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| Printing Impressions - November 01, 2006 |
Leveling the playing field for small- to mid-sized businesses to market their
services like the Fortune 500 big boys—at affordable prices—was the goal
for executives at Cross Media. The result, a 40 percent growth spike in
2005, proves that Cross Media’s vision had merit. Like its name implies,
Cross Media is leading the way in a new hybrid industry where printing,
creative and marketing services have merged and a return on investment
(ROI) is key.
Cross Media, based in Dallas, was founded in 1993. Its 85 employees
support a client roster that includes well-known names like Hewlett-
Packard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sara Lee, HBO, EDS and Texas
Instruments−as well as an even longer list of small- and mid-sized
companies.
In 2003, Cross Media´s president, Jeff Bradford, realized that innovation
would drive company growth. After some market research, he came to the
conclusion that clients preferred to deal with as few vendors as possible. In
addition, layoffs were forcing marketing professionals to get more done with
fewer resources−and upper management was demanding measurable
ROI on marketing programs to justify expenses.
Bradford also decided that measurable marketing ROI could be provided to
clients by leveraging technology that, in the past, had only been accessible
to larger companies. Armed with this information, Bradford hired Mike
Tobias, a technology veteran with more than 25 years of experience, as
CEO. Together, they created the new vision for Cross Media.
Moving Into New Areas
In January 2005, after spending 18 months building a technology
infrastructure, Cross Media began offering marketing implementation (from
research to advertising to lead tracking to direct mail) and graphic design
services, as well as promotional products. The company´s projections
proved to be just what the market needed and, in 2005, Cross Media
experienced a 40 percent increase in revenues, growing from $10 million to
$14 million.
Cross Media is a solution-driven organization, committed to implementing
marketing and sales strategy from concept to distribution,"Bradford
explains.
The company´s focus is on helping customers decrease their costs and |
- Marketing implementation services
- Automated marketing campaigns
- Collateral management
- Integrated print manufacturing
- Promotional products
- Lead generation
- Regional printing plants with offset and digital capabilities and full
bindery services
- In-house mailing and fulfillment
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Cross Media´s history is rich with entrepreneurial spirit while receiving no
outside funding. From humble beginnings with three employees and 1,600
square feet of leased office space, the company has grown to multiple
locations with more than 50,000 square feet of combined space.
"Our business philosophy is to focus on people first and the business will
come,"Tobias maintains."If we serve others first, treat customers better than
they ever expected and help people live a purpose-driven life, then the rest will
take care of itself.
"We live by our core values and strive to reach goals that are bigger than any
one person."Those core values, he adds, include celebrating teamwork and
respect for the individual, excellence in execution, consistent integrity and
innovative thinking.
Cross Media offers a comprehensive solution that allows marketers to
outsource the execution of their marketing campaigns.
"Our integrated print manufacturing produces printed collateral, relevant direct
mail− literally any printed piece our customers need to help them in their
businesses,"Bradford points out."And Cross Media´s promotional products
adds three-dimensional marketing solutions for business and marketing
campaigns that offer innovative ideas to generate intrigue and awareness."
Tobias feels that its marketing services is the area that will continue to see the
most growth, especially for lead generation, automated campaigns, collateral
management, lead tracking and ROI analysis.
"Most companies take a mixed approach, balancing mass and direct communications strategies," the CEO explains."And while they may not be happy with the response rates for most direct marketing campaigns, there are a number of factors pushing them to adopt even more and broader direct marketing strategies than ever before.
"First, the number of communications methods used by consumers is
blossoming rapidly,"he continues."Direct marketing of the past was achieved
only by mail. Today, companies can also leverage e-mail, text messaging,
voice mail and more. Since target customers may actually enjoy and prefer to
receive marketing messages via one of these methods, the opportunity for
improved returns increases."
The company execs attribute Cross Media´s success to a very aggressive
sales strategy, driven by 15 salespeople in the Dallas/Fort Worth market alone, as well as the company´s ability to produce custom marketing applications for
projects like lead generation. Recently, Hewlett-Packard hired Cross Media to
design and develop a trade show lead generation and awareness program
that included a custom roulette wheel, bingo cards, gift cards, promotional
items, banners, posters and more.
Cross Media recently installed a Kodak Nexpress digital press and Kodak
Prinergy front-end workflow, as well as a new platesetter and proofers for its
Dallas printing plant. The Fort Worth facility acquired a mail shop and another
Kodak digital press to round out its capabilities. A new plant is also opening in
Houston
Expecting to Expand
The company reports it is also looking at UV printing presses and
technologies to bolster its marketing implementation services. There are
plans in place to expand into other cities around the country.
Bradford promises to continue to get the word out about Cross Media and how
it can help its clientele decrease their marketing and graphic communications
costs, boost response rates by utilizing all media channels, and track what
they are doing right and wrong.
"Our strong company values and workforce are at the core of our growth,"he
concludes."Cross Media employees also strive to give back to the community
by serving many non-profit organizations. We believe in serving others first and
in being servant leaders."PI |
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