04 Oct Start adding value or start slashing your costs – it’s your choice

Looking to add value to print jobs and avoid direct cost comparisons with other print providers? Read this guide to find out how digital transformation can help.

Over the years I’ve visited a lot of print companies. Just last week I was on the road visiting customers up North and I was struck by how much work they had on. In fact, they had so much to do they could hardly think straight.

I constantly see print providers so busy and focused on delivery that they don’t have time to breathe. Last-minute print jobs are causing chaos in the production room and the telephones in the office are ringing off the hook.

On one hand, this is great to see – the print industry thriving, despite claims that ‘print is over’. However, I couldn’t help but feel that something else was going on, as well.

Changing demands

The world of print production has changed, fundamentally driven by a shift in the way that customers have to meet the demands of their customers:

• Personalisation strategies
• Multi-channel marketing
• On-demand printing and faster turnaround times
• The impact of GDPR and the restrictions on digital marketing
• Matching digital colours in print

One of the challenges for printers is to show that print is the most effective, the most valued way that their customers can communicate. Not only does the print have to be better, but it also has to be more cost-effective for both the customer to buy and for the printer to produce, handle and deliver.

Printing firepower is not the problem

For many years the solution was to buy a new printing press. While this solution may increase the speed of production or bring down the cost per unit, it doesn’t tackle the underlying issues:

• Inefficient business processes
• Inadequate infrastructure to support the printing press
• Missed opportunities to use materials and technology to support full, integrated marketing campaigns with dynamic printing, such as clickable paper and invisible red toner
• Inability to use data effectively to drive innovative print campaigns to support the digital world
• Lack of education for customers

To maximise the opportunities available in the market, printers need to stop thinking like a manufacturing process and start positioning themselves as a problem solver. Modern print companies need to educate customers on what’s available and not be afraid to make suggestions if it means a better outcome.

Ultimately, we need to move the conversation from being a cost-based decision to a value-based decision.

Printers must think beyond the printed page

The printed page is the output at the end of a process but there are many more steps that have to be taken before this can happen and it is here where I see inefficient internal processes and a lack of infrastructure in the printing department. This leads to:

• Delays
• Errors
• Miscommunication
• Missed deadlines
• Missed opportunities

One way to ensure that your business is adding value to your customers and delivering a great service is digital transformation.

5 signs your print buyers/customers need you to transform your service

• Your run lengths have halved and your job volumes doubled
• You need more productive engines and workflow to increase short-run work
• You have to plan for a backup capacity as digital volumes are increasing
• Are finding it tough to attract new customers and grow existing customers with existing applications
• You need to offer clients an end-to-end service and reduce the amount of outsourcing to ensure your profitability

How can you add value to your customers?

You’re not the only who is grappling with the challenges in today’s modern business environment, your customers are too.

How can you produce the dynamic print your customers want and need and solve their additional marketing and logistical needs while growing the business in an efficient and scalable way?

How can you leverage the data that marketing companies are collecting to offer innovative, personalised materials that help them to achieve what they need to for their clients?

This brilliant webinar is packed full of advice and top tips, directly from those working in the marketing industry. It will help you to turn your print business into a modern, responsive communications provider.

Through digital transformation, you can inspire customers that print can cut through the noise and make a brand stand out, quite literally, from the page.

With more efficient processes you can provide a greater response rate, broaden your service offering and integrate the printed page with electronic channels of communication.

Do you aspire to be a dynamic print provider that adds real value? Download our report, Thinking Beyond the Printed Page. Alternatively, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and we can carry on the conversation.