PrintEx19 has kicked off at Sydney Showgrounds with a large turnout attending a business breakfast session with consumer behaviour expert Dr Ross Honeywill before the official cutting of the ribbon at the front entrance.
Dr Honeywill shared his insights into why it is important for businesses to find the right customers with a focus on the ‘neo’ group, which tends to be in the younger age bracket but not necessarily exclusive to it.
While numerically less in number than ‘traditional’ customers Dr Honeywill said this group will ultimately spend more for a product that is meaningful and beautiful.
“To survive on planet traditional you have got to have the best price but on planet neo you can have something that costs more but is beautiful and something that they will love,” Dr Honeywill told the gathering.
He also said 73 per cent of Neos also open their direct mail which further builds on personalised print as a major and growing revenue space for printers.
He advised business owners to move away from the mass marketing or segmented approach to targeting customers, instead saying it would be better to really understand the customer on a more individual level.
“You need to precisely know who you are dealing with and what makes them tick. What you need is the right customer so it doesn’t matter if it’s a customer or a business customer but you have to have the right customer,” he said.
“You have to know who you’re right customer is and who your wrong customer is.”
“It’s not always self evident and sometimes it is hard to have any concept of who the wrong customer is.”
“You know these people you talk to them with every day. It is all about the deal, the price, the discount and is very functional driven. These people will kill your business.”
After the address PrintEx had its official opening with NSW MP Alister Henskens cutting the ribbon alongside PIAA president Walter Kuhn.
PrintEx runs from Tuesday 13 August to Friday 16 August at the Sydney Showgrounds.
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