Many of our clients want to eliminate printing from their marketing budgets completely. While we feel that it’s important to reduce the amount of printed pieces, we think that having one professionally designed, leave-behind piece is important. Most people prefer to read a printed piece versus an online document and I know, as a consumer, I personally get annoyed when businesses expect me to use my toner and paper to print out their marketing pdfs.
Also, professionally designed and printed pieces give the impression that you are trustworthy and established. When you give a printed handout, you are telling your client that you are serious about your business and you are going to be around for a while – otherwise you wouldn’t have make the investment of getting the pieces printed. Also when you put something in print, you can’t easily retract it which shows that you stand by what you say.
One way you can minimize the piece getting thrown away is by having a “notes section” where customers can take notes during your meeting or you can write something (like details on what program would be best for them) right on the marketing piece. This makes it more likely that it will make it into their desk instead of the trash can. Also, there are many environmentally friendly printing options that will make you feel better about printing.
