The History of Catalog Printing

Catalogs have been used by marketers since about the year 1872 – when the first mail-order catalog was sent out by Montgomery Ward. At that time, the entire catalog fit on one 8.5”x11” sheet of paper, and was simple, marketed to farmers who didn't want to shop in stores. As Montgomery Ward targeted a specific group of people, it can also be said that this catalog printing and mailing was the first instance of direct mail marketing. About ten years later, the Sears catalog was first printed, and catalogs became major businesses in the United States. Today, catalog printing is not as popular as it once was, because of the advent of the Internet, but many people still do their shopping via printed catalog. Catalogs can be a great direct mail tool, as they have the ability to show much of your merchandise/services at once, leading to more business.

What is Direct Mail?

Direct mail is a type of direct marketing, which is a process that was developed in the 1970's for such companies as Columbia Records and American Express. Direct mail is the process of sending mail on certain topics, such as brochures and catalogs, to people who have already expressed an interest in that topic. For example, if you bought something from a sporting goods company and gave them your mailing address, they might start sending you sporting goods catalogs as direct mail – the company would assume from your purchase that you enjoy sporting goods. Some people consider this junk mail, but direct mail is a great advertising technique, and direct mailing services can help many newer businesses to gain clients and customers. Direct mail gets your information directly into the hands of the people who are most likely to use it.

Direct Mail – Mailing Services

Some printers of direct mail also offer mailing services. These services can range from inserting your brochure or ad into pieces of mail, all the way to sealing envelopes and stamping them for mailing. Mailing services can also help you to effectively get the best rate on mailing your direct mail items, as they will be able to get you the US Post Office pre-sort rate (on #10 envelopes) if you have enough items, or a bulk rate depending on how fast you need your direct mail to reach homes. Mailing services can address your direct mail from a database, as well as place a return address on your envelope/postcard, thereby lessening your workload considerably.

Full Color Brochure Printing

Full color brochure printing is a great way to get your company noticed. A full color brochure, printed under the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) four color process, can showcase actual photos as well as other graphics of your company and its products and services. Full color brochure printing can help enhance your message – something that you should put on the cover of your brochure (it's estimated 80% of people don't bother to read what's inside if they're not grabbed by the cover). Another advantage to color brochure printing is the resulting look of your graphics and photos – photos can express your company's position and product even better than text can. Finally, color brochure printing can help you to highlight specific items in your brochure with certain colors or images, which will help to bring the reader to the important points of your brochure.

Flyer Printing for Your New Business

Whether you open a new nightclub or a new Laundromat, flyer printing is one of the most cost-effective ways to boost a marketing campaign. To start your flyer campaign for your new business, follow these simple steps and you will be on your way.

• First, set a budget. A budget is necessary for any marketing campaign, but for flyer printing which is done in such bulk, a budget is crucial.

• Next, choose your design theme. This includes the color of your printed flyers as well as any images that will appear on them. Designing a brochure can be tricky, but is well worth the trouble. The right theme can make or break a campaign.

• The next step is writing your copy. Your flyer copy should be in line with your theme and be straight to the point. Are you offering a sale or a special with your opening? Mention it! Flyer printing is great only if it catches the attention of your audience quickly. Catch phrases and humor can go a long way towards helping capture your audience.

• Finally, find a flyer printing company that suits your needs. Stay within your budget and your flyer printing campaign has great chance of success.

Getting a Catalogue Printing Quote

Getting a custom quote for catalogue printing is easy. There are many online and brick-and-mortar printing companies that would love your business. They will do what they need to in order to get it, including providing you with a customized quote for your catalogue printing needs.

A great place to start is through online directories such as Google Directory, Yahoo! Directory, or DMOZ.org. There are hundreds of custom printing companies that can help you with your catalogue printing project. If you prefer someone local, these directories are organized by area and can point you in the right direction.

Once you find a few companies you are interested in, take advantage of their entire possible catalogue printing options. Get several quotes that cover many different combinations of color, binding, and other choices. You will only make the right choice in catalogue printing after you have seen every option.

If you want to get a quote for catalogue printing, you will be happy with just how easy it is. Don't wait any longer; you may be missing possible sales right now.

The Basics of Flyer Printing

Flyer printing is not too different from other printing when it comes to specifications. There are many of the same factors to consider when designing and printing your flyers. It is useful e to have a clear understanding of what makes a flyer different from other types of print media.

• A flyer is often a single-sheet document printed in one, two, or full color.
• The basic standard sizes for flyer printing are 8-1/2" x 11", 8-1/2" x 14", and 11" x 17".

When designing your custom flyer, remember that this will service as your communication with your target audience. Portray yourself or your business in the best way possible on your printed flyers. Simple design with clear messaging is often the best way to get your message across through a small printed flyer.

*Flyer printing is not too different from other printing types. If you know the differences, however, you will have a more successful printing experience and marketing campaign.

Give me a flyer

Flyers are one of the easiest printing jobs and can provide that one-two punch in getting peoples' attention.
I think that it is important not to get too crazy with fonts and graphics. Too much overwhelms the eye as well as create a problem for your printer in trying to locate and use so many extra files.
Keep it simple and not use more than 3 fonts. Make sure that the graphics tie into the subject and add emphasis to what you are promoting. Avoid fonts named after cities -- they are ugly and should not be brought out for public display.
Yellow is one color that is most recognized by the human eye and easily draws people in. Avoid dark colors as they will drown out type and graphics alike and make it more challenging for people to read them.

Size & Stock - Keys to Brochure Printing

If your business is ready to start a more aggressive marketing effort, direct sending of printed brochures can be a great tool. Brochure printing requires much research to determine what would work best for you. Of the many factors involved in brochure printing, size and stock are among the most important.

Size is the actual dimensions of a single page, bi-fold, tri-fold, or multi-page brochure. The size of your brochure will have a large impact on the project cost. In addition, the stock you choose will also make the price of your brochure printing project rise or fall. The stock is also referred to as the 'weight' of the paper. Choose the stock based on how heavy and thick you want your brochure to be.

*Choosing your size and stock are important factors in any brochure printing campaign. Consult with a printing company online to learn more about these keys to brochure printing.

Brochure Printing - What's the 'Bleed'?

With all of the terminology in the brochure printing industry, some terms need explanation for most people. Among these terms is the 'bleed'. In brochure printing, as well as other printing, a 'bleed' is a design element where the color elements run to the edge of your printed brochure.

Using a bleed can make your final product look more professional. It can also cause the cost of your brochure printing project to go up. Because the bleed goes to the edge of the paper, your brochure printing will be done on a slightly larger sheet than your final product. Printing on a larger initial piece of paper means you still pay for the whole sheet.

*If you are trying to keep your brochure printing project to a low cost, you should ask your printing company to avoid bleeds.

How to Find Direct Mail Printing Companies

For some time now, direct mailings have been one of the most common and effective marketing campaign elements. If your company is thinking about a direct mail campaign, you will need to find a direct mail printing company. There are many direct mail printing companies that would love your business and have the experience you are looking for. To find the right direct mail printing company for your needs, you should first hit the Internet.

Use the major search engines and Internet directories to find listings of different printing companies that do direct mail printing. Aside from the Internet, you should also use local directories such as the yellow pages to build your list of potential direct mail printing companies. After you have your list, contact them and ask for references as well as samples. Once you get these, you have the information you need to start your direct mail printing campaign. Good Luck!

Factors to Consider in Direct Mail Printing

Many factors come into play in direct mail campaigns. Even after you have resolved your direct mail recipient list issues, there are still more factors to consider. There are so many options available in direct mail printing that this can often make for the most difficult decisions. Factors to consider in direct mail printing are not much different than most other types of printing. First, you need to think about:

• Size
• Weight
• Color options
• Cut

Each of these factors of direct mail printing will affect your campaign budget and distribution speed. Consider each carefully before ordering your printing. More factors include:

• Packaging
• Distribution

Many direct mail printing companies will include all of these with their packages. Be sure to inquire when choosing your printer. The factors involved with direct mail printing can seem overwhelming, but if you find the right printing company, your experience will be the opposite.

How to Choose Your Catalogue Printing Format

Design is art. From interior design of a house to the design of your company's marketing materials, the object is to attract the eye and push towards an action. The importance of style and design in catalogue printing is often overlooked by many companies.

While some companies spend dollar after dollar looking for the right design for their catalogue printing, many others still simply throw their products on the page. If you are looking for better return from the catalogues that you distribute, here are a few design tips to think about:

• Imagery – Are you backing your products up with a catalogue design that enhances their purpose? If not, think about using stronger imagery to reflect your products in your next catalogue printing order.

• Grab the Eye – Have you stuck with black and white for your catalogue printing to save on the higher costs involved with color? You may want to think again. Studies show that colors can attract a person's attention by setting images off from a page. This is in contrast to the natural reaction to single color, which makes the eye scan, rather than study.

• Product Focus – It is important to remember that your products should be the focus when it comes to catalogue printing. Do not put too many products in a single page—this will surely make it harder to direct the reader's attention to any single product you are looking to promote.

If you want better return from your catalogue printing and distribution, take design into account. It is not your prices or your products fault that you are not selling more; the answer may simply lie in a smarter design.

It's a BIG one

Smaller projects can usually be handled by the small business owner or consumer with a home computer. Once it is decided that a project has multiple pages, it would be a good idea to work with a designer who has had a great deal of experience in this area.
Knowing how to layout the pages so that they fall in a printer's spread (allowing for nonconsecutive pages to be organize in a way so they fall into the correct order) can be overwhelming and potentially costly if the printer has to fix the file if the setup is incorrect.
I know of some printers which ask that pages be saved as separate files just so they know that they can be sure and put them in the proper order.
So, when planning a large project such as a catalog, sit down with the designer and plan out the necessary sections, photo needs and any inserts. It is money well spent and you will have a project that resembles the original intent.

Brochure Mailing

One final point to consider when getting brochure printing done is how you're going to distribute your brochure. Although some companies choose to leave their brochures in racks or hand deliver them to clients, most companies and businesses will be mailing their brochures. You could decide to mail brochures just in response to requests, or to do a direct mailing with your brochures. Another way to save is to get creative with your folds. If you have an 11”x17” sheet full of information, you may want to try trifolding it into a zig zag or typical brochure fold.

Direct Mail Magazine Insert Printing

Direct mail doesn't always have to be its own mailing. Sometimes, a direct mail magazine insert printing will do the trick even more effectively. The benefits to having a direct mail magazine insert are obvious – you will be getting your advertisement to the right targeted people, because you can choose to have your advertising insert in a magazine that's for your focus group. There are four main types of direct mail magazine inserts, and they vary in price depending on what magazine you're planning to advertise with. They are blow ins (those little cards that are just loosely inserted into the magazine), poly bag inserts (little cards that are put into the protective plastic bag around some magazines), bind ins (ads that are actually bound into the magazine) and tipping (glued in ads that the printer glues to an existing page in the magazine).

Designing a Brochure

Designing a brochure can be difficult, however, if you stick to designing your brochure for a specific purpose, you can make this task a bit easier. First of all, you'll want to decide why you're making your brochure and how you're going to distribute it. If you're planning on making a comprehensive brochure highlighting everything in your company, you might be better off using a larger format brochure (such as a folded 11”x17”) and using it to respond to inquiries about your company. Designing a brochure for direct mailing would go a bit differently. Since you want this brochure to be a general introduction to your company, you wouldn't make it as large or comprehensive. Instead, a trifolded 8.5”x11” sheet would be easier to mail as well as being shorter for potential clients to read.