Biznik - Business Networking

Contact Us


Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Book

Free Social Media for Business ebook

Social Media for Small Business
John Jantsch Marketing Coach
About John Jantsch

Recent Posts

Entire Archive

  • Categories

  • Categories
    • Fri Sep 05, 2008

    VistaPrint’s Blue Ocean Strategy

    Share

    VistaPrintVistaPrint has been around on the web long enough for most people to know something about them.

    Their success has not been an overnight sensation, but it is a great story. I got the chance to hear VistaPrint founder Robert Keane talk about his story and influence that the book Blue Ocean Strategy had on the creation and implementation of his business plans.

    VistaPrint, once known primarily as a low cost (cheap or free) provider of business cards has morphed into one of the largest providers of marketing tools for small business in the world.

    VistaPrint’s services now include graphic design, copywriting, and creative services. In addition to offering a full compliment of printed materials, such as business cards, brochures and stationary, they also now offer signage, promotional items, websites and direct mail services.

    If you haven’t looked at VistaPrint in a while, I would suggest having another look. They have assemble an impressive small business offering.

    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    Like this post? Share it with others
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • del.icio.us
    • Sphinn
    • Google Bookmarks
    • StumbleUpon
    • Digg

    Posted by: John Jantsch on Sep 05, 08 | 5:05 am
    Category: Marketing Materials | Tags: , , ,

    Comments
    « | Home | »
    • I agree. I've been a very satisfied VistaPrint customer for a long time and have always been satisfied with everything I've purchased from them, including thousands of business cards.

      It has been great watching them expand the number of products and services they offer.

      Act on your dream!

      JD
    • Randi
      Vista Print is an incredibly affordable solution for small business owners. I have grown my handcrafted jewelry and home decor e-commerce site with a huge variety of their products. My customers are always blown away by my marketing materials and I'm not telling how much it really "didn't" cost!!! I wouldn't buy from anyone else!
    • Vista Print has worked well for me but it is the Blue Ocean Strategy book that caught my attention. Great to see the connection and will revisit the Vista site with a completly different outlook.

      The book was great. I clicked on the link and Amazon showed I purchased it in Apr, 2005. I have used it for several presentations and launch guidelines for new products. It may be the best Product Launch book, I have ever read. The only thing it was missing was a little Duct Tape for building a sustainable marketing system.
    • Beware of the ghost customer service. I'm from Italy I bought some product (about 100 dollars) that where never shipped to me. Despite many and many attempt to contact the customer care asching for money back (or at least a resend) the never answer to any of many solicitation. I's sad to say but I'll never go to Vistaprint ... I've bought somenthing from MOO
    • Hey John, Great post. For a minute there, I thought you had become a salesman for VistaPrint. Love, love, love the Blue Ocean Strategy concept and wish more Six Figure Moms would call on BOS when reinventing themselves and their careers to fit their lives. The concept is simple yet brilliant. Thanks for reminding us all to think outside of the box about our competitive options!

      Angie A. Swartz, Founder
      Six Figure Moms Club
    • Hi John

      I have been purchasing my stationary from VistaPrint for at least a year and have never been let down yet. The quality is good, the printing is professional, the prices are amazing. No one believes me when I say that I can get most of my products free.

      With the copywriting, graphic design, and other marketing tools, they are just an all around great place to do business.

      Kathleen
    • I've had bad experiences with VistaPrint and customer service. If you Google Vistaprint, you'll see a mountain of bad press from consumers who have been either treated poorly or who claim VistaPrint began charging them monthly for ghost services they never signed up for. Perhaps they have turned things around... I'm really not sure. But I would be wary in recommending them.
    • I myself am thinking about printing and have been looking around at different printing companies. I will definitely look into VistaPrint as so many great things have been said. Thank you for the tip!
    • I bought something from them once. The qualify was quite poor (the business cards were very thin) and the upselling was absolutely relentless. IIRC you had be quite careful to untick all the extra boxes or you would end up with all sorts of stuff you didn't want. Never again.
    • We support Small and Midsize business accross the country. Wtih the help of VistaPrint, we have been able to supply our resellers with collateral that have been said to be better than what "IBM" provides the resellers. VPs is fast and because it's so affordable, we've been able to support our reseller channel very effectivly - which means a lot to us, beacuase we are also a Small Busines.
    • Mark
      After using VistaPrint for several years, I decided to try www.paperdirect.com for business card and letterhead needs, and couldn't be happier with them. The customer service is excellent, prices are competitive, and I found their product selection more to my liking. Also picked up some Christmas post cards for the family.
    • I think VistaPrint focused on the create dimensions of the blue ocean value canvas, and seem to have had great results. They also seem to have found an attractive niche or buyer group to try to "own", and have sought to dominate this space in the market.

      VistaPrint can also begin to seek to tie the demographics of their individual and small business customers and how these customers use VistaPrint services to buying behaviors and habits.

      If you are interested in a variety of blue ocean strategy cases for larger and smaller businesses along with how to own marketspace go to: www.mikebolden.com.
    • Rich
      Vistaprint is terrible. I used their template for a custom designed business card. Three times I went back and forth with their customer service. All three times Vistaprint screwed up the job. Don’t waste your time and money. Vistaprint is absolutely the worst.
    blog comments powered by Disqus


    Popular Searches


    Small Business Marketing Magazines


    Free - No strings attached - Business and Marketing Magazine Subscriptions

    Target Marketing
    CRM
    Internet Retailer
    eWeek
    Electronic Publisher
    Print Media and more


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
    Attribution-NonCommercial
    -NoDerivs 2.5 License    .
    Subscribe



    Subscribe to the Duct Tape Podcast
    subscribe via iTunes

    Duct Tape Marketing System

    Duct Tape Marketing System

    Duct Tape System - Complete small business marketing system in 14 workbooks and 4 audio CDs.


    Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing

    Marketing Plan Pro

    The Duct Tape Marketing System now comes as Marketing Planning Software. We teamed up with Palo Alto Software, the makers of Business Plan Pro, to bring you the most powerful small business marketing plan tool going. More info here . . .


    Referral Flood by John Jantsch

    Referral Flood by John Jantsch

    Referral Flood - How to create a flood of new business without spending one dime on advertising - by John Jantsch

    Subscribe to my weekly newsletter

    First Name * Last Name * Email *

    Connect Socially


    Small Business Products

    Coaching Services

    Workshops/Speaking

    Blog

    Articles

    Community

    Classifieds

    Resources