BY KARA GEBHART
For more than 25 years, the name "Formscorp" has reflected the product line first offered by the Toledo, Ohio-based distributorship: traditional business forms. Today, Formscorp offers much more, including promotional products, bar coding and web site design. In fact, Russ Troyan, the company's president, is considering changing Formscorp's name to better reflect the distributorship's wide range of products and services.
Formscorp's success results from offerings that meet clients' changing needs, Troyan says. "That's how you survive 25-plus years," he says. As clients have requested more, Formscorp has provided more, including binders, books, brochures, manuals, promotional products, bar coding and system consulting, document management, and web site design. Often, these products and services are packaged to create complete programs for clients.
Flexibility is another key to Formscorp's success. Instead of offering customers prepackaged solutions, the company customizes them for each client. "We meet their needs, not ours," Troyan says.
Adjusting to Changing Needs
Twenty-five years ago, Formscorp almost exclusively offered unit sets, continuous forms and cut sheets. That wasn't enough. So five years into the business, Formscorp began increasing its appeal by offering commercial printing services. Troyan discovered the distributorship's client base needed "advertising-agency-quality media," but didn't like the high prices advertising agencies often charged. Troyan assembled a team of freelance copywriters and graphic artists to create the types of marketing pieces clients wanted.
In the 1980s, competing vendors began offering bar code systems in an attempt to gain more business from existing clients. This prompted Formscorp to begin offering bar coding and system consulting. According to Troyan, entering the bar code arena helped Formscorp differentiate itself from competing vendors. At first, Formscorp offered bar coded labels and supplies. "It became an interesting and valuable addition to our business," Troyan says. The firm soon added bar code equipment, software and consulting to its offerings.
Formscorp continues to increase its capabilities, offering products and services such as promotional products, direct mail, document management and the "digital file room" (its newest offering). Formscorp's digital file room is a software and scanning system that enables clients to archive, retrieve and distribute important documents quickly. According to Jolie Coffey, a partner at Formscorp, paper documents are scanned, then converted into storable, searchable computer images. These images then are archived onto a network or removable media such as CD-ROMs.
Serving as a One-Stop Shop
Formscorp aims to serve as a one-stop shop for its clients, including Image Integration Systems Inc. (IIS), a company that provides document management and imaging solutions. IIS has offices in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Colorado and Great Britain, and boasts high-profile clients such as Shell. Formscorp offers promotional products, banners, brochures and booths for IIS's many trade shows, as well as direct mail post cards, logo redesigns and web site designs.
To enhance its marketing muscle, IIS recently asked Formscorp to redesign its web site. At first, Troyan says, the request seemed odd--a high-tech company asking another for help with its site. But "it was the last thing they wanted to spend their time doing," he says. IIS wanted a web site that could reach new clients, inform existing ones of new services, tout the firm's awards and new accreditations, serve as a sales-presentation tool, and allow users to download and print IIS brochures. Troyan contacted his longtime friend, Phil Rupert, who has been designing promotional pieces for more than 20 years.
Rupert, who is versed in art and computer design, created a site with consistency. Each page of the site includes clouds in the background and a vignette form of the company's logo. The top of each page includes links to IIS products, information about the firm, a list of its customers, upcoming events, IIS employment opportunities and contact information. Visitors to the site can download company brochures, which also were designed by Rupert.
The 4-color brochures, like the web site, include the company's logo and clouds printed on each page. To create brand awareness, the same look appears on IIS' 4-color post cards, booths and banners.
Kara Gebhart, a freelance writer in Cincinnati, is a former assistant editor at Print Solutions. Email us your comments at bholt@printsolutionsmag.com.
Formscorp, a 25-year-old distributorship in Toledo, Ohio, redesigned Image Integration Systems Inc.'s web site. Formscorp also provided the client with a branded marketing program, including direct mail campaigns, brochures, banners, trade-show booth design, promotional products and logo redesign.
