Saving Dollars when the Budget is Tight

During the past several months printing and advertising budgets have fallen dramatically. To help minimize your printing costs, thePrintGuide.Com would like to offer these helpful tips to keep your printing project on budget.

The main objective when printing anything is efficiency.  How efficient are you? How efficient is your printer?  How can I get the printer to be sympathetic to my needs as a consumer? These are questions you must stop and ask yourself before starting your work or choosing a printer. 

• Developing a relationship with your printer is the most important objective.  You should feel confident asking your printer about optimizing efficiency.  Here are a few tips to help you do so.
  
• Always ask the printer for recommendations.  Whether it is paper type or the number of inks being used, a good printer will always be able to help you find what’s best and most efficient for your project.
  
• Always ask the printer about reducing paper waste.  This is very important and can be quite expensive if not accomplished.  In most cases, the paper or material cost is the largest part of the printers’ expense.  Get the paper or material cost down and the price is sure to be lower.
  
• One color is always going to be least expensive to print.  Keep your color designs to a minimum if possible.  You’ll not only save money on ink but on the costs of the printing plates as well.
  
• Consider having your work printed on colored stock.  This could save money if you were planning on a two colored print job.
  
• Print projects with bleeds typically cost more.  Avoid a bleed if possible as this will help keep the amount of material lower (therefore lowering your costs).