I started this column nearly 10 years ago. My idea was to help educate print buyers about printing and vice versa. The Tip topics usually cover what I call "The 3 T's": Technology, Terminology, and Trends.

Today's is a different sort of Print Tip. I'm thinking that the new year will bring more tremors to businesses of all shapes and sizes, and that the medium of print will continue to take a hit. Lately I've been pondering what this means for professional print buyers. Based on the dozens of conversations I've had with buyers since last fall, it's surely on their minds, too.

What should you do, as a professional print buyer, to safeguard your position and enhance your career prospects? The answer depends on your organization, your industry, and your personal goals, of course.

Here are some of my ideas:

1. Make sure your resume is not only current, but that it also highlights very specific strengths, skills, and accomplishments.

2. Make a resolution to self-promote in your firm, especially to your manager(s). How and why are you a valuable asset? Don't keep your light hidden under a barrel.

3. Document your accomplishments as they unfold and send them "upstream."

4. Ask yourself: do you support the strategic mission of your firm? If you don't, you should.

5. Expand your circle of influence within and beyond your firm.

6. Are there technical skills you need to acquire that would make you even more valuable in your position as a buyer for your firm?

7. Make it your business to know how your company, and your industry, best communicates with prospects and customers. Where does printed material fit into this mix? What about new media? Master the methods you're weakest in.

8. Whether or not you become a devotee, learn about social networking. How is your firm using these sites? Are your colleagues there? How about prospects and customers?

9. If you're in charge of sourcing printed marketing materials for your firm, are you also part of the marketing communications strategy? Are your insights and opinions valued? Don't settle for "just buying the print" unless that's precisely what you want to be known for. Share your ideas for improving your firm's bottom line. Expand your role.

10. Find measurable ways to be innovative. Regularly.

11. If the lion's share of what you do is print-centric, develop new skills that feed off of that role. Maybe it's learning new software, or HTML design, or writing/editing. (When I was a buyer, I always loved to write. My boss valued it and gave me more responsibility. And here I am today - still writing.)

If you're in a position where your firm's printed materials may be in jeopardy in '09, you need to pay attention to how it relates to you.

The Production Manager for a magazine told me that having lived through the dot.com boom/bust period in California a few years ago, he's learned to pay attention to safeguarding his job. One of his ideas is to find ways to save his company money.

I'd love your comments on this, plus your advice for other buyers. We've added a Comments section to the Print Tips, starting today, so that you can reply each week as the spirit moves you.

Here's my question for all of you:

What specifically are you doing to develop, enhance, or secure your career as a print buying professional?

©2009 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Please post a Comment to this Tip - and let others benefit from your wisdom. Thanks.