Why? Because it’s not just a piece of paper, or canvas, or metal, or wood. It’s not just a photo or a graphic. It’s a conversation starter, the spark that ignites stories and creates emotional connections. It’s a mnemonic expression of the experiences that bring together families and friends, colleagues and clients. At The Print Refinery, this human connection drives the unique experiential elements that make up a winning formula – for the consumer and the retailer.
EXPERIENCE a Consultative Creative Partnership – Today’s specialty retail and service markets are no longer transactional, employing order takers. For both retail guests and commercial clients, you must develop relationships that position your team as the local expert. It’s time to get out from behind the counter and consult with each customer side-by-side. Understanding their needs and matching them with your vast capabilities will guarantee the desired end result – that emotional connection with the story behind the project.
The Print Refinery store design incorporates several multi-functional areas: a casual conversation area, a consultation counter, various styles of workstations and multiple collaboration tables. Guests and team members spontaneously engage with each other in a variety of ways, without the barrier of the traditional sales counter. The incorporation of the collaboration tables has proven to successfully increase sales tickets.
CURATE Unique Product + Service Offerings – Offering exclusive products and services with a, “We print ANYTHING on EVERYTHING,” mantra is essential, highlighted by beautiful, clean displays that thoughtfully represent the best of what you can do. Design these vignettes to feel like a home or office environment. When paired with conversation, your team will utilize the free flow environment to walk guests through a hands-on experience of examples, materials and inspiration that meets their specific needs. Embracing the latest marketing techniques (web design, online advertising, digital signage, emotional messaging and video), as well as adding celebratory packaging, emphasizes the perception of your work being professionally crafted, custom masterpieces.
The Gather Box (shoebox scanning reinvented) is one of the more multi-faceted “Signature” services offered in-store at The Print Refinery, as it encourages add-ons, upselling and derivative creative products, and can be paired with classes, events and one-on-one consultations. Ongoing development of new Signature Products and services is inspired by home and commercial décor trends and top selling items on creative sites like Etsy.
ENGAGE through Community-Building Classes + Events – Focus on building a local culture through interactive education and social events. Collaboration tables can be moved together and placed in front of a wall-mounted monitor to create an in-store classroom space. All classes and events should conclude with the creation of a printed creative product and an introduction to the endless future project possibilities. Maximize your opportunities to support, train, educate, coach and entertain your customers. Events and education inspire creativity, collaboration and connection, teaching skills that add value and lead to purchases. Capitalize upon the current popularity of group activities like paint night, plant night, trivia night, etc. that allow guests to socialize with like-minded individuals in a fun and nurturing environment.
UNCOVER High Profit Margins with Commercial Concentration – The Print Refinery is a hybrid model of equal B2C and B2B sales, using the Creative Partner Program method to attract lucrative commercial projects that carry an 80% margin on average. Developing creative partnerships with local businesses happens mostly outside of the store, however, the store is well-equipped with interactive displays and collaboration areas for in-store appointments, as well as spontaneous experiences. This new focus has brought one location over $20,000 in additional sales in January of this year.
CULTIVATE Team Culture – Your brand = your culture = your team. These three elements must be well developed, communicated and integrated. Start by clearly defining your brand culture through your vision, mission, guiding principles (core values) and brand promise. All business decisions are tested against these, including cultivating the right team. Engaged team members are attracted to your culture and perform better as a result. Engagement starts during the recruiting process and continues through interviewing, hiring and training. Most importantly, it never ends with growth opportunities presented by coaching, mentoring and education. State your vision, mission, guiding principles and brand promise and clearly define the attributes of your ideal team member in your job descriptions and training materials.
The Print Refinery Vision:
“Building a passionate local community by inspiring people and businesses to creatively use photographs, imagery and video.”
DEVELOP a New Mindset – Training is integral in making the culture shift of taking your team members from order takers to collaborators, from producers to artisans, from service representatives to educators, and from retail salespeople to commercial partners. The Print Refinery developed an online training program in which all team members from all stores participate. It can be modified for use during in-person individual or group training. Training modules are added regularly to introduce new concepts and train on the brand, the culture, sales techniques, display methods and new products and services.
The Print Refinery Brand Promise:
“Our passion is bringing your stories to life through artistic collaboration. Our obsession is delivering share-worthy excitement with each experience and project.”
Because at the end of the day, when you present your hand-crafted masterpieces to your in-store guests and unveil your stunning on-location installations to your creative partners, you’ve become an irreplaceable part of their storytelling process. You are now part of their conversation. You’ve forged a lasting connection. Consult. Create. Repeat.
Three ways to win Christmas with photos
This could be the best gift you’ll give this year. It will definitely be the most meaningful. This isn’t another “Best Gifts of 2017” list. It’s THE Best Gift of 2017 and it’s not a list. It’s just one thing and you already own it. It might even be in your pocket right now. Best […]
Love holiday traditions? Here’s a great one!
We all have them – those meaningful family traditions that we replicate each Christmas season. Maybe it’s watching the big game together, baking from family recipes, decorating the tree or driving through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.
When my children were younger, I used to dress them in matching holiday themed pajamas and pose them for a picture under the tree. But as they grew older, I started thinking about finding something more meaningful and lasting to do for them. Something that makes the holiday season special after they leave the house and begin starting their own traditions.
Since I work in the photo industry, I had access to all sorts of options for creative ideas, but one stood out as something that had the lasting power and sentimental value I was looking for – so I landed on personalized holiday ornaments.
These custom ornaments feature an image of our family or the kids, the year and their ages – making reminiscing fun as we decorate the tree. I order multiple copies of our annual family ornament each year – one for each child to keep and one day take with them – plus one that will stay on the family tree at our house.
Now, that my kids are a little older, they love to look for their special photo ornaments while we’re decorating the tree and I love knowing that this tradition will live on for years to come.
#holidaytraditions, #personlizemytree, #lovemyPRproject, #theprintrefinery
What is archiving and why is it so important?
When it comes to organizing and preserving your family’s photography history, many of us struggle to get this accomplished. Whether it’s photos stuck in drawers, VHS tapes in boxes, old slide carousels or piles of home movie reels – most of us don’t even know where to begin. Time out! You do know how important preserving these memories is – don’t you? Over time, these precious mementos from our past, our parents’ past and our grandparents’ past are at risk for damage, deterioration and they are mostly likely forgotten and neglected.
What is Archiving? It’s the process of storing data and information of historical importance – and what’s more important that your own family history!?
Here’s why archiving is important:
• Protection – Getting those photos and movies out of damp basements and grungy garages ensures longevity. It also protects them from catastrophic weather or environmental damage.
• Preservation – The best way to preserve these moments and memories is through a process called digitization. The prints, slides and home movies are scanned and turned into digital files – making them accessible by today’s technology.
• Storage – Once your memorabilia is digitized, it becomes far easier to store because it takes up far less physical space. Thousands of digital files can fit on DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, USB drives and hard drives – meaning those 4 large boxes full of photographs are now on a device that can fit in the palm of your hand. Taking it a step further, you can also store those digital files in the cloud for even deeper storage and back up protection.
• Duplication/Sharing – A common problem for families is deciding who gets to keep all of that rich history, often resulting in frustration over who gets what photographs. The beauty of digitizing those files means no more arguing on the subject. Every single family can have their very own copy of the family’s memorabilia – and we think that’s pretty awesome.
• Accessibility – Once these items are safely stored on digital media, it becomes much easier to locate specific images or movies quickly. Much faster than digging through boxes in search of mom and dad’s wedding photo.
We love helping our customers get started archiving, but so many don’t even know where to begin. Fear not! We have the perfect solution to let you test the waters with archiving. We’ve developed a step by step kit that simplifies the process – it’s called The Gather Box. This take-home, DIY archiving kit simplifies the sometimes-daunting task of organizing personal effects and helps get your photo closets, drawers, garages, basements and attics in order!
You won’t believe what this box can do! Here’s how it works:
STEP 1: GATHER Purchase the box for yourself or a loved one. Inside, find instructions and tips to guide you through the sorting and gathering process.
STEP 2: FILL THE BOX Fill it with memorabilia, photos, slides and home movies, then drop it off at our store. If you have things that won’t fit in the box, bring them along so we can address those items separately.
STEP 3: MAGIC! Return to find that everything in your box has been magically transformed into digital format. Now you can relax in confidence knowing those precious relics from the past are now protected and easily accessible.
If The Gather Box sounds like the solution for you, stop by and pick one up today! www.theprintrefinery.com
#archiveitall, #lovemyPRproject, #savefamilyphotos, #theprintrefinery
Success: Your Reinvention Formula
IPI – Member Network’s focus is the growth and success of independent businesses. We designed our 2017-2018 Formula for Success using the 13 key future growth areas mentioned below. I also highly recommend that every business join an association like IPI – Member Network, PRO, Foto Source, Camera House or Imaging Alliance. These groups offer tremendous value and are the only way to compete today.
Published in Digital Imaging Reporter
Consult. Create. Repeat.
Why? Because it’s not just a piece of paper, or canvas, or metal, or wood. It’s not just a photo or a graphic. It’s a conversation starter, the spark that ignites stories and creates emotional connections. It’s a mnemonic expression of the experiences that bring together families and friends, colleagues and clients. At The Print Refinery, this human connection drives the unique experiential elements that make up a winning formula – for the consumer and the retailer.
EXPERIENCE a Consultative Creative Partnership – Today’s specialty retail and service markets are no longer transactional, employing order takers. For both retail guests and commercial clients, you must develop relationships that position your team as the local expert. It’s time to get out from behind the counter and consult with each customer side-by-side. Understanding their needs and matching them with your vast capabilities will guarantee the desired end result – that emotional connection with the story behind the project.
The Print Refinery store design incorporates several multi-functional areas: a casual conversation area, a consultation counter, various styles of workstations and multiple collaboration tables. Guests and team members spontaneously engage with each other in a variety of ways, without the barrier of the traditional sales counter. The incorporation of the collaboration tables has proven to successfully increase sales tickets.
CURATE Unique Product + Service Offerings – Offering exclusive products and services with a, “We print ANYTHING on EVERYTHING,” mantra is essential, highlighted by beautiful, clean displays that thoughtfully represent the best of what you can do. Design these vignettes to feel like a home or office environment. When paired with conversation, your team will utilize the free flow environment to walk guests through a hands-on experience of examples, materials and inspiration that meets their specific needs. Embracing the latest marketing techniques (web design, online advertising, digital signage, emotional messaging and video), as well as adding celebratory packaging, emphasizes the perception of your work being professionally crafted, custom masterpieces.
The Gather Box (shoebox scanning reinvented) is one of the more multi-faceted “Signature” services offered in-store at The Print Refinery, as it encourages add-ons, upselling and derivative creative products, and can be paired with classes, events and one-on-one consultations. Ongoing development of new Signature Products and services is inspired by home and commercial décor trends and top selling items on creative sites like Etsy.
ENGAGE through Community-Building Classes + Events – Focus on building a local culture through interactive education and social events. Collaboration tables can be moved together and placed in front of a wall-mounted monitor to create an in-store classroom space. All classes and events should conclude with the creation of a printed creative product and an introduction to the endless future project possibilities. Maximize your opportunities to support, train, educate, coach and entertain your customers. Events and education inspire creativity, collaboration and connection, teaching skills that add value and lead to purchases. Capitalize upon the current popularity of group activities like paint night, plant night, trivia night, etc. that allow guests to socialize with like-minded individuals in a fun and nurturing environment.
UNCOVER High Profit Margins with Commercial Concentration – The Print Refinery is a hybrid model of equal B2C and B2B sales, using the Creative Partner Program method to attract lucrative commercial projects that carry an 80% margin on average. Developing creative partnerships with local businesses happens mostly outside of the store, however, the store is well-equipped with interactive displays and collaboration areas for in-store appointments, as well as spontaneous experiences. This new focus has brought one location over $20,000 in additional sales in January of this year.
CULTIVATE Team Culture – Your brand = your culture = your team. These three elements must be well developed, communicated and integrated. Start by clearly defining your brand culture through your vision, mission, guiding principles (core values) and brand promise. All business decisions are tested against these, including cultivating the right team. Engaged team members are attracted to your culture and perform better as a result. Engagement starts during the recruiting process and continues through interviewing, hiring and training. Most importantly, it never ends with growth opportunities presented by coaching, mentoring and education. State your vision, mission, guiding principles and brand promise and clearly define the attributes of your ideal team member in your job descriptions and training materials.
The Print Refinery Vision:
“Building a passionate local community by inspiring people and businesses to creatively use photographs, imagery and video.”
DEVELOP a New Mindset – Training is integral in making the culture shift of taking your team members from order takers to collaborators, from producers to artisans, from service representatives to educators, and from retail salespeople to commercial partners. The Print Refinery developed an online training program in which all team members from all stores participate. It can be modified for use during in-person individual or group training. Training modules are added regularly to introduce new concepts and train on the brand, the culture, sales techniques, display methods and new products and services.
The Print Refinery Brand Promise:
“Our passion is bringing your stories to life through artistic collaboration. Our obsession is delivering share-worthy excitement with each experience and project.”
Because at the end of the day, when you present your hand-crafted masterpieces to your in-store guests and unveil your stunning on-location installations to your creative partners, you’ve become an irreplaceable part of their storytelling process. You are now part of their conversation. You’ve forged a lasting connection. Consult. Create. Repeat.