A printer and several CDs: this is all one needs to start a business with presentation CDs for firms. Though in Romania this activity is considered just a related service provided by web-design firms, people creating presentation CDs are confident their popularity will increase in the following years.
"The idea of starting this business came to me when I discovered, on the Internet, foreign firms that provided this type of service, firms that also explained the need to have presentation CDs and their benefits compared with other promotion methods," recalls Sorin Murar, manager of Impact Design, Alba Iulia, who was 35 when he decided to start this business.
Initial investments amounted to 800 euros and were used to acquire the necessary software for the creation of CDs and an office printer able to print on the surface of CDs. "The respective printer can only fulfil orders of 100-200 pieces; it is not competitive for bigger orders. We tried to limit initial investments until we could be certain this type of business would have a future on the Romanian market, as well (...)," explains Murar.
Impact Design is mainly a provider of advertising graphic design and photography services, and also offers presentation CDs.
Tariffs for the creation of a presentation CD largely depend on complexity, customer requirements or the volume of data. The company receives around 305 orders per month for presentation CDs, but generally from customers asking for other services, as well.
For the time being, Romanian customers prefer the classical promotion methods, and are still reluctant to using presentation CDs. Murar believes this type of business is profitable provided that one should also offer additional advertising services and have a highly-skilled marketing employee able to explain the advantages of this promotion method.
Dan Teodorescu from Dig
