How to Take Advantage of Your Printing Expertise as a Marketing Services Provider
If they were honest with you, ad agencies would admit that you’re as much a marketer as they are. They sell catchy copy and sleek designs. Your tangible marketing pieces sway—then sign—every client’s prospects.
So becoming a marketing services provider is more than a plausible business plan. You’d be crazy not to do it.
It’s true that much reinvention is involved with becoming an MSP. Some printing companies avoid it because the transformation sounds too complicated. But really it’s a natural progression. You’ll grow from a print business with a limited client base to a perceptive marketing company with room to grow.
Focus on your existing expertise in print marketing to make your business’s transition to MSP status immediately lucrative. Here’s how.
Education
Rethink your marketing strategy upon becoming a marketing services provider. Persuading people to give you a shot involves more education than advertising. For example, make sure current clients understand why you’re becoming a marketing services provider. They’ll be more likely to continue the relationship (and hopefully rely on you even more) when they fully understand your perspective.
Happy print clients will be of particular value to you. Ask them to provide testimonials about your good work as their marketing specialist. More prospects will trust you when clients vouch for you—obviously. They’ll also be more responsive to your position as a print expert.
To educate a broader audience about your print marketing expertise, create a blog for your website. Educate readers about the value of tangible print marketing. Finally, back up your claim of expertise in direct mail marketing by sharing the ROI of previous campaigns with prospects.
Online Design
Some printing companies are guilty of touting expensive equipment instead of selling solutions. But as an MSP you’ll need to forget your MGI 8700XL (because prospects won’t care). Instead concentrate on what you create with that printer.
To start, direct attention from production to client contributions. On your website, empower them with tools for online design. Sophisticated online design tools provide you with customized, industry-specific designs and copy. Investing in an online ordering catalog will ensure that your printing company’s MSP transition is butter-smooth.
Variable Data Printing
Ad agencies and other marketing competitors may have clever copy down pat. But your variable data printing expertise and personalized copy will be more relevant to consumers. And you know what that means. The ROI of a campaign with a VDP-equipped marketing services provider will exceed that of a witty ad agency. Any client, any product, any audience.
Selling your business as a marketing services provider involves identifying your strengths—like variable data printing and direct mail design—then capitalizing on them. What are you doing to play up your MSP’s value as a former printing company?
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