How To Print Professional Looking Marketing Brochures On A Budget
Perhaps you are running a small business or perhaps you are a freelance consultant looking to impress potential clients. At some point in time you might need to print marketing brochures to compliment your website or to mark a specific event. One option is to get the brochure printed by a printing house which might cost dearly or a second option is to give yourself a challenge and print those from the comfort of your own home or office. Printing technology has made a huge leap in recent years and most printers today, including the budget printers can print extremely high quality work provided you follow the right instruction and use the right type of paper for the job.
How To Print Professional Looking Marketing Brochures On a Budget:
1. Take a step back and look at your requirements - If you need to print 1000 brochures then unfortunately the cheaper solution of do it yourself is not recommend. It will simply cost you too much money when you budget in the cost of the ink, your time and cost of the paper. On the other hand, if you need to print only a handful or you are really stretched for cash, do it yourself makes perfect sense.
2. Do not spend your hard earned cash on design software - In case you forgot, by not using a printing house you are likely to have to design the brochure yourself. Fortunately help is at hand. There are plenty of quality templates which you can download and edit using MS Word or Open Office to achieve fantastic results.
3. Always test before committing the job - One of the biggest mistakes we hear of when the work does not come out quite professionally looking is lack of testing. Before clicking the PRINT button and sending 100 pages down the printer to be printed, always test one page to ensure the printer is aligned, there's plenty of ink and brochure reads well.
4. Use the right brochure paper - Using the right type of paper is essential for the success of your work. Beyond ensuring that the paper is suitable for the printer's make, type of ink and technology (Inkjet Vs. Lasterjet) you need to look for a few qualities in the paper. Good candidate brochure paper is printable both sided, has a premium looking finish such as satin and decent weight of 100g plus so it will feel brochure-like when haled not paper-like.
5. Take the time to fine-tune the printer - You might be surprised by the printing results achieved by using even a budget line printer. If you take the time to set up the printer in accordance with the printer's instructions (some quality papers might come with instruction as well) the results will look truly professional. For HP printers the recommended setting is Other Photo Paper or Premium Photo Paper with the highest resolution and for both Canon and Epson printers the recommended setting is Photo Paper with the highest resolution available.
