareness, Consideration and Decision. Awareness: You must create content that solves a problem for the persona or company so that the researcher can educate themselves on what others are experiencing and put a name to the challenge. Case studies and how-to blogs are great examples. Consideration: You must create content that gives details about your solutions or services. Demos, ROI tools, quotes and case studies are great examples. Decision: You must create content that provides proof of value in order to whittle the purchasing decision down in your favor. Prospect-to-Customer calls, user group meetings and site visits are great examples.
OshKosh B’Gosh and Moe’s are examples of brands that use intelligent content to fortify their brand position. The children’s clothing brand OshKosh showcases its clothing using real customers on their social channels, while Moe’s uses an irreverent, clever, human and relatable voice to tell their story. “It does not feel like advertising,” Kombo says. “It feels like you’re having a conversation with a guy named Moe who just so happens to be crazy about guacamole. Conversational, conversational, conversational. That’s what consumers want.”
The right content, the right time in the right way
“If you build your content and they don’t come, your content has no value. It is engagement that makes content so valuable today.”
Barbara Thomas loves to talk content. – Barbara Thomas, President, As the president of Creative Tactics and Creative Tactics past winner of B2B Marketing Exchange’s “Killer Content Award,” Thomas understands the power that intelligent, strategic content has. And she knows what happens when it doesn’t. “If you build your content and they don’t come, your content has no value,” Thomas says. “It is engagement that makes content so valuable today. Your content draws in prospects or partners.” Valuable content can be provided in multiple formats – written, video, audio. It is set to target specific personas, regions, industries, and more. Its importance rests in the ability to tell your brand’s story without overselling it. “Your content
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“Using the right tool at the right time is common sense,” Thomas says. “You would not use a spoon to shred cabbage to make slaw. The same common sense applies to content. Why use a Prospect-to-Customer reference call in the Awareness stage? It can be considered disrespectful to your reference customers if they are being asked to educate a prospect in the Awareness stage.” The type of content you use depends on which stage your prospect is in. Thomas says success stories and thought leadership content rule. Stepby-step explanations of how to resolve a challenge are also very powerful, as are infographics of what leading companies in your industry or region are doing. Another powerful form of intelligent content is micro-content. Around for years, micro-content often appears in the form of quotes, metrics of success, tweets, cartoons, graphs, daily tips, and more. Using bits and pieces of (or repurposing) existing content saves money on your budget, provides website content, gets direct to the point and helps prospects zoom in on key information. In the age of Smartphones, eBooks and tablets, the way you communicate with your community has forever been changed. Today, more than ever, providing thoughtful, engaging and intelligent content is critical. Getting your head around how to effectively create and reuse content, and drive conversation is worth the value of every word you write.
BUSINESS
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Feature Story
Winning I the customer loyalty – and service – game
By Alyssa Ruane f you had invested $100 in Amazon’s stock since its Initial Public Offering more than 20 years ago, that investment would now be worth about $50,000. While the mega-company is a mainstay in American consumerism today, Amazon’s success can only be partially attributed to its innovation. The real deciding factor is its superior customer service. In addition to a good price and a quality product, consumers want speed. While some brands flounder on efficiency, Amazon has solved the latter tenfold. Why wait seven days for an online order when you can get it the same day? Amazon started by giving Prime members free two-day shipping, free video and music streaming, and other perks for just $99 a year. The move prompted some 70 to 90 million people to sign up (though the company won’t reveal the exact number). But then Amazon continued to raise the bar — rolling out same-day delivery for select items in 2015. Its combined speed, immense product listings and competitive prices have earned Amazon hardcore loyalists. The company’s ability to solve issues of time and budget for many consumers is why Amazon is now moving into the fashion market as well, says retail consultant BJ Bueno, founder of The Cult Branding Company.
Such a result is one any company would be thrilled to accomplish — your loyal customers are the lifeblood of your business. “Your most loyal customers will drive the most revenue to any business," Bueno says. "You can’t survive on just the loyal customers, but you need to take care of them.” So, why don’t all brands follow Amazon’s lead? And how can they take care of their most loyal customers? John Tschohl believes that most don’t realize that stellar customer service propels the success of every kind of business. And Tschohl should know. The president of the Service Quality Institute is what many call the “customer service guru.” In fact, TIME magazine bestowed that label on him multiple times since 1987. “They [companies] have to understand they’re in customer service no matter their business,” Tschohl says. “There are very few that understand the customer experience. Most companies don’t get it.” When you ask Tschohl what it is that companies don’t understand about customer service, you can tell he is pessimistic. Of course, more than 45 years in any industry can make one jaded. “There are many different elements of what I would call superior customer service,” he begins, noting that “having courteous, friendly people” is just one step.
CANVAS P29
Extreme Consumerism Tschohl confirms the notion about needing speed and convenience, but also offers a new point of view most businesses might not see. “You’ve got to eliminate some stupid policies and procedures that alienate customers… You can have really nice people, but you can have really dumb rules and procedures.” He recalls a maintenance company that was supposed to come fix an issue at his home. Instead of the process being simple, the company only allowed customers to reference their work order by account number. Who remembers that? Because of this difficult process, Tschohl says it took triple the amount of time to solve the problem as it would have if he had done it himself. A simple fix could have enabled the customers to use their phone number or address in addition to the account number. If companies truly want to be customer-driven, Tschohl says that they must have hours that are convenient to the customer. “That means you should really have a call center open 24/7 with real people, no IVR.” IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response, meaning customers with questions or issues are talking to machines. Tschohl says that’s a big no-no. The solution? Again take a page out of the Amazon playbook. “They will answer the phone in two to three rings with a live person," Tschohl says. "Amazon understands customer service. They are far more interested in a long-term relationship than a one-time sale.” Putting just any person on the end of the line is reason for caution. Tschohl says Tesla learned that the hard way when they decided to send their customer service calls to the Philippines. It all went to hell. "These people [non-native English speakers at call centers] just know one word: ‘No,’" Tschohl says. "Outsourcing to India and the Philippines is telling people you want to lose customers. CEOs think they’re eliminating costs, but they’re just eliminating customers.”
strong CRM. He combines this “hard” knowledge with many of the same “soft” principles. “The more personalized you get to know your customers, the better you can offer those experiences,” he says. “You need the computing power and the training to teach people how to use the data to serve the customers better. Without that data, you’re not even able to understand the levels of service.” In today’s consumerism landscape of customers getting more and therefore demanding more, there’s a lot of pressure to become one of the cult brands Bueno helps build. The key to creating hardcore loyalists is to attribute a lifestyle or culture to your brand.
ll i w s s. r s e e n m i to y b u s m e r s , s u c a n c u s to al y o o t l st ve n u e al em. o y o m l You r most re j ust the re of th a n e c o h t e e k e v d r i v ’ t s u r v i e d to ta an ou ne c u Yo but y –
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The process starts at the top
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If you want superior customer service, it must start at the top. In his extensive experience working with brands, Tschohl says he believes that 99 percent of companies think they are great at customer service. He also believes they’re wrong. To truly be a leader in customer service, top executives must implement employee training and empowerment. “Take your whole leadership team and have them understand what they need to do to improve customer experience," Tschohl says. "Train and develop your employees every four months, year after year. You have to get better every year. People break down faster than equipment.” One brand that does it right is Ritz-Carlton. Among its many strong qualities, it implements consistent training and customer-forward policies. ”Their mission is that they are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen," Bueno says. "In training, they play these scenarios out. Any employee from a grounds worker to someone behind the desk at the Ritz can solve your problem. It’s a combination of customer incentive and experience.” But that’s all the “soft side,” as Bueno calls it. There is also a “hard side” to customer experience, and that deals with data. Nothing is worth doing in business if there are no numbers to support it, so Bueno’s been doing consumer insight research for cult brands for about 17 years. Working with brands big and small, his team started with a basic formula: customers + culture = authentic brand = cult brand. In his company’s latest book, “Customer First,” they explore the hypothesis that, though putting the customer first became a cliché, “putting the customer first, or at the center, is a stronger predictor of success.” Their findings supported the notion. Bueno says companies that obsess over their customers can succeed times 10. He says the key to using data to better understand your customers, and thus be able to “obsess” over them, is having a
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pa n
y
“With no company culture, it falls apart,” Bueno says. Take musician Jimmy Buffet. Bueno says the singer's committed Parrotheads are a prime example of how the brand became a culture for consumers. It gave them a lifestyle, a sense of belonging, and it connected them back to a group of like-minded individuals who love the same product. The Jimmy Buffett team has a strong comprehension of their customer and what that customer expects from them, along with a database. By providing a “portal into Margaritaville,” a line in a hit song eventually turned into a resort and lifestyle brand in which fans can immerse themselves. “You have to find your customers where they’re going to meet you,” Bueno says. "You must be Omni-channel. Be a retailer that says, ‘no matter where you shop, we’re going to try to deliver the full brand experience.’" While the basis of customer service pivots on soft skills like speed, convenience and personal touches, it cannot be effectively utilized to build a business if you’re not constantly collecting insights to better understand your customer. Understanding your customer is at the core of providing exemplary service — if you don’t know what they value, you can’t deliver what they want.
SALES
P32 CANVAS FEBRUARY 2018
Feature Story
Turn your sales strategy on its head
O
ne of the many things we love about sales is a pervasive willingness to try new things. We’re always looking for a new skill, tool or strategy to up our game – increasing revenue, building competitive advantage and helping our companies grow. Lately, we’re seeing a disproportionate focus toward developing the least advantageous stage of the sales cycle – the “Close”. We want to invite you to consider a completely different focus for your 2018 strategy in order to realize the biggest gains. When we ask salespeople we’re preparing to work with which aspect of their game they’d most like help developing, they tell us “Closing.” They usually want new tips and tools that help them accelerate
By Justin Jones & Ashley Welch decision-making among their customers to close out their pipeline faster. We get it. The sooner we close a deal, the sooner we can give energy and attention to the next customer and increase total sales within a given period of time. We see this strategy echoed among sales managers, who tend to focus their coaching conversations solely on the forecast: “How soon can you close this deal?” or, “What’s your number this week?” Effectively, organizations are looking to shorten the discovery cycle to get their reps to close as quickly as possible. Yet, if we take a step back, most of us in sales understand these strategies to be backward. We know from experience that discovery is the high leverage phase we should be targeting.
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Topsy turvy We know that when we do truly great discovery, everything gets better.
Sell something already
Like Tiffani Bova, Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist of Salesforce, recently reminded participants at this year’s Dreamforce: “Nothing happens until someone sells something.” We’ve seen countless sales professionals – at Salesforce and elsewhere – turn this logic on its head and see huge
Whether your customer is B2C or B2B, every company has customers. Make this year’s strategy all about those customers. results. Here’s their strategy: Focus your discovery on your customer’s customers. This simple strategy solves a number of issues we run into with typical discovery. Most often, we focus the majority of our discovery on the decision-makers in our customer organization. We dutifully
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Curiosity Prompts to try
"Curiosity Prompts" are very helpful, small things that salespeople can practice noticing. The great thing about these prompts is that they’re everywhere. There are plenty of opportunities to practice using them. In every interaction, opportunities to work on one or more of these curiosity prompts are present, but we typically have an agenda that might make us blind to them. The four prompts we teach people to look out for are:
1 2
What surprises you? What comes across as unexpected or atypical?
3
4
Where do your clients place value? Has that changed since the last time you spoke with them? What are the hacks or workarounds that your client is using? Where are people trying to get around the system to make it work for them? Where do you see inconsistencies? When has your client said one thing but done something else?
respond to all points outlined in their RFP, or we ask them great questions to get at their pain points. And, in so doing, we commoditize our solution, doing the exact same things our competition is doing and providing a similar solution for the customer to consider. Then, we begin to focus our energy on getting the "Close" and wonder why it’s taking so long. Enough of that. The one stakeholder your decisionmakers will universally care about is their customer. This end customer could be the actual paying customer who buys products and services. To the extent we assume decision-makers understand these customers, we do so at our own peril. We believe it’s paramount that you seek these people out and explore their world. When you do, you’ll invariably discover far more than your decision-makers understand and be able to come to the table with added value, a larger point of view and a unique perspective that your competitors won’t share.
Kick-ass discovery: An example
Brianna was early in her sales career at one of the largest software solutions companies. She was given a leading greeting card company as a greenfield account to see what she could do. She immediately began to learn everything she could about the company’s customer experiences. She visited stores, she downloaded the company app, she made online purchases, she interviewed store employees and other customers. By sharing some of the insights she gained along the way, she quickly found herself at a meeting with the company C-suite. Even then, she talked not about the amazing solutions she could sell. She talked about their customer experiences. In particular, she juxtaposed the company’s stated strategy of appealing to millennials with her own experience – as a Millennial – and pointed out important areas where they could improve. In that meeting, she didn’t mention one product she had to offer; she only talked about them and how they could better serve their customers. She closed over $1 million in that account, which is considered one of the fastest zero to million dollar deals in the history of the company. Whether your customer is B2C or B2B, every company has customers. Make this year’s strategy all about those customers. Go find them and find out what they care about. Notice how well your customer meets (or misses) their needs and bring these insights to the table. We guarantee that you will find larger opportunities and you will close deals faster.
Ashley Welch and Justin Jones co-founded Somersault Innovation, a Design Thinking consulting firm providing a unique approach to sales development. They are the authors of "Naked Sales: How Design Thinking Reveals Customer Motives and Drives Revenue." For more information, visit www.somersaultinnovation.com.
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MARKETING
By Linda Bishop
Why you're the most important product you sell
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Feature Story
“W
hat printer are you going to use to produce the new corporate brochure?” Sheila asked. “I’m trying to decide that now,” Robert answered. Sheila was in charge of digital marketing at Big Brand. Robert was the director of corporate communications. They had bumped into each other in the elevator of the gleaming glass and steel office tower where Big Brand was headquartered. Both were headed to the sandwich shop down the street for lunch. “You know the policy,” Robert said. “I have to get three bids on any job costing over $10,000. Two bids were from longtime suppliers. The third was from our newest vendor, Innovative Print. All the prices were in line.” “Innovative Print, “Sheila repeated. “That’s a name I keep hearing.” As Robert and Sheila navigated a busy intersection on the way to the restaurant, Robert picked up the conversation.
“I started using Innovative Print last year. We were using a different company, but they just weren’t keeping up with technology,” he said. “I started to meet with new print reps. Natalie was one of them. Something about her impressed me, so I gave her an opportunity. Her company performed, and I’ve been using her ever since.” Sheila thought, then said, “I think I met her.” “She was one of the printers who participated in our annual vendor fair last fall,” Robert said. “She’s in her 50s with short dark hair.” “I do remember her.” Sheila frowned. “Though, I’m not sure why. I couldn’t have described her as you did.” Robert shrugged. “Most people who meet Natalie remember her, but I don’t think it has anything to do with her appearance. It’s more how she acts.” Intrigued, Sheila said, “It’s hard to put into words, but there is something about Natalie that makes a positive impression, and she reinforces that impression every time you meet her.” “I like Natalie, but that’s true for all my vendors," Robert said. "There’s just something different about how she presents herself, and whatever that difference is, it makes me think she is the right person to handle our new corporate brochure.” No matter how much companies vary, one factor remains the same in the majority of printing transactions. A sales professional plays a role, and many sales maxims speak to the importance of that role such as: • First, they buy you • People buy from people, and they buy more from people they like • Customers buy on emotion and justify with logic While sales professionals must provide real business value in selling situations, how the buyer perceives a salesperson can be a tie-breaker when closing a transactional opportunity. Buyers, especially new ones, are looking for a company – and a person – who's easy to deal with and who can meet their needs. The buyer is
You may not be in charge of how your company is branded, but you are 100 percent in charge of your personal brand. searching for products and services, along with an enjoyable customer experience. Multiple touch points at your company create perceptions, and often these are outside your control. How you are perceived? Well, that is up to you.
Perception Management – A Critical Sales Skill Set
The presentation of self is a concept introduced in 1956 by Erving Goffman,
a Canadian-American sociologist and author of "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life." Goffman believed people try to control the impressions they make on other people. He compared real-life interactions to theatrical productions, complete with acting, interaction with the setting, props and an audience. In 1998, The International Sociological Society listed Goffman’s book as one of the most important works in the 20th Century.
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The Tao of You Goffman’s theories are supported by another sales maxim: “To succeed in sales, you need to be a chameleon.” To put it another way, you must be conscious of how you present yourself and manage the buyer’s perceptions to win. While some aspects of the self-presentation are situational, such as the clothes you wear or the props you use (presentations, samples, case studies), certain aspects of high-level perception management extend past a single encounter and relate to your personal brand. Tom Peters, a well-known author who helped write "In Search of Excellence," is thought by many to be the first person to use the term “personal branding.” In a 1997 article written for Fast Company, Peters wrote, “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” According to The Economist, 3,500,000 American workers lost their jobs in the decade following 1987 as a result of downsizing. When Peters wrote this article, he was reacting in part to help workers who needed to find a job. Peters offered practical advice to creating a personal brand. “You’re every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi or the Body Shop. To start thinking like your own favorite brand manager, ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike, Coke, Pepsi or the Body Shop ask themselves: 'What is it that my product or service does that makes it different?' Give yourself the traditional 15-wordsor-less contest challenge. Take the time to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it several times.” And while Peters wrote those words a decade ago, the exercise still has merit.
Do You Need to Brand Yourself?
• Think of three words that you would want your clients to use to describe you • Be clear on why being described with these three words would help you sell • Write the three words on a sticky note and post it where you can see it every day Now comes the hard part. You need to find ways to demonstrate you are the living embodiment of these words through behavior. For example, if you want the client to see you as responsive, acknowledge emails within an hour. If you
While sales professionals must provide real business value in selling situations, how the buyer perceives a salesperson can be a tie-breaker when closing a transactional opportunity.
Personal branding requires thought and investment over time. The payoff is worth it. • You become more positively memorable with clients and prospects, which helps you earn new opportunities. • A personal brand differentiates you, and the right differentiation helps you sell. • A brand stands for something. When the client likes what you stand for, they are more likely to recommend you.
Actions Get Reactions
Customers categorize to simplify decision-making. When evaluating salespeople, examples of categories where you have already made an impression in the mind of your clients include: • Responsive versus non-responsive • Friendly versus cold • Clear communicator versus vague and hard to pin down
Based on actions, some sales professionals shine brightly, while others are bland and beige. The color beige is neither brown nor gray. It is somewhere in between. When your personal brand is too beige, you don’t stand out, and this can cost you sales.
Thought Transformation’s Brand Triangulation™
Over the years, I’ve read many books on personal branding. In the end, I’ve found most of them heavy on information as to why you should embrace the idea of a personal brand, and light on practical “how to” information about creating one.
To create my own brand, I developed a method called "Brand Triangulation." The first part of the process is simple:
want buyers to see you as an expert in the industry, offer proof by sharing information on the subjects where you claim expertise. If you want to build a brand that includes superior listening skills, make it an iron-clad policy to avoid interrupting. With 30 days of active practice, you'll be well on your way to building your personal brand. You and your company both are part of the product and experience that customers choose to buy. You may not be in charge of how your company is branded, but you are 100 percent in charge of your personal brand. How are you presenting yourself and managing customer perceptions? What should your personal brand communicate if you want to sell more? How do you translate your personal brand into behaviors? Or, as Tom Peters said back in 1997, “What do you want to be famous for?” Good selling.
Linda Bishop, a longtime veteran of the commercial printing industry, is the founder of Thought Transformation Inc. (www.thoughttransformation.com), which trains and consults companies and sales professionals on how to sell more and reach their full potential. You can reach her at lindabishop@thoughttransformation.com.
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CHANGE MANAGEMENT
A harbinger of change
L
istening. If you ask Nathaniel Grant one of the keys to getting ahead of change in this ever-changing climate we live in, that is one of the essentials. If you listen to what the industry and your customers are saying, you can always follow the direction you need to be headed toward. Grant's company has been a harbinger of change and one of the best examples of what happens when you stay ahead of the curve. Today, if you walk onto the production floor of GAM Graphics and Marketing, one of the biggest changes in its 40-year history will jump right out at you – the shift from offset to digital. Grant says by keeping its ear to the ground, the Sterling, Virginia-based company was able to reshape its identity as a marketing service provider. "We remain dedicated to identifying and executing on ways we can better serve our customers, every day, every month, every year," says Grant, president of GAM.
are based on how customers feel they are being treated. Consumers, now more than ever, are looking for a company that they can trust. They want to know 'who' you are. They are not as interested in the 'how,' but you should be. The 'how' of dealing with change manifests into who you become as a team. An enormous piece of the how is an organization’s attitude toward change. That translates back to customer experiences, because a team of unmotivated employees who do not believe that your initiatives are possible, or plausible, are not likely to deliver amazing customer service. Grant points to one of the biggest trends happening in the communications process today – personalized communication. He believes that it helps engage readers and increase response rates. "Audiences’ attention is harder to come by than ever in today’s always-on world, and our customers need to be able to cut through the static and reach people.”
“ We remain dedicated to identifying and executing on ways we can better serve our customers, every day, every month, every year.” – Nathaniel Grant, President, GAM Graphics and Marketing
Nathaniel Grant That ability to listen – and then to pivot when needed – is something Grant says every printer should be able to embrace. That's why GAM continues to hold an annual open house for its customer base. "It showcases how we’re changing to adapt to the industry’s shifting landscape, and that encourages attendees to partner with us." The engagement with its customers enables the GAM team to have invaluable conversations about their pain points, market trends and the needs they’re struggling to meet. "Often, what we hear at one open house shapes what’s on the floor at the next,” Grant says. According to a McKinsey & Company study, 70 percent of today's buying experiences
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ways to better serve customers with a 5-color printer 1. Q uick turnarounds – Amazing efficiency and digital storefronts can translate into exceptional turnaround times without compromising quality. 2. O ptions – Metallics, printing on darker colors, watermarks, etc. are all within the realm of possibility with a 5-color printer. 3. S avings – Pass your efficiency and productivity on to your customer with lower prices for amazing products. 4. B eautiful Products – CMYK inks just can’t hold a candle to what you can do with a 5-color printer and your customers will see – and appreciate – the difference.
That was one of the reasons Grant set out to acquire the right tools for his company. Its partnership with Ricoh resulted in their newly acquired RICOH Pro C7110X and RICOH Pro C9110 printers, which have helped to personally connect with customers. That's why GAM has a graphic designer on staff, an artist who understands how designs will work in the print and electronic worlds. It helps the company stand out from design firms that too often design what cannot be printed. “We’ve always put a lot of focus on helping customers’ messages stand out," Grant says. "We want to be a onestop shop for our customers’ communication needs, because that’s good service. That's what sets a great company apart."
Achieve Graphic Greatness. Take a look at Ricoh’s line of innovative and affordable 5th Color Digital Cutsheet Presses. Set your business apart with oversized media capabilities, outstanding image quality, support for specialty stocks and substrates up to 360 gsm, plus a 5th color station for Clear, White, Neon Yellow, Neon Pink and Invisible Red* toner. Deliver an impressive range of high-end capabilities that traditional 4-color digital systems simply cannot match. Go beyond CMYK. Go beyond basic. Go big. Imagine the possibilities. Proactively offer new applications while building customer loyalty, expanding your base and increasing your bottom line at the same time.
Watch the video, see the samples and be inspired to take your business further. TakeaLookatRicoh.com/gamechanger
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