Web-to-Print for Credit Unions

Undiscovered Benefits and Control

The term “Web-to-Print” is one that is familiar to most people in the document management and printing industries. But if you are financial marketing professional you may not be as familiar with the concept or the many ways using Web-to-Print can be an undiscovered benefit for credit unions.

What is Web-to-Print?

Web-to-Print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing or print e-commerce, is a broad term that refers to the practice of commercial printers doing business over the Internet. Whereas in the past engaging with a printer used to be in-person with a local provider, today customers are free to use any number of print providers found online.

The Internet has opened up opportunities for commercial printers to communicate and engage directly with customers online and the industry has taken note. Indeed, according to InfoTrends, the leading worldwide market research and strategic consulting firm for the digital imaging and document solutions industry, 78% of Americans use the Internet and each one spends an average of 32 hours per month online. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce approximately four trillion dollars in transactions are conducted online each year. This consumer shift has not gone unnoticed, and more and more commercial print providers are joining the online trend toward Web-to-Print.

Undiscovered Benefits

Adopting Web-to-Print can be a great advantage for credit unions. With Web-to-Print it is easy to do things virtually that used to require face time and hardcopy; this saves time and money, and brings a greater level of control over your communications and marketing collateral. Things like submitting print jobs, doing reviews, and designing postcards, brochures and other marketing pieces are all easily done directly on online. Other services such as variable data printing, photo manipulation and cross media marketing campaigns are all just a click away.

How does Web-to-Print provide a return on investment and create value for credit unions?  Web-to-print solutions allow you to directly customize content and imagery within your marketing materials to the specifications that maintain your brand guidelines, maximize your efforts, and more finely tune your marketing activities to meet your business objectives.  Some of the benefits include:

Control the Brand

Complete control to customize content and imagery within marketing materials to ensure consistency, credibility and brand guidelines.

Create and Communicate

Automated templates guide customized pieces without complex programming or a lengthy learning curve. Communicate en mass or tailor to an individual for the ultimate customer experience.

Automate for Efficiency

Automate creative, marketing, and fulfillment processes through a unified platform. Free up your marketing resources and shorten lengthy approval cycles.

Reduce Costs

Integrated and streamlined workflows provide the ability to create customized marketing pieces on demand, considerably reducing overall costs.

Personalize Your Approach

Improve member engagement with personalized marketing campaigns to deliver unique and relevant content to each member.

Speed Time to Market

Reduce the time it takes to request and produce marketing materials by automating the workflows and processes that shape and guide content, imagery and production.

Manage in Real Time

More effectively manage your communications with anytime, anywhere access to check status, make modifications, or deploy your campaign.

Business Communication Costs Still Tied up in Workflow

Perhaps the most compelling reason that financial marketing professionals should take a good fresh look at Web-to-Print is the fact that the majority of business communications costs are still tied up in workflow. According to a research study, “The True Cost of Business Communications” from InfoTrends, more than half the cost of marketing communications are associated with workflow. Indeed, creative, editorial and project management activities drove the majority of costs, not printing and production. And while it may be relatively straightforward to negotiate your best deal per page at a printer, the InfoTrends study suggests that hidden process costs are often overlooked. A seamless Web-to-Print platform, like 366 Brand Direct from OMI, is a disciplined yet convenient way to mitigate those workflow-associated costs while gaining better control over credit union marketing and member communications.