Last week at Dscoop EMEA I moderated a panel with a couple of successful British printers. Of all things to get from the Brits, I brought back a great American football analogy.

Gary Peeling of London-based Precision Printing, described his print business strategy in terms of an American football pass receiver, he catches the pages created by the demand of the quarterbacks (online businesses who are generating demand for print products and require fulfillment partners). Precision Printing works hard at differentiating itself as the go-to receiver – the one the quarterback chooses again and again because they offer scale, redundancy, and the technical know-how to catch any data stream required. They're big, technical, and automation is critical to their profitability.

At Graph Expo last month I was on a panel with Chris Petro of Global Soft Digital Solutions, Global Soft is playing the role of both quarterback and receiver – creating the demand by leading with technology as a business process optimization tool for marketing communications and receiving the pages generated by it. They're innovative, agile, and their sales strategy is critical.

I'm working on a project for a major equipment manufacturer who wants to provide a toolset for printers who are looking to expand their offerings beyond print into digital communication products and services "e.g. marketing services". Moving from a pure print manufacturer to a marketing services agency might be as unbelievable to some as the football punter transitioning to playing lineman. The success stories here have essentially reinvented their businesses either by buying an agency or reinventing themselves from within (the best example I've seen is Pulp out of Bristol, TN.)

The primary way humans communicate is transitioning from the printed page to the digital screen. For the industry that manufactures the printed page – this is nothing short of a tectonic change in the business landscape.

What evolutionary path are you taking with your print business? There are far more options than the ones noted above. Staying the course that brought you to this point is the only path that isn't a viable option. Too much has changed to believe that what got you to this point; modern equipment, good service, and competitive pricing of print products will keep you in business going forward. The business environment you compete in today is fundamentally different and that requires you to evolve, adapt, and chart a course that takes into consideration that new landscape.

The changes are fundamental. These changes make transitions like desktop publishing, digital printing, and inkjet seem trivial. The primary way humans communicate is transitioning from the printed page to the digital screen. For the industry that manufactures the printed page – this is nothing short of a tectonic change in the business landscape.

In the end, what matters is what produces results with the right economics. Digital communication methods and the businesses that offer them have some fundamental advantages to the printed page. The better we understand these advantages the more we can apply what we learned to make our print business more competitive. The sales/buying experience, the ability to monitor and measure, and the ability to integrate messages across multiple channels are three key advantages of digital communication methods. We can make print more competitive by evolving our approach to all three of these areas.