When you’re running a business, you have a lot of financial burdens on your plate, from payroll to office supplies. One of the costs in almost any industry is the cost of printing up marketing materials. Whether your business requires brochures, posters, business cards and more or you simply need to have menus printed for your restaurant, the costs of printing can add up quickly. However, there are ways you can save money on your marketing materials. You just need to think outside the box.
Sell ad space on your menus. – You may have to spend the same amount every week or month on your menus, but when you offer ad space to local businesses on your menu, you can typically cover the costs of printing through the revenue that comes in from the ads. For businesses, your menu is a great place to advertise because people will be looking directly at the menu for a good amount of time. It’s a captive audience!
Get your printing in bulk. – Most printing companies charge lower rates the more printing you get done at once. If you know your brochure or business cards won’t be changing for a while, go ahead and order enough for a year or six months. Sure, the upfront cost is more, but in the long run, you’ll save money and you won’t have the added hassle of having to order printed materials every month or two.
Order your prints online. – We all want to support local businesses, but they have overhead and printing with them can be much more costly than going online and doing the research to find an affordable printer. Don’t be deterred by high shipping costs either, since you can typically find coupon code for free shipping and other deals. For instance, Uprinting.com often has free shipping codes that can be found online. Whatever online service you use, always go to Google and check for coupon codes, which can often save you from paying any shipping costs, and sometimes get a chunk taken off the final order price too.
Minimize the amount of colors used. – The price difference between black printing, two-color printing, three-color printing and full color printing are huge. Each step up brings you into a whole new price range. If your business card is black and red, and you only have blue where your email address is listed, consider how much can be saved by limiting the color range to just two colors.
Stick with the standards. – When designing your business cards, letterhead and brochures, you want to stand out from the rest. However, standing out too much can cost a lot of money. Custom color business cards can be incredibly expensive to have printed and uniquely shaped letterhead or brochures can cost a fortune to have printed. If you stick to one or two standard colors on your business card and letterhead and keep your brochures the standard size, you’ll be able to save a small fortune on printing costs.
When you implement one or all of these practices within your business, you can save money on your marketing materials, while still getting professional design and quality.
Guest blogger Kelly is savings expert who writes for the Coupon Sherpa about topics like using coupons and gift cards to save on everyday purchases. The idea for this article came to her as she was writing copy for the Uprinting.com page, where you can find great deals for your online printing needs.