This week’s fold comes from SPC, Specialty Print Communications in Niles, IL. This Mystifying High Speed Inline Pop-up Mailer is a self-mailing piece printed on 100 lb. sterling matte text. Amazingly, these mailers were finished 100% inline from end to end. This is a great example of an exiting mailer than can be printed in high quantities and can apply to a variety of clients and marketing campaigns. Watch the video for more!
As someone that primarily works with companies in the print, mail, and fulfillment industries, I spend a lot of time at trade shows and conferences that target those groups. Those events provide me with opportunities to network with customers and prospects, but they also help me to stay informed of trends that effect companies in those industries.
However, when it comes to growth, I truly think that it’s very important for all of us to take the time to attend and participate in events that may be outside our normal comfort range. Doing this can open our minds to new ideas and provide inspiration for business growth.
In that vein, I recently sent a couple of our employees to attend the Online Marketing Summit.
I asked them to come back with a few points that could help folks in the print, mail, and fulfillment industries. Whether it was trends that they thought were important, or sales ideas for selling marketing solutions, I asked them to keep their ears and eyes open. Here is what they found:
Yes, it is a multi-channel world. As new channels have emerged, many marketers have dove right in!
This might include social media. Personalized URLs. QR Codes. Web Registration forms. Mobile websites. Email. And more…
However, this has put some marketers in a situation where they now have their data in multiple silos. They have varying records for their customers and prospects in multiple systems and databases that have conflicting data. They are losing time and sales opportunities as they struggle trying to analyze, merge, and streamline the data that’s available to them.
At the conference, many presenters pointed to the fact that marketers need to find ways to take an “integrated marketing” approach to their efforts.
I believe that this presents a tremendous opportunity to service providers. In many cases, printers and mailers have years of experience working with a customer’s data. Also, technology has made it possible for service providers to offer solutions that touch multiple channels in just one solution.
Because of that, I think that service providers can develop new business by demonstrating how they can help to solve their customer’s challenges in regards to silos, multiple databases, and a lack of integration.
There is no doubt that mobile is one of the hottest items in the world of marketing today.
Marketers know that they need to use that channel to communicate with their target audience, but it was quite clear at the Online Marketing Summit that many of them are unsure of how to do that.
Thus, I believe that the opportunity to present integrated solutions that incorporate mobile is a great one for service providers. This may include projects that integrate print and mobile with QR Codes. It could mean mobile website creation and hosting. It also could even mean tasks such as setting up SMS/Text-message alerts for a client.
Mobile is hot, and it is moving fast. Because of that, there is money to be made!
Yes, many of the attendees at the Online Marketing Summit became quite excited when they talked about “new” things. This included the latest social networks — Google+ and Pinterest, anyone? —, smartphones and tablets, and terms such as content marketing.
But in the end, they all recognize one thing — in order to truly be a successful marketer, they need to develop and deliver relevant messaging, and they need to provide and prove that their efforts are producing a good Return on Investment.
Those two marketing fundamentals will never get old and they will never go out of style.
So, if you are a service provider that is looking to sell marketing solutions to your clients, do not shy away from what you can do for them to reach those two goals!
The solution that you provide might include traditional channels that are not as sexy as what’s new. But if it can help a marketer to achieve their overall business objectives, then you are in a great position to help them succeed.
The 2011 Mobile Barcode Promotion was so successful because it utilized emerging technologies and the prevalence of smartphones to integrate direct mail with modern devices. Customers and businesses alike benefited from the ease of use and the postal savings affiliated with this promotion.
The following information describes the proposed 2012 incarnation of the promotion:
The 2012 Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion provides mailers with an upfront postage discount on qualifying Standard Mail® and First-Class Mail® letters, flats, and cards that contain a mobile barcode or similar print technology that can be read or scanned by a mobile device. The technology must lead the recipient to either:
1. A webpage that allows the recipient to purchase a product or service on a mobile device.
or
2. A personalized URL, which leads to a web page that is unique to an individual recipient.
Registration Begins: May 1, 2012
Program Period: July 1 through August 31, 2012
Discount Amount: 2% of eligible postage. The mobile barcode discount is calculated in PostalOne!® and applied to the mailing statement at the time of mailing. Normal postage prices as listed in the published price schedule apply to the mailing, and the discount is applied to those prices.
Eligible Mail Classes: Standard Mail® letters and flats, Nonprofit Standard Mail letters and flats, First-Class Mail® presort and automation letters, cards and flats
Program Registration: Participants and/or mail service providers must register on the Business Customer Gateway. Mailers agree to participate in a survey about the promotion. Registration opens May 1, 2012 and will continue throughout the promotion period.
Documentation/Postage Statement: Mailings must be submitted electronically via mail.dat, mail.xml or Postal Wizard.
Participating mailers will be required to affirmatively claim this promotion on electronic postage statement submissions. All mailpieces in a mailing statement must be eligible for the promotion. Note, the discount must be claimed at the time of mailing and cannot be rebated at a later date.
Mailing Date: Mail must be tendered for acceptance during the promotion period, July 1, 2012, through August 31, 2012. Qualified PVDS mailings that are verified and paid for by August 31, 2012, will be accepted at destination entry postal facilities through September 15, 2012.
IMB Requirements: Automation mailpieces must contain an Intelligent Mail barcode.
Postage Payment Method: Postage must be paid using a Permit Imprint, or Precancelled Stamp permit. Some Meter Permit mailings may qualify. OMAS and “Official Government Mail” mailings are not eligible for the promotion.
The two-dimensional barcode or similar print technology which takes a consumer to a mobile optimized site that either enables mobile commerce or is personalized for the recipient. All qualifying mail must contain a mobile barcode or equivalent technology that can read or scanned by a mobile device (this includes two-dimensional barcodes, tags, and watermarks). The mailpiece must also contain text near the barcode or image providing guidance to the consumer to scan the barcode or image. Additional requirements are listed below.
Mobile Commerce
If the barcode is used to facilitate mobile commerce:
Mobile Personalization
If the barcode leads to a personalized website:
At Mail Acceptance: The mailer must provide a hard copy, unaddressed sample of the mailpiece showing the placement of the mobile barcode to the acceptance clerk. If a mailing contains mobile barcode mail from multiple mailers, a hard copy sample of each mailer’s mailpiece must be presented. If mobile personalization is used, at least two samples must be submitted in order to demonstrate that the web addresses are unique to each recipient.
Post Mailing Requirements: All mailers who receive the discount must retain an electronic or hard copy sample of the mailpiece until October 31, 2012, and if requested by the Postal Service must forward such sample to the promotion program office.
This post was provided by Rich Cicha who writes for the SourceLink blog. It provides excellent information for the direct mail industry from a company who specializes in “connecting data, design & delivery.”
Valentine’s Day was a big event at our office this year. The door bell rang with deliveries of flowers at seemingly every other hour. The lunch room was filled with boxes of heart-shaped cookies. A few of the employees even wore bright red clothing to commemorate the occasion.
And yet, seeing all of these things caused me to think about marketing!
Specifically, I started to think about all of the things that people do improve their relationships, especially when they are married. And while that certainly is very important (if my wife is reading this, let me say “Honey, I love you!”), I also think that there are lessons marketers can take from those marriage tips to help them grow their business.
Just because you are married, it doesn’t mean that you shut down and think that you set the dial at “coast.” You still need to stay on top of your relationship, work on it, build on it. Because you want your relationship to be the best it possibly can.
Building a relationship with a prospect should be looked at the same way. We should never just rest on our laurels or set the dial to “coast.” We need to keep things fresh and interesting. We need to let our prospects know we are here for the long haul.
Here are some ways you can translate suggestions made to better your marriage and use them to enrich your marketing:
I hope that you find these tips helpful!
Of course, there are certainly many other common marriage tips that could be applied to a marketing lesson. If you have one on your mind, I’d love to hear it! Please feel free to share it in the Comments section.
This headline features pretty dramatic words, especially coming from a content marketer. But it’s true: I’m sick of content marketing. Thank heavens, finally, somebody has explained why this once useful approach to sharing with current and prospective customers has become so tiresome.
In mid January, Target Marketing featured a great article by Jeff Molander titled “Never, Ever Outsource Your Content Marketing Strategy.”
In short, Molander debunks the content marketing frenzy that has filled search engines, websites, and eBooks with repetitive, thoughtless, rehashed stuff. I love this post and here’s what I’ll add to it.
Effective content is less about “outsourcing” than about insisting upon content that’s created with an original, thoughtful, informed voice, outside or inside the enterprise. Tell your readers something they don’t know or haven’t quite thought about. Connect some dots. Go out on a limb. SAY SOMETHING. Content is worth squat unless it’s filtered through a thinking mind.
Take Seth Godin, for example. [Full disclosure: I actually don't want to take Seth Godin because I don't like the Seth Godin online persona. But he's an "influencer" with eyeballs and ears, followed by most marketers.] He thinks about interesting stuff, outside the box. Granted, since selling yoyodyne for $30 million in 1998, Mr. Godin would appear to have the resources to think, which he does rather well, displaying something of a sixth sense for the “Zeitgeist.”
Anyway, as fate would have it, Seth Godin introduced me to The Technium blog titled “Better Than Free” written in 2008. The fundamental notion supposes that when copies are free, you need to sell things [content] which cannot be copied.”
Technium goes on to list “Eight Generatives Better Than Free” — all of which give teeth to my “not-new rant” about content marketing, to wit: If you’ve gotta clone it, you’ve blown it.
Cause marketing is a well-minded marketing initiative that connects the cause of non-profit organizations with the reach and audience of businesses to create a mutually beneficial relationship. The strength in this approach is the business’ ability to provide greater visibility to the non-profit and to capitalize on people’s point of purchase decisions. Non-profits benefit from cause marketing through the ability to share their message with larger audiences and to solicit donations and support from these audiences. The business benefits from a positive brand reputation through the association with a non-profit organization. It’s a win-win situation.
Cause marketing can take a few different forms. Think of pink Yoplait’s “Save Lids and Save Lives” program that benefits the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Another popular campaign is Project Red at the Gap where proceeds from sales benefit The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis & Malaria. While these are all highly successful and integrated campaigns, others are not quite so innovative.
When checking out at the grocery store, I’ve been offered tickets to donate $1, $3, or $5 to help feed a child. Maybe I’m just an evil person because I know this is a great cause, but nothing about the offer compels me make this donation. It’s just another way in which people are constantly asked for money. Another example are the tear-off pieces of paper that you can write your name on and post on a wall in return for a $1 donation to some specific cause. While I like the idea of showing solidarity in support through the arrangement of papers on the wall – this is still not something that really inspires me or moves me to act. Yes, it’s easy (and that’s part of the success with point-of-purchase cause marketing), but it’s not compelling.
This is where I can envision an opportunity for print excellence to excite the world of cause marketing. Marketing service providers and print shops are so skilled at creating promotional items that you want to pick up and immerse yourself in. Why not tap into this excellence to promote the non-profit world?
Here’s what I’m thinking… Imagine waiting in line at the grocery store and instead of leafing through a tabloid magazine, you pick up a perfectly bound book complete with full color photos on fresh, glossy paper illustrating the plight of Tigers in Eastern Asia or a struggling village in Libya. Would you be motivated to add $1 to your grocery bill to help this cause? I imagine this book would move you to act much more than a paper-wrapped can or a simple graphic tear-off paper begging your donation. (Of course, the grocery store would want to secure the photo book to the check out area, but I’m sure that is possible).
Or what if when you donated to a cause, instead of receiving a tear-off paper, you received a glossy postcard with an image of those tigers or village residents? The donor could then mail this postcard to a friend or relative and essentially say, “I just donated to XYZ cause at XYZ store. Stop by XYZ so you can support this cause, too! Or visit www.XYZ.com for more information and to activate your support.” Now, not only has this postcard effectively solicited a donation, it has also communicated the cause to another individual, hopefully prompting their visit to the store and ultimate donation.
Personally, I love the idea of cause marketing. Maybe this post is optimistic, but I’d love to see more creative tactics and I know print can help create more impactful communications. In the end, it’s all about reaching customers in just a way to compel their support of the non-profit and I’m positive that print creativity can do just that.
There is no doubt that the world of mobile is creating many opportunities for folks in the marketing and communications industries. Mobile technology has opened up new ways for companies to reach prospects, generate leads, and provide customer support.
For service providers, there is opportunity to help marketers achieve their mobile-related goals. One area in which this is true is related to mobile websites. As the number of smartphone owners continues to rise, so will mobile web traffic.
The technology to build and provide mobile websites for other companies exists. But how can a print service provider sell this solution to their clients and prospects?
Here are 3 ways to get that conversation going:
If you are currently creating, tracking, and/or printing QR Codes for your customers, then you have a tremendous opportunity to engage them in a conversation about mobile websites.
Many of the QR Codes that I see “in the wild” today still point to regular websites that were designed for viewing on a desktop computer or laptop.
This is bad for many reasons! For one, it means that the person who puts forth the effort to scan the QR Code with their smartphone is going to have trouble simply reading the content on the website! Even if you rely on them to tap-and-zoom, chances are that they are going to be less than pleased with their interaction with your company. Big images may cause the site to load slowly, and certain functionality may not work at all (such as Flash).
Since QR Codes are going to be accessed by folks on mobile phones, the value of pointing people to mobile-optimized content should be clear to your clients.
By presenting your ability to provide that service to them easily, it should help you to grow your business!
Also, it should help them to increase the success of their QR Code efforts.
While there is no doubt that mobile is a very hot topic in the marketing world, there are still many people that are not yet up-to-speed with how it affects their business.
This means that you have the opportunity to aggressively educate your customers, prospects, and other businesses in your local area about items such as mobile websites. If you can position yourself as a thought-leader, your chances of being the ones that they turn to when they realize they have a need should absolutely increase.
This educational effort can be done in a number of ways. Here are a few:
Of course, one of the best ways to convince someone why they need your services is to walk-the-talk.
If you are going to tell someone that they need a mobile website, then you certainly will want to investigate what it will take to create a mobile website for your own company.
Not only can this help to demonstrate that you truly believe in the importance of “going mobile”, but it also can be a great conversation-started (“Hey! I noticed your website looks different on my phone”) and a way to increase your effectiveness as you seek to reach the growing mobile audience.
On January 20, the U.S. Postal Service released five gorgeous stamps. The artistry of American stamps is nothing new, of course, but this collection reminded me of the potential value of decorative stamps in targeted direct mail campaigns.
In searching for high resolution versions of the five stamps, I happened upon a wonderful website, BeyondthePerf.com.
For those interested in the art and design of U.S. stamps, the site features a video interview with the five USPS art directors who bring illustrative meaning to “decorative stamp.”
Ethel Kessler talks about the talents of the five people who work on the stamps. “Each of us has different passions, different strengths. And we’re relentless, [asking] what can we do at every level to enrich it.”
Phil Jordan, who created the USPS Civil War series, says his effort seeks to honor past acts of courage or accomplishment. Getting there wasn’t easy. “What evolved was a labor of intense scrutiny… I wanted to express what people were thinking and what the common person was doing, particularly the common soldier.” Was all the research worth it? “What we have, we know will stand up to scrutiny,” says Jordan.
Kessler researched the Nobel Prize winners series just as diligently. Rather than detailing each scientific achievement, she was dedicated to capturing the essence of this highly coveted award. “Ethel really did an amazing job says Derry Noyes. “She was working with murky photographs of scientists and complex formulas. This could have been a recipe for disaster, but everything went beautifully.”
Antonio Alcalá’s favorite series spotlights industrial design from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Greg Breeding also is partial to this Pioneers of American Industrialism series, which he says has inspired so many objects we use today, including the iPad, telephones, etc.
What does the stamp series add up to?
“We’re telling a story; we’re telling America’s story,” says Kessler — and that story is complex in more ways that we can imagine. Consider, for example, the Latin Music Legends series. “I worked with Raphael Lopez who is himself a musician and a brilliant illustrator. We decided what we were looking was ‘performance,’ so that we could hear the music.”
Likely, only a designer can discern the many possibilities that comprise a powerful picture. “What is it that grabs you? Is it the title, the color, the graphics? Is it pretty, is it edgy? Designing stamps is more work than you think,” Noyes concludes. “It’s a real collaborative effort. If the collaboration has worked well, then we have a great stamp.”
Kessel adds, “Our biggest success is when it looks easy.”
BeyondthePerf made me remember that this institution upon which direct marketers have built their livelihoods does many things well — and most of it looks much easier than it is.
So, hurray for the American stamp and hurray for one of our greatest institutions: The U.S. Postal Service.
This week, we showcase the Iron Cross with Stitched-in Booklet submitted by Digital Ink in Alexandria, VA created for the American Bankers Association. The piece first opens in gate format to reveal two sides that fold out to create an iron cross format. The innovation doesn’t stop here. The interior boasts of a 12 page stitched booklet. This booklet provides an excellent opportunity to include marketing material into a leave-behind brochure or mailed item. Watch the video for more!
As you’re likely well-aware, the mobile channel continues to experience significant levels of growth. According to the CTIA Wireless association, mobile subscription penetration in the United States exceeds 100% of the population; many people own and use more than one mobile device. Furthermore, CTIA estimates that that close to 30% of U.S. households are “wireless-only,” meaning they subscribe to wireless phone services but not landline services (myself and many of my friends are part of this population). The pervasiveness of mobile technology has led to increased time spent by consumers in the mobile channel, making it a prime platform for marketing and advertising.
To that point, research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. mobile ad spending topped $1 billion in 2011, and expects spending in this channel to grow to over $4 billion by 2015. While various forms of mobile marketing have been around for well over a decade, only in the past few years have marketers started dedicating a more substantial percentage of their budgets to mobile in conjunction with other shifts to digital spending. Despite growth in these newer channels, it is important to remember that marketers are still dedicating a substantial percentage of their budgets to traditional media, including print, television, radio, sponsorships, and much more. Even so, marketers are focused on return-on-investment more than ever before, and they are constantly looking at ways to make their marketing across all media types more measureable and impactful.
In particular, a slew of mobile technologies are now being employed to integrate print and other media types with mobile and online channels, including mobile response codes, short code prompts for mobile messaging, augmented reality, and much more. InfoTrends recently completed a study entitled Mobile Technology: Making Print Interactive, which investigates how mobile is being integrated with print and other media types. In this study, we captured consumer, marketer, and service provider perspectives to understand how mobile technology can be effectively utilized within traditional, offline media to drive audiences to engaging online experiences.
One key finding from our study highlights that, especially for mobile response codes, marketers are turning to their print service provider partners to help them create, deploy, and manage integrated mobile campaigns. Print service providers have a tremendous opportunity to develop domain expertise in the mobile channel through integrated campaigns and programs, but they need to make sure they have the right strategy, provide the right mix of services, and have the tools and technology to support their efforts. Below are some key considerations for service providers looking to build out mobile marketing services:
Mobile will undoubtedly continue its upward trajectory in terms of adoption and share of ad spend. Service providers need to, at a minimum, investigate if and how they should include the mobile channel within their existing suite of product and service offerings. While the aforementioned considerations only scratch the surface, they can help guide you and your clients to success with mobile.
Has your company expanded its service offerings to include mobile marketing and advertising? Share your experiences and your own key considerations in the comments!
Welcome to the first FOW on The Digital Nirvana in 2012! I’m sure this year will bring plenty of innovative and fun new folds. This week’s Fab Kaleidoscope Cover Invitation comes from Schmitt’s Press in Baltimore and was created back in 2005 for a fundraising event for Maryland Institute College of Art. What makes this fold so interesting is how the die-cut shape on the front cover interacts with the graphic beneath to create a kaleidoscope effect. This is a superb example of creative designing with simpler folding.
As always, think finishing at the beginning. Enjoy!
If you’ve already made the leap to creating a mobile website for your business, we commend you. Mobile website traffic continues to rise… and it will do so even more with all of the fortunate folks that received a smartphone as a gift this holiday season.
When they interact with your company on a site that was optimized for mobile devices, they will no doubt be grateful that they don’t need to “tap-to-zoom and scroll-to-read” throughout each page of your website.
But in addition to providing a pleasant experience, you also need your mobile website to provide value to its visitors and to your company as well. Here are three ways that you can do that successfully.
1. Add Click-to-Call and Click-To-Text Links: One of the best ways to develop an effective mobile website presence is to take advantage of the functions that really wouldn’t work as well on another device. You can do this by adding click-to-call and click-to-text links on your pages. By clicking on these links, people will be instantly brought to the appropriate application inside of your phone, to either dial you or send you a text-message.
2. Include a Form to Collect Data: One of the best ways to demonstrate the value of your desktop website is to incorporate lead-generation forms. The same can be done on a mobile website. Whether you are inviting people to request a demo, to download an eBook or White Paper, or to simply request more information, you could do this by building and adding a mobile Form. This will allow you to better serve the mobile audience that wants your information… but yet that doesn’t to deal with the hassles of zooming and scrolling to get it.
3. Incorporate Images that Links to Maps with Directions: Does your business have a retail location? Will you be exhibiting or attending a trade show or conference? If so, you can use your mobile website to direct people there. Simply include an image of a map on a page inside of your mobile website. Then, grab a URL that will link to a site such as Mapquest for the appropriate address. Simply link the image to that URL, and you’ll make it a lot easier for people to find out where they need to go right from their phones.
These are just a few ways that you can increase interactions on your mobile website. I hope that you find these tips helpful!
According to the “Mobile Media Report” released by Nielsen at the end of 2011, the number of smartphone subscribers using the mobile Internet has grown 45 percent since 2010.
Marketers everywhere must adapt to this growing trend. Mobile is changing the way that people search, find, and consume information. Can printers capitalize on that need? Here are three areas where a service provider may be able to do so successfully.
Mobile Websites
Smartphones certainly present challenges to marketers both in terms of layout and functionality when it comes to their website.
Many marketers may be in love with the Flash objects that they display prominently on their corporate website; however, those items may either load slowly when viewed on someone’s phone or even not at all (as is the case with the iPhone and iPad).
Also, mobile websites certainly need to be simplified. The content needs to be clear concise, Forms need to contain only the most necessary fields, and the amount and file size of images on the website should be reduced.
Many marketers will be scrambling to solve those challenges in the months to come. Thus, service providers have a tremendous opportunity to provide mobile website design, consulting, and hosting solutions to their clients.
Mobile Email
Many service providers that traditionally have provided print have also started offering email services to their client.
The growth of smartphone ownership will continue to increase the percentage of people that are reading emails on their mobile devices.
Thus, service providers that are providing email solutions have the opportunity to offer consulting, design, and measurement services to help their clients effectively reach the mobile audience when it comes to email distribution.
SMS/Text
According to a report from Portio Research, 8 trillion SMS/Text-messages were expected to be sent in 2011. Yes, that media is often used as a communication method between friends and family. But many businesses have found success with it as well.
A print service provider could incorporate SMS/Text into their campaigns that they run for clients in a number of ways. It could be used as a call-to-action on printed collateral to enable someone to opt-in for news alerts or to enter a contest. In that scenario, the service provider would be providing tremendous value to their client because they’ll be helping them to build up their marketing database. SMS/Text can also be used as a way to push out reminders or other brief alerts to people that may have registered to attend a seminar, open house, or another sort of event that a company may be hosting.
What Else?
There are and there will continue to be plenty of other ways for printers to grow their business by incorporating mobile solutions. QR Codes continue to remain relevant as a great way to integrate print and mobile. Also, technologies such as Near Field Communications may emerge sooner than later to provide marketers with yet another way to engage the mobile audience.
In all these cases, marketers are going to need help successfully building, managing, executing, and measuring mobile solutions. The opportunity for service providers to help is there… Are you ready to grab it?
Adobe has been making waves with its series of acquisitions over the past few years, including Web analytics provider Omniture and content management provider Day Software. More recently, Adobe acquired web font specialist Typekit, electronic signature provider EchoSign, and video enhancement software provider Iridas Technology.
At a financial analyst briefing in November, Adobe made a number of announcements about what it is doing with those acquisitions, and more broadly, the direction in which the company is headed. Most of the news coverage in the tech community that surrounded this briefing was Adobe’s intention to stop any future development of its Flash for mobile platform. Instead, the company is opting to focus on leveraging HTML5 and other standard Web technologies in the mobile arena. Adobe is also putting more emphasis on these technologies in general, as showcased by some of its concept products it has released for testing, including Muse (aimed at helping users design and publish HTML websites without the need to write code) and Edge (an application that is meant to help people create animated Web content using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript).
Some noted the scaling back of Flash as a posthumous win for the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who was adamantly opposed to putting Flash on Apple’s iDevices because of what he felt were flaws that made Flash inferior in the mobile realm. What was substantially under-reported in the tech world was Adobe’s clear shift in direction, as highlighted by a reorganization that re-targets the company to focus on two main areas: digital media and digital marketing.
The company is also pushing its users to get out of a perpetual licensing model of buying and upgrading its Creative Suite product line to a cloud-based subscription pricing model that lets users pay for access to Creative Suite tools on a monthly basis. To do this, Adobe has developed the Creative Cloud, a Web-based community and portal for users to manage their Creative Suite applications and connect with other creative professionals. While the company will continue to sell perpetual licenses in the near future, it has very clear plans to fully migrate 100% of Creative Suite users to the Creative Cloud over time.
With the Creative Cloud on the Digital Media side, there is also Adobe’s cloud-based Digital Marketing Suite, which is geared toward the company’s solutions for digital marketing, including Web and social analytics, content management, digital asset management, eCommerce, display advertising, e-mail marketing, and customer relationship management. Adobe’s goal is to provide a suite of solutions for marketing professionals that can help them compete effectively in the online channel.
Furthermore, Adobe is shifting its business strategy from simply being a technology provider to a company that also provides services to help businesses with things like content monetization. In this sense, Adobe’s transformation pushes it closer to competing with some of its customers and partners; it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the near future. Just weeks after its financial analyst briefing, the company announced the acquisition of Efficient Frontier, a provider of digital ad buying and performance management solutions. This acquisition is further proof that Adobe is intent on not just providing tools to create content, but that it fully wants to provide solutions to help its customer monetize the content they are creating.
All in all, Adobe’s changes are much more substantial than no longer developing Flash for mobile; the company is totally revamping its strategy to focus on digital media and digital marketing, and expanding its scope to offer companies help with content monetization. As an unfortunate by-product of this reorganization, Adobe is also laying off about 750 people, or around 7% of its workforce. Layoffs aside, the company is, of course, painting a compelling future for itself, as well as digital media and marketing in general. With the marketing and media landscapes still undergoing a high degree of transformation, it may not be a bad bet.
What do you think of Adobe’s recent moves? Can it refocus its business while maintaining trust and good relationships with its long-standing customer base? Have you already moved from a perpetual licensing model to a monthly subscription via the Creative Cloud? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
This week’s fold is a Storytelling Vertical Open Gate into Accordion submitted by VSA Partners in Chicago. It’s a great example of how a folding can tell a company’s story. While this was not used as a direct mail piece, it’s a creative leave behind piece that people will want hold on to. The designer made great use of strategically placed QR codes to drive viewers to visit the website and specific videos. Enjoy!
