Working with a proven print and fulfilment partner ensures your brand’s continuity

In spite of Royal Mail price increases and the availability of multi-channel distribution for documents, organisations still have a requirement to mail out letters, invoices, statements and remittances.

Every organisation faces the challenge of producing great content, delivering it in different formats from paper to digital and being able to produce more with less and with a reduced marketing budget.

The problem is how do you find a print and fulfilment service that that will offer expert advice and deliver the end product to your customers?

Achieving this can be a difficult task to accomplish.

Can organisations trust a potential print and fulfilment services supplier?

Is there a reason why you shouldn’t partner with a print and fulfilment supplier?

A supplier you have a good relationship with, who, will give you honest feedback which in turn helps deliver on your customer relationship strategy and grow as a business.

Suppliers are an integral part in developing and protecting your brand awareness and there are tangible benefits to working with a single vendor who understands your vision, direction and the various challenges you face as an organisation.

Selecting a reputable print and fulfilment supplier is a lot like a marriage, you need a partner that listens, understands your goals, how they will be delivered and ultimately be loyal to your company and brand.

Fundamentally it must be a partnership based on trust and communication.

Key points to think about before working with a print and fulfilment services supplier

1. What is the vision for your organisation? Where do you want it to be in say 3-5 years? What things do you want to change? How would a print and fulfilment supplier benefit the company?

2. How do you market yourself as a company? What is your brand and has it come to fruition? Are you well known? Do you have a good reputation with your customers?  How are you positioned in relation to your competitors?

3. What challenges do you face within your industry? What new technologies and solutions would benefit the organisation but due to cost constraints cannot be fulfilled in-house?

How to choose the right print and fulfilment company

1. How often do they review the services with their customers?

At the very least you should be visited by your supplier every 6 months.

This will ensure you are kept up to date with latest innovations, products and services and it also gives you the opportunity to highlight any issues that you may not be happy with. It is also important to advise your supplier of any up and coming print campaigns and direct marketing efforts that are being developed.

This ensures that both you and your supplier collaborate on new projects so that you get the very best solution for your next marketing effort.

2. How proactive is the potential supplier in suggesting alternate print and fulfilment solutions to ensure you get the best service for all your printing needs?

An expert advisor will seek to understand what your intentions are as an organisation and what you hope to deliver with each marketing objective that way the supplier can stay ahead and suggest practical solutions that deliver the best results.

3. What accreditations do they have?

ISO 9001, (quality) ISO 27001 (Information Security & Management)

Having the above accreditations ensures that best practice is maintained and that procedures and processes are in place it also ensures that any confidential data is correctly managed and that the company can demonstrate the relevant protocols.

4. Is the print and fulfilment provider customer centric? Will they provide bespoke solutions for you rather than fit within the constraints of their services and equipment?

The key to any long term relationship is whether the incumbent supplier can deliver your needs now and in the future.

5. Will they be flexible and respond quickly and systematically to a change in specification or delivery dates?

What system(s) do they have in place to make sure they can manage any last minute changes?

6. Can the supplier offer free data cleansing and checking to ensure your addresses are complete and suitable for mailing discounts?

7. Is the print and fulfilment company financially stable?

How long have they been in business and what customers do they currently supply?

8. Can the print and fulfilment company produce what you want to sell today and tomorrow?

Think about the future products and services you are working on as an organisation. Can the supplier accommodate your needs now and in the future. There’s no point in establishing a rewarding relationship only to find out in year 2 that one of the marketing campaigns you intend to develop cannot be fulfilled by your supplier.

9. Does the print and fulfilment company have a great reputation?

Ask for testimonials or a list of references and it’s also a good idea to ask the supplier to give you an example of a case study

10. Is the print and fulfilment company’s pricing fair?

When reviewing print and fulfilment companies, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see the difference in prices from one supplier to the next. By ensuring the supplier has matched your specification only then can you make a comparison between other suppliers. A higher cost may indicate that the print and fulfilment company are offering a higher level of services. Again is this what you asked for or is the supplier being proactive by demonstrating what should be incorporated into the campaign.

10. Hypothetically, if a job goes wrong, after all, we are only human, is the supplier able to demonstrate best practice? Do they have the capability to ensure that the right processes are in place to resolve the issue

A slightly difficult one to address in the ‘what if stages’ but an organisation should be able to ask the question  of the supplier and establish how flexible they can be in the event of a mistake being made.

Any print and fulfilment company you consider should be happy to answer your questions and be able to demonstrate fulfilment and print capabilities so that when you decide on your chosen supplier you can be confident in the knowledge that the marketing campaign can be delivered from paper to digital to social media.

Need some help with a print and marketing campaign?

Want to be able to send out customer letters but don’t know where to start then Call us for more information by clicking here

Are there any other points that should be added to this list?

What do you think?

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The post How to find the right print and fulfilment services supplier? appeared first on Digital Print Management.

How do you choose the right printing company?

Confronted with so many potential suppliers how do you decide which printing company to choose for your print requirements or how do you outsource your payslip printing?

How do you find the right service provider when there are so many to choose from?

Which one do you select and what selection criteria do you employ?

Until recently, companies did not pay much attention to the way they reviewed their print strategies and requirements. Little or no consideration for cost was given to the various print devices, paper, supplies, general print and consumables being ordered on a daily basis.

All that changed with the onset of the financial crisis.

Companies are more aware of the need to review their print requirements.

The biggest problem is that company executives or department heads have no idea how much it is really costing them to process, print and mail out a plethora of items each week.

They have no idea of the overall cost of their print bill, the quantity of supplies they get through in a week, the number of suppliers they are using and the time spent resolving hardware problems.

Money is wasted by the continued use of unnecessary devices, obsolete hardware, staff spending time on print and I.T issues resulting in hours being lost to dealing with different vendors and suppliers.

Many companies are now appreciating the benefit of an outsourced print service reducing the complexity of managing various suppliers and spiralling in-house costs and managing print and distribution in-house.

Outsourcing print whether to a print management services company see here or by adopting a managed print service here requires knowledge and understanding of what your organisation is trying to achieve.

Too often buyers focus on one thing only and that is PRICE.

Unfortunately choosing on price alone results in the customer being dissatisfied with the quality, service or the end product.

Price should not be the only consideration when evaluating suppliers and/or vendors.

“We are buying on price only” or “we want the cheapest solution” are typical of the current climate.

The buyer can not expect a great quality product or service if he/she is buying on price alone.

To then add value to a service or product so the customer benefits becomes an impossible task.

Most companies don’t want the hassle of sourcing suppliers to manage their print, payroll or billing few know where to start looking or what considerations need to be taken into account when outsourcing.

Print is the end product – from printed payslips and invoices, cheques, direct mail to the use of MFPD’s multi-functional print devices managed in-house, all deliver paper in some shape or format and not many companies are equipped to research and employ print services that will save them money.

What is happening in the market place?

It is a print buyers haven, assuming they have the knowledge to purchase print or skills to outsource the required business function.

Print management companies, print suppliers/consumables, vendors and manufacturers are desperate to win work at any cost and the buyer can get what they want at a price they are prepared to pay.

Companies seeking these services are going to market lacking the skills required to source the right partner to work with.

20 point checklist of tips to think about before choosing your print supplier

Before you even consider the following list you need to think about the services you require?

Have an approval criteria or list of what you are looking for notably:-

Are you wanting to outsource all your corporate print from letter-headings to billing and payslip printing? (Print Management)

Are you looking to reduce the number of print devices and print in-house (Managed Print Services)

Are you looking to reduce the cost of one specific area of print such as your billing or cheque and payment processing?

Once you know what it is you are trying to achieve then the following list will provide a useful guideline, it is by no means complete or exhaustive.

1. Choose a company that can offer innovative solutions capable of adapting to your business environment.

2. That can/will provide ongoing support, consultation and recommendations that take into account your evolving business needs.

3. That has a complete solution for your requirements i.e if you are outsourcing your payslip printing you might want to adopt multi-channel distribution that includes printing and sending them electronically.

4. Offers best in class service and delivery, experienced personnel, good operational processes and protocols particularly if you are outsourcing cheque printing. 

5. Check the quality of the work – what do they do, what is their niche and how will they deliver the service to you.

6. Technically competent – will the incumbent supplier be able to deliver what they say they can?

7. Is the proposed supplier financially stable?

8. Is the supplier reliable – will they fulfil/deliver the product/service in a timely manner?

9. Are they enthusiastic – can they demonstrate the extent of their knowledge of the product or service they are proposing?

10. Does the structure of the company indicate reliability and longevity in other words they aren’t going to disappear in 6 months time.

11. Do they have experienced personnel capable of advising beyond printing for example print management companies do more than just manage your print they are multi-channel partners they can provide expertise on direct marketing, SMS, data management, social media and promotional gift items.

12. Do ask for case studies and testimonials from current customers to authenticate the suppliers statements.

13. Don’t make your decision solely on price – cheap prices mean inferior quality and service.

14. Ask as many questions as possible no matter how trivial to ensure you are confident in the future service.

15. Establish what other services the supplier can provide this is useful for any future business/company developments you might have. For example they might provide direct marketing print and design capability or can advise you on your social media marketing strategy.

16. Visit the site or manufacturing premises – is it secure if printing cheques and payslips? If it’s a managed print solution ask to visit a managed site to establish how it works or request a reference site to discuss how the company are benefiting from MPS (managed print service)

17. Check the reputation of the supplier – ask for a client list and check the website what do they talk about, what services are they advertising?

18. Ask for a trial run for example can the print company offer to print some basic items free of charge? If it’s an outsource service such as payslip printing ask the supplier if they are able to take a data file and provide a print out for a minimum fee so you experience the service first hand.

19. Use social media to see how your supplier engages with its audience. Do they offer expert advice and help in the form of great content, are they on all the social media networks?

20. Be loyal to your print provider or outsource partner. Once you have found the right printing company or partner keep them. Having a good relationship will ensure you can look to them for all manner of printed or outsourced information and advice and in turn they are more likely to offer you discounts, give you a first class service and provide additional services.

Are there any criteria you would use in addition to the above?

How did you find your print partner and how successful has the relationship been?

The post Top tips for choosing the right printing company appeared first on Digital Print Management.

An Online printing service or web to print solutions can provide quick, cheap and efficient print from business cards to letter headings; marketing leaflets and flyers.

So I thought it might be a good idea to give you a quick overview of what online print actually is and how it can reduce your costs for short print runs.

Online printing also known as web to print; print on demand and digital printing it offers a variety of print options that make it fairly easy for those of you who don’t have a background in print or design to order online. It is a commercial prepress process that bridges the gap from digital content online and commercial print production.

What this means is that you can create, edit, upload you’re own designs and templates or choose from a vast array of pre -designed templates allowing you to view and approve the completed online template during the prepress phase.

Web to print increasingly calls for a PDF work flow environment with output provided by digital colour printers; although there are many print services that offer fulfilment using both digital production and offset facilities.

 How does web to print work?

Accessing a website with a storefront view enabling the customer to peruse through a variety of templates or catalogues in   which they can choose business print, marketing  leaflets, newsletters. Within these storefronts, customers can choose pre-designed templates where you can alter the copy, typeface, images and layout; or alter a layout and design that has been created by another person.

While most web to print applications allow customers to customise pre-designed templates it also allows for customers to upload their own unique content for automated print production.

It’s a great way of producing small print runs at low prices with quick delivery ideal for marketing ideas that you get in the middle of the night and you want to test before going down the route or producing a full blown direct mail effort.

What makes our web to print different?

Simple really we have evolved a workflow process that enables us to personalise your templates so if you want to do a mailing to say 2,500 customers easy! Working either from a pre-designed template or by uploading your own; we will process, print and post all in one click. A payment summary is provided so you know exactly what it is costing you and your order will automatically be acknowledged once payment has been accepted. Despatch will be confirmed at the end of the order placement. Online printing gives you the flexibility to print just what you want when you need it 24/7; because the order can be processed in real time online!

Which means freeing up your time to get on with your business.

If you want help and advice as to how the service could work for you then call or email us and we will be happy to advise!

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter and facebook to keep updated with news, views and reviews!

The post Web to Print. How to reduce the cost of your short print runs! appeared first on Digital Print Management.

“Can you print just 5 brochures, leaflets, well, in fact, 5 of anything?”

We are often asked.

The answer is yes, we can.

If you need good quality digital print with fast turn around times look no further.

Maybe you only want a handful of personalised leaflets because you are trying to win a contract? Or simply a marketing leaflet that is designed with only a dozen customers in mind?

Digital Print Management can print it for you and we don’t make it difficult or expensive to do!

A finished job in a matter of hours.

The most valuable thing is not having to chase around looking for a short run printer. We save you time and MONEY!

From hi-res PDF artwork, we can produce catalogues, booklets, leaflets, manuals, direct mail, newsletters, promotions…. all produced in short-run quantities in digital 4 colours and on-demand and at a fraction of the price more traditional methods cost.

How good is that?

Why not find out…contact us and try us out!

Better still look up our Virtual Stationery Cupboard (coming soon) and see how you can get the most out of our online print services highly personalised and individual marketing documents anytime, any day and anywhere!

The post Short Run Brochure Printing? appeared first on Digital Print Management.