Change We Can Embrace

Once we feel we have a process in place that accommodates the unique complexities of one of our marketing operations, the next step is to figure out how to make it work. It’s one thing to know what roles, steps, assets and decisions an operation requires. It’s another to make all of the connections, enable the collaboration and retain some level of control over making it happen. Much of the time we are forced to turn to what we have at hand – spreadsheets, email, phone calls and general-use project and resource planning platforms – to try to make the process work. Suddenly the process that seemed so masterfully tailored becomes a pain to put into action.

Understandably, we don’t want to change a process that has been created around the specifics of our operation. Unfortunately, when we go looking for ways to make carrying out our process less of a pain, we are faced with options that would alter, if not scrap, the process or even hand complete control over to a third party. That’s the point at which acceptance of pain that’s familiar wins out over the pain of starting from scratch. It’s also when marketers become reluctant to change the way we do what we do.

That’s not to say that such resistance to change is right, wrong or indifferent. It does, however, answer the question, posed two days ago, of why marketers are reluctant to change when it comes to the way we do what we do. It also brings to mind the rationale that we should not universally avoid changing the way we make our processes work.

While it may not seem as such, there are solutions for marketers, purpose-built for specific jobs, that adapt to the processes we already have in place. Change does not have to mean starting over. Change can simply be an exchange of one tool for another that is more efficient; for one that enhances the process and makes it work like we know it can and should. Change in the way we do what we do as marketers is not always something to resist, fear or avoid. When it’s right, when it works with us and for us in the way we want it to, internal change is something for marketers to embrace as much as we hope we can effect change in the marketplace!

Change We Can Embrace

Do We Fear Change...Or Something Else?

Some may say the reason that we as marketers and marketing operations professionals are reluctant to change in the way we do what we do is fear of the unknown. That’s a cop-out. Marketers aren’t afraid of the unknown. We regularly charge forward, damned near blindly, into the unknown. If we fall flat on our face we’ll try something different and call it A/B testing! Well, okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but still there is almost always some element of the unknown in marketing and it doesn’t hold us back.

It’s not fear of the unknown that gives us the cold sweats when we think about making some internal change to the way we do what we do. I’ll tell you what it is, because after many years, I can finally and freely admit it.

It’s fear of the ‘pain in the ass.’ Or, perhaps more accurately, fear of a different ‘pain in the ass.’

Let’s face it, marketing is a complex machine and operations within it are bound to be equally intricate. There are many different people, in nearly as many different roles, all with different concerns. There is a seemingly endless stream of details, deadlines and moving parts; all requiring decisions. Even when an organization recognizes the unique parts, connections and flow it needs, making the process actually happen is a pain. But it becomes a familiar pain. Unfortunately, as long as it results in some level of organization and effectiveness, the pain becomes not only familiar but also accepted.

When change promises to alleviate the familiar and accepted pain, we see it as merely swapping one pain that we already live with for another, the pain of starting over. Why would we want to do that? In cases where change impacts the actual process – the parts, the connections and the flow – fear of trading one pain for another might have some validity. But what about change that impacts the tools used to make the process happen and not the process itself? What about change that actually makes the process work better and easier, like it’s intended to work? Perhaps there is a worthy trade-off?

We’ll explore that more, stay tuned.

Do We Fear Change...Or Something Else?

Do We Fear Change...Or Something Else?

Some may say the reason that we as marketers and marketing operations professionals are reluctant to change in the way we do what we do is fear of the unknown. That’s a cop-out. Marketers aren’t afraid of the unknown. We regularly charge forward, damned near blindly, into the unknown. If we fall flat on our face we’ll try something different and call it A/B testing! Well, okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but still there is almost always some element of the unknown in marketing and it doesn’t hold us back.

It’s not fear of the unknown that gives us the cold sweats when we think about making some internal change to the way we do what we do. I’ll tell you what it is, because after many years, I can finally and freely admit it.

It’s fear of the ‘pain in the ass.’ Or, perhaps more accurately, fear of a different ‘pain in the ass.’

Let’s face it, marketing is a complex machine and operations within it are bound to be equally intricate. There are many different people, in nearly as many different roles, all with different concerns. There is a seemingly endless stream of details, deadlines and moving parts; all requiring decisions. Even when an organization recognizes the unique parts, connections and flow it needs, making the process actually happen is a pain. But it becomes a familiar pain. Unfortunately, as long as it results in some level of organization and effectiveness, the pain becomes not only familiar but also accepted.

When change promises to alleviate the familiar and accepted pain, we see it as merely swapping one pain that we already live with for another, the pain of starting over. Why would we want to do that? In cases where change impacts the actual process – the parts, the connections and the flow – fear of trading one pain for another might have some validity. But what about change that impacts the tools used to make the process happen and not the process itself? What about change that actually makes the process work better and easier, like it’s intended to work? Perhaps there is a worthy trade-off?

We’ll explore that more, stay tuned.

Do We Fear Change...Or Something Else?

Change is Good, Except...

Some might say that marketing is all about change. After all, as marketers and marketing operations professionals, we’re always faced with change. A new product to bring to market? That’s change. New target audience for that product? That’s change too. New messaging and channels to communicate with that audience? Yep, that’s also change. Change is so commonplace that it not only becomes part of our routine; it becomes something that we expect and welcome. Because without a steady flow of new products, targets and campaigns, there wouldn’t be a demand for what we do!

And speaking of doing what we do, when you boil it down, one of the primary goals of marketing is to effect change in the marketplace. We want to change the way our audience looks at its needs and wants. We want to change the way they think about that new product they’ve never seen before. We want to change their buying and consumption habits. We want them to change their minds and decide that what they already have isn’t enough so that they’ll keep buying more.

Change drives why we do what we do. Getting others to change is the goal of doing what we do. So why are we so reluctant to change the way we do what we do? Why is the thought of replacing the inefficient, ad-hoc drudgery that we’ve been forced to rely upon with new software so cringe-worthy? Why do we resist adapting to new things that make doing what we do faster, easier and even better that before?

Think about that and stay tuned…

Change is Good, Except...

Change is Good, Except...

Some might say that marketing is all about change. After all, as marketers and marketing operations professionals, we’re always faced with change. A new product to bring to market? That’s change. New target audience for that product? That’s change too. New messaging and channels to communicate with that audience? Yep, that’s also change. Change is so commonplace that it not only becomes part of our routine; it becomes something that we expect and welcome. Because without a steady flow of new products, targets and campaigns, there wouldn’t be a demand for what we do!

And speaking of doing what we do, when you boil it down, one of the primary goals of marketing is to effect change in the marketplace. We want to change the way our audience looks at its needs and wants. We want to change the way they think about that new product they’ve never seen before. We want to change their buying and consumption habits. We want them to change their minds and decide that what they already have isn’t enough so that they’ll keep buying more.

Change drives why we do what we do. Getting others to change is the goal of doing what we do. So why are we so reluctant to change the way we do what we do? Why is the thought of replacing the inefficient, ad-hoc drudgery that we’ve been forced to rely upon with new software so cringe-worthy? Why do we resist adapting to new things that make doing what we do faster, easier and even better that before?

Think about that and stay tuned…

Change is Good, Except...

eLynxx Software Selected by Green Dot Corporation for Management of Print and Direct Mail

eLynxx cloud software has been selected by Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) for executing print and direct mail projects. A pro-consumer financial technology innovator, Green Dot is the inventor and largest provider of prepaid debit cards and cash reload processing services in the United States. Following what it calls a branchless bank model of distribution for its products, direct mail is a vital link between Green Dot and its millions of customers. eLynxx is the only cloud software purpose-built for managing direct mail, marketing and print. With eLynxx, Green Dot will be able to strengthen its direct mail and custom print procurement process while working with vendors they know and trust. eLynxx clients in the same business sector as Green Dot achieved an average per-unit cost savings of over 30 percent in 2015. In addition to hard-dollar savings, these users also enjoy increases in efficiency of up to 53 percent.

As a customer-focused financial organization; integrity, accountability and trust are important to Green Dot. As a publicly-held corporation, bottom line performance and ROI are critical. Because eLynxx provides the right tools for maximizing quality and service while assuring the best possible prices from the vendors they already trust, Green Dot found the software to be a natural fit.

“In the past we managed and sourced printed collateral and direct mail with everything from email and phone calls to enterprise resource planning and procurement systems” said Scott Bass, Director of Supply Chain at Green Dot. “It always turned out to be a labor-intensive situation where timeliness, cost and accountability became headaches,” Bass added. “Not only will eLynxx provide us with the opportunity to achieve a greater return on our marketing investment with the quality, timing and accuracy we require; the software will also allow us to retain in-house control and accountability over our programs,” Bass continued. “We’re excited to put our trust and confidence in eLynxx Solutions.”

eLynxx Solutions’ history of success includes more than 3.2 million print and direct mail projects valued at over $9 billion. This success is driven by placing the needs and goals of its clients at the forefront. “We are committed to building software that helps organizations achieve better results from the management and sourcing of their direct mail and custom print projects,” said Nathan Rotz, COO at eLynxx Solutions. “We are proud that Green Dot has chosen and entrusted eLynxx to help them maximize their investment in critical marketing communications.”

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eLynxx Solutions has been providing innovative products and services for helping organizations manage projects and connect with vendors of custom-produced graphic communication, direct mail, marketing materials, publications, labeling, packaging and all things print since 1975. Born, raised and still located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania along the east coast’s graphic communications corridor connecting Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City, today’s eLynxx Solutions is a leading innovator and provider of project management software for the marketing supply chain. As a software boutique, eLynxx Solutions tailors its cloud software to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, providing the functionality of custom software with the economy of out-of-the-box solutions. eLynxx print procurement software empowers an organization’s people to work with their own vendors and strengthen their own processes to achieve better results. For more information regarding eLynxx software, please visit eLynxx.com.

eLynxx Software Selected by Green Dot Corporation for Management of Print and Direct Mail

Our "Thing"

So, Google’s new algorithm has come back with some interesting results. It turns out that if you post continuously about the same thing, it will negatively impact the SEO rating for the website. Basically, Google told us that all of our blog posts are about the same thing. It’s not that we’re surprised by this, because as it turns out a lot of you do read our posts about our ‘thing,’ so thank you for that! We’re very proud of our ‘thing’ here at eLynxx which is why we love to talk about it so much.

We’ve racked our brains on how to deliver this next article, and should probably buy stock in energy drinks and bagels for the amount of time this has taken. So now without further delay, please enjoy our latest blog post, lovingly titled: “Our ‘Thing.’”

Our ‘Thing’

We have this ‘thing’ that you can use,

To cure your print procurement blues.

This ‘thing’ resides up in the sky,

We’d love if you’d give it a try.

If clarity is what you seek

We’ll set you on a winning streak.

It helps keep everything in check,

It’s nowhere near a pain in the neck.

It’s very simple to get started,

We know you won’t be broken hearted.

Use our ‘thing’, and we’ll assist,

Your company and eLynxx can coexist!

Our "Thing"

Maintaining Control vs. Brokers and BPOs: What’s Right for You?

Printed materials in some form or another are integral to the branding and marketing of most organizations. When it comes to the organization, acquisition, production management, implementation and distribution of these materials; there is a decision to make. Organizations usually choose to either manage the entire process on their own, keeping control of the process in their own hands, or they can hand control over to a third party. The third party is often a print broker, who is a middleman between the organization and one or more print vendors, or a BPO (Business Process Outsourcer), who takes over management of all aspects of the process.

When making this decision an organization needs to consider what is best for its particular needs. Here are some key considerations of maintaining and relinquishing control.

The Pros of Maintaining Control over Your Own Print Marketing Materials

Some of the pros that people consider when managing production of their own marketing materials include:

Control over the Process

As mentioned above, handling the process on their own provides organizations with the freedom to make sure everything fits according to their requirements. They use their own trusted employees and vendors to manage and produce a finished product in a way that is completely integrated with the way the organization does business.

Integrated Management

When any part of your company is being outsourced, you lose a certain amount of visibility into what is going on. Most third party outsourcers don’t provide you with continuous updates of the project. You may not have any information until it is complete. Critical decisions on unforeseen issues that could impact operations beyond marketing will be made by an outsider. You cannot be certain if your specifications and requirements are being followed to the letter, or if corners are being cut, when someone else is in control.

Hence, retaining control within your organization not only ensures that responsibility lies with trusted individuals, but also that every piece of every process is handled in an approved manner. When it comes to coordinating marketing with other operational areas like finance and legal, there’s no better means for success than retaining control.

Vendor Choice

Managing printed marketing material production in-house also allows you full control over vendor selection. Choosing a vendor is not a one-step decision. Capabilities, equipment, quality level, service history and speed are among the variables to be considered. Each variable can mean success or failure in a marketing material project. While it’s near impossible to have total control over the success or failure of a project; you can get much closer if you retail control over vendor selection.

The Pros of Hiring a Third Party to Produce Your Print Marketing Materials

To most organizations there is an undeniable benefit in maintaining control over their marketing material projects. There are some who make the choice, as scary as it may sound, to outsource control of their marketing materials to a third party. The number one reason organizations opt to give control of their marketing material projects to a print broker or BPO is because they don’t feel they have, or want to take on, the capacity to do it themselves. They are looking to simplify and possibly reduce head count. Admittedly, managing printed material projects is complex; it requires a lot of collaboration and communication. To organizations that choose to outsource operations to a third party, sacrificing control is seen as a trade-off for avoiding complexities. It may even be perceived to be a way to save money through cuts in resources.

Isn’t There Another Choice?

Perhaps by now you find yourself asking “but what happens when I really don’t want to give up control, but I need something to stretch my resources and make these complicated operations more manageable?” If so, you are not alone. Many organizations have faced the same question. In fact, just about every organization that manages its own marketing material projects seems to have tried some method of making the job easier. Spreadsheets, files, adapting generalized project management and procurement systems, or combinations thereof are common attempts. While these may seem like viable solutions, complexity and the need for collaboration and communication eventually rear their ugly heads again.

The real solution isn’t to try to avoid the complexities and challenges of managing one’s own marketing supply chain and the projects within it. Rather it’s to embrace with purpose-built tools that extend an organization’s capabilities, enable collaboration, foster communication and help it achieve better results in managing its marketing material projects. Providing organizations with those tools is the force that drives us here at eLynxx Solutions.

Ultimately an organization has to be comfortable with the choices it makes. Those that choose to trade control for the promise of simplicity have their reasons just as those who choose to retain control have theirs. It’s your choice and we understand either way, but if you choose to retain control over your marketing supply chain and the projects it produces, we at eLynxx Solutions are always here to help you do it even better.

Maintaining Control vs. Brokers and BPOs: What’s Right for You?

Change Management - Knocking Down Barriers to Benefit

A company is very much like a complex organism. The workers serve as different organs, each with a specialized function, and the organism as a whole thrives and exudes energy if each organ is healthy. Like every other organism, an organization is part of a great race, competing and fighting to survive and be the best. When it comes to survival, it can only be achieved through adaptation.

There are species that don’t exist anymore because they couldn’t adapt to the change going on around them. We understand that change can be uncomfortable and terrifying at times, but for companies that refuse to adapt, the metaphorical extinction becomes all too real.

Why Companies Fear Change

One of the reasons that companies choose not to risk change is that they are threatened by it. The general mentality is why fix something that’s not broken, and a common denial of the need to oil something that would go rusty and eventually become obsolete if not tended to enough. We cannot stress enough how dangerous it can be to have such a mindset.

Even if you’re the best, the unfortunate fact (or fortunate beauty) of the capitalist world is that you can lose your status in a heartbeat. If companies stay too rigid in their ways, they’re bound to lose out in the long run. Globalization and technological reform require slight adjustments in short term goals or comfortable routines. Renovation is imperative for progress and staying afloat in this fast paced world. Progress is the best gauge of success and progress comes from change.

Sometimes the change needs to be on a foundational level. But not all changes have to be dramatic. Sometimes the change could be minute. After all – less often means more.

Change Often Brings Welcome Results

Since we’ve established how important change is, we understand that this may mean slight adjustments are required on many levels. But what most companies need to understand is that such change isn’t a colossal risk if it’s made through intelligent strategy and research. For example, a minor change made through the adoption of cloud software is a cost friendly, minimally disruptive and efficient change that can provide tremendous benefit to an organization.

Take for instance an organization that already has people and a process in place for the coordination, acquisition and management of custom-printed marketing materials. They know there must be a better way to get the job done; one that causes fewer headaches is more efficient and maybe even saves money.

When this organization looks at their options, they’ll see that most require a fairly extreme level of change, which may very well make them take a step back. However, cloud based software that simply augments their own people, processes and vendors with the tools, mechanisms and insight to achieve better results isn’t actually much of a change to make.

Since that is the business we are in here at eLynxx Solutions we see this day in and day out. In all honesty overcoming an organization’s reluctance to change is often one of the biggest barriers we face in helping them get the results they deserve. But, once they open up to the slight changes required in the adoption of eLynxx software and begin reaping the rewards, they wonder why they ever feared making the change in the first place.

Being Open to Change is Being Open to Success

Whether we’re talking about getting better results from your marketing supply chain or any other area of an organization, making a change to a crucial area of operations can be scary, we understand that. In fact we’ve experienced it. You don’t stay in the business we’re in for nearly 40 years without making some changes over the course of time. Successful organizations know when the time for change is right and when it is wrong; but they must first be open to change. Are you open to change and the success it can bring? If you are, we’d like to hear from you.

Change Management - Knocking Down Barriers to Benefit

Happy 180th Birthday - and Thank You - to John Venn!

If you’ve been out to Google today you might have noticed an interesting, if not slightly obscure, interactive commemorative Google Doodle gracing the page. It is commemorating the 180th birthday of John Venn. Unless you are the kind of person who gets at least somewhat nerdy over philosophy, math or statistics; you might be asking yourself who in the world John Venn is and why you should care that, if he had not passed away in 1923, he would be 180 years old today. Well, besides the fact that a man born in 1834 managed to live 89 years – a feat unto itself, John Venn is the man whom you may thank for the wonderfully visual way of representing complex concepts like set theory and relationships in areas such as probability, logic and statistics known as the Venn Diagram.

Great, so other than the fact that there are obviously some nerds on staff, why does eLynxx Solutions care about John Venn, his diagrams and his birthday? Glad you asked! Simply put, without John Venn and his Venn Diagram it would be a lot harder for us to explain our concept of bringing your people, your processes and your vendors together with eLynxx project management software to achieve better results in your marketing supply chain. You see, at its simplest – and trust me there are much more complex ways of using one than we have, a Venn Diagram shows a relational overlap between two or more distinct sets, areas or concepts. With each area represented as a ring or circle, the intersecting portions of each illustrate the point where everything comes together so to speak. It’s a truly elegant way to present data.

From our standpoint, an organization already has a set of people doing various jobs, a set of processes that are integral to the way it operates and a set of vendors with whom it has already built a level of trust and understanding in place. When it comes to managing its marketing material projects from concept to reality, an organization already has has a lot of what it needs to get the job done in these three areas. All that are really needed are some tools and additional knowledge to bring everything together and achieve better results. Sometimes, rather than bringing these areas together, organizations try highly disruptive methods that instead drive the people, processes and vendors already in place further apart. We have found that the more disruptive the method is the less likely it is to actually achieve marketing supply chain efficiency and savings for an organization. That’s why the tools and knowledge eLynxx Solutions provides are purpose-built and tailored specifically to an organization’s needs and resources. By being as non disruptive as possible, eLynxx simply fills in what’s missing so your organization can manage, source and organize its marketing material projects better than ever. Organizations that use eLynxx think it is an elegant solution. Since we can show how eLynxx works in one of his diagrams, we like to think that John Venn would agree.

Happy 180th Birthday - and Thank You - to John Venn!

Is Your Marketing Supply Chain "Prepped" - Three Questions to Ask

The concept of preparedness is a hot topic but it’s nothing new. Anyone who was ever in scouting or the military is familiar with the practice of being prepared. It’s simply more in the public eye today. Between public service campaigns urging every household to have a basic survival kit ready for common emergencies and documentaries on “extreme preppers” outfitted to survive and thrive in the face of just about anything man or nature can conjure up, being prepared has become part of mainstream culture. Being prepared is a great idea. Whether you choose to have a box with some basics to make it through a bad storm or a bunker to survive doomsday is up to you; but logic and history tells us that you go wrong with being prepared. However, when most of us think about being prepared, we think in terms of home and family not business.

True, many organizations have a general crisis plan for when they are directly impacted by the unforeseen. Disaster preparedness and recovery plans are also common to most IT operations. But what happens when the unforeseen strikes others you depend upon and the situation is beyond the scope of internal plans? What happens when the printer who is producing materials for a critical product launch campaign is impacted by a hurricane, tornado, wildfire or earthquake? The idea here is not to wish for such a tragedy; but rather to point out that even your marketing supply chain is vulnerable to the effects of disaster at many levels. Something as simple as a major power outage in the vicinity of one of your vendors has the potential to impact your marketing operations. In many parts of the United States, the late summer is prime time for nature-related emergencies; which leads to the question of whether your marketing supply chain has been prepped for disaster? Here are three questions to consider:

Is your vendor pool deep, and well-qualified, enough that you have multiple options available?

If you rely on a very small pool of vendors you are putting your marketing initiatives at risk. If one of these vendors becomes unavailable, even temporarily, your projects may take a hit that can be hard to recover from. Solid vendor qualification is equally as important. Even if you have a fair number of vendors who can pick up the slack from an out-of-commission competitor; if they are not clearly and objectively qualified as equals you could end up with less than acceptable results. A well-prepared marketing supply chain has vendor redundancy not only in numbers, but in capability and capacity as well.

Do you have easy access to all of your project assets and specifications?

In order to be able to work around unforeseen circumstances in your marketing supply chain you need to be agile. In the midst of a situation where a vendor is unable to operate in their normal capacity, you need to be able to take all assets, files, details and specifications for a project and shift them to another vendor. Any time spent searching for assets, recompiling information and getting it out to substitute vendors is time wasted. A robust project and workflow management regimen with provisions for management of project assets, tracking of all actions and the ability to directly connect with your vendor pool is a key element of having a well-prepared marketing supply chain.

Do you know where your projects are in the production cycle?

Suppose that a direct mail project is being printed and assembled by one vendor who will send it to another vendor for processing and mailing. An unforeseen circumstance has taken the print vendor temporarily off-line sometime after you sent the project to them. If you don’t know where your project is in its production cycle, you don’t know if it has been impacted. If you knew where it was, you would know whether it needed to be routed to another printer, or if the printer finished their part before they were impacted and it’s already at the mail house. If you don’t know, you’ll need to spend precious time finding out. Having a solid grasp of where your marketing materials are in their production cycle is another key part of a well-prepared marketing supply chain.

Like being prepared for the unforeseen in any other portion of life, ensuring that your marketing supply chain is prepared for circumstances beyond your control certainly isn’t limited to three areas. However by asking yourself the three questions above and thinking about your answers you are off to a good start that is likely to lead to more considerations. Can you think of any others? If you do, be sure to share them with us!

Is Your Marketing Supply Chain "Prepped" - Three Questions to Ask

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 11 - Vendors in the Chain

Over the course of the past two installments, we have identified the various marketing, communication, direct mail, packaging and display material categories that organizations may manage and source through their marketing supply chains. While we can easily say that some form of printing is a critical element in the production of each marketing material category; we can’t simply lump all printing together. Just as there are a variety of marketing material categories, there are a variety of vendors – print and otherwise – with distinct capabilities on whom we rely on to produce and assist in the execution of the projects in our marketing supply chains. Today we will explore some of those primary producers.

When You Think “Printer” You Think About These Guys

Commercial printers are your good old all-purpose printers. Or are they? Variety, demand, expectations and ever-changing processes and technologies mean that specialization is becoming the norm. Sure, there are commercial printers who can and will print anything and everything they can squeeze out of their equipment and resources. There are also many commercial printers that despite technically having the capability to produce on a broader scope choose to specialize.

A vendor may do a fine job of producing a certain material for a good price because it fits their specialty. But given a material they are capable of printing, but that is outside of their area of specialization, quality and price may not be up to par. This is just one of the reasons why knowing the true, objective capabilities, capacities and levels of quality of all of your vendors is crucial to an efficient and effective marketing supply chain.

Consider the Whole Package

Aside from simple boxes, bags and other containers and labels of stock sizes and shapes that are custom printed; the production of most packaging is very specialized. Effective packaging in today’s marketplace often pushes the limits of production methods and materials. Substrates run the gamut from paper and card stocks to corrugated materials, metals, plastics, glass, wood and other organic materials. Every form of printing from digital and offset to silk screening, embossing, stamping, painting and even non-ink methods are used. Die cutting, folding, converting and other forms of physical manipulation are common and multi-part packages made of dissimilar materials are as ubiquitous today as a simple box was in the past.

Packaging is an attractive and lucrative market for printers as well as processors of plastics, metals, glass and other materials. It’s not uncommon to find printers who are able to print on surfaces they never would have considered in the past. It’s also not uncommon to find producers and suppliers of cans, bottles, jars, plastics and other packaging materials with in-house printing capabilities. Regardless of whether the packaging vendor is a printer or otherwise, packaging is the face of the product, and knowing that the vendor’s capability, capacity and quality are a precision match to project specs is of the utmost importance.

Creating Something with P.O.P.

If marketing materials were a family, point of purchase, or POP, displays and packaging would be first cousins. In fact much of the same that was already said for packaging above can be said for displays, signage and other materials intended to attract attention where a product is being sold. POP materials can essentially anything from uniquely-printed and constructed boxes, to permanent or semi-permanent merchandising fixtures, electronic displays, simple printed signs, banners, shelf-talkers and the like or anything in between. That means vendors of point of purchase materials can range from printers, to box and packaging specialists, to fabricators, cabinet makers and more. Elaborate POP displays may even require working with several vendors such as a commercial printer, a fabricator and a sign manufacturer.

Seeing the Big Picture

With the advent and subsequent growth of digital design and printing, one specialty area of the graphic communications industry that has grown by leaps and bounds is large or wide format printing. The capabilities of printers who specialize in the large and wide format area open a whole new world that goes beyond billboards and signage. This specialty is one that makes covering vehicles, walls, floors and other large objects with beautiful, detailed graphic images easier and more cost-effective than ever. Large and wide format printing is, however, definitely a specialty and something where capability and quality should be well-vetted. It is also an area of production where close, consistent communication and mutual attention to detail in project specifications is a must.

Join us next week when we wrap up our exploration of vendors you may encounter in the marketing supply chain with a look at some of the important yet often overlooked supporting vendors and partners.

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 11 - Vendors in the Chain

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 8 – Legal Roles

When you think of roles and functions that go hand in hand with each other; marketing and legal probably aren’t too high on your list. The fact is they work closer than you think, especially in marketing project management. We’re not saying that it’s common to have lawyers write copy, create designs, source materials or oversee distribution. However they will often be involved in those functions and more as compliance and contracts surround just about everything in today’s business environment.

Legal Compliance in the Marketing Supply Chain

We might as well start with the big gun that’s not always so obvious: intellectual property. Marketing material that does not contain some kind of intellectual property would certainly be an exception rather than a rule. Some organizations place stewardship of certain intellectual property like logos, slogans and other trademarked information in the hands of marketing professionals. They create and use some forms of IP, so they are expected to know the rules. Even in such cases it is not uncommon to for people in legal roles to be involved from time to time. In other cases legal is a standard part of the review and approval process regarding marketing materials. On the other side of the coin, especially in situations where comparisons are made or competition is very close, there may be legal concerns over the use or infringement on the IP of others.

We’ve all seen ads and marketing collateral that portray something outrageous to get our attention followed by a disclaimer. That often denotes the involvement of people in legal roles. If there is any risk of liability over real or perceived safety issues, product claims, or anything else that could lead to end-user endangerment or dissatisfaction, it’s a safe bet that legal staff involvement will be required. The same may hold true for any communication related to usage and assembly of products.

Giveaways, contests and sweepstakes are another area where legal involvement is common. Depending on the organization, its location and its target audience the laws surrounding promotions where “winning” is an objective can be deep and confusing. Ever see a promotion on a cereal package that refers you to a bunch of fine print that seems like a lot for sending in a box top? That’s not the work of some maniacal copywriter or just something lawyers do to irritate package designers; it’s the law and if it’s not done correctly it can be a costly mistake. Before it’s released to the public, or after something goes awry, legal will be involved at some point.

Targeting and execution can even be areas where legal becomes involved in marketing projects. For example there are various laws regarding promotion and packaging of products intended for children. Products that are considered to be “controlled” have restrictions and warning requirements for promotional and packaging materials. Non-profit and charitable organizations often come under different rules. Publicly-held organizations may have to follow requirements and restrictions of the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Interstate Commerce Commission in their marketing. All of these situations will often trigger involvement of legal staff in marketing projects.

Just Sign on the Dotted Line…After Legal Approves It

Contracts are not something considered to be crucial to marketing – until the time comes that a contract is required to bring a marketing material project to fruition. Unless your organization’s marketing supply chain is completely internal, which is highly unlikely, you will rely on outside resources to get the job done. When you rely on outside resources contracts are a fact of life. When contracts are a fact of life legal staff will be involved.

Traditional contracts outlining all of the particulars of a business deal between two entities can exist at nearly any level and for any purpose. Common places where contracts will appear along the marketing supply chain include freelance creatives and analysts, agencies, vendors, printers, manufacturers, service bureaus, mail shops, transportation carriers, warehouses, distributors and media outlets. But the list doesn’t stop there.

Other forms of contracts, less common in other areas of business, are more common in the world of marketing materials. If models, spokespeople, voice-over artists or even testimonials and quotes are part of the project, releases may be required before the work can be made public. The same can hold true for photos, cinematography, written copy and designs even when created by an individual who is under contract, depending on the terms of their contract. Other times, especially when dealing with stock media such as photos, footage or music that was not originally created for the organization or its marketing, royalties or licenses may be involved. While releases, royalties and licenses might not seem as daunting as a thick contract; they can be just as complicated and the ramifications of non-compliance as severe.

Spotting the Legal Types in Your Organization

Legal departments vary in size and composition as much as any other department. There could be one person or a whole team. Some may even be outside resources on contract or retainer. Their titles will also vary as much as in any other department but their general areas of responsibility and interaction will be similar.

Generally at the top end of a large legal operation, or as a one person show in a smaller one, will be a chief legal officer, solicitor or other top level corporate attorney. If the organization is large, involvement should be similar to other C-level executives: top-level policy and major decisions. In smaller organizations this person may be involved with anything and everything.

Some organizations employ the services or specialty attorneys, either on staff or through retainers. When an intellectual property lawyer is present they will likely be involved with marketing material projects and the marketing supply chain at some point as their concern is focused on trademarks, logos, slogans, copyrights and patents owned by the organization. More concern over these areas may be noticed when agencies or other outside marketing resources are working with an organization’s IP as they may not be as familiar with it. Contract attorneys will be focused on the creation, review and execution of contracts between the organization and other parties. If specialty attorneys are not part of the legal team, those duties would revert to others on the team.

Lawyers are not the only roles to be found in an organization’s legal structure. Some organizations rely on paralegals along with attorneys. Depending upon the jurisdiction and situation of the organization a paralegal can often do a lot of what an attorney would do in a business environment. If paralegals are part of the team, they would conceivably be more likely to interact with the marketing supply chain on a regular basis than an attorney. Legal clerks or administrators are often seen in situations where the legal activities of an organization are frequent and consistent but there are not many lawyers or paralegals. As administrative level staff versed in legal matters and processes, legal clerks are often tasked with everyday legal matters and may serve as an initial point of contact.

As in all marketing supply chain roles, the legal ones in your organization may – and probably will – vary. You may even have roles or entire categories of roles that we have not discussed. Since it would be impossible to cover every unique circumstance, we focused on the roles that are likely to occur across a broad variety of organizations. As we close yet another chapter in the Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide, the seemingly unending combinations of roles further reinforces the importance of managing projects with tools and software not only built for the task, but tailored to your organization.

Join us next week as we open a new chapter investigating the kinds of marketing materials managed within the marketing supply chain.

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 8 – Legal Roles

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 7 – Procurement Roles

Any organization that produces materials used in marketing is going to have marketers. There is also always some level of executive and financial management. There are some roles that, depending upon the organization, may not be so simply defined.

So Who Does the Procurement in the Marketing Supply Chain?

In many organizations the function of procurement within the marketing supply chain is considered so specialized that it is placed in the hands of the marketing department. The department may either have units for print and media buying or it may place the responsibilities with broader units such as creative or advertising. At the other end of the spectrum, all of the specifications and details for marketing material projects are given to the procurement or purchasing department. They identify vendors, request pricing and award the project. In between is any number of combinations where marketing and procurement work together; often with marketing identifying vendors and procurement handling RFPs, awards and follow through. These last two scenarios are the focus of this exploration.

A Wrench in the Purchasing Machine

Because of the nature of the work, procurement or purchasing departments tend to be very hands-on and process oriented. Requisitions come in, prices are sought and the award is made. It’s a tried and true system for procuring inventoried supplies, raw materials and commodities. Marketing materials are nothing like those items. Supplies, raw materials and commodities are not 100% custom produced. Some, like vehicles and computers, may be custom configured from an available range of options. Few items in those categories are manufactured entirely on specification from the ground up as marketing materials are. Every marketing material project is unique.

At a quick glance, two random four-color tri-fold brochures may appear to be made the same way, aside from their content. Looking at their specs is likely to tell you something different in terms of the combination of materials and processes used. Even quantity can have a drastic impact on how a project needs to be produced for optimum quality and efficiency. Not every printer is capable of producing every combination of material and process at every quantity at the same level of quality. That can throw a monkey wrench into the smooth-running machinery of a purchasing operation.

How – and Where – Do Procurement Roles Fit?

Some organizations, especially larger ones with robust marketing and procurement operations, have specialist buyers for each purchasing category. An effective specialist buyer understands the purpose of the items they source, knows the terminology of its specifications, and understands the methods of its production. Traditionally, marketing materials were sourced by print buyers since printing has always been the primary means of production.

In today’s marketing supply chain, the dependency on print processes is still huge, but emphasis has shifted from the means of production to the product being produced. While print buyers still exist, if a type of marketing material is of high importance to an organization, it may have buyers with expertise in more refined specialties such as packaging, point of purchase displays or direct marketing.

It’s also not uncommon to find a centralized, general purchasing department with managers and buyers who source everything across the board. In such a case the buyers or purchasing agents may work very closely with the project’s subject matter experts to understand the specifications, needs and purposes of the project being sourced. In such an instance a purchasing agent or even a manager would be wise to involve project subject matter experts in certain critical decisions such as vendor selection.

Taking a step further, there are instances where a purchasing or procurement department’s role in the marketing supply chain is more about administration and compliance. An example of this would be where the project’s subject matter experts provide not only the specifications and needs for the project, but also perform the research to identify vendors who can meet all of its requirements. From that point forward, purchasing agents, buyers and their managers would obtain pricing, award the project to a vendor and follow up with any additional administration.

Making the Right Connections

Regardless of where an organization falls within this continuum, a strong and free-flowing connection between procurement roles and the rest of the marketing supply chain is critical. Even in cases where marketing is responsible for sourcing its own materials; bulletproof specifications are imperative to getting the project done as planned. Tracking of tasks, actions, decisions and results ensures compliance with budgets and deadlines, as well as with procurement and marketing procedures. It’s a lot to try to make happen in an organization of any size but it’s not impossible especially with the help of project management software built especially for the marketing supply chain.

The next installment in the Marketing Supply Field Guide will wrap up our look at common roles in the marketing supply chain. See you next week.

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 7 – Procurement Roles

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 6 – Finance Roles

Some combinations just go together well as polar opposites. They are distinctly different from, yet often attract, one another. North and south, fire and ice, good and evil are all classic examples. Marketing and finance is another. Marketing is driven by passion and human nature. Its output equals its success. Its results are born of ideas. At the other end of the spectrum is finance; driven by calculation and procedure, with success measured against forecasts. Organizational and operational success; however, require both and therefore a relationship exists. Unfortunately that relationship is often thought to be one of dysfunction.

A Great Place for Opposites to Attract

When marketing and financial operations work more closely together, they are more understanding of each other’s purposes and needs. When they work in an integrated environment, at a point where their paths naturally cross, agility and results are improved. The marketing supply chain is that point. It is where budgets go from forecasts on paper to tangible marketing materials that drive the revenue that translates into bottom line results.

Much like marketing, finance and accounting means something different to every organization. Sometimes even more so as laws and regulations often dictate the financial and accounting functions and roles that must be present. Because every organization varies, we will explore finance roles in the marketing supply chain from a broad perspective.

Finance Executives

The chief financial officers, chief accounting officers and chief auditors of the world – are not likely to be interested in the day-to-day functions of the marketing supply chain. They will be interested in the big picture and the overall results. Return on marketing investment is an area that seems to be getting more interest from today’s finance executives. Interest and visibility at this level are important as they demonstrate recognition of marketing’s move from cost center to driver of revenue. Metrics and KPIs that show outcomes directly tying marketing materials to increases in audience share and revenue are important points to communicate to finance executives.

Finance and Accounting Managers and Staff

There are many potential roles within finance and accounting beyond those considered to be in the C-suite. These are the people interested in the day-to-day touch points between finance and the marketing supply chain. Comptrollers, controllers, certified public and managerial accountants, auditors and bookkeepers all potentially interact with and contribute to an organization’s marketing supply chain. Because marketing supply chain spending is done with the intent of eventually driving revenue, the marketing supply chain actually impacts finance and accounting at both ends. Everything from accounts payable and tax accounting for freelancers to budget planning and annual audits are points of interface with the marketing supply chain for finance managers and their staff.

So Why Is There Often Such a Rift?

Even to the most analytic or strategic of marketers, the world of finance and accounting is likely to seem alien. An accountant and a brand manager may both understand the importance of, and even respect, each other’s work. However, dealing with the mechanics outside of one’s own zone of operations will almost always seem to be a hassle. Paying the bills, cutting the checks and keeping budgets in perpetual motion is pretty important to keeping the marketing supply chain machine up to speed. Without finance everything could grind to a halt. Organizations seeking to improve impact and results are wise to keep finance involved as part of the marketing supply chain.

The Right Involvement in the Right Amount at the Right Place

We already understand that an organization’s marketing supply chain can stretch far. It can also call for involvement from various roles at erratic times. One-size-fits-all solutions don’t work for keeping finance roles involved when and where they need to be. Project management software, purpose built for the marketing supply chain, provides what is needed to keep finance and accounting people involved in precisely the right amount and place.

Communication is vital. The more marketing and finance roles are connected, talking and sharing information; the more they come to understand each other. The more they understand each other, the less generalized interaction will be, leading to a more productive relationship.

Data is one of the ways that the gap between these roles can be bridged within the marketing supply chain. Remember the mention of finance execs looking at marketing efforts as the revenue drivers they are as opposed to the cost centers they have been? Data is the driving force behind it.

When the people involved in the marketing supply chain can see what is going on within it, the unfamiliar becomes less imposing and more understandable. Transparency leads to an understanding of all of the different processes, sharing of successes, shared accountability and increased efficiency in the future.

There is often no better way for any marketing operation to win hearts and minds within the organization than through efficiency and cost savings. If cuts need to be made and there is a choice of an operation that can demonstrate its level of voluntary efficiency and cost savings and one that can’t, which operation do you think will see the cuts?

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide continues in the next installment with a look at the sourcing roles found in many organizations’ marketing supply chains. Join us then and check back regularly for more.

The Marketing Supply Chain Field Guide: Part 6 – Finance Roles