Category: Print Marketing

Posted on by

Marketing Series: Maximizing your Print – Brochures (part 1 of 2)

blog - brochures

Positioning Your Brochure for Optimized Exposure

Brochures are designed for instant and tangible delivery of your marketing communications. Brochures are ideally positioned to assist your building of a strong customer base. This begins with a locally focused marketing strategy. Depending on your business, going bigger and extending your brand across several communities (or nationally) can be beneficial. However, this isn’t always a possibility if you own a smaller sized business with a local focus. If you forget to market to your community, your community can’t help you spread the word. This is where brochures can come in handy as part of your overall marketing mix.

While online marketing is becoming increasingly popular, the best way to reach your local audience is with marketing materials you can touch, hold, and hand-out. Materials like an interactive, detailed, and professionally designed half-fold or trifold brochure. But before you even begin creating your brochure you will need to choose an effective local marketing strategy.

Face-to-Face and Leave Behind

Creating long-lasting relationships with your neighboring businesses can be a key to your success. Take the time to get to know the businesses in your area. When you make a connection with them see if they would be interested in leaving some of their business cards or brochures on your front desk or entrance area. Then, in exchange if you can leave the same in their location. Be sure to find a complementing – or even opposite non-competing – type of business. Making connections like these with a local business is a great way to boost your brand’s exposure and credibility.

The stronger your company’s presence is locally, the better chance your brand will become recognizable on a community level. Of course, building a local presence and a memorable brand can be successfully accomplished using direct mail. But, because you’re in the neighbourhood, don’t forget about local events or the customers walking in your doors. You can leverage brochures in your lobby, at special events, neighbouring businesses, and even prospects that pass by? You interact with people and businesses every day, so why not let them get to know you and your business a bit better. Hand out your brochures and share your brand. Chances are they will remember their experience and your company. And, now they have a tangible reminder which also solidifies the imprint in their minds bout your business. Knowing you and your business is a start and it moves down the funnel increasing the likelihood of them becoming customers.

Target Your Perfect Customers

As technology advances every day, so do the options to target certain audiences. One of the tried-and-true ways to market locally is by creating a list (possibly to be mailed, called, digitally targeted or otherwise) consisting of people or businesses who matter the most to your business. And are geographically positioned near your business. Give everyone within a certain radius news about who you are and what you offer. For example, say you are looking to promote your restaurant grand opening, you could send out a brochure highlighting key information about menu and location.

Mail them

We’ve mentioned above that direct mail is a perfect tactic to get your brochures out there. You can leverage Canada Post to reach every home or business in a certain radius. Neighbourhood Mail (Unaddressed) allows your printed brochure to be in the hands of your closest potential clients or customers. Did you know the average consumer won’t travel more than 20 minutes to eat out, shop, or visit a place? In fact, the closer they are to a place, the more likely they are to visit it.

People receive over 150 emails or digital messages daily while only receiving on average 15-20 mail pieces each week. You can use this exclusivity to cut through the digital noise and get your message across economically.  Direct mailing your brochures is an affordable way to reach a large audience, easily and efficiently making it the perfect tactic, particularly if your company is just starting out. To make this happen, simply choose the size and prepare your design for your brochure mailers in accordance with Canada Post guidelines and then choose your letter carrier routes or postal codes. Canada Post has tools allowing you to can also target certain demographics within your chosen carrier routes.

Mine Your Business

We mentioned reaching out to a targeted audience near your business’ location. Depending on your business, reaching individuals who surround their ideal customers can be a gold mine for your business. Mining your own customer addresses and reaching out to their neighbours via hand-delivered or mailed brochures is made easier due to the credibility of them physically being able to see the merits of your work. This is particularly successful for visible outdoor service companies such as painters and landscapers. If you already have customers that live or do business at 123 Any Street, then the likelihood is that those living or doing business at neighbouring 125 and 121 might also have need for your goods or services. Choose a certain radius that surround your existing customer address and target accordingly. Send them a brochure marketing that you just did business at their neighbour’s home and you have a special offer for them!

Post Press

At Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard, we offer favourable prices on high-quality brochure printing. We are also experts in designing for Canada Post guidelines in targeting, size and quality specifics and mail preparation. We offer marketing solutions to fit any of your local marketing goals! Click here to contact us to get started on your multi-faceted brochure campaign today!

Posted on by

Turn Your Employees Into Brand Ambassadors

brand ambassador

Your employees are the face of your organization. They are your brand ambassadors and leave an impression – positive or negative – with everyone they interact with. They are on the frontline interacting with your clients and prospects every day. It is important to your business that they leave a strong, positive lasting impression on everyone they interact with from customers to vendors. To best ensure they are leaving this positive impression, branding is key.

Strategically creating a strong brand starts from within. Is your frontline team acting as brand ambassadors in the way you intended? Your brand reflects your business’ reputation, popularity, visibility and viability in your marketplace. It increases both awareness and resonance distinguishing your organization from its competitors. Your brand also helps to retain and re-up/renew existing customers.

Five tips to turn your employees into brand ambassadors

Brand ambassadorship is too important to leave unwatched in the hands of your team without proper guidance. In order to do all this, you need to establish a shared understanding of your organization’s goals, vision, and mission. Building a successful brand requires an inside-out approach. Provide transparent communication on important news, goals, achievements, and milestones to inspire and motivate your staff. Keep employee experience high from day one.

Similarly, while building a brand with your clients and customers is important, failing to treat your employees as the heart of your organization can harm employee engagement and employer reputation alike. Have you created a common culture and an environment where people love to work through a strong brand? Four key ways to do this start with:

  1. Define your direction. Define your values, mission, and vision to provide a clear direction and give your business an identity or purpose with which your staff can identify.
  2. Strengthen staff loyalty. Help people understand why their role is important and how they fit into the overall picture by aligning them with the company purpose. Transcend your staff’s demographical diversity and create a common culture of togetherness and belonging that will make your staff love your organization.
  3. Support your workforce. Bring your most important resources directly to your employees to support them in their daily tasks and make their working lives easier.
  4. Inspire and empower. Encourage your employees to participate in the conversation and provide a direct line to company happenings and important information. Encourage your employees to participate in the company conversation by providing platforms for feedback and discussion.
  5. Make your workforce love your brand. Promote your brand internally through visual and engaging communication channels (not just email).

The concept and definition of your unique branding needs to be established amongst your team from top to bottom to create a meaningful connection to your brand. This will allow your employees to blossom individually but also collectively into brand ambassadors all rowing in the same direction. Once established internally, then you can focus on the outward presentation of your fabulous team…

Three print products to turn employees into brand ambassadors

Professionally designed printed collateral and promotional items can work to showcase your brand ambassadors in the best light. Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard is a print shop after all. Here are three print ideas you can use to help your team stand out embodying your branding goals:

  1. Incorporate branded apparel into your team’s everyday wear. Your team can become a living source of brand exposure by wearing clothing that showcases important brand-related imagery. Shirts, hats, and aprons worn by your brand ambassadors can be custom-made to feature the organization’s logo and color schemes. Any slogans created by the business may also be included on the apparel to familiarize visitors with the brand’s taglines.
    [Tip: Name tags offer a quick and easy opportunity for your brand ambassadors and your prospects to cut through the ice and engage on a personal level more quickly.]
  2. Provide your brand ambassadors with business cards. Your employees may hand their cards out to clients or prospects to promote future interactions with the brand. You should include details on the card such as your organization’s web and social media pages. This will help potential customers locate and connect with your brand online. Offering a business card to a person will also form a more personal connection between the recipient and the employee.
    [Tip: With today’s print technology, most printers can design and create business cards for your entire team – including small volume runs for your team who maybe aren’t on the frontline. It is a great way of showing they are part of a larger team.]
  3. Give your employees custom stationery, forms, presentation folders and/or notebooks to work with. Your brand ambassadors can be provided customized stationery to interact with clientele that includes  your company logo. This offers further employer brand exposure than a non-branded alternative.

Your brand ambassadors have a lasting impact on customers and can improve consumer recognition of a business. Companies can use branded apparel, business cards, and custom stationery to turn their workers into better brand representatives.

Post Press

All businesses should look within for their best opportunity to brand – their employees. Your employees – or brand ambassadors as we have called them throughout this blog – can become your single greatest secret weapon in branding. You can use the above tips assist you in framing how you can leverage this secret weapon most effectively. Don’t know where to start? Contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard. 

We Design. We Print. You Profit.

Posted on by

6 Autumn Seasonal Marketing Tips To Help Your Small Business Get Noticed

Autumn Seasonal Marketing

With Labour Day in the rear-view mirror, are you ready for Autumn seasonal marketing? We aren’t just talking pumpkin-spice lattes and use of spooky fonts. Just be sure that the messaging and imagery you use are in line with  your brand’s personality. And that you get going as early as you can. As with any other campaign, the more prepared you are, the better your results will be.  

There are a lot of things that you can get your clients and prospects excited about. With the pandemic, many events and plans are looking a bit different – much of it remains remote.  That is likely more reason to adapt your Fall seasonal marketing campaigns and possibly try out some new marketing ideas. Below are 6 Tips to kick your Autumn seasonal marketing into high gear: 

1. Add seasonal content

Themes like seasons can inspire great content! For example, Autumn seasonal marketing for a restaurant might be to design and print recipes with a Fall theme in mind. Similarly, a mechanic might run a feature profiling a winterization package. An accountant can write about how to prepare a business in the build up to tax time. Simply put, any type of business can get inspiration from the change of season and use it to provide relevant, up-to-date and interesting content for their business. Just be sure to ensure your seasonal content is of value. Creating quality content can and will pay dividends for your business. There’s lots of space to be creative with your Fall seasonal marketing content, but make sure it doesn’t come across as tenuous, opportunistic or, worst of all, useless. 

2. Add some autumn colour 

Give your brand a temporary refresh by designing your Autumn seasonal marketing with the amazing colours and distinctive hues of the season. You have a whole colour pallet to choose from across your marketing inventory to provide you the opportunity to adapt the look and feel of your Fall marketing materials. Autumn colours range from luminous reds and deep pinks, luxurious ambers and burnt oranges, radiant yellows and enigmatic shades of black. Although there is a wide range of seasonal colours to choose from, core elements like your logo, your brand personality, writing style and font, should stay consistent whatever the season. Deviating between visual or verbal identities will only serve to confuse customers and sacrifice your hard-won reputation and brand recognition. 

Pumpkins are synonymous with fall because of the weather, not just Halloween. Imagery can also be incorporated into promo emails you send your subscribers. You can tie each promo into a particular Fall holiday, occasion or theme (e.g. pumpkins, leaves that have changed colours, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.) You can also try doing a play on words e.g. “Fall into _____ sale!” If possible, try to offer Autumn seasonal marketing promotions on products or services that are particularly popular or useful this time of year. 

3. Fall-themed Storefront 

An autumn themed storefront is like an open invitation to the community. Businesses with storefronts have a fantastic opportunity to have fun and create interest with the season. Decorating your business’s window with posters or window clings – any signage – in Autumn colour is like an open invitation for the community to come in and look around. You could also consider a sandwich board outside your storefront or in the neighbourhood with decorative messages and promotions.  These little touches can help humanize your brand and make your shop more welcoming. 

4. Don’t forget your online presence 

Your on-line stores and lead conversion websites can also get into the spirit with an Autumn-themed brochure. You could create autumn editions of popular branded merchandise. Items that people are more likely to use in autumn. Long sleeve T-shirt’s, branded socks, coffee/soup mugs and keep cups can all be produced in autumn colours and sold online. If you produce branded products, you could give them an autumn twist like using autumn colours on your labels and packaging. All of these things can refresh your brand and create renewed interest in your products. 

5. Create a marketing calendar 

As a business, it is very important that you shift your marketing strategies from season to season. Public dates like Halloween and Thanksgiving create the perfect springboard for Fall marketing activities. It shows your audience that you’re in tune with the transitions they are experiencing. And it helps them connect with you too, when they see you marking occasions that are special to them. 

On top of Halloween and Thanksgiving, there is back to school, seasonal start of Fall, World Smile Day (10/1), sports season starts, small business week, and more. Special dates provide the perfect springboard for marketing activities of all types, from time-limited promotional sales to an autumn specific menu. Creating a marketing calendar will help you identify dates you want to work around and will ensure you give yourself enough time to plan and implement a campaign designed specifically for this time of year. It will also ensure that you won’t forget a special date that has the potential to be significant to your business. 

6. Autumn themed direct mail campaign 

Showcase the changing of the season the old fashioned way with direct mail (and, don’t forget to add value by including a coupon). With the onset of digital marketing, sending things by mail is somewhat a lost art these days, which provides an opportunity to put yourself front and centre into your customers mind. Most people, when receiving a brightly coloured mail pack from a brand they have used in the past, will open and read it just to see what is on offer. Alternatively, you could simply highlight an autumn-themed sale your business is running. Ensure the design of your mailer has enough Autumn flair to draw your customers attention. 

Post Press 

Are you ready for your fall marketing?  Go ahead and take these Autumn seasonal marketing ideas as inspiration for your fall campaigns this year. And don’t be afraid to tailor and customize as needed to the needs of your business niche. You can use the above tips to assist you in framing how you “fall into the season.” Don’t know where to start? Contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard. We Design. We Print. You Profit. 

Posted on by

6 Ways a Print Shop has got your Childcare Business Covered

Print Marketing For Your Daycare

The services provided by childcare professionals play an important role in the everyday lives of many families, and a print company can be called upon to help them in their work. 

If you run a daycare in Calgary, you already know how rewarding and challenging the everyday grind can be. Where do you find time for marketing your daycare? How can you attract new candidate families every year? A sound strategy for marketing your daycare is critical to the success of your business, whether you’re an established childcare center or a home-based start-up.  Are you ready to take your daycare business to the next level? Let’s get started! Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard has the six best ways of marketing your daycare. Follow along as we attempt to assist you with promoting your facility so you can quickly grow.  

Six best ways of marketing your daycare 

It goes without saying that your facility won’t make any money unless you’re able to market your daycare effectively. If parents don’t know about you, they can’t learn to like and trust you. The following daycare marketing tips will help you develop a winning strategy. Our tips below include: 

  • Marketing Your Daycare: Branding 
  • Marketing Your Daycare: Marketing Materials 
  • Marketing your Daycare: Direct Mail 
  • Marketing your Daycare: Get the Word Out  
  • Marketing your Daycare: Be Creative 
  • Marketing your Daycare: No Money Solutions

1. Marketing Your Daycare: Branding 

Branding your daycare is important because people purchase on emotion. Parents will choose your business if it shares their values, especially when it comes to their children. At a glance, your prospects need to be able identify you and your branding. Without a branded identity, you’re just another daycare in the neighbourhood. To identify your branded image, you must consider how you’re different from your competitors. What differentiates your business from the next one? You also must understand your customers, and what motivates them.  

Skilled graphic design can visually transform your daycare’s branded identity from conception to something that truly moves the needle. Your daycare colors, logo, fonts, tone, website, and other marketing materials are all a reflection of your branding. The goal is for your prospects to be able to glance at your material and instantly recognize who it’s from and what you stand for. When you achieve this, you’ve developed an excellent daycare brand identity. 

2. Marketing Your Daycare: Marketing Materials 

There are numerous tools online to assist every business with templates and more. A mistake many daycares make is printing their own marketing materials. They view marketing as an expense when it is an investment designed to make money. Professionally printed material will always achieve more responses than desktop-printed materials. We are obviously biased, but we highly recommend you choose an affordable printing company such as Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard to deliver your message with accuracy, quality, and professionalism. Some suggested (must-have) daycare printed marketing materials: 

  • Business cards are inexpensive and expendable. Print as many as you can hand out, and make sure everyone you meet has one.  
  • Postcards are likewise cost effective and a great way to get your clientele to take a closer look at your daycare. 
  • Posters, strategically placed, can grab attention. Place them on community bulletin boards, grocery store corkboards and large institutions in your geography (large firms, universities, offices, etc.) 
  • Flyers, like posters can be placed on bulletin boards and anywhere else your target audience frequents. Under windshield wipers in the grocery store parking lot is also an option.  
  • Booklets can be an extremely effective approach to daycare marketing.  Educate parents on child development, programs, differentiators, etc. Not only will your booklet add value and have shelf life, but it will also demonstrate that you’re an expert in this field and build trust and confidence. 
  • Brochures give you a means to inform parents on everything they need to know about your daycare so they can make sound childcare decisions. 

Calendars. Who doesn’t like calendars? Make your calendars kid-friendly and interactive. You can include important date reminders, stickers, vivid images, and other fun add-ons that draw attention to your company all year long. 

Greeting cards are the perfect reflection of your very personal business. Parents’ children trust your business with their most important assets. Greeting cards are an easy and efficient way of showing your appreciation.  

Stickers are a hit with kids and parents alike. They’ll get used. Everywhere.  

Printed newsletters are a perfect take-home to keep your parent clients informed on everything all year long.  

Some non-printed marketing must-haves include a uniquely branded and conversion-focused website, social media, email newsletters, and even TV/Radio.   

3. Marketing your Daycare: Direct Mail 

You have several options for designing your daycare direct mail. Maybe you can design direct mails on your own. If not, you should hire a professional designer with the experience and skill needed. The DIY method is free, but if you’re not a graphic designer you’ll likely sacrifice quality. A professional designer like the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard provides could be just the ticket. No matter whether you do it yourself or outsource your direct mail, you need 4 things: 

  • Craft a powerful headline 
  • Highlight your benefits 
  • Develop an incredible offer 
  • Motivate with a call to action 

4. Marketing your Daycare: Get the word out 

You must get the right message in front of the right audience, at the right time. And, each year, there are new challenges to fill your spots. Not to mention mid-year fills. As indicated previously, direct mail is one of the best ways to reach your prospects. Repetition is key. Instead of one postcard campaign, develop a strategy that incorporates multiple direct mailers during a six- or 12-month period. A long-term strategy contributes to your daycare branding efforts and allows you to develop long-term relationships. On top of direct mail, ensure your facility is listed with all the pertinent online advertising sites (Google My Business, Yelp, YP.ca, etc.). Your best and least expensive advertisement is referrals and word-of-mouth. Word of mouth is daycare providers’ secret weapon. If one parent has a great experience, other parents will want their children to get a similar experience. In addition, make sure friends, family, and colleagues know what you do and are prepared to spread the word for you.  

5. Marketing your Daycare: Be Creative 

Sometimes, you need to think outside of the box. Creative marketing builds awareness, delivers value, and increases profits for you. Over the course of the year, you can try combinations of above with the below: 

  • Hosting an event can help you connect with the community – your clientele and prospects alike. Show them what you’re all about. Engage parents and children in fun family activities. And of course, have plenty of the above communicated print materials on hand to give away. 
  • Collaborating with complementary and non-competing businesses gets you in front of a whole other set of targets. It also allows you to split the cost of the event and giveaways. A joint newsletter sent regularly could also offer tips and tricks and simultaneously market your collective businesses.  
  • Creative message placement can make all the difference.  
  • Promote your unique differentiators.  
  • Sell complementary products and services could be promoted to existing clientele as upsells or as loss leaders to bring in long-term daycare clients.  

6. Marketing your Daycare: No money Solutions 

A sound marketing campaign is the best way to market and grow your daycare. However, if you’re limited on funds, don’t worry. You can get started with little to no money. Start by engaging and networking your friends and family to see if they know families needing childcare services. Use your social media sites like Facebook and get your listing published in any/all free classifieds sites as possible.  

Post Press 

Childcare providers offer an invaluable service to most Canadian families. They supply a safe and educational environment for the children in their care, and in turn, they call on print companies to provide them with many of the materials they need during their day-to-day operations. No matter what type of daycare you’re operating – home-based, childcare facility, or preschool – you need to commit to a consistent marketing strategy to succeed. High-quality marketing materials will help you showcase the quality of your daycare, while intelligent marketing investments will help you yield greater return on investment. Don’t know where to begin, contact the team at Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard. We Design. We Print. You Profit. 

Posted on by

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!

Posted on by

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!

Posted on by

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!

Posted on by

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.

Post Press

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!

Posted on by

6 Inexpensive Ways You Should Use Print to Bolster Your Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

Word of Mouth

Your customers who have an extreme experience when using your products or services can and will share their stories with fellow consumers. This word-of-mouth exchange happens when the experience was very good or very bad – seldom in the middle. When good, they will even recommend the company over other competitors. When not as good, it can really be valuable for you to listen to complaints and determine if there is room for improvement. Interestingly, businesses can use design and print partners like Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard to capitalize on the word-of-mouth advertising they receive – even for those non-extreme customers.

Why is word-of-mouth marketing important in 2021?

In one word: Trust. Word-of-mouth is the primary factor of over half of all purchasing decisions in the past year. If you want to influence people to buy from you, you need to make word-of-mouth considerations as part of your marketing strategy. Trust comes in three ways: noise, skepticism and connectivity.

People face an overwhelming amount of ad noise every day. To avoid being overwhelmed by it, people seek out the opinions and impressions of others in their networks. This allows them to properly decide what’s worth paying attention to.

People want products from trusted companies, but they are often skeptical of marketing ads. But they are far less skeptical of their friends and family and their opinions. They also prefer to consider recommendations and reviews from your existing customers and your brand advocates/ambassadors.

Consumers are connected to each other now more than ever. Word-of-mouth existed long before the internet and social media was ever conceived. But, with so many people connected through social media platforms and online communities, any news has the potential for virality. Experiences – good and bad – travels at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Brand Awareness Spreads Through Word-of-Mouth

Word-of-mouth marketing doesn’t stop after a single interaction between friends. Once someone spreads information to a new person, then that individual will spread it in turn—and on and on. Even if these conversations don’t lead to purchases, they bring brands into awareness. When a company or product is widely discussed, then their reputation builds as they are exposed to more channels where referral marketing is present.

How can you use print to help your company’s word-of-mouth experiences?

Below are 6 inexpensive ways you can use print to foster positive word-of-mouth marketing for your business can include such things as:

  1. Testimonials                
    Companies can gather testimonials from clients with positive reviews to incorporate into their advertising campaigns. These printed or digital word-of-mouth reviews can be printed on various stationery or used as social media posts. Using consumer testimonials can amplify past client opinions to prospects and new clients – particularly those that support the business. This activity can increase the number of people who are influenced by their review.
  2. Flyers/Brochures
    Printed advertisements, such as professionally printed flyers or brochures, can display printed or digital word-of-mouth testimonials to reinforce the features and benefits of a product or service. Adding testimonials written by satisfied customers can help build a favorable reputation for the business to those who are handed the ads.
  3. Customized forms       
    Marketers can use print shops to make customized forms that their clients can complete when visiting your company. Much of this activity has moved online but if you have a business with in-person clients, having success story forms available to be filled in, can allow valuable testimonials to be hand-delivered directly to your business. And, in turn can be printed and distributed to future clients.
  4. Coupons                       
    We can help design your forms to include coupons offering exclusive promotions like discounts as incentives. This in-hand solution can sway the perception of your company to submit reviews of your company.
  5. Direct Mail                   
    Whether it is coupons or flyers or a handwritten postcard, these can also be mailed.
  6. Promotional Gifts        
    You can send personalized corporate gifts to clients with positive testimonials to maintain their perception of the company. Showing appreciation for the kind word-of-mouth reviews may influence customers to continue recommending the business to other people while promoting continued loyalty towards the brand.

Post-Press

Ready to get the word-of-mouth marketing ball rolling for your business? Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard is your one stop shop for everything you need to make an impression this summer. Contact us for a quote today!

We Design. We Print. You Profit!

Posted on by

How to Communicate with Your Customers by Using Deliveries

Deliveries

If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably been opting to shop online a lot more frequently this past year. Whether you’ve been receiving packages from your favourite online retailers or food delivery from that restaurant you used to frequent when dining in was possible, there has certainly been a huge cultural shift in the way people are choosing to interact with businesses. Deliveries have become a popular method for consumers to shop at their leisure and receive goods straight to their door. While ordering online may result in fewer in-person interactions, you can still create meaningful connections with clients and define your brand by improving deliveries. While getting your deliveries sent out to the end user in a timely and secure manner is priority #1, it is also a fantastic opportunity to re-enforce your brand identity and how you add value long after the purchase. Keep reading to find out how!

Pay Attention to Your Packaging

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of excitement you get when tearing the cellophane off a pristinely packaged box. It’s like unwrapping a present on Christmas morning – whether you’re one to tear in right away or prefer to neatly remove all the tape before revealing the surprise, there is something to be said for the experience of unwrapping something.

Packaging plays a crucial role in how customers will judge your brand, so whenever possible, you have a chance to make your deliveries special? Specific designs appeal to different demographics making it important that you learn to build your packaging around the kinds of customers you aim to impress/inform/educate.

The colour and font on your packaging can impact how effective a delivery is at capturing the attention of the receiver. As a foundation, these elements need to be consistent to your brand. For example, children tend to gravitate towards bright colors, while sleek and minimalistic designs can appeal to mature adults.

Think of what kind of packaging will best work for your product and what kind of potential it gives you to be creative. Will you choose a box? A bag? Or package your product in some other unique way?

Show off your Branding and Logo

You can use a printing service like Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard to customize your deliveries and get great-looking, high quality packaging products with your company’s branding and logos. Packaging is the ultimate opportunity to strengthen your identity in the eyes of your customer and increase the visibility of your business to potential clients. Boxes and bags quite often get re-used again and again before getting recycled.

You can also use the packaging to provide clientele more familiarity with your brand. You can design packages to display corporate logos, mission statements, and slogans as well as use it as an opportunity to provide contact information like a phone number or website.

 

Including a simple, non-intrusive request for delivery recipients to provide an online review of your products and your business is a good use of the packaging you are already sending.

 

A brand guide can make it easy to come up with great packaging design, check out our recent blog Six Essentials You Need to Include in Your Brand Guide | Printer Near Me to learn more about developing your very own brand guide!

Consider Alternatives

Depending on the volume of deliveries you fulfil, you may want to consider what other options are available and within your budget. Fully custom packaging often requires high minimum orders which can be costly depending on what you need. The good news is that things like custom die-cut stickers are a great cost-effective alternative that accomplish the same goal of developing recognizable packaging. You can still incorporate your brand colours and logos into these stickers, using them to promote your business. The following two strategies are also great ways to connect with customers through deliveries without breaking the bank.

Include a Message

Turning packages into forms of communication with customers can elevate their experiences with deliveries. Simple messages such as a thank you or a kind phrase can be printed onto the package, which can help build emotional relationships with clients. A client who feels like you care about them will have a much more positive image of your company, which may prompt them to recommend you to friends and family as well as stay loyal to you. Different quotes can be added to the design to give the brand more personality and convey your values. For more ways to make an impression with clients who receive your deliveries check out this article 5 Ways to Create Brand Exposure in a Contactless World | Printer Near Me | Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard

Make it Personal

Make your customers feel special by addressing them personally! Personalizing packages can make a lasting impression on customers by showing that you recognize and value their support in your business. With the help of a print company, you can create unique boxes or bags for occasions like birthdays, promotions, or anniversaries that are customized for the receiver. Again, Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard encourages the use of custom die cut stickers as an effective cost savings solution.

Post Press

Ready to level-up your delivery game? See how Minuteman Press Calgary Shepard can make all your branded packaging dreams come true! Contact us today! We Design. We Print. You Profit!