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Printing In A Recession
Handy, easy to implement tips on how to reduce your printing spend - an annoying but necessary company overhead! PR9.NET October 15, 2009 - OK so the recession is still biting hard. Bottom lines are not a pretty sight and you are working desperately to increase your sales or reduce your overheads. Obvious overheads to target are energy costs, vehicles, mobiles, salaries, raw materials, etc… One overhead that can often be overlooked is printing. Printing maybe a relatively small overhead in comparison to the rest of your purchases but it's one that can fairly be audited and in many cases significantly reduced. Here's some easy to implement tips on how to save money on your printing spend… Is what you're printing of low volume? If so, consider digital printing instead of a traditional lithographic process… the quality has come an awful long way over the past 5 years and if you work with a printer with a new digital press you will notice very little difference in the quality. The savings can be huge - as much as half the price as lithographic printing, as there are no set up costs in comparison to the litho machines. A very rough guide is… is the value of the lithographic job less than £500? If so, get a digital quote to compare it to. Is the quantity less than 1,000? If so, get a digital printing quote. Like I said very rough but not a bad way of doing things. Consider using less finishing… Does it really need to be perfect bound, spot varnished, laminated or die cut? If it's well designed its often enough to let the creative do the talking as long as the printing quality is good then the finishing can in some cases be minimized. Maybe just a change in paper stock is enough…i.e. an uncoated stock is a little unusual and won't increase the cost. Consider different marketing techniques! – Do you even need to be printing anything…an email campaign has, on average, a lower per lead acquisition cost than say a direct mail campaign. Is your printing spend high i.e. over £20,000/year? Then consider working with print management companies and look at a free print audit. Times are tough and most print management companies will be prepared to undertake a free print audit to try and win your business. A decent one might be able to help you reduce that spend significantly simply by looking at your processes and what you are buying. Print Management companies are there to help you manage your printing and one of their aims will be to save you money. For any one off orders go to at least 3 printers and compare quotes, you will undoubtedly make savings and if it's a decent order don't be scared to negotiate! If you haven't got time or quite understand the printing process and you are spending more than 20k/year then I'd you to get some print management companies to pitch for the business. Bulk orders together – If you have a few orders place them at the same time. You can often achieve a saving as the printer maybe able to print them all together. Ensure you place the right job with the right printer – some printers are good at certain jobs so you may give a company a folder printing job but their machinery isn't really set up for it so it might be inefficient and hence expensive. Again this is where a print management companies can really help you they know who best to place each job and even with their margin will save you money. Look at Ecommerce/Online printers – If you have a fairly generic order, for instance 5000 6pp DL leaflets then try an ecommerce printer… they are all about cheap printing and their quality is just as good as other printers. You'll probably here rumours the quality is poor compared to a normal printer but the printing processes are exactly the same, the reason they offer cheap printing is because they offer fairly basic styles and you must pay upfront and the service is a little "no thrills" Also they're often not known for their quick printing so in many cases be prepared to wait or pay a premium. Finally there's more to printing than cost, it's about schedules, quality, communication and if you have a good relationship with your printer then that says a lot but during these times it's often about helping your bottom line so maybe give your printer or print manager the chance to look at their costs and if they are unwilling to help it might be time to shop around. Good luck! By David Dews Director of www.Speed-Works.co.uk, a print management company and www.SpeedInPrint.com, an ecommerce printing company. If you would like to discuss the above article or have any specific needs then please get in touch at david@speed-net.co.uk. # # #
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About Speed Works, SpeedInPrint.com Speed Works is a print management company based in the UK, that focuses on carrying out print audits for clients to help them reduce their printing overheads. SpeedInPrint.com is an ecommerce quality quick printing company selling brochures, folders, posters and leaflets. |
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