Print Design and Printing

Print That Reports Back.

Anyone can print you a yard sign. Almost nobody wires a separate code into every physical piece, so the sign in a yard lands in the same report as a Google Ads click.

Business cards, tap cards, yard signs, doorhangers, banners and tents, designed here, printed properly, and tracked if you want them tracked.

Next available build start date is Sept. 28, 2026

Print is the only marketing nobody measures

You would not run a Google Ads campaign without conversion tracking. You would not build a website without a form that reports where the lead came from.

Print, the way it is usually bought

$1,500 of yard signs

  • Measured by whether they look nice in the truck
  • No way to tell which sign produced a job
  • Reordered out of habit, for years
  • Never appears in a report next to anything else
Print that carries a signal

The same $1,500, tagged

  • A QR code with its own campaign tag
  • A tracking number that rings your normal phone but logs the source
  • A short URL that only appears on doorhangers
  • The sign on Dixie Highway shows up next to your paid search

If you cannot tell which yard sign produced a job, you are not buying marketing. You are buying decoration. You would never accept this from a Google Ads campaign, and print costs the same money.

Track your own print. Free, this afternoon.

You do not need us for this. It takes about an hour, works with print you already have, and it is the difference between a reorder decision based on data and one based on a feeling.

  1. Build a tagged link for each piece

    Google’s Campaign URL Builder is free. Search for it, or go to the Analytics help site. Fill in four fields and it hands you a link.

    5 steps
    • utm_source, where it physically is: yardsign, doorhanger, truck, tradeshow
    • utm_medium, always print, so you can group all of it later
    • utm_campaign, the run: spring2026, clarkston-roofs
    • utm_content, the variant, if you are testing two designs
    • You end up with something ugly. Nobody types it, they scan it.
  2. Turn it into a QR code, correctly

    The QR is the part people get wrong, and a dead QR on 100 signs is an expensive lesson.

    5 steps
    • Use a free static QR generator that does not need an account. Avoid the free services that redirect through their own domain, because those expire.
    • Point it at your tagged link, not your homepage.
    • Test it before you print. Two phones, one iPhone one Android, from six feet away in daylight.
    • Minimum 1.2 inches square on a card, 4 inches on a yard sign. Bigger than you think, with white space around it.
    • Put a reason next to it. Scan for a free estimate outperforms a naked square by a lot.
  3. Give print its own phone number

    Most people scanning a sign will still call rather than fill in a form. A number that only exists on print tells you exactly how many did.

    3 steps
    • A tracking number costs a few dollars a month and forwards to your normal phone.
    • Every call is logged with its source.
    • If you already run call tracking, this is one new number and ten minutes of setup.
  4. Actually check it, once a month

    The tracking is the easy part. Looking at it is the discipline, and it is where most businesses stop.

    3 steps
    • Open Analytics and filter to utm_medium = print.
    • Look at sessions and conversions by source. Add the tracked calls.
    • That is your answer on whether to reorder, instead of four more years of habit.

Why we publish the whole trick.

Because the businesses who do it themselves and discover their signs work are the ones who then want 200 more with the codes done properly. We would rather be the shop that showed you than the one that charged $1,500 to keep it a secret.

The spec decisions people get wrong

Print is full of small choices that cost nothing to get right and a fortune to get wrong. Take this to any printer, including one that is not us.

  1. Yard signs: 4mm or 10mm coroplast Most expensive mistake

    The one that matters most in Michigan, and it is entirely about how long the sign has to survive. 4mm is right for an open house, an event, a campaign, anything measured in weeks. 10mm stays rigid through a Michigan winter, survives being run over by a wheelbarrow, and comes back next year.

    A bowed, faded, cracked sign with your name on it does more damage than no sign at all, and every neighbor who was going to call you is looking at it.

    The rule4mm for a season. 10mm for a job site.

  2. Flute direction, which nobody mentions

    Coroplast has internal channels. They run one way, and the stake goes in with them. Order the wrong direction and the stake will not go in, or it will and the sign tears out in the first real wind.

    It is a free choice at order time and an unrecoverable one afterwards.

    The ruleVertical flutes for H-stakes. Horizontal for wire frames or hanging.

  3. H-stakes or step stakes

    Step stakes are cheaper and fine for a weekend. H-stakes hold in soft ground, frozen ground and gravel shoulders, which is most of what you will be pushing them into between November and April.

    The ruleH-stakes for anything staying more than a week.

  4. Business cards: weight and finish

    14pt bends in a wallet. Gloss shows every fingerprint and you cannot write on it. 16pt matte or soft-touch feels like a decision was made, and it takes a pen, which matters more than people expect. A price written on the back of a card is a quote that survives the drive home.

    Skip spot UV, foil and edge painting unless the card is doing brand work rather than contact work. It doubles the price, and nobody has ever hired a contractor because of a raised finish.

    The rule16pt with a matte finish.

  5. Doorhangers: heavier than you think

    Thin doorhangers blow off, tear at the hook, and end up in the yard, which reads as litter with your phone number on it. Saving $40 across 500 units costs you goodwill in the exact neighborhood you were targeting.

    The rule14pt minimum, and pay for the die-cut hook.

  6. The one thing to never cheap out on Unfixable

    Every printer trims slightly differently. Artwork built without proper bleed comes back with white slivers on one edge, and text too close to the trim gets cut.

    It is free to get right in the file and impossible to fix once 1,000 pieces are boxed.

    The ruleBleed and safe margins.

What print costs, and what we charge

Print is a brokered business. Almost every agency marks it up and almost none tell you by how much. Ours is published.

We use commercial trade printers: 4Over, B2Sign and a few specialists. You could open accounts with them yourself if you wanted to. Most require a resale certificate and a business account, which is the actual barrier.

  1. First run

    Print at cost, plus design time, plus the tracking setup. All quoted as one number before you approve anything.

  2. Reorders of existing artwork

    Cost plus 40%. No new design, no new tracking, just ordering, proofing and handling. If you would rather order it yourself, we hand you the print-ready files and tell you which printer we used.

  3. Design only

    $250 for a quick asset, $1,200 for a sell sheet, $1,500 for a brochure. Files are yours.

  4. Shipping and freight

    At cost, named on the quote. Yard signs ship freight and it is not trivial. Anyone quoting you signs without naming the freight is going to surprise you later.

Yes, you can go direct.

If you have artwork and a resale account, order it yourself and keep the 40%. We will still give you the files. What you are paying us for is the design, the tracking setup, the proofing, and not having to learn what flute direction means. If none of that is worth 40% to you, it genuinely is not worth it.

Two ways to buy print here

Same design work and the same printers either way. The difference is whether the results land in a report.

With an engine behind it

Tracked print

  • Its own QR and UTM structure per piece
  • Its own tracking number where it makes sense
  • Wired into the reporting you already get
  • Offline pieces show up next to search and ads
  • Needs Foundation or Growth behind it

See the Lead Engine

No website required

Just print

  • Design and printing, no engine required
  • Cards, signs, banners, tents, doorhangers, table covers, stickers, magnets
  • Print-ready files are yours either way
  • We still build the QR codes and hand you the tagged links
  • We just cannot put the results in a report we do not run

Available on its own

The engine requirement is not a sales rule.

Tracking has to land somewhere. Without the reporting and attribution that Foundation and Growth build, a tagged QR code is just a link.

What it costs

Published, including the freight. Everything is quoted as one number before you approve it, and the tracking codes are part of the price rather than an upsell.

Kits

What it costs
 Price
Handoff Kit, 1,000 business cards, 4 NFC tap cards, 2 NFC table stands, all coded$750
Event tent, 10Ă—10, printed canopy, steel frame, carry bag$1,500

Yard signs, including H-stakes and freight

What it costs
 2550100
4mm, one season, events, open houses$650$1,000$1,500
10mm, multi-season, job sites, winter$1,200Quoted$2,950

Direct mail, EDDM

EDDM is geography, not a list.

Every Door Direct Mail is the USPS carrier-route service: you pick the routes, they deliver to every address on them. No list, no names, no data to buy or protect, which is why it is the cleanest direct mail there is and why the postage is a fraction of addressed mail.

It pairs with everything else on this page: each route gets its own QR code and its own tracking URL, so you find out which neighborhoods actually called you rather than which ones you hoped would.

What it costs
 Price
EDDM postcard campaign, design, print, route selection, postage, coded per routeQuoted by route count
Design only. You handle the drop$250–$1,200

Why it is worth doing properly. Most EDDM drops are measured by whether the phone felt busier that week. Give each route its own code and after two drops you know which routes to keep buying and which to stop, which usually pays for the coding several times over.

Design and everything else

What it costs
 Price
Quick design asset, one piece, existing brand$250
Sell sheet or one-pager, designed, print-ready$1,200
Brochure, multi-panel, designed, print-ready$1,500
Doorhangers, postcards, posters, stickers, magnets, buttons, table covers, step-and-repeat backdropsQuoted
Reorder of existing artworkCost + 40%

Everything is quoted as one number before you approve it, with the freight named. No surprises at invoice.

What we will not do

Six things other shops will sell you. Every one of them costs you more than it saves.

  • Print something we cannot code

    If a piece has room for a QR or a URL, it gets one. We are not going to take your money for a sign you can never evaluate.

  • Hide the markup

    Reorders are cost plus 40%, published, and you can go direct with your own files any time.

  • Hold your artwork

    Print-ready files are yours at delivery, in the formats a printer actually wants. No “we keep the working file” nonsense.

  • Sell you a tracked kit without the backend

    Tracking has to report somewhere. If you are not on Foundation or Growth, you can still buy the print. We will just be honest that the reporting half is not there.

  • Quote signs without the freight

    Coroplast ships heavy. Anyone leaving that off the quote is planning to add it later.

  • Talk you into 4mm to win the job

    If the sign is standing on a job site through February, we will quote the 10mm and tell you why it costs more.

  • None of those? Then print will show up in the report.

    Somewhere real to hand it out, and the tracking to prove it worked.

Straight answers

Can I order print without a website from you?

Yes. Design and printing are available to anyone, no engine, no monthly, no website required. The only thing that needs the backend is tracked print that reports into a dashboard, because the dashboard has to exist.

Can I use my own artwork?

Yes, if it is print-ready. Send it and we will check bleed, resolution, color mode and trim safety before anything goes to press, and tell you what needs fixing. Most files we get from clients need something, and it is much cheaper to find out now.

Who actually prints it?

Commercial trade printers, 4Over for most flat stock and coroplast, B2Sign for tents and large format, specialists for NFC. We are not hiding that. If you would rather open your own accounts and order direct, we will hand you the files and tell you what we specified.

How long does print take?

Design is usually a week. Production runs three to seven business days depending on the piece, plus shipping, and yard signs go freight, which adds time. Plan three weeks from approval for signs, two for flat stock. If you have a date, tell us at the start and we will work backwards from it.

Do the tap cards need an app?

No. NFC cards work by tapping against any modern phone, the link opens, no app on either side. They are re-programmable, so when your offer changes you change where the card points instead of reprinting it. That is most of why they are worth having.

What if I have multiple locations?

Each location gets its own codes and its own destination, so you can see which location’s signs are producing. We can ship split runs to different addresses; freight is quoted per destination.

Do QR codes actually get used?

More than they did five years ago, phones scan them natively now and menus normalized the behavior. But most people looking at a yard sign will still call. That is why the tracking number matters as much as the QR, and why we set both up rather than betting on one.

Can you match my existing brand?

Yes, and if you have brand files send them. If all you have is a JPEG of a logo off a business card, say so at the start. It is a conversation about rebuilding it properly, not a blocker, and it is often cheaper than you expect.

Tag your existing print first

You have signs or cards out there right now with no way of knowing whether they work. Spend the hour, do the four steps above on the print you already own, and in ninety days you will have a real answer about whether to reorder.

If the answer is yes and you want the next run done properly, coded, specced right, and landing in the same report as everything else. That is what we do.

+1-248-205-6977 · Mon–Sun, 9am–9pm ET · Waterford, Michigan. We ship anywhere
Three towns where print works for different reasons: Royal Oak, Ortonville and Waterford.

  • Published pricing
  • Month to month, no minimum term
  • You own everything
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