Over the last few years, many of our clients have asked us if we could help consolidate their print collateral with their branded marketing supplies. To meet that need, we recently launched BP Central Print Hub. We've combined the scale of a national wholesale printer with the personalized Division service our clients have come to expect from us. In this blog post we are sharing 7 questions you want to ask to get the right wholesale printer, if you are looking to consolidate. They are simple questions, but they will reveal a lot about your print partner's capabilities.
1.) What are my ordering options?
Everyone has a different version of what "convenient" means in their work life, so knowing your ordering options is important when you are looking for a print management partner. Do you need an online ordering tool? Look for a company with a solid web presence. Do you need/like a bit of additional guidance for your order? Look for a company with the option to shepherd your order through the pre-press process with
more rather than less communication. Do you want more options? Look for a partner that has both an online ordering option and is designed to engage with you via email or on the phone to offer production and creative support.
2.) Do you have an Environmental Policy?
A majority of new home builders are initiating sustainable programs to make homes energy smart, water frugal and responsive to an increasingly eco-conscious consumer who cares about their environmental footprint. Does your print partner enable you to be consistent with those practices? Do they offer environmentally friendly accreditation or recycled stock options? Knowing your print partner's environmental policy lets you offer sustainable print collateral for new home Communities that advertise sustainable building benefits. Prospects for those communities will notice this small subtlety.
3.) What kind of Customer Service support is available?
Email and chat-based customer service are convenient, and it's important to know when (and if) you'll actually be able to talk to a human being who knows your industry and can offer both print specification and creative support. Does your printer partner have a person dedicated to that? Is there a Production Manager you can access directly? Most Production Managers are protected by Customer Service Representatives, but in print there are many reasons why you would engage with your print partner to discuss Production timing, updates, edits, proofs, etc. The Production Manager is the person who is on top of your order's journey and should be able to tell you at any time, what the status us. Urgency, creative support, decision support and status checks are among the top reasons our clients reach out for human contact on their projects. Does a print partner make is easy to access these resources in whatever way is most convenient for you?
4.) Do you have a color management system?
This may seem over simplistic, but it really matters. Does your print management partner have a system of checks and balances in place for ensuring their colors match? Knowing their color management system and certification is a good preview of the final printed products you'll receive. It's easy to assume everyone can answer this question, but the right partner will be able to give that information to you easily because they've talked about it in their own company and they've documented it in writing.
5.) Do you offer spot print?
Whether you call it spot color print or 1 color print, spot color print is an important option for customers who want precise branding. While full color print is versatile, having the option to use spot color print is essential. Spot printing is not digital printing. Many printers will direct you to digital print which generally does not get the quality outcome that Builders need to merchandise a new home in print.
6.) Do you have a Digital Asset Management system?
You want to find out how your digital art assets will be stored and what the process is to pull your design templates and update them for Division orders. Managing a distributed Marketing team across Divisions, means that you need to have a good system for managing your preapproved design templates and offer fast easy access to customize them by Community. A Digital Asset Management system does not need to be complex or expensive, but it needs to be centrally managed so that Divisions can get what they need quickly and accurately to reach prospects in their specific markets.
7.) Is there a Designer on staff ? You don't always need to go back to your Agency to make a small tweak or update an address. A good wholesale printer will offer you easy access to a designer on staff who can get content updates and changes made for you quickly and cost-effectively at an hourly rate that is more reflective of wholesale printing rather than agency creative fees.
There are many options out there. Be mindful that just because a printer has a web store and 1000's of products, doesn't mean you are consolidating. Large websites often look like one source, but they are using multiple printers. That's not a bad thing, but we notice that these types of companies do not have employees who are vested in the outcome in the same way that you have with one central print manufacturer. Local retail print shops that seem wonderfully personal are a retail business with retail pricing. Print Reps are often making commission on high margin print pricing. It's always questionable to me when a sign manufacturer is printing brochures. The scale of sign printing requires a completely different press than what is needed to print a brochure. You need a dedicated print solution for both.
Why Consolidation? A brief summary of our experience with procurement and consolidation in the New Home Builder industry:
It used to be that cost savings were the major driver for consolidation, and dollar savings are still the number one outcome that companies are looking for. But, because labor is so tight in the new home building industry
time is also a factor in consolidation. Marketers who can spend less time juggling multiple vendors, have
more time to nurture and convert prospects to create homeowners for their Communities. So for Builder Marketers, economy of time is a close second to actual dollar savings.
We launched
BP Central Print Hub to help our clients consolidate and benefit from a national wholesale print collateral solution. There's a difference between a large national print manufacturer and local retail print shops, print reps or other regional vendors, like sign companies, who offer print services. We've combined the scale of a national wholesale printer with the same builder-centric services our clients expect from us:
- Creative support
- Sourcing help
- Production care
- Logistics know-how
We hope you'll reach out to learn more as you explore ways to reduce your SG&A costs and control the way your brand appears in print collateral.
Thanks for stopping by. Look forward to engaging with you soon.
Cheers!
Leslie Bridges, Chief Blogger
Marketing Blueprints
Marketing Blueprints is sponsored by
Builder Promotions, the leading builder-centric platform consolidating branded marketing supplies and Community print collateral for new home builders nationwide. We are more than our products and services. We are your New Home Community Marketing partners.
The disttance between new home builders and real estate professionals has closed. The fear of decreased profits due to fees and commissions had for too long kept new home builders and realtors from creating successful partnerships. Fortunately, new home builders have come to realize that realtors have the most access to a steady stream of willing buyers and are their best allies when it comes to getting their homes sold. Realtors have also learned that a new home can be a great selling opportunity for the right client.
According to a recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) report, 30% of buyers find the homes they purchase from a real estate agent while 51% found it online; only 5% found their home directly from the home builder. This highlights how valuable builder-broker relationships are. While your digital marketing efforts matter, complementing them with realtor relationships is how you can get more homes sold quickly.
Therefore, once you’re ready to Market a new community, you need to start focusing on partnering with top local realtors. But how? Here are ways to build powerful collaborations with the top realtors in your market:
Invite Real Estate Professionals to Your Office
Sometimes it’s as easy as inviting the top realtors in your area to your Sales Center for coffee or lunch. It’s also a more personalized approach and allows you more time to establish a strong foundation for a long-term relationship.
Get realtors on board and relate to them by expressing your mutual passion for matching families with the right home. Beyond showing off vivid and memorable visuals of the communities you build, be prepared to answer all their questions on commissions and fees to avoid any misunderstandings down the road.
Host an Open House Event
Invite top realtors to your open houses with the purpose of introducing them to your best onsite agents. The reality is that realtors are more sought out by homebuyers because they know realtors are prepared to do the legwork and can present them with more options vs. an onsite Sales Associate who is solely dedicated to selling their Builder brand to meet quotas.
Take Top Realtors on Personalized Model Home Tours
Treat real estate professionals as you would potential homebuyers. Sell real estate professionals on the idea of why a new Home is better than purchasing a used home for certain kinds of buyers. First of all, and most importantly, it’s never been lived in and won’t demand any fixing for many years to come. An older home may be cheaper at the start; however, the costs of repairs and renovations ultimately add up.
With a new home, on the other hand, homebuyers have the opportunity to be involved in the design. They can select finishes and even choose upgrades. When realtors are taken on personalized tours and given as much attention as a potential buyer would receive, they come to value new home designs. They will start to develop their own pitch which is likely inspired by yours.
Are you ready to build mutually beneficial relationships with top realtors in your area? We hope you’ll return to check out our blog, Marketing Blueprints to see what resources we’re sharing to support Builder Marketers.
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Our blog is sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc., a complete solution of builder-centric branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
Marketing Blueprints: Now that you have a landing page on your site and CTA buttons in your Community content, how should Builder Marketers get prepared to take action on prospect lead forms?
Before a new homeowner sits down to enjoy the view on the patio of their new home, they have taken a journey that involves waiting for a new home to be built and dealing with all the financing headaches that go along with a home purchase. The process of financing a home purchase is often stressful, and that's why so many New Home Builders are offering Financing solutions to help make it easy for consumers to combine purchase and financing of their new home under one brand roof. It makes sense that a home buyer who has vested their trust in a Home Builder might extend that trust to a financing product. However, home buying consumers also have many competing offers to finance their new home. They can work with a large financial institution, a regional retail bank or a Mortgage Broker in their market. If they prefer digital engagement, there are plenty of digital Mortgage solutions evolving and they are spending big money on consumer advertising.
Mortgage Marketers, like all Marketers are probably spending some time thinking about how to design a "referable experience" for their new home customers. Happy customers are a referral source for both Mortgage products and the new home brand they've purchased. When you think about increasing referrals, you need to back up and think about the experience that produces those referrals.
Here are some Marketing resources to help stay top of mind, design referable customer experiences and serve up content that matters to your prospective financing customers. We hope you find some ideas you can integrate into your Mortgage Marketing:
1.) Gather your team for a lunch n' learn to listen to David Cooperstein (former CMO Practice Lead, Forrester Research) discuss 
5.) Blog, Blog, Blog is what we hear most about when we are researching ways to increase traffic to our site, grow leads and generate revenues. But blogging takes time and you want to know who your audience is so you can speak to them with relevant information. It's not always easy when you are targeting home buying consumers who span all ages, lifestyles, life stages, etc. Blogs are about sharing and educating, rather than selling and you have to plan ahead to keep pace with people who are thirsty for content to help them buy a mortgage product. This is a good 
