Posted by Bret Bottger, Inkjet Systems Marketing

Following up on my previous blog entry on environmentally responsible printing, I am introducing the new HP Print View software designed to help small businesses save money with do-it-yourself marketing.  This free software helps empower small businesses to reduce their marketing costs by providing a print cost estimate in advance of hitting print, which makes it easier to bring outside color printing jobs inside the small business.  Many HP printers and all-in-ones for small business are supported by the software, including the new Officejet Pro series and LaserJet, as well as both networked and single-user printers.

HP Print View Software is a suite of tools that helps you to create and print professional-quality brochures, fliers, mailers, presentations and postcards by using your own supported HP printer.  Often, producing marketing materials in your own office is faster and less expensive than outsourcing the print job.

Save Money Printing SMB Documents Yourself

HP Print View software generates estimates and allows you to compare your various printing options and choose the lowest cost option.  It can also allow you to compare in-house marketing print production costs to estimates you obtain from your local copy shop.  According to InfoTrends, you can save up to 50% by printing color marketing materials in-house for short runs of up to 500 pages.¹ 

HP Print View Software also lets you understand how the page layout and design affects the potential printing costs.  For example, if you plan to print out slides which have a solid blue background, which would likely increase the printing costs by using a lot of cyan ink or toner.  If a design change makes sense with your marketing need, you might want to redesign the slides to remove the solid blue background.  This simple design change can save money, especially on larger print jobs.

Get More Control Over Your Printing

HP designed the Print View software to save you time, since you don’t need to travel to the copy shop when you print in your office.   By using your own in-office HP printer for smaller print jobs instead of sending them to an external print shop, you can often save money.   You are in complete control over the document, and you can decide which options to use.  This can save money and prevent waste.   Printing in-house with the HP Print View software gives you control over the schedule, the quantity, and most importantly, the output.  You can update your marketing materials whenever you want.

The software also provides a preview of what your printed document will look like without printing test copies.  This is especially important when saving paper by using duplex printing to use both sides of the paper, since duplex printing can be complicated.  This sophisticated print preview can also help you be more environmentally responsible by printing only the quantities you need, helping avoid wasted paper and supplies. 

It’s a free download, so I invite you to check it out yourself.  I’m interested in your experiences with in-house print production for small business. 

Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.

¹ Based on average retail pricing for short-run marketing materials. Short runs of up to 500 prints.  Actual prices may vary. Not all country currencies are supported.  Source: Infotrends US Cost of Print Studies, March 2009. Go to www.hp.com/go/ihm for more details. 

InfoTrends, The Cost of Print in the United States: An Analysis of In-House vs. Print Shop Costs. ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software9/COL19323/ja-51202-2/CostofPrint_US_090507.pdf