The paper and print industry evolves daily, as new times, new technologies and new faces reshape its landscape. Unease or nervousness in the face of change is normal, but adaptability is the mark of a great printer. Learning how to effectively communicate your strengths and benefits to potential customers is one of the best skills to learn and there are a few tips that can make your education that much easier. As the needs for personalization, omnichannel marketing and short runs due to tight turn-around times increase, so, too, do the demands for digital print. Before you successfully sell digital print to your customers, you have to understand the benefits it offers and have the ability to put it into the context of real-world applications. Here’s how to do that very thing in our guidebook for talking to your customers about digital printing.
Personalization
One of the biggest impacts that digital printing can have on a customer’s marketing plan is its capacity for personalization. Potential buyers are more likely to stick with or try out a new brand when they feel like they’re seen as a person and that’s where digital printing comes in. Ask your customers if their marketing strategy varies based on demographics, market areas or other variables—digital print can help them capitalize on those opportunities. Younger generations, like millennials and Gen Z, pick up on that personalized aspect and have the potential to be valuable customer bases. Consumers have grown ever more accustomed to getting what they want, and they’re gravitating toward the brands that give it to them at every step of their journey. Communicate digital printing’s ability to support that journey and you’ll knock it out of the park.
Digital Collaboration
If a company is good with their data, they can create robust customer profiles, print personalized communications—whether it’s a postcard or a full-blown catalog—and drive their audience to a location of their choice. Integrating QR codes and augmented reality into a direct mail campaign can make it easy for recipients to engage even further. For example, a customer could create a QR code that opens a holiday playlist when scanned print it on their greeting cards or it could pull up a personalized map from the recipient’s house to your customer’s new storefront. Make it clear to your customers that the data can work in tandem with digital capabilities if they have it.
This also means that you have to know what benefits of digital print would be attractive to your customer before you communicate. Before calling on a customer and bringing up digital print, make sure you research them first. Learn the details of their business, study their competition, and read what their customers are saying. Being this prepared will not only help you make a positive first impression, but you’ll also have a real understanding of what digital print solutions are worth mentioning. And then you have a full omnichannel experience, which is super important because they all have different benefits
Other Talking Points
• Budget
o For information like product brochures, manuals, direct mail pieces the potential for the obsolescence of information can be reduced to cartons of printed inventory versus pallets of the same. Or, in some cases, there is no unused collateral. This makes choosing digital printing ideal for brands looking to optimize budgets. On press, the exposed fibers provide an excellent surface for toner or ink adhesion which means that your customer’s piece is more likely to make it safely into a mailbox.
• Durability
o If your customer saves on ink costs and paper, but their printed piece has its image worn off, its message lost and makes a poor first impression, then the project missed its mark and your customer really didn’t save any money. Let your customers know that on press, the exposed fibers provide an excellent surface for toner or ink adhesion. Imagery is sharp and the color is brilliant, and they can trust that their piece will arrive whole.
• Quality
o As the demand for digital printing has grown, paper manufacturers have developed more options for the printers and designers to choose from. Domtar’s collection of Digital Printing Papers includes the Lynx® and Cougar® brands, both of which offer a smooth and super smooth finish. An uncoated super smooth finish has such a smooth finish that it is often mistaken for a coated matte sheet.
When it comes to selling digital print, what it ultimately comes down to is thinking like your customers and anticipating their needs. What is going to be the easiest way for them to get from that printed piece to whatever action you want them to take and making sure that their goals are possible and the and journey is seamless? How can they create something that will resonate with their audience? What’s going to make them show their audience that they’re seen as individuals? If you can communicate the benefits of marrying the personalization, the data and easy access to the digital world, you’ve found the sweet spot for printing a beautiful, colorful glossy piece and selling point to print customers.
Retrieved from Domtar
