BtoB Media Business - April 2009 - (Page 12)

SPECIAL REPORT How to trim printing costs Five ways to make sure you are getting the most for your money from your printer By Mark J. Miller A s the recession rolls into its 16th month, production staffs are under continuing pressure to cut costs. One key area in which there may be potential savings is 4) Examine distribution costs. printing. ¶ “Make sure you’re taking full advantage of all It is always crucial to be sure your the options available to you,” said Kim Clothier, director of circulation company is using the most cost-effective at the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, who works with form of distribution. Hammerbeck said ground shipping printers on distribution issues. “It’s in their best interest to help us by FedEx or United Parcel Service may make things work, and they’re happy to do it. If not, you’re probably working with the wrong printer.” ¶ Below are five ways in which Other ways to publishers may be able to work with their printers to cut costs. hold down costs 1) Renew and renegotiate your contract. In exchange for lower pricing, some publishers are renewing their print contracts early. “In normal business conditions, this would most likely occur in the last year of a contract, but publishers are pushing the limits and are looking to renew with two and possibly three years left, depending on the length of the contract,” said Robert Brai, production director at Northstar Travel Media. In return, the printer may ask that the publisher provide a larger volume of printing, such as marketing collateral materials, or supply the paper. Another piece of the contract to renegotiate is the ink price. The price of oil is down 60% from last summer, Brai noted, so ink prices should be readjusted as well. editions; and there are printers that offer to host or construct such editions. As for print publications, ask your printer if there is a better file format available for sending page files, said Keith Hammerbeck, corporate director of media operations at Advanstar Communications. Even simply changing to a consistent file-naming format could potentially prove more efficient for the printer and save a publisher money, he said. Roger Burg, VP-operations at Canon Communications, said publishers should strive to send clean files to printers. “These are not the times to be paying your printer to get into your files,” he said. Hammerbeck said publishers might want to ask their printers if they can accept print or distribution instructions in digital format. This eliminates rekeying on the printer’s end, thereby helping trim costs and lessen the chances of errors. Among other cost-saving measures to consider are: ■ Eliminating hard-copy proofs in favor of virtual proofing. ■ Cutting out extra office copies and unnecessary advertiser/agency copies. Some of these can be replaced with digital editions. ■ Evaluating design changes that could provide cost savings, such as eliminating full bleeds and moving to two-color instead of four. ■ Gang printing to capitalize on volume discounts. can determine whether the printer is using more than is necessary. “In general the printer is obligated to refund the publisher 100% on over-consumption after a year-end accounting has been completed,” Brai said. “Unfortunately, this provides no benefit in the current year.” Rich Zweibach, executive director of manufacturing at Lebhar-Friedman, suggested publishers that have paper supplied by their printers should investigate potential cost savings that could be achieved by having it supplied by an outside vendor. And for those that use outside vendors, Zweibach recommends seeing if it would be more cost-effective to have the printer supply it. 2) Use technology to your advantage. Some publishers are cutting out all printing costs and simply moving to digital 3) Review your paper situation. A review of your paper consumption not be the first channel that crosses a publisher’s mind when thinking about cost-cutting, but there are some destinations where the shipping companies guarantee next-day, two-day and threeday ground deliveries. “[So] there is no need to use next-day, two-day or threeday air to those locations,” he said. And don’t leave any cost unexamined—even something as seemingly slight as the weight of envelopes used to mail copies. “Don’t use padded envelopes. 12 | Media Business | April 2009 | mediabusinessonline.com http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - April 2009

BtoB Media Business - April 2009
Contents
‘Heavy Duty Trucking’ Wins Grand Neal Award
Online Lead-Gen Transforms the Media Business
Five Ways to Work with Your Printer to Cut Costs
Sales & Marketing
M&A
Online
Circulation
Events
People
Benchmarks
Media is Still All About the Audience

BtoB Media Business - April 2009