Filed under: Cool stuff, Presentation folders, advertising, branding, marketing | Tags: advertising, branding, folders
Presentations can be intimidating for the presenter and even – unfortunately – boring at times for the audience. One way to lessen the intimation and reduce boredom is to have a presentation that includes your presentation and marketing materials in beautifully designed custom folders. Custom folders can enhance presentations on any topic to any audience. Here are some tips for a powerful presentation with the use of custom folders.
Custom folders are an attention grabber – A beautiful design on the glossy cover of your presentation folder will catch the attention of your audience. The design can be customized to the presentation of a new product being launched or simply a representation of your business logo, large and prominently placed. Custom folders immediately give your audience something to focus their attention on and can help guide their attention throughout the presentation. Instead of the audience’s mind wandering, they can focus on your folder and the information it contains.
Custom folders inspire confidence in your product – Selling is all about the confidence you have that your product can meet your customer’s needs. In addition to your spoken presentation and the points made in it, a custom folder gives the audience an impression of the confidence you have that your product will meet their needs. When your customers have confidence in your abilities, having your name and logo on the cover of a custom folder gives credence to all that it contains. Customers will trust your recommendation because they trust your judgment.
Custom folders hold information – Without the use of custom folders, at the end of your speech the audience will stand up and walk out perhaps never again thinking about the information you presented. With a custom folder, all of the information your customers need can be placed inside ahead of time, and when they prepare to leave they can take all of that information away with them. Custom folders are often printed with the business name and have a place to hold business cards inside in addition to product brochures and other marketing information. Organizing all of this information neatly for your customer helps bolster their confidence that you can manage their needs as well as you can manage your presentation.
Filed under: Cool stuff, printing | Tags: advertising, commercial printing, company, printing
The ever-increasing global move to green practices has made green marketing efforts a necessary part for businesses of all sizes and industries. Conserving resources and limiting waste are becoming just as important to customers as value and quality. Since marketing materials can be a big consumer of resources and a process that creates waste, it is an important area to concentrate on when it comes to green marketing practices that are good for you and your customers.
There are many different areas that marketing practices can be greened up as well as many areas of green responsibility that your business can market. Trends of conservations, responsibility, and value will continue to grow in the business marketing arena. Use the ideas below to help form a strategy of green marketing practices for your business that will be better for you and your customers.
- Choose the Right Vendors – A large part of marketing is printed material in the form of advertising brochures and posters, direct mail advertising, labels, and packaging. Many of these items are sourced to other vendors. Make sure you are aware of the practices of vendors before hiring them. If you are not sure, ask about their green practices. A printing company should be managing waste in two ways: by avoiding it and by recycling it. The paper stock they use for brochures, posters, labels, etc., may have recycled material in its composition. Inks should be vegetable based inks and inks with low volatile organic compound emissions being used, as opposed to petroleum based inks.
- Eliminate Your Office Waste – In addition to choosing vendors who are environmentally responsible, find ways you can eliminate waste in your own business. Take note and ask employees to report environmentally responsible practices they notice around the office. From energy efficient office equipment to healthy green grounds that help clean the air, measure and document as much as possible the savings your business is doing.
- Alert Your Customers – Finally, be sure to let customers know about the efforts you are making to use and encourage green practices in the marketing realm and in business operations. Add a little note to brochures, posters, and labels that they are printed on paper using inks with low volatile organic compound emissions. Add a paragraph to your sales brochures about your business’s green marketing and operations practices and about how you encourage vendors to use them as well. The collective reduction all of these little changes make adds up to be a big difference for you, your customers and future generations.
Filed under: advertising, branding, marketing, printing | Tags: advertising, branding, copywriting, marketing
Effective marketing does not have to cost a fortune – it just needs to have the right persuasive techniques employed. By using these five persuasive marketing techniques, you will be able to create advertising that will, over time, increase your brand recognition and increase your revenue. Using these five principles and see what happens to your message!
Be Frequent and Consistent - A lot of small businesses become discouraged when their advertising efforts don’t bring about the desired results. There are no marketing techniques for “instant” results, but employing your message on a regular, frequent schedule over a continuous period of time will, in most cases, pay off. Effective advertising requires getting your persuasive message in front of your market as often and as consistently as your budget allows.
Create Comprehension - The first principle in creating a persuasive message is comprehension. Readers should be able to instantly understand the message of your marketing piece. To create instant comprehension:
- Make sure your message is clearly stated with text and illustrated in the graphics.
- Use the principle of repetition to emphasize your message.
- Keep the message simple.
Build an Emotional Connection - The second principle for creating a persuasive message is connection. Readers will remember and respond to an advertisement that evokes an emotional response that helps them relate to your message. To create an emotional connection:
- Use a message that has meaning and significance for your target market.
- The message should trigger an emotional response – excitement, happiness, nostalgia, passion, etc.
- Use an emotional message that calls readers to action.
Be Credible - The third principle for creating a persuasive message is credibility. Your target audience needs to be able to believe your message. This ties back to the reputation of your business as well as the message being used in your campaign. To create credibility:
- Have high customer satisfaction standards for your business.
- Use ethical business practices based on integrity to build a believable reputation for your business.
- Use an emotional message that your target audience can believe.
Be Contagious - The fourth principle for creating a persuasive message is contagiousness. Think of the Gieco gecko: he is cute, he is funny, he is clever, and he is memorable. How can anyone resist this witty little reptile? To create contagiousness:
- Incorporate elements of humor, likeability, cleverness, and energy.
- Coin a memorable slogan or catch phrase that will stay with your target audience.
- Make sure your message is able to evoke an emotional response that will have your target audience talking about it and will motivate a demonstrable reaction.
Filed under: Cool stuff, branding, business cards, marketing, printing | Tags: business card printing, business cards, marketing
Before rushing into the all-important task of business card printing, take a moment to think about the role of your contact card. A business card should say something about you and your company. It should bring recall to the conversation between you and the client long after you have parted. Therefore, designing a business card should be carefully completed. Here are five considerations to keep in mind for creating a memorable business card.
- Stand out in a crowd – At any business event where everyone is passing out their business cards, attendees usually come away at the end of the day with a handful of contact cards. Yours should accurately and uniquely represent your company. Don’t make the mistake of creating a design that gets lost in the crowd, but rather one that stands out.
- Subliminal messages – The meanings of colors is a powerful way to convey certain feelings. Taking the time to research the different messages that each color sends will result in more than just a colorful card, it will also send the right kind of message.
- Tactile advantages – One important aspect to business card printing that many people forget about is the feel of the card. When touching your card, a client will associate any unusual tactile sensation with your personality. Try velvet for a more gentle message or sharp edges for an “all-business” corporate association.
- Quality stock – Using cheap paper tells others that what you have to offer is cheap. Prospects will have trouble believing that your product has the best features of any available if your contact information is printed on flimsy, low-quality stock.
- Speak clearly – The typography you choose for your text needs to not only represent your business image but should also be easy to read. Business cards do not allow for large a font, which means that the type of font you use should be easily readable in a small size. Too many curlicues will hide the shape of the letters, so opt for something a little more easy to see.
Always consider these five aspects of design before printing business cards to insure that yours accurately and uniquely represents your company image.
Filed under: advertising, branding, brochures, business cards, marketing, printing | Tags: advertising, branding, brochures, business cards, marketing, printing
Whether you are a new company looking for ways to make sure your brand is successful or a company that has tried and tried again but just can’t seem to get your brand to stick, there is a solution. When a brand flops, it is usually due to the same few mistakes. Your business can create a successful brand simply by knowing the most common reasons for branding failure and know how to correct them.
No Memorable Image – Some companies make the mistake of creating a logo without a memorable image. Make sure that the image in your logo is something that is uniquely yours and is appropriate for your company. Think of the Nike logo – the swoosh image is not only one-of-a-kind but also appealing to their target audience. The swoosh looks athletic.
Inconsistency - In every single item that is associated with your company, whether color posters or packaging materials, consistently use the same core branding aspects. The same logo, company name, tagline will reinforce your brand over and over to the public. For the same reason, you will need to give employees the same business card design for further branding consistency.
No Focus – What do you do best? What do you want to be known for? Whether it is one-on-one personalized service or the newest technology, constantly reinforce this unique offer. Also, know who your company appeals to. Know your target market so that you don’t waste your branding efforts on an audience that doesn’t have a need for your services. Knowing your target audience will further help you fine tune your company image to fit your customers’ needs and lifestyle.
Unbelievable Message – Your tagline and core message should be believable to customers. If you advertise like Verizon Wireless that “we never stop working for you,” you’d better follow through and never stop working for a customer when they come to you with a complaint about your service or product.
Poorly Constructed Message – In order for your customers to both remember and believe your message and tagline, they need to be able to understand what it is you are offering. If your message is jumbled with too many technical terms, your customers will get frustrated and give up trying to understand you. Be clear with your words and phrases so that customers know exactly what you offer and also what sets you apart from your competitors.
Poor Maintenance – Ever heard the phrase “keep on keeping on?” Don’t just stop with one marketing campaign, one run of color posters, one printing of brochures. Your marketing campaigns should be ongoing and constantly putting your brand in front of your target market. This concept is at the heart of successful branding. Most brands are successful simply because they become recognizable because they are always in the public eye.
Poor Customer Service – Train employees on your mission and goals. If your employees don’t know the image your company wants to portray, how can you expect them to portray this image to your customers? Employees should know the reason for your tagline; they need to be excited about making your brand known to customers.
Old Marketing Materials – Keep your look fresh by re-designing your marketing materials, including flyers, brochures and postcards every so often. While it does save money to order larger quantities, don’t order too much or you’ll bore your target audience with the same materials year after year. Just remember to keep your key branding items the same.
No Word of Mouth Advertising – One of the most common reasons for customers to switch companies is through referrals from their friends and family. Give existing customers referral postcards with a 10% discount for new customers, and give your existing customers the same for every postcard with their name on it that gets used. When you get positive feedback from customers, ask if you can use it in your brochures or place it on your website. Referrals help to reinforce the integrity of your brand.
No Plan for Testing – Your business needs to keep track of marketing efforts so that you know what works for getting your brand name to your target market. Track the return on investment (ROI) of your direct mail campaigns, research the best locations to hang your color posters, ask new customers how they heard of your business. Testing your marketing efforts will help you to build a tried and true campaign that will work for you year after year.
