What It Takes to Be a Successful Printer in a Digital Age.

It seems like every day a new application or enterprise solution is launched. It is impossible to keep up with what is new, what is outdated and what is dead. Funny thing is, if you think we don’t need any more digital solutions, you are wrong. Research shows people still want more digital solutions to get their jobs done.

I use Google AdWords, Google Analytics, Optimizely, MOZ, HubSpot, Bitly, Survey Monkey, Adroll, Word Stream, Coverto, Buffer, WordPress… just to mention a few, and I still need more tech solutions to streamline more of my daily tasks and squeeze more time into my work day.

Printers need to understand and embrace the digital movement and incorporate it to their business.

“Emerging technologies and a new breed of print buyers (millennials) command a rebirth of the printing industry and a change in vision.”

Most well-established, full service commercial printers offer the same products and services at the same price, quality and turnaround.

Production, fulfillment, direct mail, print on demand, and even some marketing services have become standard across the industry – making it harder for small-medium printers to stay competitive and for big ones to remain leaders.

While there isn’t an exact formula to beat the competition, wow every customer or keep the iron throne, we know commercial printers must evolve with new service offerings to meet customers’ demands and needs.

Printing companies that are successful today are the ones that realize their responsibility is to keep an eye on technological breakthroughs and evaluate how they can be applied specifically to their business and clients’ needs.

They also understand the buyer. Leading printers know their print buyers are naturally busy marketers -tech natives who use technology to get the job done.

“Printing businesses need to evolve into tech savvy marketing solution providers that also print.”

Having an extent of knowledge and experience ranging from traditional offset printing to the latest in personalization, mobile marketing, QR code technology and social media has become a prerequisite for a thriving enterprise in the print industry.

On top of that, print buyers also want their printers to provide them with a marketing solution to manage their marketing assets, both physical and digital, simplify ordering workflows and build integrated marketing campaigns.

Its new territory and we know how much printers hate to talk about anything else other than print. They need to get out of their “print bubble” embrace change or get left behind and be consumed by those that do.

How many solutions do I need to provide all these marketing services? How much will it cost me? What about support and training? Don’t worry, there are solutions out there that allow you to provide all these print and marketing services to clients wrapped in a single, simple, and affordable cloud solution. That is right, one affordable solution that does all this without you having to break the bank and spend months on implementation and training.

“Web to print solutions have evolved into full Marketing Asset Management solutions that wrap multiple print and marketing tasks into single comprehensive platform.”

To better understand what we are talking about, it is important to understand how web to print systems have evolved into platforms that allow printers to fulfill many of their clients’ marketing needs.
Web to print

• Ability to upload artwork
• Standard personalization engine
• Branding and spending limit controls
• Approval workflows
• Standard check out process
• Customizable storefront
• Smart data population controls

Marketing Asset Management

All web to print features above plus…

• Dedicated online marketing portals for each client
• Handles print, promo, apparel, digital assets, kits and any other product with your clients brand.
• Digital Asset Management (DAM)
• Integrated marketing campaigns
• End user rights and experience controls
• Connect to any vendor, supplier, or producer
• Treats any order as one regardless of how many vendors are involved
• Real time reporting
• Mobile

“Know your buyer and consider their needs when selecting the right software solution. They are the ones the keep the lights on.”

Now that you understand the tech, you need to understand the reason why these solutions were created and that reason is your print buyers. Who are they? 
1. More and more print buyers are now millennials

Do you know your buyer? Print buyers are now what they used to be a decade ago. Today, print buyers are tech driven, tech savvy, tech junkies, tech natives, in other words, print isn’t their favorite marketing toy. But as ancient as print might come to them, print still works and is as important as digital in the marketing mix.
2. Print buyers are busy marketers that want you to simplify ordering from start to finish

If you haven’t figure it out, print buyers are marketers looking for technologies that help them better track marketing performance, simplify processes and automate different task. These people are busy. They use from 5-10 different software solutions to get the job done.
3. Print buyers’ portfolios include marketing assets of all types, forms and flavors.

Print, apparel, promotion merchandise and digital files are part of every marketers’ toolbox. They need to manage inventory, place multiple orders, track progress as well as see what marketing products need to be discontinued and which ones need to be pre ordered for the next wave of demand. 
4.They use many vendors to procure their marketing assets

They use a variety of vendors, suppliers and producers to fulfill demand.  Marketers don’t want to log into and use multiple ordering systems where every order is treated individually. They want to order a bunch of stuff that can be handled and tracked as a single order.

Conclusion

Printers who realize digital trends, keep up with technology breakthroughs, successfully implement tech to their business, and understand their buyers, are those printers that will be well off when print demand is low, keep clients longer and enjoy a more fluid revenue stream.

In a previous article we addressed Who Exactly the Modern Print Buyer Is and What They Want. Don’t forget to check it out.