Over at the MarketingProfs forums, Gwen Stevens aka "Lone Soldier" is looking for help on developing a new tagline for the printing company she works for:
We are a 95 year old, mid-sized, web-offset printer (350 employees). For the past 20 years we have served the magazine publishing industry by printing insert cards, coverwraps and direct mail components that help magazines gain subscribers.
About 7 years ago we dropped printing from our name and adopted the tag line "expert solutions to the publishing world". We were dabbling in some e-commerce initiatives that didn't take off as hoped. We wanted to be more than "just a printer".
To many of our customers we are more than a print vendor, we are an extension of their print purchasing departments because of our consultative approach to selling and customer service. We don't just take orders, we help our customers by looking for ways to save them time and money, we remind them when they should be ordering so they don't miss their mail dates and we help educate them on the most efficient ways to print their materials.
In the last couple of years the portion of our business from magazine publishers has dropped to less than half of our overall volume.
Today, our business is much more diverse. We now serve one of the countries largest newspaper publishers by printing glossy free-standing newspaper inserts, we're doing more direct mail for multi-channel merchants and we're doing more local cooperative direct marketing packages. (We are one of three companies in the world that can do the type of cooperative direct mail packages that we do. We're #2.)
Our dilemma is this: We serve more than just publishers and we do more than just print. We have collating equipment, mail services and a variety of finishing capabilities.
The common thread with our customers is that probably 99% of what we print is marketing material. The material we print for our customers is used to (in a nut shell) generate leads, drive store & web traffic, cultivate customer loyalty and build brand awareness.
The professional level of our customers is also diverse. Our customers and prospects range from small home-based business owners (a Small percentage) to purchasing agents to c-level executives at huge publishing conglomerates. Most of the time we're trying to help save our customer money, but now we're trying to sell our products to help prospects make money through a new source of revenue using the products we produce.
The tag line that we are considering is "expert print solutions that deliver". I feel pretty good about it for the following reasons:
1. It isn't a huge change from our previous one.
2. I feel we can back-up our claim as "experts" based on the longevity of our company, lengthy employee tenure as well as our commitment to continuing education and staying abreast of industry information.
3. Bringing "print" back into our name through the tag line makes it clear what we do. People are always confused by "expert solutions".
4. We can customize our message for each customer segment by playing on "solutions that deliver". For instance: "solutions that deliver store traffic", "solutions that deliver leads", "solutions that deliver subscribers", "solutions that deliver new customer" etc.
5. I feel it says what we do and eludes to what we can do for the customer/prospect. However, I am considering adding "results" at the end so it would say "expert print solutions that deliver results".
This is my first time using the KHE and I'd appreciate any expert advice I can get. Thanks so much for your time! I look forward to your response.
What do you think?
Discussion
By metaprinter on Aug 26, 2007
Calling yourself an "expert" can come off as pompous or arrogant, even if it is true. How about something like, "value added print solutions" or "adding value with dynamic print solutions". No need to thank me, just send the royalty checks made out to "cash".
By Steve Aranoff on Aug 30, 2007
Tag Line Recommendation: "More than Print: Full Solutions that deliver ...."
By Marilyn Trockel on Sep 07, 2007
The common thread with our customers is that probably 99% of what we print is marketing material.
Today, our business is much more diverse.
we’re doing more direct mail for multi-channel merchants and we’re doing more local cooperative direct marketing
The material we print for our customers is used to (in a nut shell) generate leads, drive store & web traffic, cultivate customer loyalty and build brand awareness.
"Marketing Solutions with Print that Delivers"
By David Locke on Sep 11, 2007
Marilyn, can your customers determine if you deliver ROI for thier non-direct mail pieces? It can be done, but I don't see printers doing it.