The Printing Industry and its Future Development
Since time immemorial, the print industry has dominated the global platform especially in the news sector. Up to date, there are numerous presses that continue to put their content in print form. However, since the revolution of the digital era came through, many of the printing presses have only been left with the option of innovation. This is because many people these days opt to view content in the internet rather than in the print media. This has led to tension among the various printing presses in the industry. This article aims at describing the current printing industry and its future development.
Print Advertising
Print advertising is a major sector in the printing industry. This is because this is the sector that mainly deals adverts that uses physically printed media such as newspapers and magazines. These are supposed to reach out to consumers, business customers, and the prospects. These have been used over a given period of time across the globe. For instance, advertisers in the newspaper subsector sector have numerous choices to choose from. This is because they can opt to advertise in local dailies, national dailies or even regional publications. In this, the advertisers in the print media tend to target different readership through mixing of different content such as sports entertainment, fashion and politics in addition to the national/ worldwide news. In the newspaper subsector, the advertisers usually reserve different sizes of space.
On magazines, the various advertisers are offered extensive choices of frequency and readership. Magazines will mainly cover a wide range of interests such as sports, fashion, health and current affairs. On the other hand, there are other options such as billboard print advertising. This focuses on the consumers that are on the move. As such, billboards will be found in numerous urban centers globally. This is because they are large and will cover a large population. The advertisers of this print media can always change their messages at the frequency of their choice.
Shrinking of the industry
It is worth noting that the printing industry is slowly shrinking. This has been largely contributed by the fact that the digital revolution is taking root. Through this, numerous people, firms as well as advertisers are opting to use the digital arena to push their agendas forward. This has seen a great increase in the number of news, fashion, sports and political blogs. These have been found to offer a large following especially among the youths who have access to the internet. Moreover, it has been found that in developed countries for instance, an individual owning a smartphone will tend to remain hooked to their phones for almost a half of their day. Through this, many printing presses have been crying foul stating that they are no longer able to enjoy the profits or prestige that they used to before the arrival of the digital age.
Integrating printing and digital concepts
Although the digital era has negatively impacted the printing industry, it could be stated that the firms in this industry that have taken it positively have been able to penetrate the market. This has been achieved through shifting to packaging in the digital era. Lau Larsen, a managing director of printing and allied industries of Gazelle Limited states that there is mote market in packaging. This change in the dynamics of the consumer preference globally has been contributed by the fact that the middle class is increasing and consequently has led to a high demand for fast moving consumer which have to be well packaged. Additionally, the various firms have learnt that changing the products to fit the digital media increases their penetration to the market. A look at some of the global multinational companies reveals that in order to increase brand loyalty and connect with the consumers, the companies have adopted multisensory marketing that involves the digital print media. For instance, in the year 2013, Coca-Cola was able to launch an ambitious campaign that saw them produce over a billion personalized bottles that had most names. Integrating the multisensory marketing with the print content saw this firm increase their overall profits by up to 7%. This showed that investing in innovation boosts the printing industry and ensures that print media is able to command a great deal of consumers. Additionally, Coca-Cola was able to use a meaningful collaboration between print media and the digital platform. This was achieved through offering their consumer base an opportunity to create impressions on social media pages. This was also successful and goes a step ahead in exhibiting how the print industry has evolved to fill a gap in the market using the technology that is supposedly killing the industry. This shows that through innovation, firms can be able to drive the print industry to move with the trends.
Top Printing Industry Trends
The printing industry still has a bright future ahead. However, this could only be achieved if the various firms in this industry could embrace the digital revolution. As such, the numerous firms that have been able to exercise this have seen an increased growth and improved brand image. Some of the trends in the printing industry include:
Internet of Things-In this, we have concepts like cloud-based computing that have established a strong presence in the printing industry. This has largely been experienced in commercial printing where information is able to be captured from the printer or another piece of equipment and then the information is sent to the cloud. The information is then analyzed and sent to the end user. The cloud technologies provide a stable framework that enables real time feedback from the consumers. Additionally, through the internet of things, firms have been able to prevent critical failures of the printing equipment. Moreover, new services such as client notification about maintenance or even predictive scheduled maintenance.
3D Visualization-Through the use of visualization software, firms in the printing industry have been able to expand their opportunities in concepts such as packaging. Looking at this from the consumers’ view, it means that through 3D visualization, firms are able to develop print media that is more appealing to the clients. Moreover, clients are able to see the various products from all angles. The 3D visualization methods also end up enabling high-value printing techniques such as embossing or foil. The various printing firms should also ensure that they adopt the latest printing technologies that are bale to simplify tasks. This will increase the productivity and the overall performance by the firms.
Digital Publishing-The various firms in the printing industry have opted to go digital and compete with the new players in the sector. As such, the firms that originally only produced print media have websites that are dedicated towards publishing content online. In addition, these firms will have social media pages whereby they are able to tap on the huge population that consumes digital content. Still on digital; publishing, most advertisers in the printing industry have been able to create adverts on the digital platforms. This has been through teardrop banners and e-banners that pop up in the various sites. These have come in handy in that they are way cheaper than the traditional adverts and their impact is also felt by a huge population. It has also led to the development of a new profession that has been dubbed graphic design. Through this, the designers are able to create content that captures the eyes of the potential consumers. This boosts the consumer base of the various firms.
It is therefore evident that the printing industry needs to fully evolve so as to move with the trends. In this line, it is vital for a firm to engage in business with printing firms that have this kind of mindset. One such firm is the Sun Hing Printing firm that has specialized in a wide array of products and services. For instance, this firm has specialized in innovative products that focuses on the product designs through the integration of 3D technology. Their printing services have also been diversified to meet the numerous needs by the consumers. These include the designing and printing of all types of packing boxes. Moreover, this firm has embraced the use of the Internet of Things in their operations. In this, the company assures the clients that there will be increased consumer engagement through sensor packaging. This is through variable data printing that include barcodes, QR codes, RFID packaging that is meant to deal with counterfeiting issues and audio posters. Sun Hing Printing also ensures that all their operations are environmental friendly and they follow ethical standards. This works towards ensuring that the process of sustainability is maintained at all times. This shows that this firm cares for the various stakeholders as well as for the welfare of the environment. Although the firm is based in China, it has been able to internationalize and is present at several other countries. This shows that firms, individuals or other stakeholders in the printing industry may take seize the opportunity of working with this global printing leader. Sun Hing guarantees that their services are of top quality at all times and are client-centered. In case you want to contact the company for more details, feel free to check the means in which you can get in touch with them at http://sunhingprinting.com/en
