What Is Reprographics (and 3 Things You Need to Know Before Ordering)
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When ordering posters, banners, vehicle wraps, and other reprographics services, you need to keep a close eye on the value your order will deliver. This is often easier said than done because most businesses don’t have a clear way to quantify the value of reprographics imagery.
This is true whether you are ordering signs for branding and advertising purposes or ordering architectural prints or construction signs. It might be easier to calculate the value of an advertising campaign in its entirety, but calculating the value of a single sign is challenging for even the best-informed marketers in the business.
As a result, it falls on executives and small business owners to take a number of factors into consideration before hiring a company to produce reprographics. Fortunately, there is an abundance of data you can use to weigh your choices and come up with the best value when ordering these important branded products.
Consider These Factors When Ordering Reprographics
When planning a reprographics purchase, it’s important to weigh your choice against available alternatives so that you know you are getting the best value possible.
There are some easy ways to do this even when you are not sure what the end result of your reprographics application will be.
Determine the Opportunity Cost of Outdoor Advertising
The opportunity cost of a business decision is the cost of choosing the next-best choice. In the case of reprographics, that can mean several aspects to consider. For instance, a company that plans on utilizing an outdoor printer for outdoor advertising may be able to choose between advertising on a billboard panel or advertising using vehicle wraps.
In this case, the opportunity cost of using a reprographic printer to create a vehicle wrap is the cost of the same number of impressions in outdoor advertising. According to Times OOH Media, the cost per thousand impressions for billboard advertising in the Seattle metro area is about $13.30.
According to Intuit, vehicle wrap advertising costs approximately $0.04 per thousand impressions, on average. That means that outdoor billboard advertising is 332 times more expensive than vehicle wrap advertising using reprographics in the greater Seattle area.
Find the Right Printer for the Job
Reprographic printing requires different hardware than regular document printing. Reprographics printers must reliably and consistently deliver high quality results on a broader range of materials than document printers do.
Architectural prints used by contractors and engineers are a great example. Paper is simply a poor choice for blueprints in a construction environment. All it takes an accidental spill or stain to ruin the plan.
Fortunately, advances in printing hardware are producing better results on a wider range of materials than ever before.
HP Pagewide technology, for instance, allows HP enterprise printers to create high-resolution large-format architectural prints on durable polypropylene. Better yet, the price difference between color and monochrome Pagewide prints is negligible.
Design Your Graphics to Fit the Page
It’s common for people ordering reprographics to ask for “full bleed” or “no bleed” results without being sure what these terms mean. Bleed simply refers to the artwork going past the intended cut line of the finished product.
If you design a poster or banner, for instance, with important information located less than 1/8th of an inch from the border, there is a chance that it gets cut off during the trimming process. This is called the danger zone, and for good reason – even the most advanced printers on the market have error margins, especially when processing high-volume orders.
To be perfectly safe, design your reprographics imagery to fit within an imaginary 1/8th-inch border around the margins of the page. This is generally a safe zone for professional reprographics printers, ensuring that key information doesn’t get lost during print.
Good Hardware Ensures Good Results
There is no shortage of reprographics agencies in the Pacific Northwest, but finding the right one can be a challenge. Take the time to identify your needs and find the company best-equipped to respond to those needs – your branded reprographics are too important for anything less!
Are you considering a reprographics-based marketing campaign but don’t know where to start? We can help you make the right choices. Contact us today to upgrade your marketing strategy with reprographics.
