Focus on Business-to-Business Opportunities You may not be able to beat the big box stores like Office Depot or Staples when it comes to advertising, promoting and marketing yourself to the mass public, but you can pin them to the mat on networking with other local businesses in your area.
Business to Business Will Save Your Business.
  By developing strong, personal relationships with other business owners in your area, you're setting the foundation for future sales.
For example, when my friend first started out in the print shop business, I told him to join his local business networking group and to do it quickly.
He attended meetings, he joined golf clubs and he even bought tickets to breakfast lectures and do you know what he got? Direct, face-to-face contact with all of his current best customers.
The big box stores can't compete with you on that, so you have to capitalize on it.
Make it Personal A big-box printer may be able to charge a few cents less per copy, but they generally have an untrained kid behind the counter and a limited amount of on-hand resources.
What do you have? A trained staff that cares, can greet their best customers by name and has the equipment to do specialty jobs.
Focus on really amping up that personal level of printing service and sales and you will see an improvement.
When it comes to personalized business services from a trained printing staff, the big box printers can't compete.
It's easy to look at all the resources the big guys have and be intimidated.
 A good strategy is to look at the resources you have that they don't.