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Great Sign Ideas for Realtors
Traditionally, large-format printing had to be done in either bulk or at great expense for a single sign. The cost was so high that full color wasn’t even a consideration. Now, with ultraviolet printing, UV-equipped printers can do single real estate signs at prices that are affordable.
That means you can create large, sharp, full color signs for each of your properties without breaking your marketing budget. So, now that the technology’s available, what are you going to do with it?
Include full-color photographs
Instead of pointing house hunters to a website or a phone number, use ultraviolet printing and large-format signs to actually show them inside the house. This is your chance to create sharp, bright, full-color signage with space for interior photos, so use it.
Go durable
Outdoor real estate signs need to be able to withstand the elements. Ultraviolet printing is ideal for outdoor use and can last much longer than many vinyls and laminates without fading or cracking. Ask your printer about special UV coatings and outdoor applications.
Make a large-format flyer
By replicating the photographs and information typically printed on a flyer, your poster will minimize flyer usage. Most Realtors would recommend keeping the flyer box as a way of providing curious buyers with a takeaway item, but a large format poster will cut down on waste, satisfy the curiosity of most passers-by and reduce the time and money spent refilling your boxes.
Print directly on any hard surface
One of the biggest benefits of ultraviolet printing is that you can create real estate signs on almost any surface. For example, a properly equipped print shop could even do a full color print right on a property’s front door (note: you’ll have to replace the door before you close). The point is, you can get creative – printing on sign posts, old signage and classic bulletins without being limited to a single color.
We once printed on a full-size door with our Legend 72HUV wide format printer, so we now it could be done. Imagine printing an interior shot of what’s behind the door on the door.
UV Printing in Plain English
UV curable screen printing is still a relatively new technology and some print and sign shop owners are just starting to investigate what we think will be the future of large-scale printing. To answer many of the questions we’ve received here at Lloyds of Indiana, here’s a short list of common answers on UV printing.
UV curable ink is not solvent-based, so no VOCs.
UV curable screen printing is a solid system, meaning there are no solvents involved in the process. Instead, a strong ultraviolet (UV) light source interacts with the ink ingredients in what is called a “UV cure reactor” to create the printed image.
The lack of solvents means there are no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), making curable inks more environmentally-friendly than traditional solvent-based printing methods. This means you spend less time and money dealing with the safety requirements and equipment to handle solvents. That means higher profit margins, fewer risks and accidents, and more time spent on growing your business, not cleaning up.
UV cure reactors run very quickly.
UV cure reactors can mass-produce print jobs very quickly thanks to their rapid curing speeds. Essentially, the ink reaction process takes between 1 and 3 seconds and doesn’t require a lengthy drying time.
The best part is that colors can be printed in succession without having to stop for dry time – a major labor and time savings for a screen and print shop. Instead of keeping a constant eye on your job, you can be working on other print jobs and helping your clients.
UV ink won’t clog the screen.
Because UV ink won’t dry in the screen, it won’t clog the mesh. That means less time spent changing or cleaning the screen throughout a print job.
UV ink has great color value and range.
If you’re doing a lot of four-color process graphic printing, UV curable ink is the way to go. The inks range in opacity from transparent to translucent, giving you an incredible color gamut and range. This, combined with the fact that the ink won’t dry in the screen, means you can do UV ink printing through screens with incredibly high mesh counts, often as high as 420 threads per inch.
UV printing greatly reduces sign printing costs.
Most sign printers who use thermal methods or stick-on vinyl to make vinyl banners can’t do double-sided signs. The only way to print a double-sided sign is to print two pieces of vinyl, and then sew them back-to-back. With UV printing, it’s possible to print one side of a sign, flip it over, and run it through again. Material costs are cut in half, labor costs are reduced, and you’re left with a beautiful full-color sign that’s resistant to outdoor elements.
UV ink does have its drawbacks.
Solvents tend to be more flexible (you can print on more substrates) and more durable when exposed to the elements (although UV is more durable than vinyl). But, if you’re doing predominantly sign, poster and banner printing, you’ll find that UV curable printing is the best way to go for graphic screen printing. It’s cleaner, safer, cheaper and faster.
Photo: evoo73
Visit Us at the Indianapolis Sign Business and Digital Graphics Show
We’re going to be at the Indianapolis Sign Business and Digital Graphics Show from May 28th – May 30th.
Okay, it’s not the Indianapolis 500 or a Colts game, but still, we’re looking forward to it. And if you work in a sign shop or the digital graphics business, you need to be here.
National Business Media is promoting this regional show, as well as shows in Long Beach, CA, Baltimore, MD, Tampa, FL, and Charlotte, NC. The show will feature a three-day trade show and a four-day education conference. If you’re in the sign business, you need to be here.
We’ll be there, talking about UV curable flatbed printers.
UV curable flatbed printers are changing the game by lowering printing costs to a point that makes even recently purchased solvent technology based printers obsolete. If you own or manage a sign or banner printing facility, or would like to, you need to take time to learn how you can have as much as a 50% cost advantage on your competition:
“Right now, most sign and banner shops sell a 5′x3′ full color banner for around $120. We can now sell the same thing for $60 and make the same profit.” — Garry Jones, Owner Lloyds of Indiana
The best way to see how UV Printing is revolutionizing sign printing is to see it in action for yourself. That’s why we open up our production center to let sign shop and print shop owners see exactly how wide format UV printing fits in. Join us on May 28th through May 30th at the Indianapolis Sign Business and Digital Graphics Show and an informational tour of our facility to see firsthand how a single Digital Equipment Company Legend 72 HUV flatbed printer has revolutionized our business, and how it can change yours, too.
Network With Other Sign Shops to Increase Your Own Sign Revenue
With the economy being down, people are cutting costs all over. And sign shops are no exception. I’ve talked to a lot of sign shop owners over the past several months who are all saying the same thing: revenues are down because fewer people — realtors, trade shows, stores — are buying signs. They’re getting beat up on price, and quality is not the issue it once was.
The natural thing to do is cut prices so you can increase sales, right?
It’s also the wrong thing to do. This is not the time to cut costs, because reducing your prices means reducing your profits. And with lower sales, this is the wrong time to lower profits. Rather, it’s the time to diversify.
Most sign shops don’t do every kind of sign. Some offer vinyl banners, others do restaurant signs, other do fast signs for trade shows.
What it’s going to take is one smart sign shop owner to invest into a new piece of equipment, like the Legend 72HUV from Digital Equipment Company, a UV curable wide format printer.
The really cool thing about this machine (and there are several cool things) is that it’s like a giant inkjet printer, which lets you make full-color signs without all the extra costs of vinyl, and none of the chemical issues found in VOC inks.
Most sign shops would look at this printer as just another piece of equipment that’s going to sit silently in the shop, along with everything else.
But the smart sign shop owner will see this as a revenue generator. Rather than beating your brains out to find the end users who will need this kind of sign, get all the sign shop owners in your town to do the work for you.
You probably know all the sign shop owners in your town, and know the things they do and don’t do. Pay a visit to each of them, and offer them your UV sign printing services. Then, whenever the vinyl shop gets a customer inquiry to do something outside their scope of expertise, instead of turning down the project, they can still sell it to the customer, wholesale it to you, and you both make a sale.
They generate a 10 – 15% brokerage fee, and you make a wholesale deal that pays for the machine and keeps it running, even while your own vinyl machine is sitting idle.
Now your competition has just become a source of revenue for you. They’re not working against you, they’re working for you.
Here at Lloyds, we’ve seen people who got into the wholesale business of printing and dropped their retail business completely. It ends up being a bigger win for them, because instead of one shop owner selling to a handful of customers, they have five, or even ten, owners selling for them instead.
The Benefits of UV Printing
I believe that UV printing is the future of commercial printing. There are just too many advantages, including its fast curing speeds, high print qualities, durability and flexibility, for ultraviolet printing not to become the new standard.
Flexibility
With UV printing, you can print on almost any surface, absorbent or not. Here at Lloyd’s of Indiana, we once ran a door through our UV printing machine and it worked great.
That flexibility translates to hundreds of uses at the local print shop level – small retail items, book covers, clings, cards, large banners, the list is almost endless. And with this new found ability to print on traditionally non-porous surfaces like Styrene or hard boards, customers are starting to pay attention.
High Print Qualities
No more double passes through the press, no more re-runs. UV printing allows for high-gloss levels, vibrant colors, an array of coatings and printing that’s crisp and has a nice finished look. That’s because UV inks tend to sit on top of the printed surface, rather than being absorbed into it. The end result is sharper and crisper.
Durability
UV printing is also more resistant to scratches, wear and tear, and sun exposure than its traditional printing counterparts. Customers love that a large promotional piece isn’t going to become tired and sun-worn after a few weeks.
Fast Curing Speeds
With UV printing, the ink is dry the moment it comes off the press. No more waiting for the ink to dry, no more waiting to do proofs, no more ghosting of images on the page above it. Instead, press checks are quick and you can move on to binding and finishing faster. Not only is it faster for your clients, it saves you time too.
UV printing isn’t the little-known secret of the printing world anymore; customers are starting to ask for it by name. They want that speed, durability, high print quality and surface flexibility that ultraviolet printing can offer. Don’t get left behind.