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

Welcome back to another edition of Sell More Printing, where we explore real-world sales and marketing strategies that you, as a printer, can adapt to boost your business. This month, we’re tackling a topic close to home – my own klutzy coffee mishap and how it can be adapted to create a recurring revenue stream for you. Cleaning up Spilled Coffee with a Subscription Picture my not-so-graceful departure on a recent family road trip. My poorly secured cup of coffee led to an unfortunate spill on my iPhone. The panicked moments that followed, marked by a “Liquid Detected” warning, led me to an impromptu subscription to iCloud+. I hastily subscribed to iCloud+ before we drove away, and this subscription allowed me to back up my iPhone on the go. My hope? Salvage my data before the coffee-induced demise of my phone. How This Helps You Sell More Printing In my chaotic coffee episode, iCloud+ became my data lifeline. That got me thinking, as a printer, you can consider something similar for your printing business – offering a File Storage subscription akin to iCloud+. Offering this service as a subscription not only secures your clients’ precious files but also provides a

Each month’s Sell More Printing feature aims to highlight the exceptional sales and marketing efforts of others so you can adapt them to help you sell more printing. Last month, we explored a unique way to strengthen relationships with high-value clients by sending a physical Money Tree plant to symbolize mutual growth and your commitment to their success. Let’s take this concept one step further with two simple ice cubes! Watering the Money Tree with Ice If you followed the QR code from last month’s article to the ongoing conversation on LinkedIn, you know that our preferred vendor for the Money Tree is a company called Just Add Ice. It’s a clever name, but what does it mean? Well, when you order a Money Tree from Just Add Ice, it comes with a tag in the plant’s soil with clear and concise instructions: It’s a visual reminder that’s hard to miss, making the care process foolproof. Make it Easy and Memorable What could be easier than watering with ice cubes? But Just Add Ice doesn’t stop there. They go the extra mile to ensure that customers never forget to water their Money Trees by offering to send them friendly email

Welcome to the start of a new feature to help you Sell More Printing! This article aims to highlight the exceptional sales and marketing efforts of others so you can adapt them to help you sell more printing. First in our sights is the Money Tree, which provides a creative and clever way to show appreciation to your best customers. The Money Tree The Money Tree is an actual plant. (Its fancy name is “Pachira aquatica” if you need proof!) The name makes it sound like it has a centuries-old legend attached to it, but its story is just a few decades old. Its popularity started in the 1980s when a Taiwanese truck driver braided the trunks of five small trees in a single flowerpot. Here’s a picture of the Money Tree I keep sitting on my desk: Send a Money Tree to High-Value Print Buyers Here at Marketing Ideas For Printers, I now send a Money Tree to subscribers purchasing a premium subscription service by following this simple process. First, I make an informal YouTube video that shows my Money Tree and mentions how we’ll both be able to fertilize our Money Trees and grow together. We then have

We live in a world that’s saturated with data. Data can be ignored (like, did you really need to see how many new Facebook mentions you received in the last 90 seconds?), or data can be used for productive purposes, such as uncovering new sales opportunities. Today, I have two sales-related data stories to share with you. One is a data failure, and the other is a data success—first, the failure. Sales Data Fail Several years ago, we made a change in our office and installed a new water dispenser with an inline filtration system, replacing the previous dispenser that required us to swap out jugs of fresh water five gallons at a time. If you look at the picture above, you can see the water lines coming out of the wall. We moved into the modern era and no longer had to carry water! A few of my team joked that it looked like the water was now being delivered by Ethernet! Digital water, who would have guessed?!? After the installation of the new system, I called the original water delivery service and canceled all future deliveries of those five-gallon jugs. The vendor confirmed that they’d cancel

If we were like every other business, we’d be offering you a year-end review right about now. But, you know what? Here at Marketing Ideas For Printers, we like to do things a little differently to allow for a greater vision. It looks like this. We follow a quarterly rhythm for working on the bigger projects that bring content and online ordering solutions together by asking ourselves, “What are the most important things we need to accomplish in the next 90 days?” We then create that list and get to work on those most important projects. Often, one of the first things I do when starting a project like that is to write a press release announcing the completed project. That press release is used for vision casting and for internal use only; its purpose is to help everyone involved understand what the project’s end result is supposed to look like. That, in turn, helps everyone get pointed in the right direction immediately. In the spirit of those “predictive press releases,” I thought you’d enjoy my perspective on the coming year here at Marketing Ideas For Printers and what’s coming your way to help you sell more printing. 2023: A

About seven years ago, I shared a tip about one way I stay in vacation mode when I’m on vacation. It’s important to me to honor my family by not letting my attention drift back to work. Knowing that “checking my email just for a few moments” is a surefire way to get sucked back into work, I established a safeguard. I asked Rachel to read my email for me. That’s why I wrote about how Rachel, the Human Auto-Responder, Reads My Email at that time. And there’s the big, bold headline: I Don’t Like Auto-Responders A New Perspective It’s funny how time can change one’s perspective because today, I’m going to share a different tip on preventing emails from sucking you out of vacation and back into work. And guess what, this tip requires autoresponders!!! So what changed? Rachel changed! She’s no longer in a position to read all my emails. As the Director of Marketing at Marketing Ideas For Printers, her day simply doesn’t allow her the time required to be my email babysitter. In that same post, I said, I understand that not everyone has the luxury of having someone like Rachel available to respond to emails. Well, guess

Owning a business can bring about a fantastic journey. Last year, my wife, Judy, decided to begin this entrepreneurial journey herself when she launched Fargo Glamping, a business built on the idea of Glamour + Camping = Glamping. So far, it’s been a successful journey for Judy, and it’s been fun to see her idea take shape. But watching my wife’s business grow from the ground up has reminded me that relying only on the products or services a business provides isn’t going to make her company grow roots as successfully as she wants or needs. In today’s online world, it’s social proof and reviews that are the new currency. For example, I can show you a pretty picture of the tent she provides for a one-of-a-kind glamping event, but it doesn’t become real until you hear about the experience and imagine what the experience could be for yourself by reading a review, such as: Thank you so much for the wonderful experience! My daughter had the best birthday and she can’t wait to do it all again next year. The tent was more than we ever expected and was absolutely beautiful! The small details that you all do make

It was a long year last week at Marketing Ideas For Printers. Our whole leadership team (including myself) plus one other team member tested positive for COVID. I’m thankful we did the hard work ahead of time to be able to survive such an interruption. Well-Defined Processes “Well-defined” doesn’t mean “lots of words.” It means others have a clear roadmap on how to keep things moving when “the regulars” can’t. Build a Team That’s not adding more people to your payroll, it’s training the people already on your payroll to operate as an efficient team working towards the same goal. Team-Focused is one of our core values. What a beautiful feeling of peace knowing that someone’s got your back! Focus on Your Vision You’re going to face distractions and interruptions, but as long as you have a clearly defined vision, a True North, you have a path to get back on track. The journey may look different than you expected, but the destination won’t change. Hard Work Worth Doing You don’t want to do the hard work when everything else around you is hard, you want to do the hard work when you’re not distracted by emergencies. Do the hard

Belief is powerful. What you believe in can guide you, give you purpose, and fill you with hope and optimism no matter what may come your way. 2020 has been a year that has required much belief. So much belief that the events of 2020 may make phrases like “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” feel like they lack the meaning and depth they usually carry. But, hold on. Allow me to share one of the greatest stories in history with you – a story where clinging to the belief of a brighter future yet to come marked a moment so significant that we recalibrated our calendar to that moment. You may choose to receive this story of a snapshot in time as nothing more than history. Or, if you’re like me and you look at history through a spiritual lens, perhaps you’ll see a deeper meaning as Christmas Day 2020 arrives. Finding Belief Amidst Silence If you were a citizen of the ancient nation of Israel 2,400 years ago, you would be used to hearing words of instruction and caution from those that God chose to speak His words through. In fact, you would have been accustomed to the mighty moves of your nation’s God shown both in blessings

Are you charging too little and leaving money on the table? Or maybe you’re charging too much and scaring potential customers away before the money even makes it to the table? It’s hard to know… Until now! With this simple assignment, you’ll be able to verify that your pricing reflects what the market will support. Your Guide to Goldilocks Pricing Getting that “just right” pricing for your print company can be an intimidating project if you let it. But there’s safety in numbers; you don’t have to go it alone! You have the opportunity to join hundreds of other printers in the National Print & Sign Owners Association (NPSOA) 2020 Offset & Digital Printing Pricing Survey. This survey, written by printers and created by printers who are still in the industry and relevant, will provide you with valuable insight as to how your pricing strategy compares to other printers. By participating, you’ll get a sense as to how close you are to your desired “just right” Goldilocks pricing. And speaking of pricing, guess what? All NPSOA members and non-members who participate in the survey will receive a free copy of the 2020 Offset & Digital Printing Pricing Study when released

« Previous Page — Next Page »