Add Value, Gain Prestige

THESE ARE challenging times for in-plants, as cost cutting, downsizing, department justifications and threats to outsource permeate daily business. Now is the time to strengthen your customer relationships and provide value-added services beyond conventional and digital printing.

According to Printing Industries of America (PIA), printers' ancillary services account for approximately $18 billion, or 11 percent of total industry annual shipments. By 2020 ancillary services may grow by $2 billion to $5 billion in additional shipments per year.¹ Business growth through value-added services represents a tremendous opportunity for in-plant printers—one that can help them secure their future.

Even though the economy is tough, this is a great time to upgrade or change hardware and software, as well as to make investments that enable business growth. PIA also reports growth in personalization, shorter runs and versioning. Analyze your client base for opportunities in these areas. If you have invested in personalization software or Web-to-print but feel constrained by the types of jobs and services you can offer, consider adding another solution for an immediate marketplace boost.

Becoming more proficient in direct mail marketing can be profitable for your in-plant. If you are currently outsourcing mailing services, look at the workflow and consider elements you can implement yourself.

Post Office Collaboration

The local post office can support your transition to becoming a proficient mailer. For instance, the post office will support you with mail piece design to help provide clients with more effective direct mail.

Basic services that you can also include are NCOA (national change of address), to ensure that mailing lists are up to date, thereby increasing the deliverability of the mailing. You can use Google to find many software packages on the market—such as Melissa Data's Mailer's + 4 (www.melissadata.com)—to help you prepare mailings at the lowest mailing rates and ensure deliverability for your clients. If this is already an area of success for you, consider upgrading your software services and offering more robust savings through intelligent mail for your clients.

E-mail services are still a viable option to supplement print revenues and support mixed media marketing campaigns. With e-mail marketing, you can monitor and track results for clients and provide instant campaign feedback. Especially in a campus environment, this service can be very effective.

Success with Online Services

UCLA has a Web-based electronic communication system called BruinPost, and the Document and Bulk Mail Services department supports communication for administration and official notifications. The administrator orders the e-mail through the BruinPost service, and Document and Bulk Mail Services prepares the e-mail for distribution.

At the University of California, San Francisco, the Documents, Media and Mail operation specializes in multimedia services, ranging from photography to video and Web services. The department showcases its Web services and the custom sites it builds for on-campus entities on its Web site. Photography offerings include special campus events, department photographs and other photos showcasing the campus.

Videography is also a growing field because audiences embrace online video viewing. Three-quarters of broadband users (74 percent) with high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online, according to a 2007 Pew Internet research study.² UCSF videos are available to share and comment on, creating an online community of knowledge and learning for the campus.

Emphasize the Value You Bring

Helping customers understand the value of your new services will strengthen the customer relationships and differentiate your business. Campaigns where you can show a return on investment—the actual ratio of return of the clients' dollars after the expense of producing pieces—will benefit your business. A simple example of this to show a client is a mailing promotion piece that costs $2,000 to produce, resulting in $6,000 in net sales profit. This campaign shows a $4,000 profit, resulting in a 200 percent return on investment.

Sometimes getting clients to track results can be difficult, but it will make the difference in the long run if you can show absolute results on your marketing campaigns. This will increase your client's perception of the value they receive from working with you.

While jumping into new business models can be difficult, consider implementing new services part time while you build a new business model and develop your client base. You should consider temporary workers and interns to help increase your knowledge in a new service, and to help you get started.

As you become more proficient with new services, you can include consulting services as part of your overall solution to your clients, whether they see this as part of an invoice or not. While you may already assign a project manager from your staff or can see the benefit of providing project management assistance, this area also can be marketed to your clients as a unique service that you provide. IPG

Nancy Wallan is a graphic communications consultant focused on business development. She supports her clients with business planning for revenue growth, writes industry marketing materials and is a featured speaker at industry events. You can reach her at: nancy@nwallan–consulting.com

¹ www.printing.org/page/4519

² www.pewinternet.org/Press-Releases/2007/Online-video-proliferates-as-viewers-share-what-they-find-online-57-of-online-adults-watc.aspx