A Wide Variety Of Marketing Tips

Thinking about getting a wide-format ink-jet printer? Worried it won't draw enough business? Find out how other managers did it.

Have you considered buying a wide-format ink-jet printer for your in-plant, but worried that you wouldn't attract enough business to justify it? Or perhaps you have one but it's just not getting used often enough.

Well fear not. IPG talked to managers from around the country to find out how they market their capabilities to their customers. And for several managers, these devices have almost sold themselves.

"We actually sold several jobs off of it before we got the machine here, so we were biting our nails," recalls Mark McCarty, director of printing services at Emporia State University, in Emporia, Kan. "It got here, and in less than 48 hours we had to have a 20x51⁄2-foot sign done."

When shopping for his Tektronix Phaser 600 printer, McCarty brought in a test of his own to see how each vendor's equipment worked.

"When we were looking at different machines, we made one file that printed out different things onto a poster. Then we took it to vendors and tried it on different machines to see what it would look like, how fast it would print and how it handed it."

Prints of that test file were later sent out to regional printers, other state schools and the state printer to show off the university's new capabilities.

McCarty was happy to find that the purchase of the new printer paid for itself within one year. And his customers have been pleased with its output. Printing Services won praise from the NCAA for posters promoting a recent women's basketball tournament held at ESU. In addition, a three-panel display created for a national science contest reportedly got more attention than the winning entry sent by the university.

Getting a laminator with a wide-format printer is something McCarty highly recommends. Also, he suggests managers use more creativity on what types of jobs are done on the wide-format printer.

"If you really stop and think about it, there is just all sorts of ways you can use these machines," stresses McCarty.

Here are some tips from managers.

Battelle Memorial Institute

Columbus, Ohio

Brian Soppelsa: Manager of Publications Management and Productions

System: Encad

Types of jobs: Large-format displays for employee information, display panels for exhibits, in-house signage.

Jobs per week: 12+

Marketing tips: Getting your wide-format products noticed is very important, according to Soppelsa. He says he printed out samples as soon as the shop got its wide-format printer, so that customers could see the effectiveness of its output. Soppelsa says managers should market their capabilities in as many ways as possible.

"If you have an Internet site, use that; if you have an employee newsletter and are in good with your communication department, use that," he suggests.

Soppelsa has found that producing exhibit displays for his communications department has helped bring in more work via word-of-mouth.

Becton Dickinson

Franklin Lakes, N.J.

Michael Bekker: Manager of Printing and Mailing Services

System: Hewlett-Packard 2500

Types of jobs: Posters for corporate seminars, announcements and meetings.

Jobs per week: 14

Marketing tips: Bekker admits he did not try to market his wide-format printer at first, due to a lack of staffing. But in the months following its addition to the pressroom, Bekker has found ways to get the word out, even if it meant bringing in temporary help to lessen the load. First, he made sure each poster had a "blurb" at the bottom, advertising that it was done in-house. Bekker also suggests some other helpful hints.

"Post them [posters] about the printer itself in general locations that everybody sees," Bekker suggests. "When you tell people what they are saving—if you can save them 50 or 60 percent on a poster—they are going to love it."

Broward Community College

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

William Buckler: Director of Printing and Graphic Arts

System: Encad

Types of jobs: Promotional posters, student government materials.

Jobs per week: 10

Marketing tips: Buckler says word-of-mouth advertising has been quite effective in marketing his shop's wide-format capabilities throughout the five campus branches he serves. The power of suggestion has also been utilized to get more wide-format work for the shop.

"We are similar to a small ad agency. We have customers come in and sit down with us, and often we will suggest wide-format," Buckler says. Also, offering wide-format prints at about one-third of the price of other South Florida printers hasn't hurt the in-plant's business.

Emporia State University

Emporia, Kan.

Mark McCarty: Director of Printing Services

System: Tektronix Phaser 600

Types of jobs: Recruitment pieces for college fairs, marquees for plays, sporting event posters, alumni events, contest displays.

Jobs per week: 20

Marketing tips: "Try to figure out who will utilize this the most," advises McCarty. "For us it was our admissions, alumni and public relations offices."

Once the wide-format printer arrived, flyers were sent out to everyone on campus announcing the new capabilities. Samples have also been posted within the shop to show customers its effectiveness. But why stop just with campus?

"We are the only one in the town that has a machine like this, so we have been able to promote it through some local businesses," McCarty notes.

SCI Systems

Huntsville, Ala.

Carl Lucas: Supervisor of Publications

System: Hewlett-Packard

Types of jobs: Corporate posters, framed art for offices.

Jobs per week: 12

Marketing tips: "You've got to let your customers know you have it and that it's available to them," states Lucas. The way his shop did that was through a bulletin announcing the wide-format HP's arrival.

Lucas also suggests educating your customers on how the wide-format printer works and what applications can be used on it. He says some customers came in with huge posters that the shop had no way of scanning because of their size.

"Let them know what the parameters and restrictions are," Lucas says. "That was a mistake we made. We didn't make them understand."

Trans World Entertainment

Albany, N.Y.

Paul DeBiase: Graphic Arts Manager

System: Tektronix Phaser 600

Types of jobs: Charts, backlit posters, sale signs, poster advertisements.

Jobs per week: 5

Marketing tips: "Samples sell—they are worth 1,000 words," DeBiase testifies. "The more colorful, better looking piece really makes an impact."

DeBiase now has more control over which wide-format jobs his shop produces, since he has the printer in-house. He notes that many wide-format jobs are now produced that were not in the past, and he suggests to his customers that more work get sent that route.

"We now have the capability to make anything we want into a poster," DeBiase declares. "It's opened up a whole new world for us."