Your company’s printed assets, in the eye of the beholder, are a direct reflection of the quality of its services. That’s why marketing materials should be eye-catching, in-sync with your company’s brand, and, of course, informationally-accurate. Yet, if you have multiple office locations and lines of business – all with slightly different needs at different times – procuring your printed assets can spiral into a never-ending game of phone tag.

If the above sounds familiar, then you’ve got room for improvement in your ordering workflows. The solution? An online Brand Portal to alleviate some of the pain points in the process. What’s more, it could also free you up to better leverage the power of your printed assets – a winning combination.

In a metaphorical sense, Brand Portal is the ever-elusive ‘Easy’ button you’ve been searching for to manage your company’s printed assets. Technically speaking, it’s an inventory management and print on-demand tool that helps you deliver customized marketing materials across all channels of your business. From one centralized Brand Portal that allows you to track inventory and place orders anytime, from anywhere, and ship to your various office locations. That means you can order items like: 

• Business stationary (business cards, envelopes, forms) at midnight from your bathtub 
• Marketing materials (brochures, folders, postcards) from the couch (PJs optional)
• Posters and banners (POP and trade show displays) from your airport gate – just don’t miss your flight!
• Promotional items (apparel, pens and water bottles) while you peruse the zoo. Grrrr.

Managing your printed assets via Brand Portal comes with a few other perks too. For one, it allows you to significantly reduce (or cut out completely) back and forth communication with your printer. Brand Portal can also reduce your overall production and storage costs, decrease necessary lead times, and provide quicker turnaround. 

Each Brand Portal is custom-built to include your company’s branding and customized user access settings. Aside from visual and security configurations, the actual items and fulfillment options available on your Brand Portal catalog can vary greatly. Knowing your options, and the unique benefits of each, will help steer you in the right direction during the initial set up. 

The items in your Brand Portal catalog typically fall into one of four categories – although all four can be (and often are) combined in a single portal. 

1. Fulfillment-Based Orders for Savings and Speed 

Fulfillment-based orders include pre-produced items sourced from stored inventory in Thysse’s warehouse. This category has a myriad of benefits for businesses including shorter turnarounds (because the items are produced ahead of time), and cost savings (because producing larger quantities in advance incurs bulk printing discounts). Additionally, utilizing your printer’s warehouse for storage frees up valuable office space, which typically comes with a premium price tag.  

For instance, say you’re a business that regularly gives out branded promo gear to ‘woo’ new hires or clients. If the trend continues in 2022, promo gear requires significant lead times thanks to nationwide shipping debacles and supply chain issues. With fulfillment-based Brand Portal orders, branded water bottles, pens, mugs and notebooks can be produced in bulk ahead of time, and stored on site to be at-the-ready when you need them. 

2. Print On-Demand Orders for Reduced Obsolete Inventory 

Unlike fulfillment-based orders where items are pre-produced, on-demand orders involve items that are produced after an order is placed. While these orders may have longer turnarounds and require more lead time, on-demand orders interest businesses who don’t want to risk the possibility of ending up with obsolete inventory. 

Companies who anticipate a rebrand in the near future, for example, or those who are just plain old uncertain of the quantities of an item they might need, may prefer the on-demand print option. Keep in mind that some printed items also don’t store well long-term – such as envelopes – which can lose their adhesive quality over long periods in storage.  

3. Kitted Orders for Unrivaled Efficiency 

This category involves multiple printed items that are assembled together, or ‘kitted’, and shipped as a bundle. Individual items included in the kits can be printed on-demand, fulfilled from stored inventory, or a combination of both depending on your needs. Kits are listed as a single item on your portal for efficiency.

An insurance company is a great example of a business that might benefit from having kitted order options on their Brand Portal. Each new client receives the same welcome folder that includes individual items like brochures, provider options, and a summary of benefits. Thysse can print on-demand (or fulfill from stored inventory) each of the individual printed pieces, order them neatly in pre-produced folders, and ship them out in a tidy bundle with little more than a click.

4. Direct Mail Orders for Click and Ship Ease 

Direct mail items on Brand Portal allow you print and ship customized mail pieces to a specified list of recipients. Choose from preloaded templates/artwork for your piece, attach a mail list, and view postage costs before adding your order to the cart. Thysse can even perform list maintenance before finalizing your order to ensure you only pay for the necessary quantities.  

Take a lawn care company, for example. The user can pull up their online portal, select a postcard template, choose from snow plow artwork or lawn mower artwork, attach the desired list of recipients, select the quantity, add to cart, and voila! Custom direct mailers on doorsteps – without so much as leaving the desk. 

If you’ve made it this far – congrats! However, if you like what you see but still have a few questions about how this whole Brand Portal concept fits in with your business’s needs, that’s where we come in. Thysse helps our clients work through Brand Portal setups and configurations every day, and we’re happy to answer any questions regarding different Brand Portal options, set up, or any others that come to mind. If you’re more the research-on-your-own type, swing on over to the additional resources here. If you’re really hoping to see our Technical Services Director nerd out for 30 minutes, you can always give us a shout to schedule a live Brand Portal demo.

Businesses that are expanding run into space limitations. And when office space is at a premium, sacrificing business square footage for storage purposes is not a cost-effective move. 

In addition, you can easily lose track of print inventory if you have disorganized storage cages; office desks stacked with reams of collateral; and shelving systems that make it hard to know exactly what you have.

By storing print and related items at your printer’s facilities, you eliminate these poor storage practices. But the bottom line benefits don’t stop there. 

A lack of inventory space forces you to order smaller quantities. That means a higher unit cost and ultimately lower profit margins. 

Storing inventory off site gives you more room, and allows you to take advantage of economy-of-scale pricing for the high-volume assets your users depend on the most.

Pro tip: If you have storage needs beyond print assets, look for a print vendor who will warehouse and ship other items such as your branded gifts and office supplies, and even the equipment you use for trainings, trade shows, and conferences.

Taxing your already-busy admin support, grabbing staff from other departments, hiring expensive temps—there’s a better way to assemble your multi-piece kits and handle your overall print fulfillment needs.

Find a print vendor with a streamlined fulfillment system. You’ll do more than spend smarter on labor costs. By having dedicated fulfillment specialists, you’ll greatly reduce shipping errors and possibly even enjoy discounted shipping rates from major carriers.

Do you know the exact counts on all of your print assets? You should. 

Reliably tracking your inventory can prevent unexpected shortages and keep expensive expedited print jobs to a minimum. 

It can also reveal print asset usage patterns, so you can gauge your future needs more precisely, plan your budgets more accurately, and reduce inventory obsolescence. 

So how can you easily know crucial information like this? A web-based print portal can provide 24/7 access to seeing exactly what your assets are in real time. See more on the advantages of a portal for your inventory management below.

document control and convenient ordering, with multiple benefits as a result.

Speed up the ordering process

With an online ordering system, users can log in, see thumbnails of available print assets, and easily locate what they’re looking for. And with the ability for you to establish pre-approval levels, those users can order instantly.

Gain faster print turnarounds

Having materials on hand means that when orders come through, your print vendor can pull those requests right off the shelf and ship your items within days—potentially even hours. (See more on shipping in #2.)

Boost brand consistency

A single-source portal keeps your brand strong and consistent across your print assets. How? When users—no matter their location—are ordering from one print source rather than multiple printers, you can eliminate issues such as color management mistakes that degrade the quality of your brand. 

Keep the correct collateral in circulation

Give managers the ability to filter content and control available versions. This allows you to ensure users are ordering and distributing the current (and correct) assets. 

Make print-on-demand requests easily

Sometimes docs are just too fluid to print in bulk. Give selective portal permissions for users to modify materials on the fly and then make on-demand orders in a snap. 

Managing your inventory also means taking advantage of features like the following that keep you informed of your stock, even when it’s not top of mind for you:  

• Receive scheduled reports automatically
• Get alerts for low inventory
• Set inventory marks that trigger reorders

You need more than helpful technology. 

You need a print vendor who will dig into the economics of your print spend.

In fact, consider a print vendor who will work with you to develop a standardized pricing list that reflects your projected print needs. With this option, economy-of-scale pricing is just the beginning of the advantages.  

You can stop the time-consuming hunt for multiple quotes and actually price a project yourself. You can also forecast your spend confidently and deliver budget information to management almost immediately.

These six strategies represent more than just print inventory management. They’re an opportunity to transform your print spend, and ensure your print-related decisions ultimately help your business run better. 

If you want to learn more about how Thysse can help you improve your print inventory management, contact us.