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Print service providers have experienced a labor shortage of skilled workers for the past decade, and the COVID-19 shutdown exacerbated this condition. While the printing industry faces challenges due to the rapid growth of digital media, direct mail, brochures, and in-store signage remain more responsive than their electronic counterparts. Finding skilled print professionals to produce hard copy marketing and transactional documents is challenging. Fewer college and trade school graduates are entering the field. In this article, we’ll examine the challenges printers face in attracting and retaining qualified employees, as well as strategies to address these issues.

In 2022 OpenAI released ChatGPT and suddenly AI was on everyone’s radar, raising hopes, fears, and confusion in equal measure. Actually, AI has been around for some time, and we’ve all been using some form of it, often without realizing it.

ChatGPT is an example of generative AI, an advance on traditional AI. Traditional AI uses algorithms to execute repetitive tasks or single activities, like translating text, or converting currency. It’s task based. Generative AI is different in that it can create something new. It absorbs vast quantities of content, learns from it, and produces new content when prompted to do so.

Tools like ChatGPT can create sales proposals, blogs, and other marketing materials. A design tool like DALLe can create new designs based on prompts, but also analyze trends, identify user preferences, and suggest design elements that resonate more effectively.

We all fixate on size at times. If you’re a smaller printer, it can be daunting to compete against bigger, more sophisticated, and wealthier companies. Sometimes, though, size can work in your favor.

Smaller companies are often more nimble and can pivot quickly to innovate without having to navigate excess red tape and bureaucracy. Companies that serve local markets, for example, may find it easier to network and forge community ties that can turn into business. Smaller firms also have the advantage of lower overhead costs.

But if you find yourself facing bigger competitors, several strategies can help you flourish.

Streamlined mailing processes can unlock improved efficiency and cost reductions for print service providers and in-plant print operations. Enhancing these processes can drive increased productivity, shorten turnaround times, and elevate customer satisfaction. 

For print operations, the journey toward optimizing mailing processes involves focusing on aspects such as quality control, postage rates, and personalized direct mail. Emphasizing efficiency can lead to substantial benefits.

Integrated mailing operations strengthens the operational workflow. Applying data analytics for targeted mailing campaigns and automating workflow processes decreases manual interventions, resulting in a smoother operation. A thorough understanding of postal issues, combined with strategic use of software and hardware, can revolutionize the way print service providers and in-plant operations handle their mailing tasks. Updating the mailing operation can convert a dreaded chore into a customer satisfaction strategy and a new revenue source.

Success for print businesses depends on optimizing operations that enhance efficiencies, reduce costs, and reliably deliver the immediate responses most clients crave.

Optimization has always been a driver for success, of course. What’s different today is the hyper speed of doing business and demand for 24/7 service, compounded by the challenges of scarce skilled workers, inflation, tight margins, and other economic uncertainties. In this complex business environment, technologies that automate and digitize business processes form the heart of an optimized business. Most shops will have to keep the following items top of mind.

"Resilience" has emerged as a crucial term for printers and corporate print departments navigating a complex landscape of challenges. With potential staffing shortages, economic volatility, and the ever-present threat of outsourcing and competition, print industry professionals seek strategies to fortify their operations against potential disruptions. They face choices that demand proactive measures and a forward-thinking mindset. 

To empower print companies to sustain and bolster their operations, experts recommend several strategic actions emphasizing evolution and diversification. These approaches offer a path forward for organizations dedicated to maintaining their competitive edge.

For years, businesses assumed customer service and revenue growth were tightly intertwined. The best path to higher revenue, and by extension profits, was to keep the focus decidedly on customers and deliver exceptional service.

But perceptions change. Now, a constrained economic environment is forcing some businesses to shift from customers to cost-cutting and price increases to ensure the profitability of their businesses. A recent study by research and consulting firm Accenture found that 40% of CXOs surveyed said they plan to raise prices to pass costs increases to customers.

As a result, poorer quality and lower customer service are likely to follow. Service agents will be harder to reach, disputes will take longer to be settled, and

Our world seems inundated by video. Witness viral TikTok moments and the shocking hours of human productivity they waste. It can be difficult for printed material to rise above the noise.

It is possible, though, to take print to a level that bridges the gap with video by using applications like Augmented Reality (AR). AR technology has been around for some time, but like all things digital, the techniques become more sophisticated and easier to use as time goes by.

Augmented Reality is about creating a link between print and digital. To activate AR, printers embed triggers in printed documents. Images come alive on the screens when a smart phone or tablet reads the triggers via an app. The AR software animates the content or renders objects in 3D. AR presentations can include visuals and sounds, creating an interactive user experience that is immersive and fun.

Retaining clients is as crucial to the health of your business as acquiring new ones. Perhaps even more so. The best clients, and the ones you can reliably count on to run a successful company, are the ones who keep returning to do business with you.

Acquiring new customers is always a good idea, of course, but client retention should also be a top priority, backed by a management strategy that begins the minute a client signs a purchase order. Your customer retention strategy should be an intrinsic part of your corporate culture, from the CEO on down.

Color consistency is vital to maintaining brand fidelity. With more campaigns being run on multiple devices and substrates, and with customers moving to printing on demand, maintaining color across the board is more challenging than ever.

And yet it’s necessary as color expertise may be one of those competitive advantages that sets your business apart. If your company suddenly looses the color whisperer who helps nurture that advantage, it could be tricky to maintain the status quo. But it’s not impossible. You can still support color consistency, meet customer expectations, and ensure production quality remains high with an effective color workflow system.

Color Workflow

Start by ensuring all your devices are working in peak condition. If color shifts across a particular screen, or on a press sheet, you will need to fix or replace those devices.

Digitization of the print industry has leaped over the last two decades. The average shop floor today is significantly more automated than it was 20 years ago. All front-end functions, administrative departments, presses, and e-commerce platforms are managed by workflow and MIS systems that share information for higher efficiency and productivity.

The bindery department, often the most labor-intensive area of the shop, had lagged somewhat, with job-ticket information not making it quite as far as the folders, cutters, and gluers. Part of the reason is the multi-faced aspects of bindery. After printing, paper can be die-cut, bound, folded, stamped, jogged, trimmed, or embellished with coatings, foils, and other decorative elements. Over the last few years, though, manufacturers have turned out automated versions of traditional devices, bringing automation to the back of the shop.

If one clear trend is dominating marketing, it’s personalization. In fact, personalization is now considered essential for any brand that wants to stand out with consumers and successfully nurture customer relationships. A recent study by Salesforce found that 73% of shoppers expect brands to understand their unique needs and expectations.¹

The best way to demonstrate this understanding of individuality among consumers is by creating marketing messages that apply to the recipient and are engaging in their presentation.

Personalized print took a big stride forward with the advent of variable data printing capabilities. At one time, simply adding the customer’s name to printed materials was impressive. Today, marketers are using much more sophisticated approaches than simple text substitution.

Here at Gimbel & Associates we concentrate on print–area in which we have a great deal of experience. Conversations with clients often begin with print, which remains a critical component of any organization’s communication strategy. However, content that starts out as print, and was originally designed for print, frequently finds its way into the omni-channel environment in which we all live.

Interest in digital publication is high. The global digital publishing market is exhibiting huge growth with a steady CAGR, indicating a favorable market trend. As they consider a digital publishing strategy, companies are also concerned about complying with accessibility laws. The number of website accessibility lawsuits are increasing, with nearly 2300 suits filed in 2023¹.

How does one transform print documents into an engaging and compliant digital reading experience and distribute the material to the widest audience? We’re working on that. It’s called Boundless - a new offering available soon from Xerox and administered by Gimbel & Associates.

It can be tempting to regard skills training and staff upgrading as a cost that must be managed down, rather than an investment that promotes growth and future-proofs your business. 

Skills training, from keeping up with the latest print software and equipment to mastering design or digital marketing, can be expensive, time consuming, and disruptive to daily operations. Plus, it’s easy to believe that staff will go elsewhere once they upgrade their skills, leaving you in the lurch.

In reality, a skills training program will generate handsome dividends for your company and place you in a much stronger competitive position.

Your employees are your biggest asset. They’re more important than the multi-million dollar presses on your shop floor. It just makes sense to invest in maintaining them, just as you would with that expensive equipment.