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Marketing is one of the most important facets of any successful businesses and one that can't be skimped on, but today's small businesses are finding ways to do it themselves. From business card cutters to binding machines and color copiers, they are investing in the tools to make their own marketing tools to save money by creating their own marking pieces in-house.

The trend has emerged in the last five years in response to the increasing cost of using traditional advertising companies and their art departments. An advertising firm has to charge an overhead to cover the cost of their own art department's costs, which is then passed on to their clients.

In more recent years, small businesses turned to print shops to do tasks such as portfolios, business cards and brochures to save money. The savings was impressive, they could choose from an impressive array of options and still have professional results with a relatively quick turn-around because chain print shops had massive printers, business card cutters and binding machines that produced professional results. The downside was the sometimes limited choices. And of course, over the years the cost of this option went up as well.

Over the years, the cost of the equipment used by advertising firms and print shops went down as technology improved and manufacturing costs stabilized, putting ownership of a professional grade business card cutter or portfolio binding machine in reach of most small businesses. Just a few thousand dollars can help a small business set up their own in-house print shop that they can use any time day or night with no waiting in line at a print shop and no unexpected problems.

A small to medium sized business that designs and makes its own business cards, flyers, brochures and presentation portfolios in-house has much more control over the finished product. They are controlling everything from design to printing and binding from beginning to end; if they want to make a change it's not a problem.

Creativity is maximized when you're creating your own business cards and brochures. Most business card cutters and table top publishing packages are compatible with programs like InDesign, Word, Illustrator and Quark, so you can let your imagination run wild and design business cards and brochures that reflect your company's unique message. You can even change the look of your business cards every six months to keep things interesting if you want to!

Flexibility is built in when you work in-house. If you have a great 20-page presentation bound and ready to go but need last-minute changes, it's much easier to change out one page by printing it yourself at the office and using your own binding machine than hoping you can find a print shop that can squeeze in a rush job and then paying a premium for a "rush job." Business card cutters can also do double creating scored paper and perforated tickets for special promotions.

Advertising dollars are stretched over the long run. An investment of a few thousand dollars on each piece of equipment for an in-house marketing and advertising set-up will save you tens of thousands of dollars over just a few years as you save on the costs of paying a print shop of advertising firm to do business cards, brochures, portfolios, flyers, posters and any other type of print job. With today's exceptional software packages and the right tools, you can now do the same job yourself for much less money.