How Print Materials Help a Business Accomplish its Goals

estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Printing for Business

The commercial printing industry is an important segment of the global economy, providing professionally printed materials to businesses of all types and sizes. In turn, businesses use these custom-printed items for a variety of purposes, like helping to promote their products and services, streamlining operations, or maintaining communication with customers, employees and other stakeholders.

That said, below are some of the main ways that print materials help a business achieve its objectives:

Building Brand Awareness and Attracting Customers

Print materials are an important part of many marketing and promotional campaigns. Whether print is used exclusively or as a supplement to online marketing efforts, printed materials are a very effective way to create brand awareness, establish trust, and motivate customers toward making a purchase.

Marketing pieces are almost always printed in full color for maximum visual appeal. They also include attractive imagery, intriguing headings, and compelling text to stimulate interest and showcase a business and its offerings in the best possible light.

Though most marketing pieces are designed for a broad audience, many can also be targeted toward specific consumers based on past buying behaviors or demographics.

The most widely used forms of print marketing are brochures, flyers, catalogs, and direct mail postcards. Other examples of printed items used for marketing purposes include door hangers, buck slips, rack cards, table tents, and posters.

Facilitating the Sales Process

Once a business is able to stimulate demand and generate sales leads through its marketing efforts, a member of the sales team will then interact directly with each individual prospect. The salesperson will work to build credibility and establish a positive relationship with the customer. The ultimate goal of which is to encourage the purchase of goods or services so the business can increase revenue.

Most companies use a variety of print materials to complement the sales process and help convert prospects into customers. Many of the same types of print materials used for marketing, such as full-color brochures or catalogs, are often employed during the selling process as well. Other examples of printed sales tools include product data sheets, sell sheets, price lists, line cards, pitch books (flat or self-standing), and case studies.

A presentation folder is another printed item that can greatly complement the selling process. Primarily used during an in-person sales presentation for larger ticket products and services, these folders provide a convenient way to organize and share proposals, contracts, promotional literature, and other documents pertinent to making the sale. Designed to make a lasting impression, presentation folders are often printed with various enhancements, such as embossed images, metallic foil accents, or special finishes.

To help foster goodwill and encourage reciprocity, salespeople will often gift various printed items to current and potential customers. Branded calendars and notepads are two examples of useful promotional items that are commonly given as freebies. Other examples of printed items distributed as branded gifts include magnets, post-it notes, damp or dry erase memo boards, bookmarks, planners and organizers.

Assisting with Day-to-Day Operations

Just about every business uses custom-printed materials to help with ongoing operational functions. Since many of these printed materials are only used internally, full color printing isn't as strong a requirement as it would be for marketing or sales literature. Hence, many operational documents are printed with only one or two ink colors to minimize the expense.

Pre-printed forms are a common example of operational printing, such as those used for customer invoices and statements, bills of lading, purchase orders, contracts, receipts, requisitions, and work orders. Other examples of forms used within an organization for routine processes include safety checklists, expense reports, inventory tracking and scheduling sheets, and equipment inspection reports. Having standardized forms makes it easier for employees to complete certain tasks more efficiently.

Additional printed items frequently used to enhance or support business activities include procedure manuals, checks, product labels and stickers, hang tags, employee ID and time cards, informational posters, and padded documents. Product packaging is also a subset of operational printing and includes header cards, boxes, slip cases, inserts, shipping labels, mailing pouches, and other branded supplies.

Communicating with Stakeholders

Businesses occasionally need to share written communication with various stakeholders, such as customers, employees, or shareholders. For this reason most businesses maintain a supply of custom-printed envelopes, letterhead, business cards and other stationery items. Having all these items printed with the company's logo and color scheme ensures its brand identity is displayed in a consistent and professional manner.

Some businesses also use printed materials like newsletters or bulletins to keep stakeholders informed about company updates, policy changes, or upcoming events. Also, annual reports are important multi-page documents printed for distribution to investors and shareholders. These reports provide a transparent view of a company's financial performance, key activities, and other accomplishments over the course of a fiscal year.

Training and Educating

Print materials provide an excellent format for training and educational purposes. As such, businesses often print several types of manuals to train and educate their employees about job-specific procedures and systems. Examples include training manuals, operation manuals, policy manuals, and safety manuals, all of which help employees perform their jobs effectively.

In addition, new hires are often given a printed employee handbook as part of the onboarding process. The handbooks explain the company's mission, policies, culture, and benefits as well as the responsibilities and performance expectations of the workplace. These books help new employees quickly acclimate to their role within the company.

In addition to print materials provided to employees, instructional materials are commonly created for customers. For example, step-by-step instructions or user guides are often provided with a product to help educate customers about the proper use. Depending on the complexity of the product, the instructions could be a single printed sheet, a booklet, or even a thick book.

Being the Actual Product the Company Sells

Up to this point, we've given examples of print materials that help a business perform the various functions needed for success. But sometimes, the business revolves around the print materials themselves. In other words, some businesses buy custom print materials because they are the actual products they offer.

For example, a company could have a product line that includes books, such as field guides, how-to manuals, or romance novels. Or, a company might sell comic books, magazines, or journals.

Posters, maps, greeting cards, inspirational bookmarks, and children's growth charts are other examples of custom print materials that people have created a business around.

Let Color Vision help with your next custom printing project!

Color Vision has been in the commercial printing business for over four decades. We've built a strong reputation in the industry by offering quality printing at affordable prices. We're also known for our friendly and helpful service.

In addition, we can assist with just about any print project you may have - books, brochures, flyers, catalogs, manuals, postcards, notepads, forms, and more!

Just give us a call at 800-543-6299 to discuss your project. Or, use our simple Quote Request form to send us your specifications and we will be happy to email a quote to you.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you and hope to assist with your next print project!