Three Ways to Cut Through the Clutter with Content Marketing

Great article over at The Imaging Channel:

I have not always been a digital marketing native. I started in marketing and advertising in the early 2000s and eventually became in charge of creating print advertisements, printable brochures and flyers as well as printed newsletters. But I did have one big advantage over my print-friendly colleagues – for the purpose of maintaining her privacy, I will call her Elyse.

Elyse was our company’s webmaster, and my good friend. We shared a passion for content creation and marketing and would sometimes sit for hours, not only brainstorming effective print content, but also web content. It is from Elyse that I first heard about Google Analytics and metadata as well as the importance of SEO.

Through those talks, and later through its implementation, I quickly came to realize that digital media had a distinct advantage over print. If there was a need for a change to the content, you didn’t have to make a frantic run to the print shop, it was easy enough to make the change on the fly and simply re-upload it. Digital media had another excellent advantage – big data. Using big data allowed...

Read the rest, here.

Flat Rate and Hiring: Do Managed print Services Specialists still exist?

Lot's to discuss - Good talent is difficult to attract, titles mean things, MpS is still alive, myself, West, and Ken will talk to these and much more - in less than 32.5 minutes. 

The Bigger the Better? Maybe Not. The Imaging Channel.

This is a GREAT illustration of the stark dichotomy of our industry - OEM v Dealer. 

You know this, and live this - for decades, the OEMs drove the industry(which is natural) and in doing so, ignored until the very last every issue that diminished the sale of hardware. 

Influence has been shifting for a decade as customers find better ways to move data within and outside of their organization without a big copier in the hallway. The Fear of Covid kicked the transformation into hyper-drive, leaving the OEMs in the rearview mirror. 

Walt's Weekly Words, Week 4

This week, there is more content around employment, and the insistence of returning to the office by management, ownership, and the C-Suite. The transition back to the cube is experiencing resistance as the negatives of supporting two offices begin to take hold.

#Apple employees petition for more flexibility, as businesses get back to 'business', occupancy rates across the country continue a slow regression.

#Austin, Texas is reported to be on the office space recovery. This is a mirage. The increase is tied to the return of government workers.

Buyers Want More Than ECom & Retail - GAP Intelligence

Good article on The Imaging Channel.

It has always been my opinion that ECom is NOT a panacea nor is it a threat.

ECom is a stepping stone; one of many Influences within the New MpS Partnership Ecosystem.

"When considering the inventory challenges that dealers and MPS providers are currently facing, it’s important to understand that they’re not unique to the channel and these customers would be challenged to find available printer inventory to purchase online or in-store as well..." 

-Valerie Alde-Hayman, gap intelligence 

The DOTC Partnership Ecosystem - #Ecosystem #MPS #Copiers

The Partnership Ecosystem:

"It is a term that describes – relatively accurately – a state in which partnered businesses interact with each other on an equal footing. Although this describes partnerships in the past, the identification and quantification of this situation are significant. It represents a shift in how partnerships are seen by analysts." - AllTopStartups

Jay McBain has been evangelizing this structure for years.  If you don't know about Jay, Googlitize his name and check it out.

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The DOTC Partnership Ecosystem consists of 12 primary categories, plus one for Clients settling on 13 total Influences.

Within each Influence, there is at least one Influencer.  An array of Influences work with a customer-facing entity, typically, the Dealer.  All Influencers have sway on the customer experience. When the system is aligned, powerful solutions are successfully brought to market, solving real-world business problems.

This model represents a closely connected network of resources and providers similar to the structure of Market Places.

OK let's quickly explore the Influences within a DOTC Managed Print Services partnership ecosystem: