Posted by Chris Higgins on Mon, May 04, 2009 @ 08:25 AM
Brochure printing can be an expensive undertaking but not if you know the secrets to saving money. For brochure printing in small quantities, say 1500 or less, think digital and think savings.
Full color makes your brochure more effective, if you're making the investment in brochure printing think about your objective. Why are you creating this brochure; to promote your brand, to outline benefits of your product or service, to give instructions, to answer questions, to provide information, to create more revenue, to support sales efforts, to market your product or service? An attractive full color brochure can accomplish any of these goals and more, but remember the brochure itself can also say a lot about your company.
Before anyone reads a word of content your brochure sends a strong message. Make sure the message is, we're professional, we care about our brand, we care about the image we present, and we don't cut corners. Digital brochure printing allows you to create a brochure that sends this message at very reasonable cost.
Traditional offset brochure printing requires film and plates for each color. Unless you need a large quantity of brochures the cost of the film and plates can can significantly increase the per unit price of each brochure. With digital printing these costs don't exist allowing you to create a full color professional brochure without spending a bundle.
The next time you're involved in a brochure printing project that doesn't require large volume, remember the digital option and ask about it when requesting quotes. Not every printer has digital equipment so make sure to ask, is their quote based on offset printing or digital printing. If the answer is offset make sure to get a digital quote as well, chances are you'll save a lot of money on a high quality professional brochure.
Posted by Chris Higgins on Sun, Mar 29, 2009 @ 09:02 PM
Brochure printing can be an expensive endeavor particularly if you don't know some of the many ways to keep costs down. Keep the following secrets in mind the next time you're involved in a brochure printing project, or any printing project for that matter.
Work with an independent professional. Don't go to the local printer that produces your other printed products like business cards and stationary, unless you know they have the right equipment for your project. Instead work with an expert that can find the right equipment to produce your specific brochure printing project at the lowest cost.
The right equipment is key. The most important factor in keeping your costs down is producing your brochure on the right equipment. All print shops are interested in keeping their equipment busy, if you ask for a quote they'll give you a quote based on using their presses. They won't tell you that their equipment is not very efficient for the specific brochure printing project you have, or that the guy in the next town has a press that can run the job at twice the speed and lower cost.
An independent distributor or even a print broker doesn't have any equipment to keep busy and has no conflict of interest. They earn their money by matching your brochure printing project with the most efficient equipment that can produce your brochure at the lowest cost. Unless you're a professional print buyer working with an independent expert can provide big returns and ensure you get the quality and service you need at the lowest cost.
Press size is a perfect example of this concept. If your brochure printing project is four color on both sides of each page you want to find a press that can produce as many pages as possible in a single pass. If you have a 12 page brochure and can produce all 12 pages in a single press run the cost will be almost half of producing your brochure printing project on a press that can only produce 6 pages in a single pass. Essentially the job is produced in one press run instead of two.
Have your designer talk to the printer before starting the design. if you're working with a designer make sure they talk to the printer before they come up with the design. Most designers are focused on the creative marketing aspects of your brochure printing project, not the production details. A quick conversation with the production facility can ensure the designer understands the requirements of the production equipment and can create the design around those requirements. Taking this step in advance can save time and money by preventing last minute corrections to meet production requirements.
Page count matters. Understand how the number of pages impacts the production and the price. For example a 12 page 8 1/2 x 11" brochure is created by using three 11 x 17" inch sheets printed on both sides and folded over to create the 12 pages. If you create a 13 page brochure suddenly you have 3 blank pages. Understand this at the design stage and you'll save time and money instead of changing it after the design is well under way.
Pricing on brochure printing can vary within a wide range, understanding the secrets behind the costs can save you both time and money. Watch for our next installment Brochure printing secrets that save money volume 2 for more valuable secrets that will pay dividends on your next project.
Posted by Chris Higgins on Fri, Jan 30, 2009 @ 06:28 AM
If you're looking to save money on a brochure printing project, or any large printing project for that matter it pays to focus on the process. In 2006 Infotrends did a study that concluded for every $1 spent for printing there's as much as $6 spent in the process, therefore you can save a lot more by focusing on the entire process that you can by just focusing on the printing cost. See diagram below.
As you can see there are serious costs involved in the overall project that are often not looked at when asking the question how much will the brochure cost. if you really want to save money make sure you look closely at the following areas.
fulfillment and distribution - Once the brochure is complete where does it go and how do you get it there. Is it being mailed, warehoused, handed out one by one, or sent out in small boxes to numerous locations around the country?
Internal creative - how much time and resources are spent planning the project, are the right people involved, how can you make this process more efficient?
External creative - Are you using an advertising firm or graphic arts firm to do the design, are they charging by the hour or by by the project, have they consulted with the printer to understand the restrictions of the equipment used to produce the job? Have they talked to the printer to ask about possible ways to reduce the printing cost? Can the printer handle some of the layout at a much lower cost than the design firm?
Inventory obsolescence - what is the life of the finished product, should the job be produced in bulk or smaller runs to allow for changes, is traditional offset printing the best way to go or does digital make more sense?
Administrative - How much time is spent dealing with designers, gathering quotes, internal approvals, proofreading, design review, distribution instructions, Etc.
Warehousing - where are the brochures kept, do you have a proper storage facility or will it be outsourced, are you using expensive office space to store boxes of product, if the brochures are in storage do you have an electronic distribution system to easily enter requisitions, can you track where everything went so the cost can be applied properly?
Clearly there is far more cost in the process than the actual printing, according to Infotrends it's a factor of 6-1. If you really want to save money on brochure printing or any other large printing project, focus on the process and not just the printing cost.
Posted by Robert Higgins on Tue, Jan 06, 2009 @ 11:15 PM
It's so easy to find low cost print resources on the internet these days. Some simple printed items have become virtual commodities. Of course, items like business cards and postcards really are quite simple, in and of themselves. Even more complex products like brochures, flyers, and sell sheets, even multi page catalogs -- there are plenty of online print shops touting the lowest prices on many of these items. If you know exactly what you want, and can design it yourself, a quick web search will find you lots of choices -- way too many.
Sure, it's easy to save money on the hard dollar cost of any printed item as a stand alone piece. But what if your printed piece is only one component of a complete marketing campaign? What if you have a concept, but need professional input regarding the best way to design it? Have you thought through how it will be used after it's been designed, and produced? What about the costs involved before and after you produce it, such as: managing it after it's been produced? How will it be distributed? Who is the target recipient, and how will they experience it?
Let's say you want to do a small direct mail campaign. You might envision a cover letter, a flyer, and a response piece. All that will then go into an envelope for mailing. That's four separate pieces to your mailing, all of which must be printed separately, collected, collated, inserted into the envelope, and sealed closed. That's alot of handling. Is there a better way? Could you combine some or all of these components into a single printed piece that becomes its own single piece self mailer? An expert with an extensive resource base can get you the answer much faster. You'll end up saving money in many ways: By eliminating redundancies in design, gaining efficiencies in production, and insuring a more positive (and higher) response rate -- the list goes on.
The bottom line is that you hire an expert because they've spent years developing their expertise, and will help you to avoid common mistakes and traps. Not only will that save you money, a well executed program will bring in more leads, so you make you more money too.