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Cushing’s web site is outstanding; Reprographers, how does your web site compare?

This morning, I visited Cushing & Co’s web-site to see what’s new with Cushing & Co.

I’ve mentioned, previously on Reprographics 101, that Cushing & Co is one of the oldest (continuing) reprographics companies in the industry. But, in spite of their age (Cushing & Co was founded in 1929), there’s nothing “old” about Cushing & Co’s manner of presenting the company to the public.

In addition to visiting Cushing & Co’s web-site, I also visited their Blog. I found this article from November 11th:

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“Website Redux”

BY CATHIE CUSHING DUFF, ON NOVEMBER 11TH, 2011

It’s an exciting day around Cushing! We are getting ready to re-launch our website with our very own Cross Media Marketing campaign. What we have learned about these new concepts is extremely energizing and the climate around here is definitely heating up – despite cold winds and a few flurries.

Our Website has really gone through generations of change – from a static billboard about the business to a digital brochure about the company to a rudimentary tool for customers to upload work to our shop, and now to an interactive means of communicating with our market, disseminating information about emerging technologies and services while serving as a gateway to our production areas. What was once as novelty – getting an email through the website – is now a many-times-a-day occurrence. People inquire about services, pricing and jobs while we download job confirmations, information on best practices for best results, and highlights of what goes on at Cushing. It is not static anymore!

Come on over and see what is happening. I am especially excited about the Marketing Campaign!! I will keep you posted about how that works for us. It has been a while since something felt like fun in this business climate and we intend to share that feeling.

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Cushing & Co’s slogan – “THE ONE TO COPY” – has a dual meaning to me: First, it means that they are a leader in their business and customers will benefit from doing business with them; Second, if you are a reprographer and your web-site is “a bit challenged” (or worse, simply awful), you’d do well to “copy” Cushing & Co’s web-site for your company. (Well, not exactly, for there are copyrights to consider, but you get my drift). Cushing & Co’s web-site does a marvelous job explaining everything they do. They’ve obviously spent ton of time, not to mention a very significant effort, at detailing out all they do. In addition, the use of graphics is nothing short of superb.

I’ve always counseled (both associates and friends) to “look at your marketing materials and manner of presenting your company as though you were a customer” – in other words, look at your business through “their” (customers’) eyes. After all, it is they (customers) that you want to educate and impress. Cushing & Co’s web-site does that and does it extremely well!

If you would like to explore Cushing & Co’s web-site, here’s a link:

www.cushingco.com

Oustanding!

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4 responses to “Cushing’s web site is outstanding; Reprographers, how does your web site compare?”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I agree, Kudos to the Cushing staff on a well-thought out, easy-to-navigate, graphically pleasing website! Most would agree that Cushing is the undisputed leader in the Chicago Reprographics market, with strong international and national companies like ARC and ABC Imaging running well behind Cushing’s presence in the Chicago A/E/C market – point being, Cushing has been doing a lot of things right; for a long, long, time; so the recognition is well deserved. I’m not one to question their move into cross-media either, however, it makes one wonder how Cushing views revenues from the A/E/C market to make such a bold move. For a repographer to jump into banner, poster or other wide format work is one thing…but it’s quite a leap to go from repographer to MSP (marketing service provider). You don’t just need a trumped up prep staff to variable image, or put purls or QR codes on a page. You need data people, stats and programmers, and marketers who have a deep understanding of the verticals you want to address and their needs. And, the Chicago market is awash with companies who have this type of staff and been doing multi-channel marketing to corporate markets here for years…meaning the competition is going to be much stiffer for Cushing in the MSP market than it is in the Repro market. But maybe Cushing has the size and talent to pull it off, I doubt many Repro houses would…one thing for sure, they’ve got moxie to give it a go…and we sincerely wish them the best of luck with this new business venture.

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  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I've always admired Cushing and what they continue to achieve in Chicago, but they may wish to know that OCB in Orange County (now part of ARC) has used the tagline “The One to Copy” since the early 1990's, developed then by Chuck Hayes. It was on everything from their fleet of 100+ vehicles to every piece of marketing material and business cards. Looks like Cushing inadvertently copied OCB/ARC!

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  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Blog-author's admission! Well, as to Cushing & Co copying OCB's slogan, “the one to copy”, I have to admit that I was guilty of the same thing, years ago, when we (NGI) copied Reprographics Northwest's slogan, “Customer-focused, Quality-driven”. (I'm sure it was Tanya Fraioli, Repro NW's owner at the time, who came up with that wonderful slogan, such a smart one she was (and still is). I also, years ago, copied other slogans for use in our letters, proposals and other marketing materials, including this one, “our success depends on the success of our customers.”

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  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    hello and thanks for this candid and thoughtful feedback about our business and our web site. We are humbled by the comments and your detailed observations. We do work very hard in an industry that we predict will continue to pose challenges for years to come. I think it is worth pointing out that the very same individual you've mentioned here: Chuck Hayes, was the person who told us to reuse OCB's tagline, several years before he passed away. Chuck was a very close friend of ours and ReproMAX partner, even after he became one of the first companies of the American Reprographics Corporation. We respect your thoughtful feedback as well as the copyright laws that would otherwise protect something like this tagline. thanks! Joe & Cathie

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