Print Samples Are Important
In a nutshell, here’s why I think print samples are important. As new printing systems enter the market you can assess their market readiness by the vendor’s ability to provide print samples. Early on in a product’s development, vendors are very cautious with print samples. They don’t hand them out freely, sometimes even showing them under glass or in sample books that are chained to display cases. Once a product gets close to release, the system vendors begin to hand out prepared print samples and they also offer to produce output from files provided by existing customers and sales prospects. This stage is symbolic because it signifies that the vendor believes that the product is ready for market.
To underscore my point, I have recorded dozens of print sample videos for a broad range of production digital print products. A couple of my recently recorded print sample videos are representative of this conclusion.
Two new products were highlighted at a recent event at Canon customer IWCO Direct:
- See my Canon Océ VarioPrint i300 print sample video
- See my Canon Océ ImageStream 3500 print sample video
Ricoh introduced a product last fall with 5th station clear and white capability. Recently, they produced a sample pack to highlight this:
Xerox introduced silver and gold 5th station special effects for one of their products:
There are also a few videos I’ve recorded that are not product specific. These include:
- My annual review of corporate greeting cards—If you would like to see more on this, including links to previous year’s reviews, click here.
- My perspective on trade show give-aways—This video is particularly relevant as the trade show season approaches.
If you’d like to see the full list of 64 print sample videos I’ve recorded to date, as well as other videos I’ve recorded, check out my YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy them! If you have any comments or suggestions for videos, feel free to contact me via Twitter or LinkedIn.
