Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

Effective Corporate Signage Can Help Your Business Succeed In A Big Way

As a small business ourselves, we inherently understand how your bottom line can often be very tight and how important it is to make sure that every dollar spent in your marketing budget needs to create maximum impact. Indoor and outdoor corporate signage is one way to make this happen. Signs can be a very effective and profitable marketing investment for your business.

You want to stretch your marketing budget as far as it can go. With the advances in digital printing technology, signs – which could include large posters, banners, window signage, displays and more – are now more affordable than ever. Enhance the curb appeal of your storefront with signs that grow your business (also sandwich boards). Show who you are and what you do for all that walk or drive by your location.

What Makes Corporate Signage Effective?

Brand Identity: One of your first considerations in any design will be color. Many people identify certain hues with particular brands, and a printer can even custom create a new color for its customers – to match your logo for example.
Contrast: Since there is a good chance your sign will be read from a street level or drive-by traffic, it is good to use a font size that will be easy to read, even from a distance. To make sure your text or graphics are clear and really stand out, you can use contrasting colours can be a great design idea. Adding borders or drop shadows around the lettering can also be helpful.
KISS: Use this principle that is easy to remember: Keep It Simple, Stupid. What was originally a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy 70 years ago to remind designers that the key goal in design is to avoid any unnecessary complexity, marketers now use it in designs to remind themselves that they only have 5 minutes to grab the viewer’s attention.

Three Ways to Use Outdoor Corporate Signage

Below are three ways you can use signage as an effective outdoor advertising strategy to raise brand awareness and make people interested in your business and to help you profit through your print:

Poster Printing is a very affordable method of marketing your brand. You can create large numbers of ads to distribute across several venues. Your business can place your posters in high-traffic locations to raise ad visibility, such as public transportation areas like grocery stores, malls, bus stops and train stations.
Roadside advertisements like stake signs and sandwich boards can help you grab the attention of passing motorists and pedestrians. Your business can use sidewalk displays to inform your customers and prospects about important events and new changes to available products or services. Roadside ads provide you with the added benefit of 24-hour marketing, since potential clientele may pass the business at night.
Banners are excellent outdoor advertisements that you can use to promote your brand. Your business can use the larger space to share your high-quality images of products to impress your customers and potential customers.

Post-Press

Corporate signage produced by a print company like Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard can prove to be a powerful marketing tool. No matter what your budget and production challenge, Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has the imaginative creative team and the depth of resources to deliver a solution that fits your needs and budget. We can design and produce your corporate signage in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Make Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard your one-stop solution for professional indoor or outdoor signage and request a quote today!

Posted on March 1, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

How Postcard Marketing Can Help Your Brand Stand Out

Your marketing dollars need to go as far as possible. We all see ads stating you must use this digital tactic or that one. Or that the only way to grow your business is to use the latest new shiny social media trick. Digital communication has become far more prevalent than ever, hitting your inbox and social feeds as much as 150 times a day. But this does not mean that traditional printed advertising cannot still make a big impact on your company’s bottom line. In fact, effective design and print can be a very profitable tactic for your business. Postcards can prove to be an effective marketing tools to get your message literally in the right prospects’ hands. Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has lots of suggestions for how to incorporate postcards into almost any multichannel advertising campaign.

What is postcard marketing?

Postcard marketing is a form of direct mail that helps you reach your targeted audience with promotional print pieces. Examples include coupons, announcements, or even as a retention tool in the form of a thank-you card for existing clients. Since the prominence of digital marketing, creating tangible, vibrant, and memorable print marketing pieces your customers and prospects can hold to can actually make your brand stand out. In fact, a study conducted by USPS showed that 86% of consumers take the time to read through their mail. Postcards can also be used as a fantastic trigger re-marketing tactic after a prospect interacts with you online. It creates quite a “wow” factor to receive a message from you directly in their mailbox a handful of days after visiting your website.

How do I start designing a piece for postcard marketing?

When choosing a design, follow the KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) principle. A cluttered appearance can detract from your message. Keeping the look streamlined with a straightforward message can grab and keep your reader’s attention. When choosing what will be printed on the cards, it can be useful to consider how to make the most of the available space. As Shakespeare wrote, “brevity is the soul of wit”, so keep your message to the point. There won’t be room to make a full sales pitch, so go straight to the solutions your offer solves for. It should then have a clear call-to-action (CTA) directing the reader to a trackable website, phone number or address where they can get more information.

Who should I send it to?

Your mailing list is responsible for almost half of the overall success of your mailing. If you have lots of bad addresses, your direct mail goes nowhere. If you send it to people who have no interest in your solution, it goes straight to the trash. If you’re using your own customer list, be sure you have ‘scrubbed’ your list and eliminated any bad addresses – or updated any addresses that have changed due to customers moving, etc. Experienced printers use software to check your address format and that the addresses on your list are valid. These services are a small investment but is definitely a worthwhile step in the process. Cleaning up your list costs far less than printing a bunch of postcards that can’t even be mailed. If you are renting a list for your mailing, make sure that the source is a good source that will provide good, ‘clean’ addresses that will get to the intended audience. Most reputable list sources are constantly updating their lists and records. They too know how important good, clean lists are to the overall success of the mailing.

Post-Press

Postcards are an effective and profitable tactic for many businesses just like yours. Looking for a local printing company that can design, produce, and print an impactful postcard that stands out from the rest? Let Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard handle your project from start to finish—we will even handle your direct mail campaign and send it off precisely to the homes or businesses of your choice. Ready to get started? Request a Quote today to learn more!

Posted on January 2, 2021November 4, 2021 by printernearme2020

6 Design Pitfalls When Creating Business Cards

Everyone knows how important it is to make great first impressions. If you’ve ever been to a networking event and found yourself with a handful of business cards, you’ll know what we mean. For better or worse, a business card is how your newly met contacts remember you. A professionally designed business card is essential to making long-lasting positive impressions on new contacts. However, a poorly designed card may result in the loss of a potential client and a lack of familiarity with the brand.

Companies can prevent negative interactions by avoiding these six business card design pitfalls:

1. Providing Insufficient Information

While it may seem self-explanatory, ensure that all your company’s information is included. This includes the common details such as your company name, contact information and logo, but also other pieces that tend to be forgotten such as your slogan and/or mission statement. We cover 4 ways to market your small business through print in another blog here.

2. An Unoriginal Design

If your business card lacks originality is likely not going to be remembered. To ensure your card is not forgotten, seek out a print company to alter your business card with visually interesting customizations. For example, a custom die cut will help businesses turn their cards into unique, non-rectangular shapes that stick out from the norm. Spot UV also deviates from the typical card, drawing eyes to the card’s information.

3. Failing to Represent the Brand

Your business card is a lasting impression of your brand. Business cards without clear brand representation prevents companies from properly introducing customers to their brand. Create recognition by including prominent brand-related visuals on the card, such as the corporate logo, company colours, and typeface. Business cards can be coloured by printing companies to expose contacts to themes utilized by the organization.

4. Offering No Additional Functionality

Increase the value of your business card by incorporating design elements that give your business card additional value to your customers. Depending on your industry, your business card can double as a stampable loyalty card or you may include a tear off discount code.

5. Typos, Misprints, and Colour Alignment

While everyone makes mistakes, your business card is an area where you don’t want typos, misprints, or misaligned colours. Nothing screams, “I don’t care about my business” louder than these three problems. Print companies normally offer a, “physical proof” before beginning a print job. This is your only opportunity to perform quality control, so make sure your business card is perfect!

6. Using a Poor-quality Card

High-quality business cards with thought and intention behind them leave a positive feeling in your customer’s mind. Your customers make decisions based on emotions, so make sure there are positive emotions associated with your business card. Cards that are feather-light, have rough edges or are peeling create an impression of cheap-quality which reflects poorly on your company. Take the time to plan and design your business card—even the card material itself.

Post Press

Post-Press Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has years of experience with creating high-quality, memorable business cards for hundreds of businesses, offering timely and friendly service at competitive prices. Ready to get started on building your network through memorable business cards? Contact Minuteman Press Calgary Shepherd today.