Global Brands are Becoming More Involved in Their Customers’ Businesses, Driving Higher Profits and Quicker ROI
During my four days volunteering in Deborah Corn’s Printerverse at Graph Expo, I came away with a new vision of customer care and customer experience. Panel discussions from Alliance partners addressed a variety of topics in the Printerverse, but a recurring theme was how to help customers be more successful to drive profits and the development of new products.
Based on how these panelists described their relationships with customers, I would call this phenomenon “customer involvement.”
CUSTOMER INVOLVEMENT
Customer involvement is not only a way to gain and retain customers, it’s a strategic approach by global companies such as HP, Canon, Xerox and Pitney Bowes, who presented in the Printerverse about their digital output options.
These global brands are helping their customers (users):
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Understand what’s possible with technology
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Enjoy a quick return on investment
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Enter new vertical markets
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Create new products
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Improve workflows, implement best practices and increase turnaround time
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Interpret data to make more informed decisions
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Network with other users and share real job samples
HELPING CUSTOMERS BECOME SUCCESSFUL
How else are these mega-brands helping their customers become more successful? They are:
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Digging deep to understand how customers perceive value, and then delivering on that.
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Showing customers how to be not just busy but profitable
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Developing new products so customers can enter new markets swiftly and get a jump on competitors.
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Encouraging customers to embrace complexity and pay more attention to quality.
Finally, these global brands are taking something that was an industry disadvantage – a trend toward shorter run lengths – and turning it into an advantage. By leveraging the strengths of digital output along with the ability to produce variable content down to the 1:1 level, these companies are building new markets for custom digital products.
CASE STUDIES
To see this level of customer involvement in action, HP brought customers to the Printerverse to talk about how they achieved their success. No matter what type of business you’re in, it’s invigorating to hear a business owner talk about how he or she increased business by boldly adopting new technology and creating demand for new products.
I’m honored to have been a volunteer in the Printerverse at this year’s Graph Expo. The Printerverse Alliance partners truly are leading the way in connecting with customers on a new level, and I look forward to seeing how the concept of Customer Involvement drives our industry.
Sandy Hubbard is a marketing strategist for print companies that are in extreme growth mode and outgrowing their current marketing program. She helps printers evaluate options and quickly deploy to gain competitive advantage. Find Sandy on Twitter at @sandyhubbard every Wednesday at 4 PM ET assisting #PrintChat host Deborah Corn @PrintMediaCentr with the liveliest and most entertaining printing chat on social media!
