Early adopters of inkjet printing were often challenged to find enough pages to fill their newly acquired capacity. Lower production cost was an attractive aspect of inkjet, but those savings only materialized when there was enough volume to cover the overhead. Companies had to convert existing applications to the inkjet platform and convince customers inkjet was a reasonable alternative.
These inkjet pioneers weren’t bad business people, they just suffered through the issues that come with any breakthrough product or technique. A “Field of Dreams” situation forced printing companies to invest first and then unearth the work. Printers migrated inkjet jobs from traditional presses; either their own or from competitors. This was normal for many printing companies.
An Inkjet Business Marketing Plan
The production inkjet landscape has changed dramatically in the last 4 years with new devices, faster speeds and additional flexibility for paper and media. When printers buy an inkjet press today, they need a plan for developing profitable work to run on the device. Using the new technology to add value to customer documents, or to create entirely new applications, is now the key to success for companies adopting inkjet platforms. A strategic business marketing plan will allow print service providers
Photo courtsey of Kaboompics
to plan a strategy for migration, integration and new business development before the manufacturer even delivers their inkjet towers.
Companies usually prepare detailed financial assessments based on print volume and running costs to justify TCO, and an ROI for investments in new equipment. The scope and focus for a new inkjet business marketing plan is different though. Cost justification is only one part of the pre-purchase strategy, as inkjet is more than a press. It is a platform that, if successful, will impact all areas of a print service business.
A business marketing plan for selling value-added inkjet applications can include organizational changes. Companies will need to tear down walls that exist between sales and production, sales and client service, or production and the technical team. It is essential to create clarity about how each department must work together to achieve a new set of company goals and establish customer expectations for inkjet capabilities.
Getting out of the commodity mindset can be particularly difficult. Digital print delivers flexibility which places an emphasis on the data used to create variable images and personalized documents. Often these documents must be coordinated with other components of multi-channel campaigns. Focus is on value rather than volume. Yet success with continuous feed inkjet also requires significant monthly volumes of work to cost justify the investment. Members of many departments must coordinate efforts to produce unique, effective documents in an efficient and economical manner. They cannot do this without internal communication and cooperation.
Besides organizational restructuring and communication, business marketing plans cover organizational goals, pricing schemes, demand-creation strategies, and more.
The process of building a business marketing plan to support the adoption of an inkjet platform may sound overwhelming, but it is not insurmountable. Printers can use internal or external resources to assess their current state and chart a path for adding value to their customer’s applications. The finished plan will make inkjet a strategic component of the organization’s growth objectives.
Coming Soon: How to Build a Marketing Plan
In a future post we’ll cover the steps printing companies must take to create a strategic business marketing plan for inkjet and make their investments in inkjet a success.