Month: July 2021

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6 Effortless Ways to Use Print Marketing in Your Business

Print Marketing

There are plenty of things that come along with running a business that take time and work to do well. But what if we told you that marketing doesn’t have to be so complicated? It’s true. You can get fantastic results in relatively effortless ways by being smart about the tactics you use and being resourceful with the strategies you have available.

Through our experience in this industry, we’ve learned a thing or two about print marketing tactics and are excited to share our helpful tips below. Keep reading to find out how you can effortlessly market your business using print materials.

1.   Create Eye-Catching Signage

The convenient thing about signage is that its big, its visible, and you can use it to passively attract your audience’s attention. A well-designed sign is a powerful tool to draw curious eyes to your shop or business that will get people to look twice.

You can use this opportunity to be clever and witty or show off your clean professional design. There’s a million ways to capitalize on this tried-and-true print marketing strategy so have fun with it and see what it can do!

2.   Use Brand Consistency to Your advantage

You’ve already put in the work to brand your company – the signature colours, special fonts, and logos are already established. Using this toolkit to create promotional material that is on brand is easy once you’ve created your brand kit, which you can repurpose over and over again. Consistently sticking to your branding will not only make the design process a breeze every time, but it will contribute to your brand’s unique image and build familiarity with your customer network.

3.   Put a Logo On It!

One of the most low maintenance ways you can advertise your company is to let it advertise itself. How, you ask?

Branded apparel is walking, talking advertising. Your team and clients will be happy to represent your brand with great-looking t-shirts, jackets, etc. When someone asks where they got it, a conversation about your business will arise. The principle behind this is getting your logo out into the world for people to see. You don’t have to limit yourself to apparel either, branding all your products, when possible, with stickers or vinyl decals is a critical print marketing strategy that you don’t want to overlook. It’s the easiest way to associate your brand with your products and to build recognition.

4.   Keep in Touch with Your Customers

Securing that coveted “lifetime customer” is a goal that many businesses strive to attain – for good reason. Building a loyal customer base is a worthy goal that will grow your business over time and attract high value consumers who will come back to you again and again for your product or service, refer you to their friends and family, and support you through the highs and lows of business.

All it takes to facilitate this kind of community is maintaining a customer- centered mindset by continuing to care for them after they’ve made their first purchase. You can do this by reaching out with holiday greeting cards a couple times a year, or by building a customer database that will keep you informed of when they may need more supplies, what they usually purchase, and other personal details. Things like this make a huge difference in getting customer referrals and repeat business over time.

5.   We design. We print. We Take it Out of Your Hands

The great thing about hiring a print company like us is that we take care of the heavy lifting so you can rest easy knowing that your projects are in capable hands. Our in-house designer will tune everything up to standard so we can produce your high-quality items. From start to finish the Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard team will take care of you and make implementing your print marketing strategies a breeze.

Less time spent worrying about the details = More time you can devote to running your business.

6.   Business Builder Bundles

Lucky for you we’ve gone ahead and compiled everything you need to start you off with one easy package. Our Business Builder Bundles come in four options:

  1. The Brick & Mortar Bundle
  2. The Travelling Office Bundle
  3. The Manufacturing Bundle
  4. The Office Bundle

For example, the Office Bundle has all the print marketing you need to get started – business cards, envelopes, letterhead, notepads, and postcards. There’s no easier way to cover all your essentials in one fell swoop! Check out our packages to find out which one best suit your needs and give us a call today to get started!

Post Press

We hope this article has helped set you on the right path to taking full advantage of print marketing. These strategies have withstood the test of time for a reason, and we can’t wait to see where they’ll take your business! Place your order today!

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Business Cards 101

Business Cards 101

When was the last time you refreshed your business cards?

Used from professional workplace settings all the way to more casual events like festivals and conventions, you’ll find that your business cards come in handy in a multitude of occasions. If you haven’t already been carrying them, you’ll soon wonder how you got by without them. It’s infinitely easier to hand someone a card with your phone number on it than to exchange numbers or spell out an address.

A business card is the perfect opportunity to show off how creative and innovative your company is. Having a tangible item with your company’s information on it is a powerful asset to your marketing materials, especially an item that’s compact and portable in size. You should never underestimate the power of a great design. Yes. They are business cards. But they’re also loyalty cards, coupons, invoices, recipe cards, hang tags, appointment cards… Because those paper rectangles can be almost anything you like. Even (weird but true) Business Cards.

Keep reading to find out how to create knockout business cards that will wow potential customers and make you look great.

Designing Your Business Card

Use Your Logos!

This is the IDEAL place to make most of the amazing logos you’ve designed for your company.

In many ways, your logo is the face of your company, so it just makes sense to put it on your business cards. Play around with the placement and size to come up with a design that looks great and fits the information you need to include.

Keep in mind that you should try to include a version of your logo that incorporates your company name or allows you to still put your company name somewhere on the card, so that people who’ve never seen your branding before know who you are.

Colour

If you’ve already developed your brand guide, this part will be easy. If not, its likely you already have some signature colours that your brand uses to be recognizable.

Colours will make your business cards pop, drawing customers eyes to the stack on your desk, or catching their attention later when its on their kitchen table or in their car glove compartment. Through colour, you can influence the way people feel about your brand. Conjure up a positive and cheerful vibe with yellow, or take a professional tone with shades of blue, it’s up to you! Just make sure to use high contrast colours (light vs dark) for text, as you want to make sure it’s easily readable.

Size

You can use a hierarchy of size to show people what’s most important on your business card. The name and logo of your company should command the biggest presence, followed by your contact information and any other details you want to include. A good practice to maintain is not to go smaller than 8pt font to maintain readability – after all, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to find you!

As for the size of the card itself, the standard size is 3.5 in by 2 in. However, there’s no law saying you have to stick to this. Feel free to change the orientation or size of your business cards as you please, just keep in mind that they may not fit in traditional card holders or wallets.

Font

Another great way to add personality to your business cards is by using fonts to complete the look of your brand.  Make sure you choose something that is eye-catching, but beware using more than 2 or 3 fonts at once since it can make it hard for people to read.

There are 2 main types of fonts that are most commonly used: Serif, and sans-serif. Serif refers to the small stylistic lines attached to the ends of block letters which makes them a bit easier to read. The text you’re reading right now is sans-serif, which is better for when you are using small text as it appears less crowded. Choose which font style makes the most sense for your design or use both if appropriate.

Materials

Your choice of materials matters! Heavyweight cardstock is a must for a business card that will stand up to wear and tear. Keep in mind that the more unique/premium your materials are, the more it will cost to produce. You can mitigate this by downsizing the card and only choosing 1 or 2 fancy extras. Being able to customize the details of your business cards down to the weight of the paper is all part of the fun!

Don’t Forget the Info!

After all, the primary objective of your business cards is to promote your business. Make sure people will be able to find you by including your name and contact information. You can also take this opportunity to promote your social media handles, address, and website if you want to. Consider thinking outside the box by including a QR code that links straight to your site, there’s endless opportunities to make a statement with what you put on your business cards.

Be Thoughtful About Your Canvas

Don’t forget that you can make the most of BOTH sides of your business card. Consider featuring a graphic image or logo on one side, and the informational details on the other. Make sure to use the space to the best of your ability without cluttering it up, after all, you want your business cards to look clean, professional, and high quality. Crowding your cards with too many elements will achieve the opposite.

Post Press

Now that you have the tools you need to design effective and eye-catching business cards, we can’t wait to see what you come up with! Let us help you bring your vision to life with our premium prints and contact us today to place an order!

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Custom Calendars Can Keep You Top of Mind All Year!

Custom Calendars

Using a custom calendar to promote your company is a great way to keep customers reminded of your business. Although the digital age has embraced almost every part of our lives – being able to see limitless things on your smartphone – you might ask yourself if the paper calendar still has a place in today’s society? The team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard can emphatically say yes. A custom calendar still has a huge place in our daily lives, which makes it an extremely effective promotional item for your business. According to a New York Times study, a staggering 70% of those who receive a custom calendar plan to do business with the giver. As a business, you need to learn how to fit calendars into your marketing strategy. Let’s see how this essential item with creative custom calendar designs can help you increase your conversion rates.

365 Days of Advertising

The advertising dream is to create something that will be noticed and remembered and held onto. Branded custom calendars are a fantastic way to do this and more. How many days or weeks do people hold onto a brochure? A flyer or pamphlet may seem interesting at first, but it will often end up in the trash or drawers where they’ll spend the rest of their lives. With custom calendars, you don’t have to worry about it never seeing the light of day again. People will almost certainly put it in a prominent location where they and other people can look at it constantly. Every time they look at a calendar, which is possibly more than a couple of times a day, they see your brand. If you do a good job on the calendar design, it will generate even more positive feelings.

If that wasn’t enough, after the calendar expires in 12 months, people are also more likely to come back to your business to get another custom calendar. Humans are creatures of habit and we like things that are familiar to us, so your consumers will likely prefer your company’s calendar over others. You want to design original calendars for your customers each year, giving people an incentive to stop by the store. Organizations may also alter their orders to include monthly coupons at the bottom of their calendars. Offering exclusive deals will give consumers another reason to return to the business. With that in mind, make sure you properly plan in advance when you’ll start handing out those freebies. You don’t want your competitors to get to your consumer’s desk or wall first, especially if the design is better than yours.

[Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard team strongly advise you start the custom calendar process now. August and September are perfect months to start your design and ordering of custom calendars. Contact us to get started today. Although it is never too late as they can be gifted all year long, the best time to give them away is November and December so start now.]

Customer Loyalty

Are you looking for a way to say thank you to the clients who support your company? Creating custom calendars can be a great method to reward those who have helped your company grow. From large purchases to frequent visits or even referrals, expressing your gratitude can be affordable even on a larger scale when you choose custom printed calendars. Or how about giving them out to people new to your business as a show of appreciation that will help them remember who they visited even later in the year when they might otherwise forget. Whatever the reason, creating a custom yet practical item like calendars for your business can be an awesome way to say thank you and increase customer loyalty at the same time.

A Gift That Keeps on Giving

Investing your advertising budget on a custom calendar in addition to flyers or social media will get you the trust of your consumers. Your customers perceive the free calendar as a gift, creating a positive feeling toward your brand. In fact, the NY Times study above also shows 82% of the recipients say that they enjoy getting it and even look forward to getting the gift again next year. Conversely, they won’t feel the same level of appreciation seeing you on television or interrupting the Facebook video they’re watching. Furthermore, its ingrained habit that people have to display a calendar somewhere conspicuous. This opens up the possibility of other people seeing your brand and has a physical virality to it. The branded custom calendar proudly hung allows you to reach a demographic that may or may not have heard or considered your brand before seeing it on a friend or family’s property.

Everyone Needs a Calendar

Whether a physical calendar or on their smartphones, calendars are a daily necessity. Sometimes, all we need is a quick look at the wall or at our desk to look at a date without having to get our phones and go through the motions of opening the app. Although buying calendars has waned since the advent of the new technology, it’s still popular among consumers. That’s why it’s an effective promotional item. It caters to the needs of the people supporting your business. Professionals at their office still have one at their desk, and every home could use one hanging on their kitchen wall. It’s a tool that helps people to better manage their time, and it helps greatly if it’s available physically. Some people even deem it to be more effective than to-do lists that people also like to have a physical representation, whether on a notepad or on a physical planner.

Advertising In Their Space

As fun as it would be, you can’t go into people’s work spaces and hang your advertising banner. You can’t log into their website and include your digital ad. A fantastic solution to this is to choose something with a good sized surface area that will have a practical use in the office or home. Almost stealth-like, you can provide a custom calendar as a gift and they will happily hang it (your banner) up in their work space themselves. Branded calendars are a handy solution when looking to create easy to notice advertising that doesn’t come across as unsightly or unwelcome. People might not want a poster of your company where they work and eat, but a custom printed calendar is likely to remain for the entire year.

Calendar Design Up To Your Imagination

As mentioned a handful of times above, calendars are customizable. So, you can design it however you want. You may want to use high-quality glossy materials to make your colourful product photos pop off the page. Or perhaps you would like your customers to be able to write on your calendar to get extra functionality out of it.. Calendars also come in many sizes and types – pocket, desk, wall, jumbo, and more!

As with all promotional materials, consider your customer base and add any special dates that will be valuable to your customer to ensure that yours is the custom calendar they cannot live without. It’s best if you choose a design that best represents your brand. In the automotive industry? Put attractive cars on every page. Maybe you want to highlight previous work you have done. Or showcase key staff volunteering their time in the community. Lifestyle shots can be used to show your green initiatives. Do you support environmentalism? Put pictures of nature and its inhabitants, or if you really want to drive the point home, put photos of balding forests or endangered species.

However, don’t think that you can only put pictures that represent your brand. No one’s stopping you from putting adorable baby animals or the best sights in the world. You can also showcase local destinations, which opens up the avenue for you to hold a photography contest wherein the winners’ photos will go to your calendar.

Endless Possibilities

Aside from the design, you can pretty much put anything you want on a custom calendar. With a calendar, you have the opportunity to add seasonal specials to promote your business throughout the year that only calendar recipients can access. Want to add coupons or promote a specific product/service monthly? Attach one to every month (you can even have them only valid for that specific month if you wanted). You can also personalize the calendars with special marks on certain events. If their particular industry has trade shows a couple times a year, you can include those in the daily markings. Want to highlight cause days such as Bell Lets Talk Day, you can do that too.

Don’t Forget About Me (You)

Needless to say, your branding and contact information need to be inserted in numerous places throughout the custom calendar. From your perspective, over and above the act of gifting them to your client base, they are an incredibly impactful means of keeping clients updated on important information regarding you and your brand. Details such as the organization’s telephone number, location, and email address need to be included on the calendar to make sure customers have no difficulties with contacting the business.

Post-Press: Ready to Get Started?

Understanding the benefits of branded custom calendars is essential to getting the best results from the promotional item. Whenever a customer thinks of contacting or visiting your business, make sure the information they need is easily accessible to them. Interested yet on getting calendars for your advertising campaign? Great! Any time is the best time to start planning for the next calendar year. We offer fast quote times and friendly, professional staff who are ready to get those items off the wish list and into reality. Contact us and let’s help you with creative calendar designs. We’ll work together to make the best calendar to make your customers happy.

We Design. We Print. You Profit!

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8 Print Marketing Tips to Stand Out

8 Print Marketing Tips to Stand Out

Print marketing is the most powerful tool your business can use to boost brand awareness, increase customer retention, and drive sales. This is because people enjoy and trust something that is tangible and unlike digital marketing efforts, print marketing can’t be blocked or deleted with one click.

In order to create marketing materials that stand out, set you apart from the competition, and deliver better results, you’ll need to think creatively. Luckily, the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard have eight proven ways you can make the most out of your print marketing and materials your audience won’t be able to ignore.

1.  Know Your Target Audience

Your print marketing will stand out more to those who it is made for. Figure out who your target audience is to help guide you in choosing the right tone, colours, images, copy and more for your printed material. Who is your current audience? Understanding who your customers are is the key to determining who your target audience is. Look at what makes up your most successful customers. Does your business cater to families with children or to middle-aged executives? Are they new homeowners? The neat thing about print marketing is that you can use it to bolster the word-of-mouth promotion you are already getting within your target audiences. (Check out this article to learn how print materials can enhance your presence within these groups!)

2.  Choose The Right Images

The imagery your print marketing conveys is a visual representation of your products, services, story, and your overall brand. They evoke strong emotions and are what will make people stop in their tracks to look at your printed collateral and advertising.  It is important to deeply understand your target audience and what message you want to convey in order to be impactful. Once you have figured out who your audience is, ask yourself these following questions to better determine your marketing message:

  • What is your marketing message goal? – What feelings do you wish to evoke in your potential buyers? Images can reflect many different messages and feelings, so be sure to include images that clearly represent what your marketing message goal is.
  • Is your location important? – Do you depend on local traffic or is your business a destination for people to visit on their travels? If your location matters for your audience, include images of landmarks or a beautiful view.
  • What is unique about your brand? – Are you selling useful, time saving products or are you promoting relaxation and luxury? Images help communicate your brands message. Show your audience what makes your company unique through your imagery.

It also probably goes without saying but make sure you use high-quality images. Pixelated, blurry or less than professional shots will send the message that your brand is amateur or takes little notice to the details. Make it a goal to utilize high-resolution and crisp images. Images print best when they are at least 300 dpi in resolution. Seek professional help or take advantage of a stock image database to ensure and maintain the best quality. (Check out this article for 4 More Ways to Market your Business Through Print that will get you started on the path to success.)

3.  Include People in Your Images When Possible

People respond best to marketing that has people in it – specifically people they relate to. Be sure to represent a diverse group who relates to your target audience. This will ensure that there’s a level of likeness achieved through your images. It is also important to include images of people who are reflecting a feeling you want your audience to feel when interacting with your brand. For example, photographs of happy people reflect a happy feeling. Images of people looking back at the camera versus looking off to the horizon convey different messages. Ensure your people images are conveying the action you intended.

4.  Choose the Right Font and Typeface

When choosing fonts, it might be tempting to go big, bold, and wild to set yourself apart from the competitors, but consistency to your brand guidelines is far more important than making a typeface splash. The three most important decisions when choosing fonts for your print marketing campaign are typeface, sizing, and color. There are thousands of fonts and typefaces and each one can have a different impact on your marketing. How do you know which direction to take when there are so many options available? After ensuring brand consistency, your priority should always be legibility and a style that fits your message. Times New Roman, Helvetica, and Arial are three popular fonts that have proven to show success in attracting and retaining customer attention. Their appearance is a great balance of class without detraction. However, depending on your brand and your audience you should consider other fonts as well. If your brand has a typeface that is clear and consistently shows on your website, be sure to use your branded typeface – after all, consistency is the key to success.

5.  Print Marketing Words (Are Your Bond)

  • Audience – Per Tip #1 above, your copy needs to be tailored to your target audience.
  • Focus – Including a focal point within your images, attracts the readers eye while also creating a place for their eye to rest. Avoid images with clutter and think clean and bold. This will ensure that you are generating positive and quick engagement. Carefully thought out and good copy can transform your regular products into products your audience needs to buy right away. Consider why your brand is the best, and why your products or services are better than your competitors and then tell your audience why in your copy while following these guidelines below.
  • Language – The language you use in your marketing is part of your brand and brand consistency creates better brand recognition and promotes trustworthiness. Just like you need to use the same logo on your business cards, brochures, and posters, you need to use consistent language as well.
  • Headline – A good headline grabs the reader’s attention and persuades them to read further. For printed materials that contain pages of copy, like catalogs, booklets or brochures, it’s important to also use subheadings to break down information and act as a navigation tool for your audience.
  • Call to Action – A call to action or CTA, is the use of words or phrases that prompt an immediate response and encourages your audience to act on your marketing message. This could include deals that can’t be ignored or intriguing text that drives your audience to your website.

6.  Proofread Everything

We’ll say it again – PROOFREAD EVERYTHING! This should be obvious but be sure that your copy is free of misspelt words and grammatical errors. Have multiple eyes proofread your copy and don’t limit your copy editing to your word processor’s spell check function.

7.  The Right Size, Colours and Texture

  • Size – For the body of your copy, a good rule of thumb is to use a font size that is 10-14 point to avoid your reader from having to squint to read your print marketing. Your company name and headline should be larger and bold. You’ll then want to balance fitting the necessary information in one place while avoiding the text seeming cramped. Bigger font sizes will work best for highlighting the most valuable information that you want your reader to see first, and smaller sizes work best for the details. Look out for these common mistakes when preparing your print-ready files.
  • Colours – Colours have different meanings and evoke different feelings. Be sure that the colors you choose for your font revolve around the tone of your advertising campaign and your brand’s identity. Materials with less text can benefit from colorful fonts while colors are often limited to just the headlines for catalogs and newsletters, leaving the body of the copy monochrome. Also, it is important to take your printed design background color into consideration when choosing your font color. For example, a neon orange font on a green background can be painful on the eye while a white font on a blue background can pop and attract the eye.
  • Textures – Textures add dimension to your print marketing campaign, everything from the paper weight you choose to the coating option, play a role in how your audience will feel your print advertisement. Thicker paper for postcards, business cards and catalog covers are ideal for durability and to convey importance. While a thinner paper is great for brochures so your audience can unfold it with ease. A matte or satin coating on your printed materials offer a smooth and timeless feel while a gloss coating offers a sleek feel that catches your eye. You can even use a spot coating to highlight certain images and text.

8.  Personalize Your Print Marketing with Variable Printing

Whenever possible, personalize your print. Technology and pricing over the past decade have made this more economical than ever. Everyone engages more with something that is customized just for them so why not personalize your printed marketing materials to be tailor made for each of your recipients? With Variable Data Printing, you can easily, and affordably achieve this personalization. In Variable Data Printing or Variable Image Printing, the content including names, images and more are changed from one printed piece to the next. This allows personalization within a digital press run, a process referred to as mass customization or 1-to-1 marketing. There is a wide range of creative ways you can use Variable Printing including:

  • Special Offers – Include unique barcodes or QR codes on your postcards for each person in your audience to enjoy a special offer just for them.
  • Special Gifts – Design faux magazine covers and add your prospect’s name in one of the teasers for them to hang up and keep forever.
  • Loyalty Cards – Create cards with your customer’s name and unique ID they can use for special promotions.
  • Table Cards – Have a wedding or formal event? Print names and even photos on small, colorful seating cards. If it is a corporate event, you can add your logo for a branded experience.

  • Personalized packaging – you can create unique boxes or bags for occasions like birthdays, promotions, or anniversaries that are customized for the receiver.

Using these techniques and taking advantage of variable printing technology can help you bring your next print marketing campaign to the next level.

Post-Press

Now that you’re ready to make your print marketing truly stand out, you are ready to begin a successful marketing campaign. Do you need some help along the way? We take care of the details, so you don’t have to. Contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard today.

We Design. We Print. You Profit!

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A Building Your Business Killer Tactic for ANY Start-Up

Business Builder

You’ve just started a business and you’ve got everything you need to start building your business from the ground up. Did you miss anything? Anything you might have overlooked? Letterhead maybe? A striking business card perhaps? We live in a digital age so it’s easy to forget about the most basic – yet so very important – tools of a business…stationery!

Take it from our team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard when we tell you that stationery is a print essential as you introduce yourself to the world (or even just the neighbourhood)! Earlier this month, we covered some print essentials for any business as they head back to the office. In today’s blog we demonstrate how print essentials can be bundled up to not only help you with building your business faster but also more economical. Because, let’s face it, when starting a business, you need to keep as much jingle in your jeans as possible. For example, all of our Business Builder Bundles start at only $349*.

Just a quick diversion before we elaborate further on how print is a killer tactic for building your business, we do have to say there is a prerequisite step – stellar design! Your business designs should be powerful because they will identify your brand long after your prospect or client is at your location or visiting your website. Once you’ve decided on a distinct logo, a memorable motto, and a quality design, you are ready to create your print essential bundle.  

As a start-up, you never know what you’ll need at your fingertips in the way of print so we have taken the liberty of bundling up a handful of print essentials to help you with building your business depending on your start-up type.

Building Your Business in an Office Setting

Great for small start-ups and professional services, we recommend the following office essentials to get your start-up heading in the right direction right away:

Business Cards            your in-pocket memorabilia to share widely face-to-face

Letterhead                    print essential for all customer-facing documents

Envelopes                     an attractive vessel for your printed communications to ride in

Postcards                      not solely for acquisition but for any easily digested message

Notepads                      for you, your staff, to give-away but always on brand

Building Your Business in a Travelling Office Setting

Great for small start-ups and professional services that operate on the move like trades, home services, and couriers, we recommend the following office essentials to help your company leave a trace so that your customers can find you:

Business Cards            your in-pocket memorabilia to share widely face-to-face

Crack & Peel Labels     your branding or certification messages can be placed anywhere, leave them on telephone poles, bulletin boards or hand them out to clients.

Flyers/Brochures          great leave behinds after meetings or in every mailbox

Vehicle Magnets          Branded contact details, logos or TARE details – whatever you need

NCR/ Forms                  old school – solutions in duplicate still work today, use them for Invoices, Safety Assessments, Time Sheets etc.

Building Your Business in a Brick and Mortar Location

Having retail space presents unique challenges that small office settings do not. Product labels, storefront signage, window clings, direction signs, receipts, etc. are all print essentials for your new business. We recommend the following office essentials for you:

Business Cards            your in-pocket memorabilia to share widely face-to-face

Flyers/Brochures          great leave behinds after meetings or in every mailbox

Notepads                      for you, your staff, to give-away but always on brand

NCR/ Forms                  old school – solutions in duplicate still work today, use them for Invoices, Safety Assessments, Time Sheets etc.

Sandwich Boards         A-frame signs directing walk-in and vehicle traffic to your store

Building Your Business as a Manufacturing Organization

Both primary and secondary manufacturing businesses and final mile distributors have their own needs for printed stationery and essentials unique to their business. These include:

Business Cards            your in-pocket memorabilia to share widely face-to-face

Flyers/Brochures          great leave behinds after meetings or in every mailbox

NCR/ Forms                  old school – solutions in duplicate still work today, use them for Invoices, Safety Assessments, Time Sheets etc.

Stickers                         your branding or certification messages can be placed anywhere

Manuals                        provide training manuals for your team and clients (also product catalogues and instruction manuals)

Post Press

Starting your business, you have enough on your mind. Leave the print (and design if needed) to us. We take care of the details so you don’t have to. Contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard today.

We Design. We Print. You Profit!

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4 Common DIY Design Mistakes in Preparing “Print Ready” Files

Design Mistakes

As a print shop that deals with a high volume of clients with all sorts of backgrounds, you’d better believe that we’ve seen all sorts of print projects come through our shop. From signage to stationary, we’ve seen it all, and thought it would be helpful for us to share what we’ve learned from our years in the biz to help you avoid the 4 most common design mistakes and make the design process less daunting. Through helping our clients come up with great projects over the years, we’ve compiled a list of “don’ts” to help you in the early stages of your design that will result in great looking products!

Design Mistake #1: Doing Too Much

It can be exciting to have a blank canvas in front of you with so much potential. You might be thinking that this is the perfect opportunity to tell people all about your business and the services you offer. Why not throw in some photo examples? Maybe use some bright colours to highlight your most important information?

That would be a mistake.

One of the worst things you could possibly do for your design is to overwhelm it with too many visual and textual details, which brings us to the following points:

Don’t Make it Too Wordy

You really don’t need too many words to communicate what you’re all about. Often a short, bulleted list or brief but clear text is enough to convey your message. Make sure that if you do include more text than your company name and a simple tag line that it’s in an appropriate medium for that kind of promotion, like a brochure. Otherwise, you want to let your brand speak for itself as much as possible and direct people to your website, social media, or to call you for more information.

Don’t Use Too Many Different Fonts

While using a different font to highlight certain key points is an effective way to differentiate pieces of text and draw the readers attention, you want to be careful about using more than 2 or 3 different fonts. Overloading your design with too many fonts will make your design look disorganized and disturb the visual harmony. Using a bold or italicized version of your font is a great way to distinguish text while keeping it in the same family.

Don’t Use Too Many Elements

This goes along with the idea behind limiting how many font styles you incorporate into your design. The last thing you want to do is end up with a cluttered, busy design. The ultimate goal is to promote your business and having too much going on is the easiest way to distract your audience. Keep it clean and simple with your logo, company name, or a catchphrase and use your signature brand colours to distinguish yourself.

Design Mistake #2: It’s not Intentional

You’ve been meticulous about every detail leading up to the development of your business so far – your promotional designs deserve the same attention. Being intentional about the placement of text, elements, and colours in your designs makes a huge difference to the overall look of your products. It doesn’t take long to make sure that text is centered and that everything makes sense visually, and the results are well worth it.

Design Mistake #3: Ignoring Proper Spacing

Negative space is the key to keeping your designs sharp, clean, and easy to read. Consider the margins of your design and the spacing between elements and letters to make sure that things aren’t too crowded.

Design Mistake #4: Not Being Consistent

Consistency is the key to successful branding. Not only do you need to make sure that you are following your brand guide, but you need to make sure that everything is consistent within your existing design, i.e. everything that’s supposed to be the same size has been checked, spacing is consistent, and all the little details match up.

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Keeping these helpful tips in mind, you’ll be coming up with fantastic designs in no time! We look forward to seeing what you come up with and can’t wait to help you bring your vision to life!

Why wait any longer? Contact us today for a quote!

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7 Print Office Essentials That Will Make Your Return to Work Smoother

Office Essentials

So, you and your team have received the green light to go back to work – that’s awesome! After over a year of the work-from-home grind many of us are itching to slip back into our business casual attire and enjoy a change of scenery from the four walls of our home office set-ups. To help make the transition back to work go as smoothly as possible, we’ve compiled a list of all the office essentials you’ll need to get ready to head back. Got everything you need yet? Keep reading to find out!

Office Essential #1: Calendars

Whether hung up on your wall or displayed on your desk, calendars are an absolute must in the workplace. With the benefits of improving productivity, communication, efficiency, and accountability, the incentive to make sure everyone in your office has one is huge! Add important company dates and promotional photos to your calendars to maximize their value and enjoy the display. Physical calendars have the added bonus of being able to write on them and circle significant dates.

Office Essential #2: Business Cards

A work desk without a stack of business cards on display is like a pencil without an eraser – massively inconvenient. It’s a no-brainer to have a stack within easy reach at work to provide your clients with an easy way to contact you again, plus it makes you look professional. Need help revamping your current design? We’ve covered all the business card basics in our recent blog post Business Cards 101.

Office Essential #3 Letterheads & Envelopes

Writing on customized stationery is SO much better than using any old scrap piece of blank paper or unassuming sticky note. Give yourself some peace of mind during the transition back to working in office by knowing all your paper needs are taken care of. With custom letterheads and envelopes, your communications will radiate professionalism and leave a great impression on your clients.

Office Essential #4: Presentation Folders

Keep all those papers organized and tucked away in style. We can help you print crisp, professionally designed and printed presentation folders to will keep your office in check. After all, they say that the best way to stay organized is by having a place for everything and keeping everything in its place!

Office Essential #5: Ink Stamps

Make paperwork a breeze with the use of a fully customizable stamp! Think of how much time you’ll save by using a stamp to date and sign the papers that come across your desk. No more time tediously wasted filling things out letter by letter or scribbled out spelling mistakes. With the purchase of a stamp, you’ll be able to date documents with a satisfying thump!

Office Essential #6: Mugs

Because let’s be real, your morning coffee or tea ritual is essential. Stock your office with a collection of custom branded mugs to bolster a sense of community and keep the caffeine flowing. Not only will it be a lifesaver to perk you up those early mornings, but it will look fantastic on your desk while you blaze through your to-do list.

Office Essential #7: Business Builder Bundles

We make it easy for you by combining all the office essentials in an easy to order bundle starting as low as $349. Check out our Business Builder Bundles for your office, your mobile office, brick and mortar or manufacturing office space.

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And there you have it! 7 Office essentials that will give you some peace of mind while you transition back to your workplace. Even if you are still working from home, touches like a desk calendar, folders, and business cards will always be useful.

The difference is in the details! Let us help you make your transition to the office that much smoother. Contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard today.

We Design. We Print. You Profit!