Widthwise 2025


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alt Disney once said: ‘All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all the troubles and obstacles,


have strengthened me… You may not realise when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.’ I believe this rings true in the current business climate. Very few of us change what we are doing


when things are going well; many more of us change when things are going wrong or not working. As a result, you can see the cost-of-living crisis as a huge challenge for your business or as an opportunity to change and grow, or at the very least, survive. Let’s face it, businesses are facing a perfect


storm: Tax grabs, rises in wages, fuel prices, etc. set this against a shrinking/ no-growth economy, and things can look tough. I believe, as printers, we are well placed to weather this storm if we keep our own house in order and costs under control. I have always found that when the economy is tougher, businesses try harder to get customers through their doors. We can and must take advantage of this.


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Our industry offers some of the most


cost-effective advertising money can buy. Many of our customers think spending marketing budget on internet ads is the way forward; we need to remind them


Paul Hughes Owner, Western Signs and Printing


that traditional forms of adverts can be cost-effective and produce returns quickly and effectively. Pavement signs, banners, flyers, and flags are all effective ways of getting that extra customer through the door. While we are finding that customer confidence may be low in replacing/ improving existing signage, there is interest in lower-cost promotional items. We are also starting to see redundancies


from larger companies. Past experience has shown that from this, we see people taking up the challenge of starting their own businesses, again opportunity for the sign maker/ printer. Te first thing we must do is tell or remind


our customers what we offer and how these things can solve challenges. Another avenue is to look at niche markets that you can specialise in. Tese markets normally offer higher margins, and when business is slow, you have the time to explore these avenues. Look at hobbies you enjoy and see if there are opportunities there. Tese are all things we are doing in our


business. We took a hard look at what we are doing. Two things came to the fore. Firstly, we were finding it hard to be competitive on many of the products we traditionally sold, banners, pull-ups, etc. Te second thing was our machines being underutilised. Sometimes the best way out of a hole is to dig deeper, and that’s what we have done.


18 | Widthwise 2025 | www.imagereportsmag.co.uk


We decided the best way to compete was to invest in additional kit. We originally looked at new kit but soon realised there were more cost-effective opportunities to purchase second-hand equipment, which has led us to purchase and install an EFI GS3250 Pro UV hybrid printer. As stated at the beginning of this article,


we believe that the cost-of-living crisis offers an opportunity if you are bold enough to take it. Tis machine allows us to significantly increase our production speeds, costs and when needed, be aggressive with pricing. It also allows us to produce products that many cannot with the 3.2m-wide machine capabilities. Looking at our machines that were


being under used we decided to look at my hobby of model railways and developed a range of model building and bridge products that now keep our CNC and laser cutter in production much more than they were and this niche product is starting to produce valuable income for the company utilising equipment that was often doing nothing. It’s not going to get easier any time soon;


fortune favours the bold. Keeping costs and prices as low and keen as possible, a little diversification – find your niche and there is still opportunity if you are willing to go find it… or sit in a darkened room complaining it’s all doom and gloom – your choice!


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