[justin brown]

hi,

i am currently using just normal A4 coloured paper to print flyers with just black ink as that is what i was advised. However, i tend to market in the more affluent areas so should i use a more expensive leaflet? i know its maybe 'trial and error' and i do get a decent return on the cheap' flyer' but i just wondered what everyone else's experience is? i have also tried advertising in magazines and the like but without flyers i would be doing zero business!!

[feldon]

Hi Justin

Just out of interest what sort of return are you getting from your A4 Leaflet, I am assuming this is a d.i.y job, and what does it cost you to do per 1000.

I am in the process of starting and I have just commissioned DP Print to do my leaflets, A5 glossy 2 sides £145 for 10,000 copies plus £59 for initial artwork.  Was thinking of doing my own but for the amount I am aiming to deliver I don't think it would be that much cheaper.

[justin brown]

i bought a risograph printer that does about 8000 copies per hour. paper for 1000 is £9.00 and print for a 1000 would be a couple of pound. delivery is £30 per 1000 but i have an oven cleaner on the back, that means all costs are halved. however, like you said print costs are relatively cheap from a printers so the real reason i got the printer is the ease of just printing when ever i wish. i average 1 job per 1000.

[ianharper]

Justin

great move on the riso, i have had two now. the last one could do the US A3 so was great for the pink flyer. why pay a printer when you can pick up a riso for a few hundred pounds. and they are so fast as well. I get my ink from a guy that gets then from service guys so its really cheap as well.

As far as colour goes if it tells a story, like in before and afters.  but if your just talking about paper. cheap, cheap, cheap. the more you can push out the more chance you have of getting work. I am getting tescos basic. great value.

Respect

Ian Harper

[wayne zabel]

Some of the comments on here do amuse me,Every day we get posts about price shoppers wanting cheap work and the £12 a room fellas. I entered CC because of the wretched state of the printing industry that I have worked in for 34 years.

"Why pay a printer when you can pick up a Riso for a few hundred pounds"

Where would would we all be if the general public had that attitude - Why pay a carpet cleaner when you can pick up a Bissell or a Rug Doctor for a few quid and do it yourself?

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Let me get this right...."paper for 1,000 is £9.00 and print for a 1,000 would be a couple of pound"....
....,so lets say it costs you £11.00 per thousand,that's £110.00 per 10,000,
(don't forget printing costs you electric,wear & tear,ink ect)
I can get 10,000 professional A5 double sided glossy leaflets for £99,
i just provide the artwork,they lay it out,design and print them.
Oh and you pay out a few hundred notes for a printer,
which will take a decent few jobs to pay back before you even start.
All i can say is,there is nowt stranger than folk.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Yeah but A5 fliers are half the size of A4 and paper is the most expensive part of the deal, personally I can't be bothered with the rizo but then again I don't leaflets.

Shaun

[ianharper]

Wayne

with respect, your argument is that same the other way around printers being able to set up as carpet cleaners is no different as carpet cleaners be able to print leaflets.

BTW customers do buy rug doctors but some end up using professional service after they find out the truth. might not be the same the other way around.

I say next to your machine a riso is a must for every carpet cleaner and with the low cost of paper at tescos make even more sense. the more leaflets carpet cleaners drop the bigger the profile to all of us.

Respect

Ian Harper

[wayne zabel]

Ian I wouldn't really compare a Riso to a 4 colour process print job done on a proper press so i dont totally agree with you analogy that me setting up as a CC is the same as cleaners doing a bit of cheap printing.

The point I'm making is that we as CC hate it when we see the cheapo guys doing carpets for a tenner but then some look to buy cheap in other aspects of life/business.But as you say the more leaflets the more profile there is for all CC

I'm not wanting to defend printing as Ive had enough of the trade and enjoy CC far more.

[Mike Halliday]

with proper planning and time management there is no need to do any DIY printing, its alright having a riso machine, but more important is the design expertise to make your printing look professional

so before anyone starts thinking about making their own leaflets they need to learn a professional publishing programme.

and why use single colour when you can get full colour on glossy paper for the same money

What i mean by proper planning is, i know I will need;

reminder-card
5-a-round cards
recommendation card
leaflets

so all these are made generic and bought in bulk at very good prices. anything that has to be made more specific eg a with a particular street name can be printed on my laser printer.

[justin brown]

 i have never managed to get full colour on glossy paper for the same money!! 10,000 leaflets that i print would cost me approx £140 and that is double sided print on A4 coloured paper. My return is approx 1 per 1000 at an average job price of £160. obviously by doing the math from that equation my marketing is working, i just wondered if people using glossy paper are getting a higher percentage of jobs? Can you let me know which printer you use if as you say you can get them as cheap?

[Mike Halliday]

Juston I did'nt realise that the riso printed that cheap so I stand corrected you can't get full colour cheaper

but what are your delivery cost? your equation works well just on printing but how do they get delivered?

[justin brown]

hi mike,

hi mike,
we get them deliverd at £30 per 1000. in fact all my costs are halved as i have an oven cleaner go on the back!

10,000 leaflets £140 divided by 2 = £70
Delivery for 10,000 = £300 divided by 2= £150

my costs for printed and delievered 10,000 leaflets= £220

the template i use is the alltec one 'the most thorough clean etc, etc,' and it does ok, but there again its the only one i have used! may give something else a try though. i know people here slate alltec and robert's marketing but i like it

[justin brown]

hi ian, im with you on this one! are yours a similar cost to buy paper and print?

[wynne jones]

Can someone put me in touch with a printer who is so good and experienced that he can guarantee his design will get me lots of work?

I think it's a bit like websites, webdesigners can make them look nice, but they know jack poo about getting the phone ringing.

[happy mondays]

Can someone put me in touch with a printer who is so good and experienced that he can guarantee his design will get me lots of work?

I think it's a bit like websites, webdesigners can make them look nice, but they know jack poo about getting the phone ringing.

I think this is a big ask really, but.. you do get what you pay for just like anything in life, I had 1000 glossy leaflets done around seven years ago for office cleaning services, I had the choice to design them myself and get them printed on cheap paper for about £30  but decided to pay for an established design and marketing company to do it for around £500, they were very good!

The £500 spent secured me around £40k of work pa, which I still do to date, so the £500 spent has made us around £50k in profit in seven years.

But I can look back an question.... was it the great quality of the design and print or was it just a case of posting the leaflets at the right time and at the right place 

regards,

Paul

[Ian Gourlay]

I also use a Riso

The tingabout Pink flyer it was designed like it or not

Some say it is dated

I think Print is small on A4 one

And dustmite out of date

Problem I have with Riso is picture quality.

I do change the script on mine every now and then but resultsarealways the same.

I think another problem is some of us use Pink flyer but not really marketing to customers prepared to pay £10 a metre
or £120 for a lounge

Also you need to watch out for when Viking Drops back to £350 a ream price for coloured paper  happens about 4 times a year.

[ianharper]

Ian

as you might know the pink flyer is designed so that if you use say the post office to drop them the chances are that any other leaflets being dropped at same time will get put inside as it will be the larger.

respect

Ian

[David Rogers]

I started with home made printing and when I spent a little cash and got some 150gsm two sided full colour A5 flyers done, my response rate to my flyer activities went up by 300%.

I suppose it depends what market you're wanting to be in.  My commercial work aside, I aim for my domestic work to be in the medium to high end of the market - and home printed, 'black on colour paper' flyers would never cut it for me.

At the end of the day, if I saw what was clearly a home made flyer, I'd expect a low price from the offering. If I saw a professionally printed flyer that suggested (I repeat 'suggested') a more succesful business, I would be more comfortable paying a price that suggested a higher quality service.   Simple as.

My sister wanted a domestic cleaner recently; she got a 'scrap' of paper through the door for some people called 'Sheilas Cleaners' and she got a quality printed flyer for a maid2clean franchisee...... the home made flyer company were £7.50 per hour, and Maid2Clean were £9.50 an hour.   She went with the option that suggested a more professional business that would look after her, and was happy paying a comensurate price for that.

I would personally never, ever, put a home-made, home printed flyer through anyone's door with my name on it now.   Full-colour, digital printing is cheap these days.   The idea about sharing with the Oven Cleaner is an excellent one by the way.... Matching 2 'like-minded' services on a flyer will increase the impact of both I've found.

Cheers,

[clinton]

Its always worth getting a better quality item printed as it will get or hopefully get better clients to spend money with us..