28 Aug 2012
by Becky
in Marketing, Marketing TIPS
Tags: banners, booths, brochures, business cards, drawing forms, flyers, pre-show mailers, Promotional items, signage, themes, tradeshow booths, tradeshows
Trade shows are a proven way to showcase your company’s products and services, but it can be challenging to stand apart in what can seem like a never-ending sea of booths. Every Spring, The Building Industry Association and the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce put on wonderful tradeshows that showcase local businesses, and with their help, Since 1006, Print & Copy Factory has gathered together ideas and generated a seminar that you can attend for free. Keep an eye on our website for the dates for this early Spring.
Here are a few tips to ensure your company gets noticed before, during, and after the event:
- Send teaser pre-show mailers that encourage prospects to visit your booth. Include a raffle ticket for a giveaway, promote a prize drawing, or encourage recipients to stop by your booth for a free giveaway item.
- Consider a theme for your booth, such as a Hawaiian theme, coffee shop theme, or sports-related theme. If you don’t want to go the theme route, simply wear attire that is appropriate for the products you’re selling. For example, if you sell ski equipment, you could dress in ski apparel and offer visitors hot cocoa and free demos.
- Attract visitors with a delicious treat they can’t resist, such as homemade cookies, cupcakes, ice cream bars, cinnamon rolls, or even full-size candy bars wrapped with your marketing message.
- In addition to having a widescreen display that offers engaging, informative content, videos, and product highlights, remember that print materials (including business cards, brochures, and flyers) are a must for ensuring visitors will remember you after they walk away.
- Use a spotlight to draw attention to a new item or promote a “show special” or “best seller” item. Consider offering a significant discount for placing an order during or within a few days of the event, and have promotional flyers ready to pass out detailing any exclusive offers you provide.
- Be on the ball when mailing follow-up information. If you’re on the road, email someone at the office daily with requests to send info packets immediately.
- Most tradeshows now generate a list of attendees to the tradeshow, however, we still suggest that you do your own drawing/give-a-way of some sort, to collect leads. Flag the drawing form / business card with a rating 1-2-or-3 on the interest level that this person has with your product, so you can follow up with the hot ones right away. Follow integrity, and post the winner (take a photo perhaps) – during the show, on a sign, on facebook/twitter and website so everyone knows it was legit.
- Consider sending a lumpy mailer shortly after the event that includes a thank you card or flyer featuring a photo of you and/or your booth (to spark memory), a small promotional item, and a sample or trial offer of your product. You may also wish to promote an extension to any exclusive offers you marketed at the event.
Let us know if we can help you create stunning marketing materials, direct mail invites and follow-ups, promotional items, tradeshow booths and signage, that will not only spread the word but also help turn prospects into customers!
17 Jun 2011
by Becky
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
24 Jun 2009
by Becky
in Design, Marketing, Print
Tags: brochures, Design, Marketing, Print, rack cards, tips
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.
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