Can we prepare and print our collateral in Europe for our U.S. subsidiary?
BackThere is no technical obstacle in preparing and printing collateral such as brochures, datasheets, etc. in Europe for your U.S. subsidiary. It can even make better economical sense to operate this way. Printing is usually cheaper in Europe than it is in the U.S., especially for small quantities (a few thousand is a small quantity for the printing industry). If you ship the brochures by boat (this will take between a month for the East Coast to 6 weeks for the West Coast), the shipment costs will remain reasonable. However, there are a few important points that you should keep in mind.
- The first may be obvious for people who live in the U.S., but is sometimes hard to understand for a design agency in Europe: the paper format is different! The standard page size in the U.S. is called Letter US and is 11 inches by 8.5 inches (27.94 cm by 21.59 cm). This is slightly wider and significantly shorter than A4. This size needs to be kept in mind when laying out the graphical elements on the page.
- The content of the brochures has to be designed for the American customer. At best, you have 10 seconds to convince the reader that there is something interesting in the document he is holding. If you can grab his interest, he will go on with the reading of the brochure. But if he does not immediately understand the value this will bring him, he will discard it.
- Keep the page layout as simple as possible, and make your key message (the benefits for the customer) impossible to miss—it should be the first thing the customer will read.
- Stay away from complex diagrams, extensive list of features, etc. If the customer is interested, he will ask you to send additional information or will look on your Web site (and you should have this additional information ready to be sent when requested).