Cross Media: A New Role for the
 In-plant

BACK IN the day, in-plants ranged from traditional offset operations to copy centers to being part of data center operations. Their main purpose in life was putting ink or toner on paper, charging the job to the appropriate client or cost center, and moving on to the next one. It was great while it lasted.
Today, in-plants have the opportunity to change the scope of their offerings by adding the same kinds of non-print services offered by many commercial operations. These new offerings—often termed cross-media or integrated services—typically involve some type of outgoing marketing offers or other communications to customers or prospects. They use both print and electronic media—e-mail, texting, "landing pages" or microsites on the Web—to deliver related messages that engage the recipient with a goal of selling a product or service or improving customer relations.

The best are two-way conversations offering multiple opportunities for your company, its customers and its prospects to interact at a more personal level than with ordinary print and mail messaging. There are numerous examples in the commercial print space, but let's look at a couple that pose opportunities for in-plant shops.

The Higher-ed Opportunity

Colleges and universities, home of some of the largest in-plant operations, often need to bolster enrollment, perhaps even in specific programs. So instead of sending out a spray-and-pray mass mailing to high school juniors and seniors in selected zip codes, add a little personalization. Colleges can obtain broad details about the interests of students taking exams like the SAT from College Board data. It has the student's name and –address, so by using software from interlinkONE, MindFireInc or XMPie, a personalized cross-media campaign can be created that's far more likely to be opened than a generic piece of mail.

Then when Zack or Emma opens the personalized mailer from the college, they find their name inside, along with a response URL or QR code that takes them to a dynamically generated "landing page" on the Web, which they can view on their laptop or iPhone. There they get more info about the school, but can also answer a few questions about possible majors, interests, sports preferences and the like. That generates an e-mail, followed by a personalized brochure.

So if Zack is interested in studying business and playing soccer and –lacrosse, his brochure includes the relevant details. Emma's version features her chosen major of biology and her favored activities of rock climbing and skiing.

Some commercial printers have been doing this kind of thing for the past few years. The schools they serve are seeing excellent results. There's no reason an in-plant can't do the same. It's all a matter of using data and state-of-the-art technology to create print and electronic campaigns that reach your audience more effectively, while adding value to your in-plant's offerings.

Enhancing the Finance/Insurance Industries

Many insurance and financial services firms also house large in-plants—often data centers. They have primarily produced transactional jobs such as statements and bills, or documents such as letters, policies and other mildly personalized, but relatively generic, materials. Transpromo messaging can use some cross-media tools, but a greater opportunity exists within the many materials used by sales and customer service representatives. These include the vast array of brochures, letters and direct mail, all of which can be significantly enhanced by cross-media technology.

Much like the initial direct mail contact with prospective college students, a direct mail piece or even a letter from an insurance company or financial services firm can often be finely targeted based on known data about a customer, such as the ages of children, or investment preferences. A landing page or micro–site linked from a personalized URL can be designed to obtain more information. And there the dialogue begins.

The recipient's responses to simple questions or the links they follow on a microsite supply information that generates follow-up e-mails, personalized brochures, letters and more. These engage the individual at an entirely different level than the ordinary mailers that go unopened into the recycle bin. The cross-media activity allows customers to respond more proactively, which builds trust and strengthens relationships.

Make no mistake about it, there are commercial shops poaching on your territory. They are talking to your company's marketing people and other execs about these very cross-media services. If they get the attention of these execs and your in-plant is not offering the same capabilities, you won't get that work.

As more than a few in-plants have found, you can't survive these days by just putting ink and toner on paper. You need to add value, and cross-media is a excellent way to do just that. This requires a new approach.

Think Beyond the Page

"In-plants have to shift to being able to see an entire project, not just the ink-on-paper part," asserts Jason Pinto, CMO at interlinkONE. "They need be able to send out an e-mail, push a text message to a cell phone, or show how effective their company's Web site or Facebook page is."

Learning these things means climbing a learning curve, but the information about how they all work is readily available:

• There are many Web sites and online resources that provide an almost infinite range of information on cross-media services.

• Companies such as interlinkONE, MindFireInc, and XMPie all have case studies, white papers, videos, tutorials and more that can help you get your head around the many cross-media tools available.

• Print engine vendors have similar materials that show how print and electronic media have been used successfully.

• Trade conferences such as Graph Expo and On Demand have sessions and workshops on how to choose and implement the tools that will work for your operation.

• Then there are magazines, especially leading-edge business and technology mags such as CMO, Wired or Fast Company, all of which talk about the latest –technologies and how companies are using them.

These resources all help as you build a cross-media plan for your in-plant and begin applying it in your parent organization. The first target is your organization's marketing department, which offers the best opportunities for adding measurable value to your in-plant.

"We coach our customers to look for the places that help an organization most closely meet its business objectives or that eliminates a pain point or decreases a cost," explains Dave Rosendahl, president of MindFireInc. "This can be developing a multi-touch marketing program, or saving data entry labor associated with tracking response to various customer communications."

"In-plant managers have to think about their entire company as its customer and fully understand the organization's needs," agrees Larry Zusman, worldwide marketing manager at XMPie. "For marketing, they need to know the touch points being used and match those to the cross-media capabilities that can make those touch points more effective."

For instance, if a company is using direct mail and providing a generic link to a Web site, the link could be changed to a response URL to increase the level of personalization and better engage the customer.

"In-plants often have direct access to a tremendous amount of customer data that can be used in cross-media campaigns," continues Zusman. "By understanding the company and how various cross-media tools can be used, they are extremely well-positioned to implement an effective program."

Pinto, of interlinkONE, agrees. "The in-plant manager has an inside track to learn more about the company he works for, yet many times they don't know why a job was done or what the objectives were. Reach out to the marketing people," he –advises. "Ask questions and learn what they are trying to do so you can find new ways to help them meet their goals."

Don't Tell—Show

"Use the same technology you're saying is important to show the VP of marketing what can be done," suggests MindFireInc's Rosendahl. "Put a live campaign together that incorporates a targeted direct piece with a response URL or QR code. Follow it up with the e-mail and personalized mailer. Many marketing execs don't realize this can be done, much less that it can be done in-house. You have to show them."

Test drive one of the solutions from interlinkONE, look into demonstration tools from MindFireInc or XMPie that can show how a multi-touch marketing program can work. They may well open some eyes and minds in your organization.

Learning about your company's communications needs is the first step. Then learn about the tools available and how they fit in your organization. Next, show what can be done—and that your in-plant can do it. With the right mix of capabilities, your in-plant can be a cross-media hub that is tightly bound to your firm's marketing and customer communications.

"We've seen in-plants use cross-media in many ways," says Pinto. "We know they can do it."