Cover Story
Sales
Solve Most
Problems
Paul Shearstone
Tactics to Strengthen Business in 2019
Johannes Gutenberg may have invented the printing press in the 1450s and Alois
Senefelder invented lithography in 1796, but it’s a sure bet they had no idea how the
printing industry would change so dynamically into what is now, the most competitive
‘global’ marketplace the world has ever seen – wherein our customers minds, products,
services and solutions, are more the same than they are different. There is also plenty
of evidence that even printing experts as recently as the 1980s and 90s could not have
predicted what psychologists call the ‘Systems-of-Influence’ that have come to bear on
the industry.
Systems-of-Influence present in ways
like the impact of electronic media and
other technological changes (digital
substitution). E-book formats from
Barnes and Noble and Kindle from
Amazon, have become increasingly
popular replacements for printed books,
especially for Millennials. Traditional
revenue sources for the print industry
16 | May 2019 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
are also being challenged by digital
E-zines and blogs for tablet-computers
and smartphones.
If that wasn’t enough, environmentalists
are quick to point out that more than
40% of trees har vested by timber
companies are used to make paper.
Moreover, they continue to lobby
governments to reduce/eliminate most
printing inks being used today because
they have petroleum-based ingredients,
containing high concentrations of VOCs
[volatile organic compounds] - known
carcinogens. They rail against the
contemporary paper treatment process
that uses bleaching agents expressly
designed to give a whiter, brighter
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