Marketing Digital Services--Success Strategies
November 2000
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BY CAROLINE MILLER
Digital Prinitng is poised to become one of the most powerful tools available to marketers.
However, there's one problem. Many of your clients don't fully understand how digital printing can be beneficial to their businesses. It's a hurdle that any digital print provider needs to clear before it can become profitable. But an effective digital print marketing strategy can go a long way to clearing the profitability obstacle. Still, marketing digital printing services requires you to take a different approach than you might with traditional offset printing. Marketing your digital capabilities requires educating your clients about the benefits of digital and also requires a different level of support.
So, in order to help you hit the mark, two commercial printers recently shared with Printing Impressions how they have marketed their digital capabilities successfully along side their traditional offset presses.
Develop a Brand Name
When executives at Dallas-based Padgett Printing made the move into variable data, digital color printing, they knew they needed to different-iate themselves from other digital printers. One of the ways Padgett found to set itself apart from its digital competitors in customers' minds was to develop a brand name.
The result was the creation of Maestro, which is marketed under Maestro Marketing Solution, a division of Padgett Printing. By developing a brand name, Padgett, a Xeikon user, felt it would provide them with a uniform approach to selling digital printing, explains David Torok, Padgett president and CEO. It also ensures that by using the brand name Maestro, everyone is on the same page when it comes to the product's expectations.
"The Maestro name represents a level of excellence, a level of dependability and the vision that we bring to the marketplace," remarks Retha Petruzates, Maestro's marketing director. "We are assisting our customers in orchestrating their variable data projects. We are bringing a level of expertise to clients, through a nurturing relationship."
Educate the Client
Educating a client about digital printing is the most important task a printer has when it first meets with a customer. One of the most effective ways to drive home the message of digital printing is for them to experience it first-hand, states Petruzates. "It's really when the customer experiences it for himself that we get the 'Ah-ha' moment."
During its initial presentation, Padgett often includes logos, company pictures, as well as tries to integrate the company's mission or CEO's vision into the presentation. "On our first contact, we try to personalize it as much as possible—to show them that the presentation was designed especially for them," reveals Torok.
Digital Prinitng is poised to become one of the most powerful tools available to marketers.
However, there's one problem. Many of your clients don't fully understand how digital printing can be beneficial to their businesses. It's a hurdle that any digital print provider needs to clear before it can become profitable. But an effective digital print marketing strategy can go a long way to clearing the profitability obstacle. Still, marketing digital printing services requires you to take a different approach than you might with traditional offset printing. Marketing your digital capabilities requires educating your clients about the benefits of digital and also requires a different level of support.
So, in order to help you hit the mark, two commercial printers recently shared with Printing Impressions how they have marketed their digital capabilities successfully along side their traditional offset presses.
Develop a Brand Name
When executives at Dallas-based Padgett Printing made the move into variable data, digital color printing, they knew they needed to different-iate themselves from other digital printers. One of the ways Padgett found to set itself apart from its digital competitors in customers' minds was to develop a brand name.
The result was the creation of Maestro, which is marketed under Maestro Marketing Solution, a division of Padgett Printing. By developing a brand name, Padgett, a Xeikon user, felt it would provide them with a uniform approach to selling digital printing, explains David Torok, Padgett president and CEO. It also ensures that by using the brand name Maestro, everyone is on the same page when it comes to the product's expectations.
"The Maestro name represents a level of excellence, a level of dependability and the vision that we bring to the marketplace," remarks Retha Petruzates, Maestro's marketing director. "We are assisting our customers in orchestrating their variable data projects. We are bringing a level of expertise to clients, through a nurturing relationship."
Educate the Client
Educating a client about digital printing is the most important task a printer has when it first meets with a customer. One of the most effective ways to drive home the message of digital printing is for them to experience it first-hand, states Petruzates. "It's really when the customer experiences it for himself that we get the 'Ah-ha' moment."
During its initial presentation, Padgett often includes logos, company pictures, as well as tries to integrate the company's mission or CEO's vision into the presentation. "On our first contact, we try to personalize it as much as possible—to show them that the presentation was designed especially for them," reveals Torok.
Companies Mentioned:
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