It's All In The Presentation

Your customers want eye-catching presentation folders. Find out how you can provide them with the most creative folders available.

Any master chef worth his salt will tell you that the first taste is taken with the eyes. Even the most delicious dish will remain untouched if presented sloppily. You need to make the dish look appetizing in order to draw the first bite.

Exit the kitchen and enter the business world and you find that a similar rule applies. A well-written report, promotion, statement, etc., must grab the intended recipient's attention before he or she will pick it up. That's why a presentation folder can be so valuable: It entices the audience to open the packet and digest the information within.

Fortunately, today's presentation folders can be quite enticing. Embossing, foil stamping, laminating, four-color process and other techniques can turn a bland presentation into a colorful piece with a unique flavor. And a printer specializing in presentation folders can do this type of piece cost-effectively.

While typical two-color, 9x12˝ folders remain popular—and effective—customized folders are also available for buyers that truly want to stand out. With the right equipment and a little bit of creativity, printers can give a presentation folder a unique look and feel. For example, a realtor could order a folder shaped like a house; a bowling alley could ask for a folder resembling a bowling pin.

"Graphics and styles are becoming customized," notes Karen Small, general manager of Folder Express in Omaha, Neb. "Before, people would order a 9x12˝ folder. Now they want a custom folder with different designs and diecutting, such as various panels and pockets." They also want more color. Once two inks were enough; now CMYK is the norm.

"The price of four color has come way down because of the technology and so forth," explains Joe Tardie Jr., president of Presentation Folder in Orange, Calif.

Similarly, some of the equipment necessary to create customized folders—gluing machines that make capacity folders with expandable pockets, for example—has dropped in price. This brings these techniques closer to buyers' budgets.

Keeping Up With The Competition

Still, lower pricing isn't the only thing driving the demand for flashier folders. Competition is also a contributing factor.

"When some people start doing things a certain way, then others see them and want the same thing," Tardie points out. "So as people see nicer folders out there, when they get ready to do a folder, they say, 'I want one like so-and-so has.' "

Desktop computers have also lead to the creation of more intricate pieces. Once upon a time, customers were satisfied with white folders emblazoned with a blue logo. Now, graphic artists use the latest software packages to design detailed, colorful folders.

Occasionally, these designs can cause complications. A folder may look great on a monitor, but the piece may not be able to make the transition to a press.

"Sometimes it doesn't translate well to printing," notes Monica Poole, vice president/COO of Chicago-based Ellingsworth Industries. "A creative genius sitting at a computer can come up with a beautiful idea, but you can't always produce it on 14-point coated stock. So it's becoming more of a challenge every day to create the look that our customers want. We're doing it, but it's getting harder."

It's also getting harder to turn these complicated jobs around quickly.

"We get people looking for a very specific design, and those take a little bit longer," says Robert Kemper, sales manager for Wholesale Tabs & Folders in Tucson, Ariz.

An ordinary job—a folder without the flair of customization—is less time- consuming. And this type of folder is still very much in demand.

"We also have a fair amount of people calling in for two- to three-day service on pocket folders using standard stocks," Kemper adds.

Indeed, not every job requires customization and four colors. A two-color 9x12˝ folder, tastefully designed, can still leave an impact. In fact, Tardie notes that his company does quite a bit of both customized and ordinary folders.

Poole believes that presentation folders can be separated into two distinct segments. "There is the market for the very simple, inexpensive, mass-quantity produced folders," she says, "then there is the market for the high-end, attention-grabbing, eye-opening, unusual pieces." All presentation folders—whether two-color or four-color, customized or not—still serve the same purpose: to hold important information. And a folder's contents is only limited by the user's imagination. You can fill a folder with applicant packages for banks, quotes, announcements, marketing promotions, financial statements, admission packets for universities, employee benefit packages—you name it.

"More people are using presentation folders," Small observes. "You can put so much in the folder and it keeps your information compact. All you do is pick up this one piece and all you need is in there."

So the next time you deal with a customer panicked about an upcoming presentation, remember this recipe for success: Take one presentation folder. Stuff generously with useful information. Serve hot. Then watch the recipients dig in.

Companies like Pond Ekberg provide a variety of presentation folder options.