November 2016 - Burst Digital

Having made the decision to invest in web-to-print, the most immediate requirement is deciding what platform to use. There is rarely a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for web-to-print and a careful analysis of organisational wants, needs and requirements must be conducted. This means finding the right solution for your organisation can be a bit of a minefield unless you have a firm plan in place.

Knowing the challenges that web-to-print can help you to resolve is one thing, however choosing a solution is another. Here are three key steps towards helping you choose the right solution for your organisation:

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Objectives

The implementation of a web-to-print solution is determined heavily by your strategic objectives. Once you know what your goals are, you will know what processes you need to consider. If your objective is to streamline your marketing workflows through faster image and asset production, you will need to look at your current asset creation workflow. Consider how images are shared throughout the organisation and how they are being used. Look at how much time and resource is spent on the creation of these assets and find a solution that will either remove or speed up some of the steps involved.

There may be multiple objectives, but one primary objective should be determined early on as the top priority. Once this has been decided, other objectives can be tackled as a follow on phase. If used correctly, a web-to-print solution has the ability to enhance the sales and marketing efforts of a business, and improve the efficiency of workflows.

When defining your objectives, work with all key stakeholders within your organisation and identify the wider needs by asking yourself:

Where is the company today, and where do we want it to be?
How many assets are we currently storing? Knowing how many files you have now, and how that number will grow, will help you to plan capacity requirements.
How will web-to-print integrate with the software tools and workflow solutions you already have in place?
What files types are you looking to create and store? Web-to-print solutions will vary in regards to the file formats they support. You’ll need to know what files users store and if the system can optimise how you work with them.
How many people will use the system and what access do you want to permit?
How quickly do you want it up and running? If you want it set up ASAP, then you need to look for a vendor who can provide the system and train your teams quickly.

Answering these questions will give you a clearer vision of what you want to achieve from implementing web-to-print. Failing to distinguish a clear view of what you want to accomplish will ultimately result in money being wasted on a solution that isn’t right for your organisation.

Step 2: Outline the Critical Features You Will Require

Investing in software is a large commitment. Not only will it potentially require monetary investment, but it also entails time and resources. Therefore, it only makes sense to compare all options and adopt the solution with the critical features you’ll need.

After analysing your goals and expectations, decide on a list of critical features that will help you and your team to get the most out of your solution day in, day out. Ask yourself:

Do I need a system that can help me manage brand consistency and messaging?
Are you looking for a solution to not only store and manage your assets but also help you create assets?
Do you want a solution that will act as a central resource point which facilitates an approval process?
Do you want a solution that runs online and doesn’t require the need to download software?
Is the solution easy to use? Web-to-print software should be used to help your company and simplify its marketing efforts. The solution should be user-friendly and consideration should be taken into how much time the end user is going to need to get the hang of it.

Here are some key features you may want to consider looking for when you decide on a web-to-print provider:

Asset Repositories: One of the biggest issues multi-site marketers face is that different internal teams will manage different projects such as a website, a social media campaign or the production of sales materials. As a result assets associated with these projects get stored within their individual department and not in one collective repository. Implementing a web-to-print solution with asset storage makes it incredibly easy to access, create and distribute approved design assets. This ensures that your teams are using the right version of the right asset ensuring overall brand consistency.

Accessible Online: It may be essential to adopt a web-to-print solution that is hosted online, especially if the business operates across multiple sites and there is a requirement to access assets from various locations. With no software to download, it can be accessed 24/7 on any device, anywhere in the world.

Editable Templates: One of the biggest costs relating to the production of marketing assets is the use of a graphic designer. From the original designs to re-edits – the costs can quickly accumulate. With some web-to-print solutions, you can upload pre-approved templates that allow you to customise only agreed elements. This could remove the need for a designer to artwork smaller jobs such as business cards and letterheads. This means your designers time can be better spent on the more important tasks.

Order Print Runs: Starting print runs can be a laborious and time consuming process. Calling multiple vendors, requesting quotes, designing and sending files, waiting for proofs, making corrections, and waiting for print products to arrive can massively slow down time-to-market. A web-to-print solution can eliminate many of these tasks making the process of starting print runs more streamlined. The order process can take a matter of minutes, instead of days.

Track Orders: If you have numerous people ordering printed assets from numerous vendors, costs can very quickly spiral out of control. With an effective web-to-print solution, you can manage budgets by seeing exactly who is ordering what before approving the order. By using a single vendor you have much tighter controls over your budgets.

It’s easy to get distracted by a sleek user interface or flashy functionality without a clear understanding of your requirements. Having that understanding of your requirements will ensure the solution you adopt is best suited to your needs.

Step 3: Find the Right Provider

Choosing the right provider is crucial to your web-to-print experience. It’s important to build a relationship with a vendor who will support you, not only in the initial implementation stage, but also into the future. When looking at vendors, follow these steps:

Look at the features that each solution offers. Do you feel confident that the solution will meld with your organisation?
Read customer case-studies about potential providers – they’re an honest indicator of how satisfied a vendor’s customers are.
Ask for a demo or a free-trial. This is not only a great way to explore the functionality for you, but it provides an opportunity to see how the vendor operates.

Remember, whichever web-to-print solution you choose, it has to be right for your organisation. This is an investment and a decision that you will need to work with daily, so spend the time evaluating all your options to ensure you’re making the right decision.

Brand Centurion

Choosing the right web-to-print solution for your company can be a time-consuming exercise, especially during the research period. Brand Centurion from Burst Digital is a powerful marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities that can help you overcome many of the issues faced by multi-site marketers. For a demo of Brand Centurion and its full capabilities, contact us today!

Continue Reading: Making the Business Case for Web-to-Print

Web-to-print (WTP) systems and marketing portals are now a key tool for many organisations, especially those who are working to keep up with the pace of new technologies. Communications now have to move faster and connect to more and more channels. For large, multi-site organisations with distributed teams, WTP can provide a central hub that enables teams to cooperate more efficiently; making processes and workflows more automated.

One of the biggest barriers for implementing web-to-print within an organisation is usually putting across a compelling business case to the people holding the purse strings. After all, decision-makers probably won’t be using the software in their day-to-day work. This instantly makes it harder for them to understand the relevance of WTP for the organisation. Furthermore, the decision-makers may not understand how complex it is creating; distributing and ordering print and digital assets.

Putting together a strong business case to spell out the benefits of WTP can be one of the biggest influencers for the decision makers. Follow these 5 steps to produce a persuasive and compelling business case that will bowl over the decision-makers.

Step 1: Build a Team of Web-To-Print Supporters

Start by identifying all departments within the organisation who will benefit from the use of web-to-print. Bring together several representatives from different departments and discuss how WTP would benefit their team. The more people you have on board from the beginning, the stronger your business case. So these people will be your WTP supporters who will work to push the project forward.

Step 2: Identify the Business Reasons for WTP

If you have thought about implementing WTP in the past, issues may have already been identified that need addressing. With your WTP supporters, list all the challenges the organisation faces and how exactly WTP will address them. If your marketing team spends hours searching for the right versions of the right asset, their skills and time clearly aren’t being well utilised. Furthermore, marketing teams can work much faster when creative files are instantly available and automatically converted for different channels. Each department should identify every area that a WTP platform will make workflows simpler and more efficient.

Step 3: Measure the ROI

Each business case will be different depending on the size of the organisation and the number of people within teams. Considerations should be taken into how much time is spent searching for files, recreating lost files and creating new assets. It’s estimated that on average a marketer or creative will spend up to an hour a day searching for files. This is valuable time that could be spent on the more important business activities that will actually make you money!

If for example there were 5 people in a marketing team and they each spend an hour a day searching for lost files, that equates to 1,225 hours a year if each team member took 3 weeks annual leave. Now if the average salary was £35,000 P/A including holiday, that totals a whopping £16,145.50 a year wasted on just searching for lost files alone.

From the above example you can start to see how much money you could be wasting each year because of poor asset management. Implementing a WTP platform could reduce this figure significantly and in fact, most businesses will see a net profit from WTP within the first year of implementation.

Step 4: Understand the Key Benefits

Efficiency: Web-To-Print software dramatically improves efficiency by keeping all valuable media files accessible in one centralised repository. This means the routine tasks of managing large collections of assets is taken care of.

Save Time: Inefficiencies can cause business to slow down which can be detrimental to time-sensitive projects and deadlines. WTP enables teams to collaborate more effectively and ensure tight deadlines are met.

Ordering print marketing material can also be a very laborious, time-consuming task, especially if there are multiple vendors and suppliers involved. WTP software simplifies the process of ordering so print runs can be started in a matter of hours, not days.

Save Money: One of the biggest expenses relating to the production of assets is the use of a graphic designer. WTP software makes it easier to repurpose files – a better use of your resources than re-creating assets from scratch. Additionally, it provides a secure central repository for all your assets so you won’t waste money repurchasing licensed files.

Branding: You’ve probably spent considerable time and money ensuring your brand is strong and memorable so it is worth protecting. WTP helps ensure your organisation is accurately and consistently represented as only pre-approved templates can be added to the portal. So design elements that shouldn’t be edited are locked down meaning you have tighter controls over your brand assets. Furthermore, depending on permissions, some design elements can be edited using a simple drag-and-drop which removes the need for a designer to artwork simple jobs.

Step 5: Make the Case

Finally, bring your WTP representative together with management to highlight the importance of WTP and demonstrate exactly how the software will make your team more efficient whilst saving money for your company. When you present your business case to the decision-users, be realistic about the ROI and specific goals. A well thought-out strategy and compelling business case will make your overall case clearer and more appealing. With concrete examples and the backing of a team of supporters, you will successfully build a business case that will get the thumbs up from all parties.

Brand Centurion by Burst Digital

Brand Centurion is a powerful, easy-to-use web-to-print portal from Burst Digital. With Brand Centurion, you can store, create and distribute marketing assets without the need of a designer. It’s web-based – so can be accessed from a browser, with no software to install. So all you have to do is upload your approved design templates and brand assets, choose who has admin access to the portal, and then request print runs whenever you want. In addition, all transactions are logged to give you complete control over your budget.

If you are putting together your business case for web-to-print and would like some impartial advice, call today and we can set up a demo so you can experience the full benefits of Brand Centurion.

Month: November 2016

Web-To-Print: Taking the Steps Towards Choosing the Right Solution