Tools for Marketing

At Printedge, family, experience, knowledge and craftsmanship help Knoxville businesses grow by getting their message out.

Story & Photography by Nathan Sparks

A business card changes hands. A work truck pulls into traffic. Your entrance and lobby make a first impression. Each carries a message about the business/organization behind it, and each offers an opportunity to make an impression. At PrintEdge, helping you get your message out, that first impression, is what we do. We are your Tools for Marketing, making sure that your organization’s first impression becomes a lasting relationship with your customers, members, and clients.

For owner Terry Smith, the idea is straightforward. “Every business and organization has a message that they want to get out,” he says. His Knoxville company gives those messages a physical presence, whether that means a beautifully printed brochure, a sign outside a storefront, or graphics that transform an ordinary space into a place with a personality, a message.

Cityview knows that work firsthand. Printedge is our printer of choice, producing the awards that recognize our Best of the Best winners, Top Doctors, and Top Attorneys, while also handling printing needs for many of our clients. When we entrust a company with work bearing our name, we want the finished product to reflect the care we put into the magazine. Printedge has earned that confidence.

Behind the equipment is a family business built on experience. Terry’s father John Smith started the printing company in 1976 and now Terry and his son, Ben Smith, have worked together for the last three decades making Printedge a three-generation family business celebrating 50 years. That continuity gives the company something valuable: people who understand both the craft, the relationships and the quality that keep customers coming back. In Cityview’s earlier profile, Terry emphasized taking time to help customers, even when the shop is busy. It is a practical philosophy for a business where the right advice can matter as much as the right machine.

And there are plenty of machines and experience to put that advice into motion. Printedge’s capabilities span digital and offset printing to produce all business printing, from business cards to any printing that has your organization’s name on it. In the sign department, large-format equipment prints directly onto materials including plastic, metal and all types of rigid media, opening endless possibilities well beyond a sheet of paper. Terry points to high quality and quick turnaround as essential parts of helping to get your message out, to help promote your organization’s services and products to all your customers, clients and members.

The process can begin before anything reaches a press. In the design studio, ideas become the marketing materials a business needs to introduce itself, explain its services, or bring people through the door. Vehicle wraps put that identity on the road. Environmental Graphics bring it indoors, using wallcoverings, etch and imagery to change how a space feels. A workplace or lobby can become more welcoming, more memorable, and more distinctly its own all while getting your message out.

Direct mail remains part of that mix, too. From a small postcard to a larger brochure, Terry sees lasting value in putting a message directly into someone’s hands. For a business owner, having those options available through one experienced team makes it easier to consider what will best serve the project, the message.

That breadth matters, but so does the welcome. Printedge pairs substantial production capabilities with the approachable people and personal attention that make a complicated assignment feel manageable. For Cityview, the relationship is grounded in the finished work: awards we are proud to present and printing we are comfortable recommending to the businesses that trust us with their stories. For the next customer walking through the door, it begins with an idea, a conversation, and a team ready to help make that message tangible. Printedge is “Tools for Marketing,” helping you get your message out.