After the design and printing processes are complete, the only steps left are to finish and assemble your marketing materials before sending them out for delivery. While this may seem like a simple part of the process, it’s often overlooked. Whether you plan to DIY the process or get it professionally done, it’s important to know what goes into the process. Our Signature Graphics team excels at every step of the print advertising process, so we’re going to explain how it works.
If you haven’t already done this step, it’s kind of crucial to the next steps. After all, you can’t finish or assemble a project until it’s created. Whether you’re doing a DIY design and printing or utilizing a professional, it’s important to create images and content according to your audience. If you need help with this side of the process, be sure to reach out to our team at Signature Graphics. We can help you design and/or print your marketing materials depending on what you need. Otherwise, if you’ve already finished this part, move on to the next step.
Before moving on to the finishing and assembling process, it’s also important to check the quality of your marketing materials or prints. This quality check ensures that your prints don’t have any errors and the outcome matches your initial goals and audience needs. Some important pieces to check are grammatical errors, misspelled words, cut-off images and missing information. If you catch anything, it’s best to go back and start over with the design or content creation before heading to print once again.
Finishing techniques for print marketing include everything from folding to cutting to binding. This step ensures that the print materials come together (or apart)—especially if they are multi-piece projects.
Exactly what it sounds like, this process includes cutting print materials down to size and trimming away the extra white space, also called bleed. While this is easy enough for a few pieces, it becomes a whole process when you’re intending to send out hundreds of print materials.
After trimming your materials, folding and further assembly are sometimes necessary to complete the ensemble. Professional printing companies frequently having folding machines to make this process easier.
If your print materials contain several pages, you may need some kind of binding for larger brochures, booklets, magazines and similar design types. There are machines to finish this process quickly and effectively in professional print companies.
Once the finishing and assembly processes are complete for your print materials, the next step is preparing to send the mail. The finished prints are assembled in the appropriate locations with any additions and with similar prints. Whether you’re using a shared mail package, sending more personalized postcards or utilizing anything else, this involves putting everything together in a strategic way so the messaging will appear in the consumer’s mailbox. After assembly, prints are often placed in a box and prepared for delivery.
With design, print, finishing and assembly out of the way, all that’s left is delivery. You can find a local delivery specialist to check off this portion, or you can try to find a full-service print company near you.
Oftentimes, companies will choose to DIY their print materials if they have the capabilities; otherwise, they might reach out to local companies. Which option you choose depends on what equipment you have available and your timelines. If you have the knowledge, equipment and expertise, choosing DIY isn’t a bad option. If your timelines are quick, we recommend finding a professional print company to get your materials out the door quickly.
If you need assistance with designing, printing, finishing, assembling or delivering your print materials, Signature Graphics offers solutions for it all. Whether you’re using just one service or all of them, we have a la carte options and turnkey solutions. Click here to get a quote, or click the button below to explore our finishing options.