Nearly every marketing agency has a “go to” print company they use for most of their work. In some cases it may be a single source print service provider and in other cases it may be a few where one is the main print company and the others are specialized services that are rarely used. So you already know it’s important to have a print partner and especially one that knows the agency model, what agencies need, what agencies want, etc. 

The main reasons why it’s good to have an agency partner are…

• They know your process
• They know your customers & their needs
• You can trust they know what to do
• There is a cadence and familiarity that makes things easy
• You can depend on them to get the work done on time & on budget

But what if something goes wrong, they can’t fulfill all the work you need done on time or meet certain budget requirements? This is where a backup print partner comes in and is highly valuable.

The primary reasons you need to have a backup print partner are…

• Specialization
• Bandwidth Needs
• Cost / Price Options
• They are a Failsafe

Specialization

Having a backup print company who does unique print services or does certain things really well that you can call on when needed is a huge benefit. Typically these services are not your standard request but having it done well is important when it comes up.

This is something that other print companies do themselves fairly often. When a print company doesn’t do a specific service in-house they will call on another print company to help complete that work.

Bandwidth

Sometimes your primary print partner has a workload that is too full and they can’t promise that your agency’s project will be completed on time. Because of this, having a backup print partner can ensure your project is completed on time. 

Again you’ll find that some print companies also do this, which is commonly referred to as a Trade Printer. When another print company calls on an allied print company to increase their bandwidth for projects.

Costs

For most agencies the printing costs they are used to only slowly increase over time. But this is typical and those costs are likely too far off from industry standard. But, you can easily find yourself in need of printing a project that requires a much tighter cost. When this is the case it’s good to have a backup print company you can reach out to that you know has better pricing than your current print partner.

Plus, you’ll find that some print service providers are much more efficient than others when it comes to specific products and services, so you may choose to use this print company any time a project comes up that requires that specific product and service.

Used as a Failsafe

Think of this as an insurance policy. By having a backup print partner you are essentially creating a failsafe or redundancy in case of a failure with the primary partner. For any number of reasons you may need to immediately switch over to using your backup printer. 

In many cases we’ve seen print companies go out of business and simply close their doors, have significant downtime due to equipment failure, power issues or installing new equipment. By having a backup you avoid being a victim in those situations and have another partner you can trust to step in and keep you moving forward.

While we at Qualprint would love to be your primary print company, we understand the efficiency of maintaining your existing print relationship, but we hope that our examples shared in this article have you thinking about taking on that backup print company and if we are lucky enough that decision will be us.