There are typically two kinds of businesses in the world
. Those that provide services to consumers, known as B2C businesses, and those that provide services to businesses, known as B2B businesses. While there are companies which do fall under both umbrellas, it is more typical for a company to select one of the two business models. The business of business printing falls under the umbrella of B2B, or business to business.
Not all companies that offer printing services can be classified as business printers. Your average consumer does need to make use of printing services from time to time as well and there are companies that provide these small scale services. There are also companies who will do printing of things like signs and banners for a business or for an average man on the street. These companies would fall under the umbrella of a mixed model business. So how do you know if a company is a business printing company or not?
There are a few telltale signs.
Services
The first clue as to whether a printer is a B2B printer or B2C printer is the services that are offered. Typically, the printing company that offers consumer based products will offer things like faxing and copying as well as printing of customer designed items. This is not the case with business printing companies. They will more typically offer services such as the printing of brochures and business cards, items that are more likely to be required by the corporate world. They will also often have an in-house graphic designer to do the design of the items to be printed.
Advertising used
A B2C printing service will often make use of advertising in the form of flyers and signboards in shopping malls. These advertising techniques are designed to draw the attention of the average man on the street. They may have a website, but it is not a requirement as they will typically make use of other forms of advertising such as email and sms marketing rather than things like SEO and PPC. A B2B company will need to have a website so that business owners searching for specific services will be able to find them. Leafleting and handing out of flyers is not an effective way to reach business owners.
Location of business premises
The B2C printing company will need to be accessible to its clients and so will need to rent space within a shopping mall. They will not have need of much large machinery and so will be able to be indoors. A business printing company will need to have large printing machines and cutting machines to produce the custom items that they design for their clients. As such they will likely have a factory as well as an office of some kind. The two need not be close together as long as a communication system is in place and works well.
As you can see, there are plenty of differences between the two business models. You should have no trouble telling the difference and deciding which type of printing is right for your company.