The Ultimate Guide To Business Printing Solutions

We can’t think of one industry whose services are sought after more than those that offer printing services. Companies—both private and public—, government institutions and even individuals will need something printed one way or another. For this reason it’s one of the biggest and most relevant industries to modern society to date. In this article we’ll highlight the various printing services at your disposal as well as where they are commonly used. Which of these will solve your personal or business challenges?

Types of Printing Services

The advance in technology over the years has seen an increase in the types of printing services at your disposal. We’ll discuss the most basic types.

Digital Printing

This is one of the most common forms of printing. As the name suggests, here you’re basically reproducing an image from a digital base to print format. This is achieved by using surfaces such as paper, plastic and cloth. Typically, your can order online printing in digital format by sending your digital image or document to a service.

Offset Printing

With offset printing, the image isn’t directly transferred to the medium from the onset. This printing—also known as lithographic—is done usually on aluminium plates. Here the image is transferred from this aluminium plate on to a blanket usually made of rubber which is then rolled into paper. If you want sharper images with consistent superior picture quality this is your answer.

Screen Printing

On this type of printing, you use stencils to create sharp images. This is done on a screen which usually consists of fabric that’s finely woven and stretched over a frame. You then use the stencil to block out the images that you need to print. This is the preferred method for printing images on clothing, clocks, T-shirts, CDs, ceramics or glass to mention a few examples.

What Specific Services Are Offered?

So what kind of services can you expect from these printing companies? The options are endless including but not limited to the following.

Stationery

Want a company that takes care of all your stationery needs? Then a printing services company is your go to. It will print anything from letterheads to invoices and everything in between. As mentioned before these services aren’t only for companies. You can also make use of them in your personal capacity by requesting the following:

• Wedding invitation cards
• Baby shower cards
• Funeral and bereavement cards
• Birthday invites

Marketing Material

For business printing services it’s focused on remaining relevant in this highly competitive environment and making sure your name is out there. Only then can you be the brand of choice when a particular service is required. Have your label printing design feature your logo and overall brand identity. That’s where the printing company comes in with the following services so you can distribute and use these products to market your company:

• Catalogues
• Business cards
• Flyers
• Retail window displays
• Point of sale printing

Documents

Printing services can be used by businesses, hospitals or schools to print items such as:

• Reports
• Manuals
• Labels and stickers
• Leaflets

Almost any industry will use this service sooner or later.

What Makes a Good Printing Company?

Just because this is a very popular industry doesn’t mean every company claiming to provide printing services can do the job. There are certain benchmarks you need to look out for before making it your service provider. You want to work with a provider that offers convenient drop-offs and pick-ups with a friendly staff.

Turnaround Times

How long do they take to complete a particular task? In the fast paced business environment, time indeed is of the essence. So you need to look for a company that clearly discloses their timeframes so you don’t miss out on business opportunities. Imagine dealing with a company that takes a whole month to deliver business cards or t-shirt printing services. Does that mean you have to wait that long before effectively networking and giving out one? Surely not.

Professionalism

While on the topic of timeframes, we’ll discuss personal vs professional – or lack of it. It surely is a deciding factor of whether you want to deal with a certain printing company or not. Do they stick to the discussed turn around times? The last thing you need is to be stuck at a marketing event without your requested printed material in hand. Read reviews and look for a printing company that’s reliable in the delivery of printed products.

Delivery and Shipping

Closely related to reliability are the shipping and delivery times. Will they offer speedy delivery? Not only that but what are the costs involved? You’ll be surprised to realize at the end of a job that often the shipping costs are just as much as the printing. It’s in your best interests to find out such information beforehand to avoid disappointment and ruining your budget.

Their Product Lines

Some companies may only specialize in a specific type of printing. If they focus on poster printing and your business needs are diverse that can be a challenge. That means every time you require a new service you’ll have to look for a different printing company and establishing new relationships all over again which can be very time consuming. It would be ideal to find a company that offers it all in one.

Customer Service

Finally you need to consider if they have good customer care. In this industry, it’s not uncommon to want changes on a job requested. Are they friendly and receptive in such situations? Obviously there’s no clear way of determining this but there are a few indicators. Before giving them the business you can just send them an email and check how quick—or late—they respond. Reading online reviews will also give you an indication of what to expect.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ll find a printing company that’s responsive and strives to deliver high quality work always. Their work affects your work, so pick wisely.