printing your flyers

[theweedman]

whats the cheapest way to have your flyer printed?

[mariner]

On your computer or in the newspaper.

[work it]

I do all my own printing. It's a lot cheaper to buy a quality printer, ink and paper than it is to have a company print them for you.
A few years ago I went to Kinkos just to have 1000 color copies made of my flyer. When they quoted me a price of $890 I turned around and never went back. I've heard others talking about more affordable printing companies online, but when I run out of flyers I usually need more at that very minute. I don't mind spending an hour a day in my off season doing the printing, but I do mind having to wait a week or two for some company to finally get around to my order. Patience is a virtue I don't have and don't care to obtain.

[Allan]

I do all my own printing. It's a lot cheaper to buy a quality printer, ink and paper than it is to have a company print them for you.
A few years ago I went to Kinkos just to have 1000 color copies made of my flyer. When they quoted me a price of $890 I turned around and never went back. I've heard others talking about more affordable printing companies online, but when I run out of flyers I usually need more at that very minute. I don't mind spending an hour a day in my off season doing the printing, but I do mind having to wait a week or two for some company to finally get around to my order. Patience is a virtue I don't have and don't care to obtain.

Yeah that is high. But if you go to something like 48hourprint.com online they will give you about 10,000 for $1000. That is more reasonable. Yes, you have to wait a few days to get them but your inkjet is only free until your printer breaks or you have to go and buy more ink.

[work it]

Yeah that is high. But if you go to something like 48hourprint.com online they will give you about 10,000 for $1000. That is more reasonable. Yes, you have to wait a few days to get them but your inkjet is only free until your printer breaks or you have to go and buy more ink.

If you notice my post I already mentioned the ink and paper. For me to print 10,000 fliers my cost is $465+time. My printer/fax/copier will probably last a minimum of 3 years, and is something you need anyway. Guess I'm just not willing to pay a printing company that extra $535 just so I don't have to mess with reloading ink and paper.

[GrassMaster]

I did one search (Few Seconds) & here's the first one I clicked on...

I didn't check shipping

http://www.ebaprinting.com/flyers.html

1 color on 1 side... $299.00 for 10,000

Full color on 1 side... $659.00 for 10,000

Me personally, I would experiment with different fliers on my puter until I found a winner. Then I would have them mass printed by a bulk printer...

I think I could make me a winner with one color, if I was just flooding a particular area to get a lot of cuts.

If I wanted & was targeting specific properties, not every one in a row I might consider using full color, but that would be the only way I would use full color unless I could get that price down further.

I also would closely watch my how many customers I got per type of flier per 100. I know the average response rate is 2% but I think with a little work you could turn that into 5% to 10% with a little work on the design possibly a little more.

Working on the response rate would be my #1 priority 1st, because Wear & Tear on your Printer, Cost of Printing, Time Involved in Design, Changes, Printing & Distributing can be a lot of Time & Money before you get to the door of the customer that saw your flier & decided to call you.

See what I mean...
Before I did much of anything I would want a Flier that has been Tested for a High Response Rate before I go having a pile of them made & distributed.

Example Sort Of, This is something I do all the Time!
When I'm working on a web page on the Internet & it's a product or service I'm trying to sell others. I might work on 1 - 300 word paragraph a total of 10 or more hours, just trying to get the words right and what's so hard about it I have to test changes until it's right this could easily take a month...

The difference in the words in a paragraph can cost me a lot of money. A paragraph can make 1 sale every 2 weeks or with a little work I can get a sale a day. See what I mean.

You can't just look at a flier & say WOW that's a Winner, then go print 1,000 to 10,000 of them... No way that's like throwing money away, because I can't afford to settle for a 2% to 3% conversion rate...

I want close to a 10% conversion rate or I keep working on them & distributing a 100 or so at the time until I get it right... Then I'll flood an area with fliers!

Selling & Marketing your services is going to be one of the toughest parts of the Business. Don't forget it?

You know lets say you got to cut very larges acreages, well it's pretty simple to do that, you go find a Killer Diesel well known 60" to 72" Mower that can handle the job it might cost you $10,000 to $15,000. You need good Trimmers well there's plenty out there for $300 to $500 a pop. More Money More Productivity in less time... That's easy?

But finding the right way to get potential customers to contact you for a bid can cost you a lot more...

There's a guy in my town that has signs on his truck, they have an Old English Type Font on them, sitting next to him at a red light I can read nothing but the numbers & that's too much... He would have been better off to gave his 7 year old daughter a paint brush & hand paint his Company Name & Phone number on his Truck than the crap he's got on it now.

There's another guy that has all kinds of Graphics on his Truck & Enclosed Trailer... But Trying to find his company name & phone number is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack... I know that Flashy crap cost him at a least a $1,000 or more, he should have got his Mother in Law to Spray paint his Company Name & Phone Number on his stuff... See what I mean.

Fonts, Size of Fonts, making it short & Sweet is a lot of Work. Please make it where they can read it. Make them want to call you!

If I can't read it easily it's not worth my time, neither is it worth anybody else's time either! Do the fancy stuff on their property not on your Advertising & Marketing Materials!

All you basically got to do is let them know you are a Lawn Service, that you do Residential & Commercial Work, that you are Licensed & Insured and one call does it all. Your Company Name, possibly your Full name to personalize it & your Phone Number.

Not many people are going to sit down & look at your Graphics, read a paragraph or 2, then look at a Double Roll of 10 Bulleted & Bold Faced services in each row that you perform, read more crap about you, holler over at PooBear & say Wow look at his Logo & Graphics read more & then Try to Find your Business Name, Your Name & Phone number then call you?

For Crying out loud they are looking for a Company to Cut their Grass, not a Graphics Design Artist that cuts grass on the side? Get the Picture...

I changed my Mind, I'll take a piece of Colored Paper maybe Yellow, Orange, maybe just plain white or something like that, place a few lines in there on a Easy to Read Black Font & Kick everybody else's fancy fliers behinds!

Get their attention, let them know what you do & give them a reason to call you and the info needed to contact you! It's that Simple...

When you become a LLC, Corp & LSMFT International combined making $3,000 plus a week then you can flash those Jokers till they go blind! Hell you can even make a Hardback book with a 100 pages in it to distributed by FedUps & make them sign for it...

Until then I suggest finding something that's Short, Sweet & to the Point, so you can later become a LLC, Corp & LSMFT International Grass Cutting Terroist & do it however you feel loike!

You can take a Sort Cut getting there the Simple Way!

or

You can make it as tough as you want it, making numerous mistakes over the many years it takes to learn from your mistakes...

It's left up to you, because "It's All About Making Money"!

[RRS]

www.doorhangersdirect.com does all sorts of printing for the best prices I've seen. You create your layout, email it to them, they send you a proof, and they're on your doorstep in 4-5 days. 2500 color stock with black ink single sided for $100.

I made a killer doorhanger this year. About 1000 have hit the streets and the phone has been ringing off the hook with new business. So far I've had around 30 calls from the first 1000 and it's been cold and rainy this week.

As far as direct advertising to a specific area goes I've found the return on doorhangers to far exceed any other type of ad. I've done paper, flyers, postcards, signs, etc (never radio or T.V.) and nothing gets the phone ringing like doorhangers.

[GrassMaster]

Sounds very good!

www.doorhangersdirect.com 2500 color stock with black ink single sided for $100.

I made a killer doorhanger this year. About 1000 have hit the streets and the phone has been ringing off the hook with new business. So far I've had around 30 calls from the first 1000 and it's been cold and rainy this week.

Hey that's a very good response rate if you've had bad weather & it's only been out a week! If the weather had been good that might could have been 50 or 60 calls, what do you think?

Please keep track of it & let us know how you do? I'm interested to find out!

[ACutAbove 217]

[QUOTE=GrassMaster]
I changed my Mind, I'll take a piece of Colored Paper maybe Yellow, Orange, maybe just plain white or something like that, place a few lines in there on a Easy to Read Black Font & Kick everybody else's fancy fliers behinds!

I got 1000 half page 2 sided flyers done on colored paper in "gray scale" for $45 at office depot. I took my design in on a computer disk... it took them 30 minutes to do them.

[work it]

[QUOTE=ACutAbove 217]

I changed my Mind, I'll take a piece of Colored Paper maybe Yellow, Orange, maybe just plain white or something like that, place a few lines in there on a Easy to Read Black Font & Kick everybody else's fancy fliers behinds!

I got 1000 half page 2 sided flyers done on colored paper in "gray scale" for $45 at office depot. I took my design in on a computer disk... it took them 30 minutes to do them.

As long as they work. You can't beat that price with an ugly stick. Keep us posted.