Once you sign off on a proof for a printed piece, we will release it to one of our printing partners. As stated earlier, Masterpiece Marketing bids all printing jobs out to several printers to find the one best suited to the job. When we give that vendor a job, they will have all the information you’ve communicated to us regarding quantity, delivery, deadlines, and mailing. It is our pleasure to handle all the many details of complicated projects for you!
Sending a Job to a Printing Partner
There are two main ways we transfer files for a printer. One is via a CD or DVD; the second is via electronic file transfer directly to an online FTP site. You may hear us say something like, We will FTP those files this afternoon! We mean that we are going to upload them directly to the printer so they can get started as soon as possible.
Project Status
We do our best to give you regular updates on the status of your project. However, should you ever be curious as to its current state, send us an email or give us a call!
Proofs
As part of our everyday routine, we see professional proofs for every job we print. In this case, a proof is a little different than what we send you. A printers’ proof is a physical output of the file that is color-accurate because it is digitally calibrated to match the printing press the project will be run on. When we receive a proof, we look for everything that could potentially be wrong – color, position, text re-flow, layering, transparencies, missing items, blurriness, etc. We will also compare the color to companion pieces or previous runs of the same job (if they exist) to assure a good match.
While proofs are important for many reasons, one thing they dictate is a project’s delivery date. Unless the project deadline was named and guaranteed before a printer was selected, until we’ve seen and approved a proof, most printers will not be able to determine a specific delivery date. In case there is a problem with the proof, they may need an extra day. Therefore, PLEASE let us know before a project is submitted to a printer if you need to have it delivered before a certain date.
Timing
There is no precise way to determine how long a project will take to print until we have the press time reserved with a printing partner which usually requires that they have received final files. The “rule of thumb” is approximately two weeks (10 business days). For small projects like postcards, this guess may be high and for a large project like a magazine or annual report with many finishing steps (like stitching, folding, wafer sealing, etc.), a little more time may be required.
Samples
Masterpiece Marketing sees samples of every project before it is delivered to you or dropped off at the post office. This is one final step for quality control – our way of assuring you get a perfect project every time!
Deliveries
When you receive samples of a mailing or the delivery of a project, it will frequently be from one of our printers. They will let you know that they have a delivery from Masterpiece Marketing and ask you to sign off on a delivery slip. Should you find anything wrong with the delivery, the delivery person will be unable to help you. Please contact Masterpiece Marketing immediately, and we will resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Our job is to make the printing process as easy for you as possible – we’ll handle all the details!
