Versatile Print Shops Benefit from Versatile Partners

What’s better than doing a good job on part of a customer’s campaign? Doing a good job on the entire campaign. Many signage campaigns require both digital and printed signs, a trend that is leading print shops to seek capabilities to do both and transform into a hybrid shop. But just doing both isn’t good enough - you need to deliver results that are more powerful and impactful than two separate vendors could.

Vendors that support signage shops are seeing these changes, too. As a result, many vendors are looking for ways to serve these new hybrid shops. They want to bring in more business by serving as a one-stop shop, making customers’ buying experience simpler and less stressful. It’s all about the partnership and helping the community thrive.

For both signage shops and vendors, it all starts with the portfolio. You can’t be a successful hybrid sign shop if you don’t have top-notch solutions and expertise on both sides of the house. When selecting a vendor partner, don’t let the lure of having both types of offerings trick you into settling for lower quality. Just because a single partner is greater than the sum of its parts doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still look for very good parts. The usual factors, such as image resolution, turn times and substrate versatility, still apply on the print side, just as image quality, power consumption, ease of use and implementation factor into your digital signage decision.

When it comes to signage, we all know that the solution set is far from the whole story. Vendor partners who best serve their customers are those with the proven combination of people and technology. A good one-stop partner has the portfolio and the expertise that will help you grow. When vetting potential partners, look for these proof points.

Ask these questions: Does your potential partner have a strong history servicing your industry? Do they have proven, relevant results they can point to that demonstrate a clear record of helping businesses like yours grow? Drill down beyond the company level, too. If a potential partner has a strong track record but has been on the losing end of a “brain drain” of talent leaving the company, you won’t benefit as much as you might have hoped. Ask to talk with your potential partner’s relevant experts and gauge the level of guidance you can expect from the partnership.

This may seem like a lot of work, but don’t forget the benefits of working with a single, versatile partner. When it comes down to it, print and signage are all about a brand or entity trying to get a message across. The message, and its branding, have to be consistent across all channels. It’s much easier to rely on a partner known for multichannel consistency than for you to act as a go-between for two different vendors. Furthermore, a strongly versatile partner who knows the ways successful shops operate multichannel campaigns can implement workflows that drive consistency and efficiencies - the savings from partnering with the right provider can go far beyond equipment bundles.

With this in mind, you’re ready to start looking for the perfect partner with the capabilities and consistency to help your unified signage business grow.