A close friend of mine tells me that I am willing to “jump off a cliff” for what I believe. She also tells me that it is very difficult to get people in our industry to do the same, and that demonstrating value takes time and patience.

Despite the tremendous respect I have for my friend, I am going to slightly disagree with her. Our 
industry has changed and will change so much so that a dramatic transformation in the way we all think is in order. We can no longer work ourselves to death just to maintain our market share or squeeze out an extra point in margin. We must change our thinking and provide “solutions,” whatever that may mean. Yet, how long will we wait to take action?

Print providers must become marketing service providers. New ideas and new tactics must be employed. We’ve all discussed it openly, and the consensus is that our industry is in a unique position to offer more to the world.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to hear Tom Carroll, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer at RR Donnelley, deliver a passionate speech about generational diversity and the values different demographics hold. His message was that we are not all the same and that new generations have beliefs that differ greatly from traditional groups. Strategies that work for “Traditionalists” or “Baby Boomers” will not work for “Generation X” or “Millenials”.

My conclusion from Tom’s presentation is that it will take very strong leadership and a commitment to the marketing process to engage these new demographics. In turn, “jumping off the cliff” is the only way we learn and the only way we can start to connect with the new marketplace.

CANVAS is a jump in itself because it is different, and that can be scary for people. Our belief is that it is not enough to merely talk about new sales and marketing concepts. We must act. In addition, training our salespeople the same way we always have and hiring the competitors’ people will not reap extraordinary results. We must “jump in” and engage in significant market analysis, segmentation, and educating our people on understanding new types of customers. We must look at new avenues for communication instead of the traditional vehicles, and recruit people based on the way they think and how well they relate to these new groups of customers.

In addition to the changing shape of our demographics is the unmistakable pressure that comes from a difficult economy. It is easy to deduct that the GDP won’t be giving us a boost anytime soon. So, cutting back and divesting becomes a norm. Doing the opposite, however, will enhance our future and expand our horizons beyond our wildest dreams. Selling in bad times may seem like a daunting task, but focusing on what you do to come out of the downturn stronger than you went in is the only way. As a wise man once told me “you cut to survive, but you invest to prosper.” And that means investing in yourself and investing in new ways to market.

So who is willing to get out of their comfort zone? Who will learn new things and actually execute on them? Who is with me?

Jump.

Mark Potter
Publisher