Print Shop Marketing Tip: Don’t Neglect Your Blog

1. Print Shop Marketing Tip: Don’t Neglect Your Blog A well-maintained blog can be an important channel in your print shop marketing communications toolbox. Depending on the time, interests, and skills of your staff, your blog can feature a series of short-and-sweet posts or a collection of longer, educational tutorials that combine text, images, videos, and slideshows. You can add a new post every week or publish and promote fresh content twice a month. The frequency is up to you. Benefits of Blogging You control the content. A well-produced blog can help document the expertise of your employees, create a favorable impression of our company, and showcase your firm’s unique culture. When people read your print shop blog, they can tell whether the promises you make in your promotional materials are actually true. Blog readers can also get a clear picture of what it might to like to work with your print shop, either as a client, employee, or partner. Over time, your collection of blog posts can help attract and orient new employees and reduce the amount of time customer-service reps must spend answering the same types of questions. A blog helps brings search-engine traffic to your website. ​As you publish more blog posts, you will increase your odds of ranking for various keywords. But don’t try to “optimize” your content at the expense of making it useful. Google’s algorithms reward companies that make a conscious effort to publish educational content that online searchers are seeking. As Tiana Gibbs points out in a post “​There’s No Such Thing as an SEO Expert in 2019​, Google frequently changes its algorithms because “Google is in the business of giving human users what they want when they search online.” She advises content content creators to do the same. You control to whom the content is distributed​. The careful choice of keywords and topics can help you reach targeted audiences. As you attract readers to your site, you can build a community of subscribers who will get email updates to your company’s news and content. Blogging gives you something to promote via social media​. In addition to tweeting links to interesting content published in online magazines or news sites, you can create tweets that bring readers to your website. It can help you get wider media coverage. Reporters from local media and trade magazines often read blog posts to identify expert sources for articles they are researching. It can help your salespeople earn credibility. ​When members of your sales and marketing team publish bylined educational content, they may be regarded more as consultants than strictly salespeople. Some may be invited to speak at events or contribute to publications. Plus, each bylined post helps keep the

2. salesperson's name and contact information in front of potential buyers who are researching printing and visual communications firms. Blogging can help organize your thoughts and test new messaging​. Writing blog posts on a regular basis forces you to organize thoughts, details, and visuals. Once you have developed a blog post, you can adapt the content for a video script or SlideShare presentation. A collection of blog posts can be repurposed as an e-book of white paper. As you track which blog posts attract the most readers and links, you will see which ideas really resonate with your audiences. Use that knowledge to develop web copy or strategies for more promotional marketing materials. Generating Ideas Once you get into the habit of publishing blog posts on a regular basis, ideas for new posts will start to flow. Seeing which types of blog posts generate interest or leads can help guide you to produce similar posts in the future. Here are some ideas: Explain how to hang, install, remove, or recycle graphics​. Teach customers about the different types of adhesives on adhesive-backed materials and describe how to remove adhesive graphics. Or, explain how to recycle or repurpose printed graphics Discuss how to use different types of inkjet-printable materials. ​Customers are always looking for new ways to differentiate themselves. For example, show how new types of fabrics can be used in a trade-show booth. Or demonstrate how custom-printed packaging or wrapping paper can help make a corporate gift or award more memorable. Provide advice on choosing the right material for specific applications. ​Explain why choosing a top-quality material might be overkill for a short-term project or why a cheap material might not endure long-term use. Clarify how to prepare design files for specific types of printing processes. ​For example, designers who traditionally create marketing collateral might not understand how to prepare design files for custom T-shirts or a grand-format billboard. Describe what can happen when the files aren’t properly prepared for the printing process. Offer tips for opening a web store. If you want to attract talented designers who are interested in opening an e-commerce site, write a post about how easy it can be to open an online storefront with their designs printed on products that your shop can produce or ship.

3. Demonstrate how to set up a printing project that uses variable data. ​For designers who are creating a variable-data project for the first time, provide a step-by-step explanation. Suggest creative ideas or explain how to avoid common mistakes. Debunk myths and misconceptions about printing. ​Ask your sales reps about some of the objections they hear about the effectiveness or costs of printing. Publish statistics and selling points that help refute these claims. Publicize success stories​. If your print shop promotes itself as a “solutions provider,” write about situations in which your staff helped clients solve specific production challenges. Recap special events. ​If your shop hosted an educational session for graphic designers, post pictures on your blog and include highlights from the presentation. Compile glossaries​. Define printing-related terms that are commonly used in your promotional materials or estimates. First-time buyers of printing are sometimes reluctant to admit they don’t understand some of the jargon used by printing companies. Publishing a blog can be a time-consuming process. But it can also be a creative, educational endeavor in which all interested employees can participate. One way to make more time for marketing activities such as blogging is to streamline all repetitive tasks associated with processing incoming orders, managing a weekly production schedule, tracking job status, or getting proofs approved. Ordant’s easy-to-use estimating and order management system for all types and sizes of print shops is extremely easy to set up and use. Plus, it can easily be customized as your print shop adds new production or finishing processes. To schedule a demonstration, visit ​www.ordant.com