Benefits of Vendor Consolidation for Print and Promotional Product Needs

Benefits of Vendor Consolidation for Print and Promotional Product Needs

Sep 29 2020

Visual Marketing

When it comes to marketing and growing your business, word of mouth can only go so far. In a digital world, tangible items like printed materials can help extend word of mouth and set you apart from your competitors. Additionally, as businesses grow and shift, so do their print and promotional needs. In turn, you may find yourself working with multiple vendors to account for said shifts. The sheer number of printed materials still required to run and grow a successful business are numerous. Consider this extensive list of printed materials that are necessary for many businesses: 

  • Business cards
  • Product Packaging
  • Leaflets or brochures
  • Letterhead and envelopes
  • Hard copies of official/legal documents 
  • Marketing and promotional materials
  • Catalogs
  • Thank you cards
  • Presentation folders
  • Product data sheets
  • Direct mail products (postcards, brochures, leaflets, etc.)
  • Newsletters
  • Name badges/ID badges
  • And more…

For many, it may seem like using multiple print services/vendors is a good idea, especially after looking at the sheer number of print services necessary. However, juggling vendor responsibilities can soak up a lot of your time and resources. The solution? Consolidating your needs to one vendor is sure to save you time and money and give you peace of mind. We’re breaking it all down below. 

Top 3 Benefits of Print Vendor Consolidation

1. Save time, money, and space

Save time: Juggling multiple vendors can increase the time and money spent on a printing project. It can also increase the risk of human error. When you consolidate your print vendors, you can streamline your workflow more easily since everything exists in one place with one vendor.

Save Space: When you don’t have to store all of your printed materials in-house, it’s a no-brainer that you’ll be saving money too. Consider the list of print materials above. How much additional space will you have to pay to store those items? Consider the following:

  • A single four-drawer filing cabinet can cost up to $2,000 per year to maintain (this includes things like storage space and labor). 
  • Once your printed materials are filed away, unless you have a great system for organization, items can get lost. Not only will it cost time to look through and locate documents when documents are lost, but it can also cost an average of $220 per item to reproduce. 

That doesn’t even account for the times when materials are printed, live on shelves too long, and go to waste when information needs to be updated. 

By consolidating and using a single vendor, instead of storing products in your office, you can print whatever quantities you need for each item, store them as needed, and ship your materials to whichever office or location you need. 

2. Building stronger relationships = creating better designed and higher quality products 

In addition to saving time, by working with a single vendor, you’re also building a better relationship. It’s these kinds of partnerships that will allow you to collaborate better, create better designed products, and create new ideas. This relationship can help make your printed products leaps and bounds better than what you could produce on your own or with multiple vendors. More importantly, it’s a great edge over your competitors. 

For business owners and employees, working with a professional who may have ideas you haven’t thought of can help grow your business and simplify your processes. For instance, vendors can help you maximize your print real estate by showing you tips, tricks, and design elements that can increase conversions. Unlike using multiple vendors, a single vendor will know your business. They are better able to help make small, but impactful, changes like highlighting important elements on printed materials to make sure you grab the reader’s attention even when they’re just scanning. 

3. Say “Bye, bye” to inconsistent branding

When one vendor takes care of all of your printing needs, you can be assured that your brand will be represented correctly across the board according to your brand guidelines. From fonts to colors and themes, consistency in all your printed materials will be one crucial key to increasing your bottom line. And you can be confident that your different departments and offices won’t print products that do not adhere to brand standards or company goals since your vendor oversees the design side of things as well as the printing and storing for all of your printed documents.

Want more information on how you can consolidate your print and marketing needs? Contact us to learn more about our print and marketing solutions portal.  At Hygrade, we specialize in a diverse print management program that provides our clients with the systems they need to meet their distribution, print, and inventory management needs. With our portal, you can reduce time spent, increase purchasing power, and work with one vendor who understands your brand and business needs. We’ll work with you to ensure your printed materials are another one of your valuable business assets.