Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Describe the Challenges You Want to Solve with Software

Published April 27, 2017

Our default reaction to talking about software is to try to describe the solution or a feature of the potential solution (e.g. drag and drop). Focus on telling the story of the CHALLENGE you are trying to solve - this is so much more helpful. What do you want to solve and who do you want to solve it for?

Does This Print Software Fit into Your Technology Stack?

Published April 26, 2017

There is no “one software package” that runs your entire business. Businesses of all sizes have a technology stack (a collection of software). How well your technology stack fits together (like a beautiful puzzle) greatly determines your success in today’s market.

After the Honeymoon of Selling Web-to-Print Program

Published April 20, 2017

When you sell a web-to-print program, you have a brief honeymoon period that needs to be optimized. Stay focused on the business goals - get orders flowing through the system. Nobody wants to hear from a customer saying, its been six months and we've seen no value!

Clear Communication with Print Software

Published April 19, 2017

Clear communication is essential when implementing print software. When you don’t ask clarifying questions, you assume that if there were more relevant details about the integration they would have shared them with you. Do not assume. Ask clarifying questions. Be that annoying person who keeps asking questions.

Chain of Custody of Print Jobs

Published April 13, 2017

One of the key functions of a Print MIS is to track where every single job is in your facility. Chain of custody is about inputting the transfer of ownership between resources in your plant. It always amazes us how powerful this one feature of a Print MIS when implemented properly.

Excel, PDFs, Paper, and More People (automation-less)

Published April 12, 2017

We apply tools from our toolset to solve business challenges, often those tools create silos of data and processes inside our company that prevent us from becoming a truly data-driven organization.

Print Is Not Dead AND Its Not Returning to Past Dominance

Published April 6, 2017

Print is not dead, we still need print and it needs to work and play well with its digital alternatives. The use of print has changed, especially in marketing. Printers need to extend their value proposition to understand all communication options in order to keep print relevant.

Print Software Execution is the Differentiator

Published April 5, 2017

I wish you could just buy the right print software product and it would make you successful. You can’t. Success with software takes your execution. Software doesn’t implement itself, vendors can’t implement it without your active involvement.

New Software Technology Introduced to a Printer

Published March 30, 2017

When new technology is introduced into a printer the success of it really depends on how your people engage (or don't engage) with the software. The success is way more dependent on your team than it is on vendor. You have to learn the software and then strategically apply it to your business.

Embrace the Stupid

Published March 29, 2017

You can call it change management, I prefer the wise words of Seth Godin – change requires you to embrace stupid. Our market requires all of us to keep learning, “the pre-learning state is stupidity.”

The Importance of a Good Web-to-Print Demo Site

Published March 23, 2017

Demonstrating your web-to-print solution is critical to your sales process. Use your demonstration site to configure all the bells and whistles of your solution so you never have to say, "we support that feature but its not configured on this site."

What Makes Print Ecommerce Weird?

Published March 22, 2017

Selling print online requires knowledge of how to both accept artwork and deliver print assets to the manufacturing facility. Generic ecommerce firms don’t understand this which can cause printers to spend their time and money educating resources about what makes print ecommerce unique.

The Software Technology Stack of Your Print Business

Published March 16, 2017

Your print software is as important as your print manufacturing equipment. Software enables you to get to new customers and automate your workflows to enable you to do more with less effort. Software is becoming your most strategic resource.

With Software Changes Maximize Learning, Avoid Fear

Published March 15, 2017

Mistakes are part of our lives and our businesses. Nobody likes to make them, how you react to your mistakes dictates what kind of business culture you’ll create. Software changes are an excellent environment to create a learning culture and avoid a fear based culture.

Conversations on Print - Ep 1: Make Print Easier to Buy - Featuring Jerry Kennelly

Published March 13, 2017

Jerry Kennelly started his print career in a sweat shop run by his parents in their basement. When a wall in your house has to be removed to get the press downstairs, you know you might be working the 3rd shift someday. Jerry is an entrepreneur, founder of Stockbyte, Tweak and the Junior Entrepreneur Programme in Ireland. In this podcast we talk about what Jerry has learned and how passionate he is about both the impact and value of print in our digital world.

The Two Parallel Workflows of Your Print Business

Published March 9, 2017

Your print business runs on two parallel paths (workflows), a product path and a business path. The production path results in a "physical product" that is shipped to your customer, the business path results in an accurate invoice that is delivered to your customer. Looking at your business in this manner can help you understand the roles of your Print MIS and your Production Management software tools.

Software Features are Trees - See the Forest

Published March 8, 2017

Step back and regroup. Stop looking at features and focus on the overall business objectives of your software solutions. All of us (vendors and printers) need to get out of the feature focus so we can make better software decisions AND make the software we have work better for us in spite of the lacking features.

Self-Service Access to Your Print Business

Published March 2, 2017

Across all markets, customer's demand for self-service access to business transactions is growing. Customer convenience trumps full-service. A self-service interaction gives the customer full control of when they want to interact.

Assumptions Are the Enemy of Good Software Decisions

Published March 1, 2017

When both parties in the print software sales process make assumptions, poor decisions are made. Money is wasted. Time is squandered. Replace assumptions with clarifying questions so you come to a common understanding of the truth.

Preparing Questions for User Conferences – Dscoop 2017

Published February 22, 2017

User conferences are an incredible opportunity to load up on learning from the speakers, the vendors, and most importantly your peers. With Dscoop next week, this article covers the importance of the well-formed, thought out questions that can help you get the most out of events by preparing and focusing on your learning goals before you arrive!

Software Focus: Staying on Main Street

Published February 16, 2017

What does "staying on Main Street" with your software product mean? It means using software for what it was intended to do and not trying to add features just because you can. Tight focus on both the development of software solutions and their use will keep everyone out of trouble.

Hiring a Developer Does Not Get You Good Software

Published February 15, 2017

Building good software takes a (small) village of people with distinct skills sets. Don’t try and build software with only a developer, you’ll end up with software that only developers will want to use!

Stop with the Software Talk

Published February 9, 2017

In talking about software solutions, its best to talk about the problems you want to solve rather than suggesting solutions like "drag and drop". Making recommendations for how to solve things prevents real understanding of what you're actually trying to solve. Focus on describing the problems you're having and the results you want to create.

Set a Deadline for Print Software Transition

Published February 8, 2017

Retiring software solutions can be overwhelming. Continuing to pay maintenance on legacy software solutions is maddening. Start the process of transition by setting a realistic date – draw the line in the sand, rally your troops around what it takes to get from where you are today to throwing a retirement party for your legacy software.

Fall in Love with Your Customer's Problems

Published February 2, 2017

Our market demands you to be more consultative with your customers so you can extend your value proposition beyond a commodity manufacturer. The best way to be a good consultant is to understand your customer's challenges. You have to dive in and fall in love with your customer's problems in order to build up that trusted partnership that is immune to competitive pricing pressures.

Top 3 Mistakes with Print Software Strategy

Published February 1, 2017

Your print software strategy is your responsibility. It requires strategic thinking to both define the challenges and the results you want to create (vision). Don’t make the common mistakes with your print software strategy.

Product Spotlight: KODAK PRINERGY Workflow Software 8

Published January 31, 2017

There are two major workflows that a job travels through in your print business. The production workflow which results in a printed product and the business workflow which results in an accurate invoice. The job must travel through both workflows; often in parallel and frequently requires some collaboration and/or communication between the workflows to reach both desired results - high-quality print product(s) delivered on-time and an error free invoice.

Change Management in Print MIS

Published January 26, 2017

When your Print business is faced with changing your Print MIS, the attitude towards the change can make all the difference. Are you looking to force the Print MIS software to work just like you work today or are you willing to adapt your workflows to optimize how the Print MIS software was built?

Long-Term and Short-Term Print Software Priorities

Published January 25, 2017

Your business should be run by your print software systems; your people should run the systems. These print software systems require attention for both short-term initiatives and long-term strategy.

Finding a Niche with Your Print Business

Published January 18, 2017

Finding a niche for your print business (a target market with specific pain points) is not about aiming small, it’s about FOCUS and EXECUTION to build a repeatable product offering and to dive deeper into learning about your customer’s problems.

Scale Your Print Business by Investing in Print Software

Published January 12, 2017

Growing and scaling a business can come from an investment in software.

EFI Connect 2017 Educational Sessions with Jennifer Matt

Published January 11, 2017

User group meetings create a space for you to find peers for collaboration. Use these meetings to find your people. Do not proceed in these disruptive market conditions on your own! I invite you to attend the sessions. For those of you who are not planning to attend, I want to provide you with some of the key learnings that will be delivered.

Web-to-Print Solution Frustration

Published January 4, 2017

When people get frustrated with software, they are looking for an easy answer to get closure. One of the most common reactions to web-to-print frustration is to shop for a different solution. Before you start shopping, take a long hard look at your investment in really learning the web-to-print solution you already have.

3 Success Factors for Print MIS Implementations

Published December 21, 2016

Implementing a Print MIS is challenging, it requires a focus on end results without an attachment to “the way things have always been done”, persistence, and adaptability. Look for these personality traits in the people you assign to lead your Print MIS implementation.

Jennifer Matt interviews Jerry Kennelly about Tweak Cloud

Published December 8, 2016

Make print easier to buy. The Tweak Cloud offering is a toolset that streamlines the process of getting to a final agreed upon design. Jerry Kennelly, CEO and founder of Tweak describes the offering and his approach to giving the customer self-service control over the proofing process.

You Need Technical Leadership Inside Your Print Business

Published December 7, 2016

As software takes on a larger and larger role in your print business, your technical leader plays a greater role in all aspects of your business performance. With the right internal technical leader, software can deliver almost everything that was promised in the demo! Without the right technical leader, you’re going to feel like your software investment was a complete waste of money.

Print MIS Product Spotlight: PrintJobManager

Published November 30, 2016

Aleyant PrintJobManager™ is a cloud-based entry into the Print MIS market. Most printers will recognize Aleyant as the maker of the popular Aleyant Pressero™ web-to-print solution. Aleyant is entering the Print MIS market with a stand-alone solution PrintJobManage

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Design ‘N’ Buy

Published November 16, 2016

Your web-to-print needs to solve two core challenges, the challenge of e-commerce and the unique challenge of selling print online. Design ‘N’ Buy took a different strategy for getting to market with a print-enabled e-commerce solution. They left the e-commerce part to the open-source community by proactively integrating with the most popular open source e-commerce platforms.

Print Software Enables Your Business to Scale

Published November 9, 2016

Scaling your print business requires the removal of bottlenecks from order inquiry to accurate invoice payment. Your Print MIS is the system of record that can drive you to a more efficient business and enable you to scale.

Fall in Love with Your Customer’s Problems

Published October 19, 2016

The most important thing you can do to thrive during times of disruption is to learn more about your customer’s problems. What you solved for customers in the past might not be relevant in the future, what you can solve in the future will reinvent may reinvent your business.

No More Isolated Print Software Solutions

Published October 12, 2016

Every print software decision needs to be considered within the context of your end-to-end workflow. Isolated or point solutions are costly both short and long term. As jobs travel through your production and business workflows – it is vital that the various pieces of print technology can communicate with each other without human intervention.

Top 3 Challenges to the Print Software Sales Process

Published October 5, 2016

Mistakes get made during the print software sales process because there is a lack of common understanding, a pressure on the vendor to say yes to every challenge presented, and a tendency to focus on solutions rather than the problems.

Buying and Selling Print Software by the Pound

Published September 21, 2016

When you buy and sell software by the pound (# of features), you get distracted as a buyer as to what business challenge is actually most important to solve. As a vendor when you build software by the pound you keep adding without going back and refining the core features of your solution.

The Number 1 Factor in Successful Print MIS Implementations

Published September 14, 2016

Implementing Print MIS software is an undertaking that touches every corner of your business. The belief system you go into this process with determines your success more than any other factor.

Pixartprinting: VistaPrint’s Expansion into Upload-and-Print

Published September 7, 2016

Inevitably, Cimpress (parent company of VistaPrint) is expanding beyond its roots with the micro business and the business card product. Pixartprinting, a 2014 Cimpress acquisition, targets the creative professional with a 100% upload-and-print model supporting an ever growing collection of product workflows.

Making Great Software is Humbling

Published August 31, 2016

Coding is one aspect of software. Making great software takes a team of well-coordinated resources. When we oversimplify software to just a coding event, we get unexpected results

Creating Customer Convenience with Web to Print

Published August 24, 2016

Web-to-Print isn’t for the printer; it is a self-service option for your customers so that ordering from you is more convenient. Customer preference is strongly in favor of self-service options for virtually all business processes, print is no exception.

The Role of Live Events in the Print Industry

Published August 17, 2016

Going to live industry events is a great opportunity on many levels – get out of working in your business and focus on working on your business. Building relationships with peers and vendors is critical to your future success, live events are where these relationships are cemented.

Maintaining Multiple Web-to-Print Solutions

Published August 10, 2016

Printers get frustrated with complex software solutions, this frustration often results in the purchase of additional complex software solutions. Don’t rush to buy your way out of the challenge – it might be more effective to learn your way out of it by doubling down on your commitment to the software you already have.

The Question is the Most Powerful Sales Tool

Published August 3, 2016

Customers come to printers to solve communication challenges. Transactional customers get their specific challenges solved. Transaction print is a tough business these days. Printers who inquire about and look to solve bigger picture challenges develop partners with their customers, moving above the transactional level.

Teach Your Daughters to Negotiate

Published July 27, 2016

The recent move by the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT), to ask for a raise is leading by example for women of all ages. Their performance from top to bottom has been exemplary, on and off the field, and for them, this would be a performance-based raise. As it turns out, simply “asking” requires the courage to work against how we’ve been socialized to behave as females.

Web-to-Print From the Customer’s Perspective

Published July 13, 2016

Web-to-Print software is sold to printing companies. Yet, the primary users of web-to-print solutions are a printing company's customers. This situation is the cause of many issues with the success of web-to-print programs. We have three perspectives at work (only one really matters).

Fall in Love with the Problems - That Software Solves

Published July 6, 2016

The biggest mistake in software decisions is relegating the discussion down to the feature level. The feature is a potential solution to an often ill-defined problem which may or may not be relevant to your business.

When Sales Isn’t Involved, Web-to-Print Projects Fail

Published June 29, 2016

If sales isn’t involved, your business-to-business (B2B) web-to-print project is going to fail. Web-to-print projects aren’t about features (solutions), they are all about solving the right customer challenges.

The User Experience is the Print Software Product

Published June 15, 2016

User experience is the product. 1,000 features does not necessarily equate to a valuable product. When features are embedded into a confusing an cumbersome user experience – they don’t get adopted.

Defining Product Workflows for Web-to-Print

Published June 1, 2016

A Product Workflow is a term I use in web-to-print projects; it defines the different offerings you enable online through self-service user interface. Defining terms is critically important to any project, product workflows is one of the key terms to every web-to-print project.

Web-to-Print: Stop Forcing an E-Commerce Workflow

Published May 25, 2016

Print is a communication challenge solution. Typically, the printed product is but one part of a much larger challenge. When your sales people learn to take their “print googles” off and uncover the bigger picture challenge, they embed your company deeper into your customer’s business process and ultimately uncover more opportunities for printed products.

My Favorite (Mostly Free) Software Tools

Published May 18, 2016

Communication is the primary thing we all do for work. This article outlines some of my favorite tools for communicating, tracking how we use our time, capturing our ideas, organizing projects, and improving remote meetings.

Top 5 Priorities for Your Print Business Website

Published May 4, 2016

Your print business website should be a living, engaging, and a results delivering part of your business growth plan. For business-to-business printers, this means delivering qualified leads to your sales team.

Growing a Modern Print Business: Sales versus Marketing

Published April 27, 2016

Growing your business is more about marketing than it is about hiring more sales people today. The sales cycle is moving online where good marketing programs can nurture prospects from initial inquiry to paying customer.

The Trapped Data of the Print Industry

Published April 20, 2016

The print industry’s technology is too closed, too proprietary, making it overly difficult for print businesses (the entities that make this whole ecosystem work) to access, use, distribute, and learn from the data their business’ generate every day. If we keep at this, we will choke off the only thing that matters (growing print businesses).

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Infigo

Published April 13, 2016

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify.

Peer Collaboration and the Optimization of Print Software

Published April 7, 2016

Find peers to collaborate with at all levels of your company. When your web-to-print person gets stuck, they should have life-lines to other printers who have the same technology. Don’t rely solely on the vendor. Industry events are the best places to meet peers who share your challenges.

Don’t Try and Train Your Customers

Published March 30, 2016

Your customers don’t want to be trained, your customers want you to make them look good in front of their boss, get them promoted, and generally make their lives easier. Don’t try and educate your customers, sell them on what’s in it for them if they adjust their behaviors (e.g. use your web-to-print system, submit print-ready PDF files, etc.)

Print Production Workflow Automation

Published March 23, 2016

One workflow for all job types results in wasted labor, unrealized profits, and slower turnaround times. The modern print business has to drive automation by creating different routes for different job types. The approach has to be strategic, because automation in one area can create congestion in another.

Making Web-to-Print Part of Your Culture

Published March 16, 2016

Web-to-print is a strategic initiative that creates two service level paths through your organization; self-service and full-service. Your leadership is the key ingredient required for success.

Marketing Your Print Business

Published March 9, 2016

As we move more business online, utilize digital communication channels, and look to diversify – our print business marketing becomes more critical to our overall business success.

Dscoop Collaboration Station – The Tech Talks

Published March 2, 2016

At Dscoop this year, we will be presenting a series of Tech Talks in the Dscoop Collaboration Station on the show floor. We are all on a steep learning curve when it comes to technology. Join us to get a dose of technology education across a wide range of topics. Bring your technology leaders to Dscoop; their importance to your business is growing!

What Are Your Customers Hiring Web-to-Print Systems to Do?

Published February 24, 2016

Your web-to-print initiatives should be focused on the “jobs-to-be-done” for your customers. What can the customer “hire” your web-to-print system to do for them? Web-to-print ROI comes from a 100% focus from your customer’s perspective.

Is the Customer Always Right?

Published February 17, 2016

Customers ask for a lot, they want us to service them but they also need us to apply our expertise to their challenges. The customer can and should be challenged based on your expertise.

Build Collaboration into Your Meetings to Innovate

Published February 3, 2016

Business meetings can be horribly ineffective, yet with a set of small hacks you can unleash the productivity and innovation your company desperately needs. Here’s the good news, all you need is some Post-It Notes and a phone.

Print Software Success Requires Collaboration at All Levels

Published January 27, 2016

As technology continues to change at a rapid rate, collaboration needs to extend into the functional areas of your business. Don’t stop at creating a peer group for print owners, encourage your accounting lead to get into a peer group, each functional area should have multiple sources of knowledge sharing.

Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Propago Marketing Management Platform

Published January 27, 2016

In studying the Propago product, a consistent theme reverberated throughout the product; this product was built based on real-time feedback from live users in a large scale deployment. The approach to solving the business challenges of web-to-print are rooted in data-driven decisions rather than theoretical solutions to ill-defined challenges. Propago came out of a large commercial printing organization that consisted of twenty-five companies across the nation.

Marketing Services, Cross-Media, and YOUR Print Business

Published January 20, 2016

It’s time to stop talking about what we should become (marketing services providers) and actually take the steps that move us in that direction. Think through a go-to-market strategy for offering digital products, execute on that plan on your print business’ marketing, enable your sales team, and start diversifying your revenue streams for the digital age.

Data Modeling: A Critical Juncture of Print MIS implementations

Published January 13, 2016

In Print MIS implementations, your business data entered into the Print MIS database structure creates the data model of your business. Your attention to detail at this critical juncture of Print MIS implementations can set you up for success.

VistaPrint and the Upload-and-Print Market

Published January 6, 2016

Cimpress (parent company of VistaPrint) is expanding into the core of the print market; “upload-and-print”. They are buying demand generators and no doubt investing in user experiences that will enable self-service online purchasing of print for the largest segment of the print industry (manufacturing of the customer’s design/file).

Get Comfortable with Change

Published December 16, 2015

Last week I attended Singularity University’s Executive Program in Silicon Valley. The best way to describe what happened to me after a week of hearing some of the brightest people in tech talk about the future is that they dramatically changed my perspective. Come to find out, I had a very narrow lens through which I viewed the world; they replaced it with a wide angle lens that goes beyond our planet and looks far into the future.

Print Business Leadership – Give Yourself a Promotion

Published December 9, 2015

Rather than face the reality that all print businesses need to evolve, many print owners default to staying “busy” running the business the way it’s been run for years. Don’t be tempted to “numb yourself” by keeping busy, the market conditions are indisputable, the past performance of your print business is not indicative of future results. We are operating in a different reality with very compelling digital alternatives to print communication.

B2C And Web-to-Print: What It Takes To Build A Successful Online Business

Published December 2, 2015

Most printers are business to business (B2B), they do business with other businesses that they have a working relationship with. Business-to-consumer (B2C) is the term used for online businesses that serve anyone who shows up on the website (not necessarily just consumers). As printers consider B2C, they need to understand what it takes to build a successful online business.

Key Questions to Ask When Investing in Print Software Integration

Published November 18, 2015

Integration projects span a wide spectrum, from cheap and easy to complex and very expensive. Focus all your attention about print software integration from one place – your business objectives.

Single Points of Failure

Published November 11, 2015

The topic of single points of failure is typically reserved for technology, yet most businesses have humans as their most critical single points of failure. For your business to scale, be sustainable, and to be data-driven, you have to start transitioning knowledge from humans into systems (e.g. Print MIS).

Top 5 Mistakes in Choosing a Print MIS Solution

Published November 10, 2015

Your Print MIS or Print ERP is the most important print software in your business. The process for purchasing a Print MIS is dysfunctional; avoid these five common mistakes in your Print MIS sales process.

Why Web-to-Print Matters More Now Than Ever

Published November 4, 2015

Web-to-print is a critical piece of your online presence. The ability for your customers to easily transact with you online is no longer a differentiator, it’s an expectation.

The Transition from Physical to Digital Communication

Published October 21, 2015

This pace of change is outrunning your print business’ technology decisions. A web-to-print platform decision you made two years ago could be completely out of date with the mobile-first world we live in today. Your aging ERP/Print MIS system has no way of understanding a product that exits your building via an Ethernet cable rather than a shipping truck.

Communication Changes - Impact on Print

Published October 15, 2015

Jennifer Matt speaks about the dramatic transition we find ourselves in the middle of today, from physical communication mediums to digital devices. This transition is impacting all aspects of your business and your customer’s businesses. The per-page business model that print has been anchored to starts to look awkwardly dated in this connected, mobile, marketplace.

A Strategic Approach to Print Workflow Automation

Published October 7, 2015

All printers should be thinking about “workflow automation” as a strategic initiative; produce more with less labor, less waste, in less time as a way to remain competitive. Time savings should be strategically invested in diversification, new skills acquisition, and cross-training.

Is Your Print Business Sales Focused or Production Focused?

Published September 2, 2015

A sales focus is external. A production focus is internal. A sales focused print business leader is constantly asking the question, “How does this activity/investment improve my customer’s experience or business?” A sales focused print leader escorts the external rate of change into the business at a rate that often makes their employees uncomfortable.

Top 5 Web-to-Print Sales Demonstration Tips

Published August 26, 2015

A web-to-print demo is your chance to demonstrate how your print software technology solves the relevant challenges of a specific customer. The key words are “relevant challenges” and “specific customer”. Do your homework so your demonstration addresses what the customer actually cares about.

The Top Print Software Question: When Will This Be Done?

Published August 19, 2015

Print software is eating your budget because software is becoming the tool of choice for industry leaders to create differentiation in the marketplace.

Transitioning Web-to-Print Solutions

Published August 12, 2015

Maintaining and paying for multiple web-to-print solutions is more expensive than you think. Transitioning off legacy systems has positive repercussions for your technical resources and your customers.

The Fear of Launching Print Software

Published July 22, 2015

Launching any new print software technology can feel risky. With the rate of change in both our businesses and software technology, we have to create a culture that is comfortable with launching early and iterating through issues. It is impossible to predict every possible scenario; it is liberating to accept that finding issues post-launch is part of the plan.

Print Software as an Infrastructure Investment

Published July 15, 2015

Print software is an infrastructure investment in our increasing online and digital economy. Adopting a strategic infrastructure approach to investing in and implementing print software will be a key differentiator for print businesses moving forward.

Technical Staffing for Printers – Top 3 Characteristics

Published July 8, 2015

Staffing your technology is as important as staffing your presses. The top characteristics for good technical resources: understand the limits of your knowledge, resist making assumptions, and see opportunities rather than roadblocks.

Selling Print to an Informed and Predominately Online Buyer

Published July 1, 2015

As the online world continues to expand, your prospects and customers can become more educated buyers. Your response to this is to invest in your online presence so that first impressions count.

Printers 5 Top Challenges with Print Software

Published June 24, 2015

Software is mission critical to your business, like other infrastructure investments it takes time and effort to make the best decisions, plan to get the most ROI, and continue to build differentiation in the marketplace. Optimizing your print software investments comes with challenges which every printer faces in order to compete in an increasingly online, digital world.

Online Print Marketing: Optimizing for Two Audiences

Published June 17, 2015

Inbound marketing is the strategy of choice for online marketing, content is the main ingredient to any successful inbound marketing strategy. Your content has to be optimized for two audiences; your target customers and the search engines.

Top 5 Mistakes with Web-to-Print

Published June 3, 2015

Web-to-print is our term for moving customer engagement online. This represents a big change for most traditional business-to-business printers. This article describes the top five mistakes I see when working with printers through this transition from an offline business to an online / self-service customer interaction model.

The Custom Print Software Project

Published May 27, 2015

When you need a custom software solution, think about assembling a puzzle rather than building from scratch. The software landscape is full of integrate-able pieces that can give you ‘expected’ functionality so you can focus your custom development on what makes you ‘unique’.

Focus, Priorities: The Future of Your Print Business

Published May 13, 2015

Looking backwards won’t help you navigate the uncharted waters of the future. The print businesses of the future will adapt to remain relevant in a digital, online, and data-driven world.

Articles by Jennifer Matt