Next-gen printing

Many pundits once expected traditional print publishing to be a thing of the past as screens and digital information became easily sharable. What they didn’t anticipate was the surge of demand for print driven by the industry’s move to ubiquitous, high-quality print technologies.

EFI—a global manufacturing and development leader for digital inkjet printers, digital production workflow software and digital front-end print servers—capitalised successfully on the latest print revolution, reaching nearly $1 billion in sales in 2016. The company’s products have not only affected traditional and large-format print shops through new automation and faster, higher-quality imaging technologies, but have also brought innovation to textile, construction, fine art, packaging and many other areas.

As the world moves to online buying and design experience, manufacturers are transforming their businesses to address the increasing complexity of production moving to shorter, highly customised or even personalised runs. In industries where images are an important part of their value, such as fashion, building materials, signage, packaging and printing, EFI helps manufacturers transform to the new world of digital on-demand imaging on any material.

Top companies in the fashion industry use EFI Optitex 2D and 3D CAD/CAM software and EFI Reggiani printers to speed turnaround on designs for fast-fashion brands worldwide. EFI products also help drive innovation among ceramic tile manufacturers and graphic communications service providers through new inkjet technologies. EFI’s latest major inkjet innovation is in the packaging space; the company is among the first to market with an ultra-high-speed digital press for high-quality corrugated boxes and display materials.

“Print is everywhere and EFI’s award-winning portfolio and support are helping organisations boost profits, expand print offers and grow business,” says Naomi Liu, Senior Manager of Global Marketing Operations at EFI. “We’re expanding our own business through successful innovations and co-ordinated, cross-channel marketing strategies powered by Adobe Marketing Cloud.”

Digital marketing for B2B

Adobe Campaign within Adobe Marketing Cloud, a part of Adobe Experience Cloud, enables EFI to connect customer data from its Salesforce CRM, third-party data resources and cross-channel interactions. Data is compiled from multiple levels within a single organisation—at corporate and individual levels—to create a detailed view of a company and its buying journey.

“B2B is complex. We not only have customers engaging with us from several channels, but also from multiple business units within an organisation,” says Liu. “Adobe Campaign helps us gain insight into all touchpoints and it gives us a more complete picture of the organisation so we can effectively communicate a value proposition of increased competitiveness and productivity for customers through a holistic engagement strategy.”

Data hygiene is an important component to the company’s ability to deliver personalised information to customers. Adobe Campaign helps EFI accurately collect customer data and then automate how it targets customers with cross-channel campaigns, as well as nurture leads.

Powerful events

Whether conversations start with a click, a discussion at an event or participation in a webinar, EFI connects with customers more effectively. Leading into trade shows, EFI sends customers targeted emails—based on role, past interactions and market segment—with dynamic banners to encourage event signups and booth visits.

“Tradeshows and webinars are still some of our most successful events, leading to a significant percentage of our sales,” says Liu. “Adobe Campaign helps us to get more customers to events and offers an effective way to re-engage with customers who attend those events.” Liu adds that EFI has a comprehensive strategy that includes email and calling campaigns to nurture leads generated through events.

Before using Adobe Campaign, one of EFI’s regular events in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania would typically result in 50 to 60 leads. By using Adobe Campaign to tap into customer data before and after the event, that same event recently produced 176 leads.

High volume and high-quality

Adobe Campaign simplifies campaign management so the company’s 3-person digital marketing team is able to launch more than 450 cross-channel marketing activities each month, across 3 regions and 14 languages.

“Adobe Campaign is enabling us to increase the volume and effectiveness of communications through automation and better scale with our growing product portfolio,” says Liu. “We can also score our customer leads, helping our sales team prioritise outreach and work more efficiently.”

In one year, Adobe Campaign helped increase the total volume of leads by 7%. And even more telling, the number of sales opportunities increased by 10%, indicating higher-quality leads are attracted to the new experiences.

Connecting sales and marketing

Contact forms that potential customers complete online, requesting a call by a sales representative, are the most productive lead sources for EFI. “When customers fill in contact forms, they are telling us that they want to buy something, so that will always be a strong source of leads,” says Liu. “Where we see significant opportunity for using Adobe Campaign is after that lead asks to be contacted.”

Using customer profiles, EFI can send these leads targeted emails after initial follow-up calls based on the contacts’ roles to further educate them about products. Potential customers can also receive links to a case study, whitepaper or webinar based on their areas of interest.

After the initial email is sent, EFI marketers can identify high engagers—people who actively engage with the website, listen to webinars or download content—so sales teams can adjust their approaches.

“Adobe Campaign enhances strategies that have traditionally worked for us with a higher degree of personalisation and empowers our sales teams with the data to engage people in more targeted conversations,” says Liu. “It helps ensure that we’re getting the most from our resources.”

At the same time, EFI can identify customers who visit specific product pages that trigger a targeted email about related topics, services or products. Across reengagement campaigns and similarly designed campaigns, targeted emails have achieved up to 35% open rates for EFI.

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