Maybe you are thinking that, at this modern day and age wherein technology and Internet seem to have been embedded in most people’s lives; business cards are already a thing of the past. Well, you’re wrong. In fact, small businesses like us are still making use of business cards. You may not be able to fully understand it but traditional marketing such radio ads, TV commercials and print ads (magazines, newspapers) or print materials (flyers, posters, brochures and of course business cards) still work. They may not be as fast or as broad as the online media or the Internet marketing method but they are still a pretty solid marketing strategy.
The Business Card Printing Issue
We are a small yet fully functional business and we have included business cards in our marketing plan and campaign. There should be no problem with this because we just have to find a certain print company and strike a deal with them to print our business cards for us and that’s it. But there’s always an annoying issue. Most print companies don’t provide fair charges when it comes to their business card printing service.
Don’t you know that print companies can charge you a markup of up to five times the costs associated with the printing of your business cards? In short, their services are way too expensive and this is not fair. What makes it more aggravating is that we have had a lot of issues with this in the past and could not find a reputable printing company that could accommodate our needs at a reasonable price. This is one of the reasons why we started our own printing service.
Unfair Costs Of Print Companies
Just like what was mentioned earlier, the unfair costs of print companies regarding the printing of business cards have prompted us to launch our own printing service. We think that the markup for printing business cards should be no more than two times the cost to the print company. Not only that, those print companies are putting up additional higher costs if you want to use paper with higher quality and if you want to print something at the back side of your cards. Isn’t that markup that’s five times the printing cost that those print companies are charging not enough for them? There’s also extra charge if you want to use your company’s logo.
Fair Printing Opportunities Are What We Need
Aside from the pricey printing services, what made us decide to come up with our own printing service is the fact that print companies will not do small runs on business cards. For instance, if you only plan on using 50 cards and not 250, you won’t find a print company that will make a deal with you. We are constantly asked, “Why would a small business only want 30 business cards instead of 250?” The answer is that a lot of small businesses that are just starting up have details that are constantly changing (such as their phone number, email address, logo, etc.) and when their information changes, their old business cards are deemed useless so it’s not that practical to spend on 250 business cards right away. Also, some businesses simply do not have the money for 250 cards.
Our small business has decided to make a change by starting our own printing service. We aim to provide fair costs and printing opportunities to other small business like us, something that those print companies fail to offer us. This is a step worth taking.
