Content Marketing

Most B2B sales are a two-part process. Marketing is what happens before the buyer contacts you (part one). Sales is what happens after (part two). A printer's salesperson only has control over part two, and that's the shortest window in the B2B sale.

57% of the selling process is completed for buyers before a company has a chance to interact with them. This means that print providers need to inject themselves into the sales process much earlier. Forgo targeting the 3% ready to buy now and, instead, go after the 97% who aren't. Be the brand they

During the last few months, digital content in the form of blogs, social media, and email was highly effective at allowing companies to stay engaged with mostly remote audiences. With some degree of distancing now part of our foreseeable future (possibly culture), this trend will continue. Do not ig

Here are five things I think bear repeating when it comes to marketing your print and mail services.

Commit to being the catalyst for growth in 2020. Utilize content marketing to build awareness and position your brand as the trusted resource. Don't let your website put you at a competitive disadvantage — 67% of prospects go there first to form opinions about your company.

Today, as in the past, there are too many service providers chasing too few jobs. Many still believe that the answer to survival is finding a new salesperson who promises a large book of business or perhaps a better motivated and skilled sales staff that excels at prospecting, time management, and c

Commit to growth in 2019! In many cases, this also requires a commitment to being a change agent. The following are three things to consider as you plan for a successful 2019:

Don't rely on business growth to come from an improving economy or from finding the next great salesperson. Print providers need to be the catalysts for growth. They need to utilize marketing to differentiate themselves and give their sales staff a competitive advantage. ** Client Retention:** O

Credibility and trust begin at your website. Your website is the first place that 67% of prospects visit. Even existing customers are influenced by your site. Many sales are lost there. Conversely, having an active website will give you an advantage over many of your competitors.

Commercial printing has always had a sales-focused culture. When it comes to growing their businesses, printers have always invested heavily in sales training focused on prospecting and closing techniques. While these skills are important, the ability to retain existing clients has a much greater im

1\. Sell your customers on the role print plays in an effective marketing strategy. [This article in Forbes will help:](http://ow.ly/kSRt30fur3C) "The Art Of The Leave-Behind."2. Print companies that had double-digit growth last year supported their sales efforts with marketing collateral (Infotrend

I want to tell you about four quick tips I recently shared with my clients. The first is a key take away from research produced by InfoTrends (Lisa Cross and Kate Dunn) that identified best practices from print providers that experienced double-digit sales growth in the past 12 months."While engagin

I wanted to share a few thoughts on marketing your print and direct mail services:1. "See Me, Trust Me, Like Me" is your marketing objective. Outbound marketing to stay top of mind, inbound (website) to promote trust, and social media to foster "likeability".2. "The customer's perception is your rea

1\. Less than two years ago, Google's new Hummingbird algorithm shook the SEO world. As usual, there was no advance notice. The next big event will be 4/21. This time, Google has given notice. If your company website is not mobile friendly by this date, it will have an adverse effect on your search

Do you have a LinkedIn strategy? If not, you should.To get the most out of your marketing content you can't stop at mailing, emailing, and posting to your website. Leverage LinkedIn both from a company standpoint and an individual standpoint.Do you use Slideshare to share content on LinkedIn? I've h

In the last 2 weeks, I've witnessed and spoken with printers who are reporting fantastic results. Here is a summary of what four of them have done.**Printer in PA** hosted an open house featuring educational sessions. They promoted it vigorously using multiple channels and generated lots of attentio

At the end of the day, it's all about trust. Most often, people will give the job to the company they feel has the greatest amount of competency and then come up with ways to justify not giving it to someone else.The most effective way to influence your brand is to produce content that reflects your

Here are some things I would absolutely do. I would make sure that my website was better than any of my competitors. I'd obsess about this, plan quarterly meetings to discuss improvements, and make sure new content was being added at least monthly.

This is a copy of the end-of-year letter I recently sent to all of my clients at Great Reach Communications. I wanted to share this with everyone because I think it contains valuable, actionable advice that can be utilized regardless of whether you are a client or not.Business growth in the next yea

Take the challenge and be the catalyst for change in 2014. Try at least four of these ideas for six months and see what happens. I'd love to hear your results and get your feedback. We can help you implement several of these if you choose.

Brand is simply a mental creation to help people understand one company and its services over another. How aware are people of all your services? If you still hear "I didn't know you could do that", chances are your branding efforts are failing.**Position your company as the go-to resource.** Strong

These days content marketing is the big buzz. I've spent the last 18 years providing content marketing solutions to the print industry so this is an area of expertise for me.If you are currently utilizing or plan on utilizing content to help grow your business, here are 5 quick things to think about

_Guest post by Dick Rossman__rossmanconsulting.com_I couldn't resist this play on words to introduce the subject of Content Marketing, which has quickly become one of the most vital parts of any online marketing strategy. Businesses are discovering that they can

1\. Create content with your customers' needs in mind rather than the needs of SEO, your company newsletter or social media. Too many companies are misdirecting their focus. If it doesn't present strong value to your customers, then it's not going to help you with the other areas either.2. The tyran

Your company website is the FIRST place prospects go to evaluate you. How does your site compare to those of your competitors? Are you putting your company at a competitive disadvantage right from the start? Here are some things to consider: