When planning a memorial, one of the integral things to consider is memorial printing services. Everyone wants something to remember their departed loved one by, and a well-made memorial card or tribute is one of the best things to have made to give out at a memorial service.
What are memorial printing services?
Memorial printing services are dedicated companies whose specific goal is to help you create the best tribute to your loved one that you can. They print tributes, memorial cards, or prayer cards with the deceased’s photograph and information to give out to everyone who attends the memorial service in order for them to have something to take home and remember the deceased by.
Details on Products Provided
Memorial printing services provide tribute brochures, memorial cards, and prayer cards to give to attendees of a memorial service. Tribute brochures are larger documents that have multiple pieces of text on them, usually informative about the memorial or funeral service. Memorial cards and prayer cards are smaller slips of paper, usually pocket-sized, that have a passage of text related to the deceased. The text on memorial cards will often be a piece of scripture or a passage from a poem, whereas a prayer card will have a more personal message from the family to the attendants of the service. Memorial printing services can also print personalized thank you cards for the family to send to everyone who attended the memorial service to thank them for their love and prayers. Depending on the printing service, other items may be available for purchase as well, such as keepsakes, banners, bookmarks, and special portraits.
What should I include on a memorial card or tribute?
A photograph of your loved one is the most important feature of a memorial card or tribute. The photograph should be fairly recent and have a clear view of the deceased from the shoulders or waist up. The next thing to include on a memorial card is a text that was important to the deceased, like a passage of scripture or a beautiful poem or favorite song lyric. Many memorial printing services will have suggested poems or passages for you to choose from if you need help deciding what would be best to include. You can also include information such as the details of the funeral, the order of the service, a list of their life accomplishments, or multiple passages of text, but the more you include, the higher the cost of your tribute will be.
How to Pick the Best Memorial Printing Service
You always want to make sure the memorial printing service you choose for your service has good quality products and will be able to send you your items in time for the memorial. A good printing service will be able to provide next-day or two-day shipping for the quickest possible turnaround. It is also best to go with a service that has an established presence and record of good customer service so you can be certain you are getting exactly what you ordered.
Doing business with a family who has just lost their loved one is a sensitive affair. It’s a challenge to sell your services and talk of money when you want to first and foremost remain respectful to the deceased and their family’s memories. But without being distasteful, there are subtle ways to make your funeral services more appealing to potential clients and overall improve your business.
Partner with a Printing Company
From photographs and banners to portraits and memorial cards, there are many printed memories and fond words that families want to express on paper for their loved one’s funeral service. As their service provider, your clients will ask you to create these unique printed tributes for them, and it can be a lot to organize and manage in an artful, timely and affordable way. Partnering with a professional printing company will make the process much easier; not only are they well-equipped to design and produce high quality prints, but they can help you offer your clients the lowest possible prices that you can incorporate into package deals.
Offer Practical and Affordable Packages
Ease and comfort: those who are still grieving will appreciate nothing more from their funeral service provider. You can ease their entire experience by offering your services in packages that can still be customized, but also lay out an idea of which services your clients can expect from their budget. They will feel reassured and less stressed if they are presented with an offer that incorporates everything from the printed programs to the customized keepsakes for every guest; they will feel free to commit their energy to being with their family and friends, instead of having to worry about coordinating every little detail of the funeral service, and will be more likely to select your all-encompassing services.
Share a Gallery of Previous Tributes
Your clients will come with their own vivid memories of their loved one, and might have a difficult time expressing their exact vision for their desired tributes, programs, keepsakes and other details associated with the funeral service. By having a readily available portfolio or gallery of your previous work, including programs and portraits compiled with permission from your previous clients, you can help your client understand the quality of service that you offer. They will be more likely to ask you to coordinate their loved one’s funeral service, because you’ve helped them envision what the details of the funeral will look like and exactly how you will work with them to make it a unique and meaningful experience. You can provide them with these examples of your previous work in a printed portfolio or album, or in a virtual gallery on your business’s website.
Convincing clientele that your funeral services are the most reliable and meaningful doesn’t have to feel like an awkward fight to maintain balance between business and compassion. By taking some simple steps to improve your business, you’ll find that clients will naturally seek your funeral services because you have given them good reasons: comfort, reassurance and integrity.
If you are looking for a printing company for your funeral materials, you are probably hard pressed to find a decent one. It is not hard to find printing companies, but it is difficult to find the right one to meet your needs. One of the most important things you must pay attention to is whether or not the company can provide you with the materials you need in a timely manner. Below are some tips to help you narrow down the best choice for a printing company.
Ask for Samples
For starters, ask any company that you want to possibly work with for some samples. There are a variety of products you can usually choose from and you must pay attention to the card stock and the quality of the piece overall. You should ask for samples of pieces the company has done before including memorials, cards, and the like.
Time it Takes to Print and Ship
When considering a company, ask how long the printing process takes and how long it will take to ship the products. For instance, if you are having a funeral in a week or two, will the product be ready for you? If a company averages a month to print and ship, well, that is not feasible for a funeral and you will run into trouble. Find a company that specializes in fast turnaround funeral printing.
What’s the Minimum?
One important question to ask when you are searching for a funeral printing company is what the minimum number of pieces you must order is. Some printers require you to order by the thousands and some require a minimum order of 5,000 pieces. This is not ideal for you if you only plan on having 50 – 250 people coming to the funeral. You need a company that has low minimum order quantities.
Designers on Staff
The company you work with should have a designer on staff. This matters to you because if you need your memorials and funeral directories to be designed, you need someone who is able to do it now and not in a week or two. Some companies outsource to other countries and this just will not work for you if you need the flyers within a certain time frame. Always check with the company to make sure the design is handled in house and can be done quickly.
Also ask the company whether or not you need to pay for any design corrections. It is likely that you may need to tweak a couple things on the first design so multiple charges for every change is going to add up quickly.
Choosing a funeral printing company is not too difficult if you weed out the ones that fit within your price and timeframe first. If you do not, you will find that you do not receive your products on time and you will be left without the memorials and flyers you need.
There is a great deal to be said for planning ahead when it comes to memorializing your loved one. While no one likes to be reminded that eventually their loved one's life will come to an end, this is... More »
