Brand - The American Marketing Association defines a "brand"
as, "a Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies
one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." The concept is really pretty basic. "Brand" is who you are.
Now let's think about that for a minute. Think about yourself. How are you perceived by your co-workers, your family, your friends? Each one of us spends a great deal of time building the brand that is "ME". We sacrifice, we give, we win, we lose, we love, we hate, we laugh, we cry, we learn and we... the list goes on and on. The point is that all these, we statements, are what ultimately create the "ME Brand." You have spent your entire life up until this moment creating your "ME" Brand. As a matter of fact, just reading this post may have an effect on your "ME". There is nothing better than the "ME", after all we all own our "ME". It IS, "who we are."
Here is a very cool short video about BRAND that was produced in 2011 by the MSc Brand Leadership team at Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia.
Now let's think about that for a minute. Think about yourself. How are you perceived by your co-workers, your family, your friends? Each one of us spends a great deal of time building the brand that is "ME". We sacrifice, we give, we win, we lose, we love, we hate, we laugh, we cry, we learn and we... the list goes on and on. The point is that all these, we statements, are what ultimately create the "ME Brand." You have spent your entire life up until this moment creating your "ME" Brand. As a matter of fact, just reading this post may have an effect on your "ME". There is nothing better than the "ME", after all we all own our "ME". It IS, "who we are."
Now lets suppose that tomorrow, your "ME" is hijacked. Everything you have done to create this unstoppable brand of "ME" is compromised. Control is gone. The choices you make become irrelevant. The power of your "ME" is now no longer "ME" it is "THEM". SCARY isn't it. Kind of like driving with no brakes. Total chaos is inevitable. The countless hours of personal sacrifice and good fortune are nothing but the past. Your "ME" has been taken on a proverbial joy ride. You are left in a future that is monopolized by damage control. There is little time to even think about improving or winning back the "ME" you once owned. Your "ME" has been eliminated.
ME
The scenario above, albeit extreme, is precisely why web-to-print is so important to your organizations "Brand." Chances are you paid significantly to get your brand to it's current level. The collateral you produce to foster and support the brands place is critical. I'd be willing to bet that if your "ME" was a flier, sell sheet, business card, brochure, letterhead, direct mail piece, package or any other piece of collateral, you would think twice about a rouge salesperson, distributor or even close personal friend making a duplicate of your "ME" on the office copy machine. So why do we let this happen to our brand identity with our print collateral. The good news is that web-to-print solutions can minimize, and if done correctly eliminate, this type of brand degradation.
One of my recent clients for web-to-print is United Capital. Based in Newport Beach CA, United Capital sought to gain control over their corporate brand. Working with over 35 offices across the country, UC used to place orders and ship them to corporate then ship to the field. This was not an efficient use of time or money and individual offices often resorted to local production or worse yet office copies for collateral. There was little to no control over the United Capital "ME." This venture into web-to-print is only a few months old but already proving to be a welcome change to everyone involved. To quote the marketing director of United Capital, "More
importantly having all of our collateral, ads, templates etc. in one place has
greatly increased the brand consistency among all of our offices. Working
with a web to print solution has been an enormously positive change to the way we do
internal business and the biggest step we have taken towards streamlining our
processes here at United Capital."
Additionally, United Capital offices across the country now have one source to go where they acquire customized print and marketing collateral. Brand consistent print collateral and promotional items in a custom branded web portal. The corporate office can get reports on individual office activities, which products are moving, and billing reports broken out by office cost centers. Due to the nature of the financial services market, some products require a compliance approval step. The system also allows for compliance approval reports. There are also many other custom features that are unique to United Capital. The key here is, that not only is United Capital solving their brand control issues, they are continually expanding usage that streamlines their unique business requirements. Properly executed web-to-print creates this ability.
In today's ever changing print landscape, web-to-print is more necessary than ever. Brand control is only one of the many compelling reasons. Your "ME" is important! Protect it with web-to-print today.
