Print Marketing: What’s Essential and What to Skip

There’s no doubt that the business world is increasingly web-based.  Companies are more wired than ever, with web sites, search marketing, social networking and other electronic means of getting their name out there.  That’s great – the web is full of opportunities and potential – but that doesn’t mean you’ll never need paper again.  Far from it.  While you may want to cut back on business-related paper items, whether to be more eco-friendly or to save money and space, some items are indispensable.

Rhonda Abrams of USA Today names the following items as essentials:

• Business cards
• Brochures
• Price lists
• Catalogs
• Sales sheets
• Flyers/postcards

The reasoning behind this is simple: you still need face-to-face marketing, and for people to remember your product or service, you need to leave them with something tangible. Printed materials make you look prepared, knowledgeable and professional and ensure that prospects have all of the important details as well as relevant visuals. Nicely done printed materials that include your logo also function as your brand identity system, helping to solidify your company’s presence in the market.

On that note, what are the items you can skip? Print companies will push a lot of add-ons when you place an order, mostly consisting of the sort of stuff that people throw away – calendars, stationary, holiday cards and the like. For most companies, this kind of stuff is a waste of money.  Concentrate on the important items above and you’ll get the biggest bang for your marketing buck.

If you’re a small business and only need a limited number of printed items, you can get away with printing some of it in-house (provided you have a good quality printer).  If you’re going to do this, however, stick to price lists, sales sheets and flyers – it’s unlikely your business cards or brochures will come out looking professional enough.

There are plenty of inexpensive places to get business materials printed up if you’re on a limited budget and can’t afford to work with a local printer.  Check out VistaPrint.com, 123print.com and PsPrint.com, all of which offer good quality for low prices (just watch out for those add-ons!).

Photo credit: Flickr user rahim

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