Turn Your Marketing Posters Into Coveted Collectibles

If marketing posters are eye-catching and creative, chances are they will help boost your business image among potential and current customers. Marketing posters are typically hung in places where they will be seen by the most amount of people. With this in mind, if you create a design for your marketing posters that will not just advertise your business but will stay with your customers, then you’re already ahead.

A crucial objective for a marketing poster is to create one that is so endearing that customers will hang one in their personal or business space as a collectible. Here are some tips for achieving this goal.

Commemorate Important Events

Celebrate a significant business event or award with a marketing poster that doubles as a collectible for the occasion and also advertises your business. You can also commemorate important events related to the community surrounding your business, such as a local anniversary or landmark. As long as you include your company’s information on the marketing poster, this keepsake will advertise your business in a meaningful way.

Use Celebrities

If a particular celebrity could tie in with your marketing poster theme, then make that person the central figure of your marketing poster. You can use a well-liked local celebrity, a movie star or even an author.  Just make sure to get the rights to reproduce a celebrity’s image or to use an existing photograph before printing your marketing posters.

Sponsor a Local Artist

Giving back to your community is always important, so why not choose a local artist to create a special image in her chosen art form to use as your next marketing poster? This way, the artist and your business gets good publicity as people collect your piece of commissioned art.

Design With Art in Mind

If you have a talented designer on staff or regularly work with one, let that person create a unique marketing poster that is designed to appeal aesthetically to viewers. Complementary colors and patterns that tie in with an overall theme, along with an eye-pleasing font, are all necessary components of a successful design.

If you design your next marketing poster around one or several of these concepts, you’ll likely enjoy seeing your hard work disappear into the hands of current and potential customers who respond to the artistic design of your marketing poster, making it a coveted collectible instead of just another marketing tool.

When is a Rebrand Necessary?

If you’re noticing blank stares and glazed eyes when you talk about your business brand to others, it might be time to reexamine your brand and perhaps develop a fresh, new approach that will put life back into your customers’ eyes. Here’s how to tell if rebranding should be in your immediate future.

Must You “Talk Up” Your Brand to Others?

If your brand elicits a rambling defense and explanation of your entire branding scheme, from your tagline to your logo, it’s likely that your brand no longer reaches your target market. Customers who can’t identify with your brand instantly will often take their business elsewhere.

Does Your Brand Still Identify With Your Demographic?

If your ideal demographic takes a nap when you begin to pitch your brand, then you might need to take a hard look at your brand and decide whether you need to reach out to a different demographic or whether it might be time to rebrand. Rebranding will give you a fresh start and allow you to flex your creative muscles in your printed marketing materials to try and attract your desired customer base back to your business.

Are You Too Big For Your Brand?

Many businesses, over time, will outgrow their original brand because times and trends are constantly changing and evolving. A business must keep up in order to keep new and old customers coming back. Rebranding your business to fit the times and to encompass your larger marketing strategy can be the smart move. If your business, like the times, has evolved and changed, your former brand might have too narrow a focus to be relevant any longer.  Update your printed brochures, business cards, and catalogs to reflect your larger self.

Is Your Brand Stuck in the Mud?

It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do to transform a tired room into a fresh, new space. The same might be needed for your brand!  A simple facelift can get your brand out of the mud and spinning down the road again. Instead of totally rebranding your business, give your brochures, catalogs, business cards, and other printed marketing materials a coat of paint to freshen its look so that your customers will still recognize your brand, but will be newly attracted to an old friend.

Rebranding can be a difficult decision, but is often the right one because it will inject new life to your business that will attract customers back to the brand they once loved.

3 Ways to Successfully Circulate Your Marketing Materials

The first step towards advertising your business is to create marketing materials to promote your business. Once this is done, however, what is the next step towards distributing them to the right places for maximum exposure? Here are the top three places to hand out your marketing materials.

Industry Conventions

Attend as many industry conventions that relate to your business that come to your surrounding area, as well as a few national conventions. Industry conventions are perfect for handing out marketing materials because your target demographic will be attending since most conventions are arranged to attract like-minded customers to like-minded businesses.

For example, if you operate a catering business, you’ll want to sign up for hospitality conventions, as well as wedding conventions, because all of those people attending will likely need a caterer at some point. You can also make valuable contacts with other vendors who might complement your business.

You should always be armed with plenty of marketing materials, even at national conventions, because you never know who might need your services or be able to recommend them to a friend who happens to live in your business location. It’s also a great way to expand your clientele base if your business can operate electronically and serve clients remotely.

Sponsor Booths at Local Festivals

Get your community behind your business by purchasing booth space at local festivals. Usually, these fees go towards the community itself or a worthwhile charity, either of which will endear you to the attendees. Festivals attract a wide variety of people, and you can easily hand out your marketing materials along with a coupon and even complementary product samples – which could garner a lot of positive publicity and new business.

Team Up With Other Businesses

Use contacts you make with other vendors at these conventions and festivals and create a team feeling, where complimentary businesses promote each other’s marketing materials to customers. If you team up with two other businesses, for example, your name gets recommended to two additional customer bases. By offering incentives and package deals to customers for using all three businesses, for example, your marketing materials will make it into the hands of more potential customers.

Don’t let your printed marketing materials gather dust! Get out there and hand out your marketing materials in places where your customers are most likely to frequent, and you’ll see your business increase.

3 Trends to Include in Your Marketing Materials

Halfway through the year, have your marketing materials lived up to your expectations?  If the results have not been as stellar as you had hoped, try these three ideas to give your marketing materials new life.

• Have a Big Sale – Despite the slow signs of recovery, the soft economy won’t just disappear overnight. This is the time to take advantage of the recession by staging a giant sale using marketing materials. It’s still vital that you don’t position your sale as recession-inspired, but use the excuse of frugality to inspire old and new customers to shop your business. Your marketing materials should be positive and should not mention the recession specifically (because this isn’t being positive). Instead, list the great qualities of your product or service, as well as the big advantage customers have taking advantage of this incredible sale.

• Create or Update Your Website – Don’t let your website falter or become outdated. Most people check out businesses online, so seeing an updated, stylish and informative website increases your chances of securing new clientele for your business. We live in technologically-hyper times, and you need to jump on this bandwagon with both feet. Include your URL on all your marketing materials. You can include short pod casts on your website that inform clients about items related to your business and will help promote your business online. Social media is also taking off, so create a FaceBook page and get on Twitter and watch fans of your business accumulate. You might even develop a short DVD that is informative and entertaining, meaning customers will learn about your business in an innovative and memorable way.

• Spread a Little Sunshine – No matter how dismal the economy and state of the world seems to many people, marketing materials are trending to the positive. People want to see marketing materials that spread a little sunshine during dark times, instead of reminding them about reality. Choosing bold, happy colors and including an upbeat message will go a long way towards securing new business because you’re helping people be positive. When customers feel happy receiving your marketing materials, they are much more likely to continue that happy feeling by purchasing your product or service, which makes you happy too!

Although the recession is real and is affecting businesses everywhere, taking advantage of these three marketing strategies will help your business be recession-proof.

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.

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.