Four Ways Your London Printing Company Can Become More Profitable

Britain is currently in the worst recession since the 1930s, and unfortunately, London printing companies are taking a big hit. Old methods of marketing are no longer working, while the cost of materials and operating costs are rising at a staggering rate. We’ve collated these four ways you can mitigate the effect of these and make your company more profitable.

Reduce your overheads

The first place you should start is looking at your overheads and where you can make cuts. There are three key areas to look at: staff, materials and utilities.

Firstly, staff. How many staff members do you have? What do they all do? Do you need all of them? When survival is number one on the list, everyone in the organisation must pull together. Look at the output of all the staff members in your London printing business. Are they all pulling their weight? Are they productive? Do any focus on unprofitable areas of the business? Though it’s difficult, this may mean one or two staff members are surplus, so they may need to go.

Second, look at materials. Are you shopping around to buy your paper and ink? Why have you chosen your current suppliers? It may just be a result of a long standing partnership. However, we have seen many situations when suppliers abuse this kind of agreement and add astronomical margins to their products. Get to know some other businesses that may be able to supply you. Get quotes. Have a management consultant see how you can cut in this area. Wastage is another issue. You could be wasting valuable space on warehousing. Cut your rent by removing the warehouse from the equation and embrace just in time production techniques. Have your suppliers restock your materials only when necessary, and don’t buy large stocks of rarely used items. This can dramatically improve your cash flow.

Thirdly, see if you can make cuts on your utility costs. Lots of London printing businesses find they can make significant cuts by reducing the amount of heated rooms in their offices. While you could turn down the temperature a couple of notches, why not hire an office design company to survey your office space. You’ll see if it’s possible to get your staff to move in to a smaller space. This could allow you to out source part of your office and generate a residual income.

Revamp Your Marketing

Marketing is another area where a large number of London printing services suffer. With the rise of social media, the world of marketing has been flipped on it’s head. We recommend that all printing businesses start using social media to find leads and customers. This should also be supported by networking. Have your business development manager or CEO attend local networking meetings. To generate business, people need to know you exist!

Finally, embrace inbound marketing techniques. Top companies like Sales Force attribute their success to inbound marketing techniques like content marketing. Optimise your London printing company website for important SEO keywords, run PPC campaigns and offer online ordering. Not only can this help you generate new inbound leads, it can also help you cut your marketing costs.