Is Your Business Card Bringing You Business?
24 May 2013 3 Comments
in Design, Print, Products Tags: business cards
Business Cards are the number one marketing tool – carries your branding and image
Typically, many hours are spent deciding on the logo, layout, and tagline to include on a company’s business cards. But not much time goes into thinking about strategies to make those business cards actually work to bring in customers. That is a mistake.
Business cards are like mini ambassadors for your business. They represent you, your company, and your brand. Business cards often provide the first impression a recipient will have of you and your company. They shouldn’t be just an afterthought in your marketing collateral mix.
To effectively market and advertise your business, whether through business cards, social media, or a website, the first step is to create awareness. Awareness is generated through uniqueness. The colors, stock, font, graphics, and unusual finishing touches like rounded corners or foil stamping and special die cutting can all add up to create a business card that stands out in a crowd. Using a template from the internet is not a way to stand out from the crowd. Having your image professionally designed is well worth the cost.
Simple elegance and a clean, uncluttered layout work best. Sometimes more is learned about a business by the professional look and design of its business card than by almost any other marketing collateral. Prospects may forget about and toss out many other collateral pieces, but they usually keep an interesting business card.
Visually standing out is the first step to make a business card work to bring you business. The second involves the recipient and answering a simple five-word question…
What’s In It For Me?
The text on your business card must quickly and clearly explain the benefits of working with you. You can’t fit an entire brochure on the small area a business card provides (although some people try!). Most companies will list the services they provide. That is fine to do on the back of a business card.
On the front, however, where everyone looks first, you need to state clearly what results your products and services deliver. What is the primary benefit of working with your company? Make it short and sweet. Don’t hide it. Proudly display it on the front of the card.
The quality of the stock used, the font and layout, the finishing touches, and the copy used all work hand in hand to create a powerful, client-getting business card.
But those beautiful cards won’t do much good if they aren’t getting deployed. Take business cards everywhere you go. Put a stack in your car, in your wallet, and in your purse or briefcase. If you find the right target audience, hand them not one but several cards and ask them to pass the extras along to colleagues or friends who might be able to use your services.
Strategically thinking about the design, production, and copy on your business cards has the effect of creating a viral campaign for your business. Unlike the online variety, this is a viral campaign that can actually bring you real results and not just buzz in the marketplace.
What Gets Envelopes Opened
02 Jan 2013 Leave a Comment
in Print Tags: Direct Mail, envelopes, influences
I ran across a great article that was re-printed in “Print in the Mix” by Rochester Institute of Technology /Print Council**, and felt it was important enough to keep referencing, so I thought I would share it.
Pitney Bowes commissioned a study to identify factors that could influence when and whether recipients would open their mail and read it. The survey of 1,500 U.S. adults examined preferences, attitudes, and behaviors about mail as received at home. For the study, participants were presented with graphic depictions of envelopes to determine which features would make them most likely to open them. They examined an average of 16 screens, each containing four randomized envelopes, to test for variables including the presence of text, graphics, and color on envelope fronts and backs.
Key findings:
- What’s printed on the front of the envelope strongly influences when and whether it gets opened.
- Recipients are 69% more likely to open a mail piece with color text and graphics on the front, before opening pieces with no headline or graphic.
- Given a choice of color graphics or black-and-white text, mail recipients are 2.5 times more likely to open envelopes with color graphics first.
- What’s printed on the back of the envelope is less influential.
- Six out of 10 (57%) hardly ever notice what is printed on the back of an envelope when sorting through or opening their mail.
- However, as with the front of the envelope, the study indicates the presence of color text and graphics on the envelope’s back is significantly more likely to influence the decision to open, rather than black-and-white only.
- Mail recipients favor print mail to email for bills, invoices and financial statements, as well as most catalogs and promotions.
- Two-thirds (66%) of recipients prefer to receive catalogs by physical mail.
- Six out of 10 (61%) favor receiving bills and invoices by physical mail.
Nearly the same numbers of mail recipients (59%) prefer to receive financial or bank statements by physical mail, as opposed to email.
About: The February 23-March 3, 2010 online survey of 1,503 opt-in research panelists (age 18+) was conducted by Leflein Associates, on behalf of Pitney Bowes. The sample margin of error of = +/-2%.
Source: Pitney Bowes, Color Makes a Noticeable Difference, 2010.
**About The Print Council
The Print Council is a business development alliance formed by leaders in the graphic arts industry whose goal is to influence and promote the greater use of print media. Through education, awareness, market development, advocacy, and research, The Print Council serves the industry to develop, maintain, and increase the market for printed goods. In addition, the Council works closely with industry associations, ongoing initiatives, and relevant user groups that share common goals.
For more information, please contact Executive Director Ben Cooper at bycooper@wms-jen.com or info@theprintcouncil.org.
Visit The Print Council at theprintcouncil.org
Printing Is a Responsible Choice
02 Oct 2012 Leave a Comment
in Print Tags: chooseprint.org, environment, paper, recycle
Trees are the only renewable resource we have…
In lieu of a “Think before you print” email tagline, we encourage you to consider adding something like this to your emails:
“It’s OK to print responsibly. Not using paper in order to save trees is comparable to not eating salad in order to ‘save’ vegetables. Managed timberlands are similar to agricultural crops which provide clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat, as well as millions of jobs nationwide.”
While there are many misconceptions about the paper and printing industries, we proudly stand behind them both, and we encourage you to check out these resources to learn more about why printing is a responsible choice:
- www.paperbecause.com — Domtar’s Paper Because campaign highlights the key role paper plays in our lives and the reasons why it’s environmentally friendly.
- www.chooseprint.org — Choose Print is an educational campaign designed to promote the effectiveness of print as a sustainable choice.
- www.rediscoverprint.com — Rediscover Print is committed to searching out credible information, case studies, and statistics on how print makes a positive impact in our daily lives.
- www.twosides.info — Two Sides promotes the responsible production and use of print and paper. The site provides information on why print and paper remain a versatile, sustainable communications medium.
Build Business Relationships with Greeting Cards
15 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Marketing TIPS, Print, Products Tags: birthday cards, employee recognition, greeting cards, personalized, thank you cards, VDP
Greeting cards are a great way to show your family and friends you are thinking of them on their birthday or holidays. They are also a powerful yet underutilized tool for businesses to reach out and connect with valued customers, professional acquaintances, and other businesses.
While holidays and birthdays are the most common times greeting cards are used, businesses can also use greeting cards for business event invitations, staff introductions, product or service announcements, exclusive promotion or discount offerings, gift card holders, employee recognition, thank you cards, follow-up notes, customer anniversaries, grand openings, and more.
We can set up programs for companies such as insurance companies, to send out birthday cards on the first of each month. The insurance company would just provide us a database with the birthday month, personal message field, and name/address, and we would personalize the card and address the envelop and mail it out. They would not have to think about it for a full year…! This technology is called VDP, or variable data printing, that creates “extreme personalized mailings“.
Next time you’re looking for a creative way to send a friendly greeting to your customers, give the timeless touch of greeting cards a try.
What Do Your Business Cards Say About You?
11 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Design, Marketing, Marketing TIPS, Print, Products, Social Media Tags: business cards
1. Make sure the card is great quality.
Good-quality cards are available on an economy of scale; unlike the long waiting times and expense of pressing traditional cards, the modern digital process is swift, economical and can result in superbly memorable designs. Thick, soft card with rounded corners can make a favorable impression.
2.Contact information should be 100% correct.
The correct name, address, phone numbers, email address and website address are essential to allow your contacts to reconnect with you long after your initial meeting. The important facts should still be prominent and easy to read.
3.Think of a card as a vehicle for your branding.
When spending money on marketing materials, you can get more value of your marketing dollar if you use consistent branding and image. From stationery to your website, to your inside of your business, branding is who your business is, what people remember, and the perception that is created. Your card should not be limited to just you; it needs to tell people about what makes your company so unique and exciting. It could be that the logo isn’t very exciting, or the purpose of your company isn’t apparent. Take a look at your card and ask; what’s missing?
4. Card sizes vary greatly.
In the United States, business cards are normally set at 3.5″ wide x 2″ tall. You can consider various sizes, to stand out, but be aware, if it is a functional size for your customer base. Massage therapist for example can get away with a fun size such as 2.25″ x 2.25″ square, whereas a law firm should stick to the professional size.
5. Font, Spacing, color and style.
The font should be elegant but legible; Gothic script can be difficult to read, and Comic Sans suggests that you don’t take yourself seriously, let alone your business. Think about sizing and spacing of letters to ensure that the script does not conflict with the color pattern of the card. Non-confrontation colors, can be an indication of the comfortable image that your company is trying to project. Cards in full color with custom logos are great for sticking in people’s memories.
6. Stock & Printing style Choices.
There are oodles of different papers and print methods that can create a card just for you. Consider a textured paper such as linens, with a foil stamp, or a blind embossing. Thermography, is a raised lettering technique that was really popular in the 70’s and is finding its way back into the design arena. We also are creating business cards with different quality of lamination and Ultrakoting processes. If you are trying to convey as much information as possible, you can have a set of CD business cards made, with multimedia content, but ensure that your investment will cover its costs- these are expensive unless you commission a batch of several hundred.
7. Consider your photo or photo of your product on the card.
The new marketing is to create relationships, and people tend to first remember how they look and maybe not their name. So a photo on the card is very important.
8. Consider putting a QR Code and social media icons.
Consider the fact that social media is here to stay, well for the moment anyways. Might as well take advantage of this vehicle for what it is worth! It is not for every business, however, for ways of keeping on top of the mind of your customer, this is a great way to do it. You can create fun games and loyalty with all of the great technology advances social media offers.
9. Water run-resistance.
I have seen so many people try to print their business cards on their home ink jet printers. This ink is not water proof. And it looks very unprofessional – not to mention the sloppy quality of the graphics and fonts it generates. The print and paper of your card should be crisp and the text unable to be obliterated by just a few rain drops. Accidents happen, and an occasional spilled glass of wine should not ruin an opportunity. Ink jet printers-produced cards do not use waterproof ink and leave a very unprofessional impression, no matter how small your business is and your budget. Business cards are your number one marketing tool in your tool box, do not short change it!
10. And lastly, Keep them in a decent case.
If you regularly produce dog-eared cards from fluff-infested pockets, consider the impression that this gives prospective clients about your business. Produce cards one at a time from a case with a lid and exchange them with care. The care you take over your card shows the concern you have for your business.
Take a look at your card and ask; what’s missing?
Marketing Tip#5 Low-Budget Printing Tips
13 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Inspirational, Marketing, Marketing TIPS, Print, Services Tags: Marketing Tip
Marketing Tip#5
With all of our purse strings tied right now, any printing project you pursue could probably be all your business can afford, perhaps for months or even years. It has to be done right, or there may never be a second chance.
You don’t have to be an expert in the print industry to save money on your printing
projects. A little research on the front end guarantees big savings. Develop a relationship with your printer and ask for money-saving recommendations. A printer worth his weight will take the time to understand your needs and help you navigate the process of each job, no matter how small. Whether you take on the entire project yourself or work with a trusted printer, don’t worry, you will find that it is possible to do a lot with a little.
- Spend the majority of your budget on one expensive but attention-getting element: a high-end paper, a fancy die cut, engraving, or embossing.
- Rely on a strong design in one or two colors, with ordinary offset
printing or stick with high-quality black and white copies. - Be flexible about paper stock. Paper companies are rapidly changing
their inventory right now and have plenty of discontinued stocks that
would work great for your project, saving you money. - Plan ahead. Time is money. Don’t call in a panic because you’re down to your last ten envelopes. Inventory the office products on a monthly basis and reorder as needed. Likewise, Christmas will come in December again this year. Start planning your direct mail piece in October so it will be ready to print in November.
- Use standard ink colors. When designing or updating a company logo, color
should be a major consideration as it will affect your printing budget for years to come. - Chances are, your business name isn’t going to change any time soon. So go ahead and order 5,000 business cards or other frequently used materials at a much cheaper price break.
- Go digital. We have digital copiers that print on heavy card stock and even
glossy finishes as proficiently as a full color press. This is particularly useful
for small quantities involving color. And usually, only a print professional can tell the difference.
The Benefits of Adding Value to your Printed Materials
Consider the product you wish to print, such as notepads, business cards and menus. For an example, instead of a simple notepad, a beauty salon could spice it up as a “honey-do” list. Given to
a client, they can have fun with it and use it as a practical marketing piece. At our printing firm, we believe that tight budgets shouldn’t stand in your way of having marketing materials you are proud of. Give us a call today and we will help you figure out how to add value to your printed pieces and start seeing results.
How Much Printing Do I Need?
16 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Marketing, Print, Products Tags: Masters, paper life, Quantities
Deciding how much printing to order is not always an easy task. Sure, sometimes it’s as simple as looking at the size of a mailing list, but other times it can get tricky trying to balance the price savings of bulk ordering with limitations in storage space, long-term usefulness, and overall need. As you plan your printing purchases, consider the following:
Shelf Life
Will the piece need to be updated frequently, or will it remain as is indefinitely? 
For some items, such as business cards, you might consider ordering preprinted “shells,” which contain all of the static design elements common to all versions of that item, with space left open for more dynamic (variable) content. That way, when you need business cards for a specific employee, for example, it’s just a matter of dropping in the appropriate contact information and cutting the cards down to size.
Preprinted shells allow you to take advantage of bulk discounts, and many printers (including us) will even store them for you onsite and help you manage your inventory, so you don’t run out at inopportune times.
In addition to business cards, shells may also be useful for letterhead, manuals, and even certain brochures or other promotional pieces that have common designs but dynamic (variable) content.
The Aging Process
Paper ages, and it doesn’t always do so gracefully. Storing your printing in a cool, dry place helps, but it will only slow the process. As your printing gets older, it can fade, warp, and dry out. Carbonless paper, for example, will lose some of its transferability as it ages. If you have forms you use infrequently, consider ordering them in smaller quantities.
If you have any documents you know you’ll want to keep on hand indefinitely, consider acid-free paper. When properly stored, acid-free paper will resist fading, yellowing, and becoming brittle much better than ordinary stock.
Past Experience
If the item you’re printing is a reorder, look to the past to determine how much you’ll need to order this time around. If you can’t remember how much you ordered last time (or when that was), give us a call. We can check our records and help analyze your needs to determine your best strategy for future purchases. Our Estimation program can even track when it is time for reorders, once an agreed time line is decided from you, we can program it to bring up the order and we will call and confirm that you are running low, so you won’t run out.
Paper Grades and Weights
24 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Print, Products, Uncategorized Tags: basis, bond, cover, gloss, grades, offset, paper, recycled, text, weights, writing
We are often asked about paper weights and why they are so confusing. I hope this article I found helps clear things up and help with understanding and ordering the proper paper for your project.
KEY CONCEPTS:
Printing is more than reproducing words and images on paper. It is the physical experience itself – holding the piece, feeling the paper, the interplay of ink and paper – that printing is concerned with. As such, paper – the vehicle of the message, represents a substantial cost item in a printed job. Understanding paper and picking the right sheet for your job can make or break your job.
Typically, letterheads will be imprinted using laser imaging or run through copiers. It is important that you, as the buyer, tell us (the printer) how you intend to use the printed piece. Do not assume that all papers can be used for all processes. It is our job to advise you in whether the paper you selected is compatible for your intended uses. We often provide sample papers for you to try on your machines, to insure success of the final produce use.
The same caveats apply to inks. Inks containing certain waxes and some other ingredients will soften as a result of the heat generated in a laser printer or copy machine. Again, we need to understand fully what the intended use of the project will be.
GRADES OF PAPER:
There are seven basic grades (or types) of papers used in the commercial and quick printing industry.
1. BOND: Usually used for flyers, handouts, business forms and copiers. This is the more economical grade of paper.
2. WRITING: Usually used for stationery and projects that require a nicer look. Typically these papers are more decorative in colors with many types of surface textures such as a linen or a laid type finish.
3. BOOK/OFFSET: The most commonly used coated and uncoated papers for printing items such as manuals and books. These papers are commonly evaluated for their opacity and whiteness. However, there are colors available too.
4. TEXT: High-quality sheets are available in a variety of surfaces and colors and are commonly used for marketing pieces such as brochures.
5. COVER: Used when great bulk is required such as book covers, postcards, business cards and marketing materials. These papers are also available in a wide variety of surfaces and colors.
6. TAG/BRISTOL/INDEX: Smooth surface papers and mostly uncoated, except for bristols. Uses include displays, file folders, index cards and tickets.
7: SYNTETHICS: New papers are being introduced to the market place that are water resistant and are treated to run on certain digital presses. These papers are great for menus, and items that are commonly laminated.
Within each grade, there are other distinctions, based on brightness, opacity, and fiber content. For instance, there are matte, premium, and ultra gloss finished to coated papers. In the uncaoted book, there is #1 Offset, #3 offset and Opaque grades. Text papers are distinguished by finishes like smooth/vellum, felt/embossed, laid, and linen finishes.
BASIS WEIGHT:
Getting more specific, people identify papers in terms of their basis weights. Since coated papers are more compressed (calendered) you can’t necessarily keep the same weight when you switch grades. For instance you may go from a 60# uncoated to a 70#coated sheet to keep the same thickness. That is why papers are usually referred to by weight and grade.
What is basis weight? It is the weight of 500 sheets of paper cut to a basis size. So, 500 sheets of 25″x38″, 60# offset weigh 60lbs. The basis size for bond is 17″x22″; for text, offset, and coated 25″x38″, and for cover 20″x26″. That is why two similar sheets of different grades my have the very different basis weights, for instance, 24# bond and 50# offset are the same weight and grade of paper.
Different grades of paper and their weights;
- BONDS: usually 16# for forms, 20# for copying, and 24# for stationery.
- TEXT: Ranges in weight form 60#, 70#, 80# to 100#, but the most common weights are 70# or 80#
- OFFSET: Usually a 50# to 70# stock.
- COATED BOOK: Generally goes from 30# to 70# for web printing, 60# to 110# for sheet fed.
- COVER: Comes in 60#, 65#, 80# and or 100#, #110, #130 weights.
RECYCLED PAPERS:
Our national waste disposal challenges has let to the increasing use of recycled papers. Paper companies have answered increasing demand with offerings in all paper grades. While recycled sheets still command a premium over virgin stock, they are more widely available than in previous years, and have come down extensively in price.
At this time there are still difference in definitions associated with recycled papers and concerned buyers need to make sure that they make proper decisions for runnability and quality.
DIGITAL PAPERS:
High-speed laser printing and digital printing has created a whole new “johnra” of printing demands. With the wide array of equipment and technologies, many digital papers are “treated” to create amazing results. Usually, such equipment will stipulate what papers work best for the machine. Today, paper mills are developing full lines of paper that work both in the digital and offset world. Print & Copy Factory is committed to staying on top of the technology and papers to provide our customer with the best results and price.
Give us a call today and better yet, stop by and look at our large paper sample book display. We have a large variety of colors and papers in stock, and also a large variety of papers that you can order…. Because paper does not have a shelf life, we order many papers for your specific project to insure quality of paper. Our suppliers deliver for the most part by 8:00 am everyday.
Resource: PPIA
10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure
17 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Design, Marketing, Print, Products, Services Tags: branding, brochures, Color, Design
Marketing Tip #8
Every product, service or idea you sell needs a brochure or rack card. Through the years we’ve probably printed several million brochures, and while that doesn’t automatically make us an expert, it sure doesn’t hurt. We came up with a list of things to not do…
- Being concerned with the looks, but forgetting the sales objective.
- Giving the printer poor artwork but expecting excellent results.
- Forgetting to emphasize the unique selling proposition of your business.
- Omitting (or hiding) prices if they are critical to the reader’s decision-making.
- Printing too many brochures with details that date too quickly.
- Giving insufficient thought to how the brochure should best be distributed.
- Using text on the brochure that is too small to read easily.
- Including poor-quality or inappropriate illustrations.
- Allowing a fussy or complex design to distract from the key selling message.
- Forgetting to monitor the response (as with any other type of advertising).
Deciding on Your Purpose
To be successful, a brochure needs to be produced with a precise objective and a target reader in mind. Brochures fall into two broad categories — those that introduce a new product or service to a likely customer and those that turn an already interested customer into a buyer. What is it that you want to accomplish?
Choosing the Right Color, Photos & Graphics
Use color, such as full color photographs and eye catching graphics to focus attention on your main selling features and to improve the perception of quality. Two colors are better than one, and full-color printing is better yet. Color gets noticed. Use high quality photos, rather than a bad photo of a particular family member. Be
choosy and realistic on the subject matter.
Choosing Paper & Design
Using a glossy paper will often make your full color brochure look more vibrant and professional. If you plan on mailing your brochure, we can recommend a paper that will stand up to the potential damage done during the mailing process and to fit their strict specifications for bulk mailing. We have a huge selection of recycled papers in all price ranges with fun textures that really help put the “feel” of what your selling together. Avoid the temptation to try to jam too much information into a small space. In
good brochure design, less is more. Don’t overlook the value of white space to bring a clean look to your design and to help accentuate key selli
