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Free 1-hour consultation!
Want to find out how you can leverage digital printing to enhance your sales and marketing efforts? Contact us for a free 1-hour consultation. Reach us by e-mail at info@2harmony.com or call us at 708.344.1684.
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from Darwill Press
A Template for Innovation, 1to1 Magazine, April 2003 issue
Glossary of Printing Terms
Five ways to reduce
your printing costs
1. Involve your printer early.
The fastest way to reduce printing costs is to bring your printer into the project early on. They can often suggest ideas and alternatives to save you money, but you need their input before the final piece is designed.
2. Put it in writing.
Printers are generally good at following instructions, so spell out what you want. Always specify flat and folded size, any finishing required, line screens, inks, and paper stock. Include printouts of each page in your finished art files, calling out any special requirements. Enclose a folding dummy that shows how the finished piece should look. And above all, make sure they have your phone number handy in case of questions.
3. Consider alternate paper stocks.
Sometimes simply switching to a different paper stock can significantly impact your overall costs. When you have an idea of what you want, ask your printer for alternate stocks that may be cheaper or more readily accessible. Leverage their knowledge and experience.
4. Maximize paper use.
Talk to your printer about how the piece will be laid out on the press sheet. Sometimes a minor shift in your design (making a piece slightly smaller, for example) can eliminate paper waste and greatly reduce costs. When we produced our corporate folders, we ran our note cards on the same sheet; as a result, the note cards were almost free!
5. Finalize design and copy earlier.
Making changes to printers’ proofs is often an avoidable expense. Resolve copy and design issues in advance. People usually don’t scrutinize artwork until they realize it’s the last time they will see it, so try to get management’s final sign off at the finished art stage (before it goes to the printer.
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Over the last five years, digital printing has taken the design world by storm. The advent of direct-to-plate and direct-to-press printing (i.e., eliminating film negatives) has created a spectrum of advanced capabilities that offer higher impact printing and true one-to-one customization.
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Direct-to-plate: In this scenario, printing plates are still created and your job runs on a traditional press. However, instead of using an electronic mechanical to create film negatives, the file is sent directly to the printing plates. |
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Direct-to-press: This process skips printing plates as well, sending the final computer file directly to a special color press, allowing you to create customized messaging without costly plate changes. |
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Stochastic screening: Unlike traditional halftone screening, which provides a consistent dot size and pattern, stochastic screening uses a frequency modulated digital screening process to create tiny dots with variable spacing. These dots produce greater detail and realism, while eliminating the troublesome rosettes and moirés associated with traditional screens. |
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Hexachrome printing: This six-color process printing system, developed by Pantone, Inc., adds vivid orange and green to the traditional CMYK mix. With the additional inks, you can effectively match over 90% of all solid Pantone colors! |
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Online proofing: This web-based system streamlines the proofing process and is especially helpful when multiple people, possibly in different locations, need to review proofs. PDFs are posted for review, and an annotation feature allows each person to see a composite of the requested changes, rather than everyone marking up individual proofs. |
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But aren’t these techniques expensive? Not necessarily. In fact, in some cases, leveraging digital printing can actually save you money!
Cost-effective customization and full color on short runs
Historically, for companies with smaller quantities and limited budgets, four-color printing wasn’t a viable option for direct mail and other collateral pieces with "short shelf lives." However, with digital color printing, you can get cost-effective four-color on many short runs -- 1000 postcards, for example. Why? Because direct-to-press digital printing eliminates the most expensive elements: printing plates and costly set up time.
An added bonus is customization of text and/or graphics. Using digital printing, you could potentially create 1000 unique postcards. As a result, even small companies can use targeted messaging and market segmentation techniques to improve their results.
Another advantage is shortened turnaround times – jobs can be completed in days instead of weeks. And with digital printing, you can use stochastic screening to make images leap off the page, often at little or no additional cost.
Digital collateral management – an effective tool for distributed sales forces
Digital collateral management takes digital printing technology to the next level. It’s particularly effective for organizations with a large network of dealers, resellers, franchisees or field agents.
Using digital collateral management, you can ensure that branding, overall design, and key messages are consistent throughout your field network. At the same time, representatives can tailor collateral pieces (brochures, direct mail, advertisements, etc.) to local audiences, allowing them to create more effective sales and marketing tools.
Here’s a summary of how a digital collateral management system works:
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Corporate headquarters produces a series of templates for the various collateral pieces and uploads them to a central website. These templates contain a combination of fixed and variable copy and graphic elements – headlines, teaser copy, product images, logos, etc. |
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Field agents (dealers, distributors, sales managers, franchisees) log onto the website, select a template, customize the template where appropriate, and choose a distribution list (this could be selected from an existing database or involve uploading a new mailing list). |
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A PDF proof is dynamically-created, based on the selected template and customizations. This proof is then routed to the field agent and corporate headquarters for review and approval. |
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On approval, the final document is either downloaded (for example, final art for a trade ad) or printed and mailed from a centralized source. |
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From stochastic screening to full-scale digital collateral management, recent advances in printing technology have created many new opportunities for improving the effectiveness of your sales and marketing efforts. Which one will you try first?
To find out how you can leverage digital printing to enhance your sales and marketing efforts, contact Harmony Communications and Design at 708.344.1684 or info@2harmony.com.
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