Printed materials such as brochures, presentation folders, business cards, letterhead and other marketing collateral give potential clients an important first impression about your business. Since great collateral materials can impact your business’s success, why leave these to just any printing company? Choosing a printer to meet your needs is important. That’s why we’ve created a handy guide on how to choose the best Dallas printing company.
Dallas Printing Company Comparison Check List
A simple way to compare printers is to list all criteria important to you and to your project. Then, give a rating (1 to 5) to each point and assign that score to each print shop on your list. Not only will this give you a direct comparison, it will also allow you to see a total score for each printing company, weighted by the importance of each point.
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But what if you’re not sure what your criteria are? Or what questions to ask? No worries, we’ve provided a handy list of questions below:
1) Where Are You Located?
Hiring a local printer can be very helpful in developing a face-to-face relationship. In addition, delivery times are most likely faster and less costly. Instead of trying to reach large, remote printers with online chats and longer customer service center wait times, your questions can be handled more easily with a quick phone call, email or visit. Often, at a local printing company you’ll get to speak directly with a dedicated account rep assigned to you instead of speaking to someone different in customer service each time. Plus, supporting a local Dallas printing company also keeps money flowing within your local community.
How to Rate: If location is important to you, rate 5 for a printing company located within 5 miles, rate 4 within 10 miles and so on. Rate an online-only printer zero. If location is not important to you, remove this from your checklist.
2) How Do You Balance Cost vs. Quality?
In a perfect world, your pieces would print at the highest quality with the lowest cost. Unfortunately, you can’t always have both. In printing, the lowest price is not always the best value, especially if you end up paying to reprint something that didn’t meet your expectations. Online printers may be able to print your documents inexpensively, but there may be limitations or the final product might not look exactly as you prefer. If you want reliability and quality from your printing company, you need to decide what you are willing to accept in balancing between cost, reliability, quality and service.
Some commercial printers have different levels of equipment to serve various needs, within the same print shop. A larger, more expensive printing press may yield higher quality but jobs run on it may cost more. The same printing company may also have a press specifically set up for gang-runs, where quality and color is not as controlled, but price is significantly lower.
If your print order is for trade show materials, for example, you can assume a larger percentage of those materials will be viewed very quickly by recipients and may end up in the trash. Conversely, for a presentation folder with collateral targeting your larger or “hot” prospects, you’ll want a higher-quality print run. How does this translate to asking and rating a printing company?
How to Rate: If quality is higher priority to you, rate 5 for a printing company who can provide high-resolution printing, color control, quality measures and reprints if the quality is not within the industry standard of 5% error. If meeting tight budgetary needs is higher priority, rate 5 for a printing company who offers value printing options.
3) How Do You Meet Deadlines?
When choosing a Dallas printing company, you need to know if your supplier is organized and will meet realistic deadlines. For example, if you need a program book printed for an event in June, delivery in July is unacceptable. This question is a great way to find out how dependable you can expect each Dallas printing company to be in providing on-time results.
In printing, delays do happen. Equipment can malfunction or a large order in front of yours can take longer than expected. However, if your print order has a specific in-hands date, which you communicate well in advance, asking if there is way to ensure the deadline is met is crucial. If there is a possibility the deadline will not be met, how far off would it be? And what could be done to resolve any delays?
A good Dallas printing company will be able to give you turnaround times, if not exactly to the day, at least an estimated range. Some even offer standard vs expedited vs rush options at a tiered pricing structure. For a more complex project with lots of components and processes, the print shop may even be able to give you a production schedule that outlines the timing for each step.
How to Rate: Give the Dallas printing company a higher rating if: 1) their answer shows the printing company is organized and detailed, 2) they can provide a production schedule for more involved or complex print orders, 3) they offer tiered delivery turnaround options (standard vs rush), and 4) they can provide suggestions for reducing turnaround times. If their answers do not show any of this, rate them lower on your scale.
4) What Quality Control Systems Do You Have?
Printing is not an exact science, and most printers are not 100% perfect all the time. However, a good way to ensure you receive your order without mistakes is to have a quality control system in place. These quality controls may include: 1) prepress proofs so the customer can make sure the art is correct, 2) mockups for print orders that have complex folding and bindery needs, 3) pre-flight checks before the job is put on press, 4) color management system to ensure Pantone colors are matched correctly, with equipment checked and calibrated, and/or 5) human checks on print orders before these are prepped to ship out.
How to Rate: Give the Dallas printing company a higher rating for each of the above that they offer. Give them a lower rating if they do not include any of these quality control measures.
5) Can You Provide References?
If a printing company is proud of the quality of their work and client relationships, they will have no hesitation in providing business clients as a reference. Contacting these references can give you honest feedback about a typical client experience with them. Online reviews also may be an indicator, but keep in mind people are more likely to leave a review when they are unhappy than when everything is great.
A related question is to ask a Dallas printing company what percentage of business is from their three largest clients. Printing companies sometimes don’t want to reveal their largest clients. All you need to know is how busy they are with work from these three largest clients. Why is this question relevant? You don’t want to engage with a printing company that has all their eggs in one basket. Or hire a printing company that is going to bump your job for one from their larger clients.
How to Rate: If the Dallas printing company can provide you with solid references, and has a wider variety of clients, give them a higher rating. If they are unable to provide references and/or show that they are diverse in their client base, give them a lower rating.
6) Do You Offer More Than Print?
If this is not important to you, remove it from your rating checklist. However, often times you will want a Dallas printing company that can assist you in other areas as well. This may include graphic design services to create, edit or fix your art, or mailing services to drop mail something you are printing. It’s a good idea to ask what other related services they can offer. Some printing companies can offer print management services—including reviewing prepress proofs, attending press checks, and coordinating with other suppliers—which can reduce the stress of managing your print orders. Promotional products may be something you will want to accompany your trade show collateral or direct mailers; it would be convenient and time saving to get those ordered with the same vendor.
How to Rate: If these additional services are important to you, give the printing company a higher rating for each of the above that they offer. Give them a lower rating if they do not include any of these extra services.
7) Can You Provide Samples?
Before placing an order, you may want to see the quality of the paper or feel the proposed finish. Seeing examples in-hand will give you a much greater confidence in the printer’s capabilities. Ask the Dallas printing company if they can send samples to demonstrate the quality of their work. These samples may even provide inspiration for printing techniques you had not considered..
How to Rate: Give the printing company a higher rating if their samples are sufficient to meet your needs. Give them a lower rating if they are not able to send samples or the samples do not demonstrate the ability to meet your needs.
8) How Are You Different?
This is not a question that can easily be rated, so maybe it’s not part of your checklist. However, it is a good question to find out why they stand out from other printers. Many will probably answer similarly relating to service, quality or price. But you may receive some interesting responses to give you a greater insight into their company and culture. This will help you determine if they are a good fit for the way you work.
Local Dallas Printing Company
In summary, selecting the best Dallas printing company to meet your needs involves asking relevant questions before placing your project in their hands. Finding a printing company you can depend on is a step towards taking your business to the next level with quality marketing collateral.
D Media is a top-rated Dallas printing company as proven by customer reviews. Since 1995, we have provided small businesses with printing, mailing, promotional product and graphic design solutions they need to promote effectively and compete in the marketplace. Contact us at 972-747-9070 or complete the form below. We can effectively answer all of the above questions and more!
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