Capture New Business by Selling Color, Not the Process

In the not-too-distant past, it would have been common to debate about the differences in speed and quality between offset and digital printing. Times have changed. Today’s print buyer has one primary goal — it has to look good. As such, printers must prioritize this goal, assuring buyers that they are not only committed to solving their color challenges, but also to enabling their long-term success through the output of unmatched color.

The industry is not known for easily or quickly adapting to change. However, the industry has seen more change in the past 20 years than the previous 100 years, put together. And the vast change associated with the rapid pace of digital transformation is, of course, continuing to drive immense change.

Early leadership of offset

Ira Rubel of Barclay’s Printing Press discovered that using a rubber roller on a metal cylinder produced a cleaner and sharper image quality when printing on paper way back in 1901. At that time, offset printing became popular for reproducing artwork at a lower cost. Before offset lithography printing, artwork could only be duplicated through enormous work, and the results were precise. As the popularity of offset printing grew, however, reproducing increasingly detailed images with higher quality in less time soon became status quo. And, as technologies continue to evolve, offset printing is still used today when a high quantity of static impressions is needed in a very short time.

The onset of digital

Over the past 10 years we have seen the convergence of monochrome and full-color digital printing competing with offset printing, and both techniques have a role in today’s print shop. Offset can produce at extremely high rates for a remarkably low cost. Continuous-feed inkjet technology, like the RICOH (Booth N1928) Pro VC70000, can produce offset-matching quality even faster than most offset presses with unique impressions. And, what’s more, the CMYK gamut is constantly increasing with sheet-fed machines that can produce white, neon, metallic, security, magnetic, and multilayering of clear. 

As a manufacturer, this is important because what we learn as print technology evolves allows us to provide print buyers high quality, outstanding color, and a successful customer connection, which equals increased revenue for commercial printers.

Extend your reach

The idea that digital output is lower quality than offset is long gone, replaced instead with the high convenience and outstanding quality that digital print offers. In fact, today’s most savvy printers understand the importance of having many different capabilities at their disposal to tailor customized results to end users’ specific job requirements. Oftentimes, depending on the parameters of the job, printers can and should leverage traditional offset, digital toner and/or digital inkjet technologies to meet specific customer needs. 

Focus on color to drive business

Ever heard the phrase: “Don’t tell me how to build the watch, just tell me what time it is”? It’s similar with color print. Growing your business is not about selling the way color is produced; rather, it’s about selling quality color — that’s what the customer cares about most.