Running a printing business can be tremendously profitable. However, when you first startup your printing business, you might have encountered many challenges. Getting a business startup off the ground is a tough challenge as it requires all your time and effort. So, below are some of the most common challenges you might face when first starting up a printing business and some business advice for how to deal with them. Let’s check it out.

You Lack Of Startup Capital

Lack of capital is one of the most common challenges you might face when starting up a printing business, which is a common reason a small business fails. Lack of capital can result in not having enough money to maintain daily operations, including funding payroll, and paying fixed and varied overhead expenses such as rent and utilities.

One of the reasons for this is business owners may price a product or service lower than a similar offering in order to entice new customers. In some cases, this might work. However, when they keep the price too low for too long, the costs of production, marketing, and delivery exceed the revenue generated from new sales, and their businesses might end up closing down.

Besides, small businesses in the startup phase can face challenges in terms of getting financing in order to launch new products to market, fund an expansion, or pay for ongoing marketing and production costs.

So, in order to help business owners overcome financing hurdles, they should first establish a realistic budget for their company's operations and be ready to provide some capital from their own funds during the startup or expansion phase. Besides, when it the time for obtaining funding, one of the options they might consider is a working capital loan.

You Lack of a brand USP

Another challenge you might face when first starting up a printing business is the lack of a brand USP. USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition. To put it simply, it’s what sets you apart from your competitors. If you don’t know the answer to this question, so do your prospects. So, what makes you think that your prospects will buy from you instead of your competitors?

It’s not necessarily what you sell that has to be one-of-a-kind, but the message you choose to focus on that your competition doesn't. It can be your philosophy, your level of customer experience or your pricing model, your quality of the products, your unique location,… and any other factor that influences customers’ buying behavior. And most importantly, your USP should put the interests and needs of customers at the top.

Technical challenges

One of the biggest challenges for new startups is staying up to date with the latest technology. As the printing industry is constantly changing, if you want to stay ahead of your competitors, make sure you are using the latest technology and adopting the best equipment.

Lack of data security

The needs of protecting and securing customer data is becoming increasingly critical, and this is one of the common challenges printers might face when starting up a printing business. Print services providers are often in possession of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that can potentially be stolen. According to Quocirca Print Security Landscape 2022, the report reveals that over the past 12 months, 68% of organizations have experienced data loss due to unsafe printing practices, resulting in a loss of more than £632,000 in data. However, 53% of respondents that IT security still stays on top of the investment priority for the next 12 months

That’s the reason why businesses need to demonstrate to their customers that they are capable of handling all customer data securely and ensuring privacy protection.

Lack of automation

The lack of automated workflow systems is also a major challenge in the printing industry. It means that you have to do the work and control projects manually, which might cause delays, inefficiencies and errors. According to the research Strategies for Leveraging Automation to Enhance Performance, the report results reveal that adopting automation is essential for the printing industry in order to take full advantage of automation. With the broader adoption of automation, it’ll enhance the printing company’s productivity and profitability, from automating printing workflow, support managing operation, handle orders, shipping and billing, and so on.

Also, according to the report, it also shows that respondents who use higher levels of automation accepted more jobs from customers via online submission portals compared to those reporting less automation. Survey participants with highly automated workflows reported that they generate more jobs per day than less automated respondents.

=>Adapting to a new technology called web to print solution

It can be said that automation in the printing industry is no longer an option. Restrictions on investment in automation mean holding back growth potential. That’s a reason why it’s time for you to invest in a new-age solution called Web To Print, especially for startups and small businesses.

Using a powerful web to print software would help you get all the necessary tools you need to perform well in the market. An all-in-one web-to-print solution will help you streamline your operations, and drive your business processes faster while keeping costs at a minimum. From regulating all the customer data, order details, and approvals to tracking orders and managing inventory, you can have it all just in one platform. If you want to see how it benefits your business, you can visit All About Web To Print Solution here or try the Web To Print DEMO here to discover its features, or contact our support team so they can assist you.

Marketing challenges for printing business

One of the indispensable challenges when starting a printing business is implementing marketing. A primary goal of any marketer to implement marketing strategies is to find leads and then convert them into customers. Lead generation is always a challenge, especially in the fierce printing industry. However, we have released a club called CMSMART CLUB, where you can find useful marketing services to help you set your target audience and generate more leads. Some of them are also offered for free. Visit CMSMART CLUB to experience it now.

Besides, you can read our previous article How to promote a printing business.

You Don’t Hire the Best Team

Running an online printing business would require you to hire people with experience and knowledge of the industry. Gathering the best team can be challenging, especially when you have to find the right resources where their strengths can support your weaknesses and who can give you business startup advice. For internal business operations, you may have to hire in-house resources. However, when it comes to software development and digital marketing, you can totally outsource overseas.

We have just released digital solutions services called CMSMART CLUB. Many innovative solutions in web design and development, as well as digital marketing field, are developed readily to bring comprehensive value to customers and help them manage customer business operations better. From now on, customers no longer need to care about the high expenses involved in website development and digital marketing. Besides, some of them are now offering for free. Visit CMSMART CLUB to experience it. Have any questions to ask, feel free to leave comments in the section below or create a ticket support for us. We’ll get back to you ASAP.

In Conclusion

Starting up a printing business is never easy, you will encounter a lot of problems when doing it. However, you won't give up because of some challenges, right? Understanding the challenges you will face when starting a printing business will help you have a better overview and make better decisions. Never give up!

So If you need assistance on starting a printing business, contact us.

Best regards!