Printers Are Missing on These Clear Revenue Opportunities
There are countless revenue opportunities for printers that come from non-print services, but for the purpose of this article I will focus opportunities available specifically in the marketing supply chain.
Are some commercial printers missing on revenue opportunities in the marketing supply chain? The answer is yes! The larger question is, are you?
Marketing supply chains are vastly different from client to client. Some push high volumes, require multiple vendors and use a variety of different products, while others are small and consistent. Many printers act as a single component of the marketing supply chain (print) missing the potential to handle all of it (think promo, apparel, warehousing, etc.).
The marketing supply chain includes all the tools a client may use to promote their brand. These tools include a combination of print, apparel, promotional merchandise, digital and other products. Some exhibit at trade shows regularly, operate multiple locations, support large sales teams, or collaborate with various affiliates. Many do all of the above in a constant and predictable manner.
I’ll break it down even further. Perhaps one of your enterprise clients is looking to open 5 new locations and needs signage, stationery, collateral and apparel. Maybe another client is sponsoring a large local event and needs 10,000 kits that include shirts, flyers, coupons, and bags. Do these sound like opportunities? The answer is again yes.
What if you could tap into all these marketing supply chain opportunities? Good news, your clients want you too and you might have almost everything already in place to get it done.
Your Clients’ Struggle
Some of your clients currently work with multiple vendors and have to coordinate with each one to make sure marketing assets are ready for the next event. They have to contact vendor A for promo, vendor B for apparel and vendor C for print. Branding is inconsistent, approvals take forever and budgets are never met. On top of that, they have to track cost and other performance indicators using multiple systems. Lots of manual and time consuming tasks that make marketing supply chain management a full time job.
Ideally, your clients want to order ALL of their marketing assets, shirts, flyers, coupons, and bags without having to contact multiple vendors, create excel spreadsheets, and wrangle everyone to be on the same page.
Marketing supply chain capabilities might already be in place
Many printers already are a central part of the marketing supply chain. If you are responsible for producing and fulfilling printed assets, why not take care of the rest and make life easier for your clients?
Many printers already have the fulfillment and warehouse logistics to streamline the entire marketing supply chain, all they are missing is a system that ties it all together –products, users, vendors and yourself (printer).
The solution – Marketing Asset Management Technology
If you want to tap further into the marketing supply chain you can. Here is how.
Marketing Asset Management solutions give you the ability to connect your production floor and other vendors directly to a client’s dedicate storefront. Your clients or their end users can easily order print, promo, apparel or digital products without having to worry about what vendor is responsible for producing what -just like you buy anything online these days. These systems handle complex business rules so brands, budgets and inventories stay compliant.
On top of all that, a full Warehouse Management System in the backend allows printers and your production vendors and partners to receive orders, manage jobs, inventory and streamline fulfillment tasks.
With the right Marketing Asset Management system, production workflows and fulfillment logistics, you can go from being a component of the marketing supply chain to a complete partner, helping clients streamline their entire marketing supply chain.
Conclusion
Printers might already have everything in place to streamline the marketing supply chain for their clients and tap into new revenue streams. Your clients want you to do it. If you can save them time and money you should definitely put the offer on the table. More likely they will say yes please. The right Marketing Asset Management solution will do most of the heavy lifting for you.
