How to Streamline and Save Money on Collateral by Using a Print-On-Demand System

Ask a group of marketing managers about their most pressing challenges, and you’ll likely hear one common hurdle repeated again and again: the time and money it takes to create, update, track, and QC their print collateral. 

Every brochure you send your sales reps, every direct mail postcard you send to quality leads, or even every sell sheet you have to update to reflect current specs takes time to design, print, and distribute — and that’s to say nothing of the cost, time, and resources it takes to address inaccuracies in branding or content that can come from having multiple versions of the same collateral.

This is where a print-on-demand approach can streamline your processes and save you time, money, and headaches by offering the ability to print the exact quantities you need, as you need them.

Understanding print-on-demand technology

Print-on-demand (POD) uses digital printing technology to print the exact quantity you need right when you need it. Traditional offset printing methods are built around long runs, because offset is more cost-effective if you are printing large volumes. This means that not only do you run the risk of wasting collateral if a logo needs to be changed or the copy needs to be revised, but you also have to warehouse your print inventory until you need it. 

Even short runs printed on offset presses don’t offer much in terms of flexibility. You may not know how a certain piece of collateral will perform, and while ordering a short run can prevent waste, it leaves you empty-handed if a brochure or sell sheet is an unexpected hit. With POD, you only print and pay for the copies you need. 

Regardless of whether the project is a one-pager, pricing guide, or even a perfect bound book, print-on-demand technology can easily produce high-quality sales and marketing collateral with greater flexibility than other printing technologies on the market today.

The benefits of a print-on-demand approach

Aside from enabling marketers to create the ideal quantities of their sales or marketing collateral at any given time for any given use, POD provides a number of benefits in helping to streamline processes, improve quality, and create cost-effective collateral. Some of these benefits include: 

• Pivoting from a “bigger is better” mentality. It used to be the case that increasing the volume would help marketers secure a lower price per unit. POD allows marketers to be more accurate with their projections for the necessary number of pieces because POD can meet an exact need without print overages. Plus, POD makes it more cost-effective to create one-off or seasonal campaigns because you won’t have to worry about printing too few or too many pieces, or where to store the extras. 
• Removing the stress of storage. Speaking of extras, because POD gives you the ability to print the exact amount of collateral needed, the days of having to store and inventory excess pieces are long gone. Not only does this help you make better use of space in the office, it also helps eliminate the potential cost of additional storage space to house extra print materials.
• Personalizing collateral via Variable Data Printing (VDP). Combining VDP, which is also made possible by digital printing technologies, with POD can help marketers create personalized collateral in nearly real time. For example, consider using behavioral events in your CRM to trigger direct mail campaigns. This kind of personalized communication creates a deeper connection with your customer and drives increased response rates.. 
• Empowering your team through web-to-print. A web-to-print solution leverages print-on-demand technology to make personalized print pieces easy to create, manage, edit, and distribute for entire teams or organizations. As an admin, you can approve a set of on-brand templates for your team to customize and order as needed to help your sales partners self-serve. 

With POD technology, marketers can work faster, more efficiently, and in a more cost-effective way. And this can be especially valuable now as companies look ahead to the upcoming year and begin preparing for how best to allocate their print marketing resources. 

Curious about how print-on-demand can help you? Tell us about your project and we’ll help you get to where you need to go.