Marketing Portal Playbook: 5 Ways to Manage Print Materials More Effectively

Once upon a time, managing print marketing materials was a manual and time-consuming process fraught with design dilemmas and branding blunders. 

Remember the stress of racing against the clock to fulfill last-minute design requests? Or the constant battle to keep everyone on brand? And let's not forget that sinking feeling when you discover the brochures you needed ASAP are outdated or out-of-stock. 

Thankfully, those days are over. 

Marketing asset management platforms, commonly known as marketing portals, are a modern digital printing technology that makes it easier than ever for marketing teams to manage, produce, and distribute print marketing materials. 

If you’re struggling with any of the challenges below, a marketing portal just might be the solution you’re looking for. 

• Efficient management, production, and distribution of marketing materials.
• Balancing global brand standards with local market needs. 
• Last-minute design requests for marketing materials. 
• Keeping print materials up to date. 

Efficient Management, Production, and Distribution of Marketing Materials

Think of a marketing portal as your marketing command center where every part of your print marketing arsenal–including marketing collateral, promotional products, and other branded assets–comes together in a centralized, web-based platform that’s accessible 24/7. 

Here’s how it works: 

A marketing portal functions similarly to an e-commerce storefront. Authorized users can browse, customize, and order the print marketing materials they need with minimal involvement from corporate marketing teams. 

Now, you might have concerns about keeping your branding and budget in check. Don’t worry; both are safe with a marketing portal. 

Marketing portal admins (typically members of corporate marketing teams) have complete control over user settings to ensure your branding and budget are always in check.

Customizable user settings can be toggled for each user, giving you full control over: 

• Who can access the portal.
• What items each user has access to.
• How much each user can order within their set budget
• What items each user is allowed to customize. 

Once an order is placed within the portal, everything from order processing and printing to distribution will be handled by your printing partner. How? Marketing portals are directly linked to a comprehensive suite of marketing fulfillment services, including: 

• On-demand digital printing for customized print marketing materials such as business cards, brochures, signage, and retail displays.
• Inventory management, storage, and warehousing for static materials such as promotional items and apparel.
• Order processing and fulfillment.
• Kitting and assembly.
• Packaging and labeling.
• Shipping and distribution. 

The result? Smarter, faster, and more effective marketing operations.

Balancing Global Brand Standards with Local Market Needs

Striking the perfect balance between cohesive branding and local market needs is difficult, but it’s an endeavor that’s worth prioritizing. Nearly 70% of businesses stated that brand consistency contributed up to 20% of their revenue growth. 

A marketing portal excels in this area thanks to advanced technology that connects pre-designed templates with customizable information. These portals give approved users the power to personalize print marketing materials for their local markets while strictly adhering to universal brand guidelines. 

Here’s how it works: 

First, the corporate marketing team creates design templates for various print marketing materials and uploads those files to the portal. This allows approved users–such as sales reps, distributors, franchisees, or regional managers—to customize pre-designed templates with text, images, or other design elements that address the nuanced needs of diverse audiences. 

No design skills are required, so users of all experience levels can easily produce high-quality, professional print marketing materials that are always in line with brand guidelines. 

Last-Minute Design Requests for Marketing Materials

In 2022, 90% of sales professionals leveraged customized marketing collateral to help them win business. Unfortunately, nearly 60% of those sales reps reported losing business when they didn’t have the custom materials they needed. 

Supporting sales reps and other partners with the tools they need to win business is critical, but frequent or last-minute design requests for custom materials can be a major resource drain for marketing teams. 

Do any of these types of requests sound familiar? 

• “I need 500 brochures for an event next week. Can you also add the event logo to the brochures?”
• “We have three new hires who started this week, and they need business cards, training manuals, and apparel ASAP.”
• “I have a big meeting with an important prospect next week. I need this flyer revised to reflect these specific capabilities of product X. Can you also add the prospect’s logo to the flyer?” 
• “We’re running a special promotion to coincide with a local event. Can you create window graphics for our location that feature images of the event and details about the promotion?”

With a marketing portal, sales reps have 24/7 self-service access to customize what they need when they need it, which dramatically reduces the number of one-off and last-minute design requests.

For example, sales reps can order static (non-customized) marketing materials from inventory, such as pre-assembled corporate presentation folders, training manuals, and promotional apparel. 

They can also customize pre-designed templates, such as business cards and product flyers. 

Once the order is placed, static marketing materials are quickly pulled from inventory, and customized orders are printed on demand. Once the order has been fulfilled, it is professionally packaged and shipped. 

Keeping Print Marketing Materials Up to Date

It's a fast-paced world out there, and your print marketing materials need to keep up. 

The challenge? Print is permanent, and printing in bulk doesn’t provide the agility to keep pace with frequent changes or updates. 

Take the launch of a new product, for example.

Traditionally, updating print marketing collateral to reflect the new product offering required an audit of all existing materials, new creative assets, and numerous rounds of revisions and approvals. The production and distribution process further extended the process. On average, the typical print collateral timeline took between 2 to 4 weeks. 

Here’s where things get even more challenging. What if you just printed 10,000 brochures, only to find out they need to be updated?

A marketing portal enables your business to maintain a nimble and efficient approach to print marketing at lower quantities, ensuring that your materials are always relevant and up to date. 

Here’s how:

A marketing portal utilizes a just-in-time print management model. This allows for smaller print runs and ensures there’s never too much or too little inventory. The portal features comprehensive, built-in reporting capabilities that analyze historic usage levels and real-time data to forecast demand and ensure optimum stock levels. This reduces the risk of printing in bulk and being left with thousands of outdated brochures when an update needs to be made. 

When an update is needed, simply upload the new design file to the portal. From that point on, all future orders will reflect the updated file.

Ready to Manage Marketing with Ease? Artisan Colour is Here to Help.

If you're ready to make it easier than ever to manage print marketing, Artisan Colour is here to help. For over 26 years, we've merged traditional craftsmanship with modern digital printing technologies to deliver exceptional print and marketing fulfillment solutions for businesses across the nation. 

We understand the nuances of high-quality digital printing and are committed to delivering innovative solutions that exceed your expectations with OrderJet, our state-of-the-art marketing portal.

Contact us today to learn how Artisan Colour’s expertise, experience, and technology can make it easier than ever to manage, produce, and distribute high-quality marketing materials.