Page 58 - Print 21 magazine Jul-Aug 2021

Business
To grow your business,
connect with your local educators
Marketing guru Malcolm Auld says printers and mail houses will reap rich rewards from engaging with young people at their local unis.
One of the caps I wear is that of a lecturer in a number of marketing and advertising subjects at UTS in Sydney. I enjoy
teaching our emerging talent and also educating our industry, having done so for some 30+ years now.
Last week I posted a short article on LinkedIn. It announced the
end of the Autumn Semester and the fact I had a bunch of graduates looking for entry-level jobs, as
well as undergraduates looking for internships or part-time roles.
To say the post was popular is
an understatement. Apart from thousands of executives and students viewing it, the post received loads of likes, and more importantly, I’ve had numerous companies offer jobs and internships.
Luke Pearsall, the general manager at Active Mail in Sydney asked me this: “Hi Malcolm, would any of these graduates be interested in starting their career learning how to manage direct mail programmes at a Sydney- based mail house?”
His question got me thinking. The print and mail industries are healthy, but have taken a hit from the growth in digital channels. It struck me that there is also a generation of young talent that has had no education on the benefits of print. They have an uneducated and biased view that print is somehow old-fashioned, and that means not relevant.
“They can help you understand how to link paper and pixels in a relevant way.”
media, blog and newsletters, while educating you and your team.
I see this as a win-win to use
an old cliché. Whether you offer an internship or a full-time job, both parties benefit. And when I say internship, that doesn’t mean the exploitation of young people for the benefit of the company’s bottom line. It means a considered approach to educating a future marketer on why your company/ industry offers worthwhile career opportunities.
I’ll bet very few students have ever been inside a mailhouse or printer, let alone enjoyed that welcome-to-work rush from the smell of ink when you first enter the factory floor. Most have no idea this is a manufacturing industry that provides lots of jobs and helps to build brands.
So, if you’re in Sydney and you,
like Luke Pearsall, are interested in helping kick-start a young marketer’s career, please get in touch with me via LinkedIn. If you’re interstate, contact the marketing or advertising lecturers at your local universities. Most universities have processes for internships with some even having
a subject that involves the students finding an internship and reporting on the experience.
In some cases, this process can be cumbersome, so it might be easier to deal direct with lecturers. It depends upon the personality of the lecturer. You could also offer to be a guest speaker to educate the students about the industry.
The point is simple. If we want the print industry to continue
to grow and be relevant, tap into the future decision-makers in
the marketing and advertising industry and give them some experience and knowledge. Change their uninformed bias and create young advocates who can help swing the pendulum away from digital-first thinking.
My LinkedIn: https://www. linkedin.com/in/marketingmal/ 21
Connect with students: Auld
Yet, when I give my students
a copy of my books about direct marketing or direct mail, they all say a version of the same thing: “I had no idea this is what you mean when you say direct mail – how cool.”
So why not take the opportunity to tap into this young talent when they are looking for work experience and offer them internships so they can be educated on a career in these exciting industries? They are keen to learn and gain experience so they can develop their careers.
Sustainability is one of their hot buttons when it comes to where they want to work, so you have the opportunity to educate them on the industry’s record.
You as employers will most likely learn from the students as well. This is a digitally savvy generation, but they also like reading from paper when given the opportunity. They can help you understand how to link paper and pixels in a relevant way.
And given the growth in the ubiquity of QR codes, as per my previous articles, you now have the opportunity to expand your business beyond print into digital channels
– producing landing pages, email newsletters and more.
Even better, these young marketers live on social media and know what works and what doesn’t so they can show you how to grow your social media followers and advise on relevant content to post. In short, they could run your social
58 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2021