FAQ's About Printing From Bill!

Presume for a moment you are the owner of a small business and you find yourself in need of printing services.  Ok.  So, you start doing some research, perhaps even asking some colleagues about who you should call.  You get a few names of printers and you call and set up appointments to meet with them.  Then the thought hits you either before your meetings or during, "I don't know a thing about printing!"

There's really no reason to go into this blindly.  Chances are you'll be spending a fair amount of money on printing services for your business.  And, it's really not that difficult to be informed about what you're spending your hard-earned cash on.  Over the years that I've been in the printing business, as I speak with business owners or their managers, I have compiled a short list of their more Frequently Asked Questions.

****  FAQ'S  ****

                                                 
l.  When I order printing or look at my invoices I see "codes" as 1/0.  What does that mean?  I suspect it's a code to determine how much I'm going to be charged!

Answer:  Actually, it's one of the most common and essential ways to determine how a print job should be produced.  Here are the most common you'll see:
                                                                            1/0 = Black&White Front/Plain Back
                                                                            1/1 = Black&White Front & Back
                                                                            4/0 = Color Front/Plain Back
                                                                            4/1 = Color Front/Black&White Back
                                                                            4/4 = Color Front & Back

2.  What does UV mean?
                                                                     
Answer:  UV is a way of coating a business card, brochure or other printing so it has a hard and shiny surface that will withstand humidity and rough handling.  It makes a nicer appearance but is difficult to write on.  I often recommend UV on one side but either gloss or matte on the other side so it can be written on.  Gloss and matte are two other ways to coat your printing to enhance appearance.




3.  What does it mean when my sales rep asks if I want a "bleed?"  Should this make me nervous?



Answer:  Nerves of steel not required!  A "bleed" means that the color will go to the edge of  the paper with no white border showing around the edges.    





4.  What is a "reverse?"

Answer:  If, for example, you want to print red ink on a white background, a "reverse" would be white print on a red background.  These are often used to highlight portions of, for example, an ad.

Screen Printing Examples

5.  Well, then, what is a "screen?"

Answer:  A "screen" is a muted version of a reverse.  "Screens" can be adjusted to be bold enough to almost appear as a screen ... or, they can be very subtle.



6.  I'm seeing more and more printing (brochures, business cards, invoices, etc.) with rather strange looking boxes.  Since they're becoming so prevalent, I'm assuming they must be important.  What are they?

     

Custom Designed QR Code

Answer:  You must be referring to QR Codes (Quick Response Codes).  A consumer with a smart phone can scan the QR Code with an App on their phone.  They will then be directed to any website the sender desires. The Code can also be custom designed incorporating the sender's logo for additional recognition and impact.



   
7.  My eyes glaze over when my sales rep tries to
describe the various kinds of paper I can use.
 Is there any way to help me understand the differences in paper?

Answer:  The "bad news" is that the single most complicated aspect of printing is paper selection.  Different papers evolved over many years with many types of manufacturing ... each with its own jargon for describing their products.  The "good news" is that because of some comprehensive charts and tables that PostNet has, we can show you samples of virtually all papers regardless of what they are called by the manufacturers.

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Keep this list as a reference.  It will help you make better informed decisions regarding your printing needs. And, we all know that better informed decisions yield increased efficiency and lower costs. And, just as important,  it will be obvious to your printer that you have done your homework and are an informed consumer.

All Aboard For The Social Media Train!

You are at a train station.  You are holding a sign that says, "My Small Business."  And, here comes the train ...  Attached to the engine are all the social media sites and behind the train are all the cars representing all the various types of businesses.

Find me on Google+

It pulls into the station and you watch as all the different business people get on board.  You stand there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do.  "Should I get on?" you think to yourself.   "What will happen if I don't?  I don't know anything about all that stuff.  What does it cost?  It all seems so confusing and, well, unimportant."  And, then you remember hearing someone make a joke about Twitter.  Oh, something about posting stuff about what they had for breakfast.  So, you decide to wait and think about it more.  Maybe there will be another train along soon. You watch as all those business people continue to get on board and then the train pulls out of the station.  How do you feel?  Perhaps relieved that you didn't follow the crowd.  You always thought of yourself as an individualist; an independent thinker.  Or, you wonder if you're making a mistake.  You saw some of your competitors board that train and you wonder if somehow they will have an edge with your target market.  So, you decide to do some research and find out more about this social media thing.

Connect with me on Linkedin

Where do you start?  You could ask other business people.  Perhaps, you could join a few networking groups in your community and find out what other businesses are doing to promote their businesses.  "I'll Google social media marketing and see what comes up!" you say to yourself out loud.  Then you realize that you just decided to use an internet search engine to find out if using social media would be a good idea for your business.  "Hmmm...there's a connection here," you think to yourself.  And, you are correct!

Find me on Facebook

The goal of any business is to create new customers, and the first step is to let them know you exist.  When we first opened our business introduced ourselves to someone and told them the name of our business they would respond, "PostNet? Never heard of it. What kind of business is it?" That was four years ago.  We don't hear that anymore, and we believe we owe most of that recognition to our social media involvement.  Intense networking, of course, added to that recognition, but having social media accounts and being active on them helped to engage people with the goal of developing relationships with them.

 People buy from people and brands they like.  

      

Follow me on Twitter

Being active on various social media sites allows people to get to know and like you as a person.  Interacting in that environment puts your brand and product messages in a position to be shared and commented on which leads to awareness, interest, and sales!  And, depending how you choose to interact, people begin to get to know you and your unique personality.  You sprinkle your posts with humor, perhaps a gardening or travel tip, offer an answer to a question you see posted by someone else, or refer someone to a resource that helps them. Voila!  You have become a person to "Like, follow, and connect with ... Someone people want to do business with!