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Marketing Services Provider?

The title itself is fraught with ambiguity. In my previous article, "What's in a Name", I mentioned that commercial printers have a large investment in the infrastructure that is essential for delivering marketing communications and thus are poised to be the marketing provider that you are looking for. Poised is another ambiguous word. Poised means balanced and prepared for action. There is a difference in the level of readiness a provider may have and trying to determine that level is part of your challenge. Commercial printers by nature have the largest investment in infrastructure but that in it self does not make them Marketing Services Providers. A few easy ways to qualify your existing printer is to focus on the current relationship and answer these questions.

1. Does your printer utilize or have a marketing program that showcases the delivery of information other than print?
2. Does your printer have a presence on Social Media and how do they use that presence?
3. Does your primary contact at your printer ask about your challenges and share information that can help you to overcome those challenges using real world examples and testimonials?
4. How often do you receive marketing communications (print, email, blog posts or comments, social media interaction etc.) from your printer or is the relationship one void of this interaction?
5. If you have a social media presence, blog or other form of marketing that you use, does your primary contact and or printer interact with it or have they at least asked you if you have these technologies as part of your marketing communications?

These are some fairly basic questions and depending on how you answer them you can fairly quickly determine if you should be pursuing a marketing relationship with your commercial printer right now. The key words are right now. Even advanced print organizations are in the early stages of this evolution and the really good printers out there are still for the large part in the infant stages of this transition. Smaller printers, with less overhead, have been quicker to evolve but lack some of the essential elements like full-service fulfillment and the capacity to turn large jobs on tight schedules.

I was with a prospect earlier this month and we were discussing just how much their industry would be changing as technology advances. Their core business has been enough for their continued growth but in recent years, technological advances have changed their primary market offering. Moving forward they have recognized that their primary line of products is going to start to erode with future advances in their industry.

The good news is they understand this and have already begun the process to evolve into other areas and they are doing this with great anticipation, vigor, and enthusiasm. Their core business is changing but rather than close up shop they are evolving with it and will be a player in their industry for many, many, years to come.

This discussion came after I made it clear that my organization is in the process of evolving way beyond ink on paper. I stressed the importance of our roots and explained how we see print in the future, how and when we discovered the need to evolve, the steps we have taken, and then how we look forward to helping them to succeed in their transition. We talked about the differences between taking print orders and being a member of their problem-solving team. We gained so much credibility that what we thought would be a 30 minute introduction turned into a 1 ½ hour meeting that will result in another meeting with other key individuals on the clients team. We will get to demonstrate specific successes and continue the process of selling valuable marketing services not a print job.  If I break down this meeting a little bit further there is one thing that sticks in my mind. I approached this meeting as if I were a student going into class. I was prepared to listen and take notes. As a matter of fact the only print sample I had with me was a copy of a calendar we print for our clients.  We listened to the client. We followed their lead and discussed what concerned them.

When that conversation was over I presented the calendar. It is a nice print piece but more importantly confirmed how we represented my organization. It proved that we would be able to deliver what we said we could. The calendar is a full-blown marketing program. Not only does it showcase beautiful print but it has an associated website, QR codes, variable data print, monthly interactive contests, purls, email marketing, and social media integration. By years end it will demonstrate and market our organization as a viable Marketing Service Provider. Clients and prospects will be "touched" by this program well over 50 times in a year. Some may even be touched hundreds of times depending on their level of involvement.

There will always be someone out there that can offer cheap print. There will always be someone that can blast emails. There will always be someone willing to store your inventory. There will always be someone that will host a micro-site. There will always be someone that will develop creative design. The good news is that you will soon be able to find many single sources to take care of your entire program. Bringing with it all the advantages of a fully integrated marketing program with advance metrics and proven results. When this evolution is complete everyone will win.  Your organization, the provider, the ancillary partners, and most importantly the targeted market.