COVID-19, the word alone is enough to drench you in sweats! It has turned the entire world topsy-turvy both economically and emotionally. On the economical side, all locals have slowed down and productivity has hit its lowest. And the printing business is no exception.
Specifically, the traditional offline printing businesses have faced a huge setback amid this pandemic scenario. The sales of all the printing shops have hit their lowest across the globe.
As a print shop owner, if you don’t wish to lose your print business in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, it is time you started thinking out-of-the-box and take some real big measures. This will help you keep your print business relatable and productive.
But the question is: What are those measures? And which among them should you start with?
Read on the first and foremost measure you need to take in the direction of your survival strategy.
Switch from Offline to Online (The Big Switch)
Though the online printing business has already gained popularity across the globe, several companies still resort to traditional offline print services. Unfortunately, the pandemic outbreak has rendered them idle and unproductive.
If you are also one of the offline print business owners, it is time for the big switch – offline to online.
It is high time you started an online store that won’t only revive your print business but also makes it more customer-centric. Once you launch your online store, this will become an additional source of income to your offline printing with an extended customer base.
Let’s discuss how you can make a seamless switch from offline printing to online printing.
Build Your Own Website
The very first requirement for an online business is a website. However, a website alone won’t suffice. You need to understand that your website should be user-friendly, interactive and engaging. Below are the steps:
The first step is the name of the website. Find out a name that is unique and engaging. Also, make sure that the name goes well with your brand and the types of products and services you offer.
– If you are completely novice when it comes to building a website, there are tons of guides available on the web regarding it. However, if you partner up with PrintXpand, we can help you with these initial steps.
– Ensure that the website you make enlists all the products you offer. Remember, while enlisting them, don’t simply stuff your website with them. Rather, arrange all your products in a proper manner in various menus and catalogs.
– Make your payment options secure and reliable.
– Work meticulously on website design. The look and feel of your online store should be highly engaging. Additionally, your site doesn’t load slowly as a slow site proves to be a big put off and increases bounce rates.
Integrate a Good-Quality Product Designer Tool
After a successful launch of your online store, the next big step is making it future-ready.
Now is the time, when you give your webs-store a makeover and move one step forward in the industry. And offering completely customizable products is the key.
According to research conducted by Deloitte, 1 in 5 consumers are willing to pay a 20% premium for personalized products and services.
There are a number of good quality product designer software products available. However, it is important that you pick the right one to integrate with your business flow. This won’t only let your customers order custom products but also enhance their experience and engagement giving you high-profit margin sales.
Market Your Online Store
If you don’t market it well, you can’t sell it well. Even after investing profusely in the launch of an online store, its user interface, functionalities, and a product designer software product; you need to work on making people notice your online presence.
For that, you need to market your store and products through various channels.
Let’s understand how you can market your store for others to know about it and rank higher in Google search results.
– Use Social Media – Social media marketing is a crucial marketing strategy today. Create your brand page on Facebook and Instagram. Share these page links among your friends and acquaintances so that you get high page likes and follows for the initial boost.
Keep updating your social media pages regularly with posts about your new products and services, offers and discounts, and other news feeds. This way, people will know more about your brand and engage with it more.
You can also run paid social media campaigns to localize your business promotion and target particular audience groups
– SEO is the Key – You will need to level up your store’s credibility in search engines. Optimize your store content for relevant keywords. Your content should also be engaging and sales-driven to ensure that the bounce rate remains low.
Further, you can start the ‘Blog’ section and share the latest industry updates through your blogs across various channels to drive more traffic to your store to escalate your sales.
Build quality links, submit guest posts, forums, and run mailer campaigns to engage your existing customer base and expand it. You can also go for influencer marketing and PPC if you have enough capital reserve to invest.
Offer Timely Enticing Discounts and Sales
If you are a big-time Al Pacino fan, you must have heard the evergreen dialogue from his Godfather trilogy, ‘I will make him an offer he can’t refuse’. It is time for you to make your customers an offer they can’t refuse!
Give discounts and offers to them from time to time to keep them interested in your products and services.
Analyze your competitors and find out what range of offers and discounts they give and strategize yours accordingly. And if you manage to draw your customers with this strategy, you are sure to make it big in sales and increase your bottom line greatly.
In a Nutshell
COVID-19 has definitely given a huge blow to the printing business, especially the offline printing business. Nevertheless, you can make a huge comeback by taking your offline printing business online fully or adding the online printing business forever.
We at PrintXpand are helping the businesses to make their online debut. To know more about the services, you can get in touch with us.
