PIA VP of Digital Technologies Julie Shaffer said there are already plans for a second forum in New Orleans next year with hopes of turning this into a regular event/education platform for printers looking to transition into marketing services.

"We've had variable data conferences in the past, but integrated print and cross media communications is what it's about right now, and part of the role of this forum to get printers realize this is lot more than just adding new equipment - this is rethinking your business, what it is you can offer your clients and even who those potential clients are," she said.

Case in point
One such company that the PIA cites as a testimonial to effecting this change is Bristol, Tenn.-based Pulp.

Even though 2007 was its best year ever in term of sales, the company could already sense the commercial printing market had begun to change and is the kind of transformation success story the trade association would like to see emulated across the country.

"Our sales hit a wall around October after we've made some significant investments," explained Pulp marketing VP Robert Carrier to PrintWeek. "So we started in the direction of becoming a marketing services provider."

Carrier said the marketing side of their business didn't take off for 18 months to two years, in part because it's a very difficult transition for a printer to make. "It's fairly easy to acquire the software and technology to do the kind of things that we do today," he added. "But at the end of the day it's not about the hardware and software - it's a total 180 degrees from the way that printers think."

He continued: "When you become a marketer you begin to give your customers instructions and they look to you for what move they need to make next, with questions like "How do we reach our customers? And 'What do we do with all this great data we've acquired through our ecommerce?' or 'How do we use social media to improve our business?' It is those questions - and not print related questions - that we now get every day."

Though print sales still account for 75% of Pulp's revenues today, Carrier is convinced the company made the right choice. "That 75% that's print is now half the size that it was in 2007, so the bottom line is if we start to abandon these new revenue streams right now what do we do five years from now if those revenues tied to print continue their current trend," he said.  

Sweating the data
A maximum capacity of 120 people are expected at the October 24-25 PIA event to learn not just how to maximize variable data, but also how to best leverage QR codes or make augmented reality print products. 'Most printers doing digital are now adept at variable data as well as other services like building web portals and web-to-print sites, Shaffer said, adding that a PIA survey recently found that as many as 80% of its members are already offering some kind of web-to-print. "Variable data is well known, but we are doing sessions on how to maximize the little data you have and the 15 things you can do, for example, if you know something as simple as a birthday."

Both Shaffer and Carrier noted the transition from static commercial printing to full service marketing is not easy, not just because of the learning curve. "The challenges with selling these new services is that it's a longer selling cycle, because you're not just selling print, your also selling dashboards so that people can track their marketing efforts," Shaffer said.  

She also stressed this isn't simply about US commercial printers encroaching on local marketing firms. "I don't think we're looking to bump out marketers as much as we're now supporting customers in different ways than we have in the past," Shaffer said. "There are some printers partnering with marketing firms, because many of them are not necessarily all that good at keeping track of digital assets or doing the web stuff."

Carrier, who will be attending the forum, also noted there remains the additional challenge of changing the conversation with your existing customer base, but stressed it can be done.

"What every printer needs to realize is that these new types of sales require experience, hiring the right staff and the right investments in technology - and they absolutely have to spend the money," he said. "Do they need to abandon print? No, because print is what pays for this other thing they need to be doing to order to ensure they have a strong future."

The Payback
The good news is that eventually these new marketing services can also end up boosting a company's print bottom line. "As we develop the solution, if print is a good part of that solution we include it - if it's not we don't," Carrier said. "But because we've become so good at these other things, once customers find out we do print, they begin to see print as part of their whole mix and so we end up with their print business without having to bid."