Printers have traditionally been focused on one basic service; putting ink on paper or other substrates and providing a high level of customer service and delivery. Yes we provide other services as well such as finishing services, direct mail and fulfillment, but we generally haven’t been concerned about what happens to the product afterwards. But in today’s world there are so many avenues to market products and services; print is just one channel to communicate to clients.
Many of us at Cedar have seen this coming. We began offering black only document printing soon followed by static and variable (personalized) color printing with segmented messaging and specific data based on certain demographics and other data. We introduced our “Fusion” process in 2006 which integrated Variable Data Printing, direct mail, email, personal URL’s, CRM and back end data collection to track customer response and call to action. This has lead our customers to request more comprehensive data management, list procurement, list cleansing, data segmentation; even marketing and graphic design.
Customers want to know that they are delivering a message through various channels that achieve the highest ROI every time. Cedar Graphics is currently helping our customers achieve this through tools and expertise. Therefore, we are forming business units or teams that are solutions and results oriented to help achieve customer goals using Best Practices. Nevertheless, we do not plan on doing this alone. Our desire is to partner with experts and specific service providers to achieve the best results possible.
Most of us attendees of the aforementioned conferences left understanding the task at hand. Our task, albeit formidable, is to change. Those of us who recognized this early and began the process of change are on the road to success. For those who are just realizing this, it may be too late.
Take care,
Hassan
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