How to Choose a Printer for Your Business Cards

Whether for an entire department or for your own humble home enterprise, eventually that prickly promotional question of how to choose a printer for your business cards may arise. After all,face-to-face networking is still an essential part of professional success, and does anything accompany a handshake better than an exchange of business cards? Those tidy little pieces of marketing material can mean the difference between fading into obscurity or landing a big new client, or at the very least can provide returning customers with a quick reference as to how to keep in touch with you.

With such business-relevant concerns in mind, the process of how to choose a printer for your business cards becomes important, just as it would for producing a direct mailer, brochure, postcard, or other applicable piece. There are definitely some overarching considerations to keep in mind.

Price

As with any on-the-job decision, the effect on your bottom line is usually one of the most significant factors to consider, often the biggest element in the decision-making process and sometimes even the only aspect truly looked at. With a project like business cards, with a well-defined product in mind and a quantity to order, any respectable printer will gladly provide a quote. Then, it is simply to compare the prices and draw the obvious conclusions.

Quality

However, depending on how the budget looks, it may be worthwhile to spend a little extra if it means making an additional, memorable impact. Then, you have to think: If I use foil, embossing, or other print effects, does every printer have that capability or should I now only refer to the premium options for quotes? If a particular printer is markedly cheaper than the others, but I have heard from multiple sources that their printing tends to be a little sloppy, is a hit to my reputation for professionalism worth saving a few bucks? Quality can certainly be a strong point to examine, and reputable printers should be able to provide free samples for comparison purposes for just that reason.

Speed

Perhaps this is a rush job needed before a big trade show, or a quick turnaround is necessary as a department undergoes different branding, or maybe there is a noticeable disparity between the quickness the printers can manage, but the final significant factor to consider when wondering how to choose a printer for your business cards is timing. In fact, some printers stake their identity on their rapid response times and ability to fulfill an order quickly, rather than emphasizing their low costs or high quality. In some specific situations, pace can be a bigger incentive than price.

Otherwise, any remaining items that may affect the decision are largely intangible and may include a valued relationship with a particular vendor, a special deal going on at the time, or the desire to try a printer out and offering them a small job to prove their worth. Whatever the case may be, figuring out how to choose a printer for your business cards should not end up being a headache.