moonlitecreative.com

When I started doing freelance design 15 years ago, most new clients requests were: “I need a logo, business card, and brochure.” These days, the initial requests I get from clients are typically more along the lines of, “I need a logo and a website set up.” Half the time printed materials are a complete after thought – if they are requested for development at all.

My how times have changed! Or have they?

The fact is, as wonderful as the web is, sometimes you still need to get good, quality, printed marketing pieces in front of your clients. But in these tough economic times, many of the small businesses and non-profit clients I work with think they can’t afford to do printing projects. However, with a little leg work and/or a better understanding about how printing processes work, there are ways to make printing more affordable.

1. Broker Your Own Printing – As recently as a few years ago, many local printers provided me with exceptional broker rates I could mark up significantly and still provide my clients with a great deal on printing. However, the print market is currently way too competitive for many printers to give out broker rates below what they charge their regular customers. So although I can still get fair pricing for clients, it isn’t typically currently due to any special broker rates I get, but more often due to me employing many of the strategies I’ll be discussing in my next points, which cost-conscious business owners and non-profits could utilize as well. So, if you want to save the markup from your designer or print broker, I’d suggest trying some of these same strategies. Any reputable designer will work with the printer you choose to make sure the final piece they send on for you meets your printer’s standards as part of their design services – regardless of whether or not they actually broker the printing for you. So you don’t need to worry about all the technical details. By brokering the piece you are saving yourself a mark up by taking on the responsibilities of obtaining quotes, getting the proper print specs to your designer, reviewing/signing off on proofs, financing the project through the printer, and working out any potential problems that may occur.

2. Consider Doing Shorter Digital Runs When You Can – Due to printing industry changes, this is also different advice from what I used to tell clients. In the “old days” it was hardly ever economical to print anything under a run of at least 1,000 because everything had to be printed on an offset printing press. The bulk of the cost for offset printing is involved with all the pre-press and press prep time. Therefore, the cost difference between a large and small offset run is typically minimal. Digital printing bypasses many of these offset printing steps, so you can often run very small runs affordably. The quality of digital printing has greatly improved over the years and while it is still not a true match for the higher quality of offset printing, most untrained eyes can not tell the difference. One thing to note about digital printing however is that it is not always cheaper. Often times the price is actually higher once you get into larger quantities. If your printer has the capability to run both digital and offset jobs, ask them to quote your job for you both ways to learn where your price break lies.

3. Plan Ahead And Get End-Run Space – Not only will you often get penalized with expensive rush charges if you wait until the last minute to print your project, but you can also often be rewarded with planning far out in advance if you are able to get smaller projects run at the end of a similar larger run. Offset printers often have extra blank space on their press sheets that would otherwise just go to waste. Therefore, some printers are willing sell it at a discount. To get an end-run rate though you will often have to be VERY flexible about print stocks, quantities and timelines.

4. Find Out When Your Local Printer’s “Off Season” Is – In my neck of the midwest, printers are typically very slow during the summer time. If you ask for a quote and get your project printed at most midwest printers in early August you are more likely to get a better deal than you will in December when printers here are typically swamped and therefore bid projects higher.

5. Try Using An Online Printer for Standard Projects and Stick to Local Printers for More Custom Projects – Many online printers offer some incredible deals on printing. They can afford to do this because they run the same types of standard projects on the same stock together. They typically don’t do customized projects and take all orders over the internet. This method of operation reduces their waste, prep time and sales rep salaries, and also allows them mass order stock. All of these factors allows them to charge less than many local printers on simple projects like business cards, postcards, letterhead, etc. However, not all online printers are created equal. While many are very reputable and I’ve personally had great success using many of them, others have inferior printing, poor customer service, and such high shipping rates that it makes the cost almost as high as if you used a local printer and kept your business local. So make sure you ask for samples of an online printer’s printing before using one to assure that the quality is there. Also check to make sure that they don’t do things like imprint their logo on your project which makes your project look very cheap and unprofessional. Also, make sure you work with a good print designer and don’t try to submit your own files to an online printer unless you have the proper software and truly know how to handle things like bleeds and image resolutions because another downside to using online printers is there typically is no hard-copy proof involved or interaction from a pre-press department to trouble shoot your job for you like you will typically receive from a local printer. Online printers generally run whatever you upload “as is” and you are likely to be stuck paying for it no matter how it turns out if the error is on your file set up. Additionally, almost all online of printers do only full-color process and/or digital printing, which produces a more unreliable color tone. So if you are flexible about how your color turns out, you’ll be fine going this route. But if you need to hit an exact shade of red for your brand identity, then you will need to get it spot printed with a local offset printer vs going the online printer route. Local printers are also much better to use if you need special stock, die cutting, or unique binding. And finally, if you are going to run a job like a newsletter monthly, you are likely to get a better deal through a local printer since they often take repeat projects into consideration with their bid and will often give you a better rate for it, whereas online printers typically charge the same price no matter how often you run your project.

6. Run Multiple Similar Projects on Together on a “Gang Run” – You can incorporate the same strategy online printers use with their “gang runs” by creating one of your own. If you create say a postcard, business card, and a rack card all using the same stock, ink coverage, and quantities on both sides and run them all at the same together through your local printer, you are likely to negotiate a much better price per piece than you would with running each project separately at different times. Work with your printer to get details on what sizes and projects you could run together to get this type of rate if they will offer one.

7. Combine Your Printing With Other Businesses – If you can’t afford to do your own postcard mailing to promote your services, consider partnering with a couple of other businesses and cross promote your services together on one print project. Not only will you save money on printing, but if it’s for a mailing, you’ll save on postage as well. Additionally, recipients are often times more likely to hang on to a piece that promotes more than one business. If you can’t combine your products or services into one piece, try creating a “gang run” as described in #6 with your associates and try to negotiate running everyone’s separate projects together for a group discount.

8. Get Help Thinking Outside the Box – Instead of running a trifold brochure for your business, consider if a 2-sided, 1 panel rack card could serve the same purpose. Or determine whether or not you really need that custom-sized piece or if could you settle on a more standard-sized piece for a better rate. Working with knowledgeable designers and print reps can help you generate ideas like these to get your message across in affordable format options.

Have any ideas of your own on ways you’ve saved money on your printing you would like to share here with the small business owners and non-profits who follow this blog?

No related posts.