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Take Your Competition Head On Very few markets boast a single company that dominated nearly every aspect of it. You’ll find competition just about anywhere you go, and if you want to survive in that particular market, you’ll have to make sure people shop at your store over theirs. Don’t Try to be Anyone But Yourself I’ve mentioned this before, but given the continued impact I see it creating, I feel I should go over it again with a little more detail. Know Your Types of Marketing Projects This isn’t about the kind of color printing you’re getting done, or the styles of advertising that you’re using, but instead the kind of overall marketing you’re going to be using. Turning One Second into a Sale Imagine this: you’re sorting through a pile of mail you just brought in. You scan each letter, each postcard, each everything that happens to be in that pile, judging immediately whether or not you need to keep it or just throw it away. The bills, cards from people you know, and other important pieces or mail get placed in the keep pile. The advertisements get just enough attention to tell if it’s an advertisement, and then you’re throwing it in the trash. Commercial Printing Basics Transitioning from do-it-yourself with an ink jet printer to that of commercial printing through a print shop can be an intimidating experience. You may have figured out how to get your prints to come out just right using trial and error. You are comfortable with your equipment but it is time to turn over the task to the professionals. Label Printing 101 Before you can begin selling your product at retail, you must develop the appropriate label for your product. It is easy to forget the importance of a label as this is usually the last thing to be developed. Brochures: Ambassadors of Your Business Your business ambassadors are your brochures. Pure and simple, brochure printing may be one of your more important marketing decisions. Many customers simply do not have the time to listen to a sales presentation at the same moment you are available. Your ability to leave a brochure for them to read at their convenience can mean the difference between a sunken sale or captured customer. The Many Uses for Flyers I don’t know about everyone else, but I primarily see them being handed out on the sidewalk, or perhaps in stacks on the counter of a store. The image of flyers being handed out on the streets is by far one of the most popular images of flyers, at least, and I think too often people stereotype this form of advertising into that category. Commercial Printing Paper: Brightness, Weight, and Coating The commercial printing industry has a language all to itself. For anyone diving into their first commercial printing project, this language barrier can be intimidating at best. For example, the type of paper you choose to print on has a number of key descriptors: brightness, weight, and coating. Each of these describe the different aspect of the paper and will help you choose which kind of paper you need for your printing project. All it Takes is a Single Quote I hope that I don’t really need to talk about how testimonials can help your business. These are some of the best means of developing trust in people and letting them know what a great job your company does. You Can’t Improve Upon Something You Don’t Know About Variety is a core component of any strong marketing push. You never want your advertising to get old or repetitive, and to avoid that you need to constantly update what kinds of advertising you use. Proper Etiquette for Greeting Cards Greeting cards are an excellent way for you to connect personally with your client. You can send out greeting cards for birthdays to show each customer just how important they are to you. Mail holiday cards for Christmas, Thanksgiving, the 4th of July, or any other popular holiday. Greeting card printing does not require complicated layouts, but knowing a few etiquette rules will insure that you make the right connection with customers. A Royal Impression Business cards have been a staple of doing business for a long time now - becoming popular during the heyday of Victorian aristocracy. The aristocrats really knew how to do it too. Working From the Ground Up You’re more likely to see the television ads playing during key programs than you are the cheaper slots late at night. You’re more likely to see a brochure handed out during a large marketing push than you are the company casually getting a few brochures printed. The Need for Speed Postcards are probably hands down the shortest and quickest forms of marketing to design and get out to the people. The space you need to fill is considerably smaller than what goes into almost any other form of advertising, and the messages are often very brief and to the point. 5 Ways to Drum Up Business Sale! Obviously, the best way to increase business is to have a sale or special deal. People love a bargain, so be sure to have enough of a price discount or decrease to make it worth people’s while. People will oftentimes spend more money on multiple discount items than they would one or two regularly priced items. It’s psychological – they’re spending more money, but of course, they got an “extra” item or two. Elements of the Greeting Card Custom greeting cards are a great way to connect with family, friends, and customers. They can be funny, silly, sentimental, or just recognize a seasonal holiday. Many companies take advantage of greeting card printing just for an excuse to make contact with their customers. No sales pitch is needed: it’s just a friendly note to let the customer know that their business is appreciated. Are You Leaving Anything Out? The primary purpose of most advertising is to grab a person’s attention. Postcards are designed to be seen in that pile of mail, posters are meant to make a person turn their head and look over, and brochures are designed to pique someone’s interest enough to get them reading. Finding Advertising Solutions I recently engaged a local entrepreneur in conversation about advertising and during that conversation he lamented his limited advertising options. He started his business less than a year ago and had been struggling to find his marketing niche. Early on he had some success with picket signs placed by busy roadways, but this venue had been denied to him due to fines resulting from a local civil ordinance. What Are Your Ads Trying to Do? The basic idea of marketing is rather simple: you’re trying to get people interested in your business. But what kind of interest isn’t always going to be the same, and that’s something a lot of people don’t put much thought to. Choosing Your Printing Company This is the culmination of all the work you put into it. All the research beforehand, all the planning to figure out the best ways to distribute your advertising, all the artistic planning to make an ad look the best it can, and all the writing so you know your ads send just the message you want them to. What Image Should You Include? Deciding what images to include on your full color business card can be a challenge because of the limited space. Usually you can only fit one, possibly two at the most if you utilize the second side. Should your graphic be a photograph of yourself, the company logo, or a picture depicting your product? Focus on the Present, Study the Past, Plan for the Future A good marketing campaign goes beyond what you’re currently working on. Whatever advertisements you’re currently sending out are certainly a part of marketing, but if you want to be sure to stay ahead of the competition your marketing needs to encompass more than just one ad campaign at a time. Help People Trust in You I have several companies I’ve come to always trust with my business, and these companies are spread out over a very wide variety of stores. The Benefits of a Close Relationship With Your Printer Here is the way things often work. Major printing jobs don’t happen every day of the week for most companies, especially smaller ones without the budget for non-stop marketing. The Myth of Wholesale Printing You always want to have quality over quantity. This is a little gem of wisdom that most people would certainly agree with, especially when it comes to marketing material. You need a lot of it, but you’ll likely hear that this doesn’t mean you should sacrifice the quality of the work by trying to get too much for your money. The Better People Feel the Better Your Business Will Be The problem I have with a lot of different marketing campaigns are that the desire on the part of the company is rather transparent: they want to make money. And really, that’s fine. I already know they aren’t paying for designers, research, and commercial printing for nothing. They’re doing it to generate more sales and get more customers. What’s on the Back of Your Card? When you first hand someone a business card and they look down at the front of it, are they already seeing all the card has to offer? If that’s the case than you’re failing to capitalize on how to make the most from your card. The Enduring Print Market There are those who would tell you that commercial printing is a thing of the past. In today’s advanced world of high tech computers and the incredible surge in popularity the internet has gained in the way our society is run, who needs some relic of the past? You can do the same things online that you can do with commercial printing, they will tell you. It’s All in the Binding When most people sit down to write a booklet, they usually aren’t thinking about how they’re going to eventually bind the finished product. After all, how much can you really do? Elements of an Awesome Postcard Marketing Campaign A mailing list You need a solid mailing list, of at least a few hundred people before you even think about sending out postcards. A better number is in the thousands – many companies send out postcards and other direct mail to a minimum of 5,000 people at a time. Being Prepared for When Problems Come No matter what kind of business you run there will be customers who get upset with you. Sometimes it will be because of a mistake you made, and sometimes it will be because of an unrealistic expectation on their part. How to Get Your Marketing Out There Every form of advertising has a unique element to it that no other form can boast. If you decide to have some posters printed up, the method for getting it to the people is by figuring out where your customers are, and making sure one of your posters is there too. For postcards, direct mailing will be your likely choice, which allows you to get your message directly to your customer’s homes. Expanding Your Brand For a lot of companies they find a single product, which then becomes synonymous with their brand name. This can be an effective way of creating a very strong brand name and image very quickly if you have a successful product on your hands that generates a strong following. All of the color printing you do for your marketing material will sport your product along with your brand name to boost it up as much as possible. A Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way Marketing and color printing go hand in hand, after all. If you make marketing material you simply need to print it, and I don’t think very many companies handle that chore themselves. Do it Yourself: Business Cards As technology marches forward people are given a greater freedom in what they’re able to achieve on their own computers. There are all kinds of different graphic design programs out there that give people the ability to design some outstanding looking advertisements whenever they want to. The Elements of a Strong Logo They come in so many different shapes and styles. Just think for a moment about how many companies have a logo for their brand? I’m sure you can name enough to cover all ten fingers in the span of a few seconds. Bring Out the Best in Your Advertisements Do you know just how much goes into the visual aspect of a really good advertisement? Let’s say you pick up a brochure and you look at a colorful picture. The reds and greens of it are perfect. They’re just bright enough without being too overdone. The question becomes, how did they get those colors that perfect? The Importance of Location I won’t repeat the cliché by saying location three times in a row. Merely pointing out that there is such a cliché should hopefully be enough to make my first point: location is important. Yes, this seems obvious, but the fact is there are a lot of details that go into finding the perfect location that many companies might not be aware of. The Handiest Marketing Tools Some advertising literature just works better than others. Of course, now that the internet has become almost universal, online marketing techniques have become much more common. But some of the more traditional (or old fashioned, if you prefer) can still be quite effective. Let’s take a look at some of these old stand-bys. How Color Printing Works In order to get the most out of your print marketing materials, or really any kind of printing needs you have, it’s a good idea to know what’s processes are use to create your marketing materials. Seven Old but Effective Marketing Tools Advertising in the twenty-first century has moved more and more towards the electronic side. Many ads are now placed on the internet or sent via email. Advertising materials sent through direct mail (or snail mail) are not nearly as common as they once were. Show Them How Much You Know Not every company is going to be about the products that they sell, especially if you’re working in the service industry. For the small business owner, quite often you’re going to be the only employee or at least the sole backbone of your company. For Those Without a Bottomless Budget Sometimes it can seem like all of the really well known and great forms of advertising are the kinds that require you to have a massive budget or else you won’t be able to accomplish anything. After all, we’re surrounded by marketing ventures like that all the time. Printing Tips When finished with the design stage of your project, you are ready to place an order with a printing company. Although not the only options provided by commercial printing companies, the following three can be the most confusing. Make sure that you receive the product that you desire by following a few printing tips when choosing paper stock, fold options, and coating. Don’t Expect Anything How you feel mentally before trying to make a sale is going to have a big impact on how you come across, and so you have to be sure that you aren’t accidentally hurting yourself by going into things with the wrong mind set. So Much Data to Collect You just can’t get away from it. This is the true backbone of any strong marketing department, and the ones who don’t bother with it are going to be the people who fail to connect with their target markets. How Do You Do Your Research? Before you can really begin your color printing you need to know exactly what it is that you’re going to be printing. This applies to the type of marketing you plan on, the style of the marketing, the thing you want to market, and the best style to use when marketing it. The Benefits of Comment Cards What do your customers think about your business? What do they think about the kinds of marketing you try and the types of items you stock in your shelves? Do they like the service you provide, the prices you offer, or the policies you employ? What You Should Know About Your Customers Before you can effectively market to your customers, you need to get to know them a little better. But just how much information do you need to know? How much is too much? This article will tell you what you need to know about your customers so that you don’t waste your time getting the wrong kind of information. Have You Been Put to the Test? I remember one time when I was trying to get a problem taken care of with a company I had recently purchased from. The first department I spoke to told me I had to go to another, which in turn told me I had to go to yet another, which then direct me right back to the first department I had talked to. How to Make Your Brand Name Hot Building your business is more than just creating a brand and running an advertising campaign that appeals to a target audience. In fact, those things are just the beginning of branding—there is much more involved than meets the eye. You have to know how to make your brand sizzle by providing something that no one else has. Letters That Impress I’ve gone into great depths in the past explaining the importance of how people view your company as a result of your color printing efforts. I’ve neglected one aspect of your print communications, though. That being, you’re actual written correspondences. How Well Does Your Business Card Market Your Brand? When is the last time you updated your business card? Was it when you first started your business? Each time you update your business card, you need to evaluate it to make sure it still represents your brand. Each time your brand changes, you need to update your business cards. The Language of Color Every color that we see speaks to us in some way. We may not realize it, but it’s true. Each color gives off a different feeling, or mood, and that affects us subconsciously. Binary Marketing In my youth, my father warned me about people offering you two options. Usually, they’re using two options to keep you from thinking about a third or fourth option that would be more to your advantage and more to their disadvantage. Its solid advice. Still, when it comes to the customers you do business with on a day to day basis, there really are only two basic flavors. The Art of Business Piggybacking More than One Way to Succeed The most successful businesses start with a new idea. A new idea that solves a problem that people have is a tremendous way to succeed in business. Building a Business Identity Feel like you want to start a business? Have a hobby that you want to turn into a money maker? Well, go for it! But be prepared for a whole lot of hard work, long hours, and small paychecks. It is by no means easy to start a business. It is going to take a good, well thought out plan for you to build your business into an identifiable, successful identity. Here is a step by step plan to get you started: Growing Your Money Base Every small business has to continually increase its revenue stream in order to grow as a company. Often, when trying to do that, business owners tend to over think things and make things more complicated than they are. The Importance of Communicating with Customers You might think that the title of this article is a given; that it should go without saying. But you would be wrong. 5 Tips for Creating Great Business Cards Investing in business cards is a necessary action for any small business. You should always have plenty of business cards on hand to hand out to anyone you meet who could be a prospective customer or associate. Still, the way that your business card is designed is just as important as how many you print. Here are some tips for making powerful business cards. 8 Tips for Poster Design Posters are everywhere. If you are in the city, you see them on the sides of buildings and along the streets. Walk into a movie theatre, and you are instantly surrounded by hundreds of posters. Many other businesses feature posters quite prominently, too. Ten Ways to Use the Back of Your Business Card Everyone knows what to put on the front of their business cards. That is where the company name, phone number, email, and business address are located. Sometimes, color business cards will even have a flashy image or catchy slogan on the front, too. This is all basic stuff. Postcards: Your Secret Weapon I’ve often said the greatest strength of postcards as advertising tools is their versatility. They’re easy on the wallet, easy on the eyes, compact in size and, best of all, hard for customers to ignore. They can be used for surveys, promotional offers, thank you notes to customers or anything else you might need to let your customers know about. 10 Service Businesses to Start for Under $10,000 business brochures If you want to be your own boss (and who doesn’t), you need to find the business that is right for you. Here is a list of 10 service businesses that you can start without a lot of startup capital. Direct Mail Tips and Tricks Direct mail pieces have long been a weapon in many marketing campaigns. Even with the proliferation of the Internet, direct mail is still a viable marketing tactic. As technology improves and color printing costs go down, there’s no reason not to send out direct mail pieces, like catalogs and brochures. The Frequency of Your Advertising The best ad in the world won’t always do its job if you send it out at the wrong time. Knowing when to advertise is going to be just as important as knowing what kind of advertisement you should use. The Next Big Thing in Advertising Before its release in 1999, the movie The Blair Witch Project created nationwide interest through a clever marketing campaign that claimed the horror film was actually a true life documentary compiled from the recently discovered film footage of a group of film students who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Whatever you may think of the film itself, there’s no questioning the impact of the film’s advertising. In Advertising, Planning is Key Marketing is a crucial aspect of your business. Without effective advertising even the best of products can remain unsold. Unfortunately, many small business owners engage in marketing without an overall plan or strategy. As the old adage asserts, failure to plan is a plan for failure. A good marketing plan underpins all of its various components. The Backbone of Your Business More than our offices or store fronts. More than all of our shiny and impressive wares for sale. More than our sales pitch. Its our customers that really make our business. It’s a shame then, that so many companies see customers as little more than disposable unites, dollar signs or a meaningless collection of UPC codes in sales records. If you’re an entrepreneur that‘s been in business for any length of time, though, you’re likely already keenly aware of the Which Kind of Advertising Works Best For You As time rolls on, the methods for advertising just keep on increasing. Gone are the days when you had little option but to buy some space in a newspaper to get your message out to the largest crowd possible. From the radio to the television to the recent advent of the Internet, marketers have so many more options open to them when it comes to advertising. How to Research Customers Researching your customers is one of the most important things you can do for your bottom line. You won’t be able to get people in your door or on your Web site if you don’t know who you are marketing to. Advertising Yourself If you’re a small business owner and your entire advertising campaign consists of you relying on people who have used your business to be pleased and spread the word to everyone else, you’re in for a big surprise. Reach Out to Build Your Business Both parties in a marriage become stronger from the help they receive from each other. This truism of romance also translates to the Internet marketing world. Many companies team up by advertising one another's services to their own traffic. Power Up Your Ads with These Words Advertisements are mainly made up of words, spoken or printed. Which words you choose for your advertisements can mean customers in the door, or an empty store. Which one would you rather have? Why Quality Is Not Always Quality Do you sell “quality” products or offer “quality” services? If so, never tell your customers this fact. Believe it or not, the word quality is often a deterrent to potential customers. Today’s consumers see the word quality constantly, yet often associated with products that are far from quality products. When you are creating advertising copy to send to your commercial color printing company, avoid this word at all costs. The Benefits of Loyalty Stop for a minute and think about your loyal customers. Every company is going to have them, and I’m sure you have yours. The smaller a business is the more likely you’re really going to know who those loyal customers are, too. Creating a Logo that Reflects Your Business Your company logo is quite important. Very important, actually. It appears on your Web site, letterhead, business cards, maybe even your company’s building. Your logo can show your business’s personality. It’s the first impression people have of your company. You want to make a good impression, right? Follow these tips for designing the best logo for your company: Keep Your Company Growing Due to inflation a company simply needs to get bigger if they want to continue to be successful, and this is going to be just as true for your company as it will be for any other. Your main goal is to make sure that every year you do better than the last, and here are some ways to help make sure that happens. Good Customer Service Equals Good Sales One of the oldest adages in business asserts that the customer is always right. Another claims that the customer comes first. These clichés exist for good reason. Without customers there is no revenue. Without revenue there is no company. Hence, it stands to reason one should strive to provide a very high level of customer service. Two Companies Are Stronger Than One It wasn’t long ago that I went into an Applebee’s restaurant to get something for dinner. When I opened the menu I saw a whole slew of new, healthy items to choose from. All of them had the WeightWatchers logo next to the menu items. How to Organize Your Content When someone picks up a catalog or booklet made by your company, you aren’t going to be there to explain anything to them. They’ll need to be able to understand exactly what you’re trying to say, and be enticed enough to buy your products, based purely off of what you have written. How to Get Free Advertising Free advertising works. And it’s not just for companies that have a limited budget. Any size company can benefit from free advertising. Here are 11 ideas on how to advertise for free. How to Know When You Need a Professional Printer If you are a new business owner, or you’re looking to save a few bucks in your marketing budget you may want to consider creating and printing some of your own marketing materials. With desktop publishing applications and quality ink-jet printers on the market today, you can do many things that before were regulated to a professional commercial printing shop. Wow Your Customers With Unique Ads Advertising is one of the most important aspects of your business. The problem is that in today’s market, many people have become so adjusted to online sources of advertising that they don’t think of the many opportunities that are available offline. Correctly Color Your Ads When most people describe clothes, products or a sign they saw, they usually include the color of the item. Color boosts recognition and memory. According to research, color can boost brand recognition as well. Color also evokes emotion. If color does so many things, it’s better to use more of it, right? Not when you’re branding. All about Human Billboards Human billboards may be the best method in advertising. This is especially true for smaller businesses. Consumers that frequent a company enjoy purchasing their products for various reasons. The service may be impeccable, the prices are lower than their competitors or they have exactly what most people wish to buy. Whatever their reason for using your service regularly, you can use them as built in (and free) advertisements! The Multiple Ways to Market Your Small Business You don’t always need a massive budget to launch a very effective marketing campaign. A well-organized small business can take advantage of many opportunities the larger companies will never be able to fully capitalize on. Make sure your company is aware of the variety of marketing techniques you have at your fingertips. Make an Ad That Actually Generates a Response If you have a decent amount of savvy when it comes to advertising, it usually isn’t too difficult to design an ad. The difficult part is what happens after that ad has been released. It doesn’t matter how tricked out that ad is or how skilled you are at creating one. What is critical is the type of response that it creates. If you continually design beautiful ads that don’t generate response, this won’t equate to much job security in the long run. Giving Formal Advertising a Casual Flair Today’s consumers are inundated with advertisements. They receive flyers in their mailboxes on a regular basis, most of which end up in the garbage can. DVR has made it possible for them to ignore television commercials. Print advertisements and online ads are also ignored. One way to get your name out there in a professional, yet casual manner is through business greeting cards. 5 Advertising Mistakes To Avoid 1. Thinking that everyone is your customer base. No matter what your product is and no matter what kind of store you run your target audience is still never going to be everyone. Even a giant like Wal-Mart is not actually going after everyone there is in the marketplace. Do People Still Read the Newspaper: Whether Newspaper Advertising is Still Effective With the rise of the Internet comes a decline in almost all in print publications. Not many years ago I could go to the book store and pick out several short story magazines at my leisure to read. Now, if I want good fiction I’m more inclined to look up an online magazine than one in print. Simply finding a hard copy of a magazine these days can be a challenge. So what does this mean for newspapers? Ways To Create Flyers That Win Clients Flyers are one of the least expensive marketing tools you can utilize. But, you have to make sure your advertising flyer doesn’t have offensive colors and is so busy that the reader gives up after glancing at it for a few seconds. When it comes to flyer printing, these tips will help you create a flyer that will draw in and win clients. Getting Creative With Your Postcards Newsletters as an effective means to get your word out isn’t a particularly new idea. Companies have been sending out newsletters for years because of the benefits they provide. Aside from being a branding vehicle, a newsletter allows you to keep your customers in touch with the latest news, product releases, updates and more. 4 Tips for Making Modern Business Cards Business cards have been around forever, and they are not going anywhere anytime soon. They act as your personal calling card, so of course you want them to express who you are, and what you are all about. However, with virtually every businessperson having their own card, you have to make yours stand out, too. Here are some tips to help you do just that. How to Pick Your Commercial Printer The commercial printer that you choose to do business with will have a tremendous impact on the future of your company. A great deal of the literature that your customers and potential customers see will go through your commercial printer. It is vital that your commercial printer is reliable and consistently produces quality work. Here are some tips for choosing your commercial printer. The Need to Reinvent The world we live in is constantly evolving. All you need to do is take a look at the popular clothing fashions from the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties to understand that. People like to spice things up in their lives, and they like to see change. The question is how your company is handling it. Building a Positive Reputation for Your Company If you want to make friends, you need to have a positive reputation. If you have a reputation of being unprincipled and reckless, it might be difficult to find people who want to spend their time with you. Even if you do make friends, you might find that the loyalty that those friends show towards you is lacking. Branding as a Constant Process In real estate, they say that they key to success if location, location, location. In pretty much any sport, a team or athlete’s achievements are based largely on their ability to be in the right position at the right time. In war, an army’s position on the battlefield is the single most important factor in determining whether or not it can win. Take the Customer’s Word to Heart As a businessman, I am always looking for ways to improve my competitiveness in the market. I am not your typical businessperson, in that my product is my ability to write, rather than a tangible item, but I still have a product to sell. To me, the best way to find out how I can better serve my clients (customers) is to ask them.
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