Over the past several years, printers have been struggling in a world of economic gloom and shifting customer media preferences. We have seen print service providers of all sizes shut their doors because they couldn't generate enough business or keep up with the pace of change. What can companies do to avoid becoming another sad headline? A number of service providers have used these challenging times to effectively reposition their businesses with value propositions that resonate in today's market. Most print service providers have historically not spent any time positioning-much less re-positioning-their firms. Repositioning a printing company is about more than changing a name and developing new marketing messages. It involves making hard decisions about how the printing market is shifting to new and different media, developing the right product and services, and effectively communicating the transformation to both customers and prospects. This is exactly what the Segerdahl Group (Wheeling, IL) did.
Some service providers have used these challenging times to effectively reposition their businesses with value propositions that resonate in today's market.
A New Name
Segerdahl was founded in 1956 as a small, family-owned startup. As was the case for many printing companies, Segerdahl focused on offering sheet-fed offset and web offset printing to accommodate the needs of customers for nearly 50 years. Segerdahl offered fair prices, strove for greater print detail and color saturation, and delivered extremely high quality printing. In 2003, Segerdahl acquired Columbia Graphics, a sheet-fed printer. The following year, the firm became an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) company and changed its name to the Segerdahl Group, giving its 400-plus employees a chance to have "skin in the game." In February 2012, Segerdahl added a digital printing dimension with the acquisition of RT Associates. Just last week, Segerdahl redefined its entire operations and repositioned itself as SG360°.
Figure 1: SG360°'s New Logo
According to CEO Rick Joutras, "The harsh reality is that printing companies today can either adapt or get left behind. We made a conscious decision to position ourselves for the future. We wanted and needed to be more than a printer. We're a direct marketing company that connects with customers through traditional, social, and digital channels. After investing in new technologies, human capital, and expanded capabilities, our old name really didn't make sense. We needed a new identity, a new voice, and a new approach. We needed to become SG360°."
The "SG" portion is an abbreviation of the Segerdahl Group, paying homage to the firm's heritage and experience. Joutras elaborates, "The "360" represents the perpetual rotation of direct marketing solutions. Our belief is that campaigns don't have a beginning or end point. Instead, we are constantly analyzing, reporting, and optimizing our communications. When it comes to describing both our process and our positioning for the digital age, there's really nothing that says it better than SG360°. Our approach is to be a bold and visionary thought leader."
Backed with the Right Solutions and Services
According to Joutras, SG360°'s transformation is not just a name and logo change. He explains, "We are fundamentally changing the way we approach our business and the things we do every day to help our customers make deeper connections with their clients. The industry is in distress, and we are redefining our approach to business and our peoples' passion and dedication to make a change."
SG360° stands on three foundational pillars: BRANDIRECTions, IMPRESSions, and EXPRESSions. This operational approach unites traditional expertise with cutting-edge resources and new media savvy, enabling direct marketers to communicate with individual customers on a more personal level than ever before.
Under SG360° BRANDIRECTions, direct marketing solutions are optimized from start to finish through services that include national online testing panels, behavioral segmentation, predictive modeling, and lifecycle integration. These proprietary analytics will be present at every phase of the SG360° operation. For example, by partnering with creative, analytics, and market research leaders, SG360°'s customers will be able to take advantage of pre-mailing testing services to maximize the effectiveness of their campaigns before spending a single dime on production. "With BRANDIRECTions, before a piece of mail is ever produced, we can scientifically observe, discover, and then advise the most effective use of the available space in our customers' marketing piece," Joutras notes. "Essentially, it means they no longer have to make a blind investment. They will be set up for success on day one."
SG360°'s operational approach unites traditional expertise with cutting-edge resources and new media savvy, enabling direct marketers to communicate with individual customers on a more personal level.
With SG360° IMPRESSions, a massive array of printing presses transform a strategic vision into a tangible reality, bringing informed ideas to life through inline web printing, sheet-fed offset printing, and variable digital printing to reach any audience.
Under SG360° EXPRESSions, final production, hand assembly, finishing, secured assembly, mailing and distribution logistics, and direct mail pieces are shaped, crafted, and placed in consumers' hands. SG360°'s mailing expertise equates to client cost savings through co-mingling, co-palletization, and drop ship optimization.
New Skills
New services mean new skills. Like many firms, Segerdahl was historically made up of press and pre-press craftsmen, with management and salespeople representing the company to external customers. This has since changed. Joutras states, "The skill sets of our people are incredibly diverse today. Much of our workforce is comprised of customer service, sales, production, and operations specialists. But with our renewed focus on analytics, we now employ top researchers, and social media and digital experts. If I had to sum it up, I'd say we are a leading group of artists, scientists, strategists, technologists, and probably a few other '-ists' too!"
Communicating the Future
SG360° was officially launched on Monday, September 17, 2012. On that morning, current and prospective customers received e-mail announcements and traditional mailings introducing them to the redefined company. These communications introduced the company's new name and identity, and also explained what SG360° stands for. Recipients were invited to the company's website to learn more, and were also encouraged to connect to their account executive and meet with SG360°experts. According to Joutras, "We left no stone unturned. We distributed a press release to media and placed print ads in marketing publications. We also communicated the change through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media outlets. Our own team members updated their LinkedIn profiles to generate additional buzz and talk value. To sum it up, we used nearly every media channel available to make our announcement."
Figure 2: Marketing Collateral for SG360°
Building Your Brand Platform
In wrapping up, Joutras provided ten principles associated with the creation of the SG360° brand platform that he would recommend to anyone:
1. Be true to yourself. Always ask yourself, "is this who you really want to be?"
2. Be passionate. If you don't believe, nobody else will.
3. Go all in. Dipping your toe in the water won't make an impact.
4. Educate yourself. You can't know everything, but it's better if you try!
5. Plan meticulously. Create a timeline and set benchmarks to reach along the way.
6. Don't go it alone. Having the right people in the right place is half the battle.
7. Don't settle. Complacency is the enemy of success.
8. Don't change for the sake of change. If you aren't addressing a customer need, it won't work.
9. Live in the digital age. What can social media and mobile technology do for you?
10. Go beyond the past. The old way is usually the wrong way.
I haven't heard better advice for the industry in a long time! Congratulations to the SG360° team on its transformation.
Discussion
By Chuck Gehman on Sep 27, 2012
Barb, you started by saying "repositioning a printing company is about more than changing a name and developing new marketing messages." But most of the article is focused on an elaborate naming architecture.
Calling the company SG360 (degree symbol) is only potentially more meaningful than Segerdahl to existing customers and those folks may always think of the company as "the printing company that used to be called Segerdahl". Changing your name from Jones Printing to Jones does not a marketing service provider make.
Branding is about creating a perception. How you want your customers to think about your products and services in the marketplace.
A brand sets an expectation of an experience, and the name and logo should call that experience to mind.
Perhaps its more important for the employees and management of the company to think of themselves as something different than it is for the new customers the company wants to acquire who haven't had an expectation set yet.
My advice to companies who want to reinvent themselves would be to consider what your brand means to customers, and what you want it to mean-- and then go out every day and make that the perception of your company in the marketplace.
By Barb Pellow on Sep 29, 2012
SG360 has retooled their operation. Perhaps Chuck missed this portion of the article.
"Backed with the Right Solutions and Services
According to Joutras, SG360°’s transformation is not just a name and logo change. He explains, “We are fundamentally changing the way we approach our business and the things we do every day to help our customers make deeper connections with their clients. The industry is in distress, and we are redefining our approach to business and our peoples’ passion and dedication to make a change.”
SG360° stands on three foundational pillars: BRANDIRECTions, IMPRESSions, and EXPRESSions. This operational approach unites traditional expertise with cutting-edge resources and new media savvy, enabling direct marketers to communicate with individual customers on a more personal level than ever before.
Under SG360° BRANDIRECTions, direct marketing solutions are optimized from start to finish through services that include national online testing panels, behavioral segmentation, predictive modeling, and lifecycle integration. These proprietary analytics will be present at every phase of the SG360° operation. For example, by partnering with creative, analytics, and market research leaders, SG360°’s customers will be able to take advantage of pre-mailing testing services to maximize the effectiveness of their campaigns before spending a single dime on production. “With BRANDIRECTions, before a piece of mail is ever produced, we can scientifically observe, discover, and then advise the most effective use of the available space in our customers’ marketing piece,” Joutras notes. “Essentially, it means they no longer have to make a blind investment. They will be set up for success on day one.”
With SG360° IMPRESSions, a massive array of printing presses transform a strategic vision into a tangible reality, bringing informed ideas to life through inline web printing, sheet-fed offset printing, and variable digital printing to reach any audience.
Under SG360° EXPRESSions, final production, hand assembly, finishing, secured assembly, mailing and distribution logistics, and direct mail pieces are shaped, crafted, and placed in consumers’ hands. SG360°’s mailing expertise equates to client cost savings through co-mingling, co-palletization, and drop ship optimization."
Discussion
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