Paper Supplier's Buzz Worthy Marketing

I've been reading the books Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes and Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz and these truly inspiring books led me to seek my own buzz worthy news on my business. On the other hand, I'm hoping  that I could emulate this buzz worthy news I 'm going to share. I've been in this paper supplier's retail shop like 3 times, and what can I say, it is a word of mouth experience! The supplier, Prestige Paper, Inc., simply knows how to generate buzz that buyers like me will highly appreciate and will in turn get the word out to other people like what I'm doing now. 


For one, they maximized their space, and put all the sample of papers cut in rectangular pieces, pinned on a cork boards placed on horizontally moving wooden frames. This way, you can check on the selection of papers easily as you move from frame to frame. Secondly, they also gave me free sample of papers:

Figure 1. Prestige Paper Swatches 2009; these papers are good for offset printing presses while some are good for digital color laser printers.

Figure 2. Prestige Paper Swatches 2009 for Digital Color Laser Systems; these papers are good for digital color laser printers.

And third, they have very capable, efficient and helpful employees. Discussing the paper types and more than willing to go the extra mile to help. They are not the cheapest but I suppose you know now why I keep on buying from them.


However they don't have a website. But whatever they lacked in online marketing, their word of mouth marketing has more than compensate for their lack of it! So what's your buzz all about?

Entangle your Prospects on the Web

Most of our clients are from the web. We have not really marketed ourselves on print that's why I am quite grateful of using this marketing tool to attract prospects. There are quite a lot of marketing books and even copywriting books, that are one in saying what you should at least put in your ads:
1. What's in it for your prospects/clients?
2. The benefits that they are going to reap out of your products or services
3. The call to action. Tell them to get in touch with you as soon as possible.


Once you are complete with your ad. Where to do you post it? There is 88db.com, www.sulit.com, olx.com, and many others. 


What do you put in your ads?

Business Plan

Business plan is necessary in order for your business to have a direction. I got a business plan template for my startup business from www.score.org. They have a comprehensive way of how you are going to start and work on your business plan. Also the things I like that goes with it as well are the: 


Opening Day Balance Sheet
Sales Forecast Sheet
Startup Expenses Sheet
Break-Even Analysis Sheet
12 Month Cash Flow Statement Sheet
12 Month Profit and Loss Projection Sheet

This somehow, gave me an idea of how to formulate a business plan. 

Searching for the print shop's "perfect" location

I may have found the "perfect" location for our start up print shop business. Since our target customers will be the MSME's(Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) young family and professionals aged 20 - 34, this location fits the bill. The Cybergate plaza  is home to a handful of residential and office condominiums. I am quite familiar with the place since my Globe Telecom days. The exact location is at 2F One Gateway Place, Cybergate Plaza EDSA corner Pioneer Street Mandaluyong. Someone already had his/her foot on the two first floor spaces. Well the good thing is, there are spaces still available on the 2nd Floor.


Here are the pictures of the site:

I was taking this picture of One Gateway Plaza from the middle of the road. The shop is on the second floor.

This is the photo from the car on the road showing the street level view on the 2nd floor shop.

This is the pedestrian view on one side of the vacant commercial space of One Gateway Place across the road. My brother is taking some pictures of his own.

This is another pedestrian view on the other side of the said commercial space.

This is the exclusive stairway to the vacant 2nd Floor commercial space.

This is how it looks like when you look up while on your way up the stairway.

The view on the left from the inside. The window almost occupied the height of the commercial space.This is where the Cybergate Place 2 and Robinsons Forums are visible.

The view on the right from the inside. This is where the Pioneer Highlands or Globe Telecom Plaza, Cybergate 3 and The Legend Villas Hotel are visible.

What has led me to this location?
The new building projects a fresh image which is very much in sync with the company's projected brand

It is not saturated by competition.

The location has substantial foot traffic.

The location is near its target consumers.

The location is accessible to customers. There is adequate and safe parking space alloted. It is near Boni MRT(Metro Railway Transit) station.

Very accessible to suppliers.

There are at least five office condominiums nearby. 

There are at least three residential condominiums nearby.
There is a nearby courier.

There is a mall nearby.

The area is flood-free.

Mandaluyong has one of the lowest business tax in the metro.

Personally, I like the location for our upcoming print shop business.


How about your business location? Kind enough to tell me why you chose it?

Starting a Digital Print Business

My first brush with business was when I was a kid. That time when my mom would ask me to remove her white hairs for 5cents each. During that time, my childhood want was candies. Years went on, wants have changed. I think major reason could be was my grandfather's influence to me to be a boss of my own. My fascination with printing started when I frequent the copy centers to have my classmate's notes be duplicated. I figured, I will need an investment or a fortune to start one. And the only resort I was thinking was to work out of the country to earn enough to start a business. As I was able to do that, now is the moment of truth. I am now starting a digital print business. I am actually be working with my brother who has deep sense of creativity having learned using Adobe design publishing softwares from First Academy of Computer Arts.

Knowing that we had enough to start one, I had four options, two franchises and two printer dealers. These are with no large format printers.

Franchise GB print shop

I checked the franchise for printshop. I even wrote down the questions before I went to meet the franchiser:

What are the equipments?

Answer: heat transfer equipments, desktop printer, computer, softwares

Can the satellite be converted to a full service store?

Answer: No. But the satellite store can resell services offered by the full service store like large format printing, riso printing, picture printing, etc.

Post opening assistance?

Answer: The franchiser will monitor the sales once a week

Where is the training going to be held?

Answer: The training is going to be held in the nearest full service store.

What are the products for personalized printing?

Tshirts, caps, button pins, PVC ID cards

How many service crews?

Only two for the satellite branch

ROI?

after 9months

How is it going to be competitive?

Open the store within malls and resell what the full service store is also selling aside from the usual products.

Where are the satellite branches?

Answer: The current satellite branches are at the provinces.

Royalty fee?

They have no royalty fee but a fixed fee per month whether you earn or not.

The guy told me that they assist in all the business requirements and that also include the location.

Franchise R printshoppe

I checked again the franchise for printshop. I even wrote down the questions before I went to meet the franchiser:

Do you offer locations?

Answer: They are offering locations suited for this business. They do marketing study prior to approving even your suggested location.

What are the equipments?

Answer: Riso, Copier, Computer, FAX machine, Scanner, blue print machine

What will be the products and services?

office forms, photocopying, scanning and fax service, design/layout service, cards, letterheads, brochures, flowcharts, business cards, certificates, banners, and other paper works.

ROI?

9months

Royalty fee?

5% per month

How many service crews?

two service crews and one financial officer going to supervise the operations and the marketing stuffs. The two service crews will be coming from their employment services company that is also belong to the same group of company. The franchisee will have to interview the candidates.

Where will the training be?

at the franchisers office.

They offer assistance on the business requirements which also include the location. They only offer this franchise per city.

Printer Dealer C

I went to their office and they showed demo for the machines they are selling. They have the printshop package and a sale to boot amounting to as much as 40% off. For the RISO printer and the Multi functional laser printer.

Printer Dealer U

Offers similar products to Dealer C. The demo was better than Printer Dealer C but no sale items.

Going down on my choices, the franchises didn't offer much transparency on their product offerings. The discussion was too general. So that's why I thought I have to start by my own. I chose Printer Dealer C.

From the marketing material of Printer Dealer C:

Why Print Shop is the right business for you?

• There are neither royalties nor franchise fees to pay!
• There are no special skills required to operate the machine!
• It is easy to set up and can conveniently co-exist with your other business, if any.
• The space requirement is minimal - 18 to 24 square meters can be sufficient.
• The return on investment can be in less that one year
• It can easily be expanded into a full-service printing business
• The services that be offered using the machines are various
• It is not just a fad, the services are needed by almost all kinds of businesses all year long
• Sales are easy to monitor because of the meter counters found in the main machines
• Materials used have long shelf life, so spoilage can be controlled and minimized
• The potential market is vast and continuously grows each day
• The business has been tried and tested by about 800 print shop owners nationwide

How about you? What business are you planning to start? Or what made you choose your business? And why?