Marketing agencies are a dime a dozen, which is why it’s imperative that you understand the best ways that you can expand operations to target the pressure points, or annoyance points, in the process. Understand your client’s journeys. They will have a plan, product, launch or otherwise that they want to advertise. Perhaps they want to market their business to bring in more customers. When looking into marketing services, there can often feel like too many options, so how can you stand out?
You can offer a complete, end-to-end experience. This means moving beyond simple digital marketing into OOH (out-of-home) products. At the end of the day, your main customer base is going to be small and medium clients that don’t have the resources to manage a full marketing team in-house. By adding to your marketing agency or starting a new OOH marketing agency, you can offer that full, seamless experience that captures the attention of the public online and offline.
Yes, digital marketing is huge. Yes, it’s not going anywhere. However, when you look at what small and medium-sized businesses need, you realize that expanding your business model to include OOH marketing services from design to even printing can be just what you need to be the go-to service your clients turn to again and again.
Before You Add on, You Need to Clean Up
Before you invest in any effort to expand your business into printing or otherwise, you’ll want to go through and audit your current approach. This means working out where there are inefficient systems in your business, where there are costly pressure points, and so on. If you aren’t sure where to start, don’t worry. Often the best way to audit your business for improvements is to bring in an outsider’s perspective. There are business consultants that specialize in auditing, and not only can they identify the issues in your current business model, but they can also make a list of improvement recommendations that will help you operate more efficiently, and even improve operations overall.
The goal is to lower your operating costs and increase your profit margins as a result. Sometimes this can be done by simply switching which management system you use; in other instances, you may need to outsource or use automation to speed up tasks.
When auditing your company, it’s important to identify how and where a new printing branch will fit and integrate into your system. Let your consultant know that this is your plan in advance, so they can craft a list of recommendations for your future.
How to Expand Your Business from There
Once you’ve audited your business and have that list of improvements, it’s time to get started. Don’t assume that you have to wait until your company is spick and span before you start expanding. Many of the improvements you’ll make need to be done alongside your expansion efforts so that you get the most out of them. If you work to improve your business and then try to add a whole new branch that isn’t integrated into your current operations at all you aren’t expanding your business, you’re just starting a second one.
That’s why you’ll need to next complete these steps alongside your improvement efforts:
Understand Your Customers’ Needs
Even with the goal of adding a printing element to your service range, you’ll still want to put your customers first. What type of clients do you work with most often? If you work with brick-and-mortar stores, your printing efforts will likely be centered around in-store and even product marketing, so look into banners, posters, cards, and packaging as your main focus. If you work with event organizers, then you’ll want to be able to print large-scale banners and textiles.
These are just a few examples. You can always expand later, but for now, focus on the printing needs the bulk of your clients need today.
Bring in Printing
If you want to cater to the needs of your clients, you will want to handle all aspects of marketing in-house. A great opportunity for marketing companies is to invest in printers so that they can print off those banners, billboards, and even decals that their customers need to stand out in the real world. Due to the high cost of these printers, it’s a good idea to choose the most universal option, to begin with. This is a printer that can print on PVC, fabric, paper, and more. You’ll also want to have a small stock of printing materials on hand. If you do get a big job, you’ll simply need to head to a printing materials company like Soyang Europe in order to place the order.
Expanding Your Services
Customers should be able to self-print as well as have access to printing as part of their marketing package. This way you can fully optimize the amount your printing branch earns. If you only use it when customers hire your designers and marketers, then you’re wasting key opportunities. You have a resource that others need. If a client has their own in-house designer, then you want them to use your printing service so that you can get even a little bit extra revenue instead of it going to a competitor. If an artist wants a supplier that can print their fine art posters in bulk, do it.
These are very easy services to add, and they can help you advertise your services as a whole to new customers. That artist who simply printed off their work to sell? They’ll know your name when they want to grow and want an advertising team. That client that had their own designs they wanted to print? They may want you to take over their PPC campaign.
Overall, expanding your services so that you bring in as much revenue as possible to your printing branch means more profit, greater exposure, and the ability to really reap the rewards of your investment.