So you want to be an MSP? Print21 magazine article

That’s a Marketing Services Provider, in case you were wondering, perhaps the most advanced instance of diversification in the printing industry, combining everything from T-shirts and banners to direct mail and Facebook pages. It sounds difficult and it is, so who on earth has the wherewithal to combine all these different marketing activities? Simon Enticknap attempts to find out.

For several years now, industry experts and pundits have been telling printers that they need to be more than just printers. Faced with a highly competitive market for commercial print and the growing popularity of new forms of media, printers have been urged to become ‘marketing services providers’ (MSP) or marketing communication companies, embracing more than just print in terms of the services they offer. The theory goes that while the majority of print is still marketing-related—brochures, flyers, direct mail, signage etc—only a proportion of the total marketing spend goes on print. Moreover, this portion is gradually shrinking as alternative marketing channels open up and companies seek to capitalise on the opportunities available to spread their messages via the internet, email/SMS and social media.

Instead of competing with these new media channels, printers should seek to incorporate them into their portfolio and offer them to their customers as part of a complete marketing services package. In return, customers are more likely to stick with those printers and continue to buy print—and other services —if they only have to deal with one supplier and a single point of contact. The theory is, too, that integrated marketing campaigns, devised and implemented by single supplier, are more likely to be successful for the client and deliver the sort of sales results they seek. That’s the theory anyway.

Like many things in life, the reality is a lot harder. After all, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. The fact is very few print companies have successfully made the transition to being a complete MSP, able to deliver the type of marketing services that companies typically seek from ad agencies or marketing consultants. The good news is that it is not impossible and there are definitely opportunities there for printers willing to take the plunge.

Re-purposing with bells on

The opportunities to become more than just a printer run parallel with the growing digitalisation of the industry. Over the past two decades, as different parts of the print production process have ‘gone digital’, new print-related services have become a standard part of what printers offer to their clients. When prepress shifted to the desktop, for instance, many printers started to include graphic design in their portfolio of services; it was an easy extension of the digital process and it made sense to bring it in-house. Likewise, as signage and banner work has migrated to wide format inkjet technology, many printers have seen the value in adding this type of work to their production capabilities.

These services though (and we can include variable data printing as another recent addition) are still print-based; it is a different kettle of fish entirely to start talking about online and mobile services—marketing channels which traditionally (albeit only in recent times) have been handled by specialised digital agencies. Back in the early days of the internet in the mid-90s, there was much speculation that the printing industry was ideally placed to take advantage of this new digital medium because it was already au fait with the idea of handling digital files and workflows. Re-purposing was the buzzword back then, the notion that the information contained in print-ready files could be reworked to go online, even if it often involved little more than posting a lo-res pdf on a website.

The internet quickly steam­-rolled over that idea, however, demonstrating in decisive fashion that it wasn’t interested in simply publishing slightly re-heated print files. As a result, it developed its own dynamics and operating parameters that often had little to do with the world of print at all. True, many print companies have added website design to their portfolio but, by and large, it has been left to a new breed of digital agencies to deliver the sort of online presence—particularly in retailing—that has become commonplace in the business world these days.

So how do you become an MSP and what are some of the pitfalls and perils along the route towards doing a lot more than put ink on paper?

Know your onions

A useful first step is to acquire some marketing knowledge. After all, it’s difficult to sell marketing services to your customers if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Printers are notoriously bad at marketing themselves. It used to be the case that even mid-sized print companies had their own marketing and brand managers whose job it was to do the sort of the things that printers should be doing for their customers—plan, manage and implement marketing campaigns. Those days are pretty much gone but that the fact remains that if you want to sell marketing services to companies then you’ll need to know what’s involved. Learn the language, find out what makes a good campaign, become competent in talking to marketing departments in terms that they understand.

Kerim El Gabaili, (pictured) business development manager at Prografica, perhaps the best-known example of a local MSP, says the process of moving down this path gathered pace for his company when he undertook courses in marketing and sales to learn about what was involved and how it might be applied to emerging digital print technology.

“As we saw technology evolving in the industry, we saw the opportunity to use that technology, and that was piggy-backed by the fact that I had done the sales and marketing and advertising courses,” he explains. “As the technology came through about personalised URLs, variable data and variable imaging, we started to see what a great industry this is for below the line marketing—which we’ve got all the resources for—so we started to try them.”

It’s impossible for one person to know everything so alliances and partnerships are important ways of acquiring new skills. Teaming up with people who specialise in database management or online marketing for instance, and who would perhaps benefit from having a print component to their service offering, is one way of broadening the knowledge base. Vendors, too, are a useful source of information as they often work with outside agencies and have a vested interest in developing new print-related marketing applications.

One area where printers may have an advantage over the agencies is in direct mail and targeted variable data printing. This is their turf, the field in which they are more likely to understand what works and how to get the best results. In fact, in a ironic twist, El Gabaili says that Prografica is now looking to do campaigns to promote the ad agencies themselves using the very technology that they don’t understand.

Get some cred

Armed with a little knowledge, the next step is persuading the client that you know how to put the theory into practice. A good starting point is to run your own marketing campaign. If successful, it will not only help to establish your company’s brand but will also demonstrate that you know what is involved in designing and implementing a marketing strategy.

Grant Vernon, (pictured) CEO at Snap, says that when the highly-visible franchise print chain decided to introduce marketing services and drop the word ‘Printing’ from its name, it did so by launching a new sub-brand called Snap Level 2.

“It is a similar strategy to McCafe for McDonalds,” he explains. “If McDonalds had simply launched new café style product lines the market would have perceived them as a sideline to burgers and fries. McDonalds created the McCafe sub-brand to make the statement that they are serious about quality coffee and muffins—it gives the new product lines credibility and has led to a much better uptake in the market.

“Snap Level 2 is our marketing services sub-brand. It comes with a refit and new image in the Snap centre including much better consulting spaces so that it is obvious we aren’t just dabbling in this area—we are serious and credible providers of marketing services.”

Kerim El Gabaili agrees that credibility is a major issue for clients, which is why Prografica is active in awards such as the Australian Marketing Institute awards for marketing excellence. The company was a NSW finalist this year with a multi-channel marketing campaign including variable data and, as a result, gained valuable exposure to the marketing industry. The company also exhibited at the recent ADMA forum and exhibition in Sydney, one of the few print-based companies to do so, where it garnered over 200 new client leads with its presentation of an integrated marketing service.

Know your customers

Convincing marketing types to entrust their budgets with a print company rather than a conventional ad agency obviously calls for a different mindset. A lot will depend on what their marketing requirements are, so a good starting point is to find out what types of services might appeal to existing customers and what can be most effectively delivered.

Kerim El Gabaili says there certain types of customers for whom the types of services offered by Prografica are ideally suited. For instance, typically, these are companies that have a marketing manager, so they understand the concepts involved and have a particular strategy and goal. On the other hand, they are less inclined to turn to an ad agency that will charge them huge monthly retainers to manage the brand strategy. By dove-tailing with the likes of Prografica, they get all the production expertise that an ad agency would deliver but without the middle man.

“It becomes a really good partnership,” he comments. “The marketing manager now feels empowered and doesn’t feel the need to go to an agency that will effectively do what we and the marketing manager do anyway.”

Snap targets a slightly different customer base, says Vernon, namely the SME market where companies may understand the need for some marketing but have little or no in-house expertise. In effect, the Snap franchise becomes their marketing department.

But what about working with large corporates? Kerim El Gabaili says this can present different challenges and that while working with the likes of Prografica may appeal to specific sections within large organisations, when marketing proposals are referred upstairs they can run into the territory occupied by ad agencies at a corporate brand level. Grant Vernon believes this needn’t be a problem however.

“We do some work for large corporate clients who recognise that Snap does an excellent job with some of their requirements at a fraction of the cost of their advertising agency, but we aren’t trying to replace Saatchi and Saatchi,” he comments.

In it for the long haul

Breaking out of the role as a manufacturer of print to become a true multi-channel marketing agency takes persistence and a long-term commitment. Kerim El Gabaili knows first-hand how much work and effort is involved in moving outside familiar comfort zones and challenging customers’ expectations.

“We’ve had to create this new entity of a produc tion agency so we could define ourselves to the customer,” he comments. “Otherwise they’re confused—are you the printer or are you the agency? Well, we’re neither, and we’re both.

“If you’re serious about diversifying your portfolio, you need to engage with the industry,” he adds. “It’s not about buying a plotter and then saying ‘I do signage’. It is a commitment.”

Being an MSP is not about making a sale and getting a quick return. A lot of marketing activity involves trial and error, rigorous testing and finding out what works and doesn’t work. Traditionally, these are things that printers have not had to worry about—they just have to supply the print—but it is an important part of being an MSP, being able to think strategically about campaigns and demonstrate an ROI. This takes time. Customers, too, need to be educated about what is possible, particularly with new digital print technology, and that doesn’t happen overnight. The technical aspect of implementing true multi-channel marketing campaigns combining print, online, email etc is also fairly daunting and the required skills are not easily acquired.

“We have been working on it for eight years and still feel like we have a long way to go,” says Vernon. “It would be extremely daunting for the traditional independent printer—a huge cultural shift and also a massive re-skilling exercise. Snap is an industry leader and we have been able to commit the resources to it as a long-term strategy. I don’t think the average printer would have much hope of doing it by themselves—they’d be better off joining Snap.”

So is the path to becoming an MSP the right way to go for print companies? El Gabaili says that all depends on how the individual company sees its future.

“Printers as a whole have to evolve now but everybody’s evolution will be different,” he comments. “We chose this path and it is a difficult one. At the fork in the road, we took the hard road … but it’s our journey.”