After Hour Networking

When drumming up new business, almost everyone is reaching out to consumers via social media and/or direct mail campaigns.  Meeting new people at after hour networking can be a challenge for some personalities.    Here are some tips on how to tackle the after hour networking event:

Don't be shy when it comes to networking.  You need to put yourself out there and think of every interaction as a networking opportunity.  If you tend to be shy in this environment, you can overcome that by being prepared.  Find volunteer opportunities that will help you get comfortable talking with strangers to overcome your shyness.

Don't just think of the traditional happy hour events as your only place to find new business.  Try to engage with people everywhere you go.    You never know where your next customer may come from.  Example - while at the dog park and talking with another dog owner, it came up we own MMP  and they happen to need a poster rushed the next week.   We gained a customer by interacting with other dog owners.      Keep your business cards on you at all times for these unexpected opportunities.

Don't overwhelm people with a long elevator pitch.  Make the pitch short, simple and relevant to the person you are engaging with.  You will  also want to find a way to stand out from everybody else.

Don't force a business relationship.  Find commonality with people by sharing hobbies or passions before talking business.  Not everyone you meet will become a customer, however, you never know if that introduction might turn into a referral.

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Turn your Office Place into a Green Environment

We all have heard of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.   This may be easy to do at home but harder to accomplish in the workplace.   However, if you are able to make your marketing material green than there is a chance you might attract a variety of customers by advertising with the green approach.

Reduce -- If your habit includes sending emails, internet new articles, projects to the printer to have  a hard copy of then you may want to change your habits.  Although it is important to see how the product will actually look on paper, employees tend to print unnecessary documents.  Encourage employees to limit clicking the print button.

Reuse and Recycle  -- Do you have left over letterhead, flyers or other materials that are not used anymore?   Before tossing them, think of ways to reuse this paper.   Create a bin for paper that can be used again.  Put back in the printer to print on other side.   Use this paper as scrap note paper.  See if the staff can come up with creative ways to reuse paper.  

Many customers appreciate hearing about what your business is doing to help the environment.   Be honest of your recycling practices that you have established.  They may be no brainer practices, but is can be easy to embellish your recycling practice. 

Customer Stock

Customer Stock might sound familiar if you have ever bobbed around a print shop briefly. Customer Stock is material (paper, envelopes, etc) that a customer brings in to have printed on, instead of ordering through the shop. This happens a lot when someone wants to use specialty papers, if someone has a rush order and doesn't want to wait on paper delivery, or if by some odd chance it would be cheaper to bring their own paper.

The number one important thing to consider when bringing in 'customer stock' is always bring extras. It can take anywhere from 1 sheet to 25 sheets just to set up a job... especially if it's being printed on the press. So, if someone is having 500 envelopes printed the smart thing to do would be to bring in at LEAST 525 envelopes... or 550 if they wanted to play it safe!

When paper is delivered to us, or any other print shop, the boxes that the paper come in have all the specific details we need in order to send it through the printer without jamming (size, paper weight, textures, etc). But when a customer brings in a different kind of paper, a majority of the time the package doesn't give the necessary details in order to get the prints going. We pretty much play a guessing game until we get all the right settings. If the settings are wrong, the printer will inevitably jam.

This extra paper is not only for setting up the printer... it's also used for any other special requirements that may have been requested (scoring, booklets, numbering, stapling, drill holes, etc). Depending on what specifically the job entails depends on how much extra paper will be used. For example, setting up the scorer takes more extra paper than setting up for drill holes. Or a job that requires being printed on the offset presses, is scored, and stapled will obviously use more set up paper than a job printed on a digital printer and is only cut down.

Unless you are the person printing, there's really no worry in HOW MUCH extra paper is being used, just as long as there IS extra available. It's all trial and error when setting up, so it's really hard to peg an exact number of extra sheets, that's why (like earlier) we suggest to have at least 25-50 extras.

Margins & Bleeds

What are Margins and Bleeds and how do I set up and export my files with them?

A couple things about printing and design that not a lot of people know or sometimes understand is margins and bleeds. As a Graphic Designer, I've spent years developing this useful habit, so I don't (nor any other person working in a print shop) expect everybody to know what they are and how to set up their files with them.

A margin is the area in between your text/artwork and the edge of the page. In the example below, the black lines are the edge of the page (where the business card will be cut) and the red line is the designated margin space. It is suggested to leave at least an eighth (.125) to a quarter (.25) inch of space from the edge of the page (depending on the size of your piece). This business card has an eighth of an inch margin space, because it is fairly small.

Margins (red line) on a business card (3.5in x 2in)

All the text and artwork is inside the margin space, so if this business card were to be printed it would not lose any important information after it was cut down. Good margin spacing is highly suggested because even if something is being printed on a big expensive printer, the pages do move ever-so slightly (some more than others). In the image below, this stack of trimmed paper shows how the papers shift as they go through the printer. It is not drastic enough to be extremely noticeable in the end, but it moves just enough to easily lose a chunk of text if you are too close to the cutting area.

A block of paper showing the movement of the paper when it goes through the printer.

Also, often times when a piece of paper is going through a printer, the printer needs an area to grab onto to pull the it through the machine. Therefore, if an image is supposed to print on the area where the printer has a hold of it, it will obviously not print.

A bleed, on the other hand, is the part of the artwork or background that goes beyond the cutting area so when the piece is trimmed down to it's finished size there are no white borders around the edge. The reason for bleeds is that it is extremely difficult to print color all the way to the edge of the page, so in order to achieve a full bleed a document is set up on a larger sheet of paper and trimmed down. For example, if a standard 8.5 x 11in flyer is set up for bleeds, it will be printed on an 11 x 17in piece of paper and trimmed down to it's finished 8.5 x 11in size so the color can go to the edge of the flyer.

In the example below, this business card is set up with a full bleed. The black lines are where the business card would be cut, and the red line is the edge of the bleed. Much like margin spacing, it is suggested to give the bleed an eighth (.125) of an inch to account for the movement of the paper. Because the blue color bleeds across the edge of the business card, there will be no white borders!

Bleeds (red line) on a business card (3.5in x 2in)

It is fairly simple to set up a document for bleeds. In Adobe InDesign and Illustrator, when creating a new document it gives you the option in the initial 'New Document' window (In InDesign, it is under 'More Options'). Just type in your desired bleed width in each of the four boxes.

The InDesign 'New Document' window, where to find the bleed and margin settings. (Note: Not all 'New Document' windows are the same, this image shows a general location of the settings and what to look for.)

In programs that do not give you the option to set up bleeds (like Photoshop) the easiest way to account for the bleed is to set up your document with an eighth of an inch extra on each side. For example, if the 8.5 x 11in flyer needs bleeds, set it up as 8.75 x 11.25in. Don't forget that each side will get an eigth of an inch, making the document a quarter of the inch bigger all together.

A lot of times it is simple to make up for a document not having bleeds when printing, but if your file is set up right it makes it easier for printers to set up and print your job quickly.

Just remember to stay away from the edge of the page. 

Now that you've gone through ALL this trouble setting up your document with proper bleeds, InDesign doesn't automatically export your document with your bleeds. So in order to export your document with your bleed setting AND crop marks simply go to File and Export. A window will pop up, type in your desired File Name and by 'Save As Type' click the drop down menu and select 'Adobe PDF (Print)'. Make sure 'Adobe PDF (Interactive)' is not selected. Click 'Export' and a new window (Export Adobe PDF) will pop up, this is where you will adjust your settings for crop marks and bleeds

The InDesign 'Export Adobe PDF' window, where to set up for bleed settings and crop marks

In the panel on the left, select 'Marks and Bleeds'. In this window, make sure to click the check boxes for 'Crop Marks', 'Bleed Marks', and 'Use Document Bleed Settings', this expands your document to show the bleed as well as give the necessary lines to show where it will be trimmed. After you have selected the proper check boxes, click 'Export' to finish exporting your document as a .pdf file.

Never hesitate to talk to your Printer or Designer, and ask questions. We're here to help!