Whilst many Printers now accept that high-end digital printing technology can and will become the master of litho, the concept of selling print online has not achieved the same front of mind status. There are still a majority of Print businesses out there that have not yet embraced W2P, and many of those that have tried have failed to implement successfully for a variety of reasons, the main ones usually being a flawed strategy and a lack of effective implementation planning.
There are many lessons to be learned about how the use of media is changing in diverse socio-demographic groups as a direct consequence of the rapid change in communications technology. Print is not immune from these same forces (print is, after all, just another communication medium) and we ignore the lessons of the last five years of media convergence at our peril! The pace of change is also quickening and we have some tantalising glimpses of what the near future might look like, but what impact will these changes have on Print? If only we could accurately predict five years out we’d all be multi-millionaires – but one thing is for sure; if it doesn’t need to be printed, it won’t be! Faced with an avalanche of alternative channels such as TwitFaceBlogLinkWave, we need to change the conversations we have with the Marketers so that they truly understand the relevance, effectiveness and efficiencies of an e-enabled print solution as part of the marketing mix. There is much talk about Printers becoming ‘Marketing Services Provider’ instead of ‘Print Services Provider’, offering purls, e-mails et al to the CMO. Most Print businesses, with 2-3 years of lease payments still to go, should be focussed on generating cash and that means filling those presses, both litho and digital. If you’ve never sold print online successfully, what credibility will you have to take on a marketer’s online digital marketing? W2P should be the first logical step on the ladder to becoming that elusive MSP.
You can plan for online success by creating a winning Strategy, an efficient Implementation and an effective Marketing plan that is realistic, achievable and sustainable. If you don't plan, you won't succeed.
Now is the time to take your business online.
http://www.w2p.co.uk
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