5 Design Ideas to Spice up Your Restaurant’s Menu

Business owners in the food service industry have a great reusable marketing tool – a menu.  However, many restaurant owners fail to effectively promote their food items by creating menus that are boring or even confusing. Psychologically, if a customer feels that the menu is bland, they will probably think the food will be the same way.

Use your menu to spice up your food items and make them attractive to customers. A great menu will have a customer wanting to try one of everything.

How can you spice up your menu to get more food items sold?

1. Design an Attractive Cover

Most restaurant menus are four pages, either inserted in a laminated covering or simply one large folded cardstock. Make sure your first page, the cover page, is attractive and promotes your restaurant brand. Use a pleasant and coordinated color scheme. Put your logo prominently on the cover. Write your mission if you wish. Keeping your brand in customers’ minds is important for bringing them back.

2. Employ Sound Design Elements

Many restaurant menus are too crowded or too small to read. This creates frustration for customers. You want to make sure your customers can easily scan your menu and find the items they are hungry for.

Use plenty of white space between menu items. Make the menu item title bold, and use a short but descriptive text to describe the item. Avoid crowding your menu with too many items on one page. If you need to, create more pages so all your items are easily categorized and listed in a fashion that is easily read by the customer.

3. Create Clever Titles and Headings

Most menus have headings like “Salads” and “Entrees.” Try something that makes your headings stand out like “From the Garden”, or “Chef Specialties.” Your item titles can be creative as well. A grilled cheese sandwich sounds much more appetizing as a “Cheesy Wisconsin Melt”.

4. Cleverly Place Higher Profit Items

Knowing how your customers look at a printed menu can help you sell your higher profit items. If your menu has one fold, customers will likely look at the right side first. They will likely view the middle section first of a tri-folded menu. Keep the high-profit items at the top or bottom of a list. Strategic placement of these items can help increase your profits and sell more higher-priced items.

5. Use Images and Graphics Sparingly

Images, photos, and graphics can help spice up your menu. Use photos only if you have a professional photographer create the image. A simple snapshot of a plate of food with too much flash look amateurish and does not stimulate an appetite. Try using icons for house specialty items or low-calorie items. Using images can help increase sales for specific items, but only if done properly and sparingly.

Your menu is your last marketing tool to convince customers of your products. Use these design features and create a menu that will stimulate customers’ appetites and help make more sales.

What a Poster Can Say About Your Business

Full color posters are an exciting way to promote your business or business event. With the size of your poster and the prominence of the highly-visible places you present them, you have a wide range of options to deliver your intended message.

Posters open up great potential with your marketing message with the use of color, fonts, and design.  What can posters say about your business and why would you want to create a poster printing project?

POSTER IDEAS

Advertise Business Events

Posters are a great way to advertise events that you sponsor or present at your business.   Particularly if you are a restaurant or bar, a poster in your own window and hung around the neighborhood can advertise the next great band playing live at your location. Or you may be offering a free seminar on buying a first home at your realty office. Use a poster to get that message to people to come to your business location.

Create a Calendar

A poster is a great way to keep your business name and message up year round. Create a single page calendar poster with your name and logo prominently displayed at the top. Be sure to highlight special days during the year, such as Valentine’s Day for floral shops or even special reminders of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Business Introduction

If you are opening a new business, what better way to advertise your Grand Opening than with a bright, bold poster? Create a poster that introduces your business, and be sure to give an address and days of the special opening sales.

Poster in a Press Kit

Some businesses use press kits as part of their promotional efforts. In a press kit, why not include a foldout poster along with your other promotional materials? Sure, this works great for bands, movie makers, and DJs, but why not for a restaurant or bakery? A small poster of a delectable cake or pie can be a great way to whet the appetites of your readers.

TIPS FOR POSTER DESIGN

When you create your poster, keep these tips in mind:

• Use Big Text – Your poster should be able to be read from a distance. Designing your poster with big text will make it easy for readers to get your message.

• Reduce Clutter – Use text and graphics, but use them sparingly. You don’t want to clutter your poster with too much information that makes it difficult to read. Keep graphics to just one or two, and use text for headlines and specifics on an event.

• Use Color Effectively – Color can add a great design element, but don’t go overboard. It is easy for beginning poster designers to add too many colors in the fonts and graphics that distract from the message.

Keep these poster ideas and design tips in mind for your next poster printing. Using posters can give your business great credibility and can look stunning when designed properly.

Let Your Letterhead Do The Marketing

Custom letterhead and envelopes can add great credibility and professionalism to your business.  Having professionally printed letterhead should be a priority for any sized business if they want to gain credibility.  However, did you know you can also use your letterhead and envelope printing to help market your business?

Provide Business Hours

If your business operates irregular business hours, you might use your letterhead to outline when customers can expect you to be open. Use a margin on the left or right to describe your weekly and weekend hours so customers can know exactly when they can visit or contact you.

Display a Well-Designed Logo

Your letterhead and envelopes are a prime medium to display your company branding. Part of your branding efforts should be a good logo. A logo could be how a company name is presented in text. FedEx is a good example of how the name doubles as the logo using font and color. Many businesses use an icon or other graphic as part of the logo.

Keep in mind that the more colors you use in a logo raises the price of all your printed marketing materials. Try to keep your logo to two or three colors, and keep the design simple and uncluttered.  Prominently display your logo at the top or side of your letterhead, and top left corner of your envelopes.

List Your Benefits

Businesses can use letterhead to briefly list the benefits of a special product or service. Say that you manufacture a single product, or provide a particular service like tax advice. You can print a brief list of benefits for using your service or buying your product.

Present a Tag Line

A tag line is another way to state your business purpose or mission within your letterhead. A tag line is short – just a sentence, but no more than two. The tag line tells what your business purpose is or how you serve customers. For instance, a good tagline for a sod company might be, “We keep rollin’ a lawn.”

Include a Customer Statement

A customer testimonial can be a great way to market on your letterhead. Use a direct quote from a customer that states how they benefited from your product or service. Include it at the top of letterhead under your address, or perhaps at the bottom margin.

Make an Announcement

Is your company moving its location? Are you introducing a new product? Use your letterhead to make important announcements for your business. It could even be a special discount announcement.

Letterhead is used so frequently by almost any business that it gets overlooked as a marketing tool. Be sure your letterhead is professionally designed, but also remember to include a marketing message within your letterhead to help market your business.

How Door Hangers Can Help Introduce Yourself to the Neighborhood

Setting up a new business or moving to a new location can be challenging for business owners to get new customers. Generally, a local retail business wants to be known in the neighborhood they occupy and hopes to gain a loyal following from their neighbors.  How can you introduce yourself to your neighborhood and give them reason to try your business?

Door hangers are one of the most effective ways to get a simple business message out to local residents. You’ve seen them used as political tools during election campaigns. Canvassers or even the candidate will go door to door trying to convince voters to vote for them. In most cases, the resident is not home, so they leave a simple door hanger with their message.

You can use this method, too, as a way to get your business introduced and offer special deals to your local customers.

Door Hangers are Easy to Print

The shape of door hangers made it a challenge for printers in the past.  However, newer technology makes it easy for printers to utilize digital imaging and automatic paper cutters to create a great-looking door hanger. Check with your printer for the specs they need. You will usually need to provide a simple image file in the dimensions required. Then the printer will do the rest.

Door Hangers are Cost-Effective

Printing door hangers is cheaper than ever. You can order a few hundred or even thousands of door hanger advertisements for just pennies per item.

In addition, you can save a lot of money on postage with door hangers. Rather than sending a sales letter via mail and having most recipients throw it away without even looking at it, you can hand-deliver door hangers in person.

Door Hangers Get Seen More Than Other Advertisements

If you send a sales letter or put an advertisement in the local newspaper, there is a far chance that your local neighbors will read it.  However, having a door hanger advertisement on their door makes it certain that it will be seen. Every resident will have to pass by your door hanger the next time they enter their home or apartment.

Door Hangers Make a Bold Statement

In order to make your door hanger introduction more effective, use big, bold headlines. Make it clear what you want to say at a first glance. Remember, your neighbors will see your door hanger as they enter their dwelling, but give them a reason to read it.

Give a Special Discount for Your Neighbors

Use your door hanger as an introduction to your neighbors, but also give them a special deal. Remember, you want to create loyalty with your local customers. Offer an exclusive deal for your neighbors as an incentive to try your business.

Door hangers are a great way to get your new business introduced to the neighborhood effectively and cheaply. Talk to your printer and start inviting your neighbors to your new business today.

7 Direct Mail Marketing Tips with Postcards

Direct mail advertising with sales letters has its advantages, but sometimes you want to send a direct mail marketing message without the high cost of sales letter copywriting, printing, and postage. In cases where you may want to send a quick direct mail message to existing and potential customers, consider a postcard as a great cost-effective way to get your message across.

1. Postcards Are More Likely To Be Read

When a person pulls mail out of their mailbox, what do they do? Most likely they begin sorting the mail – letters from loved ones, bills, advertising circulars, sales letters, and Oh! – a postcard. A postcard tends to stand out to a recipient, and they will at least look at the front of it to see what it says. Using the right design elements can help assure that your full postcard message does indeed get read by the recipient.

2. Target Your Mailing List

What is the purpose of your direct mailing? Are you intending to invite previous customers back to your store? Do you want to gain more new customers? Remember that any mail advertising needs to be targeted to the right consumer. Try to obtain or build mailing lists with important demographic data. Your postcard mailing will have more impact when it reaches a consumer who wants and needs your products.

3. Catch Their Attention

As mentioned, a postcard will likely get a first glance, and that first glance will determine whether the recipient will read more. Use colorful photos, graphics, and bold headlines to capture their attention.

4. Make Your Message Brief

A postcard is not the place to include all the sales copy you would find in a letter. Instead, make the information on your postcard brief, but interesting. Use bullet points to highlight features or benefits. You may have space for only a sentence or two. So keep your message brief and to the point.

5. Include a Testimonial

You might include a comment from a customer on your direct mail postcard. Showing potential customers what other customers think can help them make a decision about your business.

6. Generate Interest Now – Sales Later

A direct mail postcard’s main goal is to generate interest. There is simply not enough space to provide a full sales message. Instead, you want to pique interest and have the customer want to know more. However, be sure you provide a call to action with your contact information.

7. Give an Expiration Date

A direct mail postcard mailing is effective when it gives the message, but also a deadline. You may be offering a 25% discount, but tell the customer they only have 10 days to take advantage of the offer. Be sure your recipients know when they should act.

Direct mail postcards are cost-effective for any business. However, having a strategy for design, printing, and mailing will help assure that your direct mail campaign will be a success.

4 Design Musts for Your Business Brochure

The brochure is one of the most popular and effective advertising mediums available to any business. They are very portable, informative, and cost effective. Your brochure can provide all the information a potential customer needs about your business without the need for a full marketing packet.

Designing a brochure can be daunting. Why? Sure, there is limited space, but the choices on how to fill that space are endless. You want to make sure that you put all the information you wish to convey into a brochure, but still make it interesting to read. Sometimes it’s just easier to hand off the designing to a professional graphic designer, but oftentimes to save money, you can do it effectively yourself.

What can you do to make sure that your brochure design will capture your customers’ attention and deliver the most important information?

1. Know Reader Tendencies

Remember to keep readers’ psychological habits in mind when creating a brochure. Readers tend to skim information and read more about something that captures their attention. They will generally look at photos first, any graphics, then headlines, and finally the actual text.

Avoid filling your brochure with too much text. Keep headlines in bigger and bolder fonts. Use images sparingly. And even keep text to a minimum by using bullet points. Remember, you want to get readers to want to read further.

2. Make A Logical Progression

Your brochure printing project should flow in a logical fashion. What information should your customer know first? What comes next? Avoid giving readers information that is confusing and out of sequence. A logical brochure will more likely be read rather than end up in the trash.

3. Simplify Your Content

You now know that readers like to skim and want to read things in a logical fashion.  However, keeping the content simple will help assure that the reader will read on further. Keep in mind that a brochure uses very limited space compared to a booklet or pamphlet. Avoid using industry jargon or detailed specs. Instead, use simple formats like the bullet points already mentioned. Highlight a phrase in a text box. Keep plenty of white space around your content to help make it easy for the reader to catch all the information. You just want to provide the essence of your promotional message in a brochure, and then give them a way to find out more.

4. Provide a Clear Call to Action

On the last section of your brochure, be sure to give a clear direction about what your reader should do next. Many businesses fail to provide the important call to action. It could simply be “call now for a free estimate,” or “stop by our store today.” Let customers know if they have a limited time to act. And by all means, give them your phone number, business location, and web address.

When you design your next brochure, keep these tips in mind. You’ll have a more attractive brochure that keeps readers attention and give them reason to contact your business.

7 Ways a Booklet Can Secure More Business

As a business owner, you have a lot to say in an advertising or printed material piece –much more than can fit on a regular flyer or tri-fold brochure. When you’re in a situation that calls for more printing space, try a booklet as a way to help you get more business.

A booklet can be printed on high-quality glossy paper in various sizes. You could print a booklet with as few as eight pages or just about however many you would like to add. Remember that a booklet works best when it is formatted attractively for the customer, which may require the expertise of a graphic designer to make the information ‘pop’ off the page.

How can a booklet work as a promotional tool? Here are seven ways it can help:

1. Full Product Catalog – The full product catalog is probably the best-known method of booklet printing. A catalog with full color and catchy descriptions helps make your products jump off the page and assist your customers in making confident buying decisions.
2. Seasonal Catalog – In addition to your full product catalog, you can also make seasonal or holiday catalogs. These are shorter than full product catalogs and contain the products you want to highlight as promotional, such as new seasonal clothing, holiday gift ideas, or regular menu specials.
3. Informational Booklet – A booklet printing with informational content can be a great way to share additional and more detailed information about a certain product or even just about your company. The informational booklet helps your customers understand your products better and can provide an additional bond toward your company.
4. New Product Release – A new product can provide great curiosity for your existing and potential customers. Give them the satisfaction of quenching that thirst for knowledge with a new product release booklet printing. Explain how and why it was created. Explain the careful manufacturing process. And most importantly, explain how your customers can make a purchase themselves.
5. Instruction Manual – For some products or services, a customer may require additional information. To help assure that your customer is satisfied and will want to return, consider printing a brief instruction manual booklet for more complex products.
6. Cookbook – A cookbook is easily printed as a booklet. If your business is in food service, consider a cookbook booklet printing to give to customers as a thank you gift for complementary use with your food products.
7. Workbooks – Design a booklet printing project as a way to learn. You could develop workbooks for kids with projects like coloring, a wordcross puzzle, or other ways to teach them about your products.

There are many ideas for booklet printing that can help you promote your business and encourage customers to learn more about your products and services. Consider a booklet for your next promotional printing project and create a jazzy design that gets your booklet noticed.

How to Use The Back of Your Business Card to Sell

Your business card is one of the most printed advertising items you have.  While you should always have a supply of business cards in your desk and on your person to give out to potential customers, there are ways you can use business cards as more than just a contact tool.

Business cards are generally printed on just one side. That little 3.5” by 2” piece of cardstock real estate is usually just enough to provide your name, title, business name, and contact information. But what about the other side? Should it just remain blank?

There is a host of ideas that you can use for the back of your business card to help make it work as a promotional tool and help potential customers remember your company.

• Coupons – Put a small coupon on the back of your business card. A coupon gives incentive for a potential customer to keep the card and use it when visiting your business. It could be a simply “20% off” coupon or even a free gift on their next visit.

• Rate List – New customers who may be interested in your business are always curious how much you charge. A simple list of your rates for services could help them decide how to use your services better.

• Hours of Service – Some business owners find it helpful to provide their hours of operation on the back of a business card. This gives a potential customer an exact range of times they can contact you, especially if your business hours fall during weekends or evenings.

• Bio – After you meet a new prospective client and hand them a business card, what do they really know about you? Print a brief bio about yourself and your qualifications on the back of your business card to help give additional qualifications and credentials to your specialty.

• Photo – You can use the back of your business card to place an attractive photo. It could be a photo or drawing of your business office, a photo of your premier product, or even one of two sample photos of your own photography business.

• Client List – Sometimes a list of previous or existing clients gives that “wow” factor to your company. If you have a list of high-profile clients, don’t hesitate to print them on the back of your business card.

• Tips – The back of your business card can also be used to provide a helpful tip to your prospective customer. Tell how they can save money, save time, or other benefit with a helpful tip.

• Menu Special – If you run a restaurant, you could print your “house” specialty on the back of your business card. Whet the appetite of a prospective customer and give them reason to come try your cooking.

Business card printing on both front and back is easy to do for any printer. The extra printing can mean extra dollars for you, so consider using that back space for business  promotion.