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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!

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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.

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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!