One of the best ways to make sure your advertising campaign is a success is to pay for the services of a print broker. A brokerage expert or company is not the same as a printing company’s sales representative. In some instances though, a brokerage service may give you more value for your money.
In simple terms, a brokerage service is the one in the middle position between a client and printing companies. What makes them different from typical sales people is that they are not formally employed by any printing press or company. They also do not earn through commissions in the same way that internal sales personnel do. They are wholly independent and make money from reasonable profit margins that they slap on projects.
This basic definition of print brokers is enough to give you an idea about what they do. Part of defining their role however should also involve determining why you should choose to obtain their services instead of directly dealing with a printing company. You might think that you can easily save on costs if you went straight to a printer and made arrangements yourself.
Getting brokerage services is essential for some clients for a number of reasons. One main reason is that clients may not know outright what it is that they are getting themselves into. Having materials printed involves more than just telling a printer that you want to pay for a certain number of flyers or brochures. It also involves looking into such concerns as work flow, design implementation, material choice and delivery. A good print broker will be able to determine the challenges in each of these areas and plan for solutions even before issues arise.
Getting a third party expert also makes a lot of sense because he is more likely to know the key players in the printing industry. This knowledge is as important as knowing the various printing processes. This is because each company that claims to be an expert at generating printed materials may not always be a specialist in providing all kinds of materials. A middleman who is not employed and therefore has no vested interests is the best person to ask when you want to find out which printer is the best performer in relation to the material you want produced. If you have many projects on the pipeline, it’s possible that your print broker may suggest several different companies.
In the long run, a good middleman can help you save more on project costs. Although you may have to pay extra for brokerage, a good service provider can actually help prevent waste or errors that can drive up production costs. They can also help ensure timely delivery of materials that are in excellent condition so you don’t actually have to spend more on a solution to temporarily cover for late materials or on replacements for damaged goods.
In essence, there is so much less to worry about in printing when you have reliable and reputable print brokers to handle projects for you. What you actually have to pour tremendous effort on is the task of looking for a middleman with the best qualifications.
