Could an Online Ordering Site for Marketing Materials Help You?

When thinking about how print and marketing collateral are managed within your company today, see if any of the following sound familiar:

1. The cost associated with creating a business card order and having it flow through the procurement system is actually more costly than the business cards themselves.
2. You wish there were an easier way to actually have employees, dealers or franchisees directly order the materials they need and have it delivered where they want and when they want it.
3. You have a tough time protecting your brand’s look and feel. Pieces are being designed or modified in the field.
4. You hear complaints that the marketing pieces that come out of corporate marketing don’t give the dealers and sales reps the ability to brand themselves, target their specific audience or include their own specific contact information.
5. Dynamic, direct marketing campaigns can be very difficult to coordinate with the field reps and/or dealer locations and can be a struggle to organize and manage.

If any of these statements ring true, an Online Print Ordering and Fulfillment solution could help you address some of these issues.

Several key trends over the last decade have driven the use and value of these systems. First, the explosion of internet usage and ecommerce sites as a way to obtain any type of product or service. Print and marketing collateral is no different. Second, software development tends to follow the money. As a result, several software companies have developed applications that drive online print order and fulfillment. Finally, digital print technology has evolved so that near-offset quality print can be delivered in a truly one-off, on-demand environment. Combine these factors and online print management solutions have become practical.

Some of the key benefits:

1. Convenient ordering: Corporate-branded, frequently-ordered products can be made available online. Anyone needing those products can order them any time they are needed, 24/7, 365 days a year. A variety of payment and tracking options are available to best fit your company’s needs.
2. Cost savings: Pieces can be versioned by the person ordering, which saves the cost and time associated with customization.
3. Brand continuity: Corporate branding and design components can be locked down in the templates so the branded look and feel won’t be compromised.
4. Relevance promoted: Specific areas within the design templates can be customized with variable imagery and/or text, or simply personalized for the individual sales rep or dealer.
5. Tracking: Finally, online ordering systems can be used to offer, manage and track direct marketing campaigns in a manner that makes it easy for corporate administrators and users in the field as well.

When you boil it all down, an Online Print Ordering and Fulfillment system can be a huge benefit to your company for a number of reasons. Have questions about whether a system could work for you? Give a call or drop us a line.