Saturday, 24 May 2014 16:35 GMT

Challenges for Sign-makers

Looking ahead to the future of the industry, Brendan Perring asks: “What key technological and business challenges do you think sign-makers will need to tackle to remain competitive?”

Providing choice

It has become so easy to import components and finished signage from Europe and beyond in the last five years, that the smaller sign companies are no longer beholden to what is manufactured by the main sign trade suppliers in the UK. Therefore, they have the opportunity to see and buy a wider variety of materials, lighting, and finishes that are not necessarily available in the UK. The choice is amazing.

This situation will only get easier over the coming years and as people get more confident about ordering abroad, it could potentially have an impact on companies like us.

We spend a lot of our time coming up with ideas to keep us competitive and reliable, but with a young, motivated, and creative approach. We feel this is still the way to go, whilst maybe thinking outside the box a little more. We know what we are good at and we know that we have a good method for developing new products with a great supply route to a database of loyal customers—we just need to be hitting them with more choice.

We spend a lot of our time coming up with ideas in keeping us competitive and reliable, but with a ‘young, motivated and creative’ approach”

I think most companies would buy from the UK if they had the choices available to them and the prices were comparable or cheaper. We do not want to give them an excuse to do otherwise.

Technologically speaking, we are in the midst of developing some exciting products that are modern equivalents to retro signage, such as neon. Without giving too much away, we have high hopes for these products—more so than any previous ones—and for a handful of test customers that have seen and used them, the response has been 100 percent positive.

Core principles


Rob Goleniowski, business manager sign and graphics, Roland DG


While technology in the sign making sector will naturally continue to evolve over the next few years and reveal more game changing applications, I believe the broad requirements for a business to remain competitive and successful in the future will revolve around the same three core principles that determine these today.

Firstly, having the right technology for right now with the flexibility and capacity to help your business grow in the future; secondly, having the right level of operational dexterity and efficiency, and finally marketing the right product to the right audience via the right channel. Fail in one, and the overall performance of the business fails too.
 
Today, it is social media and online communications that are becoming an increasingly important channel for businesses to communicate with customers, and this is trend that is only set to grow exponentially in the next few years as more customers become socially active online. Engaging customers via social media channels helps businesses to deliver marketing messages in a manner and format they want and provides a critical opportunity to have an active dialogue with customers, not just a passive ‘one way’ marketing monologue. And, more active engagement means greater understanding and recognition of customer needs and greater commercial opportunities. 

Our own online peer-to-peer customer portal, the Roland User Forum, is a very successful example of this.

In the end, the basic truisms of business success will always remain, regardless of technology developments and trends”


In the end, the basic truisms of business success will always remain, regardless of technology developments and trends. You need reliable and flexible technology from a partner you can trust; an efficient process that ensures you maximise production efficiencies and profitability; and targeted, engaging marketing through the right channels.  Get all of this and you have got it just right.

Address the challenges


Paul French, chief executive officer, Metamark




I believe the broad answer divides conveniently into two parts. One is concerned with actually winning business, and the other in fulfilling it once it is won.
 
I think it is obvious to anyone taking even a casual look at the market that its customers are very much part of the general migration of buying interest to either specialised press or the internet when searching for information or recommendations supporting buying decisions.

Most people use a search engine or a social platform as a gateway to the internet when they go looking—the question to ask is will you be there waiting to be found as they search? A key challenge then is making yourself easy to find and rewarding to engage with. Your information needs to be current too, so reading the specialist press is key.

When it comes to being competitive on the supply side of the equation, that means ensuring you’re allied with the right suppliers, and using the right hardware and materials. If staying the right side of the profit line depends on honing split seconds off your print production time, I would say you need to look at your pricing and costs. A key part of operating a competitive business is getting beyond costs-plus and into value-add.

At Metamark we have put a lot of effort into developing materials that enable creative, value-added applications. Our MetaWrap MD-X, for example, is designed expressly to help make wrapping an easier and more commercially attractive proposition. Wrapping is a skills-based art; develop those skills and your business can be active in one of the most buoyant markets available and one that is only likely to grow in coming years. Make yourself easy to find and supply a hungry market with top quality, desirable output and you will find that you can attain better prices.

Make yourself easy to find and supply a hungry market with top quality, desirable output and you’ll find that you can attain better prices”


There are challenges; being found and having a skill-set that is in demand. Now is the time to address these challenges, not when the phone has stopped ringing. 

Technology is the cure


Garry Brown, managing director, Your Print Specialists


There are three key factors that sign-makers need to look at moving forwards: personalisation, diversification, and integration. First there was signage, then came digital signage, and soon enough we will have interactive  signage—and as the latter is potentially more lucrative than anything that has gone before.

Sign-makers need to step beyond what is static into a more fluid and holistic service. As a company that prides itself in providing the right advice and information in addition to the right products, YPS is always looking to help its customers achieve their business potential and this means facing challenges along with them.

It is our belief that technology itself will be the remedy for the business challenges that lie ahead. A change is already in motion within the sign-making world whereby it is no longer enough to just print. Yes, customers want high quality print, but they also want additional services such as design, marketing, and creativity. It is about stepping up and becoming a solutions provider and the technology that is currently being created will assist with that in the future.

It’s our belief that technology itself will be the remedy for the business challenges that lie ahead”


One such example is intelligent print recognition (IPR), which is one of many new technologies that progresses signage and print to interactive. By incorporating IPR within a sign and utilising smartphones, tablet technologies, and the like we are able to access whole hosts of valuable information that simply could not fit within the sign itself, making it more personal and useful to its viewer. IPR introduces a more valuable printed product or sign, which can involve data capture, drive brand loyalty with clever analytics, or display augmented reality that will enhance products, brands, promotions creating revenue, and repeat business.
  
With the increase in digital marketing, social media, and the online presence of companies, sign-makers need to keep up and incorporate aspects of this into their existing provision. There are many other new technologies coming through, but in essence, it is about making use of technology to provide an enhanced service that will give a solution to the customer so that they do not look elsewhere to have their needs met.

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