Marketing workflow and the associated supply chain can be one of the most cumbersome within an organization. With designing, ordering, billing, and shipping, there are opportunities for delays at every turn. Enter web to print fulfillment! Through a custom-designed portal or e-commerce site, you can easily access, customize, and distribute brand marketing materials to anyone, anywhere.
What is Web Printing?
Web printing, also known as web-to-print fulfillment, is a custom online portal that enables businesses to order a variety of printed products. Through the portal, the printing process is consolidated into a real-time, almost instant marketing workflow.
Web printing is ideal for organizations with multiple departments or locations, especially franchises, as prints can be shipped directly to the requested address and billed individually or to a master account.
Imagine you hire a new realtor for your brokerage. Once you give that person access to your OrderJet web-to-print portal, they can update their information to order business cards, use the designed flyer template for their listings, and ship open house signs directly to their location.
Web-to-Print fulfillment is Fantastic for:
- > On-demand printing
> Warehousing
> Variable data printing
> Sales and marketing collateral (business cards, flyers, postcards, brochures, etc.)
> Display and POP graphics
> Signage
> Promotional items
> Franchise printing
How To Start Web Printing For Marketing
Using a web-to-print solution is for marketing departments. At its core it’s a simple process, you gather your assets, upload them to the portal, select what you want to be printed and sit back and relax.
- Upload marketing material. You gather brand assets, images, marketing copy and any other digital collateral to upload to a web-to-print portal. If you are still developing marketing designs many web printing services provide graphic design services.
- Set the standards. You manage who has access to the portal, what they have access to, and what content is editable. Some users may need access to everything, while others may just need access to a few items, such as business cards or postcards.
- Users select, update and order their own prints products. You can create individual login credentials. In some cases, users may even pay for their own products.
- The order is shipped. Users can choose where to ship, no matter the location.
Print Marketing Made Easy
Some print portals are better than others and can make all the difference for your marketing team’s workflow. Here are a few qualities you should look for in your online print shop.
- Easy to use. You shouldn’t need to have a degree in graphic design or know the Adobe suite to put together an online order for marketing collateral.
- Customizable. Every business is unique, be sure your printing portal can meet your business’s needs.
- Access control. Integrate with your marketing team’s workflow by giving different levels of portal permissions to different users.
What Are Six Key Benefits of Web-to-Print?
- New hires can order their own business cards
- Location managers can stock brochures
- Franchise owners can purchase approved signage
- Independence is given to users in updating, ordering, and paying
- The portal admin can see who has ordered what
- Your assets, as well as valuable customer data, are always secure
How Web-to-Print Affects Marketing Workflow
Web-to-print greatly simplifies marketing workflow by eliminating kinks and unnecessary links in the chain.
Marketers waste about seven hours per week on unnecessary duplication work, according to a global study by project management master Asana. And over half of that time is spent on email responses and soliciting feedback on projects.
By enabling users to order their own print products, you not only empower them to have a hand in their own marketing tools, but you eliminate the time it takes to design each print, send for feedback and approval, order them, receive them, then ship back out to the user’s address.
With pre-approved designs already loaded on the portal, this also eliminates the back-and-forth approval process with the printer. Print previews are available immediately and can be approved with one click.
For organizations that do a lot of printing, warehousing saves even more time and costs. Order large runs less frequently and keep them stored in the Artisan warehouse. They then ship out immediately when you need them.
A more streamlined workflow sets the stage for a stronger ROI.
Web Printing and Brand Consistency
The ability to easily maintain brand consistency across multiple platforms and locations is critical to effective brand marketing.
Using a web-to-print platform that has an online asset vault means that users have everything they need to design their marketing collateral, from various logos to embedded fonts, colors, and thematic imagery.
Implementing your own approval workflow within the portal takes is one more step toward ensuring brand integrity while also keeping an eye on costs. The risk of using the wrong logo or an unapproved image is eliminated, as is your time to fix it.
Brand refreshes and design updates are also accounted for with easy-to-implement global changes to marketing designs and assets.
Why Implement Web Printing For Marketing
Harnessing cutting-edge technology to power your prints increases marketing workflow. The inherent organization of keeping files and assets in a secure online portal greatly reduces the traditional email chains, lost files, missing collateral, and other hazards of printing’s past.
You can focus your time and attention on tasks that need it rather than mundane administration tasks related to ordering and managing prints. Ready to control your marketing content? Contact us today for more information.
