How to keep your print media design costs to a minimum

One of the most important considerations for any business planning a print media advertising campaign is cost. Budget is important in all aspects of business and none more so than marketing. In order for an ad campaign to produce a good ROI and prove itself to be worthwhile, it needs to be low cost and high impact. Keeping outlay to a minimum, without compromising on quality, will help you get more out of your marketing campaign and make your print run a success.

Choosing your print method

Selecting the best print method early in the planning process can make a big difference to the cost of the finished product. Although the decision between offset litho and digital will often come down to the quantity being printed there are various other factors to consider.

Digital printing will often be chosen for shorter print runs requiring a quick turnaround. There will be fewer options for the materials and weights that you can use. Without the need to make plates, proofs can be supplied directly from press on the final material.  

Offset lithographic printing is often a good choice for large print runs. The speed of litho printing is considerably quicker, once set up, the cost of printing a page is very low and the quality of the products produced is high. You will have a wider choice of materials, such as uncoated, recycled textured or coloured materials. Heavier and thinner materials can be chosen. Litho will also allow you to specify solid colours in addition to the 4 process colours, so Pantone spot, metallic and fluorescent colours can be used.

Your printer will be able to advise you on the best choice based on your specifications.

See digital or offset litho printing - what's the difference?

Final document size

Discussing your document size with your printer at an early stage in the design could also help reduce your print costs.

Sheet size is another factor that can affect overall print costs. Digital presses use a small sheet size which, not only limits the maximum size of the finished document, it reduces the number of pages that fit on a sheet. Whereas, an offset litho press can use much larger sheets allowing for larger documents to be printed and for more pages to fit on a sheet.  

Selecting your paper type

The type of paper you use for your print run will have a significant effect on the look and feel of the finished product. Putting a little more thought into selecting the right paper for your design will help your brochure, leaflet, poster or other media to have even more of an impact.

Most printers will be able to recommend a range of materials and weights that they use regularly. As with any product paper prices, fluctuate. So, using a paper stock that they can buy in larger quantities will enable them to offer you a better price.

See choosing the right paper for your job

Talk to your printer

Professional printers have a huge amount of expertise and experience when it comes to planning and executing print runs. If you’re looking for ways to keep costs down while keeping standards high, ask your printer for their advice. Ideally, you should talk to your printer as early in the planning process as possible. That way you’ll be able to take their ideas on board throughout your print project.

To find out more about planning an affordable and effective print campaign, or to learn more about our products and services, take a look around our site or get in touch with a member of our team.