NAPL Business Review, Spring 2010
by Howard Riell
There are many advantages to vertical marketing, but there’s one major disadvantage: If you concentrate on a single market and that market falters, you can take a big hit. Case in point: When the real estate bubble finally burst it took a sizeable chunk of the American economy—and more than a few commercial printers—with it.
“We were fortunate that it wasn’t 100% of our business,” says Steve Damman, President and CEO of QuantumDigital, Inc. “We’ve lost competitors for whom that was or is the case.” The company did not suffer a similar fate because it instituted a diversification plan eight or nine years ago aimed at expanding into other markets, a strategy that has spurred growth.