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Rebranded!

DMIA becomes Print Services & Distribution Association in response to industry trends

By Rebecca Trela

You could be blindsided by this business question at any moment—on the elevator, while relaxing at a cocktail party, or meeting your new brother-in-law. It’s the most important one-liner you’ll deliver all year, and yet many print executives haven’t mastered the meme: “So, what do you do for a living?”

What do you say? The old routine about selling business forms is kaput. Are we printers? Are we sourcing specialists? Communication consultants? Do you understand and resolve problems, manage workflows and data, drive bottom-line results? Yes! But all that and more.

“We recognize that the industry has changed, and the way we want to present ourselves to the marketplace has changed, too,” says Mike Dunaway, owner of PSI Printing, Jacksonville, Fla., soon to be PSI Direct. The pressure has been internal, as the company changes its offerings, and external, because reps sell to C-level executives now, as well as in response to broader, print-industry changes. “We’ve been talking about our rebranding and transformation for about six months, and the association change encouraged this, too.”

Taking cues from its members, the industry association rebranded as well. On October 17, at the annual conference and expo in Las Vegas, the Document Management Industries Association shed the past and emerged as PSDA, the Print Services & Distribution Association, to better reflect the new industry climate.

“A fresh start deserves a fresh face,” said PSDA President Bob O’Connell, president of Vanguard Direct, a New York City distributorship. “It’s no longer enough to simply print and ship, and if we’re going to continue to help customers on deeper levels of their businesses, we need a new brand message. Starting now, we no longer have a brand with an underground name, which will help us gain much-needed awareness and acceptance. I’m excited that we have a name that accurately identifies who we are, what we do and why it matters.”

Steve Enstad, co-founder of PageDNA, formerly Printra, knows how important accurate identification can be. “If I had a dollar for every time I explained our company’s old name as, ‘It’s ‘print.’ Followed by the letters ‘R-A,’ I’d be a wealthy man,’” he says. Every time Enstad had to explain the name, how to spell it and what it meant, he knew he was losing customers who were confused and didn’t take the time to ask. Many potential customers confused Printra, an e-commerce provider and tech company, with Printegra, a Georgia-based manufacturer.

“It’s all about differentiation,” says Enstad, who thanks outside consultants and a designer for their perspective on that issue. “You have to ask two questions: In an elevator pitch, is your name memorable? Is it different?” After PageDNA launched the new name, customers began to think of the company as something different—a provider of more than just printed documents, he says. “We had potential customers who hadn’t talked to us in eight years call us up, become a customer and then later realize we’re the same guys.”

Distributors, who have long distinguished themselves as the source of many solutions, today have more options than ever. They have the freedom to offer limitless products and services, and new technology has enabled them to incorporate marketing ideas, personalized efforts, and analysis of the process they’ve sold for so long. The new name incorporates elements of the industry change with the strength of traditional sales, and that mix resonated strongly with attendees.

“Far too often, rebranding is internally driven,” says Dennis Crowley, CEO of Brand Engineers LLC, who says that branding should be as infrequent as possible. “If you find out that your brand isn’t communicating the message you want, or not presenting or differentiating your company, then that is the right time for a change.” Otherwise, he maintains, a rebranding constitutes a break in the perception your customers have with your image, whether good or bad, and you could be forfeiting business. “If you got rid of all your specialty niche Heidelbergs and bought eight-color presses to offer high-volume, high-efficiency printing, then you’re changing your business model and could rebrand. If you hate your logo colors or you have a new stitcher,” he says, maybe it’s time for a press release.

Many print firms have realized that the market dynamic has changed, and the frequent rebranding (see sidebar) shows the flurry of new capabilities and services firms now offer.

“We’re not an industry of order-takers and commodity brokers,” said Peter Colaianni, PSDA’s executive vice president, during a speech after the name-change announcement. He talked about the importance of each word in the association’s new moniker. “We’re dedicated to coupling services with print, with the goal of improved effectiveness and profitability of every end user customer.”

After months of surveys and profiles by industry veterans and outside consultants, a PSDA marketing study revealed the print distribution industry, a group of 11,000 resellers who generate $16.5 billion in annual sales, is repositioning itself in the larger publishing and printing world. Survey respondents want help in transferring business to annuity-based sales. “We need to work on developing a long-term focus,” one respondent said. “We need to learn more about how to implement new technology effectively and come to our customers with full system solutions. In other words, to seamlessly incorporate new ideas so their businesses remain profitable and relevant.”

Jim Riley, CDC, president of RBO PrintLogistix in St. Louis and 2006-2007 president of the association, also rebranded his company this year. “Our name,” he said, “doesn’t just describe what we do, but where we’re headed.”

For more information, view the relaunched website, www.psda.org.

Rebecca Trela is assistant editor at Print Solutions magazine. Email comments to rtrela@psda.org.