Tricks and tips for affordable printing

Even if your marketing budget is on the small side, you can still pull off a successful print campaign with change left over. Joe Kowalewski from the Printing Industries Association of Australia gives us his tips for affordable printing.

Keep it simple 

Simple messages can work just as effectively as a print job with all the bells and whistles, says Joe.

"A well-designed, properly targeted business card is often as effective as an elaborate brochure," he says. "Business cards are cheap to print, but can communicate your services, contact details, or even prices."

Ask about discounts

"Printers usually have excess stock of one kind or another," says Joe. "For example, they might have some excess business-card stock they want to get rid of and be willing to do a deal for you."

To take advantage of discounts on excess stocks, Joe recommends consulting with your printer before the design phase.

"Once the design is done you're committed to a certain size and stock," he says. "The key is to see your printer first and find out what options they can do a special price on."

Take it in-house

A great way to save money and take advantage of special discounts is to utilise the services of your printer's in-house designers.

"Normally they know what works and can show you examples of what other businesses have done on the cheap," says Joe. "They know what stock is being discounted and can design something accordingly."

Single-colour printing

A four-colour printing job will naturally cost your business more than a single-colour job, so if your budget is tight, consider using mono (one-colour) printing.

"Mono colour is good for minimising cost and it doesn't have to be boring," says Joe.

"To get maximum impact out of mono colour, use a coloured paper stock to give your piece a little more punch in its visual presentation."

Think beyond print

"Print is a catalyst for using words and images in your promotional activities," says Joe. "Once you've got that electronic data, don't forget that you can multipurpose it for other things."

Not only can logos and graphic-design elements be reused from one brochure to another, your business can also use those items for promotion on the web and in emails.

Plan ahead and save

As with most things in business (and life!) the more you plan ahead, the more likely it is that you'll be able to take advantage of discounts and special offers, and save your business money.

You'll also have a better chance of avoiding the pitfalls that can add unnecessary cost to print jobs, so talk to a printer today about how to make cheap printing a possibility for your next promotional campaign.