Offer “Free” In Your Postcards

When you have something to offer your target clients, a postcard printing project is the most simple, the fastest and the most cost effective tool to use. It is also the easiest to distribute especially if you’re going to send your postcard printing pieces to your target clients by mail.

And if you’re looking at making your postcards extremely attractive, you should always present your product or service as an item of value and significance. One of the most popular techniques to increase your business’ value is to offer something for free.

That’s right. The most attractive word in any advertising or marketing campaign is the word “free” – free item, free consultation services, free gift. In fact, many believe that the word “free” gives your business the importance that is otherwise missing if you don’t use it in your postcard printing copy.

So when you’re offering something for free, don’t be content in just putting it haphazardly in your postcard printing project. On the contrary, place your “free” where it would be easily seen by your target readers – the headline would be the best place for starters. Always start your headline with the word “free”. It would definitely increase response as well as generate more opportunities to make a sale.

Use “free” often when designing and printing your postcards and see the difference it can make for your business.

Print and Media Advertising For Your Business

Some of the most common means of getting the word out about your business is through print and media advertising. Here are some of the strategies you can use to optimize your marketing tools:

Print Media (via newspaper, magazine and marketing collaterals)
1 – When you’re using newspaper and magazine ads, be sure to get a page that emphasizes power and control for your business.
2 – Choose half-page, two-thirds page, and junior-page advertisements rather than small ones. This ensures that you get exposure without having to pay for the more expensive costs of a whole page ad.
3 – Integrate color when designing your print collaterals such as your catalogs, booklets, and flyers.
4 – Make your print flyers and business brochures stand out with unique images in full color instead of the usual black-and-white.
5 – Always ask for extra treatments especially during your brochure printing, booklet printing, or even in your flyers. You’ll never know how much you can get for less if you don’t ask.

TV and Radio Advertising
1 – For radio ads, it is better to buy ‘commute’ times for its captive audience. It may cost you more but it will be worth it.
2 – Take advantage of the captive audience during the airing of news, weather, sports and traffic reports especially on primetime. This is true for both radio and TV ads.
3 – As for both radio and TV, make sure that you have the right audience listening or watching your ad. If your prospects are not the regular audience of your radio or TV spot, then you’re just wasting your time and money. There’s no sense for you to place an ad if you’re going to be ignored anyway.

Making a Name Outside the Walls of Marketing

Beyond your marketing efforts, you also need to make sure that your most significant element in your business is attuned with the brand of service you would want your clients to remember you by. And I’m talking about your most valuable asset – your people.

Your promotional efforts would be wasted if your people are not equipped with the training and skills to make your brand work. Can you imagine having spent so much on your brochures and flyers or even your business cards, and have it all go down the drain just because you don’t deliver what you have promised?

Branding is not mere advertising. It is most of all, the actual service that you and your people provide when the time comes that your clients make you walk your talk.

You have to make sure that you train your people well. They should be able to communicate and deliver the kind of service you have promised your clients. This is particularly important if your business provides customer service rather than concrete items.

When your people don’t deliver the brand that you have promised in your marketing collaterals, you will lose your clients and that would be the end of your career in the industry.

On the bright side, when you do have employees that can reflect your brand clearly and impeccably then you’ll surely have one successful business indeed.

Marketing On A Budget

So how much budget should you spend on advertising?

One expert says that 20 percent of your resources should be put in advertising, including your time. And then you increase your investment by 20% on a regular basis.

Others will tell you to lessen your amount of marketing especially when your business grows. Still some would suggest that you continue to market to the old and loyal clients as well as the new ones.

But when youʼre on a tight schedule, you got to make your money work at the fullest. You need to have business card printing items that can provide you with the best marketing tool for your business.

Again, how much budget do you need in order to have an effective marketing campaign?

And Iʼd answer that it depends on what medium youʼll use to work best as your marketing tool. Will it be in print, internet, radio time, commercials, or even tv slots? The most important thing is to test the medium youʼve chosen to see which can perform and provide you with the best results.

Learn to mix and match your marketing activities and try to cross-match your strategies. When put together, your marketing tools such as your full color business cards can be put to work along with your brochures or catalogs to bring in the success you need.

Creating Multi-Page PDF Files in Photoshop

One of the very common questions asked by customers in our daily operations as a printing business, aside from “when do I upload my files?”, is “how do I compile separate PDF files into one multi-page file in Adobe Photoshop?” Multi-page PDF files, useful in creating high-quality custom calendars, as well as full color catalogs and booklets, are much easier to create than previously believed. In fact, you can even create a multi-page PDF file using high resolution TIF or JPG files!

Listed below is a breakdown of the necessary steps to create your booklets, calendars or catalogs using PDF files in Photoshop. A helpful reminder when using various files and file formats: Be sure each file is the same size as your final output. Otherwise, you run the risk of images centering on your page, which may not match your intended output.

To create a multi­­­­-page PDF booklet in Photoshop:

1.Go to ‘File’ from the main menu found at the top of the window.

2.From the File drop-down menu, click on ‘Automate’.

3.From the Automate menu, select ‘PDF Presentation’. Be sure the “Output Options” save as “Multi-page Document”. Note that all other files or windows in Photoshop must be closed at this time.

4.From here you can now browse and select the PDF, JPG or TIF files you wish to include in your booklet. Before you save the multi-page PDF, make sure the files you have selected are in the proper order.

5.Once done, simply click “Save”, name your file, and view your final PDF.

Voila! In a few simple steps, you are now all-set to start ordering catalog printing services from your favorite printer.

Everyday Marketing

Even if you think you don’t have time to market your business, or that you’re too busy completing one job and the next, you’ll need to promote your business when the dry season comes.

Marketing your business through collaterals such as flyer printing can bring about growth in your business. You can always rely on promotional flyers to help you advertise even if you do it while completing such mundane tasks as answering the phone.

Here are a few ideas to help you enjoy marketing your business:

While sending your invoice. When you’re about to send your invoice to your clients, why not insert a flyer or two, or add a couple of lines to advertise your service. Your flyers can be placed inside envelopes and boxes, along with your letters and outgoing packets.

While recording a voice mail. Include a few lines on how your clients are “guaranteed” the best service when they get your answering machine. Even with misdialed calls, you can catch a few prospects that might just need your particular service.

While asking your clients for referrals. You might want to try to market your business and ask for referrals from your current clients. You can always offer a free gift or special discount as an incentive. The more clients they can refer to you, the bigger the incentives. Send out a letter or a postcard and tell them about your referral incentive. Your clients may just need a little push if they haven’t already done referring you to their relatives.

Marketing your business need not be a bad experience for you. You might be surprised how enjoyable it can be, especially when you see the outcome of your marketing campaign.

Train Your Kids To Market

Getting your kids to work for their own spending money is a worthwhile project indeed. And if your kids are too young to get themselves hired in fastfood joints and babysitting is too common a job, here are two more jobs to get them started:

Car Wash, Anyone?

If your kid could go to the clients’ houses and do it for less, anyone would be delighted to have their cars washed any day. Have your flyers market that fact.

“A car wash service at you very own homes.” Now that would surely get more clients than your kid could ever imagine. He or she may booked for the rest of the summer.

You may check out you local car wash service and see how much they charge and what kind of services they provide. Market your price as less than what the local car wash charges and you’ll be in business in no time.

What you will need: a bucket, sponges, chamois towels, mild soap, portable vacuum cleaner, some paper towels, or soft clean towels.

Custom Businesses

Your kids can always learn at an early age that they should make work enjoyable. To be able to do this, they need to learn to use their own special skills and learn to do what they love.

Does your kid love to read, then provide story telling activities in your community. Or perhaps your son or daughter is a straight-A student. He or she can do tutoring.

Whatever it is that your children love to do, you can help them start their own custom business. With a little imagination, they can start earning their own money.

Send Your Brochures Directly To The Big Guys

Well it’s like this. I had a major migraine when last week I was in an office where I was supposed to give my brochures to some of the executive officers of one of the companies in the city.

So I was met by this guy who was supposed to be the executive assistant of the vice president, and he took my packet. I took off then, but I turned around because I forgot to give a letter. It was then that I saw the executive assistant opening my packet and when he saw that it was a brochure he proceeded to put it in the trash can.

What nerve! It was later explained to me by an officemate that this is the way with most big companies. The executive assistants often screen the documents and letters before they ever go in to the executive’s office. She said that I’ll just have to find a way to make my brochures sent straight to the big guys.

She proceeded to tell me what she herself did with her own promotional materials. She got her president to write a personal letter to the head of the company. And voila! Her brochure was read by the president himself.

So yesterday, I did the same. Today, we got a call from the executive assistant asking for a presentation from us. The strategy was a hit.

So if ever you are in need of a tactic to get your promotional ad sent straight to the highest officials, get your letter signed by your president. It’s a president-to-president thing. Who are we to argue?

Christmas Marketing Trends

To complete your holiday preparation, here are some of the trends in color that you can consider to have yourself a Christmas marketing campaign through your postcards, posters, greeting cards and calendars:

According to trend setters, there are 3 statements that would be very popular this season. These would be apparent in the design, color and material that would be used to create fashionable and up-to-date giveaway products and materials.

Blue –

It’s the color that links the classic theme of Christmas with springtime celebrations such as marriage, christening and confirmation. The mood is dictated by what is traditional and conventional, with elements of the classic included. Cool materials would be very much apparent such as glitter, silver, mirror glass, steel, chrome, and ice crystals.

Green –

This color links summer with Christmas. For a bolder look, use white fir trees and snow to decorate your design. Unembellished and modern shapes, as well as glass materials, plastic, rattan, silk, reed and wool would be the order of the season for decorations.

Gold –

It’s autumn and Christmas all together. The choice of materials for decoration is velvet, leather, with combinations of brass, gold and brocade.

With 3 colors to help you create a visually appealing promotional ad to your marketing collaterals (i.e. postcards, posters, greetings cards, and calendars), we hope that your Christmas this season would be truly magical.

Happy holidays!

Get The Word Out And Market Your Business Effectively

So youʼre ready to start your business. But first, you need to let everybody know about it. Itʼs now time to work on your marketing campaign. You need effective public relations to get clients coming in.

Public relations is a critical and significant feature of your business. Public relations concerns everything that you say, do and project to your target clients, as well as the media. It is the image that you would want the public to have of your company. It is what you project to those you meet on a daily basis.

In order to have good PR, you need to have a marketing campaign that would work 365 days a year. With good public relations, youʼll be able to grow your business in no time.

Here are some of the things that you should do to mount up your promotional campaign:

- Always carry your business cards and marketing collateral (i.e. brochures). Youʼll never know who youʼre going to meet each day.

- Know and research the media that youʼll pitch your sales to.

- Provide an opportunity for personal contacts as often as possible.

- Learn what makes you different from the others and make sure the media knows about it.

- Be prepared for interviews.

- Participate in social events and civic activities to develop social awareness in your image. Use these events to network.

- Have a consistent image throughout your marketing collaterals.

Make An Effective Brochure That Tells Your Clients To Act Now

To sum up all your costs for your brochure printing job, it’s not that cheap to put out your promotional material. Your copy, art, photos, typesetting, printing, postage and mailing service all adds up to a hefty price for a piece of your business brochure.

Creating business brochures and having them produced by a brochure printing company is no easy and cheap task. If you’re planning to use brochures to enhance client response for your product or service, then you have to ensure that you provide an effective print material.

And the best way to drum up great response is to provide your clients with a definite call to action that your clients would surely understand.

Tell them what you want them to do and your clients will surely do what you asked of them. After giving them the information about your business, make sure you tell them what the next step would be to purchase your product.

Again, don’t assume that your clients would know what to do after they’ve read your copy. If you don’t tell them, they may actually forget about you and call someone else instead.

Give them also a reason to act on your call…and to act now. If you don’t, your clients would surely move on to the next company and forget about you that easily.

So don’t waste your resources with an incomplete brochure. Provide a strong call to action and you’ll surely get the response rate you’re looking for.

When Choosing the Right Promotional Product For Your Business

Promotional materials are more than just the means to advertise your products and services, and eventually make profits. Your promotional materials such as your catalog printing pieces, brochures, and flyers can be put to good use to promote a very worthy cause.

Build more than profits with your promotional products; build social awareness when choosing the right promotional item for your business.

1. Choose a promotional item that appeal to the masses. Flyers are very popular print collaterals because they’re not discriminating when it comes to their recipients. Anyone can have a flyer or two.

2. Don’t go overboard with your budget. If you are a small business owner, you have to work within your specified budget. Don’t be too excited; develop only those that you can afford.

3. Keep in mind that quality should always be your priority, and not quantity. Your promotional product reflects your business. You wouldn’t want to be known as a company that is not stable just because your items break down easily.

4. Choose a promotional piece that your clients would find useful. Your catalogs and brochures, for example, should have information that would be valuable to your readers that they would want to keep your print collateral for future use.

What You Should Have In Your Business Plan

Always remember that a business plan is not something that you put together and then forget after youʼve completed the task. A business plan is a work in progress. This means that as you grow your business, your plan should also be able to grow with it. Your business plan should be regularly updated to keep up with the trends and changes in your business as well as the market in general.

Obviously, you need to know everything there is to know about your business. A good seller knows that you can only sell what you have and what you know.

Since the end goal of every businessman is to have your clients believe in you, enough to make a sale, you then have to persuade them of your knowledge of your product. You must convince them that you know everything there is to know when it comes to your business.

To be an expert in your field, you must be willing to work and dig for information; and later dig through all those details and facts to develop particularly your business plan.

Not all of the information you get may be relevant, but it helps to know first what you are looking for before you start your business plan. Here are the essential elements that you should have if you want to have a strong business plan.

- Executive Summary
- Market Analysis
- Description of the Company
- Organization and Management
- Marketing and Sales Management
- Product or Service List
- Funding Request
- Financials
- Appendix

We hope these elements help you to come up with a good business plan the next time you have your strategic planning session.

When Brochures Are Not Enough

Brochures, especially the tri-fold ones, are very popular marketing tools for most businesses. In fact, designers and brochure printing companies always get a lot of requests for brochure jobs just because many believe that promotional brochures are the only way to do your marketing campaign.

But sometimes, a tri-fold brochure is just not enough to market your business. You need other plans and tools to help you revive your promotional strategy. This is where the “marketing kit” comes in.

When brochures are just not working anymore, try a marketing kit to promote your products and services. Here’s a list of what you should include in your marketing kit:

1. Pocket Folder – This one holds all your other materials in your marketing kit.

2. Template Page – A professionally printed page that acts as your base piece for your other inserts in your marketing kit.

3. Difference Page

4. Descriptive Difference Page

5. List of Products and Services

6. Products and Services Descriptions

7. Case Studies Page

8. Testimonials Page

9. Client List

10. A page that has your Description Process

11. Your Story Page

Every small business should have one marketing kit. In place of the faithful brochure, a marketing kit is your best bet to produce an effective promotional tool for your business.

As they say, keep your friends close; keep your clients closer…well, something to that effect.

In marketing, the only way for you to draw clients in to your business is to make them feel important. And the only way to do that is to befriend them. If you have more friends then you would most likely have more sales than your competition.

So how does this strategy work?

The core of this principle is actually from the famous author Dale Carnegie. According to him, in order for you to win people to your way of thinking is to make them like you. And they would only like you if you make them feel that you’re really interested in them – how they feel, their issues and concerns, etc.

If you want to sell better and make your marketing collateral work (i.e. business cards, flyers, postcards), you need to focus your attention on the other person and not on yourself. When you try to make a sale, don’t look at your desired outcome. But rather look at how you can sincerely help the other person’s life become more convenient and comfortable.

It’s actually the same thing that the Bible says – love thy neighbor. If you love your neighbor, you want to make him feel special and important.

When you learn to make your clients’ needs the priority in your business, then and then can you truly say that you have had a successful business in your hands.

More Ideas For Cross Promotions

When done right, cross promotions has the potential for huge marketing results as you can effectively increase your customer base through your team members’ own database. With the right offers, you are able to join forces with other businesses that are in the same league as yours and reach out to a much larger market more efficiently and credibly.

Here are more ideas on how you can optimize your marketing campaign using cross promotions:

1. Co-produce and share with the payment of expenses for special marketing promotions that is too much for individual budget. Produce TV ads, radio commercials or video and audio tapes featuring you and your partner’s business.

2. Hire broadcasting students or communication majors to produce a “how-to” video or commercial ad that features your products and the other members’ as well.

3. Develop a contest with prizes donated by each of your team members. And vice versa.

4. Give out free products or special gifts from one of your partners when a client buys a product from your team that is listed in your joint promotional flyers.

Taking advantage of cross promotions help you not only to save your own budget, but allow you the opportunity to make use of more expensive marketing campaigns that are otherwise unaffordable when you do it alone.

Making Time For Marketing

What makes a marketing campaign fail is not that it has a bad design or crappy writing. It’s actually the attitude that makes a marketing campaign ineffective.

If you want to become a big player and start getting ahead of your competition, then you have to make the effort to change your attitude towards your marketing strategy.

Make time for marketing.

Have you ever heard somebody who has his own business and say that he has no time for marketing? Well, I hear this a lot actually. And if you have this attitude then maybe it’s time to change it now.

If you don’t have time to market your business then it’s just one of two things: it’s either you already have a client and that you’re busy at the moment with trying to meet deadlines. Or you have some other important responsibility that takes up much of your time. Either way, you need to allocate a certain amount of time, even minimal, to do your marketing.

Just imagine when you’re already finished with your current job. What next? Do you have a new client waiting for you to finish? Of you’re still going to look for one? Marketing is important because it provides you the opportunity to keep clients coming in.

On the other hand, if you don’t have time because you’re busy with some responsibility, just a few hours every week would suffice to let you stay at the forefront of your business.

The bottom line is to make time for your marketing campaign. No matter how you do it – delegate tasks, create simple and small steps to complete one huge project, or simply set aside time for making the nitty gritty of marketing or updating your promotional materials (e.g. flyers) – you simply have to make it.

Effective Booklets In Trade Shows

Despite its size, booklet printing pieces offer more than just your regular print material especially during trade shows. Whatever your business niche, you can surely benefit from using your booklets as catalog printing pieces. With a very cost effective rate, you can create your own design and then have a catalog printing company produce your promotional booklets for you.

Booklets are very effective promotional items during trade shows because in addition to their lower printing costs, they have a longer life span. They donʼt have an expiration date that you can use them anytime during the show season, as well as utilize your booklets as complements to other marketing collaterals you have for your business.

To make sure that your booklets work to their fullest potential, fill them up with how-to information that uses common sense, and the most basic and practical details that your target clients will find valuable in their daily lives.

Your target clients will be turned off with philosophical and technical information so donʼt waste any of your time and effort printing articles that look like they come from a scientific dissertation.

Keep your text updated, relevant and informative. Use everyday concerns in your specific industry as your topics. Your booklet reinforces your position as an expert and would probably help your target readers recognize you and your business.

Once you have printed your booklets, youʼll realize that you have been taking this promotional tool for granted. Youʼll realize that in order for you to draw attention during trade shows, you need the help of your booklets to get your target clients hooked.