What to Print, (or not to Print): That is the Question

Print quantity forecasting can be much like the delicate art of applying one’s make-up in a moving vehicle.

Whereas I’ll have to defer to my lovely wife on face-paint in motion (was that a collective sigh of relief?), I’ve navigated the high-speed print highways a time or two.

Print too little, you find yourself scheduling a re-print, usually creating an uncomfortable phone exchange with a higher authority. Produce too many and redundant materials end up getting the highly unpopular heave-ho. In other words, a few rapid accelerations, some hard braking maneuvers, a quick left or right and you’re pretty much going to look like Coco The Clown…on a hot, humid day…in a monsoon. It’s not a good look. I’m just sayin’.

In compliance mailings, your guides will be Shareholder Lists, Marketing, Sales or maybe your friendly neighborhood Proxy Solicitor. This isn’t to say that they’ll all agree with one another. To make matters worse, with the SEC’s new Summary Prospectus rules, you’ll have to dig even deeper into your files to identify who is invested in what.

A Shareholder Communications service provider worth their salt should be able to work with you to learn your identifiers and assist you in making sure you’re getting an accurate picture of the numerical landscape.

In today’s marketing, you’ll also want to consider a digital Print-on-Demand platform – a great innovation for creating marketing pieces on the fly. Inventory issues disappear like that one-pound massive chocolate bar with almonds that you hid under some canned asparagus deep in the back of the pantry, but your wife found and savored with reckless abandon (obviously this hit me harder than I thought if I’m writing about it. I got like one bite out of that thing).

Affordable, high quality digital print, once considered a myth, with the right page counts and quantities, is giving a serious run to the long-standing king, four color process printing.
So … start with the foundation before your get into eye shadow and lipstick …

Better still, educated forecasting and clear communications with your working group, along with a helping hand from your Compliance Printing partner can go a long way to hitting your print quantities with accuracy and consistency .

And, don’t fear the unknown, become more familiar with the vast capabilities of Digital Print on Demand. It can only benefit you and your team.

Lastly, if you’ve found a real good hiding spot for chocolate, please let me know.

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Tony Anzivino hails from the greatly misunderstood state of New Jersey. He's worked in Financial Shareholder Communications world from the age of 12, starting with Janitorial duties at his Father's firm. He likes biking, hiking and ketchup.