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By Frances K. Blanco
Making It Happen
But isn’t online marketing popular precisely because it eliminates the high expense of printed materials? Fortunately advances in technology have made printing more affordable than ever, and not just black and white, but stunning color.
One option you may have considered is outsourcing your color print projects to companies such as Kinko’s or Staples. While this might seem like a sensible solution, printer prices have dropped so dramatically over the past few years that owning your own color printer and printing your materials in house is now a very compelling and cost-effective alternative. In fact, for low-volume printing, you can bypass the inkjet printer section altogether and select a professional color laser printer for as low as $300. These can print, for example, black and white output at around 30 pages per minute and color at around five pages per minute. For moderate and higher-volume print jobs, speedy business-class, solid-ink color printers now start at under $800, some running 30 pages per minute in both color and black and white. These solid-ink printers are often attractive because of the bright color and texture of the ink, water resistance, environmental friendliness, and convenience.
But what about the cost of ink? Isn’t that what makes color printing so expensive? Yes, it can be if you don’t understand what your options are today. Before making your final decision on a color printer, be sure to compare the prices on supplies. Look for color and black cartridge pricing and yield information (how long they last), and consider choosing a printer that has a high-quality, lower-cost “alternative supplies option.” Alternative supplies option? Yes, today there are several high-quality alternative brands that can save you about 30 percent when compared to the printer manufacturer’s brand. But make sure you distinguish between the high-quality, 100 percent newly manufactured category and the “remanufactured” category. Both categories are priced below the printer manufacturer’s brand, but “remanufactured” products, even those offered under a superstore brand name, can be less consistent than a newly manufactured product. In either category, look for a commitment to quality through quality-assurance testing and warranty protection.
Whichever brand of supplies you choose, buy them from a reputable company and read the warranty language with care. Some companies cover only their products while others include repair or replacement of your printer should a cartridge ever cause damage, which is extremely rare. That’s far more than a money-back guarantee on your supplies.
Low-cost color printing is a boon to every small business, those with a brick-and-mortar presence and those without any offline presence at all. Today, even very small businesses can benefit from affordable integrated marketing and ensure they receive the maximum value for their marketing dollars.
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