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Basic Guide to Getting a Print Quote

Basic Guide to Getting A Print Quote

It pays to give detailed information when getting a print in order to save a lot!

The question is....what to give?

If you are new in getting prices for printing, you could be missing out when the estimating department of the printer is not giving you what you really want in the first place. You see, the printer works on a complex set of instructions that relies on many variables. There are many ways that you can save money and time.

Here are some things you need to tell your printer, with explanations why:

Quantity: How many copies do you need?
Colors: How many colors do your item requires?
Paper: Is there any paper that you are looking for? Is it thick, thin, glossy, matte?
Size: How big is the finished print going to be? A4, A5, A6, DL?
Pages: Do you require both sides printing or single side will do?
Finishing: Is it going to be a book? Requires stapler or binding? Does it need to be folded?

Quantity

The number of prints can alter the cost of your job enormously. As there are usually up-front setup costs and these factor into the price whether you have 100 or 10,000. Unit costs can come down dramatically as your quantities increases because the machine just needs to keep on running. 

For example, the price between 500 and 2000 may not be great, the only factor that continues to increase as the quantity increases is usually paper costs and finishing costs. 

To get an idea, I suggest to get quotations for a couple of quantities, for example, 2000, 5000, 10000.

With this knowledge you may also want to alter your marketing plans as spending a few more bucks may get you a better value on a larger print run.

Paper

In the print industry, the paper is often referred to as stock and comes in different thicknesses and finishes.

For us, we have Flyer paper, which is usually 70gsm or 80gsm woodfree. As a rough guide, the 80gsm paper resembles the ones used in photocopiers.

Letterhead paper, which is high-quality 100gsm woodfree paper. This paper is of premium quality and substance good for overprinting of information from any printers.

Brochure paper, which is usually 128gsm or 157gsm art-paper. This paper is glossy in appearance and usually referred to as "magazine paper"

Postcard paper, which is usually 260gsm art-card. This paper is the standard offering for mailing processes and the minimum card stock for direct mailing exercises.

Namecard paper, which is usually at least 260gsm art-card and goes all the way to 310gsm.

Size

For us, we work on A series sizes which is the standard A4 Size, 210mm x 297mm. We can work on half of that size which is A5, 148.5mm x 210mm,, or even one-third of the size, 99mm x 210mm.

Pages

This may seem to be a no-brainer, but a printer really needs to know how many pages you require. If it's a flyer, is it single sided or double-sided? Multiple page documents tend to go up in 4s. 

For example, 4, 8, 12, 16......

If there is a requirement for different paper stock for different pages, it is also better to discuss in detail to get a more accurate quotation. Which can be phrased as follows: 12 pages document with Cover 260gsm Art Card and Contents is 128gsm Art paper. In this case, the idea will be that the first 2 pages and the last two pages are in 260gsm ArtCard and the rest of the pages will be in 128gsm Art paper.

Finishing

When an item is printed there are many finishing options and these can sometimes add significant costs to a print job. The standard printing job without finishing is named Print and Trim.

• Folding: Required for a brochure or any multi-page document
• Scoring: For folding on thick papers like the 260gsm Art-Card, scoring is required as there are no ways to fold a card using a machine. To prevent cracking of the paper, it is required to do the scoring to create a line on the card prior to folding.
• Saddle-Stitch: Standard Staple stitching for a brochure
• Perfect-Bind: When there are books which are above 24pages we can opt for a perfect-bind with a spline.
• Lamination: A thin layer of plastic is applied to the printed piece, you can have a choice of matte or gloss.
• Spot UV: Areas of the design are left with a gloss finish to make them stand out. This finishing has to be applied after a matte lamination had been done.
• Hot-Stamping: A layer of Gold or Silver Fold is applied on the printed piece. This finish can only be applied also after a lamination had been done or on a gloss paper stock.
• Die-Cutting: When the print needs to be cut into a special shape after the print process, we will need to make a cutting mold and load the prints into a Die-Cutter to cut the prints into the special shape required. We have standard molds like a rounded corner mold for name cards. This is also used to make other products like folders.


So, as per what you have seen here, ordering prints can bring up quite a few questions. Sometimes, it will be a good idea to check with a printer that doesn't undermine. That is also why I like to talk to people and advise them on ways to save. This is a win-win situation. We save so that you save while I get my profit. So why not let me know if you need any help. Call me @ 9186 9976 (Singapore) for a friendly chat.

Difference between a designer and marketer...

Marketers and Designers are the same. This is what a lot of people think, however they are not. In the course of work, many marketers work directly with designers or work as a designer as well. We assume that they see the world and approach their work the same way. This, of course, is wrong.

Designers

Good designers are masters of what looks good, the key thing is what looks good might not perform good, and designers in nature might be very subjective as well.

Marketers

They are trained to focus on results. If something works, do more, if not, change. This applies to all activities we are involved in, Copy, Sales, Targeting, Design etc.

Who is right?

Both! They are right to some extent. No one will accept a design that does not meet the minimum standards that a brand sets for themselves. The problem is this, Marketers will favor the stronger performer, while the designer will try to convince the marketer that the poor design hurts the brand and a better design will do more.

The middle-ground...

Test multiple designs and find one that both sides can agree on. Let's face it, with no client, there won't be a need for both roles ya. The key thing is the campaign looks as good as possible and also perform as well as possible in the aspect the client that has an interest in.

The combination...

The reason why the combination of the both roles can be very good for your campaign is that if we have someone in a way that can help with an artwork that can be firstly work in a way the market can accept and yet design can also be presentable. To be proficient in both is challenging for both the designers' soul and marketers' heart.

- Jason Tan

Mass Marketing vs Targeted Marketing

A simple explanation would be, the former is trying to reach as many people as possible, while the latter is only trying to reach a specifically defined and profiled people. There is actually no right or wrong in using both types of marketing. One is not better than the other, they are both effective in their own ways and will actually be better in different businesses and/or different purposes.

For Mass Marketing, the content has to be constructed in the most basic form so that the message can have the broadest appeal possible and may become “out of point” for certain groups and blur to the real group of people that you are trying to reach. Mass Marketing can be very expensive as the distribution of high volume even at a low rate. There are actually networks that you can tap to reduce certain distribution costs but generally, the percentage cost can be a few times more than then actual print prices.

Targeted Marketing, on the other hand, allows great flexibility and profiling in the use of databases. Targeted marketing allows you to clearly define your unique value and seek to engage your audience in a personal and effective way. Essentially. your strategy and planning must be comprehensive, great design, a clear message and not forgetting a fantastic copy. It also means more time may be required to create and construct specifically targeted campaign to achieve the results you desire. The number of prints that required to be distributed is much lesser than what Mass Marketing employs, yet the per piece value of mailing and the low print quantity will cost the per piece value of print to be much higher, but the total cost will usually be lower. 

Either method can be effective taking into consideration, either way defining the target market, getting the message right and being consistent will produce results.

Emotion Dimension

Hard to Grasp The Power of Emotions

Creation of content is like managing a spark of idea and totally see it through as an idea. In terms of managing content for mailers or to actually bring an idea to a person who don’t really want to know or listen is an art.

For Example, in the work that I do, may property agents ask me, how can I ask the people who want to do something about their property look for me instead of the Ten Thousand and One Agents out there?

So after thinking a while, usually I will ask the agent a few questions.

1) Do you know how the general public select a property agent to help them with their property?

2) What is the current habitual behaviour of the people if they are looking to do something about their property?

3) How the general public react when a change of laws or news is announced by the government?

 

4) What the rate of the people who give a thought over any new influences due to Global or even at home here in Singapore?

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie

In my years of experience, i found that the best form of content actually exist! It is to manage the emotion dimension of the mailer.

The content starts of with creating a relationship between the reader and the sender. They are always about “You” and not “I”. Why such a mailer become more power? While it is always about “You”, it will also cause the person reading who is relating himself or herself to you by becoming you the “You”.

For Example:

I am a Champion Achiever in (Company), Call me Today!

or

You deserved a Champion Achiever to help you, Call me Today!

Which one gives you more pleasure to read? It is a psychological effect acting on you that gives you a pleasure that this person is concern enough to want to help me. This changes to a level of happiness and also a level of pleasure to talk to you.

Thus how the words are being worded and what is the feeling after you read the mailer is very important. Does it feel offensive? Does it feel very egoistic?

Hope after reading about this, gives you a view of another dimension of the mailers rather then just the Length and Breath. 

Cheers~

Creating Powerful Content For Your Real Estate Flyers / Mailers / EDM...

During my 13 years in Real Estate Design and Print agency, many real estate agents dropped me the same question over and over again. The question is, “How I have something totally different for my flyers?”. Usually, i will reply with…did you mean publication? To create a publication with a good content, we will need to consider about: Why, What, Where, Who, How.

1) Why?

Why are you sending the Flyer? This actually forms the larger part of your content in your Flyer. Are you advertising a property for sale, looking for a property to sell, promoting yourself, advertising an open house or even educating your clients about new laws and any implications that they should know. Is it festive season, and you are giving away some corporate gift to thank your client for supporting you?

2) What?

What are you going to send? A piece of woodfree paper that you ask a distributor to put inside a letterbox, or at the door? Are you going to mail to them? The mail is a postcard, a letter, or brochure? Are you going to put it inside an envelope? Is it a booklet, a newsletter or even along with a gift? A coaster, a calendar, fridge magnet?

3) Where?

Where are you going to send? The place to send is it a HDB unit, Condo, Landed Property or Commercial?

4) Who? 

To the owners, to the resident, to the tenant? Did you have a database of address to send?

5) How?

Are you going to hand deliver the Flyer, or getting distributors to do it, engaging mailing services and lettershopping services, mail merging services. Pasting stamps to mail them out?  Emailing them? or MMS to your potential clients.

Only you have decided, then you can truly start on getting the content for your campaign. Please kindly check back for more as I will try to post more of these to truly help out. If you need more information and short cuts, please do let me know.

Thanks for Reading!

How to Deal with Difficult People

It is no fun to deal with people who are difficult. After servicing people for over a decade, we have identified most of the types that are considered difficult to handle. IE. The ones who are negative, picky and grumpy. We all have to admit that they do emit a negative wave which if you are being influenced by this invisible force, puts you into a pretty bad mood.

However, instead of becoming a difficult person yourself, try to deal with them, and here are some tips and tricks to help you :).

1. Try to Figure Them Out

Why are they being Nasty?

Are they jealous?

Are they specifically annoyed with you with something?

Are they stressed out from other instances?

Are they afraid? (consequences of certain contingency)

Mistrust to your presentation?

Try to understand what is the person's situation before ticking yourself off. This usually works well and once you figure the situation out, you can get yourself out of the situation by expressing a solution that he / she can use to get out of their situation.

2. Do Not Take Things Personally

Troublesome behavior is habitual. Difficult people are usually difficult to everyone.

3. Don't Fight Back

Don't be an adversary. 

It only feeds their negativity and chances are they are better than you at being bitter.

4. Avoid Appeasing Them

You won't reward a bad dog, so why let a difficult person get away with bad behavior?

If you let them get their way, they'll only be encouraged.

5. Don't Try To Change Them

It's impossible to change someone's entire being. 

Not only that, but people usually get pretty indignant if they sense you are trying to shape their character. Your only hope to deal with their behavior gracefully.

6. Choose Your Mode Of Confrontation

Don't lose your cool but be firm and assertive. 

Let them know you won't be pushed around, but don't exasperate the situation by fighting an unnecessary fight.

7. Never argue

If you argue with someone that is being difficult, it gives them a chance to justify their behavior.

You'll be surprised at how many unreasonable arguments a strong-headed person can bring up.

Bottom Line: Be Reasonable. Be the bigger person privately. If you start acting like you are taking the moral high road, they'll try to knock you off your high horse.

Don't think that there is an easy fix or that you can change the situation overnight.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2004347_deal-difficult-people.html