Are you trying to reduce your printing costs? Whether it comes to leaflets, business cards, flyers or letterheads, print is still an essential part of many companies’ marketing strategies. However, it’s vital to reduce these printing costs for many reasons.
Studies demonstrate that 56% of customers perceive print to be the most credible form of marketing. While it is true that digital marketing is on the rise, it is still crucial to remember that if you want to gain the trust of your customers, you must create a mixed marketing approach.
As marketing becomes more complex for the business owner, it is necessary to save money as much as possible.
Here are some tips to help you reduce business printing costs.
Only print what is truly necessary
It might sound obvious, but many businesses fall into this trap of printing large amounts of materials before evaluating if they really need them. As a consequence, this results in stockpiling and wastage that could have been easily avoided. Printing fewer documents each time lets you capitalise on a campaign and optimise it for your next print batch, making your marketing strategy more efficient. You can also use a stock management system. Keep in mind that print has a shelf life. Even though printing another thousand items will only cost a fraction more, will you really use them, or will they just sit around gathering dust?
Find the right print provider
Finding the right print provider to manage all of the marketing print materials is essential, and definitely really worth shopping around. Look for a printing provider that works with customers and businesses similar to your own company, so that they are already familiar with the sort of projects you are after.
Batch print projects to save money
It is definitely worth it keeping all the printing under one roof so that you can reduce business printing costs. Aside from offering more attractive rates for existing clients, several print providers will give you a reduced rate per unit when printing larger amounts of each piece of collateral. Keep this in your mind when planning your printing for marketing materials, and ensure you have a chat with your account manager to discover what they can do for you.
Keep in mind document design
Aside from the design elements of each of the pieces of marketing collateral, it is also important to consider layout and size of the finished piece, for instance if you are about to print a large material such as an A1 printing piece. Ensure you check which sizes are more affordable for the print provider to reproduce. It is also worth thinking about whether you will need to printing on one side, or perhaps double-sided, which immediately increases the costs. The number of folds can affect the price too.
Be efficient when it comes to the usage of colour in printing
Creating a colour artwork is the most efficient way to print when it comes to value. With the developments of lithographic printing, it’s no longer effective for a printer to create separate printing plates for an individual colour.
Keep the data cleansed
If you are actually planning to carry out large direct mail-outs with printed materials, you want to ensure your data is as precise as possible before ordering your printing. This will drastically reduce the number of items returned to sender.
Utilise segmentation
Utilising customer data and insights to segment your audience will guarantee your mailings go to the correct receiver. Ensure you target mailings to audiences that are more likely to respond to this type of marketing strategy, and do not waste valuable resources on prospects who will simply throw it into the trash can.
Select your paper wisely printing
Think about the quality of the paper. A thick high-gloss finish could look great, however, is it truly necessary? As your print needs to be larger, reduce the weight and finish of the paper to enormously reduce printing costs. However keep in mind that this will have an impact on the overall feel the print gives to a potential prospect, so it is vital to weigh up the saving against the impression you are looking to convey.
Keep page counts
Printing more units will generate a reduction in the cost per unit, in case the original document has indeed more pages, the base cost per unit will actually be higher. So the optimal solution will be to have a large print work of a document with less pages.
Keep in-house printing to a minimum
You will unavoidably have certain documents which will need to be printed in the office, but it is worth setting some guidelines in place to guarantee that in-house printing is always kept to a minimum. Instead, try the local printing store.