In an emergency, be prepared to communicate and train quickly

When an emergency hits - Ebola, enterovirus D68 or a natural disaster, industrial accident, devastating fire, white-collar crime or workplace violence, the need to communicate about the situation is immediate.

At such a time, failure to take the initiative can present dire health consequences if not damage to employee morale, undermining of management credibility, good will among customers, suppliers and vendors and confidence among stockholders.

Today, with the need to immediately communicate information and implement training manuals for Ebola and enterovirus D68, a short run printer can quickly print and distribute training manuals and procedures to medical personnel and hospital staff as well as these other important constituencies.

When printing is completed it is necessary to disseminate this information; some short run printers can package, ship and distribute training materials and manuals from a single location, quickly and cost effectively.

To be able to react to a crisis in a timely manner, a crisis response template should be part of an organization's overall communications' plan. In advance of any potential crisis, this template should be sent to all locations and available to all employees. Packaged binders or manuals containing "pre-planned" responses, the template should include various crisis situations and response scenarios to be accessed should an emergency situation arise.

Help prepare your organization for crisis situations that strike unannounced but must be handled quickly and effectively. Make sure they receive the "right" information by having the appropriate materials at the right locations, at the right times, for all employees.

Looking to better manage your printing budget?

Perhaps there is a better use for your money than investing in printed pieces that sit in inventory. Most likely they will be there for quite some time before eventually being discarded.

This is the likely occurrence when offset printing is chosen as the method to print books, journals, newsletters, brochures and assorted marketing pieces when only smaller quantities are required.

l        Since offset printing has high front-end costs, the per-unit cost can become expensive when short print runs are needed. Larger print runs can bring down the per-unit cost but could result in pieces that are not necessarily wanted. The result – printed pieces sitting in inventory that eventually become outdated.

l        Digital printing and “Print-on-Demand” eliminates such inventory and large upfront printing costs by removing the need to print thousands of pieces at a time, allowing you to print only the exact amount you need, when you need it.

l        Running on digital presses that can be set to print quickly, books and other printed materials can be available for next day or even same day delivery, assuring that they are where they need to be on a timely basis.

l        And, with short run printing, materials are “up-to-date” and more relevant as they can be updated regularly, on a more frequent basis, than mass-run items.

Budgets can be further maximized when variable data printing is used in direct mailing efforts. Variable data printing is a direct result of digital printing. Variable data printing enables the mass customization of documents as opposed to the 'mass-production' of a single document. Instead of producing 2,000 copies of a single document, delivering a single message to 2,000 customers, variable data printing could print 2,000 unique documents with customized messages for each customer.

As the costs to print increasingly rise and the objective is to maximize budgets, “Print-on-Demand” can help by eliminating expensive up-front costs, allowing efficient short-runs and printing only when needed, making large inventories obsolete.

Choosing a Printer - 8 Tips to Consider

1.  Do Your Research - It is important to know what you want your end product to look like and the work that will be involved in getting a final printed project.  Educate yourself on the printing process by visiting printer websites.

2.  Do Try to Supply Basic Information About Printing Specifications, including:

• Size
• Color
• Binding
• Quantity
• Paper Type
 

3.  Do Get Price Quotes From a Few Printers - Make sure that you get detailed information on any and all fees, so that there are no surprises.

4.  Do Make Sure That You Feel Comfortable With the Printer You Choose, and the Customer Service Representative that you will be working with.  It is important to note whether your communications will be via email or through telephone contact. With a printing project, you are looking for the increasingly rare combination of great service and a great end product. There are many online automated sites that can print your books, but some use templates and many do not have representatives that are accessible by phone.

5.  Do Decide If You Want To Print as a personal project (poems to your grandchildren) or for commercial distribution.  If you want to sell your book through a wholesale or retail distributor, there are necessary requirements, such as an ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

6.  Do Make Sure That You Provide the Correct File Type That the Printer Requires - Some criteria may include:  PDFs, embedded fonts, proper bleed.  Also, find out the printer's specific requirements for submitting images with the correct resolution -DPI (dots-per-inch.)

7.  Do Be Realistic About Time Frames - Give your printer enough lead time to get the job done right.  For first printings, calculate approximately 10 to 15 working days.  Reprints are generally about 4 to 8 working days.

8.  Do Consider Digital Printing - It offers:

• Shorter print runs that require less initial cost outlay
•  Easy version changes (edits) for the next time you print
• Excellent quality