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AppForum 2012 Highlights and Takeaways with Dave Erlandson

Published on January 27, 2012

PODi/Caslon General Manager Dave Erlandson highlights 4 key points attendees picked up at this year's AppForum

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Hi, I’m Dave Erlandson, general manager of PODi and Caslon, and I thought I’d give you a wrap-up of some of the key highlights from AppForum 2012. We just finished the conference. And the conference, as you know, is for companies that want to take advantage of the new opportunities enabled by digital printings, so companies that are marketing service providers or are becoming solution providers, these are the folks that attend.

I want to share four key takeaways with you. Number one, the market for digital printing is growing. While offset printing may be declining, color digital printing is expected to double over the next decade. So a great opportunity, lots of great opportunity for folks out there.

Number two, direct mail is still an important part of the direct marketing mix. However, cross-media is really important. QR Codes, pearls, landing pages and soon personalized video and augmented reality are going to be really a part of the mix.

Number three, we talked a lot about strategy, and, really, when you boil it all down, you have two choices when you're a print service provider or printer. You can be a low-cost provider or you can be a value-added solutions provider. In either case, the ability to take an order over the Internet is critical. If you can't take an order over the Internet today, you're not going to win in this market.

And number four, Ken Schmidt of Harley Davidson reminded us of the value of connecting with our prospects at an emotional level and he also gave us a good strategy for connecting with our customers and that is try to make a hero out of your customer. If you can make your customer a hero, you're going to win the business.

So thanks everybody who attended AppForum 2012 and we look forward to seeing you all again next year. Thanks, bye now.

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Discussion

By Ingrid Coke on Feb 01, 2012

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the great concise and direct highlights of the conference. Are there other conferences such as this during the course of 2012 for those print providers just transitioning into becoming cross media marketing solutions providers and simply do not want to wait 1 year to get up-to-date with market trends? You may respond directly to me at icoke@mapcoprinters.com.
Blessings. Ingrid

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