The Marketing Services Opportunity

This week we take a breath from our four part series on VDP applications, and reflect upon where we’re actually going with this. Why VDP is important to every digital printer and mailshop – A big part of their long term survival strategy.

It’s not just about how to do VDP efficiently. It’s the first step in becoming a Marketing Services Provider. Industry gurus and commentators like Barb Pellow, Dr Joe Webb, Frank Romano and numerous others have been talking of this industry trend and the immense opportunities for many years on www.whattheythink.com.

Another company, Infotrends, is focused upon this arena with their ‘ultimate guide’ around VDP, Transpromo, Multi-channel etc. Originally setup by Dr Joe Webb, they feature highly in the US market. Click on their ad (right) to learn more.

The reason I’ve mentioned this now is to not just raise awareness, but came from a timely email this week from someone that’s already gone down this path. Click on the left video below to learn more from Ted Raymond. The second video is an older one from the whattheythink archives that has commentary on this trend from the esteemed Winters research group.

Introducing new services comes from a simple business development formula. Here’s the steps Ted mentioned:

1. Learn and become expert with variable data printing tools. e.g. XMPie, Designmerge, Creo Darwin, etc,
2. Add in purls and online tracking services using third parties like Easypurl, Boingnet or Mindfire.
3. Through more partnerships offer online web2print ordering, email marketing and mobile services.

The above 3-step plan is a very logical one. But as in Ted’s case and for most companies that have tried, it takes lots of time, often several years as you slowly find out what’s needed and the tricks to make it work efficiently. Much is by costly trial and error.

The good news is that I can help you dramatically shorten this learning curve and bring implementation timeframes down from years, to a few months – This obviously saves immense amounts of upfront cost, frustration and embarrassment, as well as ensuring a significant competitive edge over those trying to self-learn.

Don’t Buy – Outsource!

The use of partnerships with third party providers is a critical part of the development and implementation strategy, slashing costs, timeframes and any perceived risk. The fact is very few printers or mailhouses worldwide have the needed culture, skills base or financial resources to provide these new services themselves from scratch, in a timely or effective manner. Even if you obtain the needed pre-packaged software bits from XMPie or Direct Smile to do some of it in-house, the learning curve is simply too long and too hard. Only large $20m+ operations should attempt it.

This concept of outsourcing elements of their print service offering and then on-selling it as their own is hardly new. Most have been outsourcing their supply of plates, finishing and direct mail services for years. This is little different, be it remotely located, online services that are perhaps a little more difficult to grasp. Hence the need for an independent guru/geek like myself to establish the framework and support structures for you.

Certainly printers must do their own VDP elements, placing the variable bits on paper. But, be open to utilise others to help with data cleansing, finishing, inserting, the add-on purls, mobile keywords or QR codes, web2print, ecommerce, social media/website integration, email services, as well as the related CRM, management and campaign tracking tools to provide reports back to clients, be they agencies, marketing people or business owners.

Vendor Hangups

Perhaps the secret frustration for many mail or print shop owners is the fact they don’t appear to have a single provider they can negotiate with for a ‘marketing services’ system, or one person to turn to for support. (Those systems that claim to be such an animal are prohibitively expensive and complex)  It’s likely this situation could change, but for now it’s like buying pieces of a jigsaw from several vendors.

However once business owners get past this quandary, they realise what they gain is immense control and system flexibility, as well as a 60-80% reduction in establishment costs.

It’s not just the financial benefits. This crucial blending of disparate technologies from smaller, more focused suppliers has perhaps helped propel many users forward, giving them a big competitive edge, Why? They’ve a far better understanding of the various processes, that aren’t obvious when you get an ‘all-in-one’ package. Multi-vendor sites seem to come up with more innovative solutions for clients and often have fewer support issues, simply because they’ve come to better understand what they have – These are the industry leaders….

Let’s Keep it simple

It’s a huge ‘to do’ list to become a full marketing services company. Fortunately you don’t need to do it all immediately. The ‘keep it simple’ formula is always best, allowing you to build in the various new, more advanced services and options as you grow. This is important since there may be several separate providers involved. Your own customers and prospects will appreciate your caution too, since bombarding them with too much will only confuse. Showing off the full suite of offerings is very impressive in a seminar or presentation. But from my experience, showing too many options can delay, not reduce the sales cycle. People need time to take it all in and to trust your abilities.

Starting with simple VDP, plus outsourced purl and mobile keyword offerings, as discussed to date, is relatively easy and affordable. The ideal ‘startup‘ package

Our own role is to help you build a business development roadmap that makes sense for your operation and customer base – To set up the right strategies, partnerships, workflow processes and training systems, ensuring your customers are well supported and more importantly, happy to recommend your new services to others.

Establishing Strategic Partnerships with new media providers and trainers is the key.

For the typical options, timeframes and costs in establishing yourself as a Marketing Services provider email zn.oc.tentnirpnull@nivek or fill in the form below

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