Ordinary Locations with a Twist
1. When you place your business card on a bulletin board, bring some extra thumb tacks with you. If you create an arrow from the tacks, pointing to your business card, it is sure to get extra attention.

2. Make a small “free” sign to place beside a stack of your business cards.

3. Turn your business card into a drink coaster.

4. Print magnets that look identical to your business card and stick them on everything metal you can find. Encourage people to take one by leaving several together in each location.

5. Tack up several of your business cards on a bulletin board in a fun shape. A display made up of the same card draws a lot of attention.

6. Place a fish bowl and sign next to a stack of your business cards. Your sign should encourage others to leave their business cards in the bowl for you to draw from. The winner should get an acceptable price from you, like a free service or product.

7. Print your business card onto a pen and leave them everywhere. People love a free pen.

Odd Locations
1. Place your business card in books in the library. This is especially effective if you choose books related to your line of business.

2. Everytime you stop at the ATM, leave a business card on the ledge for the next visitor to see and perhaps take home with them. Only do this if your target audience could be using the ATM.

3. Leave a business card with every tip you leave. It might be more effective if you are a generous tipper.

4. “Drop” a business card on your plane or bus seat.

5. Tape your business card to the inside of bathroom stalls.

6. Public places like the beach, laundry mat, library, and hospital may work if your target audience frequents these locations.

7. Leave a card behind you in your shopping cart or basket. Perhaps leave them in several carts nearby or in cart corals.

These ideas should get you started and also inspire you to come up with your own similar ideas. Just remember to design an attractive business card that includes a clear explanation of what you do, who you are, and how to get ahold of you.

This post is sponsored by Printplace.com, the leading online provider of business cards, postcard printing, catalogs and brochure printing services.

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.

Promoting a new product is exciting. A new product gives you a chance to launch a marketing campaign with a new face. Go all the way with flyer and poster printing, TV and radio commercials, press releases and direct mailings. The more buzz you create about your new product the more chance it has of success.

 
 
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.

Sell Seasonal Items
Short term advertising is great for selling seasonal items. People already have a desire or need for such things when the season comes around; all you have to do is convince them to buy from you.

Send out postcards telling about a special seasonal offer. Mail a brochure featuring two or three items and some rave reviews from satisfied customers. With brochure or postcard printing, you can easily remind people to plan ahead and get what they need before the good stuff is gone.

Sell Event-related Items
If there is a special sports event taking place in your area, do a radio commercial that lets people know about the sports gear or tailgating equipment you have. If you own a salon, postcard printing is an inexpensive way to remind high school students to get their up-dos done by you.

Offer Specials
If you just want people to get into your store, offer short term sales specials. Do a print ad letting people know coats will be 40% off for one weekend only. Pass flyers around a college campus offering a 25% discount on office supplies at the beginning of the semester.

Print Coupons
Include coupons when postcard printing and then mail them out. Postcards are effective because you can grab the reader’s attention without them having to open an envelope; even better, postcards are also cheap to mail.

Identify Your Brand
In any form of advertising, be sure to identify your company. On radio and TV commercials, say your company name three or four times. On print materials, make sure your logo stands out.

Promote One Item Type
Stick to one item per advertisement. If you try to sell too many things at once, people will get confused or just tune you out. They will remember a single, simple offer more easily.

Use Simple Language
Always use simple, conversational language when selling to consumers. Use short sentences, common vocabulary, and do not say too much. It is okay to repeat yourself though; repetition helps your advertisement to stick in people’s minds, making it more likely that they will choose you over a competitor.

Economical
TV and radio ads are rather costly, and in a time of economic crisis, these advertising methods may not be an option. Poster printing is an alternative marketing option that can be equally effective. Designing and distributing posters can be done by you or someone within your company to even further save money. Be sure to explore your options for poster printing. Different printers specialize in different areas, and if you find those that specialize in poster printing, you should get a better rate but high quality.
 
Effective
The purpose of marketing is to make your business better known. Poster printing is a very effective way to do just that. After you have created a poster with colorful graphics and a punchy headline, hang them up all over the place and soon your name will be well-known. The more your business name is seen, the more familiar it will become. The more familiar the name, the more trusted it becomes. If posters are designed well and printed in high quality, then it is even more likely to impress its readers.
 
Easy
The steps for creating a quality poster are few, whether you find a designer or design your poster yourself. If you are designing your own poster, then here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Simple is better, a clear and concise message should be easy to read. Your headline should be the largest element of your poster, since it is likely the only thing to be read.
• Use bold graphics that reinforce your message, and a headline to elicit strong emotions.
• Throw in your contact information so that viewers who are moved to action can easily get a hold of you. 
• Find a printer online and send in your design; be sure to thoroughly look over the proof to avoid embarrassing mistakes.
• Have your employees, family, and friends help you hang up posters all over town.

Create interest in your business with poster printing! Poster printing is far less complicated than other marketing methods. In no time, your customer base will grow, and your business will be the talk of the town.

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.