Design

When it comes to catalog printing, great design is a must. What makes the design of a catalog great is both subjective and situational, i.e., the layout for a tool catalog may not be as critical as the design of a fashion clothing catalog. If you have some hesitation, please consult a printing professional or graphic design specialist. With planning, hard work, and some wise counsel,  you can design a fabulous catalog.  And by utilizing a professional who designs everyday, your catalog can go from good to great. So ask yourself the question: Would you rather have a good boost in sales from your catalog? Or a great boost?

Images

High quality images are no longer just for the few exceptional catalogs. The bar has been raised and high-quality images are a minimum requirement for a great catalog. Don’t use text to just tell your customers how much they will enjoy what you have to offer – show the customer how much someone else is enjoying their purchase. A photograph of a customer who is completely content is always a big winner. Photos of people using your product is another great way to encourage believability in the quality of your offer.  Whatever the message or whomever the audience, a great catalog always includes high quality images.   

Printing

Professional printing will maximize great design and exceptional images. The do-it-yourself method might produce a  good catalog, but as it is with design, using a professional can produce a great catalog. When it comes to advertising, trying to save money on the front end will usually cost more in the long run.  Low quality printing will diminish the perceived quality of your products, resulting in fewer sales. Not only will printing with a professional improve the appearance of your catalog but can also be done far more cost effectively than you can imagine.  Usually things like finishing,  binding, mailing, unusual sizes, etc. can be worked into the quote.  And of course, with an online catalog printing company, the more copies you order, the lower your cost per piece.

When it comes to creating a successful catalog, paying attention to quality in the areas of design, images, and printing is vital.  Take the time and effort to make sure that every product in your catalog looks desireable and even necessary. Your sales require it!

In this world of cut throat competition you have to make your mark by grabbing the attention of the public by making them aware of what sets you apart from the crowd. To make audiences aware of your unique selling proposition, you need to market aggressively using low cost printed material. About 72% of small business owners make use of their own computers and printers for creating printed material for advertising which include sending business proposals & promotional letters, flyers, brochures, marketing booklet, direct mails, advertisements in news papers and also presentations. Another important printed media used for business networking is exchanging of business cards. So let’s see how we can effectively use printed materials for promoting our products and services even during bear market:-

1.  Get a Custom Logo & Business Cards

The first step to promote your business is coming up with a logo that instantly catches person’s eye and becomes synonym with your business. Be it Ronnie of McDonalds or “just do it!”  The tag line of Nike has helped them in promoting their business. Search for a local artist or a design firm online; explain them about your business and what you had been looking for. To get a better deal you can ask the same graphic firm to come up with the design for your letter heads and business cards which will help you in getting a great discount along with the relevant stationary to promote your business.

Business card are a reflection of who you are, what you sell and when and where you can be contacted. Research reveals that more then 33% of the business alliances are established by the exchange of business cards. All the more reasons for getting your business cards printed quickly!

2.  Direct Mail 

Ever thought how useful a cheap expensive postcard can be in marketing your business? A witty saying, colorful graphics and an overview of your business with your phone number and business address should form the basic content of your postcard marketing strategy. Everyone loves receiving mails and the mail becomes more special if it has something great to offer. To promote business you can even provide small gifts to all those customers who visit your store with your promotional postcards which will surely make the customers look around and purchase other merchandise. Use bright colors and avoid using very small fonts to create good marketing postcards which will surely help in moving up your sales.

3.  Get Published in Trade Journals & Organize Road Shows

So you want your company’s name to be in limelight and in people’s mind, contribute white papers and successful case studies to the leading trade journals subscribed by customers and other organizations. This is the best way to send the signal of your success across the masses.

Also come out with your newsletters and send them to your potential clients informing them about the new updates and new events that had been organized by your firm.You can further promote your business by sending your top officials as key speakers to some of the top conferences and trade fairs. Therefore by using some simple technique you can still end up increasing your revenue by using some efficient yet inexpensive promotional methods. You can even organize road shows and design attractive presentations to inform the clients about your business and success stories. Also try to rope in few of their past satisfied clients which will assist you further in getting more clients.

4.  Brochures & Flyers

An excellent way to promote your business to the largest target audience, who are not even computer savvy, is by making use of flyers and brochures. Apply “Keep It Simple” rule while designing your brochures. A clean layout with product listing including some images and key features of each product and service which you have to offer should be placed in your brochure.Understand who would be your target audience and come up with the brochures material keeping customer in mind.

You have a very short time span from about 30 seconds to a maximum of three minutes to capture customer]s attention, so power pack your brochure with only relevant information. With the onset of digital printing it is all the more reason to get your flyers and brochures printed at a lesser cost per unit even if you want to get only a small quantity of brochures to be printed at first. So try marketing your services using inexpensive brochures in this time of economic slow down.

5.  Marketing Booklets

So you had sent letters, followed up with brochures and attracted a customer finally to your store, the next marketing strategy would be to prepare a 6-8 page marketing booklet for increasing business to business and also business to consumer marketing. This booklet should include details of your product along with the relevant images and graphics, FAQ’s, case study and yes the last page of the booklet should contain testimonials from the successful customers which help in establishing your credibility. Vibrant, colorful and with useful information a marketing booklet helps in reaching out and winning more customers.

Print media is an effective way to promote your business when the world is experiencing the down swing in economy. Keep the AIDCA (Attract, Interest, Desire, Conviction & Action) philosophy in mind while designing your brochures, marketing booklets, newsletters and advertisements which will help you in generating sales even when the going gets tough.

• Easy to Create: – Bring out your creative juices and design your own flyers as no one can understand your business needs better then you. Alternatively contact one of the advertising firms which can help you in designing your flyers and catalog which can instantly grab customers’ attention. With the introduction of digital printing and advancement in web technology now it is possible to come up with delightful colorful catalogs with minimum efforts.

• Cost Effective:-If you are an owner of a start up and you are having limited budget , then an effective marketing strategy can be planned by spending some time doing effective research and coming up with flyers and catalog of the products and services being offered by you. The flyers and catalogs will help you in reaching the target audiences with much expenditure on marketing efforts. Printing and distributing flyers and catalogs turn out to be cheaper then placing ads in local newspapers.

• Generate Useful Leads: – Most of the printing agencies and marketing firms have a huge collection of flyers templates. Select a template and content which grabs instant attention of the customer and urges them to visit your business. Flyers and catalogs should lay emphasis on your strengths and list down the benefits which will help customer in making a choice. Also be sure to print your contact numbers and business address on these flyers and catalogs for the customers to contact.

• Easy to distribute: – Flyers and catalogs can be distributed in numerous ways. You can circulate flyers along with newspapers or leave them in a public place or place them on the windscreens of the vehicles in the parking lots. This ease of distribution helps in reaching more target audience.

• Comfort in carrying and sharing information :- Marking your loot on the flyers and catalogs before entering the shopping mall helps in not only reducing your shopping time but also proves to be pocket friendly as it saves you from making unnecessary purchases. If you want to inform your friend about the latest laptop which you have noticed in the electronic shop mailer, simply forward the online catalog to your friends inbox. You can also share printed flyer with your neighbors and friends.

• Share Product Updates: – Flyers and catalogs are also a great way to promote the latest offerings of your store. So if you are introducing the new Britney Spears fragrance in your store or you are the first to introduce the new Sony video game inform the customers by sending them flyers and updated catalogs which are bound to spur your sales.

• Have a Larger Reach:- Catalogs and flyers helps in advertising your products and services to people who have no access or no interest in computers or any other modern way of communication. Also flyers can be circulated in malls, in residential localities, parking lots and various other places thereby publicizing the project in larger audiences.

• Effecting Listing of Product Details: - Catalogs and flyers list down all the product details and specification along with the photographs which makes it easier for the customer in reaching a decision. Catalogs list down all the technical specifications of a product which helps you in making comparison with the similar products currently available in market and you can strike a good deal.

• Promote Business: - Neilson survey revealed that customers receiving online catalogs and flyers are 15% more likely to make a purchase. With more then 92% American households now having access to internet online catalog has become a great way to advertise your services.

• Easy to reproduce: – Last but not the least creating a template of flyers and catalogs can be later used for printing more copies. Also the template can be used to make modification in case of any updates and changes. As you don’t have to start the flyer design process from the scratch use of flyers and catalogs actually help in saving cost, time and efforts.

So enjoy the benefits of this effective media of advertising to promote all your business needs.

So, here are a few secrets to success for catalog printing.  There’s no way around it, this is a daunting task.  But with some careful planning anyone can produce a professional, successful catalog.

l  Use a team – unless your catalog will only be a few pages, you will more than likely need the help of the team.  Consider at least one expert on your team who has experience in catalog design and printing.

l  Plan, plan, plan  –  before you even begin amassing all of your products and services for the catalog, sit down and decide on your purpose and format.  What is your budget? Is this catalog for businesses or consumers?  How much information do you really need?  These questions and more will guide you and your team as you begin collecting all your information.

l Categories – consider grouping your information in your catalog into categories.  Of course, this completely depends on the content of your catalog.  Most businesses can break their products and services into smaller, logical categories so that consumers can quickly reference what they need.  This also helps you pull all of your information together.

l Images – this is one of the few places you should consider cutting costs.  Product images are the first thing that consumers look at, according to design theory.  So make sure you have stunning images that represent your products accurately.

Love them.”

- Jennifer McMillan, February 12, 2008