Some will have you believe that this has all changed, that with prices as low as they can go and quality and service comparable across companies, the last great differentiator has become the technology itself. If you want the work, they say, you need to open your box of tricks and let the customer into the magic circle. Market your technology as your USP and watch the orders roll in.
Does this view have any grounding in reality? Many say it does, to a degree.
“I don’t think it’s very common yet, but it is happening,” says Lawrence Dalton, managing director at 1st Byte. “Those of us who are trying to be innovators or known as being at the ‘bleeding edge’ are more likely to promote new solutions.”
Dalton does just that with his Scodix S75 digital embossing line. The machine enables raised embossed varnish on print to create tactile ‘sensory’ products.
“It has definitely brought us work. As digital print becomes ever more commoditised, those companies with high overheads ie an expensive central London location, have to find specialist niche markets where price is not critical,” he says.
Timon Colegrove, managing director at Hunts, also believes marketing the technology is beneficial. Hunts installed the UK’s first five-colour Komori Lithrone S29 with H-UV curing. It’s a machine Colegrove says few competitors can boast even now half a year later, so it’s clearly something worth communicating.
“We focus on it and use it to sell the benefits of using us – instantly dry, drying on uncoated and so on. And the press set-up we have enables us to do all sorts of applications, and we sell off that too,” he says.
This is not to say these companies are going out explaining the complexity of embossing or HUV. Buyers are arguably less clued up than they once were, as they are responsible for multiple channels and they simply don’t have the time to gain the knowledge. They are, though, interested in new technology.
This presents a problem. How do you market technology without going into detail about what makes that technology so effective? There is a danger on one hand of staying too technical and confusing a buyer, or on the other hand patronising them or losing the sense of what makes the technology a marketable commodity.
The answer both Hunts and 1st Byte found is to package the technology in a more friendly way.
“HUV means nothing to my client; Hybrid UV means nothing to them either,” says Colegrove. “The recognisable part, UV, actually has negative connotations like sunburn and in print it is fumes and all of that negativity. So we coined the phrase ‘Light Dry’. We have to talk in a language that our clients can understand.”
Effect showcase
As part of that strategy Hunts has produced a swatch book showcasing all the applications the machine can produce. It’s not just telling clients about the technology, it is showing it to them.
“For instance, we print a full matt varnish on the fifth unit and a full gloss coating on the coating unit to create an effect almost plastic; it’s very robust and looks like a lacquer. It’s fantastic,” says Colegrove.
And he adds that having witnessed the success of his approach, other companies that installed the HUV Komori after the Hunts install, have followed their lead on the marketing front: “The interesting thing is that two printers have copied us in rebranding this feature in a new way that is more client conversant,” he says.
Dalton explains how 1st Byte has also made the Scodix a little more client-friendly. It has labelled the technology ‘sensory printing’ (and set up web addresses under than name) and like Hunts offers samples so clients can see it as well as hear about it.
“Buying in wonderful technology has to be marketed correctly,” he says. “I was surprised to find both Sensoryprint.com and .co.uk were not taken!”
Dalton adds that such is the success of the ploy of marketing on the technology that it is in his mind when he considers purchasing decisions. Colegrove goes as far as to say that the marketing potential of a press can sometimes match the process benefits it can bring.
“Anything that is going to enhance our production is the first step to considering a machine. Even if the client will never know, as it won’t make any difference to their end-result, we would still do it,” he says. “However, if you have something that improves production and at the same time gives you so many new things that are visible and relevant to the client and that is a point of difference, then of course that comes into play in the buying process too – you do realise how powerful it could be as a marketing tool as well as a useful tool for clients. The second benefit almost matches the first benefit.”
Different approaches
He adds that this is not something only applicable to high-end printers where clients are, perhaps, more on the look out for the fresh new technology on the market, or willing to pay for added value. He argues that trade printers should have a marketing mindset just as the high-end printers do, though they may choose to market that technology in a different way.
“For the Komori, for example, I would argue that the efficiencies we are gaining by having instantly dry ink on paper and the lack of marking you get in folding and finishing – there is an exceptionally strong case for trade printers. They would sell it to their clients in a different way to us, but they could still use the capability in a similar marketing focused way,” he says.
But can it all be so rosy? Being at the forefront of technology has its risks. For example, not all first adoptors are as lucky as Hunts in hitting the ground running with both smooth production and client demand (see box). And as Patrick Headley, managing director at GI Solutions says, it can be expensive and the benefits can be short lived.
“As a result, the USP element boils down to our process more these days and our USPs are more around our bespoke data solutions,” he says.
Jon Tolley, managing director of Prime Group, says there are more fundamental issues. He argues that, actually, the marketing ploy is flawed as the vast majority of buyers “don’t care” what technology you are offering.
“I think it is completely the wrong approach to try and sell off the technical side of the machine, trying to explain that to a customer,” he says. “The customer does not want to know about the technical side of the machine. They don’t want to understand the process. They just want to know what it can do for them in terms of product.
“Admittedly, if you’re talking to someone who you know fully understands the process, a technical buyer, then you can have that conversation. They have probably come to you because you have a specific machine. But they are a very small part of the market. For the most part, the client just wants to know that you can do their job of the right price and the right quality.”
Colegrove, though, has seen no negative impact and says that “even if clients do not eventually use the application or element, it is still useful engaging point”. Dalton, too, says work has come as a direct result of marketing services in this way.
Perhaps chances of this marketing strategy being a success depend on your sector, or depend on the client in front of you at that moment. What is clear, though, is that those that have adopted the strategy say it is a positive rather than a negative technique, one that has brought in business. At a time when printers are struggling to find a way to differentiate themselves on anything other than price, that positive endorsement may be enough to make many printers at least give it a try.
Light Dry (AKA Komori Lithrone S29 HUV)
As PrintWeek reported back in October last year, the Hunts’ Lithrone S29 HUV was installed in under a week and in its first full week of production it produced 100 jobs and 700,000 impressions.
The Hybrid UV capability – termed ‘Light Dry’ by the company – has been a real hit with clients as Hunts marketed it directly to them. In addition to the range of print and varnish effects, HUV has opened up a range of new substrates including plastics and foils.
“The benefit of Light Dry is that we can put as much ink and coating and varnish as we like and it is instantly dry. So we get none of sticking between sheets and the applications we can produce are fantastic,” says managing director Timon Colegrove.
With a swatch book printed to showcase the applications and a marketing campaign behind the Light Dry concept, the orders have come flooding in.
“We are gaining a huge march on competitors,” says Colegrove. “It is lovely to be pro-active and take new things to our clients. We know our competitors have the standard machines, so for the moment we are ahead so we can use that.”
