Catalog
Function
There are many reasons why more catalogs are printed worldwide (albeit in smaller print runs and more target group-specific) than in the past. As an emotional, haptic, informative, and appealingly designed medium, a catalog can hardly be topped. "Paper" still triggers a pleasant association in many people, it creates trust, strengthens the brand, and thus makes a decisive contribution to brand building. As a source of inspiration and orientation, it will generate a lasting impression.
Compared to the digital communication, which is far more volatile, faster, and less sustainable, catalogs linger for a long time in living rooms and on desks. A catalog thus leaves a real footprint, which is an important trigger medium for the actual purchase, e.g. in the webshop or for other interactions. A cross-channel orchestration is thus possible.
Situation
Once the lifeblood and backbone of many companies: The catalog is the workhorse of B2B and B2C communication. Many companies, therefore, ask themselves whether a digital medium can completely take over the function of the printed catalog. The main catalogs are becoming less important.
If we look at three aspects, our answer is: No! Of course, the main catalog is becoming less important. But firstly, target group-oriented catalogs that focus on the recipient and his or her context are demonstrably gaining in importance. The second reason is the digital background noise to which we are all exposed and which we are happy to escape from now and then. And the third reason is that the target groups of digital immigrants/aliens account for over 50% of our society. And this target group has a strong affinity for paper.
Trend
In general, all print communication will have to subordinate itself to digital communication with the underlying processes. The catalog is no exception.
The future belongs to on-demand generated, personalized catalogs in smaller print runs, which take into account the context of the target groups in their content composition. The prerequisites for this are, firstly, "perfect data" and, secondly, the possibility of an enormously high degree of automation, as we achieve with the priint:suite. The automation extends from publication planning, including pre-defined workflows and business rules, to the integration of data sources and the release process. If, in addition, this content is enriched with informative, editorial content that promises the reader a reading pleasure and thus real added value, we speak of magalogs (MAGAzin + kataLOG)
Whether or not the catalog is ultimately printed is secondary. Because even a flip catalog can be an extremely charming way to inspire your target groups online.
3 LEVELS OF AUTOMATION IN CATALOG PRODUCTION
- Layout automation: the first level in catalog automation, it describes the classic, automated layout creation and updating. In other words, classic database publishing with all detailed functionalities and requirements. Individual templates for Adobe InDesign or Illustrator, Excel, PowerPoint etc. are created and linked to the corresponding content systems and then automatically extracted.
- Process automation: the second level in catalogue automation Using pre-defined business rules in the priint:suite, processes behind a catalogue creation are checked for plausibility. This minimizes errors and ensures process reliability. Further process steps are triggered with workflow support
- Hyper automation: the third and most powerful level of catalogue automation In order to be able to create catalogs in a truly context-related and thus personalized way, it is essential to make the catalog composition rule-based. This means that we define the complex and complete process fully automatically via the priint:suite. The basis for catalogue compilation is no longer products, but the search results of a user in the online shop. Analogous to his search and input of search terms, catalogues are created just in time. So-called facet catalogs.
One Solution for all print touchpoints
Our Customers use the priint:suite to create a multitude of different types of print media like catalogs, leaflets self-mailers, datasheets and many more.
The priint:suite enables them to integrate the most diverse data sources (e.g. ERP, PIM, MDM, DAM, CRM, CMS Web-Shops or MRM systems), making their data and information usable for marketing and for print touchpoints. The same data that fuels the digital channels can be utilized in the print channel by the click of a button. This ensures a consistent customer experience when it comes to product information. The modularity and scalability of the priint:suite makes it possible to successfully automate the print touchpoints in the company in order to integrate them step by step into the digital communication strategy.
- From freely designed catalogues to full automation
- High degree of personalization
- Automated adaptation into different languages and for different countries
- Time to Market through the on-demand generation of a catalog
- Raster or page layout
- process security through business rules
Get your Copy of our Touchpoint Travelmap
More than 30 print relevant touchpoints help to make multi-channel communication more effective, so perfect customer journeys can be orchestrated. The priint:suite, with its powerful components, helps you create print touchpoints quickly and easily based on existing data sources in your company. Filter touchpoints and discover how priint:suite can help you put this into practice.