Who is the Real AlphaGraphics Millennial Customer?

I found this video on YouTube a few days ago.  I think it precisely presents the gap between what a lot of businesses think about Gen Y/Millennials and how the Millennials think about themselves.  Honestly, I think the perception is somewhere in between, slanted toward the latter view.


The reality of the matter is that a lot of the Millennials have not ventured into an AlphaGraphics Printing Facility unless they have been trained for a design background.  We are also finding out that the trained designers are being trained for all things Internet and very little print.  In a lot of cases, we have to train our young customers on what it takes to have something printed on an offset press or that things need to be presented differently if they want to take an Internet page and convert it into a printed piece.

The Millennials are not only a significant portion of today's market but they will be the dominate portion of the overrall market in the future. So we will need to learn how to promote ourselves to them.  They will eventually learn the value of the printed piece so we must be patient in teaching them the benefits of print, combined with the digital presentation.

Previously, I published a Blog post on this subject.  You can find my thoughts at: http://stepheneugeneadams.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-alphagraphics-customer.html

At AlphaGraphics Printing in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona, we do more than just print.  We are also marketing and communications consultants familiar with annual marketing plans, website design, SEO, SEM, Email marketing, direct mail campaigns, news releases and blogging.  We can be reached at the following websites:

Alphagraphics Mesa Printing and Marketing
Alphagraphics Tempe Printing and Marketing
AlphaGraphics Phoenix Printing and Marketing

Follow us on Twitter at:  @steveadams291

The New AlphaGraphics Customer

As I mentioned in my last post, I just got back from the Alphagraphics Gold Circle meeting in Naples, Florida. One of our speakers was Liz Brohan of Colman Brohan Davis a company specializing in brand strategy and creative marketing. The first part of Liz's presentation to us was explaining to us what the new Gen Y customer was like. In a nutshell, here is some of the things she asked us to consider.

First, Gen Y is defined as those young adults born between 1980 and 2000, essentially children of the baby boomers. They, in fact, do not like to be called Gen Y'ers but would rather be called "Millennials". The millennials have high expectations, they feel special, they are connected 24/7, they are very technical and, quite suprisingly, they want to serve their community. Liz also said that they feel indispensible, they love a challenge, they work best with friends, they are good with finances, they are goal oriented and they want recognition for what they contribute.

So, how do millennials go about making a decision to buy. In case anyone has not noticed, they go online. They go to the company website, they go to blogs, they go to business directories, they go to wikipedia, they ask their friends (online of course), they search out comments on the business in the social media networks of FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Only when they have found out as much as possible about a business or product will they actually try and contact the business. One of the surprises in Liz's presentation was that the millennials will also look at printed items to help in their selection. The other aspect of how the millennials are doing their searches is that they are increasingly using their mobile device to do all of the research.

In the business-to-business environment, the millennial will probably present their decision to their boss, a baby boomer or a Gen X'er who will make the final decision. In the near future, the millennial will make the decision. Then, once the decision is made and the transaction is completed, the millennial will go back online, and will rate the quality of the service and product by going to sites such as Yelp, Merchant Circle, City Search, Google Maps, Bing Local, etc. In addition, they will post a comment on FaceBook, Twitter or probably Google Buzz.

So what is a business to do to help the millennials along on their search? We need to be active in the Social Media arena. We need to have our websites in good order so that when we are found, we can answer what they are looking for. Our websites need to have a mobile phone presentation. We need to blog. We need to have a presence on FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the ratings sites.

I am commonly asked. What has all of the work that you do in the social media area gotten you? My answer is that the rewards come slow, but they come. Just this week, I had a inquiry on Twitter about signs and posters and I had a customer compliment me on how high I ranked in their mobile Google search which got them into my door.

My thanks to Liz Brohan for her insight into our new customers and I hope that when she checks in with the AlphaGraphics owners in the future that she will see that all of our social media work has benefited us greatly.

You can reach us at AlphaGraphics at the following websites:
AlphaGraphics Mesa on Baseline 480-844-2222
AlphaGraphics Tempe on Elliot 480-413-1900
AlphaGraphics Phoenix - Northwest Valley 602-234-2944

Follow me on Twitter at: Steve's Twitter Account

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What I Learned at the AlphaGraphics Gold Circle Meeting

Last week was our annual Gold Circle meeting of the top revenue owners in the AlphaGraphics system. We held the meeting in Naples, Florida. There were 31 owner groups represented. Contrary to what a lot of businesses are doing in this economy, AlphaGraphics continues to have these meetings of top performers and also having our annual conference each summer. The location was not as exotic as in the past, but the company was, again, outstanding. Thank you to Kevin Cushing, AlphaGraphics CEO and the rest of the AlphaGraphics staff in having the foresight in continuing these meetings in these difficult times.

So what did I learn?

From the group as a whole...Yes these are hard times and many of us have experienced revenue declines from the prior year, but we still need to laugh and enjoy ourselves. We had several discussions about how to improve our businesses and how to gradually change ourselves to adapt to the changing business climate. There was a lot of laughter in our meetings and dinners.

From Grant Richey in Bountiful, UT...maybe its time to hire a person who devotes themselves to the marketing aspects of our business, especially for SEO and social media

From Butch Clarke in Dallas...the best way to transition into becoming marketing and communications experts is to bite the bullet and start having conversations with our clients

From Rodrigo Abreu in Brasil...being an expert in marketing does not mean we have to be on the bleeding edge. Man, this guy really knows his marketing stuff. Good choice Kevin.

From Chuck Stempler in Seattle...maybe we can make money in this marketing and communications consulting gig. Great work on the Humane Society.

From Rob Johnson in West Valley City, UT...there is plenty of money to be made in the large format arena. I'm going to take a look at vehicle wraps.

From Clair Meehan in Pittsburgh...If you have a creative mind, our customers will seek us out for their most important projects.

From Bill Meehan, her husband...before we can present ourselves as experts, we need to market our own businesses in the way that we preach.

From John and Karen Bickers in Madison...if you want to get into litigation support, you need to right business structure and the right software.

From Keith and Shelly Hermanson in Billings...we need to invest in new types of people in order to make this transition and we have to plan to maybe fail before we succeed.

From Mike Sparaco and Darin Osborne in Tempe...keep investing in the business, become an expert in everything we try to do, and have passion for the business.

From Jeff and Jill Lerner in Sunnyvale, CA...Being active in the community is where its at. Also, when you check your airline tickets for departing time, also check the departing airport :-)

From Sally McKenzie with Ecommerceconsulting.com...Google is taking over the world and our personal lives.

From Karen Brinker in Greenwich, Connecticut...starting another AlphaGraphics can be exciting and hopefully rewarding. I hope they learned a few things from me in that regard.

From Larry Furlong in Phoenix...continue to have a marketing mind. We need to continuously promote our businesses by direct mail, on the internet and wherever our propective customers' eyes might fall. And, as Kevin Cushing said, he continues to do God's work (love you Kathy!)

From Liz Brohan of Colman Brohan Davis...our customers do not want us to find them, they want to find us by researching and getting recommendations online. The Millenials are going to rule the world and we need to adapt to this change. However, we can still teach them about the benefits of direct mail.

And for all of the other Gold Circle owners and presenters I did not mention above, thanks for the most enjoyable and instructive meeting I have had in a long time.

You can reach us at AlphaGraphics at the following websites and phone numbers:
AlphaGraphics Mesa on Baseline 480-844-2222 FaceBook
AlphaGraphics Tempe on Elliot 480-413-1900 FaceBook
AlphaGraphics Phoenix-Northwest Valley 602-234-2944 FaceBook
Follow us on Twitter

New Rules...

In the last couple of months, I have been reading a lot of books on marketing, advertising, public relations, SEO and email marketing. The two books that stand out as it pertains to my AlphaGraphics business are David Meerman Scott's book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" and John Jantch's book "Duct Tape Marketing-The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide". Both of these books have valuable insights and advice on how to market in this new Web 2.0 environment and how to save money in this area over traditional methods. I now follow both of these authors on their blogs and twitter postings.

I have been reading all of these books for two reasons: I want to be the best in marketing my three AlphaGraphics centers and I want to be able to consult with my customers on how to market their businesses in this environment. As I stated in my last blog posting, quick printing businesses are becoming more marketing consulting oriented and to become so means to learn all the tricks of the trade.

In this posting, I want to discuss David Meerman Scott's book and how it has effected my marketing thus far. My timing on this book could not be any worse. Just after I finished reading his 2007 edition, he released the second addition last week. David's first book was very heavily oriented in the blogging area with additional discussions about social media, video and podcasting which he admitted were areas he needed to spend more time. Well since that published date, he has expanded these areas and I am sure that the new edition has significant additions to these areas.

With apologies to David for copying the following section, I believe that he said it best in his book. In the first couple of chapters, David described the Old Rules of Marketing and PR, namely,

"-Marketing simply meant advertising and branding

-Advertising needed to appeal to the masses

-Advertising relied on interrupting people to get them to pay attention to the message

-Advertising was one way-company to consumer

-Advertising was exclusively about selling products

-Advertising was based on campaigns that had limited life

-Creativity was deemed the most important component to advertising

-It was more important for the ad agency to win advertising awards than for the client to win new customers"

"-The only way to get ink was through the media

-Companies communicated to journalists via press releases

-Nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters and editors

-Companies had to have significant news before they were allowed to write a press release

-Jargon was okay because the journalists all understood it

-You weren't supposed to send a release unless it included quotes from third parties, such as customers, analysts, and experts.

-The only way buyers would learn about the press releases' content was if the media wrote a story about it

-The only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was through "clip books," which noted each time the media deigned to pick up a company's release"

David then went on to talk about the new rules of marketing and PR, namely:

"-Marketing is more than just advertising

-PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience

-You are what you publish

-People want authenticity, not spin

-People want participation, not propaganda

-Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it

-Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of under served audiences via the Web

-PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It's about your buyers seeing your company on the Web

-Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It's about your organization winning business

-The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media

-Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content

-Blogs, podcasts e-books, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate

-On the Web, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred"

In "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" David discussed that determining the various persona's of your buyer was very significant in designing your website and delivering your "thought leadership" message through blogs, emails, new releases, white papers, wiki's webinars, e-books, podcasts and videos. He also discussed re-purposing content to fit into these various avenues since the customer is now going to the Web to seek out content and information, not to see an advertisement.

So what have I done for my three AlphaGraphics center since I read this book?

-First, I started this blog. I have written on a number of marketing concepts and thoughts. Some of my postings, I am very proud of, some were just postings.

-From these postings, I have submitted three of them as ezinearticles.com publishings. The first attempt was brutal, but I finally got the hang of it and am was able to publish on my first attempt the last two times.

-I re-purposed two postings into news releases. One about the Top 10 Ways to Market a Business in 2010" and the other about the benefits of Direct Mail. I also post these news releases as separate pages on my website.

-I issue a monthly email newsletter to my customers using some of the information in my blogs. I now archive the past issues of my e-mail newsletters on an off site website that links into my main website.

-I've improved the keywords on my website.

-I've become active in the blogging community, commenting on blog postings and reading as much marketing information from this source as possible.

I would whole-heartedly endorse this book for all my fellow AlphaGraphics owners (the second edition, of course) and to any small business owner. It really cleared my head about what I needed to do to expand my marketing effort.

So what has this done for my businesses since I started this effort? Well, that is a subject for a later posting.

You can reach us at the following websites;

AlphaGraphics Mesa 480-844-2222

AlphaGraphics Tempe 480-413-1900

AlphaGraphics Phoenix 602-234-2944

Follow us on Twitter: @steveadams291

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Top 10 Ways to Market Your Business in 2010

As we go into 2010, full of promise and change from 2009, it is time to think about economical ways to market your business in the coming year. In this internet, social media age, the old marketing plans can no longer be copied into the the new plans. Here are our top ten things AlphaGraphics suggests that you do:

1. Update your Website- Your website is no longer a brochure for the company. The internet search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo have changed the rules. Your website needs to be searchable, it needs to have outside links refer to its content and it needs to be changed very frequently. If you have not had a major overhaul of your site in the last 5 years, its time to invest in a total makeover. Even if you do not make any major changes, the site needs to be editable by the Marketing Department or the owner. There needs to be a system of updating and changing the site on a weekly or monthly basis and having an easy to use edit tool accessible to the marketing people is a must. As discussed in the next item, the use of keywords is also essential for the search engine.

2. Invest in Search Engine Optimization- SEO is the word of the new decade in the marketing arena. For as little as $200 per month, you can hire a company to make your website land on the first page of any search. They do this by testing your website to make sure it has been optimized, by making sure the keywords are in the right place, by making sure that there is activity outside the website that points to your website such as blogs, news releases, email blast, etc. and they use tools to monitor your website activity. You may be able to do it yourself. There are many books written and being written on the subject.

3. Think About Search Engine Marketing- SEM is the sibling to SEO. When you do a search on Google, there are two distinct parts of the results page. There usually is a couple of listings at the top of the page and there are several listings to the right of the page. These are the sponsored links. If you click on one of the links, the sponsor will pay a click-thru fee, usually averaging about $3 per click. The other part of the page is the organic listings where SEO activities dictate the rankings. SEM is done by bidding on the keywords you want to sponsor with the search engines. With Google, you can bid on certain words using their AdWords feature. It is usually a good idea to hire a consultant to place the words for you and to monitor the results. You might also want to design different landing pages within your website for each category of keywords so that when the customer does click-thru to your site, where they land is relevant to the search term.

4. Send out Email Newsletters- This is an email world now. Monthly email newsletters are a great way to inform your customers and prospects about your business. You do have to be careful not to come across a selling a product or service too much or people will opt-out of future mailings. Emails that are informative and specific to what your customers want to know are the best types of emails. Occasional promotional postcard email blasts are OK, but do it too often, your will lose the ability to send future emails. Companies such as Constant Contact are perfect for distributing these emails. They have templates available and they monitor the email addresses for bounces and opt-outs.

5. Do a Demographic Profile of Your Customers- How would you like a listing of the companies or prospects that are out there that are exactly like your current customers. Well, it is possible to get this listing by doing a demographics profile of your existing customers. Once this information is put into the system, we can identify a listing of companies and prospects that have the same attributes as your existing customers in your market. This process usually runs around $1,000 to have done, but it will allow you to better target your market with a reduced number of mailed or emailed items.

6. Don't Forget Direct Mail- Direct mail is still one of the best ways of contacting prospective or current customers. Email filters and the rapid changes in email addresses reduces the overall benefits of doing email only. Using an efficient mailing list such as the one discussed above, greatly enhances your chances that the direct mail item will be read. We also use three-dimensional pieces and personalized url to improve responses rates on our mailings. Personalized url's (purls) are a great way to get your prospects or customers to go to a website to capture additional demographic information on that customer.

7. Write a Blog- Every company needs to have a blog. The best way to drive people to your company's website is to have them read your blog. As in the email blast discussions above, blogs should be informative and not promotional in order to capture and maintain a frequent audience. Starting a blog is easy. I started this one by going to Google and typing in "starting a blog". Don't worry that it appears that no one is reading the blog. Your readership will expand over time and it will be very beneficial with the search engines. Link your company website, your Twitter page and everything else within your blog. Just remember, link, link, link.

8. Be Active with Social Media- Most people understand Facebook and LinkedIn now. A lot of people do not understand Twitter and its benefits. "I'm sitting on a corner in Winslow, Arizona" does not appear to make a great business tool. However, using Twitter to make an occasional statement about something of interest in your business or industry will get you some followers. On Facebook, having a separate company page whereby people can become fans of your business has its benefits. Cross linking your website, your Blog, your Facebook page and your Twitter page will enhance your readership and your search results.

9. Issue News Releases- Commit to issuing a monthly press release about something of interest that has happened to your business. This can be about a new product, a new piece of equipment, a move or something that one of your employees did. Before your do the first one, you need to develop a contact listing of your local media outlets. Once the news release is written then it needs to be distributed to the local media outlets as well as placing the news release on the wire. Putting the news release on the wire allows the release to be searched by the search engines and catalogued.

10. Go to Trade Shows- Re-commit to going to trade shows. At least plan on getting a booth at the local Chamber of Commerce Business Expo. Trade shows are an inexpensive way to get in front of prospective customers. The use of large format graphics and brochures helps to make your booth pop. Capture business cards of prospects by offering something of value such as a prize or free service.

At AlphaGraphics, we are positioned to either providing the above listed services or to helping you to contact a company that provides the service. We would be happy to meet with your to plan out your full year marketing plan.

You can reach us at AlphaGraphics at the following websites:

Mesa 535 W. Baseline Rd., Mesa, AZ 85210 480-844-2222
Tempe 720 W. Elliot Rd., Tempe, AZ 85284 480-413-1900
Phoenix 8041 N. Black Canyon Hwy, Phoenix, AZ 85021 602-234-2944

Follow me on Twitter at: Steve's Twitter Account