So when the company decided in late 2013 that it wanted to reduce its marketing costs by bringing the function in-house, and in doing so add another service to its current capabilities, its development team starting exploring web-to-print products that could build sophisticated multi-channel campaigns.

“As a printer we can’t just provide print,” says Emma Baker-Smith, marketing manager at Cestrian. “The print industry is constantly changing and in order to survive you need to adapt. By offering new services and added-value solutions – such as integrated personalised campaigns – and taking care of data, it keeps our customers happy and loyal.”

What Cestrian was looking for was a product that could quickly create multi-channel campaigns across print, PURL, email, SMS and mobile, through a simple browser-based interface that would require no prior knowledge or expertise in terms of programming or HTML. 

After weighing up a number of different options Cestrian eventually opted for DirectSmile Cross Media, which costs from £39,995 and was supplied by UK distributor Transeo Media.

“Although we looked at other products and considered other situations, we really liked the passion and expertise of the DirectSmile team and the customer
service and support from Transeo,” says Baker-Smith.

Before taking the plunge the Cestrian team had a few introductory sessions with Transeo. “They gave us demonstrations into the software and its capabilities,” she says. “My background is working in advertising agencies so I knew just how powerful it was.”

Having been won over by the demonstrations and signed on the dotted line for the product, the installation process itself ran smoothly. Transeo communicated directly with Cestrian’s IT provider and although the company needed to install a new server to support the software this wasn’t too much of an issue, says Baker-Smith.

Since installation the product has worked like a dream, she adds. “It does everything we expected it to do and more.”

The beauty of DirectSmile is its sheer simplicity. “You create a storyboard for your campaign that might consist of web, mobile, PURLs, emails and print – i.e. your campaign plan,” says Baker-Smith. “Then the Cross Media software lets us create digital media by simply dragging and dropping elements to create layouts. You need minimal design skills and zero development or programming skills.”

Once the ‘media’ is created the company can launch a website, despatch emails or send SMS messages using the product’s ‘campaign manager’ tool. “We can then automate follow-ups and responses, etc, making better use of our time while staying in control,” says Baker-Smith.

She adds that Cestrian now uses DirectSmile Cross Media for all of its own marketing campaigns, both to existing and prospective customers.

“We also use it to manage projects if there is a lot of data involved – it handles databases really well – and for the last six months we have been working with some local SMEs to coordinate and manage various communication campaigns for their businesses, with great results so far.”      

Swift support

Although Baker-Smith says that Cestrian has complete trust in the system and full confidence in the way it works, she concedes “there are the odd bugs that come up, but DirectSmile always resolve it quickly. Same with Transeo Media. We get great support from them on a very personalised level. Sometimes during the middle of a campaign I’ll be asking questions or putting requests in all day and they are quick to respond and assist.”

And even when the occasional problem does arise these have often been flagged up in advance by the software provider.

“The recent launch of iOS 8 caused a problem with photo uploading from a mobile that affected a campaign of ours, but this was out of the hands of DirectSmile really and we had a back-up plan that we quickly put in place. Transeo warned us of this problem before we realised, which was great service by them.”

Indeed, Baker-Smith can’t find fault in the quality of service offered by Transeo since the company signed up for the product. “We had five days intensive training with Transeo and they have been back a few times to go through campaigns we’re working on,” says Baker-Smith. “If we have any problems, Transeo are quick to respond with a solution or options of what we could do. And if we’re really stuck Transeo will log into our campaigns and investigate.”

The glowing manner in which she refers to Transeo is a mutual feeling, according to Neil Bather, managing director at
Transeo Media. 

“Cestrian is a very forward-thinking company,” says Bather. “Emma and the team knew exactly what they wanted from Cross Media, in order to offer their customers fully integrated, targeted marketing campaigns that deliver increased ROI. We were able to install Cross Media, provide training and ensure it was in full operation very quickly. As such, Cestrian started to reap the benefits of a simpler, more efficient workflow straight away.”

Bather adds that DirectSmile Cross Media is a product that’s suitable for any company like Cestrian “looking to provide effective, results-driven marketing services to its customers, or produce and track their own marketing campaigns in-house”.

You won’t find any disagreement from Baker-Smith, who says that DirectSmile has brought a number of new benefits to the company, in addition to creating new revenue streams. 

“We can offer additional services by providing integrated campaigns to our current and new customers, and we have also created a project management solution that helps the client services team out with installations.”  

CRM disconnect

When pushed to pinpoint any downsides to the product the only flaw she identifies is that although DirectSmile integrates with some CRM systems it doesn’t work with Cestrian’s.

“We use Sage CRM and they have said we can work on integrating it with Sage, but it will be an additional cost. It’s something we’re looking at,” says Baker-Smith.

On the flipside she adds that one of the key things in the product’s favour is that it is “constantly evolving and improving”.

“There are so many other features and add-ons that DirectSmile are constantly working on and we’re only just starting to look at.”

As a result, when pressed as to whether or not she would purchase DirectSmile again knowing what she knows now, Baker-Smith responds with an unequivocal: “Yes. It has given us a lot of freedom to create and develop things we wouldn’t have done without it.” 

Thanks to these significant benefits it’s clear that Cestrian couldn’t afford to be without DirectSmile. 

SPECIFICATIONS

Applications Direct marketing (printed direct mail, email campaigns, PURLs, etc); customer loyalty (email newsletters, feedback websites, customer surveys); event marketing (invitation campaigns, visitor management); web (campaign micro sites, corporate websites, intranet applications, mobile web pages); sales support (lead management, automated sales processes); market analysis (response tracking, customer segmentation)

Price From £39,995

Contact Transeo Media 0845 643 7490 transeomedia.com

Company profile 

Founded in 2005, the Cestrian ‘print hub’ in Cheadle, Cheshire, specialises in the production of retail POS, outdoor graphics and events and exhibitions display graphics. It also offers a fully managed service covering site audits, project management, fulfilment and installation. The company employs 87 members of staff and has an annual turnover of £11.6m.  

Why it was bought…

The company wanted to bring its marketing design and development requirements in-house to reduce costs and at the same time offer “new services and added-value solutions” to its customers. 

How it has performed…

DirectSmile is used for all of Cestrian’s marketing campaigns and the company has enjoyed “great results so far,” off the back of the installation, according to Cestrian marketing manager Emma Baker-Smith. Thanks to the company’s new-found ability to offer additional multi-channel marketing services to clients, Cestrian has also created a whole new revenue stream.