If you’ve never worked with a printing partner before or you’ve stopped for a while, you’ll want to cover all the bases. What do these companies offer? How do you know which is the right one to work with? What even is a printing partner anyway? We’ve decided to answer all these questions for you.
Here’s our advice on what you need to know about printing businesses.
- What Is a Printing Partner?
- What Do Printing Partners Offer?
- How Do You Find the Right Printing Partner?
- Developing the Best Relationship With Your Printing Partner
What Is a Printing Partner?
A printing partner is a commercial organisation dedicated to creating quality print solutions for their clients. They’ll deal with visual marketing solutions for retail, exhibitions, events and many other things that require print.
Different print partners will specialise in different areas of print. For example, some will work mostly in large format while others might show their expertise in LED UV or digital printing.
However, an established printing partner will still have a wealth of experience in providing top quality visual marketing assets and be well-versed in the industry. Even if they specialise in a particular type of print, they’ll still have in-depth knowledge on all types of print, their methods and their benefits.
With this knowledge, they'll be able to advise you on the best printing method for your vision.
Working with an experienced printing partner will give you peace of mind. Through helpful advice, collaboration and a good working relationship, the partner will create and finalise your marketing materials with the least amount of hassle.
What Do Printing Partners Offer?
Print partners offer a response to the outdated comment: “Print is dead.” In fact, while print might seem less universal in this digital age, that’s only helped it to become bolder, more vibrant and more alive than it’s ever been.
Think of famous print ad campaigns you remember, useful leaflets you’ve used at events and even stunning magazines that you’ve read and collected. All of those wouldn’t have been able to impress you as much if they didn't have a print partner behind them.
So what else does a print partner offer?
Experienced, In-house Services
The best printing partners offer in-house services based upon a wealth of experience in each style of print. At B&B Press, for example, we specialise in digital printing and LED UV amongst others.
Printing partners work with top-of-the-line equipment and methods and use it to produce any custom print or bespoke artwork you want to create. Experienced printing partners don’t see problems, they see challenges to overcome and learn from.
Expert Printing Advice
Print can be hard to understand and because of this, a lot of people fear it. Terminology and techniques such as file formats, crops and bleeds can send us running to the hills. A print partner is what you need, they’ll manage your print like heroes.
During a print run, potentially problematic ideas, requests or incorrect techniques might be chosen. A printing partner can prevent this by offering relevant advice where needed to sand off the rough edges of your artistic vision.
A Good Working Culture and Responsible Business Methods
Any relationship between a client and a printing partner is subject to external pressures, so to work with a printing partner who operates from a good working culture can be a blessing.
Secondly, with environmental concerns also being on people’s business agendas these days, printing partners are making the necessary changes to ‘go green.’
With FSC-certified papers, ISO certified business methods and even investing in vegetable-based inks and more eco-friendly vehicles, printing partners are doing more and more in their efforts to be carbon-balanced.
How Do You Find the Right Printing Partner?
When you’re researching potential printing partners, the first thing to look for is their experience. It’s the hallmark of any great print company.
Professional printing isn’t the same as pushing a button on your printer at home. It’s a complex dance of designs, paper types, printing configurations, ink choices and many more features.
After all, poor print quality can reflect badly on your business. So, make sure your print is correct and exactly what you wanted. For that though, you need an expert touch.
It’s essential to choose a team that can guide you on your printing quest thanks to their expertise. Providing key input on printing methods and strategies as well as making sure your print is up to scratch are key considerations to look over.
Finding a print provider with these qualities will help to make your business more efficient by reducing labour times, costly mistakes and lengthy turnarounds.
For more information, check out our helpful blog on the key questions to ask a printing company before you start working with them.
Developing the Best Relationship With Your Printing Partner
A key feature of what you need to know about printing businesses is how to develop a good relationship with them.
A print process is only truly effective when a good relationship is fostered - one that allows for smooth conversation, feedback, creative collaboration and honest critiques.
Fortunately, the best printing partners will be made up of an amicable team ready to provide the best feedback and listen to your wants and needs. In a printing partnership, both parties want the same thing: to create something worthwhile and visually please, something that fulfils the original objective.
They’ll provide the following:
- Answers to any questions you may have regarding the process.
- Advice on the right methods, material choices and designs.
- Time dedicated to checking each phase of the print process to ensure your product is always correct.
There are a wealth of worthy printing methods on offer right now, but it doesn’t take a long time to determine which will be the best one to work with.
Explore the Right Printing Method For You
Take a look at the range of brilliant print services we offer, and if you're still not sure get in touch, with over 60 years experience we can give you trustworthy advice to make your next campaign a huge success.
