Before you avail of the printing services for the holidays, you may want to assess your internal direct mail list to know what your customers want and how you can thank them. This process can help you craft the sale offer to give them and apply the same to the rest of your target market. Here are the usual hints that customers give when they are satisfied with your product or service:

1.  They give out email or physical address.

Make it customary for your staff to request addresses at the point of purchase. If they share this information, you can then include it in your direct mail list for future postcard printing campaigns you may be planning.

2.  They are repeat customers.

When customers keep coming back, they are the ones who bring in the profits for your business. You can hand out loyalty cards that can be redeemed for items from your store so they will have an incentive to purchase more.

3.  They use your coupons.

Customer interest can also be measured by their response to your campaign. The use of discounts and coupon codes with their purchase will let you know if your campaign is effective.

Source: Marketingprofs.com

Business card printing is known to be inexpensive and convenient to hand out. Entrepreneurs will have them printed first before going into brochures or flyers to promote their products. The more people hurry to printing mills to secure their cards, the less thought goes into its design. In the end, these cards will only collect into a generic pile along with the other boring ones.

Death of the Four Corners

An entrepreneur ought to invest more on the printing services in order for the business card to stand out. Inquire from your printer what die-cut options they have to punch out interesting shapes within the rectangle or along its edges. Folded cards are also unique, so if you have the budget, go for the extra mile to add oomph to your design. Plain white or cream card stock and some dark ink is a typical combination of the majority of cards.

Breaking out of this rut means going for bold oranges and reds, golds and other metallic colors. To make your business card memorable, you need to take risks and try what is new out there. As long as it is consistent with your brand and image, the decision would certainly reap benefits for your business.

Source: Carltaylor.com.au

Once you have completed your flyer printing task, you may want to send a few copies through the mail. Jump right into the envelope-stuffing part with the following guidelines:

1.  Will a window make a difference?

No. While a window can cut a step in addressing your direct mail, its presence has no bearing whatsoever on whether your envelope will be opened or whether it will move the reader into action. Thus, feel free to go either way on this.

2.  Is a white envelope better?

When you speak of printing services costs, there is always the impression that a plain envelope in white will cost less. If you are on a tight budget, then you may have no other choice. Know, however, that opting for a colored envelope or one that has  an eye-catching graphic or art on it will generate more response. Even a witty catchphrase can lure a reader to read its contents. While you are at it, do something creative with the back part. Readers tend to pay attention to that as well.

3.  Will a thick envelope be a disadvantage?

If you have quite a bulk to pack, never fear. Many recipients are curious about the thicker-than-most envelopes they get in the mail. Thus, your advertisement will likely be opened in this case.

Source: Presentation-pointers.com

Catalog printing services may be one of the more expensive direct mail marketing products out there. When you know how to use it to your advantage, however, the return for the advertising buck you spent can also exceed the other cheaper materials.

Turning Wants to Needs

Unlike the single-page flyer printing, marketing through catalogs will give you the vehicle to push luxury items like expensive perfumes, signature handbags, designer furniture and high-ticket items like automobiles. Not all of your recipients may be able to afford these types of products but a well-crafted catalog with glossy pages and high-resolution photographs can help sway the decision-making process to your favor.

When Longevity is Paramount

Certain products are not dependent on technology and can have life cycles that would go on and on. Since there will be fewer updates on the catalog for these types of items, you can invest on sturdier covers and thicker paper so your customers, who may be business owners themselves, will be able to keep them around for a long time. While you may be spending more at the onset, these catalogs will not rip or tear that easily so you will not be replacing them as frequently.

Source: Articleblast.com

Like brochure printing, sending out newsletters periodically can get daunting. You will need to gather a few interesting articles to fill them up and keep your reader happy to be receiving them in the first place. Aside from writing your own content, you can spice up your newsletter in different ways.

1. Scour the net

The abundance of anecdotes, trivia and other articles found on the web should have you churning out your newsletter regularly. Just secure the necessary permission to reprint them and give due credit to the publisher or writer.

2. Insert coupons

Make the most of the cost of your newsletter’s printing services by gathering coupons from neighborhood retailers. If you are sending the newsletter for free, you can offset the cost by assigning a couple of pages for advertising spots. Invite your local dentist, pizza place or bakery to put their ads there.

3. Conduct interviews

An interesting personality usually has a good story to tell. Request for an interview and feature the person in one of the pages.

4. Give practical tips

Any helpful advice for the home or family will always be welcomed. Test them first so you will know that they will actually work.

Source: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=27025

No matter how experienced you are with flyer printing, there could still be instances when an advertising campaign will not deliver what you expected of it. Mistakes on flyers or any other printed material come from two general sources that you must learn to look into so you can avoid doing them again in the future.

The Content Mistakes

Getting the topnotch printing services may not guarantee you with an enthusiastic response when you are stingy with your content. Even if you assume that readers only have time for a quick scan, never sacrifice the need to provide complete information for the sake brevity. On the other hand, keep your offers simple and worth the trouble. People tend to lose interest in them if they have quite a circuitous route to follow before they can avail of the discount or if the discount is too small to make a dent on the purchase price.

The Delivery Mistakes

When your mailing list includes the business address of the receiver, you may do better to skip these. Your flyer will only be sorted out as junk without reaching your customer. Not having enough quantity printed will also prevent you from reaching everyone on your mailing list and will not help you hit those sales figures you want.

Source: http://www.postcardbuilder.com/blog/?p=305

When you are a small business owner, there are ways you can go beyond business card printing and give the major players in your industry a run for their money.

• Boost up your business plan.

Banks and lending companies will only lend you money to expand your business when you can convince them that you have a viable plan.

• Intensify your marketing campaigns.

When you compete via printed materials, you can hire a professional graphic artist and give your catalog, flyer and brochure printing that professional image. This will level out the playing field instantly. As long as you stick to the polished designs and stay away from the amateurish ones, no one can detect that you are just a startup company.

• Learn to negotiate.

To get the best deals in your raw materials, find a win-win situation that you can propose to your suppliers and work towards that. No one can resist a fair deal.

• Be more efficient.

While you may be wearing more hats to keep your business going, constantly evaluate your to-do list and eliminate or combine items so you can be free for more productive tasks like product development.

Source:  http://flyersprinting.ca/7-big-business-secrets-to-increase-your-small-business-success/

Deciding on whether to go with a booklet or a brochure printing for your marketing campaign largely depends on your purpose of having it in the first place. Both materials will require you to write and design a number of pages, although brochures can be made by dividing a single sheet into a three or four panels. To know which one will serve your purpose, take the time to study their differences.

Putting together the content

Since the purpose of a booklet is to convey information, small businesses will use it for manuals and the like. The content should be precise and informative so you will be spending more time in making sure that it is written clearly and will be easily understood. With brochures, you can get away with bulleted phrases written in a livelier tone.

Differences in design

Unlike single-page campaigns like postcard or flyer printing, designing a booklet will focus more on the text. In brochures, you may want to find that balance between photos and content. Moreover, brochures can get away with splashes of color and use of vivid images to make it more attractive. Booklets, on the other hand, can be printed on plain white paper and with the use of black ink.

Source:  http://wordpreneur.com/pointers-on-writing-content-for-booklet-printing/

Incorporating photo images into your brochure or flyer printing will capture the reader’s eye and enhance the text that goes with them. Even though you may have a few ideas on what images you want to include, the following techniques will refine your choices and will make your photos work harder for you.

1. Pick photos with high resolutions. The most expensive printing services out there will be of little help if you start with crappy photos. Secure the right to use the raw or original pieces from the photographer if you cannot take the pictures yourself. Even if you plan on tweaking these photos with a graphic software, you can only go so far with a photo having a poor resolution.
2. Edit the photos. If you can modify the photo, do so. With your content in mind, crop and clean up the nuances in your images so only the important subjects will be left. Aside from modifying the size, you can also adjust the colors and contrasts.
3. Do a dry run. Once you are satisfied with your layout, you can check for errors by printing a copy of it from your office printer.

Source:  http://www.freearticlesnow.com/article-the-important-steps-in-preparing-images-for-flyer-printing-21239.html

Takeout restaurants often avail of flyer printing to promote their business within the local neighborhood. To save costs, however, they will opt for those black and white inks on white paper. If they will only compare how their dishes appear on these flyers to the appetizing colors of their actual menu, they will realize that they have been cheating themselves of a more effective way to promote their food. Photos of scrumptious dishes, by themselves, have the power to entice your customers. Depriving your flyers of that selling point will leave them with a grim and dull content.

Understandably, the hesitation to avail of colored printing services can be attributed to its higher expense. Aside from bumping up your advertising budget a bit, you can try ordering your flyers in large quantities so you can take advantage of discounts that are frequently offered to bulk orders. Since you are going to distribute your flyers to every takeout order and in many other ways, then you will be going through them fast. You need not be apprehensive about ordering in bulk. Moreover, if you are willing to wait out a longer time frame to receive your order, you can do away with the premium that is usually added on orders that are needed at an earlier time.

Source:  http://www.free-sample-flyers.com/free-sample-flyer-templates/flyer-printing-in-full-color-increases-response-rate/