Who Owns Marketing in Your Printing Company?

By, Debbie Nicholson

Well, the owner handles some of it, a salesperson posts something on LinkedIn, an office administrator orders promotional products, someone updates the website occasionally (okay, if you say so), and an outside company sends an email campaign.

I guess you could say they're "doing marketing."

But nobody owns marketing.  And that's a significant distinction.

Why Does Someone Need to Own Marketing?

A true Marketing Manager isn't simply the person who posts on social media. That person should be developing and managing the company's strategy for:

• Customer retention and re-engagement
• Lead generation
• Email campaigns
• Website and SEO
• Social media
• Customer self-promotions and sample campaigns
• New product/service launches
• Case studies and customer success stories
• Trade shows and events
• Sales collateral and sales support
• Brand consistency
• Marketing calendars and deadlines
• Measuring campaign results and ROI
   

So, Why Don't More Printers Hire a Marketing Manager?

Cost is certainly one reason.  An owner may look at a Marketing Manager's salary and ask: "How much are they going to sell?"  That's the wrong measurement.

And before you say, “We're too small to need a Marketing Manager,” consider this:
Small and mid-sized printing companies may actually need focused marketing more because they don't have the brand recognition or sales resources of the larger companies they compete against.

The difference between Salespeople and Marketing…

Salespeople are responsible for: developing relationships, pursuing opportunities, and closing business.

Marketing should be responsible for: creating awareness, generating opportunities, strengthening the brand, keeping the company in front of existing customers, and giving Sales something meaningful to sell.

Note: Marketing isn't there to replace Sales. Marketing should make Sales more effective!

I see this time and time again: Companies are so busy producing today's work that nobody is responsible for creating tomorrow's work!

That’s why having someone own marketing becomes particularly important when a printing company has multiple capabilities that its existing customers may not even know about.

Just think about that lost opportunity.

So, Who Owns Marketing in Your Printing Company?

• Who owns the marketing calendar?
• Who makes sure the email campaign actually goes out?
• Who tells customers about that new piece of equipment you just purchased, and why?
• Who promotes the new capability you spent thousands—or hundreds of thousands—of dollars adding?
• Who makes sure your website reflects what you actually do today instead of what you did five years ago?
• And who is consistently reminding existing customers: "Hey, did you know we can do this too?"
   

If your answer is "everyone," there's a pretty good chance the real answer is: "No one."  And, how much business are you willing to lose because nobody does?