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Printing, Packaging & Branding Links - My Off-Blog Websites!
Apart from general Lithography, Coral Print also supplies digitally printed promotional products like name badges, die-cut labels, magnetic car and refrigerator decals as well as vinyl banners. To the left are just some of the high demand decals and badges that can be supplied.
Even intricate label shapes can be automatically die-cut during the digital print process. For small promotional runs, digital printing is the economical option. The quality is extremely good and a variety of products can be manufactured to suit your requirements.
Diversification is an important aspect for success in the highly competative print industry. It allows the printer to offer alternatives to suit the clients needs and budget. In the end, it's all about options and we want our customers to feel that they have more than one alternative when dealing with us.
A good friend of mine, Cliff Parnel, is a photographer. He submits his work regularly to the largest, royalty free photographic library on the internet, namely www.istockphoto.com (you can view his portfolio by searching for ManOAfrica).
The standards set by istockphoto are very high and submission is not automatic. Each photo is evaluated before it is stocked. Photo's that don't make the grade are returned to the photographer with suggestions or rejected outright.
Recently, a client of mine needed travel brochures designed and printed and could not find the right international holiday destination pics that she needed. I suggested she go to istockphoto and have a look. She did and found exactly what she wanted.
The great thing about istockphoto is the affordability. For $1 you can download a web ready pic and for $3 you can download a high resolution print-ready picture. This is excellent value for money and a great resource for designers and printers.
These photographs and graphics are royalty free and can be used in the design and printing of calendars, brochures, leaflets, banners, magazine covers, etc.
If there is one ink that gives printers the blues, it's blue ink, specifically Reflex Blue. All inks are designed to dry primarily by sheet absorption and evaporation. Unlike other pigments, which have relatively small molecules with a uniform shape and surface area, Reflex Blue pigment molecules are gigantic and irregular by comparison.
When Ink manufacturers blend Reflex Blue, they must add active ingredients that allow proper wetting of the pigment. This means that Blue retains a lot more moisture and takes a lot longer to dry. Even when it feels dry to the touch, the slightest pressure can break the surface of these jagged molecules, exposing wet pigment and resulting in unsightly scuffing and marking.
The problem is even more severe when coated stocks are used as absorption is minimal and the ink lies on top of the stock. This means drying takes a lot longer and time in the printing industry is a luxury most printers do not have. Some printers even believe that Reflex Blue never really dries at all.
One way around the problem is to coat the stock after the ink has dried. As most presses have inline coating units, which coat the stock on the run, this means that additional print time needs to be set aside. The job must be removed from the press, allowed to dry and then put back onto the press for a coating. Obviously, this increases the cost of the print run and the time it takes to get the job finished.
As most jobs are quoted while the product is still in the design stages, printers often do not know what the final colours will be and end up pushing to fulfill tight deadlines under imposssible circumstances. Print buyers and Graphic Designers beware - when designing with a lot of blue, take note of the urgency and type of stock to be used.
Speak to your printer, give proper design/colour briefs at the quoting stage and avoid unneccessary grief and delays. Particularly when it comes to print jobs that require a lot of finishing, like post-press die-cutting, scoring, folding and glueing of pharmaceutical cartons, presentation folders and covers. The more the job is handled post-press, the longer the drying time required and the greater the possibility of scuffing and marking.
Despite being a big fan of Google Adwords & Adsense, I still believe that there is a helluva lot of mileage to be gained from more "traditional" advertising methods, like printed flyers, brochures, wall calendars and so on. I have said this before and will say it again, a well-rounded advertising campaign makes use of all the resources at your disposal and budget.
Speaking of budgets, I know people who are very succesfully marketing their small home businesses on limited budgets by printing bright labels with their contact details and then sticking them onto small free product samples to hand out. Anyway, today I received an interesting email from Perry Marshall, probably the most widely recognized Adwords expert on the internet. What he has to say on the subject confirmed my opinion. His email read as follows:
"Dean,
It was a gorgeous day in May, and I was in New York City for Gary Bencivenga's now legendary copywriting seminar. On a lovely Sunday afternoon, just off Broadway and a few blocks from Central Park, I was drinking coffee in a donut shop when two guys struck up a conversation with me.
Turns out one of them is an advertising rep who's #1 competitor these last few years is Google. How do you sell *against* a company that's absolutely everywhere?
Well it turns out there are some customers that are very, very hard to find using Google advertising, and some ways of getting them that are far better.
Are there some ways of reaching new customers that you're overlooking? Probably so... get the rest of the story here:
http://perrymarshall.com/google/othermedia.htm
Perry Marshall"
An interesting take from someone who has devoted himself to understanding and marketing Adwords. For more information on print advertising, contact me.
Why is it that some printing companies engage in sabotage and deviousness when they lose a client to another printing company? On a number of occassions I have been asked by new clients to collect their digital artwork (logos, etc) from a previous company and proceed with updated designs. On opening the files, it becomes very apparent that they have degraded the artwork to such a degree that it is unusable.
You need to grow up. You have lost your client because there is some need you are not fulfilling. Engaging in sabotage like this not only convinces the client that they made the right decision to move their business elsewhere, it also brings the print industry into disrepute. C'mon guys, it's artwork that they have paid for and it rightfully belongs to them.
Stop being mamparas and start acting with some intelligence. An unhappy, former client is never going to recommend you and is going to deliver some well-deserved, negative publicity about your company.
In an industry that demands total commitment, Coral Print CC has consistently met and surpassed all standards of quality and service. From humble beginnings in 1991, our printing company has experienced phenomenal growth and continues to expand and win ground on all fronts.
This growth is not merely a physical expansion, but a growth in vision, skills and technology driven primarily by a motivation to be the best. By investing heavily in the latest CTP and Press technology available, Coral Print has shown unshakeable commitment to its goals, its clients and the local economy in general.
Predominantly servicing both the Eastern Cape and Gauteng markets, Coral Print has gained wide recognition as an exceptional printing company dedicated to delivering outstanding product within tight deadlines. This commitment to skill development and cutting-edge print technology has enabled Coral Print to deliver consistent high quality printing and finishing, economically and at speed.
The rolling power of the Press Room is driven by Single Colour, Two Colour, Four Colour and Six Colour Heidelberg Printing Presses. These quality presses were recently augmented by the acquisition of a brand new, state of the art Five Colour 528 Komori Press with Coater, which was successfully installed in Early March 2006. UPDATE 2008: PRINTING FORMATS NOW A3, A2, B2 AND A1.
Combine the Press Room with a highly professional Design Engine and an automated Finishing Section, which offers UV Varnishing, Die-cutting, Folding and Binding solutions and Coral Print provides a matchless in-house service capable of delivering the most demanding jobs requested by the market. UPDATE 2008: BOBST FUEGO FOLDER-GLUER LANDED AND OPERATIONAL - CURRENTLY PROCESSING PRINTED PHARMACEUTICAL CARTONS AT 80 000 PER HOUR!
Need to know more? Why don’t you contact Dean on 082 334 3612. At Coral Print we deliver quality to you on a plate!
In a recent article by Chris Sykes, CEO of PIFSA (Printing Industries Federation of South Africa), he noted that "South Africa, like the rest of the world, could be driven into high inflation and even recession if oil prices rise to the $100 a barrel level." In this case, it appears that the printing industry could be more negatively impacted than the economy as a whole.
Adam Sieminski, energy analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York, issued a July 28 report ominously entitled "$100 Oil Has Lost Its Shock Value" in the futures options market. Sieminski said that among a rising number of daring options investors, "$125 is the new target for bullish trades." This is a sobering observation. How accurate it is remains to be seen and nobody is willing to go out on a limb and actually predict that the oil price will hit triple digits.
If it does in the next 18 months then the pawpaw is truly going to hit the fan. Rising energy prices have already pushed up printers' costs for utilities and transportation. Combine this with a tightening paper market and print costs are set to rise significantly. Given that the printing market is already fiercely competative with printers' chasing a finite amount of work and we could have a scenario where only the fittest printing companies will survive.
As a large part of printing is about building customer relationships, printing representatives can clock up big mileage in their vehicles. It seems likely that printing companies will be forced to investigate other, more inventive means of staying in touch with their valued customers while continuing to advance their customer base and top-line sales.
We are going to have to work smarter than ever in the coming years.
For more information, contact Dean Young on Tel +27 11 708 7807 Fax +27 11 708 7845.
Full colour or CMYK printing is when a graphic or photograph that has many different colours, shades and tones is separated into only four process colours; C or Process Cyan (a pale bluish colour), M or Process Magenta (a reddish colour), Y or Process Yellow and K - Process Black. Each of these separated colours is assigned a percentage, which when recombined will approximate the original image. A printing company will typically receive digital artwork from a designer or advertising agency that has been saved as CMYK separations.
The pre-press department then images the file onto four separate plates, each with the appointed percentage screen of either C, M, Y or K. These plates are then fastened around cylinders on the printing press and the machine is then inked up with process inks, also known as CMYK inks. The Cyan plate will transfer the Cyan screen with Cyan ink onto the paper, the Magenta plate will transfer the Magenta screen with Magenta ink onto the paper and so on, until the original image has been reproduced. In fact, the printing plates never actually touch the paper, but transfer the images onto printing *blankets*, which apply the image to the paper as it speeds through the various printing stations of the press.
Each of the CMYK screens are made up of tiny dots, which must fall in exactly the right place on the paper in the course of the printing process to re-produce the original image. This printing process is called Registration. If one of the screens is not in register with the others, changes in colour, tone and blurring of the printed image will occur. Often, at the beginning of a print run, some sheets are sacrificed (commonly called print make-readies) while the machine minder busies him or herself with ensuring proper registration. In the past, this could take some time and paper wastage together with the print make-ready time was carefully monitored. Today newer presses have electronic registering devices, which allow for quicker make-readies, spot-on, speedy registration and much less printing waste.
Full colour or CMYK printing is also know as four colour printing. Four colour printing presses are standard for full colour print runs, but modern print shops often boast five colour, six colour, eight and even ten colour printing presses. This allows other colours, specifically corporate Pantone colours, gold, silver, bronze and even special gloss and matte coatings to be applied to the paper stock during the print run. In most cases, these advanced printing presses also allow both sides of the paper stock to be printed simultaneously. With standard four colour printing presses, one side of the paper stock is printed first and then manually turned or tumbled and sent through the printing press again to print the other side. The ability to print both sides of a paper stock simultaneously is referred to as print perfecting.
For more information, contact Dean Young on Tel +27 11 708 7807 or Fax +27 11 708 7845.
At Coral Print, we are committed to quality, service and competitive pricing. This has made it possible to successfully sell our printing services into both the Gauteng and Eastern Cape markets.
All our printing quotes include national delivery as we have an overnight road delivery service [provided by Triton Express] to all major centers in South Africa, including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London.
In fact, we have often delivered printed brochures, posters and business cards to Exhibitions and Trade Shows at these destinations for our clients when the deadlines were tight, or the client did not want to fly with the printing from Johannesburg.
Contact me for a speedy print quote on all your printing requirements. You can phone Dean Young on 082 334 3612 (JHB) or Email me at deandirect [at] gmail.com
Our printing quotes and prices will always win your approval, just like our full-color printing quality!
If you are starting a new venture or even just wanting to get a new product or service noticed by potential buyers, then the quickest and easiest way to do this is to design and print a brochure, leaflet or flyer. What is the difference between brochures, leaflets and flyers?
Although these terms are often used interchangeably, traditionally a brochure is a booklet with pages sewn or bound together. In South Africa, print buyers often refer to leaflets as brochures when they want full-colour glossy prints depicting photographs of a product/s or company together with relevant information. Usually, this glossy page is folded in half, z-folded, u-folded or gate-folded to fit a particular envelope or display stand. The term brochure appears to be used most often when buyers want a high quality, full colour leaflet. This is my experience anyway.
Leaflets or Pamphlets traditionally are unbound, printed essays or articles. Today, leaflets and pamphlets often contain graphics or photographs and are widely used to advertize products and services. They may be folded or unfolded sheets of matt or gloss paper. Flyers, on the other hand are typically small, unfolded sheets of paper, usually A5 or A6 in size. They too may contain pictures and text. However, whenever someone asks for a quote on flyers, it is invariably for a one or two colour print on the cheapest paper available. Interestingly, flyers are traditionally distributed by hand and in South Africa this remains the case. Just ask any motorist about the joys of handouts at busy intersections!
Nevertheless, whatever you may call them, leaflets are relatively cheap to design, print and distribute. At this time, distribution through the SA Post Office will cost you only 8 cents per P.O. box insertion. That is dirt cheap and a good way to advertise your products and services in an area.
For more information, contact Dean Young on Tel 011 708 7807 or Fax 011 708 7845
A beautifully designed and printed wall or desk calendar is more than a decorative object. It is also a powerful source of information. No, not just as a means to help you remember what day of the month it is (sheesh!). It can also say a tremendous amount about the company that published it.
If you really want to make a statement about who you are and what you stand for, think carefully about the graphics you use on your corporate calendar. If you are a company that is proud of it's corporate-social investment programmes, then using photographs depicting colourful birds or flowers is not going to say anything about your commitment.
On the other hand, hard-hitting photographs depicting the very people or communities you are helping is going to say a lot about you. Particularly when combined with honest and compelling titles. Sure, planning a calendar campaign is a lot harder than giving your logo and details to a printer to overprint on a generic template, but think of the impact the former option could have on your campaign.
Free calendars are always appreciated by your customers and potential clients. More than that, they act as a silent salesforce that delivers your most potent message over and over again without being annoying or intrusive.
Properly designed calendars should combine both functionality and art for a powerful corporate presence in any office or boardroom. Choose wisely.
For more information, contact Dean Young on Tel +27 11 708 7807 or Fax +27 11 708 7845.
The simple truth is that printed adverts like leaflets and brochures and Google Adwords both have their place in any marketing campaign. In fact, both offline and online marketing campaigns are essential in driving traffic to your website or business blog for that matter. If managed correctly, both campaigns have the ability to increase interest in your company and services and improve your ROI (Return On Investment). One thing is certain, both print and internet marketing campaigns are essential to your company's growth and success.
For online newbies, getting your site ranked highly by the major search engines is a daunting task. Heck, it is even a battle for experienced internet marketers. Google Adwords is a great way to drive traffic to a new website, but it requires a steep learning curve. Nor does it end there! In order to get your ads to show in the top 10 sponsored links requires that your ad is relevant and matches the content of your web site. This requires that your web site is Search Engine Optimized. Having a pretty web site just doesn't cut the mustard and without some SEO and Adwords fine-tweaking, your site will hang way back on page 1,409 000 for a search query, never to be seen.
Brochures or leaflets, on the other hand, are relatively cheap to print and distribute and have the advantage of getting your message across immediately as well as advertising your web site for potential customers to visit. As with any marketing campaign, your brochure or leaflet should be compelling enough to arouse interest in your company and service and invite buyers to phone you, email you or visit your web site. If writing compelling ad copy is not your strong point, hire an experienced copywriter and graphic designer to do it for you. It will be money well spent.
To drive traffic to your web site, include your URL on your calling cards, letterheads, calendars, invoices, brochures and at the bottom (or top) of every fax and email you send. Invite people to visit by simply asking them to log on and tell you how your site can be improved or what other products and services they would like to see there. Offer them an incentive; a discount on their next order for the best, implementable suggestion they email to you before the end of the month. The aim is simply to generate interest and get a dialogue going with your clients.
For more information, please contact Dean Young on Tel +27 11 708 7807 or Fax +27 11 708 7845.
The fact of the matter is not all print companies are created equal. Print companies vary in physical size, press size, technological investment and commitment to service and deadlines. All these factors will impact on your experience with a particular printer. So, who do you choose?
If you are a first time commercial print buyer, it is in your best interest to ask a print company for a reference or two. Tell the printer what kind of print work you will be needing now and in the future and then ask for some references to other clients with similar printing requirements. They should be happy to supply you with the information.
What about pricing? Sure, pricing plays an important part in the whole process and print prices can vary enormously from one printer to another. Does this mean a particular printer is trying to rip you off if he is 30% more expensive than the nearest quote? Not necessarily. Once again, a smaller printer may be cheaper on 1000 business cards than a bigger company. But the bigger company may be far cheaper when it comes to ordering 50 000 brochures!
You may find the solution in selecting different printers for different jobs. The old saying of "horses for courses" applies here. If you have a very wide print requirement, it would pay you to have more than one print supplier. Check pricing and check credentials. Do not make a choice based upon the pricing of one job alone.
Commercial printing may be Gravure (massive, long run reel to sheet presses), Web (medium, long run reel to sheet presses), Litho (short to long run sheet-fed presses), Digital (small sheet fed digital prints) or a combination of the above. Find which one best suits your printing requirements on quality, speed and pricing.
Our company, Coral Print CC is a B2 Format Litho Printer. This means we run a maximum sheet size, which is approximately 83% of A1. This allows flexibility in running small to medium-high print volumes at very economical prices.
Contact Dean Young for more information on Tel +27 11 708 7807 Fax +27 11 708 7845
