Printed materials are a necessary part of almost any business. In spite of the explosion in the number of print shop programs and other desktop publishing aids, experts say the technology and materials available from a top-notch printing service can make all the difference in the presentation and effectiveness of the materials a progressive company needs.
It’s no secret that successful service businesses are often built through word-of-mouth referrals, and printing services are no exception. “We build relationships with our customers, and we don’t just do one project,” said Gary Blaski, owner of Allegra Printing and Imaging in Schaumburg and Glendale Heights. “We try to understand their business and what they’re trying to accomplish with the materials they need.”
“This business is all about referrals,” said Sudhir Ravi, a consultant to the firm of TVP Color Graphics Inc. in Streamwood. “And before hiring a service, I believe an on-site visit to the plant is a must.”
Andy Olcott, vice president of sales and marketing for Booklet Publishing Co. Inc. in Elk Grove Village, suggests it’s important to interview a potential printing service to determine if it has an expertise in the product areas you need.
“You’ll get more for your money if the company is well-suited for the job,” Olcott said. “Our company, for instance, does not specialize in letterheads and envelopes. We can do it, but it’s expensive. You should request samples and talk about the services offered. The printer should tell you about the steps involved, and offer you ways to do the job that would fit your budget.”
Olcott says printing services offer more choices of services than some people expect.
“We do copyrighting, photography, desktop publishing, design, printing and binding,” he said. “Depending on the services needed, the price can vary widely.”
Olcott says four variables drive the cost of a project: the number of pieces, pages, colors and services required.
First, it’s an old rule that as the number of pieces goes up, the price per piece drops. “We can produce a two-color newsletter, including the design and graphics, and print it on a nice stock paper at a cost of around $1,200 to $1,300 for 1,000 (copies),” Blaski said. “But because most of the cost is in the setup and design, we could double (the number of copies) and the price would be just $300 to $400 more.”
Business cards, often the first item needed by a new business, is another example of quantity savings. Cindy Bieniek, president of Prism Corp., a printing service in Chicago, says her service “prints cards every day” and that despite the need for more sophisticated projects, demand for business cards remains high.
“Our basic rate is $20 to $30 for a black (ink) on white for 500 pieces,” she said. “All our cards are printed with raised letters and we don’t charge extra for that. If the order is doubled, the 500-piece cost of maybe $25 (will become) about $37.”
Ravi, however, cautions against stockpiling printed materials in hopes of lowering the price per piece. “That’s kind of the old way of doing things, the way it was done in the 1980s,” Ravi argues. “People once bought a lot of product, but today the `just-in-time’ method, where you place a call for something and get it in one or two days is the better way to market as we approach the millennium. It’s also cheaper in the long run.”
Ravi said that faster turnaround time is achieved through computer graphics and Internet downloading and because more companies have designers on staff who have worked with a printer in order to transfer designs back and forth.
Olcott says the number of pages significantly affects the cost of large projects.
“Paper costs on a large project can be as much as 25 percent of the job,” he said. “Paper is made at various price points. Choosing the right paper is one of the best ways to get the maximum value for your money.”
Blaski adds: “It’s a waste of money to be talked into an expensive stock paper. Often there are other ways to achieve a certain effect. Sometimes just a change in paper size or a design that better utilizes the paper’s space is all that is necessary.”
Color is the component where printing services truly shine, and Blaski says a lot of customers come to him because they are unhappy with copy stores. Bieniek says that two-spot and four-color are the two options used throughout the industry.
“All full-color pictures are made from various degrees of four primary colors: cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black,” Bieniek said. “Two-spot color is the other option. Customers can choose any two colors the printer has. We have 20 standard colors all the time.”
Costs for full-color triple that of spot color, Bieniek said, depending on the number of photos, pre-press work and scanning needed.
“All color photos you see in catalogs are made from four separate negatives, each in the four primary colors,” she said. “You can see from all the negatives why it’s a lot more work.”
Bieniek recommends that “sell sheets” (designed to sell one product) or manufacturers’ brochures should be produced in full color. Blaski said a single, one-sided, 8 1/2-by-11-inch glossy stock sheet in full color would cost $300 to $350 for 1,000 pieces.
Services provided by printing services are usually priced according to the job and are based on a number of considerations, the most important being time. For design work, Bieniek says $65 per hour is fairly standard in the industry. Another service, GBC binding (denoting General Binding Corp., the company that produces the binding machine) costs $3 to $5 for each copy of a 40- to 50-sheet booklet.
Both Ravi and Bieniek say that digital technology has produced faster, less expensive ways to bring a project to completion, but that clients who create their own designs need to be aware there are still many variables.
“You can’t create a full-color design in a word program and expect it will work,” Bieniek said. “You need to use a graphics package. And you have to know about working with either Mac or PC format computers.”
Here are some other tips about using a printing service:
– Besides visiting the plant, Ravi says to be aware of “back-end” costs that could appear after the job is completed. “It’s kind of like taking your car to a mechanic and the estimate doesn’t match the final cost,” he said. “Know what you’re paying for upfront.”
– Bieniek says you can save money by printing “gang runs,” where company stationery, envelopes, letterheads and brochures are all done at once. So-called “washup” charges assessed to clean presses of previously used colors cost $15 to $30 each time they’re needed.
– Blaski acknowledges the popularity of copy machines, but suggests that once the need for copies exceeds 100, it’s time to consider letting a professional printing service do the job. “We see lots of people who go to a copy store and aren’t satisfied,” he said. “Often, there’s not enough expert advice about the best way to go about producing something or using their computers. The designing information we offer is the service that’s requested most.”
– Many printing services also can help with marketing and distribution by offering access to mailing houses. “We can even target a mailing to particular households (with) a certain amount of annual income and steer our client’s business toward them,” Blaski said.
