Before trying print marketing alongside a digital campaign, most companies like to know how much to budget for. While it’s no secret that print requires additional time and materials, many companies recognize the value and potential ROI that comes with it. If you’d like to create a budget for your company’s printing needs, you may be wondering: how much does print marketing cost?
In this article, we’ll explain what’s included in the price of print, how costs are affected by the products and materials chosen and show how to save money on your next high-volume print order.
High-volume print marketing costs as low as $0.01 per piece up to $3+ per piece for more premium or in-depth options. Larger items like catalogs, magazines and pamphlets could be more expensive, depending on what materials are needed, how many pages are included and whether it’s a high-volume request that qualifies for discounts. Sometimes, the cost starts higher for a lower volume and starts decreasing with bulk orders.
If you’re curious how much your high-volume print materials might cost, our print specialists can break down material costs, quantities and project types for your specific project.
Design costs for print marketing either run at a flat rate or hourly, depending on who you work with. Some companies are able to keep overall design costs low by designing in-house, while others don’t have the time or resources available and prefer to outsource it.
Total costs vary depending on vendor types, whether you use an all-in-one print service that includes design or whether you opt to create everything in-house. Some companies choose to create their own designs with their own marketing team, while others prefer external services for improved industry knowledge and faster production speeds.
Ultimately, what you decide depends on the level of internal expertise available and whether your team has the time and resources on their hands. Sometimes, outsourcing your design needs makes more sense, while others prefer to handle it independently.
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While print marketing finishing and assembly costs can be kept low when done independently or through a local print provider, it becomes incredibly hard when you need a high volume of commercial prints, specifically. There comes a point when branching out is the best thing for your budget.
If you keep needing higher quantities of prints that continuously spike costs, switching to a high-volume finishing and assembly team or an all-in-one print service provider can help reduce costs per piece.
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Shipping and delivery costs for print marketing can be kept to a minimum when everything is done in one place, but they can increase if you’re using overseas production options or shipping prints from production to assembly to the mailing distribution centers. The more stops your prints have or the farther away they need to travel, the more expensive shipping and delivery costs will be.
For some companies, it makes sense to handle logistics separately, whereas others prefer an easier, all-in-one print approach to reduce management needs and simplify the process. If you’re curious to see specific shipping and delivery costs for your high-volume print needs, talk to one of our print specialists.
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Print jobs vary in price depending on quantities needed, type of print and materials used. These factors directly affect the total cost of print marketing:
While there are many factors that affect the total cost of print marketing, understanding these expenses can help businesses make more informed decisions regarding their budgets.
Print marketing usually includes everything from commercial advertising pieces to high-volume publications. Some of the most notable requests printers get include:
Basically, commercial print covers all of your basic publications and high-volume advertising needs. The price of these things equates to the quantity needed, the quality of the materials and the type of printing used.
No two companies have the same budget and print needs, so there’s no standard price for print marketing. The amount a company should budget for commercial printing depends on its marketing goals, how established it is as a business and what it wants to achieve with its efforts.
On average, the CMO Survey states that companies spend 11.4% of their overall budget on marketing. However, this number goes up or down depending on current marketing goals and whether that company is currently growing, remaining steady or is well established.
As a general rule, companies should budget for 5% to 20% of their revenue to go towards marketing, according to Mercury, a fintech business banking company:
For early-stage businesses, they recommend 10% to 20%, whereas growing businesses might need 7% to 10% and more mature businesses may only need 4% to 7%. For companies in a high growth period, the recommended budget might be even higher.
Of that total marketing budget, the amount allocated for print marketing changes depending on the industry, current audience and overall marketing strategy. However, retail businesses and restaurants that thrive from consistent customers often go even higher. Business.com stated that restaurants, in particular, should allot 30% to 50% of their marketing budget to non-digital marketing.
How much a company should budget for print marketing comes down to what industry they are in, how established they are as a company and what goals they currently have.
If you need help figuring out an appropriate print marketing budget, our team at Signature Graphics can help. Talk to a print expert today to see what budget will help you get the best results.
High-volume printing, or offset printing, is more affordable per piece than traditional print or small-scale printing. While traditional print works for smaller projects, the total cost rises quickly with larger quantities because the equipment isn’t built for commercial printing.
If you’re using up larger portions of your budget and getting slower return times on your print, it might be in your best interest to switch to a high-volume commercial printer instead.
Related Content: Heatset vs. Coldset Printing: Which Method is Right for You?
While using multiple vendors might look more affordable up front, there’s also an extra cost of shipping between each stage for print, finishing and delivery—and the cost of needing extra time factored in between each transition.
All-in-one print services offer competitive pricing when you consider everything is included and each step moves seamlessly without extra shipping costs. Offering comprehensive services also helps hand off projects to the experts while keeping employees in the niches they do well in internally. With better-assigned roles, higher ROI may follow, ultimately making turnkey services the more value-oriented option.
How much print marketing costs depends on your partner, publication types and quantity needed. While you can find reasonable prices for small print production runs with a traditional print partner, it gets more challenging to keep costs low when you need larger quantities.
If you’re trying to lower costs per piece, our team at Signature Graphics offers all-in-one print services for high-volume commercial printing. Whether you need to supply ad circulars, brochures or any other print publication for your location(s), we have the machines and capacity available to help you lower costs and get your best results. Curious how we can help?
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