marketing

Sharing great content to keep in touch. 07.24.2011

1. VIDEO
   • So, you want to build a satellite? Watch this video from NASA “how to do it”.
2. BLOG
   • Defining the social business as the change agent, from Britopian.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA
   • The Google+ guide, on Mashable.
4. INNOVATION
   • Do robots take people’s jobs? on KurzweilAI.
5. MARKETING
   • What Google Did Next (understanding Google’s plan and the future of social media marketing), on Mashable.
   • Your Customers Are Talking. Are You Listening? on Entrepreneur.

How a customer oriented vision can help consolidate your competitive edge

The future of the graphic arts, the printing industry, the media services has never been so hard to foreseen. It’s not just about the rapid technology development, the global economy situation, the deep social and cultural changes and many others valid factors. For a number of companies I think there is a factor playing an important role: many of them are simply missing a vision on fundamental strategic issues. Currently the discussion about how long the paper will survive the new technology is very active on online and printed articles, events, round tables. I personally hate this kind of useless discussions which are reminding me something very similar about the “supposed death of paper” when the web exploded some 15 years ago. I believe the challenge here is different: it’s not about how long the paper will survive, but rather how many companies will close down before the paper - lets suppose for one second - will disappear. We will still need paper for a while as we have needed until today, with the exeption of printed newspapers and magazines because news and information have become a new experience which goes beyond the printed page. Starting from a truly customer oriented vision, there are in my opinion few strategic issues that could be helpful to a graphic industry, a printing company or a book or magazine publisher. Lets try to summarize:

1. Have you adopted a content management strategy which allows effective business processes, optimized efficiency when creating, using and distributing content on every media channel? The content management strategy is a very powerful leverage that fully supports the organization to reach its business objectives.
2. Have you integrated your production and business workflows within a JDF environment? This can offer the final customer a great product and service experience, while the company can take advantage from the increased efficiency of all its internal processes.
3. Have you ever considered to start a Lean Six Sigma project? There are many useful tools in this great methodology that help to create a culture of continuous improvement of processes and quality, by eliminating wastes, non value added activities, hidden costs and inefficiencies. Please don’t think about how much a Lean Six Sigma project could cost, but rather how much could be the cost for your company of not doing it.

I hope these three questions can help to trigger useful reflection on how to find a constructive way to consolidate your competitive edge on the market. What do you think? Thank you for your feedback.