Why You Should Not Get Too Cheap With Your Prints

Sometimes there is no choice really but to print cheap catalogs. I understand that with the economy lately, many businesses will want to cut some operational or promotional cost wherever they can. However, you have to be careful as you print cheap catalogs. Sometimes, you will suffer more if you actually choose those cheaper options from the catalog printer.

Let me tell you all about the things I hate about cheap catalogs. From experience, these cheap catalog characteristics have always resulted in the failure of color catalogs. So you may want to adjust your catalog options a bit, and not get too cheap with your prints. Let me tell you point by point why this is important to do.

1. The generic template.

To cut costs, most who want cheap catalogs go for generic templates. Now, this is not BAD unto itself. In fact this is very efficient and logical since it makes your job as a designer a lot easier and you of course eliminate all the fees for customization.

The trouble is when everyone in your market uses the same generic template. When this happens, your cheap booklets would not look distinct enough to stand out against those others. I hate this situation since whatever you do with your catalogs, they will be branded as “just another catalog” because of that generic template.

2. The cheap paper materials.

Another bad thing about cheap catalogs are the cheap paper materials. The paper of course is where you can save some money, but if you go too cheap with your paper, this can really damage the overall look of the catalog itself.

Not only will the pages easily deteriorate within just a week or so, your images and content will look a lot less impressive. This will not bode well for real commercial catalogs that need to impress readers. So you may want to think carefully about this.

3. The substandard inks.

I also hate those substandard inks used in cheap catalogs. Not only are they very bland or weak in terms of color vibrancy, but typically they also easily fade and deteriorate. So you might have saved a ton of money in printing with substandard inks, but the message on those catalogs will wash away or disappear as quickly as your money did. So you should only go at cheap catalog printing if you think you do not need your message to last very long.

4. The weak binding.

Cheap catalogs also have weak bindings. To get things cheaper, catalogs of course will want to use thinner cover materials and a spine that is bound by something cheap as well such as staples and string. These materials can be damaged a lot easier and of course will typically cause your catalog to come apart within just a few weeks.

If you plan on marketing through your catalogs for a long time, then probably cheap catalogs are not your solution. However if your campaign is just around a month or less, these cheap catalogs with cheap binding should work.

5. The fuzzy images.

Lastly, cheap catalogs do have fuzzy images. I do not like this about cheap catalogs since they make ALL OF THE PRODUCTS featured in the catalog look very cheap and unimpressive. So you should at least spend on your product images for catalogs. Try to hire a friend or colleague to shoot those pictures with a good digital camera. It will still cost less, but at least there will be no fuzzy images like those other cheap prints.

So those are the things I hate about cheap catalogs, and of course my opinions on what you should do with your own cheap catalog options. Try your best to really eliminate those ramifications of going cheap with this kind of printing. Believe me, your money is better spent with decent catalog printing than cheap ones.

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About the Author:
Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.