Now, What Do You Do For A Living?
How good are you at promoting yourself verbally? When you meet people, do you let them know what you do for a living? You should. However, many business owners and professionals fail to tweet their own horn. Sure it’s easy to talk about your business or line of work at business networking functions, but what about in social situations?
Read the following story and see if you can relate. This is a true story about myself. A lady walks into our office and relays to our office manager that she needs some business cards printed. So she is referred to one of our promotional products specialists. While I am in my office, I can hear parts of the conversation happening and the client’s voice sounds familiar. So I peek my head out and see a friend from church that I have known for about four years. When I see her, I greet her and she says, “I didn’t know you worked here.” I reply with, “Not only do I work here, but I own Perfect Imprints.”
So the moral is the story is that I very obviously did a lousy job promoting myself and my business. Now you must have some etiquette and not be annoying. You don’t want to turn social situations into business situations. You don’t want to conduct business while at church service. But, as you are wrapping up your conversation with friends, acquaintances, or new people you meet, just casually hand them your business card and say, “Here’s my business card with my contact info on it in case you ever need to get in contact with me.” I guarantee everyone will look at it and associate your business with you. Whether you own a business or work for a business, you should always promote that business and ensure your job security every opportunity you get.
So don’t be shy. Tell others about your business and begin developing deeper relationships with clients. In small business, more people than not, prefer to do business with someone they know and trust. Capitalize on that trust and your business will see growth.
We Print Everything But Money, Or Do We?
I always tell potential clients that we print everything but money. We leave that to the government, and in recent times, they just print it whenever they want it.
However, I got to thinking about this statement, and it turns out we actually do print money. Now I’m not talking about counterfeiting, because we certainly don’t do that. We do print funny money. Below are a few examples of some funny money that we can print.
Now there are a lot of applications with funny money for any business. It’s not just for playing Monopoly or Life. You can use these as coupons towards purchases from your business. You could use these as gift certificates. You could use these as money towards rewards for employees or clients. Some companies put their owner or CEO picture in their funny money or their company logo. These are memorable items to receive because they have value and “value” is one of the most important aspects of any promotion. What’s in it for the client? Well, saving money is what’s in it for them, and I don’t know many people who don’t like to save money.
Boring Gift Certificate
So, are you ready to spruce up your boring old gift certificates? You know the ones I’m talking about. Just look to the right and I’ll refresh your memory. Now if your clients had a gift certificate like the one on the right posted on their refrigerator versus a funny money gift certificate like seen above, which one is more fun and stands out the most? I think the funny money option would win out every time. Be fun; be creative, and stick out from the crowd. Your eye will always be attracted to money, even if it’s fake money.
At Perfect Imprints, we can custom design your very own unique money design and transform into a gift certificate, coupon, or reward. Just give us a call at 1-800-773-9472 and we will work for you to get a little more recognition for your business.
3 Must Have Marketing Items For Any Small Business
It’s no secret that it’s a tough world out there for business owners. We are the last ones to get paid and many times we have to forego our paychecks altogether to make sure our employees and suppliers are paid. We have multiple competitors who all seem to have more money than us even though we know their quality is much lower. It’s so easy to waste money on various advertising and marketing tactics that are epic fails. However, there are 3 essential items that almost all small business owners can get and see an immediate return on their investment.
- Car Magnets – These are a minimal investment around $60-$80 each for a decent sized, full-color car magnet which can greatly increase visibility for your business. If you have employees, ask them if they would be willing to support your business by placing car magnets on the vehicle they drive to work. Explain to them that this is just job security. Have your spouse put the magnets on his/her vehicle. These will pay for themselves over and over and one set will last for several years.
- Flags – It’s getting much more popular to see feather flags when driving down the road. That’s because they work! They attract attention of drivers passing by and bring attention to your store or advertised specials. When you drive through a business district, you pass hundreds or thousands of businesses. What makes you notice any individual business over another one? A full-color printed flag will generate plenty of attention. My flags have been at the roadside in front of my business now for 6 months and I have about a 1000% Return On Investment (ROI) already. What’s that ROI going to be after a full year or 2 years? I can’t wait to see. It’s now just free advertising.
- Business Cards – Now I don’t mean any old, cheap looking business card. I mean something unique. Maybe printing with spot UV or a die-cut card to compliment your business industry or logo. Be colorful and creative. These are individual salesmen for your company. They say a lot about your company. If you give out cheap and flimsy business cards, your image will be cheap. If you give out a creative and high quality card, that will now be your image.
Perfect Imprints has a vast knowledge of branding and marketing for your business while maintaining a friendly budget. These 3 items can immediately and drastically improve your sales. If you are a home based business, just forego the flags, but car magnets and a great business card design is a must. Give us a call and let us help you boost your sales at a minimal cost.
How To Effectively Design A Flyer
In order to effectively promote your business or event, flyers are vital marketing items. However, flyers don’t always help your cause. They can sometimes be harmful if not designed properly. An amateurish design can reflect a poor impression upon your business or event. With over 12 years in the design and marketing business, I have put together a list of tips, ideas, and suggestions about how to properly design a flyer for maximal response.
- Color – Just like with clothing, automobiles, and accessories, it’s all about color. Be bold, bright, and use current color trends to grab the attention of viewers. It’s the same cost these days to print in full color as it is to print in one color, so make sure and take advantage of a full color design. Just make sure and don’t use contrasting colors which will make your flyer difficult to read.
- Fonts – A common amateur mistake is using too many fonts. I recommend sticking with no more than 2 font types. It is very distracting to use more than 2 typestyles. Use bolder, easier to read fonts and shy away from script which is harder to read.
- Logo – Be sure to include your logo on anything printed. This is one of the main principles of branding. Any business, organization, non-profit, politician, or annual event should have a logo. This is imperative to establish your brand. If you don’t have a logo, give me a call and we can offer a very affordable logo design package for you.
- Images – Imagery is a vital part of great design. Your eye will direct to images before it will to text. I strongly discourage the use of straight clip-art on your flyers. A well taken photo often works much better and will look much more professional. However, rarely, can you find free, royalty-free photographs to use in your design, so plan on spending just a little to beef up your flyer. We have access to over 14,000,000 professional photos for design for a charge of only $10 per photograph. That’s a small price to pay to take your design from dull to explosive!
- Headline – Make sure you have a headline that pops. The bottom line is that people are busy and they will not read your flyer if the main headline doesn’t capture their attention. Make sure it is descriptive and intriguing.
- Power Words – Make sure and use power words in your headlines and descriptions, such as FREE, Brand New, Guarantee, Easy, Amazing, Mind-Blowing, State of the Art, etc.
- Audience – Make sure you appeal to your intended audience. If you are promoting to college-aged students, your design should reflect that. If you are targeting senior citizens, design to appeal to that generation.
- Contact Info – Make sure your contact info is prominent. People will have questions. Include a website, phone number, and an email address for more information. Be sure to include all three, because while many prefer email, others prefer calling. Another very effective approach is to include a cell number and say, “For More Information, Text To: 555-555-5555.” Texting is huge, so take advantage of this popular form of communication.
- Design – Design doesn’t just have to do with pictures and text. There is much more than that. You must have a flyer designed to direct the eye toward the most important elements such as the event date or deadline or the Call to Action. This is where a professional designer can help you. If you are putting on a big event with lots of sponsorships, make sure you budget a little money for design of your printed material. Your event will be more successful, as long as you retain a great designer.
- Concise – Do not be guilty of information overload. This is a common mistake which leads to people just ignoring your flyer. Be concise and to the point. Leave a little to the imagination so they are intrigued.
- Appeal – Make sure your content is appealing and not like an advertisement. If you read your newspaper this morning , can you name an ad that you saw in the paper? Chances are you probably can’t. That’s because your brain skipped right over that bit of information because you weren’t receptive to advertising at that time and were reading for news and not ads. The same goes for your flyers. If you have your flyer posted at a restaurant, for example, people are eating, drinking, and having a good time with their friends and family. They don’t want to see advertising and they will ignore it. However, if your flyer has appeal, they will read it.
- Jargon – The medical community and attorneys are notorious for using their industry jargon that those outside the profession can’t even begin to understand. As soon as readers start seeing this unfamiliar jargon, they shut down and stop reading. Write your content for a 10th grade audience. This will ensure that your content will be read by the masses.
- Incentives – Great points to highlight on your flyers would be incentives you offer. What is in it for them? Be sure and tell about free prizes, giveaways, a coupon, free admission, a popular music band, drink specials, fun, etc. Let the reader know why they should attend.
- Testimonials – People love testimonials. They build trust. You should include testimonials when possible with attendees reactions to your event or experience with your service or product.
- Proofing – Use proper spelling and grammar. Period. Have others not involved with the design and content writing proofread the flyer. Your brain knows how the content is supposed to be read and it will often read it the correct way, when in fact there is a blatant misspelling. And by all means, make sure you use there, their, and they’re correctly as well as your and you’re.
- Alignment - Be strategic about the alignment of your text. Keep a good balance between text and photos. It is much easier on the eye to keep a neat alignment of your paragraphs and photo edges.
- Print – Print only with high quality printing. There are many color printers whose print lacks the vivid color that your flyer should have. This is due to inferior printing equipment. Top quality printers can cost millions of dollars which eliminates a lot of “mom and pop” shops. Ask for print samples prior to production if you suspect a possible inferior product. Stick with 100 lb paper stock or better with an aqueous coating to really make a great impression. If you are mass marketing your flyers to 10,000 or more people, then you can save a little money and use an 80lb paper stock, but don’t go any less or you will look cheap.
Now, any good designer knows that you can’t always meet every one of these objectives for every flyer design, however, these are some of the most important points to consider. The take home message is to not have your flyer looking like it was designed by an amateur (a.k.a. “yourself”). Having a professional look to your flyers will reflect organization and will attract more people. If you want a professional design for your next flyer, be sure to contact Perfect Imprints and we will make you look good.
Branding Checklist For Small Business
So some people ask, “What is Branding?” Steering clear of any cattle, branding in business simply means the identity of a business or product. A well know example would be Kleenex. Kleenex has done such a great job of branding that many people don’t say, “I need a tissue,” but they say, “I need a Kleenex.” Kleenex is the name of the product; but it is now interchangeable with the type of product it is.
A top priority for any business should be to create a unique branded image and protect that image at all times. This means that any time you print business cards, brochures, promotional products, produce videos, post on social media, create custom apparel, or do any other forms of marketing, you should stay consistent with your brand. You have many competitors both locally and online that offer the exact same service, so how do you differ from them?
Below are 3 key points to use as a simple and easy checklist to make sure you are staying true to your branding when doing your marketing.
- Always use your logo. Think about how many people know the McDonald’s arches. Better yet, think about how many people DON’T know what the McDonald arches represent. While you may be a small business and your logo won’t be recognized nationwide, it will be recognized within your local business region if you brand it properly. Don’t skew the proportions of your logo and don’t change the colors. Sometimes you have to print black/white and that is okay. The ultimate goal is for people to be able to recognize your logo without having the business name printed below it. That’s successful branding!
- Stay true to your company colors. Most companies have certain colors used with their logo and their marketing theme, which is great. When possible, always use the color combination in both your marketing products and when printing your logo. This consistency of color branding reinforces your brand.
- Develop a tagline that highlights why your company is different from competitors OR a tagline that is catchy or funny and represents the mood of your company. Always use your tagline on any printed products.
Overall, the main theme to remember in branding is consistency. Always keep a uniform look and make sure your employees understand this as well so your branding comes across consistent in all forms of communication. Over the long term, your branding will pay off big time and your company will have a much better recognition with not only your current clients, but also with potential clients who have yet to use your products or services.
What NOT To Print On Your Business Cards
Business cards are a staple of any business. There are very few people in business who can get away with not having business cards. For the rest of us who need business cards, it is very important to have a professionally designed business card in order to portray a positive image of our company. There are many “design your cards online” type of websites out there; however, these are almost always amateur looking designs that will make your business look unprofessional. Is it worth saving 20 bucks on your order of business cards in lieu of having a great design? Certainly not! The most important aspect of any marketing piece, including business cards, is the element of design. Over the past few decades of designing and printing business cards, I have seen many business card designs that were absolutely horrible and unprofessional. As a matter of fact, it is getting worse to the point of an epidemic due to the explosion of “Do It Yourself” cheap business card websites. My suggestion is . . . If you are NOT a designer, opt to have a professional designer layout your business cards for you. Your business card is an extension of your business self and it often times presents a first impression of you and your business. Do you want your first impression with new clients to be positive or negative?
Here are 15 Pitfalls to avoid on your Business Cards:
- Low resolution images that will print blurry.
- Free emails such as Yahoo, MSN, GMail, etc.
- Outdated picture of yourself.
- Phrase on back of business cards that says, “These cards were printed FREE at www.^!&t@p#!#t.com.
- Gramatical Erors (Seriosly, no mispellings)
- Blank to write in name of salesperson.
- Too many different fonts.
- Colors with strong contrast such as Green on Red.
- Long distance phone number if soliciting local business.
- Microsoft looking clipart.
- Font size 8 point or smaller.
- Too much info.
- Cluttered layout.
- Thermal printed business cards. Really? That’s so 1980.
- Thin card stock. Thicker is better.
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