CBF Group's blog

Planning is everything to get your national timing to right for all of your marketing campaign however the print process does require some planning and forethought as the laws of physics cannot be pushed with any aspects of ink drying, print finishing and that very special ‘law of the courier’ that defies all logic sometimes.

So where to start?  What are you planning on having produced? Let’s take a fictitious campaign for a gym chain, now each site will require a set number of materials per site and some will be bigger than others and need more materials so start on a spreadsheet listing all the sites in each row you want to deliver to and all the individual materials i.e. posters, pads, flyers etc in each column.  Now only you will know how many people will need to receive the information you are going to send out but for our gym chain we know that each site will need at least 3 posters to advertise their new offer and others will require 5 so filling up our spread sheet you will start to paint a picture of how many posters you will require.  Repeat this for all the other items you are planning to have printed until you have a complete breakdown of your campaign.  Nearly forgot to mention on your list of sites make sure you add the postcode or if you have the information the full address of the receiving site as this will help us work out the courier and fulfilment costs.

Print Specs
Each brand requires a different look and feel  so unless you are familiar with your paper stocks you are looking to print on then ask us for samples and some guidance to achieve the look your after.  Remember it may sound daft but paper is thin slices of tree so the thinner the paper stick the lighter the end produce will be and the less the courier bill to ship it around the country.

The basics for you…4 main types of paper; uncoated, gloss, matt and silk.  Each will provide a different finish to your end product and to your corporate colours; look and first impression so get some advice if you’re not sure or would like to change.  For more information have a look at: http://blog.cbfnet.co.uk/business-printing/the-top-10-of-perfect-paper-stocks-for-your-stationery-business-and-marketing-print

Timeline planning
No doubt you will have a deadline or a target date you are working to for a rollout of your new product or service.  If you work backwards from there the courier parcels will take 1-2 working days to get to their destination depending on what service you require and depending on the complexity most fulfilment setups can count off and pack the parcels in 1-2 working days.  So now you have that timeline the print production element can be allowed for most jobs can be produced in 5 working days but it’s the number of jobs and complexity of them that extends the time, folders for example will need a few extra days to die cut and make-up so allow for this. 

The first step is the artwork and getting it right, now that you know the print production and fulfilment it is a worthwhile exercise to produce the artwork pieces in order of production length so make sure the more complicated are sent to print first.

Their maybe other elements being planned for role out like direct mail, TV, radio or new media launches these will all have to be worked together so the phrase ‘Failure to prepare, prepare to fail’ really is true for planning a print rollout.

I hope this has helped.  If you or your business requires any further help then please feel free to drop me a line directly.

Thanks

Lawson Willett
Tel: 01242 237652