CHESTNUT HILL, MA - With her sights set on helping companies promote their strengths and corporate personalities through carefully crafted content, Margie Dana has exited the event production business and started a new company at www.margiedana.com.

Since 2003, when she founded the local Boston Print Buyers association, followed by the Print Buyers International group, Margie has been committed to bridging the gap between print manufacturers and their customers. Her newest venture is an extension of this mission. As explained in this new video, Margie now focuses on content strategy services for companies who lack the resources to toot their own horn.

As a former print buyer, Margie is sensitive to the issues and motivations of professionals who source print. And as the founder of a major print buying association that held annual conferences for seven years, she is acutely aware of the challenges that this market faces as print and print buying continue to evolve. She will draw on all of her previous professional experience to help clients articulate the benefits of their products and services.

Building communities through content

Ms. Dana might be best known for her weekly email newsletter, “Margie’s Print Tips,” which she started in 1999 to promote her first business. That newsletter is still published every Monday and will be housed on the new web site. “If it weren’t for my Tips newsletter, I don’t think anybody in this industry would know me,” said Dana. “I’m living proof that content builds communities, and now I want to help companies build their own communities by providing and publishing great content both online and off.” She has also launched a new blog, “Margie on Marketing,” which will be regular musings about business marketing trends – the good, the bad, the ugly.

Goodbye event producer, hello content stylist
After years of producing successful annual conferences for print buyers, Margie is exiting the event production business. With a desire to get back to her first love of writing, she’s honoring her late mother who (along with many English teachers) encouraged her to “use her words.” Services include writing and editing content, ghostwriting (such as social media posts), public speaking, and private event design. Ms. Dana will also continue to do market research about print buying.

“Too many companies in this industry have zero resources for developing good content about their work and their accomplishments. I’ve been itching to help them for years – not only in words but also in videos, images and in-person participation at appropriate events. Content development has always come easily for me. I think of it as content styling – and I’m certain that I can help clients increase their visibility in the same way. ”

For details about this new business, visit www.margiedana.com, where you can also sign up for Margie’s Print Tips as well as her Margie on Marketing blog.

Commentary from Cary Sherburne

When Margie first told me she was exiting the event business, I wondered:  What will happen to the print buyer community she so painstakingly built over the last 15 years?

“I remain connected to print buyers through my columns, books,Print Tips newsletter, PBI LinkedIn Group, etc., and people stillreach out to me all the time, every day. The fact that I had two events in each of the last two years, brought me face to face with print buyers and printers alike, but my primary communities have come from my content – and always have.

“People in the industry are perhaps presuming I have one-to-one conversations ongoing with print buyers, and I do, but it is not really so much as a result of the conferences.  I will still have those ongoing conversations through my various communications channels. Nothing has changed about my championing print buyer causes. ”

Margie went on to point out that unfortunately, the dedicated print buyer community continues to shrink, along with the printing shipments in the industry. She believes that many of the people who are now buying print will still benefit from her communications, but are probably also engaged in some form of content generation.  “This new business actually just takes what I have been doing for many years to the next level,” she adds.“None of this will come at the expense of the buying side.”

I love her “content stylist” designation … This is exactly what is needed, both inside and outside the printing and print-related industry. She is an expert in social media and an excellent writer (coming from someone who always has her mental red pen in hand when reading anything!). And she is a respected expert in our industry.

“As a rule,” she says, “printers are not very good at marketing themselves.  I can look at everything a company has actively in the works and help them effectively promote themselves through multiple media, with the right messaging for the audiences they want to target.”

While the core attendees at the Print Buyers InternationalConference will likely be saddened by it coming to an end, as the saying goes: when one door closes, another opens.  This is true for Margie and is also true for her potential client base, including her loyal print buyer following.

Margie concludes, “I want to help printers host private print customer events, and I think my experience with PBI conferences will help make these smaller events successful. I feel more comfortable in my own skin helping printers marketing their own businesses in this way. This is something I have always wanted to do.”