Filed under: Design Inspiration | Tags: business cards, business essentials, letterheads, PrintPlace Reviews, PrintPlace.com
Does your company have all the materials needed for a successful brand image?
Though advertising and other marketing materials reinforce your company’s image, common business tools such as business cards, letterheads, envelopes, notepads and labels complete the brand identity package.
Let PrintPlace.com give your company’s image a lasting professional touch. Get all of your business essential products printed today!
Letterhead is the foundation of corporate identity. Complete your corporate image and add a matching full color envelope.
Stationery printing is foremost the top professional method of choice when tying your brand in with all marketing and advertising materials.
To really round out your image, print custom envelopes along with your stationery. Custom envelope printing that includes your logo and corporate identity is proven to dramatically improve read rate of direct mail.
Business cards are the most portable and informative form of communication that is always on hand.
Adding a notepad to an already complete stationery set is a great way to keep your company information in front of your customers.
Give your brand image an extra touch of professionalism with hang tags. Take your product image up a notch while reinforcing your brand.
While a customer may not be able to keep your presentation materials on hand, your business card is a different story - they can grab it and go.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 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: Uncategorized | 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.
Filed under: Design Inspiration | Tags: business cards, unique business card designs
Aggressive marketing defines success, but what is even more important is creating a favorable first impression. Clever and creatively designed business card help you sell yourself even before you start advertising your business. Business cards are often your first visual interaction with the client and help in answering the essential 4 “W’s” – Who What, Where and When. Additionally, an attractive business card will not only help you in expanding your business network, but if you have a unique design it clings to the memory of the potential customers thus increasing your chance of getting business. Below are the some examples of creative and unique business cards you may thought weren’t possible:
1. Create a Car
First on the list of eye-catching card is this unique card of Intersection. Nothing could be a better way to market yourself then engaging your customer in assembling your card into a beautiful sports car. The more time spent by the user assembling the card, more amount of time you get to attract the customer towards your business. And with a card as unique as this, the customer is bound to get impressed with your creativity.
2. Hairstylist Card
Ever thought that bob pins used for creating elegant chignons and hairstyles could be used for any other purpose? Yuka Suzuki, hair and make up artist, used these every day hair accessories to design her business card. A differently styled business card guarantees you a differently styled beautiful hair style.
3. Broken Plates Promotes Greek Restaurant
If you are a hotelier or a restaurant owner and tired of extra expenses because of broken plates, take a tip from this Greek restaurant and convert those broken pieces into a way to promote yourself by using them to make your business cards.
4. Bottle Opener as a Business Cards
Japan has been known worldwide for its high tech technology, new ideas and innovations. This is apparent from this business card which has been designed as a bottle opener. Who would throw away such a useful business card?
5. USB Drive as Business Card
Another example of Japan’s innovation – promoting business by making use of a pen drive! A pocket USB drive is a great way to promote abrand and with the memory prices going down, it’s also an inexpensive way to creating that lasting impression.
6. Go Green With Lush
Lush Lawn & Property Enhancement has found a unique way to sell what they are best at doing … landscaping and creating beautiful gardens. When you open the Lush business card, designed like an envelope, you find grass seeds – a symbol of lush green lawns which you will enjoy with the help of their service.
7. Clothes Pin Business Card
To avoid his business card getting lost in the wallet as just another business card, Cehovin Eduard came up with this interesting business card in the form of a clothes pin. This is a great way to avoid getting lost in the crowd!
8. Divorce Lawyers’ Business Card
A business card is a reflection of your personality or an extension of your profession and this has been considered seriously by divorce lawyer James in coming up with a business card. There isn’t a better way to represent what divorce lawyers do than this card!
9. Balloon Business Card of Chest Physician
Suffering from asthma and looking for a physician who can help you improve your lungs? Visit Dr Pramod Niphadkar usesdeflated balloons to promote his practice. Details of the doctor’s practice are fully visible once the balloon is inflated. This creative idea which will surely help in attracting more patients!
10. Needle Pricks to Design Card for Acupuncturist
Acupuncturists helps you get rid of body pain, stress and numerous other disorders by inserting very thin needles at appropriate pulse points. A clever needle-punched design has been used to create acupuncturist Dr. Melissa Carr’s business card.
11. Clothing Tags Promoting Tony Thielsen Designs
Would you more likely to visit the store of a label selling 50 dollars worth of goods for just 2 cents? That’s the concept being used by Tony Thielsen in creating these business cards designed like price tags offering huge discounts. A card like this is certain to hold any woman’s fancy!
12. Toothpick & Mirror
Uniqueness is what attracts a buyer and sets you apart. Designed by Ji Young Chun, this card is a perfect collectible for women looking for a mirror to touch up their makeup.
13. Edible Card by a HeadHunter
Discretion is the hallmark of a good headhunter. This philosohpy has been taken to heart by Aert Van Seggrerian in coming up with this lovely edible card. Eat after reading to remove all visible traces of communication. Now this is one smart move.
14. Business Card of a Personal Trainer
The job of a personal trainer is to inspire you to stretch and sweat in order to achieve that dream look. And if personal trainer Paul Nielsen can inspire you to stretch and read his business card, then he can surely motivate you to move!
15. Business Card of a Debt Recovery Agent
An x-ray of a broken hand has been used by the debt recovery agent Rajesh Rajan to drive home his point rather aggressively. Who wouldn’t like to get rid of their debts faster after receiving such a scary business card?
16. Humor Personified in Blank Business Card
A witty line can be used to register yourself in the clients memory. This wit has been used (and used well) by Dave Blank in designing his business card. A simple design – with a simple one liner - but offering a tremendous impact.
17. Dentist’s Business Card
Dr. Lance Schmidt used the embossing of teeth to advertise his Reflections Dental Care. A simple design in white and blue with just engravings representing desirable white teeth makes this card simply attractive.
18. Furniture Company Business Card
Taking you back to fond memories of your first doll house is what Jim Proffitt’s business card evokes. It promotes his line of hand made furniture with a small die-cut chair popping up upon opening the card. This card will surely make you want to visit the store to look around for yourself.
19. Security Consulting Firm using Lock & Pick Card
Sometimes just looking at a business card just makes you say “wow” and you are tempted to possess one for yourself. Kevin Mitnick’s metal die-cut card is designed to look like a set of lock-picking tools. This innovative card is sure to cross a lot of hands.
20. Chocolate Business Cards
Finally – a business card you can eat after reading! Business cards designed on chocolates are latest craze and are being used not just by candy companies but by other major corporations. A chocolate business card is a sure bet to bring a sweet smile to anyone’s face.
21. Inter-changeable card
Looking for a fresh business card that allows you to change your designation without spending a lot of money? Get these beautiful business cards. Featuring a colorful outer envelope with an interchangeable white sheet is what adds to the usability and utility of using this design
22. Peanuts Business Cards
Well, this business card has been included in this list just for its sheer ingenuity. Using peanuts as a medium to promote your business is screaming your style statement “Dares to be Different.”
23. Forensic Experts Business Cards
Coming in a plastic ziplock bag showing a hair strand, forensic expert Sheryl Shikora makes a bold statement with these fluorescent green and white business cards featuring graphics suitably publicizing her profession.
24. Wanderlust Maps & Travel Guides
Planning to travel around a city and looking for travel guide or road map? Wanderlust Maps and Travel Guides, with their unique business card designed in the form of location map, will help you in easily finding the coolest destinations. This card is a great way to promote the travel guide business!
25. Architecture School Business cards
Belgium Architecture La Cambre uses business cards in the form of building blocks to advertise their expertise. It creates the desire to collect the cards and build your very own business card building. Anyone can be an architect!
These beautiful unique business cards take creativity to an entirely new level. So take inspiration from one or more of these cards or come up with your own unique design and dare to be different.
Filed under: Printing Help | Tags: advertising, blog, blogging, branding, brochures, business, business cards, economy, flyer printing, forums, marketing, website
Even though the economy is sinking into a recession or into a “recession-like” economy (“what’s the difference?” I’d like to ask the experts!), you don’t have to slash your marketing budget down to nothing. There are plenty of low-cost or no-cost marketing techniques you can use if your marketing budget isn’t overflowing. Here are some ideas to try:
1. Create a Web site or blog. You should already have a Web site, but just in case you don’t, make one. Or, if your Web site host is charging you hundreds of dollars per year to keep your site up, try finding another host. You can get a free site through Mysite.com or Freewebs.com. You’ll have to allow the Web host to run ads on your site, but you can also get low-cost hosting services for as little as $20 per month.
If you don’t have a blog, I’d suggest starting one of those too. (In fact, a lot of companies create blogs that function as their Web site. That’s not a great option, as you can’t create Tabs and nice graphic design like you can with a Web site host, but in tough times, you can make it work.) Either way, you should have a blog so that you have some way of communicating with your customers and prospects. A blog is a great way to get your personal side out there for your customers to see, and it’s also a great way to establish yourself as an expert – by giving advice on your products and industry.
2. Post on forums and article sites. Staying online, you should also post expert answers on forums, or at least join in a conversation about something going on in your industry. You can include a link to your Web site on these forum posts, which will drive more traffic your way, and increase therefore business. There are plenty of article databases that you can post free articles to, but make sure that your articles are informative and give the reader something of value. People want to buy from a business owner who is seen as expert; no one wants to buy from a business owner who has nothing to offer.
3. Hang some printed flyers. Yep, getting back to basics is not a bad way to drum up some business in hard times. People still have to go the grocery store and the bank, so hang up your printed flyers there. And in hard times, more people will be getting to the store by bus, so hang some flyers at the bus stops as well. Be sure to either design your flyer so that you have some tear-offs with your contact info at the bottom, or make a pocket on the flyer (simple as attaching an envelope) that has your full color brochures or custom business cards in it.
4. Word-of-mouth marketing. Simply ask current customers to spread the word. People believe their friends and family over marketing materials anyway, so use that to your advantage. You can sweeten the deal for current customers by creating some referral cards that current customers can give to new customers. The incentive? A discount on the current customer’s next purchase. This is a proven way to get new business and at the same time, show your current customers that you care about them, too.
