Omni-Channel Services: A Journey Worth Taking for LCP

Any savvy marketer should constantly be asking themselves: How do today’s customers engage with brands? Is it via mono-channel marketing? Multi-channel? Or perhaps omni-channel or opti-channel? In order to reach business goals, it simply makes sense for marketers to use every available resource to their advantage. Lake County Press (LCP) focused on helping clients use multiple channels and, as a result, expects 2023 revenue to increase 8%.

Pete Douglas

Pete Douglas, Senior Vice President and director of sales/marketing at LCP, highlights that, “The way that LCP is working with clients to drive business results is to understand what they want to achieve and help them choose the channel that suits their business’ needs and constraints.”

Waukegan, Illinois-based LCP is focused on helping clients get their message out via multiple channels, both online and offline. In addition to offset, digital, and grand-format printing, LCP provides clients with digital marketing solutions, mailing, warehousing, promotional products, and fulfillment.

Douglas reports the company has evolved its services portfolio. “Getting into the omni-channel space has been a journey. In 1995 we invested in cut-sheet digital and variable-data solutions. At the time, traditional offset comprised 95% of our revenues. Today, less than 60% of our revenue comes from offset. We focus on adding value to digital print as well as offer expansion with both grand-format and ad specialty offerings.”

LCP’s omni-channel communications journey started with variable data. From there, the company built out web portals and today has contractual print relationships with more than 150 clients. These web portals include marketing materials for distributed sales teams, distributors, and franchises, scattered across geographies. They have added grand-format printing and ad specialties to the web portals. As clients consolidated purchasing agreements, portals drove more business to LCP. The technology they developed for web enablement helps clients maintain a consistent brand image and keeps team members on-message while allowing them to capitalize on local market opportunities.

These portals serve as an anchor for expansion into more complex omni-channel services. Douglas says, “When customers call us to create complex direct mail programs, we say 'yes'. We have a team of six programmers and six account managers that work closely with clients to deliver results.”

Douglas says that for a direct mail program to be successful, it requires a minimum of five touches. To meet client needs they combine personalization with real-time metrics. Clients have the ability to communicate with customers and prospects through their preferred channels with messages and offers they are most likely to respond to. To meet these needs, the firm added mobile apps to make it easier for end consumers to buy products, get training, improve customer service, and a host of other applications aimed at simplifying daily tasks and increasing customer satisfaction. They also incorporated digital elements like QR codes and augmented reality to increase customer engagement.

In summing up the benefits of expanded solution offerings, Douglas reports, “While we have invested heavily in infrastructure and staff, the journey to offer more and more marketing services has been a worthwhile one. Between 2021 and 2022 our revenues grew 6% and, in 2023, they should be up 8%. The services we offer have enabled us to have a loyal base of clients that work with us on a contractual basis.”