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Presentations can be intimidating for the presenter and downright boring at times for the audience. One way to lessen the intimation and reduce boredom is to have a presentation that includes custom folders. Custom folders can enhance presentations on any topic to any audience. Here are some tips for a powerful presentation with the use of custom folders.

#1 Custom folders are an attention grabber
The beautiful design on the shiny cover of your presentation folder will catch the attention of your audience. The design can be customized to the presentation of a new product being launched or simply a representation of your business logo, large and prominently placed. Custom folders immediately give your audience something to focus their attention on and can help guide their attention throughout the presentation. Instead of the audience’s mind wandering, they can focus on your folder and the information it contains.

#2 Custom folders inspire confidence in your product
Selling is all about the confidence you have that your product can meet your customer’s needs. In addition to your spoken presentation and the points made in it, a custom folder gives the audience an impression of the confidence you have that your product will meet their needs. A custom folder inspires confidence because it is printed with your business’s logo. When your customers have confidence in your abilities, having your name and logo on the cover of a custom folder gives credence to all that it contains. Customers will trust your recommendation because they trust your judgment.

#3 Custom folders hold information
Without the use of custom folders, at the end of your speech the audience will stand up and walk out perhaps never again thinking about the information you presented. With a custom folder, all of the information your customers need can be placed inside ahead of time, and when they stand to leave they can take all of that information away with them. Custom folders are often printed with the business name and contact info and have a place to hold business cards inside in addition to product brochures and other information. Organizing all of this information neatly for your customer helps bolster their confidence that you can manage their needs just as well as you can manage your powerful presentation.

Effective marketing with print posters does not have to cost a fortune; it just needs to have the right persuasive techniques employed. By using these persuasive marketing techniques, you will create advertising that will increase your brand recognition and increase your revenue. The principles just ahead of you will show you the persuasive marketing techniques with which any business can advertise through print posters and see growth.
 

Be Frequent and Consistent
Many small businesses become discouraged when their poster printing and advertising efforts do not bring about the desired results. There are no marketing techniques for “instant” results, but with regular use on a frequent schedule over a continuous period of time, these techniques will pay off. Effective advertising requires getting your persuasive message in front of your market as often and consistently as your budget allows.
 

Create Comprehension
The first principle in creating a persuasive print poster is comprehension. Readers should be able to instantly understand the message of your print poster. To create instant comprehension:

• Make sure your message is clearly stated with text and illustrated in the graphics.
• Use the principle of repetition to emphasize your message.
• Keep the message simple. 
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Word of mouth advertising is effective because it is trustworthy – when a friend or relative recommends a product or service, you know you can trust their opinion based on the history you have with them. Word of mouth advertising fits well into any budget because it is inexpensive, but it does take a concentrated effort. Here are some tips on how to encourage word of mouth advertising among your customers.

Give Rewards
The most obvious way to get your customers talking about your business is to offer them something in return. This should be a carefully thought out promotion or you may end up spending too much money in your promotional offers. Referral postcards are a great way to keep promotional offers within reason. Offer customers a few of your postcards at checkout. For each new customer who comes in with a referral postcard, the existing customer named on the card could be given 10% off one item or 20% off a purchase of $100 or more. You may want to offer the same special to the new customers as well. Continue reading »

As a small business, it is recommended that your advertising budget be 5% of your gross sales. The challenge for most small businesses is using these limited resources successfully. Small businesses can realize a return on their advertising investment by following a few simple rules. Here are the keys to successfully advertise your small business. Continue reading »

Ever see an eye catching catalog arrive in the mail season after season and wonder how each one can be so different, but still so attention getting? With these three aspects of powerful catalog design, you can achieve this same result. Great design, high quality images, and professional printing will produce a great catalog as well as a great value. The value added incentive is the interchanging of past great catalog design to create an even better catalog for the next season or year.        

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These days everyone is looking for a way to promote their brand or business with inexpensive marketing ideas. Of the many economical options for printed marketing materials, one is sure to stay with your customers all year long: a print calendar. Calendars are versatile and can be customized to any brand or business for any market. Here are some ideas to promote your brand or business with calendars.
 
Recognizable Design

The number one trick for promoting your brand with print calendars is to have a consistent, distinctive design for your print calendars. Photos, products, and captions change from year to year but maintaining your company logo and the subject matter and style of your images will be the continuity that customers recognize and come to expect. Be sure that your logo appears on each page and that the overall design of the calendar is consistent with your other printed marketing materials.
 
Captions

The greatest benefit of print calendars is that your customers can use them every day of the year. Of course a compelling design is needed to make customers choose your calendar as the one they hang up. It is best to be able to tie each image used to your brand or products but this does not mean that the images must be of your product. The trick is to create a print calendar with striking images and use the captions to show how your company relates to or is like the visually stunning illustration.

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Catalog printing is well worth the share of marketing dollars it uses but some techniques yield a higher profit than others. Careful design and planning in these key areas will greatly increase the value of your investment. Here are some failproof tips for catalog design:

• Standard size formats are more economical to print and mail, try to resist the temptation to use creatively shaped catalogs. Ask yourself when you last got a catalog from a major company in a non-standard size. The answer is probably “never”.
• 16-page increments are the most economical. If your catalog content lends itself to this constraint, 16-page increments are the way to go (16, 32, 48, etc). 8-page increments are the next best option.
• When planning the layout of your catalog printing, designate more space to products with higher profit margins.
• Cross-sell related products either by placing them on the same page or using the copy to send readers to the related products. Call-outs can also be used. Continue reading »

Marketing a non-profit organization with limited funds can be a challenge, but it is vital to the inflow of contributions and thus the very impact your organization can have on its community. Marketing should be maintained on a regular basis to keep your organization in front of both potential donors and those who may be able to benefit from your services. Special fundraising or awareness raising events require bumping up the marketing efforts in order to have the most benefit, which is why you will first need to check your brochure printing or poster designs for these elements:
 
As a non-profit organization, your marketing should have several key elements. Not all of these will fit into each type of marketing, but you should always review the list and analyze each element for its suitable application to each of the advertising venues:

• A mission statement introduces your organization’s cause and the services you offer and how they positively impact the community
• A demonstration of what your organization has been able to accomplish with past donations with the use of graphics, statistics, and/or numbers. This demonstration should boost confidence in the responsible use of donations by your organization.
• Examples of individuals involved with your organization through profiles of beneficiaries, donors, and volunteers. Spotlighting these various areas exemplifies the importance of involvement on many levels and how each participant is vital to the success of the organization.
• A call to action is easy to accept when the previous elements have been delivered in a compelling manner. A call to action invites individuals to visit your website, attend your event, call your office, make a donation, accept the beneficial services. During key fundraising promotions, having a sponsor who will match donations made in a certain time period adds a sense of urgency for those donors who might otherwise wait.

With these elements in mind, here are some low-cost marketing ideas for non-profit organizations:

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Summer is a great time to connect with people and attract new customers to your business. The sunshine improves every one’s mood, and people are outside and accessible. Take advantage of the summer time to promote your business by trying a few of the fun summer promotional ideas below.

Sponsor a Swim Team
Even small towns have swim teams for children that compete at regional swim meets. You can check at your local swimming pool to find out who is in charge, and ask to sponsor the team. You could purchase their swim gear and have your business name printed on their swim caps. Not only will this help get your business name out there, it will show people that you are involved in the community.

Leave Brochures at Hotels
When you go on vacation, you can leave business brochures at your hotels. You can also leave them at the different restaurants you eat at. Just be sure that your printed brochure has all of your contact info, including a web address, email address, and Facebook or Twitter info.

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A poster can be a great tool to get your products, services, or company noticed, but it has to be designed effectively. Here are a few things to consider so you don’t make mistakes when designing and printing posters.

1. Don’t use too much text.

A poster should be more visually appealing than something like a print ad; it should be bold and eye catching. Your emphasis should be on showing, rather than telling. It’s fine, and necessary, to put in some text, but it’s not the first thing a person should so. Photos or illustrations should be the main focus of a poster, and these are what draw in the potential customers. An eye catching poster will make the person pause and take the time to read the text. A poster with too much text may just be overlooked; people may not be interested enough to begin with to even look further. Another consideration is the text itself: always use large and easy to read fonts. Fancy typefaces may look nice, but if you overuse them, customers may find your poster hard to read.

2. Where will the posters be hung? Will your customers be able to see all the information clearly?

You should consider the locations of the posters when coming up with a design as well. If they are on a bulletin board where passersby will be very close to them, you can allow for somewhat smaller text. If they are hung high on a wall or on a billboard, it’s important to use less text and clearer, large images. 

3. Is your poster organized?

Disorganization can also cause people to ignore your poster. It should draw the eye to all the main elements and information effectively and clearly. A poster should never confuse the customer, and the information should be organized in such a way as to tell them about the product, why he or she needs/wants it, and of course, how to get it. The customer’s eyes should move around the poster in such a way that he or she takes note of all the information and the design elements should be pleasing to look at.

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