How to Order Marketing Materials When You’re Not a Designer: A Step-by-Step Checklist

I’ve handled about 60-80 print orders a year for the last three years—from envelopes to brochures to those awkward rush banners for the trade show. My background isn’t graphic design. I manage purchasing for a 70-person company, reporting to both operations and finance. If that sounds familiar, this checklist is for you.

This is not a design guide. It’s a purchasing guide. It covers the eight steps I use to go from “someone needs 500 flyers” to “the package arrives on time, looks right, and the invoice doesn’t get rejected.”

Step 1: Lock Down the Specs in One Document

Before you talk to any printer—online or local—write down the specs. Do not rely on a verbal “same as last time.” That burns you.

What to write down:

• Quantity
• Size (get the exact inches or mm, not “standard”)
• Paper weight (text vs. cover stock)
• Color (CMYK process, or 1-color? Any Pantone?)
• Finishing (folded, stapled, perforated, die-cut?)
• Turnaround time needed

Common mistake: I once ordered “letter-size” envelopes and assumed 10-inch. Standard commercial envelopes are #10 (4.125x9.5). My “letter-size” arrived too small for the inserts. Had to reorder.

Use USPS dimensions as your baseline. According to USPS Business Mail 101, a letter-size mailer must be between 3.5 x 5 and 6.125 x 11.5 inches. If your envelope flops outside that, you pay higher postage.

Step 2: Verify the File Setup (The Part Designers Handle, But You Approve)

You don’t need to know how to use Adobe Illustrator. But you do need to check that the file meets the printer’s requirements before you upload it.

Check these three things:

1. Bleed. If the background color or image goes to the edge of the page, the file needs ⅛-inch extra on each side, or the printer will see a thin white border and call you.
2. Resolution. Ask for images at 300 DPI. If someone sends you a logo pulled from a website, it might be 72 DPI. At 300 DPI, print looks sharp. At 72 DPI, it looks like a bad photocopy.
3. Fonts converted to outlines. This is a time bomb. If the designer uses a font the printer doesn’t have, the text shifts. Ask explicitly: “Did you convert all fonts to outlines or embed them?”

A designer should handle this, but I’ve gotten files that weren’t ready three times in one year. Now I have a three-line checklist I send back if the file doesn’t include a spec sheet. The printer’s prepress team will kick it back, but why waste a day?

Step 3: Get a Quote and Ask About Hidden Costs

You’re going to see a price like “500 full-color flyers: $85.” Sounds good. Then the invoice hits $130. What happened?

Common hidden costs to ask about up front:

• Setup fee (some online printers include it; others charge $15-50 per side or color)
• Proof fee (a PDF proof is usually free; a hard copy proof is often $25-50)
• Shipping (obvious, but some discount it for larger orders)
• Rush fee (if you need it fast—next day can double the cost)

For reference, I’ve paid $2,400 in rejected expenses because a vendor couldn’t provide proper invoicing. So also confirm they can issue an invoice with the line items your accounting department requires. Ask about payment terms too (net 30 is standard for B2B, not credit card at time of order).

Per FTC advertising guidelines, claims about pricing should be truthful and not misleading. The printer shouldn’t hide fees. If the quote feels vague, ask for a written breakdown.

Step 4: Request a Physical Proof (Not Just a PDF)

I know: you want to save money and the PDF proof looks fine. Trust me on this one.

A PDF looks perfect on screen because it’s RGB light. Print is CMYK ink on paper. Colors shift. Gradients flatten. That bright blue becomes muddy. I learned this when a “clean blue” brochure arrived looking greenish. The printer offered to reprint for another $300. I paid because the deadline couldn’t move.

When to get a hard copy proof:

• Any order over $200
• Any job that uses a logo or corporate colors
• Any first-time order with a new vendor
• Any job with photos or gradients

Yes, the proof costs extra ($25-50 typically). It’s insurance.

On a $500 envelope order, the proof cost me $40. It saved me from a color shift that would have made the logo look wrong. Worth every cent.

Step 5: Check Your Branding Against the Shipping Requirements

This is the step most people skip. You design a beautiful mailer, but if it doesn’t meet USPS guidelines, it comes back to you (or gets charged the non-machinable surcharge—$0.41 extra per piece in 2025).

Key dimensions and rules:

• Minimum size: 3.5 x 5 inches
• Maximum size for a letter: 6.125 x 11.5 inches
• Thickness: max 0.25 inches for letters, 0.75 for flats
• Aspect ratio: length divided by height must be between 1.3 and 2.5, or it gets an $0.41 surcharge

And federal law (18 U.S. Code § 1708) states that only USPS-authorized mail can go in a mailbox. If you design a piece that looks like a gift card, it might get flagged. Keep it clearly a mail piece.

Step 6: Confirm the Surface for Mailing (Window, Label, or Print)

This one got me twice. I ordered envelopes with a window and then realized our return address and stamp area needed to sit below the window. We had to re-enter addresses manually for 200 envelopes.

• Window envelopes: confirm the address block matches the window position. USPS wants at least ⅝-inch clearance.
• Printed envelopes vs. labels. Printed is nicer (and looks more professional), costs about $80-150 per 500 for one-color. Labels are cheaper but can peel or look sloppy.
• Return address position. Upper left corner, min ½-inch from top and side edges.

Every time we skip this check, someone asks: “How’s the recipient supposed to read this?” Now I keep a physical template of envelope guidelines on my desk.

Step 7: Set the Order and Confirm the Timeline

When you click “place order,” that’s not the end. Confirm the production timeline in writing—not “3-5 days” but “production starts Monday, ships Friday.”

Questions to ask before payment:

1. When does the countdown start? (From proof approval? Payment? Order placement?)
2. What happens if the file needs a fix? Does that add time?
3. What’s shipping method and cost? Do you get tracking?

Our worst experience: the printer started the clock when we ordered, but the proof took 2 days to come back, and then we spent 3 days going back and forth. By the time we approved, the “7-day turnaround” had only 2 days left. We paid $75 for expedited shipping because someone’s keynote address depended on the envelopes arriving.

That unreliable supplier made me look bad to my VP. Now I ask for a documented timeline in the quote.

Step 8: Invoice Handling and Vendor Verification

You got the order. It looks good. Now make sure the payment side is smooth.

Invoice requirements to verify:

• PO number referenced (if your company uses purchase orders)
• Line items match the quote (no “miscellaneous setup fees” after the fact)
• Payment terms (net 30, or do they expect immediate payment?)
• Sales tax (if applicable—some out-of-state print vendors don’t charge it, and your finance team needs to handle it)

In 2020, I ordered from a small local print shop. Great quality. But they gave me a handwritten receipt. Finance rejected it. I had to submit a manual expense report—$260 out of my department budget for 90 days until it was reimbursed. Now I verify that any vendor can provide a proper invoice before I place the order.

Final Checklist Card (Print This)

I keep this on my desk for any print order:

1. Specs documented (size, paper, color, finish, quantity)
2. File has bleed, 300 DPI, fonts outlined
3. Quote lists all costs (setup, proof, shipping, potential fees)
4. Hard copy proof requested (for any order over $200)
5. Dimensions meet USPS requirements (if mailing)
6. Window/label/print position confirmed
7. Timeline in writing with contingencies
8. Invoice format verified with finance

Doing this for every order—even the “simple” ones—saves your time, your budget, and your reputation. And look, you’ll still get hit with something unexpected once in a while (like the printer closing for a holiday you didn’t know about). But eight times out of ten, having a process means you get exactly what you ordered, on time, within budget.