Marketers are demanding, expecting and deserving more than web to print services from their Commercial Printing partners.
The commercial printing industry has been in a state of change for the last decade and by all leading indicators this will not change anytime soon. Marketers (clients) are raising the bar and pushing producers to offer more than web to print and VDP services. Often times these expectations expand past the traditional print products to comprehensive solution offerings including a variety of marketing assets. Assets such as promotional items, apparel, digital distribution all in addition to their print portfolios. Printers are being forced to evolve with these changing customers or find themselves selling horses in a world of cars.
To stay relevant, print manufacturers must get creative, step outside of their comfort zone and look for new ways to add value to their current services and ultimately their customers.
Marketers are looking for (among other things):
1. Ability to simplify how their marketing assets are made available to anyone in charge of promoting the brand.
This can include employees, sales teams, partners, affiliates or really anyone they marketer deems should have the materials in hand. Locating, personalizing, and ordering these products should be simple for any user and accessible from wherever they are.
Basic Need: ONE platform always available that can handle any type of marketing asset.
2. Provide a single marketing portal for all of their marketing assets.
Doesn’t matter if they are physical products from different vendors or digital products that never enter into the tangible world the need remains the same, a single centralized repository. The days of “Welcome to Acme Company, go to www.vendor-1-website.com to order business cards, www.vendor-2-website.com to order your shirts and www.vendor-3-website.com to order your stress balls” is coming to a close.
Basic Need: ONE platform that connects to multiple partners seamlessly.
3. With the scope of the first 2 basic needs the platform would also need the ability to enforce a variety of different business rules.
Who can order what? Who can see inventory? How much can a user spend per quarter? Doesn’t someone need to approve this? You get the drift.
Basic Need: A platform that can Protect the Brand, Budget and Inventory
4. A solution that can do all of these things without requiring a full-time MBA graduate to understand and operate it.
Marketers need to be able to focus on marketing. They shouldn’t have to spend their day chasing orders, users, vendors or any other cats that have broken from the herd.
Basic Need: A platform that can be implemented without the effort of sending someone to Mars.
Essentially marketers are creating the beauty and power of the brand. They typically look to partners to get those messages out. Commercial Printers need to get this done, in the most efficient and productive approach.
Stepping into unfamiliar territories, modifying revenue models, and making investments in new technologies can be challenging and scary. But, companies that adapt to new market trends and succeed on meeting market demands will always rule.
That said, print manufactures have some thinking to do. But those Commercial Printers who can offer their clients with the solution to the challenges above, will definitely attract new customers, create new revenue opportunities and stand out from competitors.
Visit www.propago.com to see how Propago can help commercial printers expand what they can do for their clients.
