Mark Snee, managing director, Technoprint
"The key question I would ask is why would you want to do this? It could get extra work in, but without a contract to back it up, what is the point? Companies such as Sky do offer introductory rates, but this is always dependent on a long-term contract, so they are guaranteed to make the money. Our industry depends on the skills of the people within it and that is what we are selling. Offers like this drive down the perceived value of print. We work in a skilled sector that is continually innovating and allowing the perception that print is low value to get into the market is highly damaging."

Simon Biltcliffe, managing director, Webmart
"There can be lots of reasons to give free print. For instance, if it costs you nothing to print it, such as with VistaPrint's aggregation model, or if it costs you very little to print and the cost of acquiring a new client is more by alternative means. How about as ‘benefit in kind' for a problem on another job when in reality the alternative cost of a credit note would be more? From a customer relations point of view, offering free print as a ‘thank you' to a loyal client will always get you your money back in the long run, while printing for a charity will make you feel good and you get to make a difference."

Robin Skinner, group sales and marketing director, 4DM
"We certainly haven't felt the need to give away free print so far and I would hope we never do. Although it's probably a bit different for us as we're not a commercial printer and in many respects I think that the Kingsdown story sums up just how pressurised commercial print is nowadays. The one thing we will consider is, with certain online products and services, to offer potential new customers a cost-share or no-cost test to try and tempt them into trying new things. That's about as far as it goes though."

Terry O'Hare, managing director, Stewarts of Edinburgh
"I don't think that we would ever try this kind of marketing strategy as our customers are sophisticated enough to know that they are being charged somewhere in the process. Clients understand that there is a cost to the print company and a company is going to make a loss if it cannot cover that cost. Also, the value proposition within print media is undermined by this kind of offer and it sets market expectations that there is little value in print. You don't get legal firms offering hours and hours of free advice after all!"