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By Joanne Gore, president and chief strategist, Joanne Gore Communications

As marketers strive to cut through digital clutter, print finishing providers and suppliers have found themselves uniquely positioned at the intersection of creativity and technology. Digital embellishments are transforming the world of print, opening new opportunities for marketers, brands and, most importantly, the providers who bring these stunning visual experiences to life. For FSEA members, mastering the art of marketing these embellishments effectively can become a powerful differentiator, driving profitability and customer loyalty.

Capturing Attention in a Crowded Market

In today’s crowded marketing landscape, capturing and keeping consumer attention is crucial. Print, with its tactile, tangible qualities, continues to stand out. According to Keypoint Intelligence ¹, print marketing still holds significant influence, with 82% of consumers trusting print ads when making purchase decisions. But with digital marketing’s pervasive reach, how can print maintain and even grow its relevance? The answer lies in digital embellishments.

Why Digital Embellishments?

Digital embellishments – such as foil stamping, embossing, spot UV coatings and holographic effects – aren’t new to the print industry. However, up until recently, achieving these effects often involved significant set-up costs, longer production times and limited flexibility, making them inaccessible or impractical for short-run or customized print jobs.

Today’s advancements in digital embellishment technology have changed the game. Modern embellishments make it affordable and practical to produce intricate designs, even in smaller quantities. These enhancements elevate ordinary ink-on-paper prints, creating memorable tactile experiences that consumers find irresistible.

Understanding the Value: Profitability and Differentiation

Research from Taktiful ² highlights that 90% of print providers that invested in digital embellishment technology express optimism about their business’s future. The reason is simple – embellishments boost profitability through higher margins and differentiate print providers from competitors. By creating premium finishes, providers not only offer visually appealing products but also attract higher-value projects, often commanding premium pricing.

The challenge many providers face is effectively communicating this value proposition to potential clients, instead relying on the value props that resonate with themselves. Let’s dive into some proven strategies that can be leveraged to market digital embellishments and amplify their impact.

10 Strategies to Market and Sell Digital Embellishments

1. Encourage Print Petting
Embellishments inherently are tactile, so providing sample kits enables prospects to physically experience the work firsthand. Allowing them to touch and interact with metallic foils, raised textures and holographic elements encourages “print petting” – a subconscious interaction that not only enhances the likelihood of purchase, but also embeds the associated brand into memory. Help buyers recognize the potential impact that the power of touch has on their own brands.

2. Emphasize Customization and Versatility
Digital embellishments offer versatility across multiple substrates, from paper and cardstock to plastic and metalized films. Emphasize the ability to customize solutions tailored to specific client needs, highlighting how embellishments can enhance branding, differentiate products and improve shelf appeal.

3. Promote Sustainability
Sustainability remains a powerful decision-making factor. According to Gartner ³, 73% of marketers report that sustainability initiatives have become critical to their brand strategies. Digital embellishments can support sustainable marketing through eco-friendly inks, recyclable substrates and streamlined production processes, eliminating the waste commonly associated with traditional methods.

Position services as not only visually striking but also environmentally responsible. Highlight options like digital foils or recyclable materials and demonstrate how the embellishment processes align with the clients’ sustainability goals.

4. Leverage Online Presence and Digital Portfolios
Although a company specializes in physical print, its digital presence matters. A lot. Websites should showcase a comprehensive digital portfolio highlighting successful projects as well as “behind the scenes” footage of how the experience was brought to life. Show off the company’s work at every opportunity, with vivid imagery, client testimonials and sample options.

5. Bundle Embellishments with Additional Services
Position oneself as an essential strategic partner by bundling embellishments with design, printing, finishing and fulfillment, and providing comprehensive solutions that streamline procurement processes for clients. Then communicate with the audience how this will help them most, and move the relationship out of the “supplier” zone and into the “partner” zone.

6. Educate Clients
Most buyers have no idea of the capabilities and benefits of digital embellishments. Offering educational content through webinars, workshops and informative articles positions businesses as thought leaders. Highlighting industry-specific applications – such as embellished packaging for luxury brands or tactile labels for health and wellness products – helps clients visualize the practical advantages. Open houses are great ways to show off the company’s capabilities – and the unforgettable power of embellished print.

7. Create Interactive Experiences
Interactive print technologies such as QR codes, augmented reality (AR) and NFC (Near Field Communication) tags enhance the already powerful impact of embellishments. These interactive elements enable brands to bridge the gap between physical prints and digital marketing, delivering enhanced value and measurable engagement. Don’t be shy; encourage customers to get phygital [term combining the words physical and digital].

8. Highlight Accessibility and Universal Design
Globally, over 2.2 billion people have vision impairments, with annual productivity losses estimated at $411 billion ⁴. Emphasizing accessibility through digital embellishments – like raised textures, tactile symbols or braille – offers tremendous value. Brands can demonstrate inclusivity by helping visually impaired or mobility-challenged consumers engage safely and meaningfully with products, expanding market reach and positively impacting brand perception.

9. Focus on Emotional and Haptic Memory
Sensory experiences drive strong brand recall. Digital embellishments such as embossing, debossing, textured finishes and metallic foils stimulate haptic memory, which significantly enhances recall. Highlighting this benefit when engaging with clients can underscore embellishment offerings as powerful marketing tools.

10. Collaborate with Industry Influencers and Partners
Partnering with respected industry influencers, designers and strategic partners can significantly enhance market reach. Jointly promote embellished projects through webinars, case studies and social media collaborations. Influencer endorsements provide credibility and boost marketing efforts, showcasing the provider’s capabilities to a broader, targeted audience.

Implementing Digital Embellishments: Real-World Examples

There’s no shortage of industries benefiting from embellished print. Here are just a few examples:

Luxury packaging: Metallic foils and textures position products as premium, justifying higher price points and reinforcing luxury branding.
Health and wellness brands: Raised textures and braille enable visually impaired consumers to safely identify and interact with products, thereby expanding market accessibility and inclusivity.
Food and beverage brands: Embellished labels and packaging elevate product presentation, enhance shelf appeal and differentiate offerings in highly competitive markets, ultimately driving consumer interest and sales.

Tackling Common Objections

When marketing embellishments, providers often face concerns about cost, complexity and integration into existing workflows. Cost concerns typically come up because of assumptions about traditional embellishments, which involve substantial upfront investments. Address this by emphasizing digital embellishments’ reduced set-up costs, flexibility and scalability for small and customized runs.

Ease the customer’s mind by clearly communicating the provider’s production capabilities, timelines and ease of integration with existing print processes. Offer educational resources, use cases and demonstrations that clearly illustrate how embellished print enhances marketing strategies, increases sales, improves customer engagement and heightens brand recall.

Conclusion: A Future-Ready Approach

Digital embellishments represent more than just a technology trend – they’re transforming the way consumers experience print. As an FSEA member and reader of PostPress, embracing these advancements positions businesses as innovative industry leaders, creating immersive, memorable experiences that translate to deeper brand connections, increased profitability and sustained growth.

Embrace these strategies to amplify the impact, captivate audiences and ensure businesses thrive in the future of print.

Joanne Gore is a powerhouse marketer on a mission to help the print industry sell more print. As the president and chief strategist of Joanne Gore Communications, she leads a global team specializing in B2B marketing strategies that drive awareness, engagement and growth. Contact her at www.joannegorecommunications.com.

Resources:

Keypoint Intelligence, Fairfield, New Jersey, www.keypointintelligence.com
Taktiful, Melbourne, Florida, www.taktiful.com
Gartner, Stamford, Connecticut, www.gartner.com
World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.who.int

By Dianna Brodine, vice president, editorial, PostPress

In the spring of 2024, two new personalities emerged on the print finishing scene: Stevie Varnish and Brycie Boxes. Those in the industry may know them as Steven Roberts, president, and Bryce Poremba, sales executive, of Elite Print Finishing (EPF), Burlington, North Carolina. Focused on print and packaging solutions, EPF offers foil stamping, embossing, diecutting, round edging, laminating and more on its quest to assist its customers from packaging development to final assembly.

An industry powerhouse for more than 30 years, EPF is adding a little swagger to finishing with its Elite Box Boyz social media presence. Launched in March 2024, Stevie Varnish and Brycie Boxes are bringing the fun in every Instagram post – while also educating customers and attracting new prospects. Roberts and Poremba took time from their busy schedules as social media influencers (and their full-time EPF responsibilities) to answer questions from PostPress.

How did the Box Boyz marketing campaign get its start?

Roberts: I’m going to give 100% of that credit to Brycie Boxes. About 2 ½ years ago, he came to me and said he wanted us to start doing videos and online marketing to put ourselves out there and show off what we do. But, I’m the old school guy, and I told him that might be the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. Then, about a year after he made this suggestion, we got a referral for a new customer that was strictly from word-of-mouth – someone we hadn’t worked with but who still knew what we did had sent us a potential customer. I started thinking about that, and I went back to Bryce to talk more about his idea for marketing. I told him it might be the smartest thing I’ve ever heard!

Poremba: What inspired this idea is that we live in an industry that says print isn’t what it used to be, and embellishments aren’t what they used to be. And we can choose to accept that, or we can figure out how to play in today’s world, and a big part of today’s world is marrying social media marketing with what we do on the machines. There is definitely a place in marketing and branding that involves an online presence and media marketing, and there’s definitely a part of it that marries with print. How can we figure out a way to make them work together with the ultimate goal of selling products or services? And the other part of developing this social media presence, kind of selfishly for us, is that we get to meet a lot of really cool people – whether it’s at FSEA events or PRINTING United or going all over the country meeting with customers. There are some really cool things that we want to document. This is our career. This is our story. This is our life. And how cool is it to be able to look back?

Who is involved in creating the social media posts and videos?

Poremba: Neither one of us has any experience in social media marketing or building videos. I mean, we know how to put CMYK on a sheet, add gold foil on the top, diecut it, fold it and glue it. That seems pretty easy to us, but when it comes to understanding the algorithms of the Instagram space and what people want to see, we wanted to bring somebody in that could help us with that. We looked at hiring a couple of different people, but in the end, we had my fiancée, who is in the graphic design and social media business, interview for the position. Cam helps us to stay on top of our social media in general, from making sure the videos we’re doing are relevant to current events to editing the videos and making sure we have enough content scheduled. We have input on what we want to post and how we want to be perceived, but we couldn’t do the behind-the-scenes stuff without her.

Roberts: The video editing is the key. Sometimes, when we record the videos, I’m thinking what we’ve done is trash. Then, I see what she’s made it into and think, “We’re really good!” But, we’re not really good. Cam’s really good.

What does the planning process look like?

Poremba: We offer a service to printing and packaging companies, but we didn’t want every video to show embellishment techniques and finished packaging. That’s a little dry. So we struggled to figure out how to market ourselves as people – as personalities. People want to work with people that they know or perceive as people they would want to know. So we had to figure out how to build that presence and stay true to ourselves. We decided to focus on the things we love – sports, comedy, traveling, golf and the people we meet in the business. To make that happen, we are in weekly conversations. One of our big goals now is to marry videos with current events. If the NBA playoffs are happening, how can we develop an entertaining video about the playoffs? We use the calendar to lead our video content, because, in a sense, it makes our posts relevant to everybody.

What investments have been made in the Box Boyz brand?

Poremba: The cool part about social media marketing is that there are so many successful people who have zero investment other than time. It just requires time and consistency. We did hire somebody to help us, but anyone can build what we’ve built if they’re willing to put the time in. It may take longer for some than others, and it’s taken us a lot more time than we thought, because we don’t have enough time day-to-day to put in. But, there’s not much financial investment that has to be made to jump into the space.

Roberts: We’re building a brand with the Box Boyz, and it’s still in its birthing stage as we see where it goes. Do we take it into products? Merchandise? A podcast? So far, the biggest investment, besides time, has been merchandise, like shirts and hats, or giveaways, like the basketball goal we gave away in March.

What kinds of engagement are the Box Boyz seeing?

Poremba: We get comments daily from people who tell us they loved a video, but it’s so tough when you get into this space, because it’s very humbling. You can’t become obsessed with counting the number of followers, because, ultimately, we don’t run a business that makes our income based on views and likes. But naturally, as humans, we get super excited when we gain a following after a tradeshow or have a video that’s really successful. I think the most exciting thing for me is that I’m able to constantly be in contact, through our posts, with clients or prospects I haven’t been able to see in a few months.

Roberts: Bryce and I were at a tradeshow recently – totally outside of our market space. We were walking down the aisle and someone saw the back of our Box Boyz jerseys that we were wearing. He said, “Box Boyz! I know you guys! I need to talk to you.” He had been watching our videos and wanting to have a conversation about a packaging application. People are paying attention, and that’s cool to see.

What advice would the Box Boyz give to someone wanting to build a social media presence?

Poremba: I believe in healthy competition, and there’s nothing better for all of us in the industry than getting foil stamping and UV coating in front of as many customers as possible. Social media is a great way to do that, and if someone is ready to jump into this, my advice is to be ready to dedicate some time to it. Stay true to your personality and your character. We’ve built these characters – Stevie Varnish and Brycie Boxes – and it’s been fun because it allows us to be a little bit more silly. We’re having fun, showing off our business and getting in front of clients by knowing what we love and sticking to it.

Roberts: Years ago, when I was looking at digital embellishment equipment for the first time, I told Jeff Peterson, the head of the Foil & Specialty Effects Association, that I was worried digital was going to crush those of us in the traditional packaging world. And he said it wasn’t going to crush us – it was going to make us more popular. He told me it was going to draw more attention to what we already were doing in foil stamping and embossing and these other types of processes, because the digital technology was going to make finishing more accessible to different types of products. And that’s what these videos can do. The more attention we draw to our industry, the better off we all will be. And listen, we can find something to do to make money always, but let’s try to have some fun while we’re doing it. That’s a big part of the Box Boyz, too.

Marketing Print Embellishments: Strategies to Amplify the Impact

Elite Box Boyz: Serious Business, Serious Fun