Printing flyers on own paper - views please

[midlandnetworking]

My business is in local IT support for small and medium sized businesses.

I have had a flyer designed and to save costs I am considering printing the flyer myself on 160gsm paper and using a colour HP laerjet. What are peoples views on :

1) Using 160gsm paper instead of say glossy card/paper etc.

2) Distributing a flyer or mailing out to correct person within the business if i can get their details.


Thank you.

[Steve202]

I done a batch of a thousand prints myself once when I first started up and tbh it would have been slightly cheaper to get them professionally printed.

[midlandnetworking]

Did you have a good response Steven?

Thanks

[alphanumeric]

you can get glossy paper for laser printers, however it will not beat the quality of a professional printer.

Also how much does it cost to replace your toner? It might use more toner than you think.

[Steve202]

Did you have a good response Steven?

Thanks

Not really no. I had a better response from my professionally printed flyers, yet the flyers were identical.

[Richard Glynn]

Printing your own ona laserjet says 'we're so small time we can't afford a proper print job'. Not a desirable messsage. And with leaflet printing so cheap nowadays (I use www.sensecreative.co.uk) it's a big false economy.

If it saved you £20 on a couple of thousand (and I doubt it would) - would you not actually consider it worth paying £20 for a superior professional image?

The success of mailing flyers depends on the quality of the personal contact (does that person make the decision about spending money on what you're selling?) and the quality of the call to action in your flyer. I think flyers can be useful as one part of a bigger marketing push, but not as a standalone activity on which you pin all your hopes on.

Richard

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

You will probably find that professional printing is a lot cheaper. For a full-colour leaflet you could fly through those laser cartridges very quickly.

On top of that, the pro printed leaflets look better anyway.

[gibson909]

For any kind of business printing or business stationery I would strongly recommend piranha printing... (piranhaprinting.co.uk)

The quality is unbeatable and the prices are fantastic... the more you order the more competitive they are and they beat local printers hands down! Plus with delivery at only £2... it would make far more sense to have your flyers printed professionally than trying to do it yourself...

If you send me a PM I can post you the last flyer they designed and printed for me! I had such an amazing response from it as well!!

Good Luck!

[gibson909]

Whoops slight typo! £1.99*

For any kind of business printing or business stationery I would strongly recommend piranha printing... (piranhaprinting.co.uk)

The quality is unbeatable and the prices are fantastic... the more you order the more competitive they are and they beat local printers hands down! Plus with delivery at only £2... it would make far more sense to have your flyers printed professionally than trying to do it yourself...

If you send me a PM I can post you the last flyer they designed and printed for me! I had such an amazing response from it as well!!

Good Luck!

[skyhi2]

If you have the artwork,you are halfway there.

If you just need a few,knock em out yourself.

If you need thousands,forget it,not worth the hassle/expense/time.

Much better,and certainly cheaper/quicker,to have them done professionally.

Skyhi2.

[gibson909]

If you have the artwork,you are halfway there.

If you just need a few,knock em out yourself.

If you need thousands,forget it,not worth the hassle/expense/time.

Much better,and certainly cheaper/quicker,to have them done professionally.

Skyhi2.

I couldn't agree more! Makes sense...

[am:pm graphics]

How many flyers do you need and what size?

Having them professionally printed isn't that expensive and in my opinion gives a much better impression of your business. I often get flyers from local tradesmen that have been printed at home and it always makes me think they have just started out (less experienced). I know this wont always be the case but it never makes me want to keep the flyer or pass it on.

A good design is also very important.

Pauline

[Mister B]

I used to do my own but as others have said, by the time that you've paid for your premium paper, all the toner that gets used. and the time spent processing them, it's far more cost effective to get them done professionally.

My last 1,000 were £90. (Heavyweight A5.)

Mister B

[skyhi2]

Fairprint are quite good,ask for Mark McFarlane,tell em Skyhi sent ya :-)

Skyhi2.

[Connections_Media]

How many leaflets flyers are you looking at having done because it is deffinently cheaper on a larger scale to have them done by a professional printers.

I do leaflet printing that starts at 10,000 onwards and is £189 A5 Double sided including delivery to you. Drop me a message if your interested.

[perfectpressreleases]

Would agree with the other posts professionally printing is the way forward and it probably costs less than printing on your home printer - unless you have an exceptionally good printer that is. The company I work for often prints small runs of flyers in house (50-100) or our marketing agency does it for us - otherwise we send them out to a local printer to do.

Previously I have used Vista Print for some flyers whilst freelancing - the print was good quality and reasonably priced - however I submitted my own design, I'm not sure what their templates are like.

[Comspec]

I'm in a similar business to you, and I'll be brutally honest.... flyers don't really pick you up many b2b customers at all, they are very guilty of binning them before they ever reach the decision-maker.

You'd be better with some other form of contacting them, even if its something else that 'encloses' a flyer.

The flyers work better for me with domestic customers, and definitely professionally printed matters.... they don't chuck out the shiny heavyweight ones just as readily as they do the normal paper fellahs.

[Arthur W]

Don't forget also that there are maintenance, elctricity and other costs. When you're printing that many flyers you're shortening the life of your printer etc...

I'd also agree that flyers aren't a great way of picking up B2B customers, you'd be better off at networking events or making strategic phone calls!

[Connections_Media]

If you are looking at professional printing I maybe able to help. We deal with people from designing right up to distribution and our prices are very competitive with no loss of quality. Drop me a message and i'll see what I can do for you.