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Easter is an excellent time to gear up for print advertising of all types.  Spring is in the air, customers are out shopping again, and this represents a perfect opportunity to remind your customers about your products and services.  Easter is a unique holiday on a number of levels.  First of all, from year to year the date changes.  Easter also means different things to different people.  For some, it is the most important religious holiday of the year.  For others, Easter represents a holiday celebrating spring, Easter bunnies, and family get-togethers.  Keep these important distinctions in mind when designing for Easter print advertising. Continue reading »

Few business managers understand the difference between offset printing and digital printing.  This is important to understand for postcard printing in particular, since the difference between offset or digital printing can mean significant savings.  So what are these differences?  What is the best method for your postcard printing project? Continue reading »

Independence Day is an important holiday in America as it represents the pinnacle of patriotism for holidays as well as encapsulates all things related to summer.  This makes Independence Day an important opportunity for businesses to connect with customers and associate with the positive imagery surrounding this holiday, and this is especially true for small businesses that are locally owned.

There are many design elements associated with Independence Day that can be incorporated into print advertising.  Knowing the right one for you depends on your goals and what kind of print advertising medium you are using.  This article discusses a number of design tips that you can use to connect your business with the positive excitement and energy surrounding Independence Day.

Support local business
Don’t be afraid to point out the fact that your business is locally owned, if that is the case.  Many customers would gladly support a local business over an international firm as long as prices and services are competitive.  Using the “Made in the U.S.A.” phrase can go a long way to connecting your customer with the fact that you are a local business.

Be brilliant
Make sure that your print advertising is in full color.  Independence Day imagery should include fireworks and summer themes.  Black and white simply cannot translate these ideas properly.  Explore a number of alternative printing methods, such as plastics, to really help your promotional items standout.

Call to action
Make sure to include a call to action such as the “limited time only” sale, promotional events, or even include coupons in your print advertising materials.  Print advertising has at its core the goal of improving sales, and a great way to get customers shopping with you is through a call to action that includes sales and promotional events.

Red, white, and blue
Of course, a great way to connect with the patriotic elements of Independence Day is through the red, white, and blue colors that are iconic of this holiday.  To stand out from other patriotic advertisements, incorporate the colors of your company into your print advertising materials and consider using red, white, and blue as a backdrop or incorporating these colors into other graphical elements.

As a small business owner, you may find yourself at a loss when needing photos for brochure or poster printing. You can do a search online for free stock photos, but the only problem is that many of the sites that come up in such a search do not really offer their photos for free if used for corporate or commercial materials. Below are a few of the best sites for free stock photos, along with a brief explanation of the terms of use each site puts forth. Continue reading »

Gaining customers is often the hardest task for a start-up or growing business, but your lawn care business will easily prosper if you use some simple marketing techniques. For instance, using print and word of mouth to distribute your brand will increase the first time customer base for your lawn care business. After this, service and quality will keep the customer satisfied. Want to know more? Here are five marketing tips for successful marketing of a lawn care or landscaping business. 

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Research is key when you are developing a marketing strategy. You have to know your target audience before you can design materials like brochures and door hangers that will appeal to them. While most people are probably familiar with the idea of catering to a specific demographic, there is a new way market researchers are starting to group people, and they call it psychographics. 

Demographics Explained
Demographics have to do with tangible differences between people. Demographics are categorized by information like age, gender, weight, and income level. It’s pretty easy to separate people into these kinds of groups because the distinguishing characteristics are observable.

Psychographics Explained
Psychographics are groupings of people according to intangible items like beliefs, values, and preferences. These are a little more difficult to measure than demographics, since it’s hard to know who believes what.

Using Demographics
Demographics are very important when planning your marketing campaign. Unless you have unlimited funds, you will need to target your marketing to a specific group. Which group you need to focus on should be relatively simple to figure out. If you run a beauty salon near a college, you know that you need to focus mainly on women between the ages of 18 and 22. Then you can just ask people in this group what kinds of things they want. Then you advertise that you offer these items.

Using Psychographics
Using psychographics is a bit trickier for some kinds of marketing campaigns. If you are using door hangers, for example, it may be difficult to know whose door to hang them on because people don’t generally congregate based on values. You probably don’t want to make your beliefs the focus of your marketing, just include them as a side line.  Continue reading »

Whether you are a new company looking for ways to make sure your brand is successful or a company that has tried and tried again but just can’t seem to get your brand to stick, there is a solution. When a brand flops, it is usually due to the same few mistakes. Your business can create a successful brand simply by knowing the most common reasons for branding failure and know how to correct them.

No Memorable Image - Some companies make the mistake of creating a logo without a memorable image. Make sure that the image in your logo is something that is uniquely yours and is appropriate for your company. The Nike swoosh image not only is one-of-a-kind but also appealing to their target audience - the swoosh looks athletic.

Inconsistency - In every single item that is associated with your company, whether color posters or packaging materials, consistently use the same core branding aspects. The same logo, company name, tagline will reinforce your brand over and over to the public. For the same reason, you will need to give employees the same business card design for further branding consistency.

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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 »

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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Marketing is a great field to be in because there will always be companies who need help selling their products.  The following steps will help you get started in this profitable and creative line of work.

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