Most resellers can sell print to almost any business.
That’s both the opportunity and the trap.
When your product mix includes business cards, envelopes, labels, folders, forms, signs, banners, badges, stamps, decals, marketing materials, packaging products, and more, it can feel like every company is a potential customer. And technically, many of them are.
But “everyone” is not a very helpful target market.
When you try to market to everyone at once, your message gets softer. Your outreach gets broader. Your time gets spread thinner. And your best-fit customers – the ones with real need, repeat potential, and room to grow – may get scooped up by a competitor who knew exactly what to look for.
The good news? You don’t need a complicated customer targeting strategy to find stronger print sales opportunities. You just need a practical way to narrow your focus, spot better-fit accounts and market with more intention.
Here are six steps to help you identify your target market, find better customers, and focus your sales energy where it has a better chance to pay off.
1. Start with what your best customers already have in common
Before you chase new prospects, look at the customers already buying from you.
Your current customer list is one of the best places to find clues about your next opportunity. Which customers order consistently? Which ones buy more than one product category? Which ones ask for ideas instead of only asking for the lowest price? Which ones are easier to serve, more open to recommendations, and more likely to come back?
Those details matter.
A customer who orders once a year may be useful. A customer who orders forms, envelopes, labels, signs, and seasonal marketing materials throughout the year is something different. That is a relationship with room to grow.
Start by reviewing your customer base and asking:
- Which customers reorder most often?
- Which customers buy across multiple categories?
- Which customers have recurring business needs?
- Which customers are growing, expanding, or changing?
- Which customers trust your recommendations?
- Which customers are profitable, not just busy?
This step helps you identify patterns. Maybe your strongest accounts are schools. Maybe healthcare offices keep coming back. Maybe local service businesses have a steady need for appointment cards, forms, yard signs, decals, and branded envelopes. Maybe manufacturers are buying labels, tags, forms, and safety signage more often than you realized.
The goal is not to create a perfect spreadsheet for your pipeline. The goal is to notice what your best customers have in common so you can find more customers like them.
2. Look for industries with repeat print needs
Some industries naturally create stronger print opportunities because they rely on print to operate, communicate, promote, organize, and serve customers.
That doesn’t mean every account in those industries will be a perfect fit. It does mean they are worth a closer look.
Think about industries with frequent customer interaction, recurring paperwork, seasonal activity, compliance needs, local visibility needs, or ongoing communication. These are often solid places to look for print need ideas because print isn’t a one-time novelty for them. It’s part of how they run.
Examples include:
- Healthcare offices that need appointment cards, forms, labels, envelopes, signage, folders, and patient communication materials.
- Schools and education organizations that need event tickets, event signs, folders, fundraising materials, postcards, labels, and branded stationery.
- Real estate teams that need business cards, folders, signs, postcards, door hangers, and local marketing materials.
- Manufacturers that need labels, tags, forms, safety signage, decals, and shipping materials.
- Retail businesses that need product labels, window clings, sale signage, packaging materials, ID badges, loyalty cards, and seasonal marketing pieces.
- Nonprofits that need appeal letters, event materials, banners, remittance envelopes, thank-you cards, and donor communication pieces.
- Professional services firms that need stationery, folders, envelopes, forms, presentation materials, and client communication tools.
This is where vertical market sales strategy becomes especially useful. Instead of thinking only by product, you start thinking by industry need. That makes your outreach more relevant and your recommendations more useful.
For example, “Do you need labels?” is fine.
But “Are you preparing for seasonal promotions, product packaging updates, or in-store sale signage?” gives you a more potent opening. It connects print to real business situations.
3. Match customer needs to product categories
Customers don’t typically think in print categories.
They think in problems, deadlines, and business needs.
They think:
- We need to look ready for the open house.
- We need to get these products labeled.
- We need to help customers find the right entrance.
- We need to send invoices.
- We need to promote the fundraiser.
- We need to organize new client paperwork.
- We need to ship orders without looking like we packed them in a broom closet during a power outage.
That’s why one of the best ways to identify high-potential customers is to connect real-world customer needs to the products that support them.
Here are a few examples:
“I need to get noticed locally” could point to banners, yard signs, postcards, decals, door hangers, magnets, or A-frame signs.
“I need to organize customer information” could point to folders, forms, labels, envelopes, checks, and stationery.
“I need to prepare for an event” could point to badges, signs, banners, invitations, table tents, folders, brochures, and handouts.
“I need to package or ship products” could point to labels, stickers, tags, packaging tape, decals, and flyers.
“I need to communicate with customers” could point to postcards, envelopes, letterhead, appointment cards, brochures, and business cards.
“I need my team to look consistent” could point to badges, name tags, branded forms, signage, apparel, and customer-facing materials.
This approach helps you move from order-taking to opportunity-spotting.
A customer who asks for one product may have a larger need hiding behind the request. A school asking for event banners may also need directional signs, event tickets, folders, and fundraising materials. A clinic ordering appointment cards may also need labels, envelopes, forms, and patient handouts. A manufacturer ordering barcode labels may also need safety signage, shipping labels, tags, and operational forms.
That’s where sales growth often lives – not in pushing more products, but in recognizing what else naturally fits.
4. Score accounts by potential, not just size
It’s easy to assume the biggest customer is the best customer.
Sometimes that is true. Sometimes the biggest customer is also the biggest consumer of your time, patience, and emergency coffee.
A better approach is to score accounts by potential, not size alone.
A smaller business with frequent print needs, healthy growth, and openness to recommendations may be more valuable than a larger account that only buys once a year and price-shops every quote. This doesn’t mean you ignore large accounts. It means you look at the full opportunity.
Try scoring your customers or prospects using these factors:
- Frequency: Do they reorder regularly?
- Fit: Do your print categories match their needs?
- Growth: Are they opening locations, hiring, expanding services, or launching new offers?
- Complexity: Do they need multiple types of print throughout the year?
- Relationship: Are they open to ideas and recommendations?
- Margin potential: Are they buying value-driven products, or only the cheapest basics?
- Timing: Do they have seasonal, annual, or event-based buying cycles?
This kind of simple scoring system can help you prioritize follow-up. It can also help you decide where to spend time with samples, sales materials, targeted emails, or one-to-one outreach.
For example, a small dental office might not look like a huge opportunity at first glance. But if it needs appointment cards, patient forms, recall postcards, labels, envelopes, indoor signs, and seasonal promotional products, it may be a steady account with repeat potential.
That’s the kind of account worth noticing before someone else does.
5. Watch for buying signals
Customers often show signs of need before they ask for a quote.
The reseller who notices those signals first has an advantage.
A buying signal is any clue that a business may need print soon. Some are obvious. Others are hiding in plain sight.
Look for signs like:
- A new business opening
- A new location
- A rebrand or logo refresh
- A hiring push
- A new product launch
- A seasonal sale or promotion
- An upcoming fundraiser
- A community event
- A trade show or conference
- A new service offering
- A website update
- More social media activity
- A local sponsorship
- A move, expansion or remodel
Each of these moments can create practical print needs.
A restaurant opening a second location may need menus, window graphics, labels, hiring materials, postcards, and signs.
A nonprofit planning a fundraiser may need announcements, remittance envelopes, banners, programs, directional signage, and thank-you cards.
A real estate office adding agents may need business cards, folders, signs, postcards, and custom marketing materials.
A retailer launching a new product line may need product labels, shelf signage, packaging stickers, ID badges, window clings, and promotional postcards.
This is one of the simplest ways to increase print sales without waiting for customers to come to you. Pay attention to what is happening in your customers’ world, then reach out with a specific idea tied to that moment.
The message doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, it shouldn’t be.
Try something like:
“I saw you have a fundraiser coming up and thought of a few print pieces that could help with promotion, wayfinding, and donor follow-up.”
Or:
“Congratulations on the new location. If you are updating signage, labels, marketing or customer materials, I can help you pull together a few practical options.”
Specific beats generic almost every time.
6. Build a focused outreach plan
Once you know which customers and industries have stronger potential, turn that insight into action.
This is where many resellers get stuck. They identify promising accounts, then go back to sending the same general message to everyone.
Don’t let the plan die in the land of “interesting information.” That place is crowded and full of abandoned PDFs.
Instead, build a simple outreach plan.
Pick one or two industries to focus on each month. Create a short list of likely product needs for each industry. Send a practical email with timely ideas. Share a relevant flyer, sample, or sales tool. Follow up with a specific suggestion. Track which customers click, reply, request quotes, or place orders.
For example, if you focus on schools in late spring or summer, your outreach could mention fall registration, orientation, events, fundraising, and campus communication. Product ideas might include folders, signs, labels, event tickets, postcards, banners, and stationery.
If you focus on retailers before the holiday season, your outreach could mention product labels, sale signage, window clings, packaging stickers, ID badges, gift card holders, postcards, and loyalty materials.
If you focus on healthcare offices, your outreach could mention appointment cards, envelopes, forms, labels, badges, folders, rack cards, and patient communication pieces.
The point is to make your message feel relevant to the customer’s actual work.
Instead of saying, “Let us know if you need print,” you can say, “With fall events coming up, you may need banners, directional signs, folders, labels, and ID badges. Here are a few easy places to start.”
That’s a more solid message because it gives the customer something useful to react to.
A super smart way to focus your sales effort
Learning how to identify your target market isn’t about shrinking your opportunity. It’s about using your time more intentionally.
You can still serve a wide range of customers. But when it comes to proactive marketing and sales outreach, focus matters. The more clearly you understand who is most likely to buy, reorder, and value your guidance, the easier it becomes to create messages that connect.
Start with your best current customers. Look for industries with repeat needs. Match products to real business situations. Score accounts by potential. Watch for buying signals. Then build focused outreach around the markets most likely to respond.
That’s how you stop chasing everyone and start finding better-fit customers before your competitors do.
Ready to focus your sales efforts where they can do more good? Use Navitor’s Industries, Margin Potential, and Reorder Behavior in Print report to help identify promising verticals, spot reorder opportunities, and build more intentional outreach.
View the Industries, Margin Potential, and Reorder Behavior in Print report
