Print Leaders Forum: Remaining relevant and successful

An excerpt from AP March 2020 Print Leaders Forum – by Imagination Graphics owner Emmanuel Buhagiar  

Since its establishment in 1998, Imagination Graphics has adapted to printing trends within the industry to remain relevant and successful. Morphing from a small pre-press company into a thriving digital and offset printing company, Imagination Graphics will continue to utilise new technologies and value customer service in 2020.

As the owner of the company, I have seen first-hand the trends over time and witnessed the decline of businesses that do not embrace changes within the world of design and print. To avoid being left behind and to secure our future, we have taken a leap of faith and invested in cutting-edge machinery.

After working in this field for almost 50 years, I would highly encourage other printers and designers to embrace opportunities and engage with customers to consistently get the job done right. I believe that printers in 2020 should be focusing their efforts on offering customers an increasingly wider range of products.

This can be achieved by being flexible and having the ability to adapt as a whole company in order to stay afloat amongst the digital landscape, as the printer who solely relies on one craft could potentially be left behind.

To follow my own advice, I am expecting to invest more time and effort into promoting Imagination Graphics on social media this year. By learning the trends on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, I believe that we will be able to reach a wider range of customers by showcasing our previous jobs and engaging with the industry further. I urge other printers to also take advantage of these platforms, especially in 2020!

Another factor that the industry must consider is minimising costs for customers to ensure a return of orders and the development of meaningful relationships between company and customer.

I strongly believe that customer service is at the core of printing work. In 2020, this can be achieved by implementing new programs and processes that facilitate communication and through adding value ‘extras’ to a job where possible.

Thus, to work efficiently, holistic processes must be in place particularly in such an advancing time, which is why streamlining production internally is integral. In a business such as ours, communication between workers is key, which is why we have established a connected, friendly and collaborative work environment. We hope to consistently engage with this strategy throughout the year to develop the company further.

In addition to this, one must be persistent and creative in order to survive in the industry. At Imagination Graphics, we embrace the mentality that no job is too big or too small and take a job whether it be for a single business card, a simple web design, or 5000+ printed annual reports.

Most importantly, this year we at Imagination Graphics will be heavily promoting and utilising our new presses to showcase all its features. We are very proud of these additions to the company and anticipate an increase in clientele throughout 2020.

Some areas of growth I anticipate in the industry is the use of wide format printing (specifically for the signage market), in addition to short-run large format variable data. This is one goal that Imagination Graphics will be striving to consistently achieve this year.

Ultimately, I am looking forward to watching the industry grow and develop in response to rapid changes and immense growth.

 

This article was written prior to the impact of COVID-19. The digital version of AP March 2020 is available here.

And as part of AP’s 70 anniversary, we’re pulling together a list of 70 local industry pioneers – you can make your nominations here.

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