“To know us is to love us.” These are the confident words of Lloyd Elam, a businessman who believes in his company and his staff, and knows that each day, he’s making a difference for local businesses.
Inherited Vision: The Legacy of DBS Burke
Thirty years ago, Mr. Burke established a print shop upon a key principle: “Their success is our success.” This motto has helped DBS Burke build a legacy of satisfied customers, growing small businesses, and company success. Despite Lloyd Elam being the third owner of the company, it will always be DBS Burke, and the founding principle continues to guide every consultation and project he undertakes.
To keep the legacy of DBS Burke alive, Lloyd knows he must always be thinking about the next customer. It’s simply not enough to have a great operational structure, high-tech equipment, and capable workers; without customers who need the services DBS Burke can provide, the company will not survive.
Through the consultation process, Lloyd always asks his customers, “Who is your ideal customer?” as he helps his customers focus on and target their ideal market, making the investment in mailers more effective, both in cost and impact.
Oftentimes the customers don’t know exactly what they are looking for until they see it right in front of them, so when Lloyd and his team can anticipate and capture the graphics, image, and impact they need, it’s a win for everyone.
Thus far, the company has been profitable through a thousand small accounts: sole proprietors, small businesses, and nonprofits, all people who are living, working, and building in the local community. DBS Burke strives to make print marketing affordable for any budget because “behind that business, behind the ink that’s going on paper, there’s a life story. A family is trying to pay their mortgage and feed their children.” The people behind the brand are always “at the forefront of DBS Burke’s work.
In the same way that he helps his customers focus on their ideal customers and specific strategies to reach them, so has he honed and focused on DBS Burke’s vision. “We’re a direct mail company. That’s where we need to be, and it aligns with our identity, our character, our capabilities, and our commitment to customers.”
Lloyd’s Story
After his college years at Mississippi State, Lloyd moved to Dallas to work in corporate finance. It was a grueling job with extensive travel all week, with just a day to recover at home before jetting off again. For a change of pace and because of his passion to make a difference in the community, he worked for a time as a community organizer, work that was as mentally and emotionally exhausting as it was rewarding. Then his brother brought him on board to work in the print shop he operated, providing Lloyd the opportunity to learn the business.
From these diverse work experiences, a few things about Lloyd and life became clear to him. He really enjoyed working with people and solving problems, and ideally, he wanted to do so in an environment where people could develop easily transferable skills.
The Voice of Experience for Future Printers
Lloyd offers this advice to anyone wanting to launch a printing business. “Find a rich uncle!” While he’s being a bit tongue-in-cheek, the truth is, a printing business demands a significant amount of start-up capital for the equipment and materials.
By purchasing an established company with a solid customer base, Lloyd had a tremendous advantage over a new start-up. In hindsight, he still wishes he’d spent more time focused on the cost management side of the business from the outset. Sure, pouring effort into finding new customers and offering a great service are important, but no less so is “right-sizing” the material and human costs to achieve optimal results.
How does an aspiring entrepreneur know if print marketing is the right field for him? “If you have a passion for people and servicing them well,” Lloyd says, “it’s the business to be in.”
Print Marketing Comes Full Circle
There’s been a recent pendulum swing back to classic marketing mailers. Of course, the older generation is familiar with and loves getting tangible mail, but statistics say millennials are now doing more shopping through catalogs and less online, and they’re responding positively to mail too. Postcard mailers for events and venues feel like a personal invitation, and people respond well to them.
Ironically, at the same time as people are embracing the tangible connection of traditional marketing strategies, the online world is here to stay. Lloyd has accepted and embraced this as a reality of doing business in the 21st century. He has expanded DBS Burke to now include an online shop and social media, because even if “to know us is to love us” his future customers must get to know the company first.
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