If people in marketing are being honest, a big percentage of their job is guesswork. Done by the book, customer profiling and focus groups give clues as to the need and direction the company’s target market is headed. Soon thereafter, new products and services follow and a marketing message is created. Not everyone follows that game plan, however.

On one end of the spectrum you have navel-gazers who spend countless hours studying, analyzing, and crafting a message. On the other end, there are the Steve Jobs-types who will claim they know the market better than the market knows the market (famously, Jobs never asked. He told). But, regardless of how they got there, once a message is formulated, there is no guarantee it’s the right message. It is not unusual for a new initiative to tank even after great care has been taken prior to its launch. Wouldn’t it be great if marketers could test out a message before going all in? For example, Chevy car executives would not have been embarrassed had they tested out the Nova before releasing it in Mexico. Who knew the direct translation of “nova” is, “doesn’t go”? All of Mexico, as it turns out.

Enter inkjet printing.

Your inkjet printer has many astounding capabilities. Chief among them is its ability to print high quality in smaller quantities. Back in the day, when only commercial print ruled graphic arts, customers had one shot to get the message right before ordering quantities with lots of zeros attached to the end

No more. Inkjet printing gives marketing departments the chance to test their messaging before launching broadly.

Imagine a marketing meeting where one faction of the group wants to deliver one message while another one campaigns for something completely different. Inkjet printing gives that client the ability to test, tweak, and test again.

Inkjet printing solves problems and provides opportunities. Your job is to share these new possibilities with clients and prospects. A strong message to the right audience will open doors!

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Bill Farquharson is a sales trainer for the graphic arts. He can be found at BillFarquharson.com

Kelly Mallozzi is a content creator for the graphic arts. She can be found at SuccessInPrint.net