Web to Print Solutions Benched by New Tech

Guest Post by Alex Almada, Propago

YES, we offer the services to help you, but this post is not about that. This post is about why Marketing Asset Management matters and what you as a printer need to know.

Web to print, web2print, or W2P, whatever you call it, they all mean the same. What is important to point out is that today almost every major print manufacturer offers some kind of online web to print solution to corporate clients (and some to the public). Your clients want self-service solutions, but need web to print solutions to do more.

You may be wondering, what is a Marketing Asset Management Solution? Spoiler alert! Web to Print and Marketing Asset Management solutions work under the same core concept, connect vendors (like you) and customers (i.e. print buyers) -simplifying and automating accessibility, ordering and fulfillment of products.

The difference?

“Web to print solutions are print centric – leaving it up to your customers to figure out how to produce, offer and fulfill the rest of their marketing assets”

See where we are going with this?

“Web to print offerings are yesterday, Marketing Asset Management solutions allow printers and clients to streamline ordering, production and fulfillment of any marketing product. 

The Web to print core concept is simple. Connect clients (print buyers) and printers (you) online to eliminate manual and analog tasks. Well, it turns out, your clients want to apply this very same concept to the rest of their marketing assets -promotional merchandise and apparel for example -using the same solution.

We pointed out, self-service order entry is an expectation for almost all of your customers today. However, today your customers want to extend it across their entire marketing portfolio.

So what does a marketing asset management solution do for your clients? To make it crystal clear, let’s discuss some of the needs large clients have. Take a large corporation for example:

1. They have a large catalog of marketing assets – flyers, business cards, polos, stress balls, hats, bags, water bottles and so on, truly anything that promotes the brand.
2. They have a diverse set of users that need access to the marketing catalogue – sales teams, employees, affiliates, partners, and franchisees, to list a few.
3. They want to give their users the ability to personalize marketing collateral, but need to be able to enforce brand standards and compliance.
4. They have a complex set of unique business rules – who can view which products, approval workflows, budgetary constraints, marketing co-op dollars, unique data feeds and much more.
5. They have a network of vendors that each offer their own unique value.
6. They need to track demand, costs, performance, ROI, and user adoption.
7. They crave for simplicity in a world of complexity. A single, powerful, centralized location to manage everything we mentioned above.

Marketing Asset Management solutions take care of all these needs without end users noticing the complexity of the supply chain and helping your clients sleep at night knowing their brand, budget and inventory is completely safe. Web to print solution simply fall short, leaving your customers wishing you could do more for them.

But what about you, the printer? Marketing Asset Management solutions enable you to become the central hub of your client’s brand and marketing supply chain. The main key is to think beyond the next print job and look to become a valued partner to your client.

• Regardless if the products are print, promo, apparel or anything else that your clients use to promote their company.
• Regardless if the products are physically or digitally delivered.
• Regardless if print products are produced on digital presses, offset, web or wide format.
• Regardless if the products are produced on demand, printed on demand, sourced on demand, pulled from inventory, drop shipped from another vendor, or any combination of the above.

The point is print manufacturers have a great opportunity to do more and offer more for their clients.

You can help customers streamline their entire marketing supply chain, take care of their printing needs and allow their users to easily access, personalize and order marketing products they need without having to worry about complex production and fulfillment logistics.

If you are offering a legacy web to print solution to clients, you are not doing everything you can for them. The old saying of “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” definitely does not apply. By the time you realize it’s broken you may already lose some clients to a competitor that is offering more.

Download mini infographic pdf: propago-web-to-print

Alejandro (Alex) Almada is a tech savvy marketer who leverages digital technologies, data and customer centric tactics to generate traceable growth. As a digital marketer, Alex focuses on creating commercial insight, inbound/outbound marketing, product marketing, user experience, and creative direction.

Connect with Alex on: www.propago.com /
LinkedIn / @propagoplatform / alex@propago.com