Let’s start right at the beginning, with the decision that you’ve recognised all the benefits, both for you and for your clients, and you’ve decided to implement a web to print solution. Great news – you’ve taken the first step on a journey towards increased brand awareness, a higher profile, more customers, more orders, higher value orders, and more profits.
But what do you do next, and where do you go for help? As with almost everything you’ll ever want to buy there are numerous possible web to print suppliers – which is on the one hand a good thing as it keeps the marketplace competitive and ensures that they try their best to delight their customer (that’s you in this instance!), while on the other hand it’s a bad thing as you won’t necessarily be able to sort them on merit. Especially if you’ve not been down this path before.
Define your web to print goals
In a sense we’re back to the first principles of any project, which usually start with a clear definition of your goals. ‘Start with the end in mind’ is a very useful phrase to consider. Do you have specific financial targets? In defined timescales? Are they SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-stamped) so you’ll know when you get there, and will be able to monitor your progress?
Spend time on this phase of the project, and let your web 2 print supplier know. Accept feedback from them – do they think it’s achievable? Do they see any obstacles? Not only will this type of discussion help you to solidify your goals it will cement the working relationship with your supplier.
Plan your web to print build
Once all that is done, it’s time to plan, and here’s the real secret to success – plan in detail and then stick to the plan. It’s a known fact that the failure of most projects is not down to the quality of the plan but to its execution.
You’ll then enter a setup phase where both parties are working jointly towards a go live date. You’ll be getting trained up, entering data, familiarising yourselves with the system and so on, while your supplier will be doing all the behind the scenes work to get you up and running as quickly as possible: thankfully (if you’ve chosen the right supplier) you won’t need to worry about that. It will include tasks like setting up the hosting, commencing the digital marketing activities, and ensuring that you’ll end up with the solution you wanted.
We have vast experience in managing successful projects, and we know all about how to build a web to print solution. Come and talk to us and find out how we do it, and how we can help you increase your profits.
Flex 4 have been providing best-in-class W2P solutions and digital marketing services for print and graphic design businesses since 2004. We have numerous satisfied customers right across the country. We are UK-based – all of our team work out of our office in Kendal. We pride ourselves on our customer service, flexibility, and desire to please – we would love the opportunity to show you what we’re capable of.
If you’d like to request a free demonstration of our web to print solution click here, or here for our contact page, or call us any time on 020 7952 8160. As always we will be delighted to answer all of your questions and give you all the help that you need.