Caroline is a Director at Digital Print Management, a leading print management company specialising in providing print and mailing solutions.
Having spent 25 years in the transpromo industry she is one of the UK's leading expert's in print and mail solutions.
Digital Print Management has been a long term advocate of outsourcing.
But, surprisingly very few companies experience the real benefits of outsourcing because of failure in communication.
All too often relationships along with the contracts fail to meet the expectations of the customer.
Digital Print Management have often succeeded in winning contract work because of failure by the last incumbent.
Great for us but not a good advertisement for the industry in general.
What do I mean?
The three main reasons outsourcing fails are:-
The company wanting to outsource has no process for specifying the work to be done.
Poor project management from the provider and the company outsourcing
No metrics or KPI’s for measuring success
Unless you can specify and understand what you want as the party wanting to outsource how can you possibly expect the supplier to deliver your expectations?
You don’t need a detailed document that reads like War and Peace to make outsourcing successful but you do need to know what you expect to receive from the outsourcing process.
The worse scenario is the company decides to outsource a process and hires consultants to do the work for them assuming they know better than the organisation what is required and wasting money in the process.
Tell us what you need.
We can do anything, just tell us what you need.
I’ve sat in many meetings talking with clients understanding what they are looking and hoping for when they are considering outsourcing.
Start with a blank sheet of paper, if you could have anything you wanted what would it be?
Eh voila, there it is, all the information you need to put together a specification.
The responsibility is on the shoulders of the company looking to outsource the business process.
But, the most important and missing piece is how do YOU want your customers to feel when they experience the process you’ve outsourced.
In other words it is your customer or the end user who will have the real benefit, experience or engagement with the business process you’ve outsourced not solely the organisation.
Outsourcing fails because the agreement is not properly structured, doesn’t take advantage of the outsource providers best practices, creativity and innovation.
It does not define the scope and service levels that meet your needs and there is no communication.
When it is well planned, outsourcing relationships provide and deliver substantial benefits to an organisation and not solely cost savings.
In my last post I emphasised the importance of giving your customers the choice between choosing paper and viewing documents online or what I call a multi channel service.
More than 42 years have passed since the first mobile phone call was made by a motorola employee, Martin Cooper in the USA.
Since then, the sale of smartphones has reached dizzying heights and has become the staple business tool for many of us.
Connecting and transacting business on a daily basis is now commonplace from emails, shopping, banking online; it would be hard to imagine a life without a smartphone.
72% of us own a smartphone.
Generation Y those aged between 25-30 are the most likely to own a mobile phone (89%) and Generation Z, 16-24 year olds follow closely with smartphone ownership at 85%.
This group are most happy to use apps for shopping online. 54% of 54-65 year olds own a smartphone.
Mobile websites and having the ability to interact and communicate important information to your customers via mobile is increasingly important.
Offering a multichannel service to deliver and communicate with your customers is key to customer retention.
Mobile technology is rapidly becoming the most popular channel for people to be able to access information and being able to adapt your delivery processes to ensure that customers have access to the information online, on mobile and in paper format is crucial to ensuring customer longevity.
By providing a seamless experience to the customer irrespective of the channel they choose – telephone, online, mobile phone, they are made to feel like they are dealing with one company.
How they receive and interact with the information is important for long term customer relationships.
It is no longer about sending paper communications, customers need to have the choice how they interact with the information they receive from you and as the above statistics show mobile adaptation for businesses must be considered part of the marketing process.
Businesses need to embrace mobile technology and adapt their services to fit with the needs of their customers.
Presenting documents online can be costly and time consuming firstly there is the need for:-
a website
emails
developing an app(s)
web portal
They also need to be mobile responsive which means that the document needs to emulate the layout and content of the paper document and respond to the size of screen it is viewed on.
Multichannel communication is about presenting documents online so that customers can view information anytime and anywhere.
Part of the multichannel service experience is about driving up customer engagement and organisations need to understand how customers use mobile technology in their personal lives – for shopping, banking and connecting on social media driven to use their smartphones more readily to access their documents when they are on the move.
Viewing customer information is not solely for the smartphone, it needs to be viewable on PC’s, laptops, tablets and in paper format.
A multichannel service allows your customers to choose how they prefer to view the information you send them without forcing them to take up an option they are not happy with.
For more information about multichannel distribution of electronic documents and online viewing. Please feel free to call us here.
Multichannel marketing is the ability to interact with potential customers on a number of different types of platforms.
Multichannel marketing is giving the customer the choice to make a purchase from whatever mechanism is available whether it is a print ad, retail location, website, PURL and so on.
Multichannel services work on a very similar principle allowing customers to simultaneously access their invoices, statements, payslips and any other customer communication document anytime, anywhere from multiple devices.
As consumers are using more mobile devices it is important to be able to deliver both a paper and digital version of a document.
According to Google we have become a world of multi-screeners with 90 per cent of consumers media interactions done on a computer, smartphone, tablet or TV.
The device used to make purchases is driven by the context in which we find ourselves – where we are, what we are doing and how much time we have.
If data can be supplied for printing purposes the very same data can be used to provide electronic or digital equivalent of the exact same document.
Enabling customers or employees to view those documents at a time that best suits them.
The explosion of technology and digital devices has enabled customers to view anything online.
But when it comes to certain financial documents not everyone feels comfortable with online accessibility.
Driving pure online statements or electronic documents is a surefire way to disengage customers particularly if they only want to and have been use to receiving paper statements.
Whilst the transition to an online system can make business processes more streamlined by cutting costs and making accessibility easier, it may not be in the best interests of the customer particularly if they lack the necessary online skills.
From an organisation point of view any consideration for moving toward an online and paperless environment without engaging and educating the customer the reasons why your organisation wishes to adopt paperless could end up costing more in time and money responding to queries by phone and letter.
Enforcing customers to move to online viewing of documents and expecting them to behave in a specific way is not conducive to positive long term customer relationships.
That is where multichannel services come into its own – by being able to deliver a printed version and online statement, payslip or any document type this encourages the customer to get use to online viewing and accessing an online web portal so that when the time is right for them they can switch off paper bills if they want to.
It’s about choice
Consumers don’t want to be pushed into making a choice they aren’t ready for.
Giving the customer choice ensures a successful relationship.
Take away choice and the customers is dissatisfied and are likely to voice their opinion on social media.
People take time to embrace change in spite of the technology revolution and although smartphone users are transacting more online, the need for paper documents still affords the comfort factor engaging customers and allowing the customer to check details.
According to the ONS (Office of National Statistics) four out of five people are more likely to read statements that are available both online and in a paper format.
Multichannel services deliver choice your customer can choose to receive a paper and digital version, when the time is right for them they can then choose when to switch to paperless billing.
Print management has evolved since the seventies from print farmers, print brokers to print consultants and latterly multi-channel service providers.
What does print management mean for companies now?
The evolution of the internet has made finding a printer that much easier, so why use a print management consultant?
Simple. We have years of knowledge working in printing, finishing, mailing and fulfilment we have established working relationships with trade printers, who offer different types of print services.
We are the print buyer for organisations who haven’t a clue about print or print buying and we fill that missing part very nicely.
And because we know exactly which supplier is best suited for your job, we ensure that the customer gets a great job at a fair price.
There’s also an increasing need for multi-channel distribution of documents including a print and electronic version of the same document.
While the print management umbrella incorporates a little of what we do it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Print is part of the whole, but, one of the key elements is how documents are distributed.
A traditional print management company provides total management of a company’s print inventory – from business print, marketing print, direct mail, financial print, to promotional gifts and clothing.
Each component is project managed carefully with its suppliers.
Historically this is where print management companies come into their own by being able to provide expert advice and consultancy on a whole genre of print projects.
Good print management companies will provide clients with the expertise to take a print project from an idea and make it a reality.
With access to an array of suppliers, customers can be sure they are getting the best products at the best price.
Why should I pay for your services when I can buy direct?
All companies spend money on ‘print’. I use the term loosely to cover all aspects of ‘print’.
The purchasing might be assigned to the procurement department or a designated individual in-house. With increasingly limited resources – lack of people and budget restrictions, print buying is commonly split between a number of departments, with more than one person or department buying their print.
Print management companies offer expertise and skill to manufacture any type of print management project under one roof.
They learn their craft by being able to sell a variety of different products and services either as a manufacturer or as a print broker.
Print management companies aren’t tied to one specific supplier or manufacture which is great news for the customer, because you are partnering with a print company that is impartial and unbiased and buys on quality and price.
Print management companies deliver as part of their service offering print consultancy – understanding how what and why you print in-house, the production and project management process so your project is delivered on time.
The overriding factor for partnering with a print management company is their access to a supplier network that they’ve developed and nurtured over many years and this is determined by:-
What the customer wants
What market forces are driving new products and services which determines the suppliers print management companies choose to work with and up-sell their unique products/services.
Not all print management companies are made equal. Some are niche and specialist others more generalist able to deliver a plethora of different print projects.
Digital Print Management is a specialist offering print, mailing and electronic services for transpromo – invoices, cheques, bills, subscriptions, remittances, payslips and HR ancillary documents.
Great importance is placed on nurturing and developing long term supplier relationships, the print management company is the sales element of the partnership acting as the reseller, and the supplier delivering/manufacturing the product/service for the end customer.
Their sole aim is to ensure customer satisfaction which in turn means a returning customer.
The most experienced print management companies come from print backgrounds either having worked for a manufacturer or gained experience as a print broker.
Market forces coupled with knowledgable and innovative suppliers have enabled print management companies to diversify and specialise in specific areas of business print and fulfilment like payroll and multi-channel services.
Being able to carve out a niche often sets them above the parapet.
And that is where print management comes in, we fill that void with knowledge and guidance.
Print management companies care about print and work closely with their suppliers to achieve a common goal the delivery of the project and customer satisfaction plus absolute assurance that we are looking after you, the customer.
As well as identifying savings in print and distribution costs, the customer benefits from expert advice and knowledge from a trusted print management partner.
I’m a big advocate of print as part of your marketing strategy, I believe it’s a great way to engage with your customers in the first instance and a great place to start their buying journey.
When it comes to marketing material, print arouses the senses notably sight and touch unlike its digital counterpart, print gives customers something physical to hold, to browse through and is easier to refer back to when needed.
The print industry embraced the digital world back in the early 90’s.
Think digital printing – short run in any number of variations and types, highly personalised and customised.
Print was the leader in optimising personalisation and customisation in the online world.
Where do you think the big brands got their ideas to drive customer engagement with personalized messages and customised landing pages?
Print of course!
Does print management still fit into our social media and digital world?
I believe it does.
In the past, companies had no idea what their print spend was, senior executives had no idea about the number of print devices in use, the cost of paper and supplies, let alone the cost of the overall print bill, excluding corporate stationery and items.
Times have changed and although social media marketing has in some respects taken the lead, print is now one very important part of the content marketing process.
Print marketing has benefited from changes in our industry making it more cost effective for organisations to send out highly personalised marketing information and then following this up with social media campaigns so the customer can follow the brand, company or purchase.
Some may think that print management is finished and that print based marketing is no longer needed in an ever changing social and digital world.
But they are wrong. Think business cards, leaflets, brochures, packaging, posters and invitations.
With the rise of cross media marketing which includes but is not limited to variable data print, personalised URLs (PURL), podcasts/webinars, email and social media, physical print marketing plays an active role.
For example variable data print which includes direct mail, posters, brochures and giveaways – anything that can be printed with the customer’s name, company or a content specific message.
In my last post I talked about how to add value to your print through the use of AR and QR codes.
Similarly adding a PURL enables you to capture a prospect at the point of interest.
Optimising a personalised web address means that you now have a way of measuring their interest and the technology to evaluate where they are in the buying journey using analytics which can report the landing pages they have arrived at.
Cross media communications are designed to move the prospect across the different media using “calls to action” with each touch point teasing the buyer to take further action and move onto the next platform.
Where does print management fit in?
Simple. Print management companies are experts in the total management of a company’s print marketing requirements – marketing print, financial print and more.
Print management means accessibility to the latest innovations not just in print but in design, new technologies like AR that can all add value to your marketing initiatives.
Being able to work with an outsourcing partner that can manage and integrate the various channels of communication makes it a very effective way of maximising business efficiencies and savings.
The marketing officer gains expertise, consultation, access to a variety of multi-channel distribution networks, brand consistency and major cost benefits
I was held to task by a marketing man who claims ‘print is not as effective as digital’.
I considered my response carefully and said that this is a generalisation to criticise print and keep marketing and advertising budgets down.
But, I went onto suggest that while the statement does hold water, it’s not entirely accurate.
Digital lends itself to short, trivial messages which can be effective and cheaper than print because distribution and receipt of the message are instant.
For more complex information or understanding of a product or service reading it in print is easier.
It provides high resolution, better typography, colour, composition, special effects and beautiful fulfilment which cannot be delivered by digital media.
The effectiveness of print depends on the message you want to convey to your audience, what response do you want to create and your objective.
My marketing man went on to say ‘even if you design and deliver a fantastic piece of physical marketing when it comes down to it, it really is a bit of print on paper isn’t it?’
I showed him how to incorporate QR codes and Augmented reality into his physical print media and guess what he was blown away.
‘I didn’t realise that print could do all that’.
How do I use a QR code?
QR codes create a link between print and the digital world that makes your marketing work twice as hard and it is easier to measure.
QR codes make it simple for your customers to purchase by shortening the purchasing journey.
Information is collected about their buying behaviour for future offers and discounts.
QR codes are printed on all types of printed media – advertisements, direct mail, letterheads, business cards, magazines, brochures, sales and marketing material.
Each code contains information that sends the customer straight to a specific PURL/landing page that’s been designed with a marketing objective in mind.
This might be a digital newsletter, a video or social media sites like a Facebook page or product information.
A smartphone that has a QR app enables the customer to scan the code and the link sends them to a landing page.
It could be an invitation to buy, a discount code or sign up for a newsletter or subscription.
When the QR code is scanned, personal information can be saved for example where the customer is located, at what time of day did they buy and this gives you information to help understand the customer and how they buy.
QR codes improve your customer interaction by creating a dialogue with customers and statistics can be measured for future marketing objectives.
The codes can also be personalised using information supplied via a CRM and then printed directly onto any printed marketing material.
They are used to connect print with digital communication but they can contain any kind of information you want which makes them limitless in how you use them.
A QR code can be added to any type of printed collateral.
It’s a great way of rewarding loyal customers by connecting with them on social media via a designated landing page where they can collect points or obtain discounts.
How do I use Augmented Reality with print marketing?
Augmented reality adds a new dimension to the world of physical print because print media is interactive.
Why send readers to a website to watch a video when they can watch it on a page?
Marketing is engaging with your audience, make the content interesting, interactive and informative and they’ll stay for more.
AR is a great way to engage your audience with advertisements, your target audience is moved to want to make a purchase.
View print through an augmented reality app’s viewfinder and a world of interactive digital content is available.
The advertisement or message comes alive with computer-generated video, sound or games accessed through a smartphone or tablet.
AR uses are almost limitless. It can show how a product works and gives readers access to other content.
It is a way of making print and text interactive and makes it a fun experience and invites them to purchase.
AR increases audience engagement because it can reach target audiences in new ways via mobile devices.
What makes AR even more appealing is its ability to deliver targeted advertising messages to the people who read something they are interested in.
By scanning a code or pointing their device at an image on a sign, a printed page in a magazine or brochure on a billboard, content becomes dynamic and engaging, easing the consumer along the purchasing journey.
Although I do not profess to be either a marketing or social media expert I’m often asked by our customers, how do we tailor our content marketing or proposition so it is suitable for print and online?
Whilst I know a thing or two about the importance of personalisation and the part it plays in the customer experience; ensuring your content marketing fits into the physical and digital world are two very different disciplines.
Personalisation isn’t about adding a customer name at the top of an email message.
Marketing automation coupled with CRM has enabled companies to collect large amounts of data about their customers, which means marketing can deliver customised preferences that match the customer’s requirements.
That’s all well and good if you can afford the marketing software tools and a comprehensive CRM system but if you are an SME it’s not quite so easy.
Whilst the large familiar brands want to convey the idea they are smaller and more personable so they can win more customers; the SME is wanting to achieve the opposite effect.
There is a link between businesses that are successful with branding that represents the success of the company, I call it familiarity. But this takes time to build a following and an identity.
Simply adding your logo on to all your printed stationery and social media channels does not make your business stand out anymore than the next.
Pushing the same post or content marketing message out to all your social media channels is not the same as customising the message to suit each of the social media channels.
Customers will use different channels to view your marketing from the physical direct mail piece to being able to view content on social channels, on different devices or a combination of all and will want to see and read different, but, familiar messages. Each social media channel has different characteristics and whilst consistently posting good content is important it doesn’t mean it should be identical on all channels.
So how do you go about building the buzz about your business?
Here are some key points to consider.
What does your company stand for? Where do you fit in? Can you define who your audience is and where to find them? Ask yourself and your customers why do they choose you, what makes you stand out? What is the identity of your company?
What products and services do you offer and why does your current customer base choose you for these products and services?
By being able to answer the above questions will help you choose where and what social platforms you should be on to be seen and heard.
3. What drives your business? What are the company values? Are your employees also buying into the company ethos and its mission?
If the people that work in the business perceive that the company lives and breathes by what it stands for then they in turn are loyal, trust the company they work for and are genuinely more heart-felt in the way they deliver to the customers.
This becomes evident when customers talk to your employees.
The best compliment an employee can say is “this is a great place to work” in turn this makes the customer feel comfortable knowing they are working with the right supplier.
4. Understand the customers experience – look at the company through your customers eyes and ask, what are their expectations, how do you think you deliver overall?
If an issue occurs all the customer remembers is the problem they had with your company, late delivery, the support person who was unhelpful. How well you resolve the customer issue shows your true company values and sets you apart from the rest.
5. Your content should be consistent with the same tone throughout, that way your customers identify and recognise that it’s your company – from the marketing piece delivered to their door through to the social media channels. Keep your messages different and entertaining.
6. Make an impression and be distinctive – carve out your own identity it might be fun and light hearted or serious and measured but above all keep the tone and message consistent with the company profile.
That way customers don’t get confused and think it’s another company.
7. Change content marketing across channels – it’s easier to post the same message to every social media channel but even harder to know which one works best.
Understanding how each of the platforms work and what they can do is a step forward in establishing if you are likely to find your customer there. For example we use twitter to promote posts, ideas, quotes and industry news.
8. Choose the right channels for customer contact – twitter might be great for sharing news and reviews about your products and services and other content but, YouTube might be ideal for you to demonstrate a product. Pinterest is a great place to organise boards that showcase your imagery – photos, blogs, interests.
9. Think about how you communicate your brand – You might have a product or service that is not mainstream in other words not something you’d talk about over breakfast but by getting creative and promoting a story about how your product/service helped an organisation save time/money etc is a fun way of showcasing how your product works.10. Make your printed marketing piece the first customer touch point. Customise and personalise it according to the customer and relate it to the product/service you are promoting. Use context (reasonably) imagery, and give them a reason to follow you on social media sites by making your print more interactive using QR codes and AR. (Augmented Reality)
Customising content across social channels for better response takes time and doesn’t happen overnight.
Consistency is important for an integrated marketing campaign right through from print to social.
Being able to deliver useful marketing messages consistently that delivers on its values and promises, guarantees to win customers, but there is a warning, it doesn’t happen overnight.
What do you do to get noticed?
How do you market your products and services and how well does it work for you?
Share with us what has worked and what hasn’t.
Next time: In my next post how to use print more effectively?
January madness that’s what we call it, the start of the new year heralds a run on prospective companies who feel compelled to test and benchmark their current supplier/vendor against customer service and price.
Speaking with a prospective customer about a payroll project, I didn’t hold back when I said what is it about UK companies and the month of January that compels them to undertake a review of their current supplier? Is it poor customer service?
Going to the marketplace, collecting proposals and quotes, wasting their valuable time, resources and the suppliers time not to mention time spent in gathering, collating often extensive detailed costings, background company and fiscal information.
I had to ask, ‘presumably your current supplier is coming up short on customer service, or is it something else, perhaps you’d be kind enough to elaborate for me’.
Er no, not quite it’s just that we are two years into a three year contractual relationship and we wanted to see if there is anything better or something we are not getting.
I sighed and thought, you’re kidding me right?
If the process had been documented and specified by the incumbent company in the first place the company would be secure in the knowledge that the market place had been thoroughly researched, the list had been narrowed down to a short-list of of potential providers, let’s say three.
Each one would have been invited for a discussion or even visited if the service warranted it.
The specification would have been agreed internally by the stakeholders prior to looking for suppliers so that costs submitted were accurate.
All KPI’s and deliverables would have been laid out at the point of specification making the final choice easier for the company to make comparisons with the others.
Leaving you safe in the knowledge that your final choice was the right one to deliver the service or solution for your company.
I know I’ve simplified what can often be a more detailed process into a couple of paragraphs but if the job has been done why do companies want to test what they have?
What really matters to customers is customer service or is there more?
The web makes doing business transparent, companies that are in the market for a new product, service or solution are likely to have visited your website and found the information they need about your company, quality and customer service.
They may have even made some tentative inquiries in regard to the service they are looking for.
This forms part of their list of potential suppliers.
Going back to the above interaction do companies really believe they can get something better for less?
That by somehow going out and benchmarking their existing supplier they will be able to get the same service for a lot less.
What do we all want and rarely get? Great customer service.
Why, because if your decision is based solely on price and price alone then you are dead in the water except where you are restricted by a budget in which case, the price is the prevailing factor on which your decision has to be based.
If you are confident in your current supplier and know you are getting the best service then surely this cost exercise is a waste of everyone’s time.
It’s a conundrum and one that I question when I’m talking to prospective customers.
What do they think is missing?
What do they believe they aren’t getting?
Do they think they can better the service they have already assuming they’ve done their research right?
Does this imply that they may of missed a stage during the selection process or they are insecure in the knowledge that really they don’t know what they are doing or what to look out for?
As a current supplier, if you know you are delivering the best service is there any reason why you think your customer is evaluating the marketplace?
The analogy is a bit like buying a house, you may not be thinking of moving but if something gorgeous pops up on your radar and suddenly it becomes your dream home, then your perspective changes and you find yourself wanting to move.
If your company provides solutions or services then surely one of the primary objectives is to consistently deliver the best you can and seek to improve the service offering after all it’s the job of the company to make the customer aware of new innovations, updates and upgrades.
But I wonder if the reason many companies look elsewhere aside of the new year and new budgets is not because of poor customer service, or that the solution or product is the problem but good old fashioned business to business relationships based on human interaction is actually missing.
In an age of social online interactivity it is easy for companies to hide behind customer support and use social media as the way of helping the customer by answering complaints rather than good old fashioned face to face conversation.
By contributing to the customer directly whether on the phone or in person you are making them feel more important and valued and that you genuinely care about them.
The digital world can’t provide the human touch element.
So my question to those companies wanting to benchmark their current service or solution is ‘are you wanting to change simply because you are not being loved enough or aren’t there any incentives to continue with the service?’
Aside of poor execution and delivery.
In which case ask what it is you want or are looking for so that next time when you review your current service or solution you can ask the prospective supplier can you do this for me/can you deliver this for me?
One final point it is as much the responsibility of the customer to communicate with its supplier as it is for the supplier to work with the customer, it is a two way process.
That way you ensure you are getting the best out of the relationship.
As for the aforementioned customer who contacted us wanting a detailed proposal when I asked what they weren’t getting from their current supplier, the response was we just want to make sure we are getting the right service at the right price.
This post is late by my standards and should have been published back on the 29th December. No I haven’t been caught dog napping.
But without boring you with the details, I’ve decided to post now, better late than never.
As has been customary for the last two years my final post of the year has always been an overview or resource tool for you or the ‘best of’ what I’ve written during the year.
By the best of I mean the posts I’ve enjoyed writing and more importantly generated feedback and good responses. But above all else I hope it provides a useful ‘go to’ for future reference.
So how did 2014 start?
It seems so long ago now doesn’t it but January came in with a flourish and I talked about the importance of document security and how to manage information especially when you are on the move.
With the use of tablets and smartphones it is so much easier to read, respond and write on the move.
But how careful do you need to be?
February and March as is customary in our business focussed on P60’s every payroll department’s worse nightmare and a cumbersome task that still needs to be managed. But outsourcing the process can save time and money.Here’s how.
And then there was no stopping me I was off onto the importance of content personalisation and customisation in just about every working document from payslips to marketing content.
Why? Simple. Because content personalisation has everything to do with print and the physical world as it has in the digital and social world.
Take a look at your payslip, an invoice, social media messages.
The whole point is to make your message personalised whether it’s a message for an employee or for a customer, make it personalised and relevant and get the the message across in the right way.
March covered hybrid mail – a great way to mail out a few to several thousand letters at less than the cost of a 2nd class stamp and a service which more and more people are climbing on board because there’s no set up costs and no on-going charges. Best of all you can do it all from your desktop.
It was also the time when ‘big data’ was being talked about.
It seems like an enigma but it reality it’s simply a case of having loads of complex data sets but not understanding what to do with it.
That will be the challenge certainly for the bigger organisations in 2015.
Why should print be part of the cross media marketing mix when it comes to marketers planning a re-brand or delivering an important message?
May continued the theme of cross media marketing and suggested ways that a print management company can help you with planning your cross media marketing strategy.
I’m regularly asked, Caroline, how can we save money on our print, not just the customary business print but the processing of print like printing and mailing invoices, statements, customer letters, so I wrote a post about it.
The ice bucket challenge was a worldwide phenomenon in August, just about everyone rose to the challenge and had a bucket of ice cold water thrown over them, I was one of them.
People talk about the demise of print and paper but I believe whilst it’s need has changed it still forms an important part of any marketing campaign if used intelligently with QR codes and augmented reality.
Since writing that article I’ve read at least three that have argued the demise of social media, or rather we’ve become fatigued by it.
That it has probably gone as far as it can go and millenials want more instantaneous ways of receiving their content with instant gratification.
What now for 2015?
I’m starting on the NCTJ (national council of training journalists) to develop my career and skills in writing because I enjoy researching and writing on subjects that I’m interested in.
I will continue to do my very best to serve up interesting articles throughout this year and any noteworthy industry news.
Until next time.
Have a very happy new year and thank you for turning up and reading.
I am still learning the intricacies of social media along with its ambiguities whilst not forgetting that it is about being SOCIAL and not just a means of delivering a continuum of sales messages.
But where does it fit in to business and why should we be spending time doing it?
What prompted the thinking behind this post?
Last Friday at a recent print industry event I caught up with some old friends and colleagues and the one question that kept popping up and being asked of me was:
Why do I/we need social media for our business?
Why do I/we need to be on social media?
I’m in the print business not social media?
I pointed out that the print business is not all about pre-printed forms, catalogues, direct mail but is one part of the multi channel experience that customers come in contact with and I’ve talked about it in detail here and here.
But, I then backed up the above comment saying that social media is only important to you and your business if you understand the reasons why you are using it in the first place.
If you get lots of business via telesales, advertisements, referrals, yell.com and the ‘lead bank’ is full to bursting point then social media may not be what you need to do.
What you need to ask is what can social media do for my business and me?
Do I need to have an online presence?
I should point out that this is not a ‘how to do’ post as I am not a seasoned expert but rather some ideas to consider when it comes to why do social media.
A company needs to be able to project a unified brand in other words show the customer more than just products services and words. But how do they do this?
It isn’t about straplines on stationery or marketing collateral or the consistency of logos across your marketing it is the way your company or brand conveys its meaningfulness across all touch points.
Every advertisement, email marketing, direct mail even chatting with a customer service representative through to the delivery of your product or service provides a great opportunity for your brand or company to deliver on its promise and demonstrate its purpose, all of which strengthen the bond between customer and your company or brand.
To answer the question that was put to me:
You need to understand where your audience is?
What social media platforms you are likely to find them on?
And how can you convey your messages so they can be found and, more importantly get noticed?
Why do you want to invest your precious time in social media and more importantly what do you hope to get out of your time being ‘social.
I put it to my colleagues that they should be asking the question how can social media add value to the business or brand?
How can being on social media provide any other benefits to your existing customers or target audience?
Social media is more than just aiming to set your company apart from its competitors.
You are telling a story that conveys the values and the company’s ethos, it’s attitude toward its customers and how it projects itself online, all of which define the organisation.
Your social media and online presence is more than just that it is an experience that you hope your customers will identify with and that requires commitment by the organisation as a whole.
If this is followed up by poor execution and delivery of the service then the brand or customer experience is negative, credibility is lost and bad experiences are spread by word of mouth.
Our customers are deluged with information from social media – news, product recommendations, opinions and no matter what line of business you are in if you want to build a buzz about your business, it’s products or services then the cheapest and quickest way of doing this is by building an online social media presence.
Every business needs some kind of marketing and promotion and every business needs new customers and social media is an additional channel to expose your business.
Every business needs repeat business and by providing your customers with the knowledge so they know what you offer reminds them where to go when they need that new widget or solution.
Any business needs to market themselves to generate leads and create new business growth but when I was asked should I be doing social media my response was ‘it’s not a case of if you need or should do it, but rather how well you do it.’
To answer the question at the start of this post:
Yes, social media can add another valuable channel to your marketing strategy if it’s done the right way.
And how does that help being in the print industry?
Print can position itself at the start of a customer’s journey from the physical to the online world and so social media forms part of that brand experience.
Marketers know that print can do things that digital cannot.
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Unless you can specify and understand what you want as the party wanting to outsource how can you possibly expect the supplier to deliver your expectations?
We can do anything, just tell us what you need.
There’s also an increasing need for multi-channel distribution of documents including a print and electronic version of the same document.
Historically this is where print management companies come into their own by being able to provide expert advice and consultancy on a whole genre of print projects.
The overriding factor for partnering with a print management company is their access to a supplier network that they’ve developed and nurtured over many years and this is determined by:-
