The Future is More Certain Than Usually Thought

What does this mean for print and the U.S. market? Print’s role in overall media is still changing, and the opportunities presented by other media will continue to shift capital and workers away from print. Many printing businesses succeeded because all of their capital (defined as investments, knowledge, experience, craft) was devoted to just that one medium. While that simply doesn’t work in today’s market, neither can we abandon print. It still has a role to play, and profits from print (old business) are required to develop the opportunities presented by new media (new business).

One very clear strategy is investment in a global print media infrastructure. I am frankly quite surprised that we haven’t seen print businesses collaborating to invest in overseas ventures. At the very least, print service providers should seek to support customers who are globally active, because those companies will be growing faster than companies that are not.

Small and mid-sized businesses have the greatest need for communications-related services. They have scarce resources and less time; and they often lack the ability to hire internal expertise. Thus, they must rely on outsourcing. There is more gold to be found in mining the small to mid-sized business opportunity than there is in going after the “big fish” and there may be less competition as well for savvy providers who can offer innovative services.