One of the great joys in life for many business owners is creative collaboration. Brainstorming ideas with like-minded people has led to some of the greatest inventions in history. Nailing down concrete ideas and details can be a bit tricky, though, especially when your product is being produced overseas. Your printer can be an amazing collaborative partner, so here are a few quick guidelines to help boost your collaborative opportunity, particularly with an overseas partner.
Determine the Big Ideas Before Involving the Printer
While your printer can offer suggestions on materials, packaging, or add-ons, the initial meeting will flow much more smoothly if you already have drawings, links, photos, and firm ideas of the product you are looking to build. You don't need the details, but you need a nice pitch deck, of sorts—something to clearly communicate where you're headed so the printer can offer helpful feedback and ideas without steering you the wrong direction because of misunderstanding. Take the time to do as much of the background research as possible before your initial meeting with the printer and save yourself time and extra stress in the first step with your partner.
Organize Organize Organize
One of the most detrimental issues for partnering well is disorganization. It doesn't only affect your personal process; it adds undue weight to the relationship with the printer. For example, you'll need to share design and content files with your printer. Sending them piece by piece in separate emails followed by emails with edits and revisions is a recipe for disaster.
Instead, create a singular place and process for sharing and updating files with a repository and notification ability. Even if your file due date needs to be pushed back in order to add all files together, you'll save yourself and your production partner a lot of headaches by doing so. Other helpful practices include:
Appoint one point of contact for the duration of the project
Specify one address for all samples to be delivered
Plan for two sets of proofs if those who will approve them are not in the same place
While some of these ideas may seem like common sense, it's not uncommon to see them overlooked, which can add a lot of unnecessary headache and time to your project.
Pump Up the Branding
One of the benefits of overseas printing is the ability to create items at an extremely effective and efficient price point. Take advantage of this opportunity and add in the extra marketing
piece(s) to share the story of the product, display your logo on a belly band, or create a branded card to share behind the scenes photos of the process. People are drawn to great story, and you can take full advantage of low cost overseas partnership to add in a little something extra to tell your story and help your product stand out from the pack.
Ready to build a relationship with a collaborative partner to create amazing products to please your customers and enhance your brand? Contact us here, and let's create something great together.