Printing Companies in South Africa: Lead Times and how to speed up the process.

The Holiday Period is a busy time for all of us, with Christmas looming and the shopping list growing. For businesses, this period also means a well-earned break for employees. Unfortunately, this break can put a strain on employees to stay on deadline and target when it comes to printing and marketing production. Printing companies in South Africa almost all take a two-week break, so you'll have to move fast to have everything produced, published, and distributed by Christmas! If you're looking for some fabulous promotional items, printed advertisements, or corporate gifts, now is the time to order!

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**P.S. View our corporate gifting rage [here](https://www.printulu.co.za/blog/corporate

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gifting-unique-ideas-for-your-business/)**

Please note that we too will be breaking for Christmas and are closing on the 18th of December. Lucky for you last-minute marketers, our website features instant quotations and fast turnaround times on all standard printing products. Most of our standard products feature various delivery options to suit your needs! This quick processing time means if you order _now_, you can still make up your deadlines. Hurry!

Print Lead Times#

Lead time is the time it takes from the very beginning of a process to the very end. When it comes to printed content, the lead time mostly depends on you. We talk a lot on this blog about the questions to consider when choosing a marketing medium, graphic, and message for your printed material. It can feel overwhelming, but you need to address all these questions before you can submit artwork and design to your printing companies in South Africa.

<AcademyQuote>The biggest factor in print lead times isn't the printing itself – it's the preparation phase. Get your artwork and approvals sorted first, and you're already winning half the battle.</AcademyQuote>

Once that's done, printing times depend on the product type, specifications of the product, and time of year. In general, if you desire artwork and design assistance, our team can return ideas and outlines to you within 2-3 days. After that, standard printing can take 6-10 days, depending on the product and delivery option you choose.

For example, our great and sturdy wiro booklets or other more labour-intensive items generally take around a week to print and deliver.

However, there are ways you can help smooth the process and keep your lead time as short as possible!

Read more about our delivery options here.

How to be prepared for printing companies in south africa:#

Being ready for your printing and marketing jobs is crucial for smooth and quick execution. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail." This is especially true for those busy business owners and workers! There never seem to be enough hours in the day. In a world of instant demand, there's more need than ever for immediate solutions, production, and delivery. We're always doing all we can to get out orders, but what can you do on your end to speed up printing production, transportation, and distribution?

Below we list ways you can speed up the printing process. These are also great tools for making your business marketing ready!

Regardless of these tips, we're always here to help! If you need guidance or feel lost, feel free to contact us for tips, tricks, and design ideas!

• 1### Have your artwork <a href="/blog/print-ready-file-guide" class="internal-link text-[#007756] hover:text-[#005d42] underline font-medium">print-ready</a>!

Choosing your artwork, logo, and font is an essential part of <a href="/blog/topics/branding-identity" class="internal-link text-[#007756] hover:text-[#005d42] underline font-medium">branding</a>. Remember once printed, it's impossible to edit these details, and you want your customers to be impressed and enchanted by your design. This means that artwork for your material needs careful consideration.

Do you want to feature illustrations and show off your business's quirky and creative edge? Do you want to go minimalist and stick with the adage of short, sweet, and simple? There are a thousand different aesthetic messages you can send with artwork! All these messages can feel like a lot. However, having your artwork ready and in a transferrable format is the first and most significant step to speeding up printing times.

<AcademyProTip>At Printulu, we prefer PDF files of your desired artwork, but other formats are also acceptable (for a small conversion fee). Save time and money by getting your files right the first time!</AcademyProTip>

• 1### Send payment straight away!

Here at Printulu, we feature a quick, easy, and instant checkout. That means you can have your beautiful printed product on the way in a single click. But, just like any checkout, this is going to require payment. If you need your purchase invoiced, make sure you have payment approved internally before starting the checkout. Payment issues are uncomfortable and stalling on both our end and yours. Instead, skip the mess and have your payment methods handy and prepared when you proceed to the checkout or email through a request.

• 1### **Use the instant quotation feature on our website**.

Knowing what you want to be printed, and what artwork you want to feature are only two parts of the equation. There's one obvious question remaining: what will it cost me? Businesses can rest easy with Printulu's instant quotation feature on our website. This feature provides an accurate, instantaneous, and simple quote to give you peace of mind when ordering your printed goods.

<AcademyDadJoke>Why did the businessman love our instant quotation feature? Because it gave him peace of mind faster than you can say "print!"</AcademyDadJoke>

With these tips to keep your printing streamlined, you're sure to make the deadlines. Just remember to get in orders _now_ to have them distributed on time.