Eight pieces of print worth having, in the order to buy them
You do not need all of this on day one, and buying it in the wrong order is how print budgets get wasted. This is the order that tends to earn its money.
1. Business cards
The cheapest thing you will print and still the one you hand over most. Name, what you do, one phone number, one email. Business cards start at 100 on uncoated card.
2. An invoice or receipt book
If you invoice on site, this is second because it does two jobs at once: it gets you paid and it puts your details in the customer's hands. NCR books give you a copy of everything you issue without a second thought.
3. Letterheads
For quotations, terms, formal letters and anything that needs to look like it came from a business rather than a laptop. A4 letterheads on 120gsm bond are the standard.
4. Compliment slips
The most underrated item on this list. A handwritten line on a printed slip in with a delivery or a document does more for a customer relationship than most of what businesses spend money on.
5. Envelopes
Printed envelopes get opened. An unbranded envelope is indistinguishable from a bill. If you post anything that matters, print the envelope.
6. Flyers or leaflets
Once you know who your customers are and where they are, flyers and leaflets put an offer in front of a specific street for very little money.
7. A pull-up banner
If you do markets, fairs, open days or trade shows, one banner works for years. It is the difference between a table and a stand.
8. A brochure
Last, because it is the one that needs the most thought. When your customers ask questions a card cannot answer, a folded brochure answers them and stays in the house.
Two rules across all of it
First, make it all match: same logo, same two colours, same typeface. Eight items that look like one business are worth more than eight good looking items that do not. Second, print what you will use within a year. The price per unit falls with quantity, but a box of leaflets with last year's phone number is not a saving.
