How’s Your Print Shop’s Brand?

Is your print shop’s brand like carbon paper? In 2013, there was one company with eight employees making carbon paper in Canada, one company in the U.K. and two in the U.S. Computers, modern printers, carbonless paper and other technologies have made carbon paper obsolete. Technologies change. Customers and markets also change. Has your brand changed to attract customers to your business or does it turn them away? Our review of hundreds of print shops indicates it’s more likely your brand’s value is closer to carbon paper than cross-media marketing.

If you’ve given little thought to your print shop’s brand lately (or ever), it’s time to start. If you plan to be in the printing and related businesses for the long term, your brand is critical to your success.

What Is a Brand?
 
The meaning of “brand” can be confusing. A dictionary definition is – “Brand: a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.” In old-school marketing lingo, this was commonly called a “brand name”. Today, it’s is simply called a “brand” for short as in “iPhone is Apple’s brand [name] for its line of smartphones”. Used in this fashion, “brand” and “brand name” have the same meaning that might also be associated with a trademark. However, “brand” has developed another meaning in modern marketing usage.

Beginning in the early 20th century and accelerating after WWII, marketers became increasingly skilled at associating perceptions about a product’s attributes and qualities in the minds of consumers. Today’s marketers aim to manage perceptions about brand names such as Levi’s, for example. The brand name “Levi’s” usually elicits thoughts of blue jeans and casual wear. However, individuals may also have other positive or negative perceptions of the Levi’s “brand” such as comfortable, durable, traditional, old-fashioned, expensive, etc. In modern marketing terminology, these perceptions are called the “brand”. David Ogilvy, the so-called “Father of Advertising”, explained it this way: “A brand is the intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised.”

This means you will need to look to the context to determine if “brand” is simply shorthand for “brand name” or it means the sum of intangible attributes.

Branding and Rebranding Your Print Shop

Your print shop has a brand. You may not know what it is, but it has a brand. Your print shop’s brand equals the images, impressions and feelings within your customers’ minds. These perceptions will vary by individual and be positive, neutral, negative or none. Your brand is comes from all the interactions and experiences an individual has with you, your staff and your business. Two customers may have the same types feelings but for completely different reasons.

If the majority of customers are positive about your brand, you’re doing things right… congratulations! If your brand is negative, it’s time for a rebranding your print shop. Rebranding should also be considered when business volume is stagnant or declining. In both latter cases, you need to determine what will get your brand back on a positive note and how to accomplish that. A rebranding can cover everything you do or only a part of it. For example, print shops adding marketing services may do a partial rebranding to promote the new services. Print shops exiting printing to be in the marketing business would do a complete rebranding.

Don’t Ignore Your Brand
 
If you ignore your brand and your customers’ perceptions, your future will most likely parallel that of carbon paper. Your brand is an asset that can figure into the value of your printing business, positively or negatively. Successful print shop owners keep abreast of their customers’ perceptions about their brands in various ways such as in-person discussions, through surveys, via rating services, online reviews, etc.

Success starts with customers’ positive perception of your printing business. So…how’s your print shop’s brand?

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