Boston Group Gears Up for First Print Buyers Conference:
A Conversation with Margie Dana, the Founder/Organizer

By Cary Sherburne, Senior WTT Editor

September 1, 2006 -- Margie Dana, the founder of Boston Print Buyers, has been speaking at print buyers’ conferences for over ten years and has been involved in buying print longer than that. On November 2nd, her organization will host a print buyers’ conference at the Westford Regency Inn in Westford, MA, and she expects a turnout of some 300 print-buying professionals for this first-time event. This level of interest by print buyers in professional growth is good news for the printing industry, and WhatTheyThink spoke with Margie to learn more.

WTT:Margie, thanks for speaking with us today. Can you tell us a little about your organization?

MD: Boston Print Buyers caters to those who purchase or influence the purchase of printing. We host regular educational dinner programs that combine informational presentations with networking. Our members can also take advantage of a number of online resources, including a members-only forum, a member directory, and a monthly e-newsletter.

And now we are producing a conference that's designed to address the needs of today's print customers, which we plan to make an annual event. The majority of attendees at the event will be professionals who purchase, or influence the purchase, of printing, including designers. Although the majority of the expected 300 attendees will be from the Eastern seaboard, we already have registrations from other regions of the U.S. and have had inquiries from London. I should also mention that our conference is open to everyone in the industry—not just print buyers.

WTT: Why did you start the group?

MD: It's been a goal of mine for about 15 years. I started a group for buyers in financial services when I worked for MFS Investment services a long time ago. I have a buyer background, and I like shining the light on the industry. I have been writing on the subject for some time, and that is how it all started.

WTT: Tell us a little more about the conference content.

MD: The timing of the event was centered around the availability of Frank Romano as keynoter. He could be the best friend any print buyer could have because of what he knows. Frank will also emcee a game show called Press Checkers, with three people from the print side versus three people from the print buying side, answering print-trivia questions, sort of like a Jeopardy game. Other speakers include specialists in various topics including digital and variable data printing and color management, and there will be two buyer panels. These buyer panels are critical, because attendees who buy printing need and deserve to hear from their peers.

WTT: How do you position this event with respect to other buyer events such as Print Oasis?

MD: Suzanne Morgan has done a great job with Print Oasis—I've been to two of them. Print Oasis is a three- or-four day event, and I am starting with one, planning to expand to two days next year. Suzanne has moved around the country, but I have no plans for doing that. I'll continue to focus on our bimonthly dinner programs here in the Boston area, because I believe people who work in this field need to meet each other on a regular basis.

There is as much value to the networking as there is to the educational element. And events like this honor and verify that this is an important career with thousands of people who are working with the printing industry. Although we meet every other month, the members voted to have an annual meeting that included networking, education and fun. And that’s what we are doing.

WTT: Would you say that most of your members are dedicated print buyers or do you see them managing multiple priorities? And what generally are their titles?

MD: For most of the professionals who come to our meetings or are in contact with us, a good part of what they do lies in working with the print industry, but they are buying other media as well. We had a dinner event last fall where Frank Romano spoke, and about 100 people attended. Of those 100 people, we had 52 different titles. That might have included print buyer, production manager, creative director, publisher, marketing specialist, a whole deck of cards.

I don’t think it is really new that people who buy print are also doing a lot of other things; I think that has been the case for some time. But what is really important for the manufacturers of printed materials and other buyers to understand is that people who buy print are spread out in the organization. They don’t have a scarlet “PB” on their chest. They don’t look different. They have all kinds of titles, which makes finding them, reaching them, educating them, and enlightening them difficult. They might be in marketing, admissions (for a college or university), purchasing, PR, corporate communications. And the bigger the company, the more likely they will have multiple people working with the printing industry spread throughout the organization.

WTT: Where does print fit in the media mix, in your opinion?

MD: Print is certainly here to stay, but it is sharing the road with the new digital media, the online and Web opportunities. And the folks buying all of those media need help deciding how to split that budget, how to integrate print and digital media for their products, services, promotional campaigns, etc. They are getting pressured to learn about all of those new opportunities. Keeping up with what is new is a challenge for both buyers and printers—which road should they take, which product should they try, what about Web-to-print, VDP, online ordering?

WTT: What do you recommend printers do to reach, educate and better serve this diverse universe of buyers?

MD: I am one of many voices saying that they have to articulate what makes them different and market themselves better to their customers. Most customers do not know about all of the products and services printers offer. Printers should pay attention to their Web sites and structure them so they will help customers do their work better. And they need to understand the customer’s perspective. Remember, printing is the byproduct. For buyers whose companies are selling mutual funds, for example, their printer should be educated about what is changing in that industry, what the trends are. They shouldn’t be talking about colors and folding options; they should be talking about the marketing and sales channels these people use to reach their customers.

Then they need to provide solutions for the sales and marketing issues and communication problems that are facing the corporate buyers. Everyone is busy, and corporate buyers are being much more cautious about who they talk to, who they see, whose phone calls they return, if they do at all. You have to make a different kind of impression from the get-go, and approaching the conversations from their perspective is a good way to get started.

WTT: And what position do you think printers should take with respect to new media?

MD: They have to admit that alternative media is here to stay, educate themselves about it, keep up to speed on what is available, and work among themselves in each company to figure out how their offerings can dovetail or be integrated with newer media. They need to talk with their customers about it. They can’t pretend alternative media doesn’t exist. It is the elephant in the living room and it is not going away.

WTT: So should they be rushing out and offering a bunch of new services?

MD: You can’t just all of a sudden offer a new service. You have to have the right professionals in place. We all know that printers have been building muscle by adding mailing and fulfillment, VDP, more IT offerings, database management. What they need to do is look for natural extensions to their current offerings that align with their customers’ needs, and they should seriously consider adding new media to their service list. It is much easier for customers to deal with one resource than to have to project manage everything themselves.

WTT: And what about digital printing?

MD: As a buyer, I expect every printing company to offer digital printing, whether they do it on site or partner with someone else. Digital printing is the one thing that everyone I have ever polled buys; they all have that in common. I am shocked when I meet a printer today that doesn’t offer digital. That’s what everyone wants.

WTT: How do you see the print buying community changing in the future?

MD: Printers need to watch the next generation of professionals who will be buying print. These “digital natives” have been weaned on computers and they may not be interested in going out and seeing plants and equipment. They may have a different perspective about quality. They are more likely to let their fingers do the buying over the Internet. Manufacturers have to get to know these younger, entry level people and understand how they buy. It won’t be that long before they begin to have a significant impact. If they are doing all of their research on the Web, which I believe they are, then everything has to be on the Internet. Your Web site has to be easy to find and contain valuable information; you need to be e-mailing them to keep your name in front of them.

WTT: Anything else you would like to add before we close?

MD: Just that printers should be talking regularly with their top customers. At a minimum, they should have a "new season" meeting where they talk not about the products they offer, but rather, what is working in the relationship, what they could do better, what is not working, what else the customer is looking into. They should also ask where else customers buy print. If you don’t ask you will never know.

This Interview was conducted by Cary Sherburne. She can be reached via email at cary@sherburneassociates.com, online at www.sherburneassociates.com and by telephone at 603-430-5463.

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