business reports, letters, proposals get a boost from the smart use of color inks and printers.
by rick telberg
(for hewlett-packard)
in business, color commands more respect and attention than black and white. it better conveys information to readers and they remember more of what they see when it’s in color.
for accountants establishing or reinforcing their reputations with clients and the public, color printing is a proven medium that’s a must-have. and a new breed of color laser and inkjet printers come with costs per page that are bringing the magic of this medium well within the range of firms and their small and medium sized business clients. to be sure, the costs are higher than black and white printing, but the results make it well worth it.
consider the following study-based comparisons to black and white:
? color increases response rates in direct mailing by 50 percent, according to g.a. wright marketing inc., denver.
? it results in an 80 percent improvement in reader recognition, and
? 70 percent improvement in decision-making, according to the bureau of advertising, and, according to researchers at oxford university in england,
? viewers remember 10 percent more when it’s in color.
these are just a few of a countless list of studies that show that color print is phenomenally stronger at attracting and informing.
what to look for
while it’s easy to a make a case for color printing, it’s hard to argue against looking into the market of color printers now available. the state-of-the-art models are inkjet printers that deliver photo quality reproductions and are great for high volume projects. laserjet color printers are best suited for medium to-high volume projects. look also for finishing capabilities such as automatic folding, collating, stapling and cover insertion.
beyond just providing pizzazz to brochures and marketing collateral, color printing also improves the practice of accounting by helping clients better understand the work that’s produced for them. it’s also better for informing and motivating employees.
communication-savvy cpas are using colorful charts to bring life to the numbers in otherwise intimidating reports. a few of the basic examples include:
? using color to differentiate between sections and columns, and
? using color text to help readers focus on key points in reports, proposals and newsletters.
it’s amazing how the simple use of a few colors will draw viewers’ attention to a specific area in a report and then burn it into their memories.
as few as three colors used throughout a business report are enough to create the visual interest needed to get clients to pay closer attention, according florence c. sharp, an accounting professor, and several of her colleagues at ohio university, writing in a recent edition of the new york state society of cpas’ “cpa journal” magazine. color is a great way to draw attention to value added services that a firm provides, and when used to identify areas where additional service is needed, color can be a subtle aid to cross selling.
color printed documents can complement the color used in powerpoint presentations. shu e, liao, accounting professor at the u.s. navy’s naval post graduate school in monterey, calif. says that using different background colors can go a long way toward turning spreadsheets into teaching tools.