When, in 2006, Ken McNerney and his partners bought the Miamisburg, Ohio, printing company that today operates as Think Patented, they knew that the thought process behind the acquisition would have to take them beyond basic printing and mailing. "We never believed that print was dying," McNerney, CEO and managing partner, says. "But we realized that if all you are going to be is a printer, you would struggle." Acting on that insight, Think Patented charted a straight path into the realm of omnichannel and multichannel marketing: a challenging but growth-driving specialty where other printers - but not necessarily all printers - can achieve their own measures of success. McNerney's intuition was spot on. Today, marketers who buy printing probably won't be content to deal with shops that have nothing to offer except printing. For print service providers with additional capabilities, on the other hand, the opportunities can be abundant.
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