MODESTO — Frank Parks knew his brand as a printing company needed to change, and that it was time to let people know that his firm, Parks Printing, does more than just printing.
Late last fall, the 40-year-old company that began as a small, quick printing business changed its name. It became The Parks Group and expanded its business approach.
“We’ve been branded as ‘just’ printers for more than 35 years,” said Parks, the company’s president, “But we do a lot more than printing and as a group customers ask ‘What do you do?’ and we tell them.”
The newly branded company is, he said, a one-stop support system for customers — in effect, an “extension of their company.”
The Parks Group has invested in technologies and staff to expand far beyond traditional printing work. With 40 employees and a 22,000-square-foot facility headquartered in Modesto, the company provides everything in-house: printing and bindery, creative service support, branded merchandise, mailing, fulfillment and warehousing. Its newest addition: wide format printing.
“Wide format printing allows us to print directly to a variety of substrates [surfaces] up to 80 inches wide and 2 inches thick,” Parks said. “With the wide format computer system we can dial in the information to print and use our shape cutter to create a display that exactly matches the brochures and other materials in overall image continuity. This has opened up a new revenue stream for us.”
Parks began contemplating the changes his company would have to make back when the economy tanked in 2008.
“We’d been committed to diversification then with direct mail, digital printing, direct marketing and more because to maintain our success, we had to do many different jobs beyond our printing,” Parks said.
The company also had a built-in benefit: it is a family business. Parks is second-generation printer in an industry he said is “unique” in that there are still many private, owner-operated print shops in the Central Valley.
Parks has a large staff of project managers, department managers, skilled operators, designers, production and warehouse personnel, all well versed in the newest technologies of every aspect of printing and ancillary services. The Stockton sales office is bringing in clients outside of Stanislaus County.
Parks said technology is both bane and benefit to the business.
“Technology changes rapidly, new equipment is very expensive, but as the business has evolved, we’ve had to evolve too if we wanted to stay in business,” Parks said. “Although we struggled for a while it became obvious that, in this industry, you must have a niche, a service level that will bring in new customers and retain your old and current ones.”
And despite the vast advances in technology, Parks said the printing business retains its owner’s hands-on business tradition.
“In this industry we’ve seen attrition, acquisition and consolidation and now it seems to have stabilized, but the image of the owner-printer has remained solid,” Parks said.
During the recession that affected both provider and customer alike, Parks said clients stayed with his company during challenging times because Parks never compromised either quality or service.
“People recognize quality work and in this business you get what you pay for,” said Parks. “Our customers are people who appreciate quality work and fast service and for the most part they’ve been loyal.”
“The bank has been using Parks services over the last several years,” said Bank of Stockton’s Vice President and Director of Marketing Angela Brusa. “The Parks Group accommodates our special and unique projects and has opened up a whole new area of what we can do with marketing.”
Brusa said The Parks Group has created 3-D lobby counter cards and helped with out-of-the-box projects. All of it was done quickly, and she said the quality was good.
“The Parks Group is very service oriented,” Brusa said. “I work with Jeff Wright, and he’s terrific.”
Loyalty is driven in great part by the variety of services offered, including all elements of direct mail; variable data printing; creative services including design, newsletters, social media management and more; and wide format printing.
Parks uses non-solvent based inks, state-of-the-art printers that use less ink to do the same work as older printers and this contributes to less energy being used by The Parks Group. The company is also a member of the Forest Stewardship Council, a not-for-profit organization that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests.”
“Business is good and I’m much less apprehensive now than I was last year,” said Parks. “You know, sometimes it’s a love-hate relationship but I still enjoy coming in to work every day.”
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