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Printers or Marketing Service Providers?

June 11, 2010 | By Ashish Merchant

Almost every print trade show or conference these days is dominated by digital print technologies. And almost every discourse around the transition from offset to digital focuses on printers becoming solution providers. The Holy Grail being the evolution from being printers to becoming marketing service providers.

So what exactly does this mean for printers? Does it mean a change in dress code from half-sleeve shirts to black attire with ties? Does it mean talking ROI on communication as opposed to cost of ink on paper? Or does it mean introducing a design studio and a database administrator on the payroll? Is having an efficient bindery passé?

I would argue that being a marketing services provider means none of the above. Printers should not try to become marketers in their efforts to become marketing service providers.

On the contrary, just focus on your core competency – OPERATIONS. And by having a strong focus on operations, you will be helping marketers do what they do best. This is an appropriate and logical route to becoming a marketing service provider.

Some suggestions on Do’s and Don’ts in this transition:

DO understand your cost structure very well and work hard to remove inefficiencies in your operations. Your role is to ensure that once you are given design and data, you are able to convert that into a powerful communication piece in the least possible cost.

DO empower your operations with workflow software. The ability to remotely accept data and information with tools such as variable data printing, digital asset management, automated costing and pricing engines and web-to-print remove several inefficiencies and costs in the system and have a positive impact on your quality.

DO make an effort to educate your clients and their Agencies. They will thank you and remain loyal to you. Even basic education such as optimal print sheet size, efficient binding practices, personalization of responses via PURL’s may be eye openers for several clients. They will not remain loyal to you out of the goodness of their hearts – they will find it profitable to be loyal to you.

DO try to get third party input on your organization and its performance. Fear to look in the mirror is not a good business strategy. Ratings on organization from a reputed agency like CRISIL cannot only provide good input but also serve as a hall-mark of quality. Besides Government agencies subsidize a significant portion of costs for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for ratings from agencies like CRISIL or for certifications like Six Sigma and ISO 9002.

DON’T try to preach marketing strategy. Even if you’re right, most clients (still) don’t accept strategy from a printer. You should however, elaborate on best practices and describe best print communication from around the world. You are the domain expert in operations. Continue to be the best. This is what a marketing service provider would do. Marketing strategy is the work of an Agency. Let them do what they are best at.

DON’T try to side-step the Agency. They have the ear of senior management. Work instead to empower them. If they trust you, they will partner with you for the long term. If they feel threatened, they will shop around on price.

DON’T believe for a minute that print is commoditized. Smart operations allowing for predictable output, costs and turnaround times is still an exceptional differentiator. Printing continues to operate as a cottage industry and will benefit from process as a differentiator. Even the ability to reliably allocate jobs to offset, digital, screen with relevant finishing processes (and cost savings) is a significant differentiator.

Important highlights from a highly digitized economy like the USA. In the latest media and advertising investments report from Jack Myers (www.jackmyers.com), direct mail marketing still tops over 22 per cent of all advertising and marketing spend in the USA (An investment of US$ 174 billion in 2009 on an overall spend of US$ 777 billion). This figure is growing faster than the overall advertising spends. So direct mail is not going away in the world of email and cell phones. And the only way to win in this game is to do what you do best and enable others to do what they do best!

Ashish Merchant (ashish@jyoshan.com) is a marketing consultant who has lived and worked in Dubai, USA and in India. He specializes in one-to-one communication and is currently Director, Marketing Services with Jyoshan Global Services.