"We’ve had good luck in moving many to digital and one of the big selling points we’ve made is variable data and how they can do a quality piece with variable data," Pentzer COO John Settle told PrintWeek.

"Though they are paying more per piece, it’s also serving to free up many of our clients because they don’t have to create pieces to last for a six months or a year — now they have shorter runs and can keep updating their content in almost real-time, so they end up doing as many pieces but they’re broken into smaller chunks."

Pentzer, which does about $2.5 million in annual business, is still using its 40" five-color and three-color Heidelberg offset presses along with several smaller two-color presses.

But Settle noted: "Pretty much anything under 3,000 finished 8.5" by 11" pieces we’re moving to the digital because the quality is right there with our offset presses and it becomes more cost-effective for those shorter runs."

Settle added that this migration to digital includes not just direct mail and fliers, but also brochures, manuals and even business cards.

The addition of the new Xerox press is not only helping the southern Indiana printer broaden its reach geographically, it’s also driving their move into full-service marketing.

"Everybody is catching on that they’re going to have to advertise and it has to be print plus the social media/online side of it," Settle said.

"And with the digital press we can provide them with content that can go on their web site as well as on a digital piece — and both of them can be updated quickly. So we are doing multimedia marketing for some clients and we’re looking to expand that."