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

The post How does print management fit into our digital world? 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.