NPR.org
National public radio allows you to submit a press release for free. The link above will take you to the submission page. All you have to do is fill out the form.

PRLog.org
This free press release website has great ranking with both Google and Alexa. You will find directories for business and for products. PRLog has done a good job of optimizing for search engines and will distribute your press release to Google news and other search engines. You also get to choose when the press release is scheduled to go out.

Downloadjunction.com
Just fill out this form to submit your press release for free. You can specify a release date and your choice of keyword(s).

PR-Inside.com
Simply register with PR-Insider and you will be able to submit your press release.

Free Press Release.com
You can choose the free submission option on this site or the paid option with extra services and features. The free option does include some good advice for creating a press release and submitting it online. You can also place a banner add on your press release that leads directly back to your site.

PR.com
PR.com offers a wide range of promotional tools for your business. Free press release submission is just one of those tools. You can also sign up for a full business profile for a fee. This site offers many directories including product, services, and business directories.

Remember that your online presence will affect the amount of traffic you see at your site. Free press releases give you more exposure and a chance for more incoming links, so get to work on a press release and submit it to these excellent sites as soon as possible. Continue this process on a regular basis and soon you will see an improvement in your SEO efforts.

This post is sponsored by PrintPlace.com, the most trusted leading online printer for your business cards, postcard printing, brochure printing, thank you cards and catalog printing needs.

Tip #2: Make sure every ad has your web address on it
Everything that you print should have your web address on it, for instance, brochures, business cards, posters. Then make sure all of your ads, phone directories, and press releases include your web address. Any online advertising should have a direct link to your site as well.

Tip #3: Create a header to be used on all pages of your website
With branding, consistency is key. Use the same header on every page of your website. Use your company colors and graphics when creating your header so that your audience can identify your company immediately.

Tip #4: Make a signature with your Unique Selling Proposition for all of your outgoing emails
It is not difficult to create a signature for emails. Use this feature to further your company brand by writing a brief summary of your unique selling proposition to be included in your email signatures.

Tip #5: Set up auto responder emails
Use auto responders to further support your brand. Your customer will be reassured by an auto response and they will also become aware of what an email from you will look look like. Every time someone signs up for your email list or contacts you for any reason, send an auto response.

Tip #6: Build up your image in your customers’ minds
You don’t have to design the best website or even have the most brilliant content. While quality content and design are very important, they will not establish your website brand. You must create a positive image of your website in the minds of your audience. To do this, you must be present in strategic places on the web. Social media sites are a great place to develop a presence. You will also want to comment on well-respected members of your industry as mentioned above. Always present yourself in a manner consistent with the image you want to portray and always include your URL.

The Many Benefits
Maximize exposure by combining offline and online marketing
This is ultimately the greatest benefit. Your message will reach a much wider and diverse audience. You have the capability to place your brand in front of web viewers along with a general audience.

Create credibility through a combined marketing strategy.
When your brand is seen both online and offline, your credibility will be increased. There is something validating about holding a brochure printing piece in your hand and finding the same logo online.

Measure your return on investment.
Sending your potential customers to your website can give you a better handle on your response rate. You can also keep track of how many visitors actually make a purchase much better on your website.

How to Make It Successful
Keep your brand consistent both online and offline.
Whenever you advertise – whether it be online banner ads, brochure printing, blogging, or business cards – make it cohesive. You should be using the same color scheme, image styles, font, and logo to build a strong brand.

Diversify your marketing to different types of ads.
Take full advantage of online marketing, since much of it is free. Blogging and social networking won’t cost you anything but time. Google Adsense and banner ads are great ways to place your ads on websites where your targeted audience will frequent. Brochure printing, posters, and direct mail will add another dimension to your marketing strategy.

Send your potential customers to and from your printed materials.
Begin by placing your URL on all of your printed materials. Business cards, posters, and brochure printing designs should include your web address right along with your contact information. You can also give web exclusive offers and place them on your printed materials. Another idea is to send your web customers looking for printed flyers and brochures. Hint at special printed coupons or printable coupons on your website or blog.

Get your whole team on board with the big picture.
You can only be successful at combining online and offline marketing if your whole team understands the big picture. If necessary, shift your job descriptions so that your marketing team can use their strengths to combine marketing methods.

When your marketing campaign is in full swing, you will see the benefits of integrating the two types of marketing clearly. Use the new and the old ways of marketing to your advantage and you will have a growing customer base very soon.

Show Appreciation
If you have a client who buys a big ticket item from you, show your appreciation with a thank you note. Everyone likes to be appreciated. You can even cut costs through postcard printing in the form of a thank you note; 4″x6″ postcards are cheaper to mail than regular mail.

Keep in Touch
Regularly contact your customers. Send out greeting cards around the holidays. Mail birthday cards to clients. Give customers seasonal coupons sent with postcard printing pieces. If your business deals with just a few clients, take them out for coffee or invite them to a cocktail party at your house.

Have Rewards Programs
Encourage customers to do business with you by giving out loyal customer cards. Punch out a hole each time they make a purchase, and offer something for free, or a discount when the card is full.

Offer Package Deals
Get a paying customer to spend more by offering package deals. Make the package price less than the sum of each individual product. For instance, sell a wireless mouse and surge protector with a laptop. Offer humidity blocker and shine serum at a reduced price with the purchase of shampoo and conditioner. Customers will appreciate the discount on things they would need anyway, but perhaps had not thought of yet.

Survey Customers
Send out surveys to your customers asking what they like and do not like about your business. Be sure to follow up with some suggestions. When customers see that you listen, it gives them a feeling of involvement, which increases loyalty.

Send Out Announcements
Remind customers of your business on a regular basis by sending out announcements periodically. With postcard printing, let customers know when you have a new product line or when you are having a sale. Mail copies of good reviews in the newspaper.

Refer Customers to Each Other
If a customer tells you about her business, take interest and ask for her card. Then if you find another customer who needs that type of service, you can refer him. Both customers will appreciate the help.

Postcard printing, greeting cards, great deals, and customer appreciation are all ways to keep your customers loyal. Constantly remind your customers of your great service and sincerity and your business will continue to gain and keep customers for a long time to come.

 
 
In Full Color
Black and white cards just do not cut it anymore. Business cards need to be interesting enough to distract customers from a world that never stops. And honestly, full color business card printing does not cost a great deal more than black and white printing. The extra cost, if any, is well worth it. Keep in mind a business card in the garbage is worth nothing to you.
 
Simple and Clean
Too much clutter will make looking at your business card painful. Send your message in an instant by slimming down on your content. You must include a title line, logo, and adequate contact information. Beyond that, any extra message or tag line can be printed on the back of your business card for a minimal cost.
 
Tell What You Do
Potential customers should be able to pick up your card and know instantly what you offer. If you are an exterminator, make it obvious. Your business card is not doing anyone any good if its readers do not know what the card is for. If your business name does not make it clear what you do, include a line that describes your business or graphics that make your services clear. For instance, images of a dying bug will send the message pretty quickly that you are an exterminator.
 
Avoid Distracting Extras
One mistake that some businesses make with business card printing is to include foil. This is expensive and shows no sign of improving the effectiveness of your business cards. Oddly shaped business cards also used to be popular but have turned out to be more of a nuisance than anything. They do not file well and may end up in the trash. Lastly, do NOT try to print your cards yourself. If will take longer and may even cost you more than hiring a business card printing company. And the results are sub par.
 
Full color, well-designed business cards will do an amazing thing for your business. They will market your business without much effort on your part. Invest just enough in your cards to make them look professional, and the results will be worth it.

Competitors
With the advent of the information age, knowing one’s competitors has never been more important for small businesses when commencing a poster printing campaign or any other kind of advertising campaign, for that matter. Knowing the answer to these following questions will greatly enhance your knowledge and increase your ability to effectively compete in your business’s market environment.

• Who are your competitors?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors?
• What marketing strategy is your competitor using?
• Where are your competitors spending their marketing dollars?

Buyers
The next element of assessing the market environment of your business is to know your buyers. A successful business will understand who their buyers are and what it is about a poster printing campaign that influences them to buy. Factors that influence buying habits are:

• Culture
• Demographics
• Lifestyle
• Psychology of wants and needs

Depending on what roll they play, buyers can be divided between two groups: end users or intermediate buyers. End users are the shoppers who go out and make purchases. Intermediate buyers go between the original grower or manufacturer and the end user.

Environment
Understanding the marketing environment means a small business must be able to recognize and understand the influences of:

• Culture
• Government and politics
• Demographic and lifestyle trends
• Local, national, and world economic trends
• Multi-national competitor strength
• Technological influences on physical distribution

Much of this information can be gathered by contacting a local city or state agency. An example of one such informative report is the County and City Data Book by the Census Bureau.

Growth
The final factor in your assessment of the market environment into which you are launching your poster printing campaign is future growth. Exactly how big is the market to whom your product can be sold? What are the growth trends for the next five years? Will the market sustain your business? The answers to these questions must be observed in light of:

• Total market size
• Size of the market interested in your project
• Size of the market available to distribute your products
• Size of the market your small business can reach with advertising and distribution

Once you have assessed the market for your company based on competitors, buyers, environment, and growth, you are ready to plan a poster printing marketing campaign that will better speak to your target consumers, and better bring in customers that will choose your company or product year after year.

When it comes to brochures, this “cheating” method of design does seem to happen quite often, but maybe only because of the generic, standardized templates available for do-it-yourselfers. For when I peruse the inspirational brochure collections on websites such as GraphicDesign, the variety of unique brochures is stunning.

Clients do not need to succumb to a standard brochure printing design anymore. Although I’m sure it costs a pretty penny, die cut brochures in the shape of, say, a leaf or a hand or with holes cut into the front cover to give a peak of what’s inside really turns the head. And spiral bound booklets make for easy page turning as well as an interesting look, especially when used with card stock paper. Embossed initials, heavy textured paper stock, and rope bound booklets all add to the intrigue, but you may need to reserve these options for those clients who can afford such luxuries.

So are there any solutions to amazing brochures on a budget? Some of the most stunning and appealing designs I’ve seen recently were on standard 8.5″ x 11″ tri-fold brochures. Truly great designs are what make the brochure, not the other way around. A unique graphic image, a custom font, brilliant photographs can be the ticket to a winning design. But designers can easily step away from the standard by simply changing the fold or the size of the brochure. Or what about adding some interesting texture by gluing fabric or, as one company did, bubble wrap onto the front cover? Of course, this could take awhile but may be well worth the effort. And you’ll definitely need to charge extra unless clients would like to try their hand at gluing the brochure together.

So, whether your client has an unlimited budget or one that gives you little room for playing around, you can create an inspiring brochure without making your client feel like just another coffee shop, or used car dealer, or law firm, or bank. . . you get the idea. Find yourself hitting a brick wall? Peruse the brochure compilations online (there are many) and get inspired to greatness, without directly copying any ideas you see, of course.

Logos can be a work of art in themselves. The bigger they are, the better chance they have at being given the credit they are due. Poster, postcard and brochure printing has never looked so good.
 
Design is Getting More Individualized
Printed design trends seem to be moving toward hand drawn and sketched graphics. Although this look has been quite popular with gig posters, it is now finding its way into marketing materials, such as with brochure printing. Even fonts styles are being custom made by designers. Text is no longer the only reason for typography. Letters are becoming part of the design. The point is that there may be trends but the designs are unique to themselves.
 
Designs of the Past are Holding on Strong
Retro, nostalgic designs are still prevalent, and will be even more so in 2010 than in the past decade. Grunge is new on the scene as a comeback. The early nineties have reestablished themselves as far as design and fashion are concerned. You are sure to see much more of it in the future.

Simplicity Remains a Solid Part of Printed Design
Nature and nature-inspired design is very popular this year. Designers are also reverting to minimalism in 2010. The most impact in design is created by fewer content and more balance. White space remains ever popular, and will continue to grow in popularity in even high-content materials such as brochure printing. 
 
The trends discussed are already popping up everywhere, and they will continue as the year progresses. If you are a designer, then you have probably already begun to make these changes in your portfolio. If you are just an admirer of printed design, then you will not be disappointed with the brilliant designs that will come out of this year.

Start Copy with Benefits to the Customer
Product descriptions should start with the benefit customers will receive from the product. People must see that an item will improve their lives before they will want to buy it. Do not assume they will figure out benefits on their own. You should describe benefits for at least your top twenty items. After benefits, then give ordering information and price.

Tell About Benefits in Call Outs
Include call outs in your catalog printing to get the reader’s attention. These are short phrases in large bold print that get attention even if someone is just flipping through the catalog. Just like with product descriptions, call outs should tell about benefits to the customer.

Highlight Best Selling Items
Avoid the temptation to showcase poor selling items to increase their sales. You will increase profits much more by putting best sellers in prominent positions. Also, tell readers that an item is a best seller, because this will reassure them that it is a good product to buy.

Use Presentations that Worked in the Past
Pull out old catalogs and use design elements that worked well in the past. Chances are you stopped using some layouts and techniques simply because the design team got bored. Your customers will most likely respond well now if they did before. Customers are not confronted with your catalog on a daily basis the way your team is, so it takes customers a lot longer to get bored with a design.

Make Purchasing Easy for the Customer
Make sure your catalog design is organized and intuitive. The last thing you need is a confusing layout. Consistently use symbols, such as letters, to match up pictures with product information. Put your phone number and web address at the bottom of each page. Make your order form easy to find by putting it in the same place in each catalog.

Great catalogs are always designed with their customer in mind, as the above tips suggest. So always keep your customer at the forefront when making design decisions, and your products are sure to sell as well as you imagined.