Print is not dead. It is not dying. What the print industry is doing, however, is changing. The big question that we must answer for ourselves is this:
Are we going to evolve or become extinct?[fruitful_sep]
At first glance, it may seem that the print industry has declined during the transition from newspapers and magazines on every doorstep to the more readily accessible digital world. But this is simply not the case. Print has undergone some pruning along with the economy, but the print market is healthy and growing. There are two key words that illuminate both the biggest problem and the best solution to keeping up with the recent print industry changes: social media.
Digital advertising is completely revamping the way that effective marketing works. While Pamarco, like most suppliers, is selling to other businesses, there is still a vast world of social media to be found in our realm of the industry. Content marketing, blogs, webinars and instructional videos are now the cutting edge and represent critical avenues of growth that we cannot afford to overlook.
Social media education as a means of industry evolution has become a reality and a necessity. Young and old alike must adapt to the new trend or be left behind. Keeping up is hard to do in an increasingly-progressive industry, but relevancy is at stake. Take the online search engines, for example: what does it take to stay on top of one of those searches? Or, for another example: how many retweets does it take to earn a new follower? The point is: in a rapidly moving world, let’s not be forgotten.
The biggest issue with staying on top of social media is exposure and persistence. The digital world is quite a beast to wrestle with for any newcomer, but this shift is also taking place during the transition from baby boomers to generation x and represents a big challenge for all involved. The older generation of Pamarco is one of experience; many employees have been here from the beginning. As new trends come in and new employees do too, we encounter a serious mash-up of worlds. There is a need to keep it current and relevant so that it is appealing to customers, while maintaining the experience that makes Pamarco customer service stand out in a crowd.
I’m curious to see how we all adapt. Will the new generation find a way to make ourselves credible without having the background in print? Will the current generation surf the new wave of digitalization? Either way, it’s a tough situation because you cannot recreate the history that comes from experience or fake the adaptation that comes from being in tune with contemporary progression. I truly believe that we can, however, work together to build an industry that blends experience with current trends for a future that we can all be proud of.
I don’t think we are going to become extinct. We’re very clever and extremely resourceful – and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I’m sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.
~ David Attenborough
By Katie Graham
