Core Values Archives - Marketing, content, & technology to help printers sell more printing

If you were to ask small business owners what they want to be known for, most of them wouldn’t say what their business does. Well, at least not completely. Instead, there’s a good chance that you’d hear them say things like: “Integrity… and being the best dentist in town.” “Honesty… and the fastest free shipping company.” “Commitment… and one-to-one consulting services.” Have you ever wondered why that is? Because just about every human being on the planet (including small business and print owners) wants to leave their mark on the world and be known for more than what they “do.” Instead, most want to focus on the attributes that highlight the “who” of their company to build their legacy on. And that’s where Core Values come into play. Core values will help show the world that you’re bigger than what you do. Building the Heart of Your Print Company Your core values make up the foundation on which your business is built and represent the very heart of your company. Done right, your core values will be a handful of rules or principles that act as your compass, or better yet, your mirror, to show you exactly who your business

I was asked the other day what my most valuable asset was. A question like that definitely makes one think long and hard. What is the one thing that you would not want to be without? After some pondering (no, pondering doesn’t do a question like this justice), after some soul searching, I came to the conclusion that if I woke with nothing left except my family and health, the one thing I would want above anything else is: Integrity. Who are You When No One is Looking? Integrity, in my definition, is much more than a person’s reputation. Reputation is like paint on a house. It can look pretty, or it can look ugly, but it’s what’s underneath that matters. It’s the very structure holding everything else up that makes the difference. Without that structure in place, a strong wind, such as we’ve been experiencing lately, can blow the whole thing down. Integrity gets a person up in the morning to go and provide for their family and employees. It ensures that our customers, vendors, and all other parties to our business are taken care of. Here are a few more examples of what integrity is: Integrity is more

The title of this blog post could have just as easily been, “How an NDSU Bison National Championship Football Win turned into a Salvation Army Donation,” but that title is way too long. Another way-too-long option: “How a Friendly Wager Turned into a Win-Win-Win!” Setting the Stage As the 2017 college football season reached the playoff stage, the top two teams at the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) level were the James Madison Dukes, and Fargo’s own North Dakota State University Bison. Long story short, these two teams (ranked #1 and #2) were the last teams standing and therefore met for the FCS championship game. It turns out that one of our customers, Dick Olyench of Spectrum Printing in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a pretty big JMU fan. No surprise, because he’s the father of two JMU alums. The Deal Was Made Once Dick realized that his team was going to go helmet-to-helmet with ours, he became a betting man! The deal was made: if NDSU won, Dick would provide a pizza party for the team here at Marketing Ideas For Printers. If JMU won, we would pick up the phone and order pizza for the “Happy Printers” over at Spectrum Printing.

Volunteering Together Makes Life Better, Marketing Ideas For Printers, Others First, Core Values

So much of success as a business involves developing a close connection with your customers and community. This is especially true in smaller, local companies (like printers!). Sure, we should tell you that a well-designed piece of direct mail can do this (and it can), but nothing says “we care about you” quite like volunteering together as a company within your community. Not only does serving together increase the presence and awareness of your business within your community, but your employees can benefit from this experience, too. These types of activities double as social functions, offering a fun opportunity to get together with co-workers outside of the business environment. It allows them to get to know each other a little better and to learn to love being in the service of others. Service in Action Joanna Erber, our Financial Services Director, recently coordinated a chance for us to see the benefits of volunteering up close and personal when we volunteered at the Great Plains Food Bank here in Fargo, ND. She has a real passion for looking for ways to benefit others and says: Businesses should absolutely do these types of volunteer events and give back. It betters the community,