Company Introduction
GraphiColor is a small, family-owned business that provides printing services. It is located in Brooklyn, NY, and has served the local community for 30 years. Despite its low customer reach, it is known for quality and stability and stays a number one choice for most customers who are familiar with it. This proposal previews several opportunities for expansion and profit growth that are available for this business.
Today, many small businesses are at risk of bankruptcy, and not only due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Without any sufficient effort to transform one’s business into a technologically and ethically modern, reachable, and extensive service provider, it is impossible to stay competitive, especially in the printing services market. An increasing number of small businesses in the United States incorporate IT technologies to optimize their workflow, which is reflected in rising IT spendings among them (Lazar, 2017). Since printing services are especially convenient to be provided online, there is a particular need for GraphiColor to expand their business and attract more customers to their website.
GraphiColor Opportunities
The printing services market is highly competitive, and there are numerous other businesses similar to GraphiColor in their area. While this company prides itself on reliability and quality, these advantages will be diminished over time if it does not put sufficient effort into the implementation of newer technologies. To gain a competitive advantage, GraphiColor needs to either increase its presence on the market by advertisement or through expanding its list of provided services to include marketing solutions.
Social media enables companies to find common ground with their potential customers easily, and interactivity plays a crucial role in modern businesses advertising strategies. GraphiColor already has a customer support service, which can be made into a public Twitter or Facebook account that will serve to answer customer questions in an open and direct messaging. This method would further allow the company to show its potential customers the quality of its service.
Expanding to Social Media
GraphiColor has an extensive website, which can be used as an online store. Baltzan (2017) states that “a firm’s website can be the focal point of cost-effective communication and marketing strategy” (p. 246). By staying available to customers at all times, GraphiColor has the potential to gain more revenue. What the company needs to do is to advertise its ability to do so on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and focus customers’ attention on the fact that their services are reliable and available at all times. The company already has a loyal customer base and has extensive experience in its market sphere, which could be used as the main reason to choose its services.
Additionally, by implementing new technologies, it is possible to be able to make basic printing services wholly automated through the Facebook application. For example, a customer can upload images and documents he/she wants to print online, and then come to the drop-off point or order a delivery to their location. This innovation is especially effective during today’s situation, as it eliminates the need for direct communication.
However, if the company wishes to stay local, it still needs to gain more publicity. Gibbins (n.d.) claims that “82% of consumers conduct research online before making a purchase.” It can be done through the usage of trending local hashtags, which automatically attract the right audience to the company’s website, increase the number of unique visitors, and raises the visibility of the website over various search engines.
References
Baltzan, P. (2017). Business-driven technology. McGraw-Hill.
Gibbins, C. (n.d.). Easy steps to grow your print business. Nemogroup.
Lazar, M. (2017). These small businesses’ technology statistics are surprising. Insight.