Graphic designer, print buyer and print manager John Weaver, who has more than 30 years’ printing industry experience, wrote A Practical Guide to Marketing your Printing Business over three years as a reaction to what he saw as a lack of understanding of marketing among printers.
“I was struck a number of times in the professional business environment by things that weren’t really business appropriate. For instance, a printer I used to deal with always sent over less than presentable couriers,” he told ProPrint.
Walsh decided to evolve his marketing book into a how-to manual to give printers easily adaptable tools to create their own marketing campaign.
“I know from experience that it’s fine to read a marketing book, but the application of the theory into your business can be difficult,” he said.
The 230pp manual, which will be distributed by Printing Industries, offers how-to guides on everything from branding, advertising, public relations, promotions, employee training, customer service, incentives and loyalty programs, complaint management, identifying prospects, and staff engagement. It even covers the use of delivery trucks and presentation of premises.
Detailed templates, such as promotional letters to clients, SWAT Analysis reports, feature throughout the book for printers to adapt and use in their own businesses.
Joe Kowalewski, Printing Industries national communication and technical services manager, said Walsh was “conscious of the difficulty printers had in marketing themselves in constantly changing and challenging environments. Many either didn’t have the resources or understanding of how to market their business.”
The manual has been formatted so it can be easily updated as required. Weaver expects to add to the online marketing and social media sections in the future as these continue to evolve.
A Practical Guide to Marketing your Printing Business is available from Printing Industries’ bookstore at for $395 to non-members and $345 to members.
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