Venture into the customer fulfillment business with digital printing. There are many options available for you to choose from. From regular days to the festive season – personalized gifts are always one demand. Here are the POD options:
Digital printing is for conventional business: Selling any item with bespoke designs and patterns for customers. The range is vast t-shirts, hoodies, golf caps, coffee mugs, beanie hats, coasters, and gloves.
Printing for branding: Create a brand name and expand through personalized merchandising to create more employee credibility and support. The options are plenty – Company t-shirts, brand name mugs, custom printed hoodies and caps, annual calendars, and diaries.
Print on promotional products: Whether it is launching a new product or service to create a long-lasting impression on clients or hosting an event, printed merchandise is in huge demand.
Pros of POD
- You do not have to print huge orders or arrange for the warehouse to store the same. It is always stock in hand.
- You only design and create the item after receiving the confirmed order. The greatest advantage of printing on order is the creativity factor.
- You have the liberty to use colors, different fabrics, and materials – every order is a new project which offers an exciting job.
- The design is customized, and you have the freedom to add your style to every item.
- Launching any new product or design, or color option is very easy. You add it to the website.
- The market reach is endless – you can add any product (with the bandwidth you have in production) and stop any old product line (no in demand).
Cons of POD
- The orders are only when it is complete. It is a major disadvantage of any customized digital print business.
- The mock-up and samples are of no use once the line of product is out from the website.
- The samples and mock-ups do not add to the return on investments.
- Shipping the final product to the customer is the major challenge for any print-on-order business.
- The order rollout time is longer than compared to any other business.
Understanding the personalized digital print market
Every business is different, and therefore, the marketing strategies are also different. It is crucial to understand that what might be working in the past may not help in the future. And this is the reason being a business owner, and you must identify the areas of change.
Any successful marketing strategy is a combination of different business models and product lines. Print on demand is soaring in the social distance time. The reason is simple it is online, quick, user-friendly and door shipped.
Firstly, understand the various factors that are responsible for the customer to buy more personalized items:
- Desire to look different or unique
- Comfort of shopping
- Safety with online shopping
- Pride in ownership
- Suitability of the entire system
Factors to consider tapping potential customers
- Social media: The easiest way to figure out the potential customers is by checking the social media trends. What items have more likes, which has more comments, which brand has large followers, what the positive reactions, how many comments are on the certain post, and so on? These are some of the simple questions which would unlock all the answers. Just amalgamate the traditional advertising methods with the latest social networking to get optimum results.
- Demographic factors: The geographical area of business is crucial. All your marketing studies and survey must consider the demographic factors of customer demands. The statistical data supports the business in launching new products or making changes to the existing ones.
- Reference: Spreading the word is one of the oldest and most traditional ways of marketing. You can attract more customers by being active in link-building, promotional methods, and referrals from current and previous clients. Use simple methods like social forums, thematic blogs, affiliate business, and comparative services.
Evaluation of new marketing strategy
- Customer response is vital. Always observe the client’s responsibility to ascertain if the current product line is satisfying. Just a simple form at the end of the delivery order, “Please give feedback so that we can serve you better.” You may also add a small and quick questionnaire with bullet answers for getting authentic customer behavior.
- Estimation of sales performance is a crucial benchmark to evaluate market coverage. Have the new tactics helped in bringing positive change? Have the sales figures gone up in the last six months? You must get positive figures for both the questions to ensure that the new strategy is working successfully.
- Return on Investment: Calculate the return on investments to check if the business earnings match the expenditures. You may take some time to reach breakeven, but it’s either profit or loss once you go beyond the marginal.
Explore the digital market and combine it with your creativity to venture into a very profitable business.