7 Time-Saving Tips for Managing your Branded Marketing Assets

Any good brand or marketing manager will tell you how hard it is to effectively manage a brand’s marketing assets. When working with multiple files in multiple formats, it can all be very overwhelming trying to manage all these assets. This is particularly true of organisations that operate across multiple locations with large teams distributed across sites.

On average, a marketer will look for an asset up to 16 times a day and fails to find it 35% of the time. This is  a huge waste of time that could be better spent on business activities that actually make money. So how can you reclaim this time and enjoy more profitable collaborations with your colleagues? With the right brand asset management (BAM) platform, you can effectively and efficiently create, edit and distribute all of your marketing assets, giving you greater control.

#1 – Keep all assets in one, central place

Within large organisations, marketing and design teams can spend countless hours creating assets. From uploading branded assets, to incorporating new assets into the creative, a large proportion of the workday is spent handling them. When working with so many files, it can be difficult to manage all assets because the likeliness is they are stored on personal drives or desktops. This in turn makes it difficult for other people to access them when they are needed, especially when an employee leaves, is off sick or is simply away from their desk.

But if you were to store them in one, central repository – this wouldn’t be the case. You would have instant access to the files, without having to field requests from other people. Perfect for those looking to do their job quickly and effectively! By also having one repository, everyone knows exactly where to look when they need an asset.

#2 – Approve assets as they are uploaded

When you are working with hundreds, or even thousands of assets in various formats, checking and approving all assets can be a time-consuming task that slows down time to market. With a BAM, you can upload pre-approved templates with editable elements so that you can ensure all marketing assets produced are on brand. Everyone that has access to the BAM platform with access rights will be able to produce new assets using only the pre-approved templates; removing the need for a designer to artwork smaller jobs. Elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down while other elements can be edited with no design skills necessary.

With less time spent approving assets or waiting for assets to be artworked by a designer, marketers and brand managers can spend more time planning and working on the business activities that are actually going to make money.

#3 – Store files online

A recent study conducted found that 80% of organisations still relied on an email system to share brand assets internally. With marketers constantly looking to improve efficiency, storing files online for many has become an indispensable alternative.

By storing files online, brand managers and marketers can gain instant access to all of their latest assets. Assets can be accessed anytime, anywhere in the world using a single sign-on or through a company’s intranet. And because they’re stored off of your internal IT system, you can rest assured that they’re safe in the cloud. This also means that you can upload files from any location in the world, so important assets are available immediately.

#4 – Keep files clean

When handling very large volumes of assets in numerous formats, it can be very easy to fill up computer files with out-of-date assets. It can also be very easy to keep adding to the pile as new assets are created. This can very quickly result in a cluttered mess on your computer which becomes difficult to navigate.

By keeping files tidy and organising assets into clearly labelled files, you’ll always be able to find what you need. Archiving out-of-date assets is also a worthwhile task as they could be recycled or reused at a later date. Although organising existing files may seem like a laborious task, it will be worth it in the end.

#5 – Backup marketing assets

Misplacing or accidentally deleting assets and files is not only inconvenient, it is also costly to a business. One of the largest costs associated with producing assets is the use of a graphic designer’s time. So, the cost of having to reproduce assets from scratch every time they go missing can quickly add up. Backing up your files will ensure that this isn’t an issue. Saving them on a hard drive as well as on the cloud will have you covered from all angles. Your files will be online as well as stored online – meaning you have access at all times.

#6 – Control who can access what

If you have ever gone into a file to find someone has moved, or even worse deleted an asset, you know how irritating it is. With a brand asset management portal, you can limit who has access to what and restrictions can be set. By controlling who has access to your brand assets you can limit this kind of thing happening. If you can limit this kind of error from occurring, then you don’t need to worry about wasting time locating files that have been relocated, or perhaps even having to recreate the asset from scratch.

#7 – Make sure only the most up-to-date assets are available

When  producing assets, there is likely to be various drafts and versions. If various versions of an asset end up on a shared drive, there is a possibility that the wrong version of the asset is going to be used in marketing communications. Not only is this unprofessional, but it can be damaging to your brand. If you have spent the time to build up your brand, you want to protect it. By ensuring only the most up-to-date assets are available to departments, you can rest assured that no one is going to use the wrong version.


Brand Centurion

Would you like assistance when it comes to managing and controlling your assets?

Brand Centurion by Burst Digital can solve many of the issues surrounding asset management. By providing sales and marketing teams with instant access to the right version, of the right asset, every time, organisations are saving both time and money. A dynamic portal that enables organisations to maintain brand consistency, prevent costly mistakes and order branded print marketing materials

How Can a Marketing Portal Support a Successful Rebrand

In the New Year, many organisations consider a rebrand or a brand refresh to help elevate their brand for the coming year. Rebranding for many organisations can be a daunting task to undertake but if executed correctly, it can be a rewarding process that delivers significant commercial benefits leading to new business, more revenue and a more motivated workforce.

Whether you are looking to change a significant element such as the logo or brand name, or if you are simply looking to alter your messaging to better communicate a more relevant brand promise, you’re going to need to plan your strategy for success. It takes a lot of time, energy and care to launch a rebrand, but careful planning and finding the right tools for the job can mean the difference between success and failure.

During a rebrand, two of the biggest challenges faced by large, multi-site organisations is updating the existing marketing assets with the new branding and ensuring each team member has access to these updated assets. This can be a very time consuming task but is vital as ultimately an inconsistent brand will struggle to distinguish itself in a competitive market. Whether you are still in the planning stages or if your rebranding is already underway, you’ll need to have a solid strategy to address these challenges.

So how can you be sure that a rebranding runs as smoothly as possible? Well that is where a marketing portal can help. While many marketing portals will offer a platform for you to store, design and distribute your own marketing materials in house, they also come with a wealth of other features that can support a rebrand from start to finish.

So how can a marketing portal support a rebrand?

Central Asset Repository

One of the most important the stages of a rebrand is distributing new marketing assets to the appropriate teams. This can slow down the rollout massively, especially if you have multiple teams in various locations, nationally or internationally. With a marketing portal though, you will have a central repository where you can store all of your latest assets. This enables teams instant access to the newest assets, meaning time to market is decreased and you can then concentrate on the more important business activities.

Keyword Tagging

On average, a marketer will spend up to an hour a day fielding requests for design files and marketing assets. With a marketing portal, finding branded assets has never been easier. This is because all you need to do is tag your assets with keywords so that your staff can find them as easily as possible. Gone are the hours spent trawling for assets- they are right at your fingertips whenever you need them.

Improved Brand Consistency

One of the hardest parts of a rebrand is ensuring that everything stays on brand. Consistency ultimately contributes to brand recognition which is vital in the early stages of a rebrand. Inconsistent branding can be very frustrating but can be very easily eradicated with the implementation of a marketing portal. With a marketing portal, brand managers can decide what assets can be made available to employees and which assets can be edited, which will prevent anyone from making unapproved changes or using the wrong version of an asset.

Online Accessibility

Many marketing portals are hosted online which means all updated assets can be uploaded to the cloud. This gives every team member instant access to the newest assets, wherever they are in the world. This means you don’t need to worry employees not being able to complete projects because they can’t access all the files they need. And because many marketing portals work away from your internal IT systems, you can rest assured that your files are safe in the cloud.

Reduced Errors

One of the biggest headaches related to branding is employees not sticking to brand guidelines. With a marketing portal, this headache can be alleviated as employees will only be able to work from pre-approved templates. Brand elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down while others can be edited with no design skills necessary. This means you can trust your employees to design marketing collateral and rest assured that it is on brand. This is further supported by the approval process, so nothing is printed or published without going through the processes you set in place first.

Streamlined Print Process

During a rebrand, the likeliness is you will have to reprint many of the existing print assets such as brochures, flyers and business cards. Starting prints runs however can be a notoriously laborious tasks, especially if you have to find a vendor, get quotes, send design files and await proofs. With a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities, many of these steps are remove. You will have one vendor to handle all your printed materials, you will be able to get real-time quotes online and because you are using pre-approved templates, you don’t have to wait for them to be approved before starting a print run.

And because the portals are hosted online, print runs can be started at the click of a button. Assets can also be instantly converted into either a web-version or a print-ready PDF, meaning they are already in the right format to be sent to the printers.

CRM Integration

When rebranding, it is important to keep you existing customers in the know.  Most marketing portals will allow you to integrate with your existing CRM system or update existing databases. This will enable you to send out personalised, direct communications to keep them in know about the rebrand. This is especially important is you are changing critical elements such as your brand name or logo.


Brand Centurion

Whether you’re going through a rebrand or simply want some more support with your current brand, Brand Centurion can help.

The intuitive nature of Brand Centurion allows, anyone, anywhere the capability to submit customised print ready artwork whilst maintaining and adhering to strict brand guidelines. Brand Centurion also allows business with multiple locations a portal to access, create, monitor and print their latest marketing assets quickly and efficiently. This includes everything from posters to leaflets, business cards to digital assets.

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

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

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.

Ready to protect your brand? Talk to us today!

5 Signs You Need Web-To-Print Software

You may have considered adopting a web-to-print tool or marketing portal on a number of occasions but not quite got round to it. You can always find an excuse as to why now is not the right time – i.e. you don’t have the staff to implement the software, you don’t have the budget or maybe you already use Dropbox or other cloud storage tools so you don’t need a marketing portal.

Whilst many marketing portals will offer similar benefits to cloud storage, there are a number of portals that can deliver so much more. For large businesses with multiple business locations, marketing portals with web-to-print capabilities really are indispensable. This is especially true of organisations that produce large volumes of print marketing content on a regular basis.

If the above sounds all too familiar, then managing your assets digitally is likely to be the path you need. With increased productivity, better workflow and a more structured system of operating, the benefits are extensive.

Here are 5 signs that you need a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities:

Time Wasted Searching for Files

On average, marketers spend an hour a day fielding requests and searching for the right version of an asset. Not only is this frustrating, but it also results in valuable time being wasted. This is time that could be spent on more important business activities. There may be more than one person producing these assets which results in assets being stored across shared departmental drives, individual desktops, and cloud storage which you might not have access to.

Keeping all files in a central repository that brings everything together in one place can alleviate this bugbear. You’ll be able to narrow things down even further by utilising powerful search capabilities to accurately pinpoint files. Not only will you save time and money, it’ll allow your teams spend more time doing what they do best.

Producing New Assets

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 cost can quickly accumulate. Even the simple task of re-working of business cards can be a time consuming exercise. Spending time and resources re-creating misplaced or deleted files can easily be avoided by adopting a marketing portal.

Enabling you to search through previous work, a marketing portal will provide a central store of work that could either be reused or re-edited. New templates can also be uploaded with editing rights. Brand elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down, while other elements can be personalised. This saves time and money that would be spent on producing assets from scratch.

Campaigns and Branding are Lacking Consistency

Inconsistent branding tends to be a result of the wrong style of imagery used, the wrong font used or perhaps even an old logo being used that is now out of date. For multi-site organisations that are sending out a lot of messages, this can become a real headache. If you’ve spent the time to brand your business correctly, you need to ensure each department is representing the corporate image in the way it was intended. Using the wrong version of an asset can dilute the brand and make your communications incohesive. It’s important to monitor the assets that are available and how they are being used.

Implementing a marketing portal allows you to control individual access, and make sure your employees can only access the right version of an asset. This includes the latest logos, promotional material, and the right corporate documents. This ensures you maintain brand integrity across all touch points.

Miscommunication between Creative Teams

Within large organisation, the likeliness is there will be more than one person working on or producing creative marketing assets. Everyone has their own way of working, and processes can quickly become confused, especially if new people join the organisation. With different systems for saving and naming files, it can be difficult to find the latest version of an asset. Workflow redundancies can very quickly creep in that can slow down important business activity.

By creating a central repository within a marketing portal, all project members have instant access to the same shared resources. Even those working remotely can access the files produced, wherever they are in the world. As a result, miscommunication is minimised as everyone is working from the same assets, using the same system.

Excess Admin Procedures

Ordering printed marketing material can be a laborious task. Calling multiple vendors, requesting quotes, designing and sending files, waiting for proofs, making corrections, and waiting for your products to arrive all slow down the time to market. As a result, valuable time is taken up that could be spent on the more important tasks. Adopting a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities can eliminate many of these tasks. It can also help avoid costly mistakes such as sending the wrong files or not proofing prior to printing.

Costs can often be negotiated ahead of time, approved templates are uploaded onto a web based dashboard so you have instant access, and only agreed elements can be edited. The order process can take a matter of minutes – instead of days. With less time spent on the admin involved in locating, editing and distributing files, your teams can devote their energies on building strategies and driving revenue.


Brand Centurion

If any of the above issues affect your ability to work to optimal levels of efficiency, it’s time to consider adopting a marketing portal. Brand Centurion from Burst Digital allows you to manage and track all of your branded print and digital marketing assets through one easy-to-use, powerful and cost-saving marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities.

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

5 Trends that Should Shape your 2017 Marketing Budget

We’d all like a crystal ball to help us plan next year’s marketing budget so that we could spend more time engaging with our audience and less time planning. How nice would it be to know exactly which emerging technologies and trends are going to have the biggest impact on your bottom line? Or knowing exactly which digital channels your prospective customers will be using?

Unfortunately we can’t predict the future but that doesn’t mean we can’t draw upon some comprehensive research to help us make some informed predictions as to which way things are heading. The way in which the marketing industry drives forward is immense so here are our top five predicted digital marketing trends that should be shaping your 2017 marketing budget.

Video – Live Streaming

In the last year we have seen video skyrocket. Each social network now seems to offer its own video platform but live streaming is still relatively new. The first release of tools like Periscope and Meerkat only came about in early 2015. Facebook very quickly jumped on the bandwagon though and more recently, YouTube has introduced live streaming capabilities.

Live video streams can be used for marketing in various ways. They can build awareness, drive conversion and boost engagement. Very often this will be dependent on using the right social platform for your content though. By supplementing your current social strategy with live video, and hyping the build up to your content, you have a real opportunity to reach the masses. In fact, it is believe that in 2017, 74% of all internet traffic will be to video.

Despite the enormous growth of the apps there are still very few brands that have adopted video. Live content is now getting preference over all other content though. Its rate of user adoption and participation is driving the urgency to include this in marketing strategies. With live video being the best way to bring the full power of personal sales to social media, there is a real opportunity for ROI.

You can only do this though by adding value to your customers, so don’t just go straight in with a sales pitch. Give your customers an insight into the personality of your business. Stream company events, make live announcements, conduct interviews or even run a live video blog. Although it is safe to say that live video is here for the long haul, now is the time to determine how to best use it to build awareness and expand reach.

BoohooMAN recently worked with social media marketing agency Social Chain to deliver the most engaged live video ever. Customers were invited to engage with a live stunt on Facebook that saw air being pumped into a giant water balloon every time someone commented ‘pump’. The last person to comment pump when the balloon burst won a £250 gift voucher. This stunt received on 2 million impressions, 930,000 engagements and over 4,000 comments a minute! By creating content that they knew their target audience would react to, boohooMAN was the most talked about brand on Cyber Monday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Cross-Device Retargeting

Consumers are much harder to reach these days, especially as they switch back and forth between all their different devices. DMA’s Statistical Fact Book reports that the average consumer is now connected through five addressable devices. This in turn means five opportunities to get your brand in front of them. Today’s shopper uses a laptop, a tablet and a smartphone and consumers will bounce back-and-forth between device before making that final purchase decision.

As these consumers move across devices, marketers must engage with them in personalised, meaningful ways. By tagging consumers at their first touch point with your brand and tracking their behaviour across devices, marketers are able to target them with display advertising that is appropriate for the device. This unified view of a customer helps deliver a consistent and engaging message across devices ensuring your brand is always at the forefront of their mind. So rather than sending one message to what appears to be three different consumers, you can reach one consumer three times with a consistent, relevant message.

Google recently announced that advertisers will soon be able to reach users across devices with Google remarketing campaigns. This is a significant development as this isn’t something Google previously supported. This means marketers can now monitor how frequently users see their ads across devices enabling them to seamlessly to deliver a cross-device marketing campaign.

Personalised Content

There is so much content on the web that it can be very difficult for brands to break through the noise. This can also make it difficult for brands to differentiate from other brands, especially if they are offering the same product or service and targeting a wide audience. If you’re producing content to appeal to everyone, it’s not going to be as valuable as content that is targeted. Treating customers and prospects as one homogenous group fails to maximise the potential of your messaging.

Consumers now expect more from brands and as such, are looking for you to add value to their lives, not disrupt it. In exchange, brands get their custom, loyalty and brand advocacy. We can only achieve this though by providing content that our customers actually want to read. If brands have a better understanding of the person they are targeting, they will have a better understanding of the information their customer might be seeking.

It is also vital to consider how your prospects and customers are consuming your content. With mobile traffic now outstripping desktop traffic, the importance of delivering content on the right device, in the right format and at the right time is vital to its success. For example, first thing in the morning on the commute, content should be mobile friendly and easily digestible. However in the evening, when content is more likely to be read on a tablet, it can be longer-form and more in-depth.

For brands to add real value to consumers though, they need to shift their focus towards narrower niches, personalised content and more targeted channels. Although this will undoubtedly generate lower volume, the quality of engagement will be much higher and the content is more likely to resonate.

Optimise for Mobile First

Smartphones have now overtaken laptops as UK Internet user’s number one device. On average, we are spending almost two hours online on our smartphones every day. There has been an emphasis on optimising for mobile traffic for a few years and now it is clear that mobile first should be the mantra for the rest of the year and beyond.

Having a mobile-friendly website or app is just the beginning.  For the first time Google has started widening their first page search results to include mobile apps and they have recently released their “Mobilegeddon” algorithm. This will essentially phase out sites that have not been optimised for mobile access from showing in search results. This is very bad news for companies who have not yet optimised their website as their Google rankings will drop moving them further down the search page. Google has also introduced Mobile Accelerated Pages which delivers a lighter version of a web page that will load ultra-fast on mobile.

Desktop traffic is slowly beginning to fade away, and in order to increase the competitive edge of your company, mobile-focused online marketing is key. As it currently stands, one in seven Brits own wearable technology and the trend is set to continue.  This means marketers need to be prepared to produce content to fit the format, the channel, and the place.

Social Analytics

It may feel like social media has been around for a lifetime but it’s certainly still in its infancy. Although most companies have adopted one or two social media platforms, many of them are still not collecting data. Social media gives businesses an unprecedented opportunity for connecting with customers and prospects but 88% of marketers aren’t sure of the best way to engage their audience on social media which is potentially driving away consumers. With the move to mobile though and more brands relying on social platforms, analytics will offer the greatest opportunities.

The mass-target approach is out, and personalised data-driven marketing plans are in. Social media is competitive and it is crowded so it is essential to test and track results. By making greater use of social analytics, brands are able to drill down and gain valuable insight. There are certain nuggets of valuable data buried within the mountains of social media chatter. Organisations that are looking for a competitive edge can use social analytics to identify patterns in customer sentiment which in turn enables them to gauge their marketing effectiveness. This process goes beyond the usual monitoring of “likes” or retweets to develop an in-depth idea of who their social consumer is and this information is invaluable.

Using social analytics, brands are able to understand how their customers are making use of their services or products and what their views and opinions are about that particular company or product. There are countless blogs, tweets, comments and complaints regarding products and services and social media platforms are now the No.1 place for consumers to complain. This huge volume of information can be used to evaluate consumer’s experience which can then be used to help companies perform better.

Tracking data is also essential in helping brands get better results. If brands aren’t tracking their data, they are wasting their time on hit or miss type campaigns. Social media analytics is often the difference between success and failure for obtaining the results brands want.

So there you have it, five growing trends to watch out for this coming year and to consider adopting in your 2017 marketing strategy.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital, 12/09/2016

Web-to-Print: The Must-Have for Multi-site Marketers

You may have considered implementing an asset management tool on a number of occasions but not quite got round to it. You always seem find an excuse as to why now is not the right time – i.e. you don’t have the staff to implement the software, you don’t have the budget or maybe you already use Dropbox or other cloud storage tools so you don’t need an asset management tool. With their wealth of benefits though you are potentially missing out on an tool that for many successful marketing departments are indispensable.

There are basic asset management tools will essentially act as centralised repository in which business can efficiently store, organise, access and distribute a large number of marketing assets. Whilst they offer similar benefits to cloud storage, there are a number of asset management tools that can deliver so much more.

When producing large volumes of print marketing content on a regular basis and delivering it to different audiences across different stores,  adopting an asset management tool with web-to-print capabilities offers an array of added benefits.

Brand Uniformity

Your brand is your strongest asset as it represents your company identity and your corporate values so it is vital that this is maintained across all your business locations. Your brand needs to communicate the same message across all channels because a lack of uniformity can weaken your brand. Within large, multi-site organisations, there will be more than one person responsible for branding and if tight controls aren’t in place, branding mistakes will be made. A web-to-print solution improves consistency across all marketing as design elements can be locked down meaning they can’t be changed. This allows you to have tighter control over your marketing assets.

Increased Efficiency

Ordering printed marketing material can be a laborious task. If you have to call multiple vendors, request quotes, design and send files, wait for proofs, make corrections, and wait for your products to arrive all slow down the time to market. This is valuable time that could be spent on more important tasks. A web-to-print solution can eliminate many of these tasks and help avoid costly mistakes. Costs are negotiated ahead of time, approved templates are uploaded onto a web based dashboard so you have instant access, and only agreed elements can be edited prior to printing. The order process can take a matter of minutes – instead of days.

Centralised Purchasing

If you have numerous people ordering printed stationery from numerous vendors, costs can very quickly spiral out of control. It can also become difficult to track what you are spending. 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 tighter controls over your budgets.

Personalised Marketing

A massive 79% of people will act on direct mail if they feel like it is personal to them. Unfortunately though, many marketers are missing opportunities by concentrating their personalised marketing efforts online. With some web-to-print solutions, you can integrate and manage your CRM data to enable personalised marketing.  This means artwork can be pre-populated with personalised information so your direct mail piece makes a greater impact.

Digital Repository

As well as storing print marketing assets, many web-to-print solutions can also be used as a store for digital assets including Facebook banners, email signatures, videos, PDF’s or photography. This makes it incredibly easy to share approved digital assets. This ensures that your teams are using the right version of the right asset ensuring overall brand consistency. And because web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software, you can rest assured that your files are safe.

Cost Saving

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 cost can quickly accumulate. Even for the simple task of re-working of business cards can be a huge expense if you have to produce multiple versions for different people. With a web-to-print solution, you can upload pre-approved templates that allow you to customise only the agreed elements. This could include elements such as the name field, telephone number and email address of a business card. With simple drag-and-drop, this removes the need for a designer to artwork these jobs. This means your designers time can be better spent on the more important tasks.

Web Based

As mentioned, web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software. This means there is no software to download and it be accessed 24/7 on any device, anywhere in the world. This also removes the hassle of phone calls and emails to get a print run started – you can do it all from the portal.

Brand Centurion

If web-to-print sounds like something that your organisation could benefit from, Brand Centurion from Burst Digital could be the right solution for you. We can work with you to ensure your branded marketing assets are consistent, accessible and centrally stored so you can access them as soon as you need them.

If you’d like more information about Brand Centurion or a demo, simply call 01293 660722.

Continue Reading: 5 Signs you Need Web-To-Print Software


Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 08/08/2016

Direct Marketing Facts & Statistics, CMO Council, 2015

https://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=direct-marketing

The Evolution of Print – Technological CPR

Technology is constantly evolving and believe it or not, traditional print media is getting a technological overhaul. There is some hearsay in the industry that print is outdated but by combining print with some digital wizardry, print is being brought back to life. As a result of this, we are seeing big brands re-embracing print and incorporating it back into their marketing strategy.

With strong evidence to support the fact that engagement with print is now much higher that with ‘new media’, is print becoming the new ‘new media’? We believe so. With a little bit of technological CPR, print is now a multifaceted media that is making its comeback. Here is a quick look at the future of print as we see it:

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3D Printing

3D Printing has been on the lips of a lot of people for the past 2 years. It has rapidly grown momentum and is set to be the next ‘big thing’ in the print industry. As 3D printing has become more viable, big companies are now starting to utilise the tool. Customers now have the ability to produce completely bespoke products such as personalised clothing, accessories and toys.

Volkswagen recently encouraged its Danish fans to design their dream Polo through the Volkswagen website. Forty of the best ideas were created using a 3D printer and displayed at a Copenhagen exhibition. An overall winner was then selected and the winning design was turned into a real, full size car.

3D printing still has a long way to go before it becomes “main stream” but with the number of applications, materials available and scales, the possibilities with 3D printing really are endless.

Augmented Reality

This is another big player in combined print and digital technology with marketers as it is currently one of the most accessible and it can offer customers the immersive experience they are looking for from brands. It also makes everything in the world seem way cooler! AR works by overlaying digital information onto the real world. Using your smartphone camera, a target image is detected and your phone can then project digital information onto that target image. This essentially brings the image to life.
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Domino’s Pizza is one brand that has successfully adopted augmented reality in its marketing efforts on its billboards. By encouraging passer-by’s to view the billboard ads through their phones, customers were privy to special deals. These were then automatically uploaded to the Domino’s mobile app on their device. Customers were then able to order pizza directly from their phone.

Conductive Inks

Although this technology is still in its early stages, its applications offer marketers the opportunity to do something truly exciting. Conductive inks work by combining ink with metals such as carbon, copper or silver. When printed, this serves as a wire for an electronic device. Eventually conductive ink could be used to bring print to life by generating a noise, pulling up an app on a smartphone or even turning on a light. This will essentially turn printed paper works into a touchscreen.

conductive inksA collaboration between the University of Central Lancashire and leading newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror explored the future of publishing using conductive inks. In celebration of Steven Gerrard’s career at Liverpool and his 8 most memorable moments, an interactive print supplement was produced. Users connected a clip to the supplement and it allowed users to listen to audio snippets from momentous games. When the clip was connected to the edge of the print, pressing a printed button triggered online interactions. This CMS also gave publishers a dashboard view to monitor the analytics data from the supplement.

Final thoughts…

Technology is now altering the way customers interact with brands and their marketing. The take up of these technologies is still in its infancy but it is believed that by 2018, there will be over 200 million users of augmented reality apps. The challenge for marketers is to offer interactive editorial content that is exciting and relevant. This can only be done by converging the physical with the digital. The most holistic way for this to happen is for marketers to re-embrace print and the possibilities it can now offer.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital


At Burst Digital we are constantly pushing the boundaries when it comes to print marketing. Although these technologies are currently beyond the reach of many, with our expert knowledge in print, we can help you identify ways to ensure your print marketing stands out.