Introduction: The Value of Presentable Print Media
When it comes to the communications approach of the modern enterprise, there is often a concentration on digital options such as email, video conferencing, cloud-served documents, and the like.
Yet, when a client gets a beautiful brochure or financial report in their hands or when a potential client is examining a neat business card, an initial unspoken impression is formed. Tangible representations of a company’s message hold a certain power of influence that cannot be overlooked.
Delivering this degree of presentation demands a real commitment to corporate quality printing. Regardless of whether the company is getting ready for an important shareholders’ meeting, rolling out a regional marketing campaign, or simply standardizing day-to-day office stationery, corporate quality printing helps get across a great deal of information.
Too many growing companies make the mistake of using scattered pieces of consumer-grade printing equipment or random retail services instead of relying on professional corporate quality printing. Even if the information contained in a printed document is brilliant, its cheap appearance can easily ruin the overall impression. Colors bleed, margins are askew, text is smudged, paper quality is substandard, graphics are low resolution – and the list can go on.
This is especially true in cases when a printed medium involving corporate quality printing is involved in an important first impression scenario. The representative of one company may give a prospect a needed sales proposal supported by corporate quality printing, an executive officer may present a shareholder with a set of presentation slides backed by corporate quality printing, or the enterprise may be shipping out a printed package to a future business partner using corporate quality printing. Furthermore, adopting corporate quality printing ensures every piece aligns with ultimate standards.
In this guide, the ways in which the enterprise can boost its physical presence by incorporating professional business printing, utilizing dependable print shop services, using specialized custom print supplies, and investing into tailored corporate quality printing are discussed in detail.
Printing is not a mere overhead cost when corporate quality printing is handled correctly. It can be an important tool to drive marketing, sales activity, internal operations, service provision, event organization, and brand image through corporate quality printing.
Ideally, a comprehensive system centered around corporate quality printing should be designed in which each document has its designated purpose, production format and quality level, and approach to fulfillment via corporate quality printing.
Besides the sheer quality level, businesses utilizing corporate quality printing need to evaluate the cost-efficiency of their printing operations. The company should ask itself a set of questions: How much corporate quality printing is being done? What materials need to be kept in stock for corporate quality printing? Which print jobs should be farmed out? How much corporate quality printing is needed for a particular operation?
The balance between the cost and the production quality of corporate quality printing should then also be considered to maximize corporate quality printing returns.
Corporate Quality Printing: What It Is About
When industry insiders talk of corporate quality printing, they usually mean a superior production quality. Yet, what corporate quality printing boils down to is a set of specific production values.
A properly printed document built around corporate quality printing should have a number of attributes that, when added together, contribute to the general appeal and convey a positive image about the company through corporate quality printing.
A document that was designed and printed professionally through corporate quality printing should have the text that is easy to read, the graphics that are properly rendered, the colors that are correctly displayed, and the quality of paper and finishing that is up to standard for corporate quality printing.
Getting the Colors and Typography Right
A company’s branding typically calls for specific colors that should consistently appear in letterheads, marketing collateral, product catalogs, presentation slides, and the like. Professional printers utilize calibrated equipment and color profiles to avoid extra variations that would be detrimental to brand image. This is especially important in cases when an enterprise utilizes a number of different printing outlets because the colors that come out on paper can differ significantly.
A similarly important role is played by typography in delivering a positive first impression and conveying the required information accurately. The production quality associated with corporate quality printing is not the sole factor that affects the appearance of text in a printed document, but it plays a major role nonetheless.
The source file should be created in a way that takes into account the printing resolution and utilizes proper graphic tools tailored for corporate quality printing. Small font size, fine line widths, detailed illustrations and photos, and complex vector artwork all call for increased production quality characteristic of corporate quality printing. Where practical, vector artwork should be used for logos and graphics that require scaling. For photographs, the resolution should be matched to the document’s corporate quality printing standard.
The higher the document’s printing resolution, the larger the image size should be for it to appear crisp and clear. A photo that is too big for a given document size will require additional resizing and will ultimately look pixelated.
Selecting the Appropriate Paper Stock
The characteristics of a printed document are also influenced by the paper stock that is used for its production. Office paper typically suffices for internal memos but rarely goes beyond that. Executives rarely present a prospect with a report printed on cheap printer paper when utilizing corporate quality printing.
A professional printing shop will typically have a number of paper stocks that can be selected on a case-by-case basis. Cardboard, textured paper, glossy and matte finishes, and other options are all available upon request.
Paper stocks need to be selected on a case-by-case basis. A company report that is going to be reviewed more than once for its contents will benefit from a higher quality paper stock that is easy on the eyes. A business card will look more premium when it is made of a heavier paper stock compared to regular lightweight paper. Similarly, a certificate or an invitation needs to have an appropriate finish to provide the necessary feel.
Making Sure Finishing Is Up to Standards
Printing is only one step in the process of professional document production. Multiple finishing techniques can affect the general impression and should be considered as well. Cutting, folding, laminating, binding, trimming, and other techniques all contribute to the appearance of an item.
A document with accurate text and image rendering can easily appear unprofessional if its corporate quality printing finishing is not executed correctly.
Outgrowing Desktop Printers: Going Business
Each company, when starting out, typically buys one or two inexpensive desktop inkjet or laser printers from a local retail store. When the company is small – 3-5 people in an office – this approach might be perfectly fine.
However, as the company grows, desktop printers tend to become an obstacle in terms of business printing.
The issue is not that home printers are bad. They are often adequate for light printing volume. The issue is that the company’s business printing needs are growing faster than its overall operational maturity, and the company does not always realize the importance of the transition from home printing to professional-grade solutions.
There is a number of reasons why relying on desktop printing for business printing purposes is not optimal in the long run.
The Hidden Costs of Consumer Printers
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Exorbitant Consumable Expenses: The more you print, the more you spend on ink and toner compared to optimized corporate quality printing workflows.
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Constant Mechanical Failures: Light printing equipment tends to suffer more when its print volume increases dramatically during tasks meant for corporate quality printing.
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Significant Administrative Time Wastes: Employees may have to waste significant amounts of time on printer-related interventions such as consumables replacement and paper jam clearance.
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Lack of Finishing Capabilities: These are typically unavailable, limiting the production to basic printing jobs rather than true corporate quality printing.
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Inconsistent Output: When more than one printer is involved, the overall print quality tends to vary greatly from job to job.
Moving to a dedicated business printing infrastructure can resolve these issues by providing dramatically increased production rates, higher printing fidelity, and reduced administrative burden. In terms of operational expenditure, modern business printing machinery typically offers better value for money.
Another major consideration is the degree of control over the printing operations that a business wants to maintain. Moving to a centralized printing infrastructure can help an enterprise establish printing quotas or limits. This is useful when the company wants to obtain a better understanding of its printing needs.
Finding the Right Equipment for Business Printing
There is no single business printing solution that fits all companies. To select the right equipment, an enterprise should analyze its average and peak print volume, document type mix, color printing requirements, paper size and weight, finishing needs, and available office space.
Small offices will need a reliable multifunction printer while larger enterprises should explore the possibilities of a multidevice printing infrastructure where different printers are placed strategically.
The point is to ensure adequate production rates without overspending on underutilized capacity.
Boosting Impact through Print Shop Assistance
While multifunction office printers may serve the basic needs of an enterprise, major corporate initiatives often call for more specialized equipment and a broader set of production tools.
Partnering with a specialized print shop can help a business gain access to a wide range of high-quality production machinery. In particular, commercial print shops offer a number of advantages that in-house printers typically cannot provide.
For example, a print shop can be approached to create presentation folders with embossed company logo, large-scale blueprints, multi-page employee handbooks, specialized banners for marketing campaigns, displays for corporate events, and other unique print jobs.
Why Should You Partner With Print Shops?
A print shop can help fulfill a number of document production needs, including:
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Advanced Inline Finishing: Collating, folding, saddle-stitching, perfect binding, coil binding, trimming, precision hole-punching.
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Scalable Production Volumes: For large meetings, conferences, product launches, and corporate events, the print shop can handle significantly increased print volumes.
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Expertise and Consultation: Print experts can advise on the most suitable production methods, finishing techniques, and paper stock options.
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Specialty Materials: Print shops typically have access to a wider variety of materials, including unique papers, coatings, and other specialties.
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Reduced Administrative Burden: Employees can focus on their primary duties as the print shop handles the production details.
When choosing a print shop partner, a company should pay close attention to such factors as reliability, communication efficiency, delivery speed, and quality control measures.
To test a print shop’s capabilities, a company can request samples or a proof before the main production run. This will allow the company to examine the material, color rendition, image quality, size, and finishing for any potential issues.
For time-sensitive projects, a company should make sure that the selected print shop partner understands the deadlines.
Standing Out With Custom Printing
Generic documents and letterhead typically fail to represent a company in a manner that a prospective customer or a business partner can truly relate to and remember.
To that end, a company can boost its brand image by investing into custom printing. Every piece of printed media that leaves the company’s office represents it in a certain capacity. By paying special attention to its production, a company can enhance its overall image.
Elevating Brand Image
Every physical touchpoint that a company has with a client, prospect, or shareholder is an opportunity to strengthen the brand image. A company should invest into appropriate production values and custom production to enhance the image wherever it is beneficial. Some of the applications include the following:
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Executive Letterhead and Envelopes: The presentation value extends beyond the document contents to the paper quality, logo placement, and typography selection.
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Marketing Collateral: Brochures, flyers, catalogs, presentation folders, promotional cards, and other materials can create a strong first impression.
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Business Cards: Paper thickness and finish, typography and layout all contribute to a company’s image.
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Internal Materials: Company welcome kits, notebooks, training materials, certificates, and other materials can strengthen the internal branding.
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Event Materials: Banners, posters, table displays, badges, signs, informational cards, and other items contribute to the general impression.
The approach to custom production should follow the principles of branding, including logo placement, color schemes, typography, spacing, imagery, and message presentation.
Customized production is especially important when different departments create materials for clients because without standardized production, the overall impression will be inconsistent.
Different departments using different paper stocks or color variations will undermine the attempt to build a strong brand image.
Customization is not always about fancy foil effect or specialty finishing. It often boils down to the basics such as paper stock, layout, typography, and image quality. An enterprise should reserve more exotic production techniques for the materials that truly benefit from them.
Ensuring Operational Excellence Through Custom Print Supplies
Paper and other media consumed by office printers play an important role in business operations. An organized approach to managing custom print supplies is critical to ensure an uninterrupted workflow and maintain an adequate level of production quality. A company needs to ensure that the key stationery items are always in stock.
Streamlining Custom Print Supplies Inventory
A company can streamline its custom print supplies by grouping commonly used items such as letterhead, label sheets, special presentation folders, high-opacity envelopes, cards, and other materials. An inventory list should be established that reflects the current supplies and desired reorder levels.
It is important to remember that a company should not run out of any particular supplies. Such a situation can occur, for example, when a sales team forgets to order a replenishment of branded presentation folders and suddenly needs them to prepare a client-facing document. In such a case, the company would have to buy a generic alternative that will not provide the intended branding value.
On the other hand, a company should not have surplus materials that are no longer relevant. Materials with outdated addresses or other information should be removed from inventory.
An electronic spreadsheet or an electronic inventory software can be used to keep the current supplies in check.
Storing paper and other consumables in appropriate conditions is vital to ensure uninterrupted printing and production. Materials should be stored in a dry environment that is not very hot or cold, away from bright light, and free of dust.
Best Practices for Corporate Print Budgets & Workflows
Implementing high production values across the enterprise requires a company to establish a proper print budget and optimize the print workflow for efficiency and quality consistency.
A proper print budget should factor in not only the cost of paper and other consumables but also the maintenance and electricity costs for the equipment, employee costs, storage expenses for the print supplies, outsourcing costs, and production costs for print finishing and other services. Finally, the estimated costs of print errors and wastage should be taken into account as well.
Creating a System for Corporate Printing Management
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Consolidate Printing: Consolidate printing across departments where appropriate to ensure that printing quotas are monitored and unnecessary printing is minimized.
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Enforce Branding Standards: Ensure that all print materials follow the established branding guidelines.
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Evaluate Print Vendors: Evaluate print vendors on a regular basis to ensure that they offer value for money.
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Establish Approval Workflow: Establish an approval workflow for large or client-facing print jobs.
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Utilize Digital Proofs: Digital proofs are essential to make sure that a print job does not have any spelling, layout or image-related issues.
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Measure Waste: Measure the amount of wasted print media to determine if there are recurring issues.
Reducing overall printing volume can be beneficial when minimizing the print budget. However, it is important to realize that not every document is suited for physical representation, and some informational documents can effectively be replaced with digital equivalents. Double-sided printing can be mandated for internal documents to reduce overall paper consumption.
For most companies, the goal of print management is not to completely stop printing but to minimize it where it is not necessary.
Measuring Print Efficiency
Some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that a company can track to measure print efficiency include the following:
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Monthly print volume
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Percentage of color print jobs
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Cost per printed page
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Toner and paper consumption
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Number of pages printed twice or more due to printing errors
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Machine downtime
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Costs associated with outsourcing printing
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Average production time
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Percentage of wasted print media
FAQ
What makes corporate quality printing different from home printing?
Corporate quality printing typically involves higher production values, utilizes commercial-grade equipment, and often employs superior finishing techniques. As such, the print quality tends to be higher, and the range of available production techniques extends far beyond what is available at home. The difference is in the production quality, which involves the file preparation, paper stock, and finishing, and not just the printers themselves.
Why should a business outsource certain print jobs instead of doing them in-house?
Every company has day-to-day operations that do not require a lot of attention. As such, routine documents such as internal memos can be produced on standard office printers. However, more involved print jobs such as large banners, embossed folders, high-volume booklets, premium brochures, and reports with special binding may not be viable due to the high equipment costs and the lack of required finishing techniques. Outsourcing special print jobs can be a more cost-efficient way to handle them.
How does managed print infrastructure reduce overall operating costs?
Print management can help reduce the overall costs by implementing a more systematic approach to monitoring the printing needs across the enterprise, establishing quotas, and identifying opportunities to reduce expenses. In particular, managed print services typically utilize centralized printing infrastructure, where the end-users have to go through a dedicated printing server to get their print jobs done.
Is expensive paper always better for business documents?
Not necessarily. The most expensive option is not always the most appropriate choice. A company should select the paper stock that is best suited for the intended application. A small internal memo does not require a high-quality paper stock, but a client-facing document will benefit from such options.
How can companies maintain consistent branding across different printed materials?
A company can establish a proper brand styling guide that covers the essential elements such as colors, fonts, logo placement, spacing, and imagery. It should then utilize standardized production across print vendors to ensure that there are no inconsistencies.
What should a company check before approving a large print order?
Before approving a large print order, a company should scrutinize all details of the print job to ensure that there are no typos, spelling mistakes, incorrect address or phone number, misplaced pages, incorrect page size or quantity, wrong colors, paper stock, or finishing. The company can request a proof if it feels that a physical inspection is necessary.
Is custom printing suitable for small businesses?
Custom printing can be utilized in a variety of ways by small businesses, depending on their particular needs. It often involves branded materials such as business cards, letterhead, envelopes, packaging inserts, and presentation folders.
How can businesses make their printing strategy more environmentally responsible?
An environmentally conscious printing strategy involves reducing the amount of wastage, reusing materials where appropriate, employing double-sided printing where feasible, and utilizing recyclable materials.
Conclusion
When it comes to building a strong brand image, the details of operation matter immensely. From the stationery that a company gives to a new client to the reports it presents at the boardroom meetings, printed media conveys a particular message.
The document production quality plays a key role in the image that a company projects. This is why enterprises should strive to offer a high standard of presentation in all spheres of client communication. A company should make sure that the documents it sends to the outside are produced with high production values. At the same time, the company should invest into the quality of its business cards, presentation folders, letterhead, and other items that represent it in front of prospects and clients.
To that end, a company should consider the following:
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Prioritizing corporate quality printing,
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upgrading the printing infrastructure to the realm of professional business printing,
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partnering with dependable print shop services,
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investing into tailored corporate quality printing,
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and managing the custom print supplies efficiently.
Technology plays a significant role. The ability to centrally manage print, digitally approve documents, monitor inventory, receive supply replenishment alerts, and access workflow reports can dramatically cut the administrative burden while giving a comprehensive view of the printing activity.
At the same time, the human factor should not be underestimated. A machine can replicate a particular file, but only a person can ensure that the chosen paper, finish, format, quantity, and other attributes match the client’s expectations.
A properly managed print environment can do more than produce visually appealing documents. It can help to optimize the print process, eliminate superfluous expenses, facilitate marketing and administrative functions, and project a more professional image to the clients and partners.
After all, the physical document only lasts for a few minutes in a recipient’s hand. While it is true that the contents of any printed piece are of utmost importance, the overall appearance and quality of a document’s design, paper, and finish can greatly impact the perceived image of the company that produced it.
In conclusion, effective corporate printing should be regarded as a carefully balanced process focused heavily on corporate quality printing. By striking the right chord between such factors as design, appearance, cost, consistency, and efficiency, companies can rest assured that their production of print media achieves true corporate quality printing to meet cemetery demands and the expectations of their clients.