Business Management - Marketing/Sales

By some estimates, blogging and social networking sites account for about one in every six minutes of the time spent on the Internet. Social networks can be used to spread information about your organization to customers and to enhance customer interaction and brand recognition.

We asked 10 managers how they market their in-plants—without a marketing budget. They offered some excellent ideas.

In-plants have the opportunity to change the scope of their offerings by adding the same kinds of non-print services offered by many commercial operations. These new offerings—often termed cross-media or integrated services—typically involve some type of outgoing marketing offers or other communications to customers or prospects.

Winning 13 In-Print 2010 awards—plus the Best of Show—was a tremendous honor for the Printing Services staff at the University of Oklahoma. To show its gratitude to the customers that ordered those award-winning pieces, the in-plant recently held an awards presentation, during which it presented those customers with duplicate In-Print awards.

The 2010 In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference brought close to 100 in-plant managers to New Mexico's largest city. The topics, speakers and enthusiasm were almost as hot as the weather.

I WAS very excited last year when I learned the 2010 In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference would be held in one of my all-time favorite places, Albuquerque, NM. Over the years, several family members have moved there, and I've visited more than a dozen times, so going there last month for the conference was like a homecoming—in more ways than one.

The University of Texas at Austin Document Solutions was honored with IPMA’s In-House Promotional Excellence Award for its self-promotion efforts.

A few months ago, Tony Seaman was in charge of a 14-employee in-plant at the University of Mississippi. Today he is director of Brand Creative Services, a 25-employee operation that includes not just printing but designers, copywriters and brand account managers.

IT WAS a reunion well worth waiting for. Two years after its last conference in Florida, the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) finally met again in April in Charlotte, N.C., bringing old friends and newcomers together for an enjoyable and enlightening event.

Do we really understand what the customer experience is like? And why that experience might drive customers to look for alternative sources for printing?