Marketing Manner

Sticker printing is a very cost effective marketing method for increasing brand recognition.  Because of the limited space on a sticker, you’re often limited to a short message or even just your logo.  But careful design and placement can yield your business a significant brand recognition boost.  Take the following examples into consideration when you think about inexpensive advertising that your company could use.

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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 »

Do you have trouble creating an effective piece of advertisement? Maybe you don’t know where to start. Or maybe you have so many ideas that your poster printing piece looks like a novel. Fortunately, ad writing is relatively simple if you know a few simple rules. When you are creating advertising for your small business, keep the advice in mind for a much smoother writing process and much better results.

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What IS so great about a custom print calendar? Well, for one, a custom calendar sent to your customers and prospective customers promotes your business 365 days a year while providing a useful benefit to recipients. And print calendars have a proven track record of being highly affordable and effective advertising. They are versatile as well, which makes them work for any industry or business. Still not convinced that a print calendar is a viable marketing tool? Here are a few more reasons your business should invest in calendars. Continue reading »

After awhile of being in the business, a company can find itself at a loss as to how to get out of the vicious stale marketing cycle in which it is trapped. This problem often occurs when a business finds a few marketing techniques that really work well and can’t bring themselves to leave it behind when it no longer provides the same results. (It worked before, so why not now?) But recycling old marketing ideas will eventually backfire, and your company will find itself gaining fewer and fewer customers and, unfortunately, losing loyal customers to the competition across the street with the latest and greatest marketing efforts.

Below are some ideas on how to create fresh marketing designs using the example of a booklet printing, but these techniques can be used for any advertisement that needs refreshed.
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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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The best way to increase your profits is to provide everything people need in one place; just look at the success of Wal-Mart Supercenters or Super Targets. You can create this same atmosphere through cross-selling and up-selling techniques in your print catalog. All you need to do is brainstorm about what people need — what will help them solve their problem the most sufficiently. Here are some ways that you can use cross-selling and up-selling in your print catalog for encouraging a larger purchase.
Cross-sell Products that Go Together
Consider your main products and what people will need to use that product. Then offer those other products along with your main product. Very often, consumers will never see the importance of purchasing more than the one product they have set their mind on without some help. So not only will you increase your profit by selling more stuff, you will be helping consumers better fulfill their needs.

Cross-sell Services Along with Your Products
Some products are difficult to use and so customers need services to go along with them. For instance, if you sell computers and software, most customers would appreciate help with the installation. Either offer such services at a low price, or include it with the cost of the software as a promotional perk.

Up-sell Products that Work Better
Up-selling is simply getting customers to upgrade to a better product from the one they were originally going to buy. When you create your print catalog, you should describe the benefits of upgrading to a better model in glowing terms. In the computer catalog example, tell how much faster and more efficient a higher quality computer would be.

Sell Packages at Bargain Prices
Customers love to buy everything they need in one package when it saves them money. In your print catalog, spell out how much they will save by buying everything together. On the pages with your big ticket items, give a bullet list of complementary products that go with it along with their separate prices, and then print the bargain package price in large, bold type.

Cross-selling and up-selling can take your struggling business and make it thrive. Just keep the above tips in mind and your print catalog will be one that customers feel they can trust to truly fulfill their needs.

Creating designs that help a poster to really shine is all about the graphics, but a great image is only the start of a great print poster. So, then what’s next? First select a graphic that gets the attention of the viewer. Then state your message and just tweak it all from there. 

Get the Viewer’s Attention

There are several ways to get attention on print posters. Big and bold, or a little bit of shock and mystery work well to get attention. Going big and bold isn’t just using a larger poster, but also placing a bold image on a poster that cannot be ignored. Shock and mystery will create a desire to figure out what is being advertised.      

Say What You Mean

Lead the viewer to successfully understand your message by stating the obvious. The “keep it simple stupid” or KISS method applies here. If you want to convey the convenience of your product, show the convenience in the image and use a statement such as, “Wouldn’t you like this to be just as easy for you?” 

Choose Your Text Carefully

The amount of copy included on the print poster should be minimal, but that’s not to say that you shouldn’t pay special attention to the selection of your fonts. The font color does not have to be casual. When matched to the theme, the use of exotic fonts will add to the overall design of the poster.   

Balance It All Out

After placing images, check to see if your print poster is balanced. View the right side versus left and top versus bottom. If one portion is visually “light” on content, this is usually the best place to add your text. If the text is already placed or does not fit, add other elements or adjust the placement of the images.             

Lead the Viewer to the Message

Often, the message is placed at the bottom of the poster, especially when the image does not automatically lead the viewer to it. If the images chosen allow it, connect the image to your message. Shapes and lines, a straight highway or road, or even tree roots or waterfalls are all parts of images than can draw the viewer along. Color can also be used to point to the message of the print poster. You can use a bold color to stand out or a change in hues to lead more subtly.

So, really, why all of the hype about promotional calendars? Of course, they are an excellent marketing tool that can be customized to fit any industry or clientele. And they do offer your business the ability to find advertising real estate right in your customer’s living or working space at a small cost to you. But are they really worth the time and cost for your business? Here are some ways that promotional print calendars are a big deal for your business. In other words, yes, you should invest in a new promotional calendar each year. Take a look:

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Not only do calendars make great gifts that people can use, they can be a promotional tool for your business. When someone uses your calendar, they get a daily reminder of your company. Not only that, if you give wall calendars, then you may gain new customers from their friends and coworkers viewing the print calendar. Below are some tips for designing an attractive calendar that people will want to use.

Use Creative Pictures of Your Product
Your calendar can be both functional, and a tool to sell your product or service. Just make sure your pictures are attractive and interesting to look at. For example, if you own a boutique that sells children’s clothing, you could take photographs of animals dressed in the clothing you sell. Or if you run a restaurant, you could feature toddlers dressed like adults placed like customers.
 
If you have an interesting business such as making custom jewelry, you could put photos of different steps in your work. Then you could include a little information at the bottom of the picture. Or, if you own a bakery, you might feature attractive pictures of your baked goods and include a recipe underneath each corresponding picture.

Use Photos of Local Attractions
People like seeing pictures of their home town. You could include pictures of local landmarks or places of historic significance. You might also take pictures of local festivals and events. Be sure to include people in your shots, but get their permission if they are close by.

Leave Space for Writing
To encourage people to use your calendars, leave enough blank space on each page for people to write. You should make the date squares large enough to write in. You can also leave room at the top and bottom or sides of each page for notes. Continue reading »