Big Picture - May 2015 - (Page 2)

insight New Blood I f you spend time at the gym, you may have heard the term "active recovery." Athletes who practice this workout mode exercise lightly on off days, rather than taking complete rest. The theory is that keeping muscles moving and blood ﬂowing ﬂushes toxins from tissues and promotes more rapid repair. It's not a bad idea for small business, either. After years of ﬁrings and tightening belts, it's easy to freeze into a contracted position. But it's 2015. Time to get the blood ﬂowing again (and not because you're decapitating competitors). This month, I've been obsessed with ﬁguring out how to save all the small, family-owned print shops. At some point, it just became clear that big changes and shifts were needed for so many of you to survive. And yet, it was unclear how to do it. How, how, how? I started making phone calls. I called our columnists and then our advisory board members (listed on p. 4 in case you're interested), eventually meeting with the big wigs behind Dscoop, SGIA, ISA, and FESPA. I asked them all the same question: How are PSPs supposed to know where to go from here? After all this talking, I learned two things. First, that I was more worried than my interviewees, who seemed to think it was no big deal that PSPs may now need to branch out into unfamiliar sectors like interior décor or ceramics - or even omnichannel marketing and brand positioning support. I also learned that these decisions aren't random or based on interest or skill. They're based on customers. It turns out that most people think following the customer is the best way to go. Either ﬁ nd jobs your current customers are farming out to other providers, whether printers or marketers, and expand your services to encompass these items, or ﬁnd new clients in sectors where you already specialize. Then, either get your sales team excited to sell what's in demand, or ﬁ nd a new team that is. As ISA board member Mike Quigley told me in Vegas, "Their excitement helps sell the product." If they're not excited, you've got a problem. Once you have a change in mind, there come the twin issues of rigidity among existing staff and inﬂexibility in management, perhaps even in yourself. Be an example, in these cases, of the mindset your organization needs to move forward. Set high expectations, share your excitement about what comes next, and watch them rise to meet you. bigpicture.net EDITORIAL Robin Donovan Editor-in-Chief robin.donovan@stmediagroup.com Adrienne Palmer Associate Editor adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com Kiersten Wones Editorial Assistant kiersten.wones@stmediagroup.com Kathleen DeZarn Art Director kathy.dezarn@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Beth Osborne, Jared Smith Columnists Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor Editorial Advisory Board SALES Murray Kasmenn Senior VP/Group Publisher 770/578-2577 murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg Senior Market Strategist East and Midwest US, E Canada 800/654-5169 lou.arneberg@stmediagroup.com Ben Stauss Senior Market Strategist West and South US, W Canada, Europe, Asia 513/263-9363 ben.stauss@stmediagroup.com Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Senior VP of Content May 2015 Christine Baloga Audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, Online Media BIG PICTURE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES 2 BY ROBIN DONOVAN, editor-in-chief BIG PICTURE (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 9 times annually (Jan/Feb, March, April, May, June/July, August, September, October, Nov/Dec) by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualiﬁed individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualiﬁed individuals in the U.S.A.: $46 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $77 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $101 (Int'l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2015, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing oﬃces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. (847) 763-4938, tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 tel (513) 421-2050 http://www.bigpicture.net http://www.bigpicture.net/subscribe http://www.bigpicture.net/renew

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - May 2015

Big Picture - May 2015
Contents
Insght
Wide Angle
Upfront
Graphics on the Go
Business + Management
It's Alive
Inked
Expert's Guide to FESPA 2015
R + D
Explorer

Big Picture - May 2015