Your Business Story Has a Second Job

Most print businesses already tell strong stories. Testimonials highlight successful launches. Case studies walk through complex rollouts. Project features show the finished piece and the satisfied client. Those stories build trust and prove the business delivers what it promises.

That’s the first job of your business story.

There’s another version of those stories worth telling. The inside story, the one that shows what actually happens in the shop.

Here’s what that looks like.

It’s 9:00 a.m. on a Friday, and a frantic call comes in. A customer needs materials for an unexpected meeting with a major client at their hotel across town by 1:00 p.m.

Four hours.

The customer later sends in a testimonial for your website. They mention the rush. They thank you for delivering the materials on time for their meeting.

That’s their version.

The inside story shares what actually happened in the shop.

Schedules shift. Priorities change. Planning conversations happen quickly. Someone starts reshuffling the day’s production schedule without missing other deadlines. Departments connect. Adjustments happen in real time. Everyone understands the goal and moves.

By noon, the materials are boxed and ready. The customer’s salesperson grabs them and drives across town to make the 1:00 p.m. meeting.

There’s no need to identify the customer. The story isn’t about them. It’s about your team, and what they did to get a job printed and delivered across town in four hours on a Friday.

And that’s the inside story most businesses don’t tell. What it feels like when a shop comes together to make something happen. The planning conversations that lead to reshuffling the day’s production schedule without missing other deadlines. The interaction between departments. The way everyone moves together under pressure to get the work done.

Your print shop is filled with amazing stories that illustrate how you communicate, educate, collaborate, and bring ideas to the table. They show that you don’t just execute jobs. You help shape them.

The inside story can also share how you helped a customer incorporate a new application or technology into their marketing. How you worked with them to map out a quarterly direct mail calendar, so timing, budget, and production align. How you invited designers and file creators into the shop to learn how to prepare artwork for a large-format mural. How you introduced a customer to varnish techniques and finishing options they didn’t know were possible, and watched that project go on to win an award.

When you share your inside stories, you help people understand the experience of working in a print business. A place where technology and creativity intersect. Where marketers experiment with new applications. Where designers refine techniques. Where logistics, data, materials, and production come together to turn ideas into something real you can hold in your hands.

That’s not static work in an antiquated industry. It’s evolving. It’s collaborative. It’s layered with expertise.

If you don’t tell that story, who will?

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.