It's a topic I know I've harped on about in the past couple of years but, amazingly, there still seem to be high levels of ignorance about what can and cannot be produced using wide-format digital machines. Machine manufacturers know what their equipment can do and how to explain it to print service providers but explanations and descriptions still aren't filtering down to many end customers, whether they're agencies or just people wanting nice full-colour displays for any number of reasons.

There doesn't seem to be any easy fix for these problems but, with the internet often being the first port of call for anyone looking for a sign or a display, are sign-makers and digital print specialists making it easy enough for folk to find? Although agencies and brand owners understand the semantics of locating companies to produce their jobs, many others don't know the specific terminology we tend to rely on this industry. So simply stating on a website that a company can produce wide-format digital print probably isn't sufficient information to attract a non-print-savvy end customer.

We know it's produced using digital processes, but many potential end customers don't link the technology with the end result

Standard signs are fairly easy to track down, as are safety notices that tend to be produced to comply with regulations and are offered in abundance online. But, for something a bit different and which falls outside the run-of-the-mill display, explanations are still needed to show everyone that an eye-catching and unique result can be produced just as easily as notices we see every day.

For a display producer, it's very often these special one-offs which carry a far higher margin than a run of point-of-sale jobs or posters. From a creative point of view, more unusual applications can also result in a bit of extra innovation being applied. Another benefit is that, more often than not, an end customer who's not a typical retail client isn't twitchy about publicising who did what, how and why.

Canny PSPs organise their SEO so that people Googling for digital print can find what they're looking for when it falls outside the mainstream types of application. Spending a few minutes trying various keywords on Google and other search engines can reap dividends in finding ways to make sure that new customers can find what they're looking for.

Many display producers don't seem to use the advantages of the internet to make it easy for people to find them, and then wonder why it's difficult to source new customers who might know what they want but don't understand the processes involved. Sometimes we need to think beyond the technology and establish how to get our message across to the general public that digital print has great things to offer them, even if they don't know what the process is called.