Losing customers to other businesses hurts.
For some print companies, it hurts their egos but, for most, it hurts their profit margins. Recently, print companies have lost customers to design companies who have taken over the web design and management of the customers. These designers now provide that service and the printing – not a happy state of affairs for the industry.
But, as the song says, “Hang on: help is on its way.”
Print companies can now turn the tables on web designers with Nettl, an easy way to move into the web market. Cade Ogle, chief technology officer at Nettl, says, “Nettl works as a complete toolkit for print, signage, label, packaging and anyone in the graphic industry, into the web market.
“Many web designers now offer printing to their clients and many of those clients have come off the books of printing or signage businesses. Using Nettl gives you a chance to turn the tables and to retain your customers.
“This is about helping print companies diversify into new markets; it is not concerned with providing print service but it is about you designing web sites for your customers and making healthy profits from that.”
He says that any print company can take advantage of its database and add web design to its capabilities. He explains, “Say you are Joe’s Printing Company and you have 100 customers on your database. Your designer can now make web sites for each of those customers. With Nettl, you don’t need a web designer or a web developer. You or your designer can soon learn how to do it.”
Get me to the geek
Nettl provides you with access to the back end of the system to design web sites.
Ogle says, “Many people, and not just those in the graphic arts industries, find the whole subject of the internet daunting. They give the job of navigating through it all to so-called experts. In truth, you don’t need to feel threatened by it and neither do your customers.
“Nettl gives you a proposal building tool. With Nettl, you already have design and other resources you need for creating web sites. Nettl provides the geek part of the back end without you having to hire those people.
“And it is easy to sell it. You can create a detailed proposal within 15 minutes for your customers. It enables you to automate the process. It is easy to navigate. For example, they can easily make use of tools like the drag and drop proposal builder; the project management tool; and built-in hosting.
“Another one is fast path. It gives instructions on anything related to how to build your website, including videos. And you have our geek support when something gets too technical.”
He believes people will get a pleasant surprise to find how easily they can navigate through web design. He says, “It is very much about making web easy. We know from talking to printers that a lot of people have dabbled in this and stumbled. They have foundered and placed it in the too hard
basket. Our system is about avoiding problems.
“You don’t have to google. Nettl removes the admin; the pain in the arse factors. It makes it simple because, as a print company you have a huge data base of customers and some will already have web requirements. There are web design companies out there are already offering print. So you need to keep that piece of the pie.”
There already
Any company that has a graphic designer, or someone who can operate a mouse can use Nettl. So, from Nettl’s perspective, print and signage companies have already positioned themselves to move into web design.
Ogle says, “In a nutshell, the software is really a complete business system. We sell the software as a service. You do the building as the subscriber of the software, while we provide the tools and the back-up support.
“This is about keeping the larger portion of your customer’s marketing budget. And it is another way you can fight back against the decline in print volumes.”
He adds that Nettl users make more from web design. He says, “This has a much higher margin on its work than print. Not just from the service you provide but also from the recurring profit. You already use software in your business. This is a piece of software that can open up a new print opportunity.
“In most cases you already have the staff who can do it. If you have a designer sitting there with
appropriate skills; now they can do this. Web site design is much more profitable for you than graphic design.”
He sees companies that have customers who trust them and that matters. He says, “You need to hold the relationships you already have. Nettl helps you make your customer relationships stickier. The fact is they already trust you. You are more trusted to them than another company. With Nettl, you retain all of that.”
Nettl has already proved successful overseas, especially the UK and Holland, and it has recently begun operating across the Tasman. Ogle says, “We thought long and hard about how to introduce Nettl here. We spoke at length to Australian companies to find what they needed and what is specific to Australia.
“So, in Australia, Nettl is a service; we have picked the best parts of it to suit Australian companies. At the recent Visual Impact show in Brisbane, the feedback we received tells us that Nettl is exactly what printers are after. It is another piece in the jigsaw for them to become that one-stop-shop.
“A lot of the companies that spoke to us talked about web designers taking their work. This reverses that. It gives the printer the power to hold the relationship with the customer. We see Nettl fitting well into small to medium companies but really, anyone who has a database can take advantage of Nettl.
Nettl provides back-up and encourages networking. He says, “You become part of a group and network of people. You end up having business discussion with your customer as opposed to having a discussion about their business cards.”
Add on
Trust and relationships form a strong part of Nettl’s appeal.
Ogle says, “In terms of trust, companies that use the internet are in a similar position to print companies 20 years ago: they are trusted. The trust comes from people because you have the ability to turn it off.
“Of course, the web site is a constantly evolving tool so your customers stay constantly aware of your role in their success. In fact, a lot of our customers now also do email marketing for their
customers.
“You can also add on to the software; services like web to print; search engine optimisation; and AdWords. It is bringing a lot of these print companies into the broader area of marketing business. The printers we have on board with this in New Zealand are having fun with it.
“You don’t have to use the whole thing but, for the price of a monthly subscription, you get to share the whole team. That alone is a big saving. Think how much it would cost you to hire a web designer for just a week.
“A lot of people have been burnt giving web a go; they have lost money or lost customers through outsourcing it. The research we have done says remove that.”
He concludes, “This has all been developed and designed by a print company. We know what it is like being in a print company. We saw how web designers were taking customers from print companies but now we can change that.”
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It is an interesting point and as an ex-printer (for 35 years) and now 9 years running my own digital marketing agency, I have approached several printers over the years with a view to partnering with them to offer our digital marketing suite and expertise to their clients basically to “keep their customers closer” only to be told “we don’t need that – we’ll be OK”.
Well now it is time to diversify and many of their competitors are now offering those exact services that I mentioned.
I see Graphic Designers and other Marketing companies now offering print which will only dilute the customer base even further. With the advancements in digital printing and the cost of it continuing to fall will only make it harder and harder to compete.
We for one, get all our own printing done wholesale (what little we have) and I know we could offer that to our clients (at retail) as well but we choose not to at this stage as I am hoping there is one printer out there that can see the value of what we offer and decide to possibly partner with us and add value to their clients while surviving in a diminishing industry… We will wait and see!
John Bond
1300 158 708
https://www.visualmarketing.com.au/