PODi Releases New Research on Proven Solutions for Key Vertical Markets
ROCHESTER, NY—June 9, 2011—PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, the leading research and educational association for the industry, has released a new analysis of vertical markets that will help anyone selling digital print solutions to be more successful. At the core of the new research is the link between vertical market challenges and solutions, which is explored in this series of “Vertical Solution Maps.” These maps show how to take a common marketing objective (like fundraising, encouraging repeat business or obtaining new customers) in a specific vertical market, identify the challenges and then provide winning solutions with digital printing.
Solutions employ a full range of tools, including relevant 1:1 direct marketing, integrated cross-media, new media (like social and mobile channels), and collateral management. The proof comes from more than 470 PODi digital printing case studies—the largest collection in the world. “Vertical Solution Maps” cover seven vertical markets, 33 objectives, 55 marketing challenges, and give 74 solutions for successful outcomes.
The research, conducted by PODi Affiliate Caslon & Co., provides print and marketing service providers with real-life, vertical-specific examples of successful digital printing solutions they can share with their customers in the education, retail, automotive, insurance and healthcare, financial services, travel and entertainment, and not-for-profit markets.
Caslon is writing a series of white papers that will examine each vertical market, objectives, challenges and corresponding solutions. The first white paper, “Fundraising Solutions for the Education Market,” guides marketing and development professionals at educational institutions through solutions that address their key challenges, like increasing alumni participation, number of donors and amount of donations while reducing administrative costs. It reviews the needs of K-12 schools, public colleges and private universities as they look for donations to annual funds, endowments, building development and scholarship programs.
According to the Council for Aid to Education’s annual “Voluntary Support of Education Survey,” in the 2009-2010 fiscal year donors demonstrated their commitment to higher education with $28 billion in private support. As states cut funding, private support becomes even more vital.
The study investigates a number of different challenges faced by fundraisers. For instance, how can the amount of donations be increased? One solution is to customize your marketing message based on donor history.
LaSalle Academy, a college preparatory school, personalized its direct mail messaging to alumni with their name, class year, and a representative photo from the decade of their graduation. They acknowledged past donations, or encouraged potential donors to reconnect with their alma mater. Even this simple personalization resulted in a 67% increase in the amount of the average donation. Another solution is to offer a compelling incentive, like The Citadel’s Brigadier Foundation did. They received a 22.75% response rate to their offer of a unique personalized poster, and ultimately generated $208,000 for their athletic scholarship fund.
Each fundraising challenge and digital printing solution is illustrated with case studies from the PODi case study database and includes a snapshot of the campaign along with results. Sugar Bush Solutions President, Mark Parent says, “This paper will be very valuable for our company as we are always looking for ways to show prospects the types of solutions we can build for them.”
These reports and white papers—including the full series of “Vertical Solution Maps” and “Fundraising Solutions for the Education Market”—will be available at no charge to PODi members. To find out more about benefits of membership, visit PODi at www.podi.org/membership.
About PODi
PODi (www.podi.org) is a vendor neutral industry initiative with hundreds of member companies, including Executive Board members EFI, HP, Pitney Bowes and Xerox. The organization’s goal is to drive demand for marketing applications powered by digital print & help members build successful digital print businesses. Membership in PODi is open to companies and organizations involved in digital printing.
About Caslon
Caslon (www.caslon.net) helps companies leverage rapidly advancing digital technologies, especially digital printing. Since 1998, Caslon has been the international Affiliate of PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative , a consortium of leading hardware, software and service providers in the digital printing industry. Caslon provides top-level services for the PODi organization, including managing the online case study database, the annual PODi AppForum, the S3 Council, and the Resource Center lead generation/nurture tools..
Source: PODi.