In an insightful roundtable discussion, we brought together three distinguished leaders in the commercial printing industry: Tami Marek Loper, President of The Marek Group; Steve Bates, President and Owner of CityPress; and Paul Hudson, President of Hudson Printing. They share their expert perspectives on several pivotal topics, ranging from the evaluation of new printing technologies and strategies for staying competitive, to sustainability, customer relationship management, and the evolving role of digital and online marketing in their businesses. Their collective wisdom offers a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of commercial printing.
What are the key factors you consider when evaluating new printing technologies or equipment for your business? How do these factors align with your long-term goals?
Paul: We’ve had a guiding model for over a decade. We think that valuable print lies at the intersection of Print, Data, and Digital (see Venn diagram sketch).
Print – this is our medium and our craft. Anything we can do to enhance the fundamental elements of ink on paper is what we strive to do: beautiful print, better inks, beautiful papers, textures, enhancement effects, etc.
Data – print can now be data-driven and the amount of data available to make our messaging more tailored to what our customers want is staggering. Anywhere that print intersects with available data about the intended consumer makes the print more valuable.
Digital – not digital print, the digital world. Print is a great launch pad for digital experiences. In the future, all print will be expected to have a digital layer.
- The print becomes more valuable at the intersection of two of these circles and even more so at the intersection of all three.
- Overlaying that are the growing imperatives of speed and sustainability.
- All equipment purchases over the last decade have been weighed against that above model.
- Our long-term goal is to be at the center (hopefully leading), “valuable” print.
Tami: Automation is the number one factor in evaluating new investments. Leveraging automation throughout our operation allows us to drive out cost while improving time to market for the product and services we provide. Additionally, automation can be used to solve the staffing challenges most companies are facing today. As we grow, we need to find scalable solutions that do not require headcount as a requirement to hit our revenue goals.
Steve: I look for improvements in production speed, quality output, in-line finished product enhancements, and in general features that provide me a market advantage if my competitors don’t or until they do make similar equipment investments.

In the competitive landscape of commercial printing, what strategies or innovations do you believe are critical for staying ahead and meeting customer demands?
Paul: The basics still matter:
- I’ve never had a customer thank-you note that didn’t say the same three things:
- “My stuff arrived” – meaning it came on time.
- “It looked great” – people always want and expect print to look great.
- “Thanks to _(fill in the blank)” – service matters.
- Layer on top of that the speed and sustainability aspects mentioned above.
- Deliver new ideas. Customers are very thirsty for this.
Tami: Everything we do comes through the lens of solving our clients’ biggest challenges. We have quarterly business reviews to gain insight on where we are best suited to help our customers succeed. We participate in helping our clients write the RFP’s rather than just answer them. We don’t go to a lot of “print shows”, instead we are seen at B2B sales and marketing events where we can learn what our customers are learning. They don’t care about the bells and whistles on our new press, they care what our new press can do for them.
Steve: The key for us is to take a close look in the mirror and know our strengths and weaknesses. Then concentrate on our strengths and outsource our weaknesses to still satisfy customer needs. Sometimes that’s a hard pill for the ego to swallow. Those of us who will survive our industry contraction will embrace sales and marketing plans that we have not had to consider in the past. This is what we are doing.
How do you prioritize sustainability and environmental concerns in your printing operations? What steps have you taken to reduce your environmental footprint, and how important is this to your business?
Paul: I’ve always had a personal struggle reconciling my awe of and respect for the natural world and the fact that our industry is resource intensive.
- We’ve been an FSC printer for about as long as you can be.
- We recycle and reuse as much as we can.
- Our recent investments have all be filtered through the lens of chemical, energy, and recyclability impacts.
- We’ve grown in digital printing because of the ability to deliver personalized messages. We hope to print less, but deliver more impact for our customers.
- We are the first certified “Carbon Balanced Printer” through the World Land Trust. We didn’t do this for show and we don’t expect to pass on the cost of offsetting to our customers. We just think it’s the right thing to do and we hope to attract like-minded customers.
- We’re in the process of launching sustainability-based products into the market.
Tami: We know that reducing our environmental footprint is important to our customers, so it is important to us. We only use water-based coatings, soy-based inks and have a pure paper recycling system. We have been named as a top recycler in our region for the tonnage of pure paper that we recycle annually, and this is something we are very proud of. We are exploring wind and solar energy solutions for our plants, but it is not readily available in our area.
Steve: We recently invested in a press that cuts down significantly our paper waste in comparison to our traditional offset manufacturing, and in addition utilizes chemicals that are much more environmentally friendly than those previously required. The improvements we have recognized in our efficiencies from that press installation also reduce our energy usage. This benefits both the environment and our bottom line.
Can you share insights into your approach to customer relationship management? What steps do you take to maintain strong client partnerships and exceed customer expectations?
Paul: No magic bullet. Do the right things and treat people well and this will take care of itself.
Tami: We use a combined content management and customer relationship software platform to manage our customer experience from lead generation to customer onboarding to relationship building. This platform helps us to engage with our prospects and clients alike with content at all stages of the customer journey including thought leadership, customer engagement, idea generation, customer appreciation and more. We feel the more our customers see us as an extension of their team, the better we can help them achieve their goals creating lasting relationships that are good for both companies.
Steve: Our salespeople have had to learn to sell value, not printing. This was not easy, because it is not an easy sell to the customer. However, when you find the right customer fit, when you find a client who understands and is in line with your vision, you gain a partner for a very long time. When we cold call we are searching for partnerships from the beginning. While we don’t turn away transactional relationships, we aren’t seeking them out as a primary focus.