Saving Money on that Printed Piece

The power of the printed word and personalized promotional direct mail pieces continue to grow. Direct Magazine just reported that printed material could cost a marketing department 1-4% of a company’s revenue. A few suggestions to assist with keeping the cost down (note postage increase was just announced for May2008)-
-Adjust the size of your printed piece to a common press size – using irregular designs, even if you are off ¼ inch will cost you money
-With over 40,000 printers in USA it important to research and negotiate with the printer that have the proper equipment and a history of dealing with jobs similar to yours.
-Coordinate printing with other departments in your company – awarding more work to one printer allows you more leverage
-Split up and evaluate each piece of the job, printing and distribution equates to half the
cost of the job, paper, the other half. You may be better supplying paper to the printer. Web sites such as www.paper.com has over 35,000 papers all at competitive pricing. They will ship directly to your printer.
-Consider a lighter weight paper if piece is to be mailed.
-Do not be afraid to work with a printer away from a major city; printers farther away are generally more economical and produce excellent work.
-Ask about the different types of printing –digital, offset, letterpress, and flexography all generate different results at different prices.
-Talk to several printers for competitive bids, remember, the cheapest bid may not produce the best results – but a minimum of 3 bids keeps everyone honest.