Graphic Design, Marketing, Portal, Print

Print Management VS The Personal Print Portal

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This blog reveals how a standard print management service (PMS) is so different from The Personal Print Portal (TPPP). We put them head-to-head, with the main criteria evolving around, which will benefit your business the most? And ultimately, we announce a (potentially biased) victor!

What is Print Management?

Print management is where you outsource all your business printing needs to a print management company. The purpose is to:

Keep your print costs competitive
Relieve your time from sourcing and ordering from appropriate printers for the variety of print items you need
Provide a consultative approach
Ensure your artwork is print-ready and proofed

Some print management services consist of exclusively in-house production, but more commonly, it will be a combination of in-house print production and outsourcing to trusted print partners.

What Print Management is Not

A common mistake with print management is that it relates to leasing print equipment, service contracts, or even home office solutions. These are not related to print management.

What is a Personal Print Portal

A personal print portal is precisely that; a personalised portal ordering platform branded for your business, with all your products ready to order. The key benefits are:

A fully branded SAAS platform portal for simpler, faster and more personal ordering
A dedicated print consultant
Full in-house graphic design service
In-house digital print
A massive catalogue of additional print products ready to add to your portal, which is continually expanding
The facility to request any print product you can conceive
Multiple users accounts
Access from anywhere on any device
Complete list of all your previous orders
Re-order in just a couple of clicks
ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 accreditations
Member of IPIA (Independent Print Industries Association)
Part of The Flow Group, meaning we can provide complementary services direct from the portal, including direct mail and leaflet distribution
Ideal as a re-seller opportunity for printers, graphic designers and franchisors.

Print Management VS The Personal Print Portal

Let's put the two services head-to-head and establish which will benefit your business the most.

Round 1: Price

A critical decision making factor with any business service is, of course, the price! So let's start with that - how do they compare?

Standard print management:

The price a standard print manager charges will differ significantly from one to another. Some will claim they are cheaper as they print in-house. However, the reality is that they won't print everything in-house - if they did, it would actually increase the price as their overheads would be huge. In addition, unless they have something similar to our bespoke automated print portal software, their role is labour intensive, and that labour cost will ultimately be passed onto you.

The Personal Print Portal:

We promise to do our very best to price match all your current print products. When onboarding any new client, we request a list of current product specifications and costs. We almost always provide an overall cost saving for clients. Also, because our portal is so automated, there are no high labour costs to worry about.

Round 2: Ease of Ordering

Once the price is established, another strong consideration for print management is ease of use. For example, how simple is the ordering process? How quickly, when and where can you order?

Standard print management:

For print items you have previously purchased, and there's no change on specs, the typical process is to email or call to place the re-order. The same is said when you have numerous items to order at a time. As the price of paper is rising so rapidly at the moment, it's certainly worth checking if the previous price is applicable, along with the turnaround times remaining consistent. If looking for a new product, it is again an email or call, and then a wait while your account handler sources the most appropriate supplier and price for you. Of course, you must enquire during regular working hours if you expect a prompt response.

The Personal Print Portal:

Your portal holds all your existing products ready to order 24/7 with just a couple of clicks. For any new products, request via your portal, call us or send an email. We will then source the most appropriate supplier, quote you, and add it to your portal.

Round 3: Consultative Approach

With print management, a stand-out benefit from a typical online printer is the consultative approach and dedicated account manager. But do they offer comparable services?

Standard print management:

Generally speaking, print management companies employ competent print experts. A print expert will generally provide a consultative approach. For instance, you have booked an exhibition stand for a local business conference and know you need it to represent your business well - but you're unsure what to purchase for it. This is where the advice of your account manager is invaluable. They will recommend several excellent solutions, quote you on the price options, and ensure it all arrives ready for the big day.

The Personal Print Portal:

We are very comparable to a traditional print management company in this round. Our sales consultants are experts in print and are on hand to advise and educate you in all things print to ensure you always purchase the most appropriate products for your business. Our consultants' added benefit is the additional in-house services they can advise on, which we come onto in the final two rounds.

Round 4: Graphic Design

For your print to stand out, it must begin with great graphic design. Design is so much more than simply ensuring your files are print-ready. As most print items are for marketing, the artwork will critically impact the effectiveness. Do they both have the same approach?

Standard print management:

From the websites I researched before launching TPPP and preparing for this blog, at least the ones ranking well on Google provide graphic design. However, the terminology often focuses on producing perfect artwork for print. You may wonder why this is an issue. The reason is that this should be a pre-requisite of creating artwork for print, not a USP. If the design fails to convey crucial marketing principles, the design and print investment will be wasted.

The Personal Print Portal:

As part of the marketing and fulfilment company, The Flow Group, we have the considerable benefit of a marketing-focused in-house graphic design service. Our team produces complete branding projects, artwork for merchandise, direct mail and door to door campaigns, and so much more. Over the years, our team has discovered specific success strategies proven to dramatically enhance the effectiveness of our clients' print marketing.

Round 5: Complimentary Services

Often, print is a component within a larger project rather than a stand-alone item. For instance, it may be for a direct mail or leaflet distribution campaign. Therefore, is the end-to-end service available?

Standard print management:

It amazes me that most print management companies do provide artwork but no other complimentary services. Some do provide direct mail, but in all my research, I couldn't find one that also offered leaflet distribution. Bizarrely, one website listed a host of online services such as website design and SEO - but surely that is way outside of their specialism??

The Personal Print Portal:

When it comes to complementary services, TPPP excels. Within our group, we can provide (and add to your portal):

Graphic design
Leaflet distribution
Direct mail
Hybrid mail
Pick & pack fulfilment
Contract packing

Our Sales consultants are very familiar with each of the above services and can manage the entire project for you. For example, your Estate Agency has opened a new branch in Manchester. You now need to build brand awareness and attract new listings. A targeted leaflet distribution campaign would be ideal. Our sales consultants can look after the complete process for you, from initial consultation, targeting, actionable artwork, print, fulfilment and delivery. There is likely no other print management company in the UK that provides such a variety of complimentary in-house services.

And The Winner Is...

If we score these round by round, let's see how the scores add up:

Round 1: Price:

It would be biased to declare this as anything but a draw as the prices from one print management company to another will fluctuate. As mentioned, however, a key benefit of our print portal is the automated ordering processes, which drive down labour costs.

Round 2: Ease of Ordering:

I don't think anyone could argue that the print portal makes ordering so much easier as it holds all your existing print-ready products ready to order 24/7 with just a couple of clicks.

Round 3: Consultative Approach:

Another draw here - both options have print experts in place to provide you with a value-added consultative approach.

Round 4: Graphic Design:

The key difference here is a standard print management company appears to focus on the artwork being perfect for print rather than adapting a marketing-focused approach - creating actionable and eye-catching artwork. I see this as a fundamental difference, and as such, The Personal Print Portal wins this round.

Round 5: Complimentary Services:

Though the more competent print management companies tended to provide some complimentary services, none that I encountered came close to what The Personal Print Portal offers. Therefore, another win to TPPP.

Totals

Round 1 and round 3 were draws, but rounds 2, 4 and 5 were clear victories for The Personal Print Portal!

Conclusion

By no means is this blog intended to discredit any print management company. Indeed, some will have USPs that we don't, along with many print experts with more credentials than our team. Instead, the purpose of this blog was to identify which will benefit your business the most. Hopefully, you have much food for thought for choosing the most appropriate print management company for your business.

Next Step

We would love to help you manage all the print (and complimentary services) for your business. So please contact us today to learn more and receive a complimentary personal print portal.

Andrew Robinson
Co-Founder and Head of Sales & Marketing