Database Publishing: Automated Publishing of Print Media

Database Publishing Header — Source: dotSource

To keep customers excited, companies have to reinvent themselves over and over again. Interesting products, digital experiences and a presence on relevant platforms are a must for all brands that want to be remembered.

With its rather antiquated image, print does not exactly spring to mind when it comes to modern media. And yet, appealing and personalised print media offer potential – especially now – to stand out from the crowd.

With PIM & MDM for Print, the creation of compelling print media in line with corporate design standards is not only quick and easy, but also personalised.

An Overview of Database Publishing

Simple, Fast and Digital Publication of Product Data

Users are constantly flooded with information online. To ensure that your brand message does not get lost, you can enhance your digital strategy with engaging print products. According to a study, customers who feel addressed by a print mailing end up spending 22 per cent more on average than they did when previously shopping online.

Offering printed advertising materials is by no means a step backwards. Quite the opposite! With the right strategy and modern tools, you can optimally integrate print into your digital marketing mix and improve your customers’ experience.

The best basis for this is the right product information management (PIM) or master data management (MDM) system. It allows you to collect and manage product data and related assets such as product images in one central location. Data no longer needs to be synchronised, but is automatically fed into interactive systems such as an online shop.

With the »PIM & MDM for Print« extension, your design teams can quickly and easily create printed marketing and sales materials such as catalogues, price lists and flyers. This not only ensures high-quality output, but also frees up resources in the content creation process.

Advantages of Database Publishing at a Glance

Partially or fully automated creation of all types of print media
No duplicate data maintenance
Marketing and design teams save time
Rapid availability of materials
Addressing specific target groups
Partially automated translation of print media
Flexible templates

Database Publishing: Project Workflow

To fully benefit from the extension, you should involve both PIM and design experts right from the concept creation stage. PIM teams can contribute their extensive expertise regarding individual solutions, while designers ensure an optimal user experience when it comes to the print products.

Step 1: The Right System

Before you can work on compelling print media based on your data, you need a suitable system. Well-maintained product data is the basis for the automated creation and publication of print media.

Once all attributes and assets have been stored in the data management system, you can create print publication elements, e.g. headlines, images and texts, in the PIM or MDM system and add them to specific products. If you are already using PIM or MDM solutions, you should find out what options they offer for print output.

You can use systems such as Contentserv, Akeneo, Stibo Systems and censhare for the print extension. Others facilitate the creation of print media via a connector.

However, an important feature that your PIM system should definitely offer is a simple integration with Adobe InDesign. This is the only way your design teams can properly use product information for the creation of print media.

Step 2: Prepare the Templates

Once you have decided on a system or an extension of your existing solution, you should analyse your existing print materials.

The first step is to compile a list of all the print products you want to develop templates for. Based on this, you can determine which product data and assets you are already making use of. Next, you question the existing data structure and think about whether further data is required.

Asking yourself customer-centric questions can help you think from the perspective of your target groups, making it possible to identify specific requirements for different use cases, which can then be used to define the templates.

Checklist for New Templates

How many different templates do we need?
How often should they be updated?
How should all the templates fit together?
What features should there be (e.g. placeholders or page breaks)?

Step 3: Create the Templates

As soon as the basic framework for your templates is in place, a rough layout can be created in InDesign based on your design concept or corporate identity (CI). You can then test the individual use cases on the template.

These facilitate the layout of complex print products and ensure that the design of your materials is consistent. A distinction is made between product templates and page templates. With product templates, you can predefine layout properties so that, for example, product presentations within one category are uniform. The individual assets from the PIM system are automatically assigned to layout elements, such as image frames, text frames or tables in InDesign.

Page templates, by contrast, consist of several product templates and specify their arrangement on a page. Once the relevant templates have been defined, the subsequent output of print media is accelerated by means of automated placement.

Step 4: Benefit from Appealing Print Materials

Once all the preparations have been made, you can create personalised materials and send them to your target groups. Database publishing offers you new opportunities to expand your omnichannel strategy and differentiate yourself from your competitors. Integrating print marketing into your digital strategy allows you to further optimise your operations.

Actively seek feedback from your target groups and use this knowledge to continuously adapt your print materials. You can also improve the process itself by continuing to train your employees in using the system.

Database Publishing: Environmental Footprint

Print is becoming a luxury, especially due to the shortage of natural resources and comprehensive sustainability initiatives. However, print and environmental responsibility do not necessarily have to contradict each other.

On the contrary, truly targeted information and an appealing design that really captures the interest of your target groups are becoming more and more relevant.

In addition, sustainable and more recyclable materials such as glassine and paper made from corn starch help reduce the environmental footprint.

Database Publishing: It Is All About the Right Software!

If your company wants to make your print mailings more efficient, the first step is to select a software solution that fits you best. The »Selecting PIM and DAM Software – Product Information and Digital Asset Management Systems and Providers Compared« white paper provides you with an overview of how to set up an efficient product data structure and discusses the range of features offered by different PIM solutions.