Is Your Promotional Tool A Keeper?

Functionality is a big factor for your target clients to keep your promotional tool. More than the aesthetics, your target clients would most likely keep your promotional flyers, postcards or brochures if they find them useful in their lives.

While this is true with clients, as the business owner, you should also consider functionality as one of the factors to take into account when creating your promotional materials.

But look at it on the other side of the spectrum. Instead of thinking how your marketing collateral can be valuable to your clients, use functionality to discover what your promotional item can do for you.

 
At the most, your promotional item should be able to provide you with the means to get your clients to be aware of your company and what you have to offer as benefits. Having elements like your logo and company name in your promotional materials makes for better retention of your products in your clients’ minds.

 
Moreover, your promotional products can work overtime to help you build your relationship with your clients. Promotional materials like postcards can be used to show your appreciation of your clients. Promotional flyers, on the other hand, can provide for advertising of free gifts and surprises to draw new leads to your business.

 
So is your promotional tool a keeper? If not, then isn’t it about time that you get one for your business?

Quality Over Price

In selecting your printing company, whether online or not, make sure to choose quality over price. This means that the price does not determine the quality of the result you’ll get.

So despite the high prices, choose your online printing company or local vendor for the quality of the job that they can produce.

1. Choose according to experience.

Printing companies of repute have been in the business for a reason. They’re well skilled in what they do and they have experience to be proud of. Quality results would almost mean a longer time in the printing industry.

If a printing company has more than 5 years in the business, then they would probably have a wider selection with few errors to speak of. Moreover, they tend to have more services and cost effective price quotes.

2. Choose according to the most competitive price quotes plus quality of the printing job.

Compare price quotes and quality of items. Most printers offer free samples. And most experienced companies offer better prices. They can do this precisely because they have been in the business for much longer time, enough to get them special rates from other suppliers.

3. Choose the best guarantees.

Printing guarantees like customer satisfaction/delight, cost effective prices, and fastest turnaround time – these are benefits you get from printers that are committed to their clients and the brand of service they offer. You can never go wrong with this type of vendor.

4. Choose a printing company that values you.

The one that understands your needs and your schedule is most definitely the one that can provide you the best assistance. It just goes to show that they value their clients and the business that you give them.

Knowing Your Rights About Your Artwork

If you want to get your artwork right when you have them printed, you need to know your rights…to get them as closer to the original image as possible.

Some things to consider when you’re getting ready to have your marketing tool printed:

Vector and Raster Files

Digital graphics are generally saved as either vector or raster files. The difference between the two is that raster files are made up of a grid of pixels, which makes them become jagged when resized. An example of raster files are those saved as JPEG and GIF.

On the other hand, the vector format is more popular with product sellers because they offer better balance and scalability. EPS has this type.

Color Details

When printing your marketing collaterals (i.e. flyers, brochures, postcards, posters, and catalogs), you need to provide your printing company the correct color information especially with your graphics. Your color information would fall under these types: RGB (red, green and blue), CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and spot colors (also called Pantone).

RGB is the same colors that you see in your computer screen or TV. CMYK, in contrast, are the ones used during the print process. Spot color or Pantone is something that falls outside the CMYK and has special characteristics which are very appropriate for logo designs.

Graphic Size and Resolution

You can have resolution based on the number of dots per inch used. And resolution actually differs from the ones you see in your monitor to the results you get when your flyers, brochures, postcards, posters, and catalogs are printed. When you want smoother and cleaner results that are true to the original, then don’t be content with just 72dpi. Rather, go for 300dpi for that crisp image.

Last but not the least, the best way to get your artwork right is to work with a printing company that knows how to make the process as easy as possible for you. Someone who offers flexibility in their file formats definitely gets the thumbs up in my book.

Competing With The Big Boys In Business

Competition is natural in any type of business. In fact, competing with other companies is often stimulating and helps you to become more creative.

But when small retail business owners come face to face with the big ones then that would generally give sleepless nights and worry. The anxiety of having to compete with large retail business owners would even keep small businesses from opening their stores each day.

Fortunately, there are recent studies that can vouch for the success of smaller businesses when it comes to customer satisfaction. According to surveys, the threat of competing with the big boys in retail business has no basis whatsoever. On the contrary, the studies proved that people are usually more attracted to shop from mass merchandisers rather than from local merchants.

The large retail owners can really be daunting, what with their incomes ranging from the million to billions of dollars. But the reality is that many small retailers survive and even flourish because they offer products and services that the big competitors forget – personal and unique items.

The key words here are personal and distinct.

Offer products that your competition does not offer. Even with lower prices and wider options, people would generally flock to the one that can give them more personal service and satisfaction, rather than the savings that they can have on a lower price.

On Your Own: How To Start Your Business

Having a business of your own is, I think, a dream to most people. Although it may take some work and most of your savings, having that dream become a reality is not really that difficult.

To start your own business venture, you need to have a lot of patience and perseverance; as well as a carefully mapped out business plan to help you achieve your dreams. Careful planning is what it takes to make your dream a reality.

Careful planning also helps you to stay focused on your goal and keep you right on track. Often, mistakes are made just because business owners go where opportunity directs them to go.

This should not be the case. Although careful planning can be tedious and often lead you to your goal much longer than you expected, it nevertheless helps you to achieve your goals steadily, as well as keep you within your budget. This way, you are able to develop your marketing campaign and advertising strategies according to what you have in your resources.

The point I’d like to make is that starting your own business doesn’t have to be too expensive. Often, you just need to have a small amount of capital to get started – if you manage your budget wisely. You just need to build your key ingredients during your startup and you’re on your way to having not only your own business, but also a successful one.

Delving Into Design

With the rapid spread of digital technology into the offset printing industry, beautiful full color custom brochures, flyers, postcards, business cards, catalog, booklets and other printed collateral are more affordable and accessible to everyone who wants to order.

Online printers abound; some of them provide design services for your color flyers or color postcards, others allow you to upload your own custom design for printing. Many online custom printers make both options available to their customers.

Creating your own graphics can be a fun and rewarding experience, but for novices, it can seem daunting. Even the basics may not seem intuitively obvious. Internet research can help! There are many websites that offer help with desktop publishing. Webpages like this one help you understand the principles of design, which you can apply to color business cards, custom color catalogs or booklets, postcards or color poster printing. Really, just about any printed product will benefit from well-conceived and executed design. When creating your custom printing project to upload to an online printing company, keep in mind the following: balance, unity, alignment, consistency, contrast, white space and color. Using the metaphors in the article indicated above can help ensure that you and your clients are pleased with the final product.

Online printing can be simple and affordable. An online printing company like PrintPlace.com. It provides instant price quotes, helpful customer service, premium quality printing and finishing services, free templates to use in a variety of graphics programs, and comprehensive design services for the apprehensive print buyer.

Catalogs: Eye Candy = Buy Appeal

A picture’s worth a thousand words. What do your catalog pictures speak of about your products from your catalogs? Does it suggest a sweet solution to your market’s needs or is it an eyesore that encourages the readers to look away?

Your photos and images create the centerpiece for your catalog printing project’s appeal to your target audience. But to make that photo appeal turn into cash is a totally different matter.

What makes a catalog an effective marketing material? Excellent quality photos that capture the whole essence of your business. And it doesn’t stop there. Not only should you have quality photos in your catalog printing project, you should also learn to optimize their place in the whole marketing scheme of your print catalog.

For one, designers would tell you that the top half and the right top corner of your catalog is the most prominent place in your print catalog. People’s eyes usually stray to that part the first time they look at a catalog or any other marketing piece for that matter. So take advantage of that fact. Use your upper half page to showcase your most important item in your product list.

Second, put together the smaller photos and a much larger one in your catalog printing page. This way, you’ll be able to take advantage of the appeal that a much larger photo creates among your target readers and transfer some of that to your smaller pictures.

Third, always expose and give emphasis to your big photos by putting them on the spotlight. Dedicate one whole page of your printed catalogs to your most important product and service. This would provide your target readers an idea of what is in store for them when they do business with you.

So use your photos wisely. Make sure that their eye appeal turn into buy appeal by using these techniques in your next catalog printing project.

Go Fishing With Flyers

The words you apply, in addition to the design and illustration makes for a flyer printing project that can certainly be used to market your business. But strong and persuasive words often make the difference in what makes a flyer an effective promotional tool.

Almost all effective flyers have two things in common: a persuasive message and a definite “call-to-action”. Without these two elements, your flyer campaign would surely be ignored and worst, thrown in the garbage bin for being useless and without any worth.

                           

To make sure that you have an effective copy that can convince your target readers of your business’ worth and make them want to do exactly as you bid them, here are some of the basic principles that you can include in your next flyer printing project:

- Know your target audience and cater to their preferences when writing your copy.

- Use “you” more often than “I” or “we”. Your target audience would care more with what your business can do for them to make their lives better.

- Make it crystal clear what your target readers should do, think and even believe after they’ve read your flyer printing message. Be clear and quick with your message such that you impart a clear message and imply a straightforward call-to-action.

- Your call-to-action should have a commanding element and an expiration date to make your target readers scramble to get in touch with you. Use the words “now”, “today”, or a specific date.

A Christmas Picture Is Worth A Thousand Holiday Words

‘Tis the season to be merry, and the time to enjoy life with your family and loved ones. The holiday season always brings that special feeling during this time of the year. And what can be the best way to send your loved ones greetings of good tidings but a holiday postcard design that depicts the warmth and affection that is normally associated with the season of giving and sharing.

When you want to show that you care, the most practical and yet special way of doing it is to send your special people with postcards that are customized to show the past holidays that were spent together. Full color printed and personalized pictures and photos of past Christmases can contribute to an awesome holiday postcard that your friends and loved ones would surely appreciate even when the season is long over.

You can tell that you care for them and appreciate them, whether they are a favorite coworker, or even your mailman by sending them your holiday postcard design that is created and printed by you.

A son or daughter’s favorite teacher would appreciate a holiday postcard design that shows last year’s Christmas pageant. A corporate holiday postcard with some of last year’s Christmas party highlights would definitely be a hit among co-workers. Grandma and grandpa would surely love pictures of the kids in their holiday postcard design.

The possibilities are endless. The only thing that can hamper your creativity is your own budget. Holiday postcards are definitely a great way to touch someone’s life this season, and a surefire way of strengthening the bond that ties each and one of us together.

To get started with your postcard printing project, visit PrintPlace.com.