Jennifer Matt wrote recently about Drupa’s presence being focused 95% on equipment and 5% on other things like software. So the show organizers and vendors do not appear to have changed much, unlike the industry.

The singular focus on equipment, while important to a degree, is indicative of more systemic problems facing the industry. The business models and strategies of printers have not been as quick to change as other industries that are directly effecting print volumes.

I wrote the following post over 15 months ago.

Have you made these structural changes? Does your business model look like any of these below? Or does this look like your competition?

—- Original Post —-

In the past, let’s say within the last 10 years, a lot of printers were boutique manufacturers who produced printed materials in many varieties. Commercial printers have mastered producing all sorts of print collateral from business cards, to brochures, to annual reports, to pocket folders, to whatever the client needed. This business model, I would say, is also the most stressed and outmoded for going forward.

Marketing department budgets are shrinking and a lot of what is left is going to digital promotion. The marginal costs for digital distribution is close to zero. Even the equipment used to produce the material is in transition from purely analog to digital. “I’m not a commercial printer,” you say. Every segment of the printing industry is rapidly changing due to the affects of digitization whether internally or externally. You can’t run and you can’t hide.

Here are four business model proposals to take us into the near future. A mixture of these could also work.

The Specialist

Becoming a specialist within a particular vertical market, or hopefully several verticals, is old hat for some printers. That’s ok, but becoming a product specialist is what I’m referring to. You are creating niche products that serve a well defined, often never thought of purpose, which is not easily duplicated. Current examples would include Moo and Meet Meme cards. You not only create the product, you tell us why we need it, want it, and just have to have it.

The Localist

Being a small, local print shop has never had more challenges and opportunities. On one hand, you are able to offer more printed services with quick turnaround times because of digital printing. On the other hand, there has never been more technology to to master. Small printers who are engrained in their local market, but think like an entrepreneur with global reach can find a healthy market. The guys behind the Social Print Experiment had a worthy, version 1.0 go of this type of business model that can now be expanded upon. Here are some attributes that can be found with this business model:

• Naturally social. You’ve always been a good neighbor, now you just take that conversation into the social channels. A blog, Twitter, and maybe Facebook would be a good place to start.
• You think open source software that can hook into a lot of other open source software is the bee’s knees.
• E-commerce, which is product workflow driven, is your avenue to hands off production and a revolving till.
• Your e-commerce is fed off of your localized SEO which is fed by your local social media efforts.

The Technologist

Before you think this business model is about getting the most out of the latest technology, think again. In this case, you are creating the technology or piggybacking on existing technology to create something newer. You develop mobile applications for purchasing or merging digital and printed technologies. You might, instead, get into printed electronics in the form of flexible displays, power sources (batteries, photovoltaics), or security applications. Perhaps you are already working on ways to take advantage of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology being integrated into the next generation smart phones.

The Leanist

You are all about high volume, standardization, and process automation. As a result, you can exert buying pressure to drive down your costs. In fact, you are like the Wal-mart of the printing industry. The bad news is that the race to minimize costs can only be ran so far. The good news is that there is only one, or maybe a few, Wal-marts.

The Entrepreneurist (not a word, but should be)

Small is the new large. The number of micro enterprises going forward stands to be staggering. There are several driving forces behind this change including high unemployment, workplace apathy, desire for more flexible time, cloud computing, open source software, free publishing platforms, and so on. Setting up a business, or several, used to require access to truckloads of cash. Many ventures can be started on a shoestring budget with little more than an idea, laptop, and some inexpensive software. All of this is to say, these individuals are the target market for the Entrepreneurist printer. You will be the resource for these small businesses to produce all needed printed materials — business cards to shipping boxes. Just remember an entrepreneur’s time is nonexistent, so most of these transactions will be done online.

photo credit:thievingjoker