UPDATE COMMENT
Love it or hate it but multi-channel communication is vital in today’s print communications world Research shows few printers are ready to journey into multi-channel communication with their customers, meaning there is plenty of opportunity for those that are.
T
LEON GETTLER
he world of the printing industry has changed. In a consumerdriven 24/7 business environment, printers, whether they love it or hate it, need to embrace multichannel communication platforms of e-commerce, social media, personalised URLs, video, augmented reality and near field communications. With research showing that few printers are ready to make this journey, it represents an enormous opportunity for ambitious companies. The bottom line is that the customers have increasing choice about what medium they want to be communicated with and how they will receive the information. For printers, this means the printed products need to work together with the mobile online world of customers. It is all about priming the pump and creating a customer relationship that goes beyond the transaction. Smart printers will create integrated campaigns and use the technology in a way that provides performance metrics and ensures a return on investment. First to e-commerce. It allows printers to target the ever-growing number of people who want self-service. Customers leading busy lives want a more convenient way to purchase products, whatever time of day or night. Today, many customers are online and the market is growing. The number of users purchasing goods through the internet is growing substantially. The evidence shows that 80 per cent of total e-commerce activity is between or among businesses. E-commerce has several advantages. It gives printers the ability to expand overseas and build their customer base. It also allows printers to get ahead of competitors who still see themselves as bricks
22 ProPrint October 2019
Huge potential exists for ambitious printers ready to leverage the relationships that can be built through social media
and mortar businesses. The other great advantage of e-commerce for printers is that it allows the printer to gain more knowledge about their customers and track their purchasing trends. So, when the customers place the orders, the printer can analyse the frequency of those orders. They can also look at their customers’ buying trends and which products are more successful than others. At the same time, they can save costs through an automated order processing system from enquiry to invoicing. The bottom line is e-commerce provides printers with the tools for data gathering and that gives online ordering an important advantage over traditional offline ordering. It will allow the printer to use the data to offer more services tailored for the customer and improve the relationship. It also allows the printer to broaden the services that can be provided for customers. And with online ordering, the print company can offer customers additional products and services that may not come up when the customer and printer are engaged in traditional forms of print procurement. Tapping into the social web is a way for small printers to reach a bigger market. In this uberconnected age, people are online talking about the company. If the printers are not engaging in the conversation, they could be losing
customers, or not gaining any. The first and most obvious step is to assess the assets. Who exactly are the targets of the business? How big is the market? They might seem like obvious questions but hard analysis could reveal that the market is a lot bigger than first thought. The next step is to sign up for social media. Businesses will now target Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn. They each have unique qualities. With social media, the printer can provide updates of what they’re doing or even post photos. On YouTube, they can post videos of the business, customer experiences, and even encourage customers to make their own. It is important to share these on other social media outlets like Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. The aim is to get people to “like” or subscribe to updates. This generates greater brand awareness. The business should also be looking at appointing someone to manage social media activities. This will allow the company to review the success of the various social media campaigns and survey all mentions of the brand, who is picking it up and where the interest is coming from. They key to growing sales is finding new customers which is where social media comes into its own. One word of warning: social media is about relationships. Businesses that spend too much time spruiking their product and brand will not attract attention. Success for business in social media is about leveraging those relationships. This is the big challenge for printers. It means redefining the business, recruiting people with the right skills and understanding how the technology will enable them to sell new services to customers. In a commoditised and highly competitive market, they need to find new ways to engage customers. Fundamentally, it comes down to a redefinition of what it means to be a printer. www.proprint.com.au