Printer or Marketing Service Provider?

These days it isn't enough just to be a printer. Customers are looking for a marketing service provider with a variety of skills. So Doc was interested to read a great article over at The Digital Nirvana by John Foley all about how to promote your marketing services business.

Transforming from a printing company printer into a marketing service provider certainly may require a lot of internal work. But once those steps have been completed, a crucial step in the process is to let the world know about the new services that you can offer.

How will you promote your new business? It is important that you don't abandon the tried and true marketing methods that you have always fallen back on. However, it is just as important that you are willing to embrace new technologies and strategies that you may not have utilized in the past.

In chapter 6 of my book Business Transformation: A New Path to Profit for the Printing Industry, I constructed a list of questions related to key marketing efforts that may help.

# 1 – Your Website Do you have a website? Many of you will say “yes” to this question… but it doesn't end there. Does your website represent your marketing services provider business in the best way possible? Is it interactive, engaging, and frequently updated? Heck, is it ugly?

It may be worth investing in resources to ensure that “working on the company website” is high on your company's priority list. Don't run the risk of your website being lost in the shuffle.

#2 – Your Blog Are you wondering why company would want a blog? Here are a few reasons: A blog drives traffic to your site, encourages visitors to keep coming back, and it also increases Search Engine Optimization.

#3 -  Sales Collateral and Lead-Generation Forms When transforming into a marketing services provider, it's important to update your sales collateral to reflect the appropriate messaging and branding. Once this is done, incorporate downloadable versions of that information on your website. People are always researching and looking for tips and facts when looking at businesses. Studies have shown that about 70% of people use a company website to research a product or service before they make a decision. Thus, do not be shy about re-purposing information from your brochures and slicks onto your website.

Of course, you don't need to give it all away for a free! Put up lead generation forms that require interested parties to give you some bits of data (perhaps their email address) before they can download certain pieces of collateral.

There's a lot more to John's article, including how to use online video and social networks. Doc thinks it's worth checking out.