Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
interlinkONE Invests in the Class of 2011!
It is that time of year again —- students are graduating and looking to start the next chapter in their lives. This year, like many others, interlinkONE has awarded scholarships to two local students. Anthony Salani from Shawsheen Valley Technical High School (Billerica, MA) and Nicole Diorio from Wilmington High School were this years winners. We hope that the scholarships help Anthony and Nicole in their quest to further their educations. To all graduates of the class of 2011, interlinkONE would like to say: “Congratulations and Best of Luck!”
Tags The Future Leaders of the Print Industry
Posted by John Foley, Jr. 
on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 
at 10:56 AM 
in Business, Marketing, Technology 
On March 29th, I had the privilege of attending and participating in the Bill Treadaway Print Leadership Forum at Clemson University. I am very thankful for having the opportunity to meet and interact with the faculty and alumni that attended.
But more than that, I am quite energized by having been able to spend time with students from the Graphics Communications department at Clemson.
Why We Need Students More than Ever Before
The print industry is changing, that is for sure. However, I truly think companies will be able to remain relevant in the future if they embrace the ideas — both creatively and in regards to communication channels — that will come from the youth of today.
The students in the Graphic Communications department at Clemson certainly have a passion for print. But they also spend a great amount of time communicating, publishing, and consuming information via channels such as social media, mobile, and more.
Will their future employers shun those activities once these students have jobs at their print facility?
How to Embrace Change in Your Organization
While it may not always be easy to implement change, service providers may find tremendous benefits if they embrace it.
- They should find ways to use the knowledge from these students to run more effective marketing campaigns that promote their business and its services.
- They should use the student’s experience to train their sales staff on how new channels can help them to find prospects and to engage with customers.
- They should use the student’s passion to effectively offer integrated marketing solutions to clients, that include interactive print and other new channels.
Yes, future generations may push to implement ideas that are different than what some in the print industry have been used to.
But in these changing worlds of marketing, communication, and education, I think that’s exactly what we need.
The Integration of Graphics, Packaging, and Marketing
Yes, it’s true…. I’m going back to school!
On March 29th, I have the opportunity to participate in the Bill Treadway Print Leadership Forum at Clemson University.
The theme of this year’s event is “Get The Big Picture–The Integration of Graphics, Packaging and Marketing“. During my presentation (from 2:10 PM until 3), I plan on demonstrating ways that students in the graphic communications field can best equip themselves to succeed in this industry.
One thing’s for sure — for print to continue to be a viable channel for marketers, it will need to be integrated with channels such as mobile and social media. Since a lot of the students at Clemson are probably very familiar with using those channels to communicate, I think that they will able to offer a tremendous amount of help to print service providers when they hit the workforce.
I look forward to seeing everyone at Clemson on the 29th!
If you’d like to connect before then, feel free to chat with me on Twitter!
Job Shadow Day at interlinkONE with Local Students
Over the past few years, interlinkONE has participated in a Job Shadow Day program with a local high school.
Well, we are in a new year, and today is the day for 2010!
Students from the high school will spend the majority of the day here at the interlinkONE offices. They’ll have the opportunity to tour the building, and meet employees from all of our departments — from the sales team to HR to the programmers and developers.
The students will primarily be working side-by-side with our marketing team. We certainly are excited to share with them what we do. We plan on showing them various aspects from our normal workday — from brainstorming sessions, to sending out a newsletter, to checking reports to see which marketing channels are working.
But here’s one thing that we’re truly excited about — learning from them. We always gain valuable insight from these events. We’ll find out what technologies excite them – whether it’s a social media channel, mobile marketing, or something else that may not be high on our radar yet. We’ll also work with them to see how marketing channels such as print, email, and advertisements make an impact on their lives.
It should be an exciting day. Thank you to Wilmington High School for allowing our company the chance to be a part of this.
