Another Quibble with Dr Joe Webb

Dr Joe says,

from WhatTheyThink Economics & Research Center - Printing Industry Economics, Trends and Research:

"I still strongly recommend David Meerman Scott's “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.” I suggest reading it three times. First, read it for familiarity. Second, read it for ideas about services to offer clients and prospects.

Finally, read it with an idea of how to implement it in your business.

Remember that the focus should be on small and mid-size business who would not be able to initiate these techniques on their own. Find dependable freelance programmers and designers who can add insight to the projects. When there is constant change, there are always opportunities to start something new. Not starting, however, is becoming a very bad choice. Like many digital printers find that those forays led to increases in their traditional print business, one should work toward that same synergy here."

I say, most printers are not marketers. It would be great if they were, but they're not. Every still surviving Printer is a printer. So be the best printer you can be.

As usual, most of what Dr Joe says is smart. My quibble is with this sentence "Finally, read it with an idea of how to implement it in your business." It is too easy for a printer to think they have to hire people or change what they do.

It's not plausible to think that an outfit with Printer experience, spirit and dna is going to change that very easily or quickly. Much more plausible to partner with best of breed in a specific region so that 1 + 1 = 3.