Raising your profile? One face at a time.

Public relations is all about a personal outreach. No matter how digitised your outreach and efforts, it is the personal impression your stakeholders have of your brand that will mark your relationship with them. How to establish those relationships? Get up close and personal. Time to reassess some of your outreach options.

1.     In-house company events – the bustle to your hustle

Hosting a customer event or setting up a customer visit work miracles for any customer/prospect retention intention. After all, it’s the perfect way of showing people why they (should) love you. And when invested in successfully, the long-term benefit is substantial. Spread love to get it. It can be that simple, albeit time and budget intensive.

Need a cheat sheet? Check this guideline blog by Cindy Van Luyck (CHILI publish).

2.     Press initiatives - be in it for the long haul

Austrian magazine 4c organises a yearly Printtour. For the 2017 edition, the editor-in-chief decided Belgium was the place to be. With a mixed audience of 13 C-level people attending, the program had to be as varied as possible. With a little advice from a local resident, participants to the tour visited industry suppliers (likes of Kodak, EFI, …), software innovators (CHILI publish), associations (VIGC, CEPI), but also actual printing houses (Symeta, Grafische Group Matthys and 3Motion) and even a substrate supplier (Squid). Variety spices the appetite and it did the trick just fine. The C-level participants indulged in the information flood and were surprised at the high level of graphic expertise and ingenuity in this little country of ours. Participating in a press set-up can look daunting to companies unfamiliar to dealing with the press, but open communication will get you far. It will even get you nice coverage along the way for you to repurpose elsewhere. Content and all, you know.

3.     Trade shows - face-to-face one-on-ones to close the deal

In today’s lead generation driven society, it is still the firm handshake that closes the deal. Because despite all variety and the cornucopia of solutions offerings, we still rely on word-of-mouth, reputation and recommendation. We’ll explore the website, click the clickbait e-mail titles, read the brochure - but at the end of the day, business is to be conducted with people. Invest in trade show participation - when you invest wisely in a traffic track, you’ll see people will seek you out, find you and get to know you.

Invest in the people you hope will invest in you. It’s a two-way track.

And despite the bigger options I mentioned above, never ever underestimate what one single act of interaction can cause. A kind word in a mail could result in a personal call, which in turn, could turn into a sales meeting, a deal-closer and with a bit of luck, a customer for life. 

Be present where you need to be present and whom you’d like to be presented too. It will work miracles for your reputation.

On that note, I hope to meet you in person at #print17. Enough sitting behind the desk, time to practice what I preach.

Reach out to me via Twitter or LinkedIn - happy to meet up and get blown away in the windy city!

Tactility - wash with care?

I confess. I'm touchy feely.

That is to say, I will touch anything you put in my sight. At shows, to be clear. For years, I've collected T-shirts or printables from attending print and textile shows. When returning from the last Fespa in Hamburg, I brought home five T-shirts.

For my collection? No, to prove a point. Four ended up in the bin - one washing cycle was all it took to ruin both a T-shirt and the print technology it was supposed to show. And believe me, I use a delicate cycle, the good detergent and I am the queen of ironing. (It's my thing.) You may have seen this statement elsewhere. It's true - this is me.

And I must insist. If you're showing your field of expertise and the excellent print quality, why do you use inferior substrate material to show it on? Four out of five did not hold their own, regardless of detergent usage. A pity, not to mention a missed opportunity for your technology.

Why settle for less? Your customers won't. In Dutch we say "buying cheap will cost you more in the long run." In this case, a long-term customer. Can you truly afford that?

Things that did make the cut?

- A fair price for the perfect sublimation print of a teacher's farewell box. Last-minute picture, help with the design AND a killer deadline? For that kind of service, I don't mind the price. (Which was still fair enough. Thanks Printermezzo.)

- The good tradeshow mug - lucky to have some of my favourite industry ladies at the Sawgrass booth where the team was nice enough to immortalize the moment. (it has survived no less than 30 dishwasher cycles up to now, no matter which detergent I throw at it. Now that's impressive!)

- My Willie Nelson shirt from drupa 2016. Willie takes me through the good, the bad and the ugly. (aka nap time, sick time and gym time) He holds his own, keeps his print and folds seamlessly. Printing technology? I think Epson US, but correct me if I'm wrong.

- The unicorn shirt - the one Fespa survivor. Perfect pink, perfect unicorn and perfect #5yo sustainability. The family hearts, this one's a keeper! Who printed it? Alas, the brochure did not survive laundry day. Let me know if it's yours, happy to acredit!

- My love/hate shirt. I stood guard for 30 minutes, fending off the 10 high school students at the Kornit Digital booth at the Sign Kortrijk 2016 show for this one. And for just cause. Excellent fabric quality for a matching print. It's been worn, washed, ironed and we still fit perfectly. (This pic dates from last weekend's ironing session. It's been washed and ironed at least 15 times over the last 1,5 years.)

And last but not least. I finally took that screen printing course, thanks to Bobbinhood. Back to the printing roots with some inky fingers - what's the point of coming clean if you can't get a little dirty first? A pop-up store in my hometown set up a screen printing workshop. And again - quality prevails. Same ink, same template and it's the substrate that made the difference. Inferior linnen - smudgy. Good quality cotton - screen newbie print perfect first attempt. Love the ink, smell and the old skill - in with the old, out with the standardisation. Took the workshop, bought the gear, I'm hooked! Stay tuned for more. (My Instagram is @mayastaels)

The thing is, print is all about tactility. Don't go cheap if that's not what you're selling. Quality will prevail.