Business Cards Printing
Just about any office supply store can make up business cards for you and this is a viable alternative for someone who just needs a supply of simple business cards printed perhaps to start a new business or if the need for new business cards is not frequent. There are some drawbacks to relying on a commercial printer like this that could become a problem if your need for these small but important parts of your business profile is unique. Some situations where using a commercial printer for business cards might not be the best choice are…
- You need a very creative and customized business card that does not conform to the printers "menu" of choices.
- You need your business cards today so you cannot wait the standard time that printers require to complete an order.
- You don’t require 1000 cards. Perhaps because of economy or because you expect the card to change, you want to just order a small quantity to be filled again if you run out. This kind of flexibility is not possible outsourcing your business card needs.
- You get a lot of business cards made because of the size of your business so it represents a sizable budget line item. Budget controls make it viable to consider insourcing this function.
Setting up a printing facility to make business cards yourself is not a perfect fit for all businesses but there are situations where it makes a lot of sense. It is one of those "outsourcing/insourcing" decisions that can give you more control over one line item on your advertising budget. Just as keeping your own web development team is a significant effort but one that can save money and give you more control over web development, bringing the function of printing cards for your employees in-house can cap that cost while opening up more flexibility in how you use this function.
The quantity issue is just one example of how you can create cost controls and reduce waste in business card production. Many commercial printers set up their costs structures so that ordering your cards in sets of 1000 is the only rational choice. But when you bring new employees on, while you may need to get business cards for them, you don't know how long they will be with you. If you could have 100 cards or less made up for them, that makes more sense than making 1000 and then having to throw most of them away if the employee doesn’t stay on. You can have that control with an in-house printing facility.
You can produce your own business cards for a relatively low cost. Using PC software and forms that the major paper makers like Avery produce, it can be done on a desktop unit. You can make your production facility as fancy as you can afford with customized printers that allow you to make magnetized cards or cards with elaborate finishes and colors. But by doing it yourself, you turn that control over to your own people which can be economical and expand how you use business cards at the same time. |
