Dave Hultin, Author at Marketing, content, & technology to help printers sell more printing

Next week, you might be one of the many printers passing through the Houston airport as you arrive for the 8th Annual Spring Conference for the National Print Owners Association (NPOA). I thought you might find it interesting to know that as you head over to claim your luggage at the baggage claim, you’re experiencing the result of some creative problem-solving. The Problem With Waiting Several years ago, passengers passing through the Houston airport often complained about how much time they had to wait to claim their bags. Airport management was concerned that the number of complaints was excessive, and as any good customer-focused business would do, executives at the Houston airport addressed the issue head-on. The Conventional Solution Additional baggage handlers were added, and the average time to wait for passengers to claim their luggage fell to eight minutes, which was a wait time well within accepted airport benchmarks. Problem solved! Or was it? Even with the reduced wait time, the complaints kept coming. The airport executives found they needed to explore the problem from a completely different angle. So, they zoomed out their perspective on the wait-time issue and learned that while the baggage typically arrived at the

Running a print business is hard work. But did you know that you need to be running more than just one business? That’s right. You need to be running three! (Hold on now, take a deep breath, and keep reading!) While that might sound incredibly overwhelming, it’s not as scary as you might think. The truth is, you’re already running three businesses; however, you might not be giving them the attention they deserve. Three Businesses in One Your three businesses are: Your “Get” business, Your “Serve” business, and Your “Keep” business. Each business represents the different ways of approaching your customers and prospects, and the purpose of each of these “businesses” is different: 1. Your “Get” Business The goal of your “Get” business is to turn prospects into customers. Your “Get” business communicates the value you offer and encourages print buyers to use your service for the first time. In this business, you’ll need to remind your prospects over and over again on why they should choose you as their printer. Your success in the “Get” business will be measured by how many of your prospects become first-time customers, and it will depend on your efforts to ensure a steady

What’s more fun: adding something new to the lineup of products and services, or taking something out? Ask that question to anyone, and they’ll almost certainly say, “Adding something new.” Ask any marketer, and they’ll say “ADDING SOMETHING NEW!!!!!” Expanding the lineup of products and services offered is fun, exciting, and just plain sexy. It’s the byproduct of doing business! Subtraction is Necessary However, while additions are sexy, subtraction is necessary. I had an excellent reminder of that recently when Rachel Nies, our Director of Marketing, brought to our team’s attention that we’re offering printing templates for print buyers to use for their CD and DVD printing projects. As part of Rachel’s cycle of regular content review, she correctly noted that CDs and DVDs aren’t nearly as relevant as they once were, giving way to cloud storage and distribution, flash drives, and high-speed internet connections that more readily supporting large file transfers. You can see those templates in context on the Layout Templates page of one of our public demo websites, but you have to get there before Rachel does because we’re going to remove those templates. When those templates are removed, that will mean we’ll no longer be able

It seems a day rarely goes by without our team here at Marketing Ideas For Printers fielding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) questions from our customers and prospects. I recently found myself answering one of those questions with one of our newest customers and found myself remembering the advice of Sal, the SEO Expert. Sal offered good advice almost two years ago, and it’s still relevant today. So, I thought it time to reintroduce you to Sal’s tips and expand on Sal’s recommendation to approach your website’s SEO strategy the same way you approach a book. It All Starts with the Title When you enter a bookstore, whether the physical or virtual version, what do you notice first? Of course, it’s the book covers, and the same is true with search engines. That’s because the title is what appears in your website’s home page tab or window bar, and it’s the equivalent of a book’s title. Books are known by their titles, so it’s essential to ask yourself: How do you want your website to be known? How do you want to be known to the search engines? Then, make sure the answer to those questions reflects in your website’s title.

Whether you need inspiration, education, growth opportunities, or escape, podcasts are an excellent way to meet that need on your own time. I love listening to business podcasts on my alone-time drive time, and there’s no shortage of great podcasts out there. Here are a few of my favorites: Social Media Marketing Podcast Why I like it: Michael Stelzner always has top-notch guests that openly share their social media marketing knowledge. While the topics are specific to social media, there’s always lots of good knowledge that can be applied to other marketing channels as well. Podcast info… How I Built This Why I like it: Every entrepreneur has struggled with growing pains. This podcast features the stories of some of the world’s best-known companies, complete with all the struggles that come with the journey to becoming a “best-known company.” The stories are inspirational and encouraging. Consider this quote from one of the more recent podcasts, featuring innovative vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson: When you feel like giving up is precisely the point everybody else gives up. So it’s at that point you must put in extra effort. If you do that, then success is literally just around the corner.

A few weeks ago, we brought in Kris Rivenburgh, an attorney, website accessibility consultant, and the author of The ADA Book to help printers understand the challenges they may face with website accessibility and compliance issues based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). After I met Kris, it quickly became my opinion that this would be one of the most important webinars we’ve ever presented. After the webinar, I learned that I wasn’t alone in this opinion when I received this feedback from Danny (one of the attendees): Thank you, Dave, for providing this information. When I first read the email [about the Defend Your Digital Castle webinar you were promoting], I was pretty dubious. After we spoke on the phone, I thought it might be worthwhile. Now I understand how valuable this could possibly be. Danny’s first impression of the webinar (based on the email he received) was that we were trying to use a scare tactic to encourage people to attend this webinar. I assured him this wasn’t the case, and that this was an incredible learning opportunity. Danny attended the webinar, and after the fact, Danny agreed! But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back

Knight defending castle representing ADA Website Compliance Check training

Imagine your typical day. You arrive at work, ready to conquer the world, but then the mail arrives, and you get “the letter.” It’s a demand letter from a law firm, alerting you to legal action being taken against you based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ADA compliance challenges have historically focused on brick-and-mortar properties. Attorneys would issue the challenge after making an on-site visit to the property to find and identify the basis for a potential challenge. But, everything’s changed with the internet. Now, these attorneys don’t even need to make a physical visit to your property to issue their challenge; all they need to do is drive by on Google Streetwise to look for potential violations to challenge. The internet also changed what can get challenged. Attorneys are now not only challenging physical properties, but they’re challenging digital properties as well. That’s what led to this simple email we received from Dan: Several businesses in our area are getting threatened with ADA lawsuits because their websites are not ADA compliant. Is our website compliant? Defend Your Digital Castle Dan explained the rash of ADA website compliance checks that have hit businesses in his area over the last

What separates the leaders of the pack from everyone else? While there’s no “one size fits all” answer to that question, here’s one of my favorite answers: The Entrepreneurial Operating System®, or EOS®. Quoting directly from the EOS website, EOS is… a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped thousands of entrepreneurs get what they want from their businesses. Gino Wickman (literally!) wrote the book on EOS. In his book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Wickman details the Six Key Components™ of any business that must be managed and strengthened to be a great business. Those components are: Vision People Data Issues Process Traction® We want to help make it easier for printers like you to sell more printing, and the Entrepreneurial Operating System has the power to do just that. EOS works best for small businesses with ten to 250 employees. It’s been a huge benefit for how we do business here at Marketing Ideas For Printers, and based on our experience with EOS, I’m confident in saying that EOS could be a good fit for you, too. Here’s a brief summary of each of the Six Key Components, along with a small insight as to what that component

Editing, Adobe Illustrator, Marketing Ideas For Printers

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.” For example: You can put a water hose in your car’s gas tank, but you probably shouldn’t. You can use the same password for all of your internet accounts, but you probably shouldn’t. You can use Adobe Illustrator to edit PDF files, but you probably shouldn’t. “Yep, uh-huh, wait… what? Why shouldn’t I use Adobe Illustrator to edit our PDF files?” Why Adobe Illustrator isn’t an Ideal PDF Editor Not too long ago, an update was applied to the engine that powers uDesignIt!, an MI4P website add-on that allows print buyers to personalize documents on printers’ websites. The update came with all the “normal” update stuff you’d expect, such as better performance, enhancements, etc. It also took care of some housekeeping items on the way PDFs are produced. The only downside of the update is that it caused the PDFs that are created as a result of using uDesignIt! to be less friendly when edited in Adobe Illustrator. The Real Question (And Answer) If you’re asking: “Less friendly? Does this mean I can’t use Adobe Illustrator to edit PDFs created by uDesignIT! any longer?”, the

Imagine a world where you’re able to sell more printing online AND in person. (This isn’t some dreamy place beyond the realm of possibility.) It sounds easier said than done, but it is VERY possible. A recent experience of mine with my cell phone company touched on one of the most important goals to not overlook in selling more printing: having an in-person AND an online focus for your business. My Experience(s) Let me start by saying I hate dealing with the details of cell phone agreements and contracts. When my kids were young and impressionable, I told them, “Hate is a strong word.” I don’t use the word “hate” lightly, but I hate trying to make sense of cell phone agreements and contracts. Recently, my wife and I decided to add our youngest child to our family’s cell phone plan. I approached the task with a combination of fear and the perseverance of a bully-mindset where I got my way by taking no prisoners. Ordering Online: The Path of Least Resistance I went for the path of least resistance: online ordering, here I come! It was more convenient and, quite honestly, it empowered me to make better decisions. If I need to

« Previous Page — Next Page »