As a service oriented, retail business, you want to keep your name in front of as many of your clients and prospective clients as possible. The difference between a prospective client choosing you, over one of your competitors, may amount to nothing more than seeing your name first. One of the most effective ways to get your name out there is with printed material and direct mail.

However, to get printed material for your business, you will have to deal with a printer …and printers speak a different language than normal people. Printers use terms like “Font”, “Resolution”, “DPI”, “CMYK”, “PDF”, “Bleeds”, “Traps” etc. Its enough to drive you nuts! As a printer myself, I can tell you that you don’t have to learn “printer-speak” to get great looking and effective marketing piece. There are a few simple rules that will help you get the best results from your printer.

The first rule is to find a printer you can trust and build a relationship.

A good printer will tell you what he or she needs, in terms of art files, and help you pick a paper which is best suited to your purpose. A good printer will see mistakes and make suggestions prior to printing your job, so that you won’t have to live with an imperfect piece after it is printed.

After you have found a good printer, the most important part of any printed piece is the good design.

Most printers print from electronic files created on a computer. If you plan to create a lot of files for a printer, ask the printer what page layout programs they prefer. Programs like Adobe InDesign or Quark Express will make your printer happy. Art files designed in word processing programs generally will not.

Good design means much more than supplying a file that looks good on your computer screen. For instance, photos look good at 72dpi resolution on your screen, but to print well on paper, you will generally need a resolution of 300dpi at the actual print size. Logos should be created in a resolution independent format like an Adobe Illustrator “EPS” file, but if not, they need to be supplied to your printer with a resolution of at least double that of a photo, or 600+ dpi. Photos and logos captured from the web will almost never work well in print.

If you want your art to go right to the edge of the paper, the printer will actually have to print it slightly bigger and trim it to “bleed” off the edge. Art for pieces that “bleed” needs to be furnished with at leas 1/8” extra around the edge for the printer to trim off.

Producing professional looking printed material is not difficult if you follow a few simple rules. First impressions usually stick with people. If a printed piece will be the first impression a prospective client has of your business, it is worth it to spend the time and money to make your piece a winner.