Over the past fifteen years, publishing markets have been redefined by simultaneous trends related to electronic delivery of content. In the past five years, smartphones, e-book readers, and tablet computers have changed the way that many readers consume content. Traditional “bricks and mortar” bookstores—whether large retail sites or small independents—have encountered fierce competition from Internet retailers like Amazon.com. The landscape has changed, and agile print service providers have an opportunity to benefit from these developments by producing a range of bound documents, including books, calendars, magazines, and photo albums.

Communicating with customers and prospects across media channels is quickly becoming essential for successful marketing. Reaching customers via multiple touch points can have a profound effect on marketing and sales efforts, and businesses are seeking service providers that can deliver their message using multiple channels beyond print. Print is a vital and powerful component of the multi-channel mix. Consumers’ trust of print and its ability to link the physical and digital worlds has positioned it as a key channel in cross-media communication. Many print service providers are discovering that moving into cross-media services is a must for optimising print’s business potential.

Photo merchandise represents a major market opportunity, and some sectors of this business are experiencing double-digit growth rates. Since a sizeable share of consumers have yet to purchase photo merchandise, this market also remains largely untapped. Service providers of all sizes must build awareness about the photo merchandise opportunity through quality distribution channels, word of mouth, and a strong Web presence. Once you have established a relationship with a consumer, that relationship must be cultivated with a robust focus on purchasing new and different items. The good news is that consumers who have purchased photo merchandise in the past have a very high propensity for purchasing it again in the future. Photo merchandise can be a tremendous source of profit and growth for companies of all sizes.

The world of labels is one of the fastest growing and most rapidly changing sectors in the entire printing industry, returning above GDP growth year-on-year for at least the last 30 years. Much of this growth has come from pressure-sensitive labels – perhaps more commonly known as self-adhesive labels – which have undoubtedly transformed the nature, use and applications for labels and been instrumental in the continuing evolution and rapid growth in the labels that we regularly see in everyday life.

The timing has never been better for entering the transaction document services market and expanding into TransPromo communications. In today’s world, businesses need strategies for cutting costs and generating revenue—which is exactly what TransPromo does. It reduces operational costs and drives new business through cross-selling and up-selling, and transforms operational costs into revenue. While high-volume transaction document services companies have already embraced TransPromo, there remains a significant opportunity for commercial printers and CRDs to go after SMBs and small enterprises. Review your business goals and assess the opportunity to add transactional and TransPromo capabilities to your own services—or those of your clients!

Both printers and marketers are faced with huge challenges as to how they grow existing business and lock in their customers. Customers’ expectations around performance and return on investment are increasing all the time. Market statistics on variable data printing clearly demonstrate that printers who provide personalised communication products gain increased sales, better returns and higher rates of customer loyalty. The latest digital print technology and software has made entry into personalised communications economical and far easier for printers to adopt. Therefore with 85% of print companies using variable data, it should be a fast-growing and profitable part of the digital printing industry, yet only around 5% use it beyond name and address. The use of variable data and imaging to personalise documents and collaterals can create a high value and profitable sector that most print companies can take advantage of.

The Internet has become an essential part of how customers operate and therefore has become the way many small and medium enterprises communicate and sell their products and services. Customers are already familiar with web-based systems and are buying products like books, office supplies, stationery, and greetings cards, as well as services like travel, data storage and cloud computing online. As more customers go online they will expect their suppliers to offer web-based services as standard. This is a new and exciting business opportunity that allows print firms to lock in existing clients, while at the same time attracting new customers in a straightforward way. It also protects profit margins, as companies do not have to bid on every job and can reduce costs by automating sales and marketing functions. Web-to-print is fast becoming an essential component of a digital printer’s sales and marketing strategy, because it overcomes the burden of ever increasing back office administration, generated by higher volumes of low-run, low-cost jobs.

While other more traditional segments of the printing market are seeing annual declines, the wide format digital print market continues to grow based on greater demand for the applications from the buyer side and improved economics from the technology or supplier side. People buy wide format printing, both graphics and technical documents because it works; it works as advertising medium, it works as an information transfer tool, and it is highly cost-effective.

The Internet has become an essential part of how customers operate and therefore has become the way many small and medium enterprises communicate and sell their products and services. Customers are already familiar with web-based systems and are buying products like books, office supplies, stationery, and greetings cards, as well as services like travel, data storage and cloud computing online. As more customers go online they will expect their suppliers to offer web-based services as standard. This is a new and exciting business opportunity that allows print firms to lock in existing clients, while at the same time attracting new customers in a straightforward way. It also protects profit margins, as companies do not have to bid on every job and can reduce costs by automating sales and marketing functions. Web-to-print is fast becoming an essential component of a digital printer’s sales and marketing strategy, because it overcomes the burden of ever increasing back office administration, generated by higher volumes of low-run, low-cost jobs.

Both printers and marketers are faced with huge challenges as to how they grow existing business and lock in their customers. Customers’ expectations around performance and return on investment are increasing all the time. Market statistics on variable data printing clearly demonstrate that printers who provide personalised communication products gain increased sales, better returns and higher rates of customer loyalty. The latest digital print technology and software has made entry into personalised communications economical and far easier for printers to adopt. Therefore with 85% of print companies using variable data, it should be a fast-growing and profitable part of the digital printing industry, yet only around 5% use it beyond name and address. The use of variable data and imaging to personalise documents and collaterals can create a high value and profitable sector that most print companies can take advantage of.