How Your Business Can Benefit from Digital Printing

You’ve probably heard the term “digital printing”, but might not really know what it means. No, ordering printing online is not digital printing in itself – in fact, it doesn’t have anything to do with your computer and the ordering process. Instead, digital printing refers to the printing presses that create printing, and that they use toner inks instead of plates to transfer images onto printed materials. But you don’t really care about printing technology, right? You’re a business owner – and you want to know how any of this can benefit you and your company. In this article, we’ll explain why you should know what digital printing is – and how it can grow your business.

Why Should I Know About Digital Printing?

If you’re calling up your local printer, or ordering some print marketing materials online – you might come across the question “are you interested in getting this printed digitally?” You’re probably thinking “what? Whatever, let’s get this done.” The reason your printer is asking you this question isn’t to waste your time, it’s to see if you want to move your marketing campaign / print project into the unique arena of benefits that digital printing has to offer. For example, because each print piece on a digital press uses movable toner cartridges to transfer the inks, each piece can be different – that means each and every postcard in a run of 1,500 could be customized with your clients names, logos, or product preferences. This kind of unique piece-by-piece printing technique is called “Variable Data” printing.

Variable Data Printing Expanded

Print marketing is widely accepted as one of the most effective marketing mediums available. It has the power to live on, get passed around to multiple viewers, and engage them with all of the physical properties that can be customized to increase this engagement. That said, imagine if you could change all of these qualities to best fit the preferences and information of your thousands of contacts. With variable data, you can sell your products more effectively by directing them toward the right people. For example, if your company sells promotional clothing – you can print postcards, brochures or even entire catalogs showing your products with your target customer’s logo printed on each one! This kind of marketing catches people’s attention – and lets them know they’re not just dealing with the average business, but one that’s going to take an interest in their business.

What should I Expect Cost Wise?

If you’ve assumed digital printing will be more expensive than offset printing – you’re exactly right. That’s not to say that it doesn’t come with substantial value added for this costs, assuming your utilizing things like variable data. If you’re printing a large job, and aren’t using variable data – and you printer asks if you want digital, make sure to say no. This will only drive up the cost of what you can get printed offset. On the other hand, offset printers often have a minimum run limit of say 500 pieces. In some cases you might just want 15 postcards, or 25 business cards. This is where digital printing will also benefit you, because digital typically has no minimum run limit. This is because no plates have to be created for the job – and a printer can simply sell you a small run job, and still profit on the markup.  On the other hand, big jobs like printing money requires plates to be created.

Takeaways

You may never need digital printing – but you might find it’s the silver bullet you’ve been looking for. As a business owner, marketer, and knowledgeable person, you need to know what it is. If for no other reason than simply knowing when not to buy it so you save money – or knowing when it will save you money, like on a small run job. We hope this article has brought you a bit more into the know!