Brochures are extremely valuable because they hold the same benefits as several areas of marketing, making them one powerful tool to accomplish several purposes. They have a collectible quality similar to business cards. They hold vital information you would include in a sales letter. And they showcase the best of your business like a poster. Follow these simple steps and you will have a brochure worthy of its potential. 

Brochures can be exciting
When you print brochures, you have the ability to sell your company with exciting photographs and bold graphics. Use this benefit with confidence. Graphics on the cover should be much more than a company name or logo. Use your imagination and grab the attention of potential clients.
 
But don’t forget to organize
You have a great opportunity to fill your brochure with all of the best aspects of your business. Put the very best information in the headings and in bold fonts. Your reader will look at the graphics first, the headings and captions next, and the content will be saved for last. For this reason, make sure that you have enough substance in your graphics and headings when you print brochures to make the customer want to read the content.
 
And make the content personal
Your reader will enjoy reading your brochure much more from their own perspective than from yours. Think about what the customer wants to know. Answer any questions that you have been asked by customers. Tell them how this product will improve their life. Try not to focus on all the details of your product. These may be very interesting to you but perhaps not so to the customer. When you print brochures, think about them from the customer’s perspective.
 
Never forget to include substance
Do not get carried away with technical terms. However, make sure that the meat of your company is in your brochure. Talk about what makes you better then your competitor. Point out all the wonderful aspects of your product and explain why it is great. When you go to print brochures, check all of your contact information to be sure it is correct. You may even want to place your phone and fax numbers along with your physical and web address on every page of your brochure.
 
Finally, sell your product
After you draw in your customers and inform them about your product, encourage them to take action. Give them a reason to order. Take advantage of print brochures by making a perforated order form or coupon. Give the customer a special deal or secret information in your brochure. And finally, make the ordering process effortless by clearly laying out the steps that the customer needs to take.

If done right, your brochure will prove an invaluable asset to your company and complete several marketing jobs at once. 

The task of preparing and sending a profitable sales letter may seem daunting and unattainable. This does not have to be the case for those who take advantage of the tools available to them: write to the right set of people, use custom envelopes, and include order forms. With these few proven tips, you can create a sales letter that does the job.
 
#1 Keep your key audience in mind 
Write to the people who will need and want your product. For example, pet owners need pet medicine and parents look for children’s clothing. Once you have a letter fitted to your customer base, send it out only to those who fit that group. If you get a good response with this group, resend another letter at a later date. You should get another good response.
 
#2 Spend time on your custom envelopes
Studies show that custom envelopes can increase the chances of the letter being opened. Printing addresses directly on the envelope is proven to make the letter more interesting while handwritten addresses are opened the most often. Keep in mind the character of your business as these options may not be appropriate for all businesses. Do not use a sales pitch or fancy graphics on your custom envelopes. This sends the message that you are all about advertising, and the letter will get pitched before it is even opened.
 
#3 Make it easy for the customer to follow through
Give your customers options for ordering. A paper order form with a self-addressed envelope will create an effortless option for ordering. Also, make it clear that phone and online ordering are available for those customers who prefer it, and place your web address and phone number in clear sight. The goal of your letter is to sell your product to them. Don’t lose a customer because the process of ordering was confusing or cumbersome.
 
#4 Use the resources available to you
You can find programs to aid you in your efforts for a great sales letter. Using a template or pre-written letter will free you up to spend time on personalizing your letter, and will insure a professional outcome. Your consumers will trust you more if your letter and custom envelope are professional in appearance and wording, and trust results in a purchase.

A promotional print calendar is a great way to keep your business name in front of your current and potential customers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year. Print calendars are versatile in format and extremely cost-effective, making them an ideal marketing giveaway. But which type of promotional calendar is right for your customers? Knowing what’s available will help you to better choose a format that meets your clients’ needs.

A promotional print calendar can be customized to virtually any print format you can come up with including: 
 
Business card calendars – Add a calendar to the back of your business card. A business card print calendar can be done annually, quarterly, monthly, or as an appointment reminder. For salespeople who make regular calls, using a calendar on the back of their business card allows them to mark important dates that may fall before their next visit, or the date of their next visit. Hair stylists, masseurs, even charity representatives can use an appointment reminder or calendar on the back of their card to remind customers of upcoming appointments or holidays.
 
Bookmark calendars – A bookmark print calendar is a great idea for libraries, new and used bookstores, gift shops, etc. A bookmark calendar offers ample space on one side to advertise your business, special dates, upcoming sales, etc. Using the other side as a print calendar helps insure that consumers will have a reason to keep using your bookmark all year long.
 
Magnetic calendars – Magnetic print calendars are a great way to go with your promotional calendar since they have two intrinsically handy uses: a magnet and a calendar. Magnetic advertisements are rarely thrown away since the magnetic quality makes them ultra useful at home and office. Combining a magnet with a quickly referenced calendar is a win-win situation. Consider bookmark or postcard sizes to add a little more to your advertising space.
 
Wall or desk calendars – In addition to the above print calendar formats, there are also the traditional wall or desk calendars that your online printing company can help you customize to fit your needs. Both provide the space often needed for marking appointments and other important dates. And wall calendars come with the added benefit of images for your customer to personalize their own wall space.

 
Now is the time to order your promotional calendars with the new year not far away. Waiting too late risks not getting them in before the new year begins, which means that customers will probably already have calendars to use. Order in advance to make sure that your print calendar is one of the first that your customers receive and the one they choose to use.

The goal of any business card is to be handily available when someone needs what you are selling. In order for a current or potential customer to find your card when they are ready to make an order, they first have to remember it and have kept it. So how can you make your business card memorable enough that people want to keep it around? Here are some little known facts about memorable business card printing pieces that will help guide you to design one of your own!

Before we go any further let us consider the reasons people keep business cards:

• A business card can be a link to a potential customer or client – the person who gives you the card knows someone else that you would like to do business with, so you keep the card as a way to contact the other person.
• A business card can be a link to a resource or supplier – when you meet someone who supplies difficult to find resources, you will want to keep their card for future needs.
• A business card can be a link to a colleague – these colleagues may be competitive in the same occupation you are in, but perhaps you refer customers to them when you are busy. Or they may be non-competitive in a related occupation that supports your product or service, and you recommend your customers to them often.
• A business card may be kept for non-business reasons – perhaps you simply are interested in the person who gave you the card.
• A business card may be kept for referring business – you may not be able to use the services of the person whose card you take but you know someone who can.
• A business card may be kept to update old information – perhaps a contact you already have has moved, numbers or addresses have changed, and you would keep their card to update your records.
• A business card may be kept just in case – you just never know when you might need that service or product they offer.
• A business card may be kept because of something unique about the person or their card – perhaps you found the person likeable and keep the card even though you cannot imagine ever needing their service. Or you found their card design to be unusually well done.

With this in mind, here are a few design elements that can help make your card memorable and keepable:

• Your card should make the service or product you offer clear so that people know when to call you.
• Use both sides of your card – the front is for the standard contact and job description, but the back is valuable space that can be used to market yourself by adding the name of a book or article you have published, testimonials from customers, product lines you distribute, etc.
• Consider the colors of your card stock and ink, and images you could add of yourself or your product – use the ones that will make the most impact.
• Incorporate a tag line that tells potential customers why they should do business with you – what is in it for them?
• Keep the design of your card consistent with the rest of your business marketing material in order to take advantage of brand recognition.

When designing your next business card, keep in mind both the reasons that people may keep your card and these memorable design tips. This way, rather than wasting budget money by printing business cards that no one wants to keep, you’ll have cards that work for your company and your prospects, giving you the most success for your cost.

Color catalogs look far more attractive than black and white ones, and so are more effective marketing tools. Just adding color will increase the appeal of your print catalog, but if you want to take your catalog to the next level, there are a few color guidelines that will help.

Be Consistent With All Publications
To reinforce product branding when printing catalogs, use the same color scheme in every publication and on all your signage and marketing materials. This is not to say all your photos in the catalog should have the same colors in them, but your cover page, logo, and order form pages should have the same color scheme.

Use Color for Impact
On each page of your print catalog, there should be one product that stands out. You can do this by having a monochromatic background that contrasts with the product you want to emphasize. For instance, you can emphasize a bright red coat by using a picture of a model wearing it on a gray city street. Using only a few colors per page also makes the spread look more attractive. If you were to use lots of colors inconsistently on the page, it would just look busy, and nothing would really stand out.

Use Colored Text Sparingly
Black text on a white background is the easiest to read. In your efforts to be creative, you must keep in mind whether or not your words are readable, because if people have to struggle to read your catalog, they are less likely to order from it. On the other hand, if you want to emphasize only a few words, this is one instance in which colored text is acceptable. For instance, you could put the word “sale” in red. If only a few words are in color, then they stand out much more than if the entire page is full of colored words.

Use Background Bleeds
Using background bleeds in your print catalog makes it look more attractive and professional. When bleeds are used in printing, the background color extends a little beyond the edge of the page. That way, the color extends all the way across the page and there are no white edges showing in the final printed product. Just remember that when you use this technique you need to keep your text and important images within your printer’s safety guidelines so they don’t accidentally get cut off during the trimming process.

There are a lot of words thrown around that have similar meanings to advertising, so you might be wondering what advertising really is and if a specific definition really matters. Advertising is basically anything a business does to try to get consumers to have a positive view of their company or to get consumers to purchase their goods or services. There are four basic purposes for advertising.

Creating Demand
The objective for advertising is sometimes to create a demand for product or service. There are two types of demand: primary and selective. 

• Primary demand is the demand for a type of product. The Got Milk? ad campaign is an example of this type. The advertisers are merely promoting the consumption of milk in general, not a specific brand of milk. Unlike the milk example, primary advertising is usually done to promote a new product; in this case the marketer tries to create a demand for something the public doesn’t currently use.
• Selective demand is the demand for a specific brand of the product. Selective demand advertising kicks in once the new product has competition.

Promoting a Brand or Company
Another purpose for advertising is to shape the public impression of a brand or company. An advertisement might try to make a company seem reliable, cutting edge, or customer-oriented. The hope is that if people think the company is a good one, they will be more likely to use it rather than the competition. For instance, a printing company might have a commercial showing the bands it has helped make famous by completing quality poster printing projects.

Causing Action by Consumers
The desired action by consumers might be direct or indirect.

• Direct action advertisements call for consumers to buy this product or service soon. The ads do this by having limited time offers of special prices or packages. For example, a print company might offer poster printing at a reduced rate until a specific date.
• Indirect action advertisement is a lot like promoting a company. The purpose is to get consumers to have a positive view of the brand or the product a company makes. This type of advertising is aimed at building a customer base over the long run. 
   

Benefiting the Public
The purpose of some advertising campaigns is to promote public safety or well being. Campaigns that encourage people to wear seat belts are an example of this.  Another example is when regional forest reserves do a poster printing campaign to promote fire safety.

Now that you have a basic knowledge of advertising, you can better know where you should start with your advertising campaign. Your next step is to research specific advertising campaigns and hire professionals so that your advertisements can be as effective as possible.

Booklet printing is a great marketing resource when you need more space to properly showcase your product than a brochure allows. There are a few design notes you should keep in mind when planning a booklet. Here is a list of some of the most common booklet printing mistakes to avoid.
 
#1 Too Much Text

All of that extra room can make your copywriters go a little crazy! You will need to watch for too much text added to use up all of the extra space. If you find this to be the case, edit the text and then, if there is too much white space, try enlarging the headlines and subheadings. Limit your text to what is needed.
 
#2 Page Malfunction

Missing pages or pages that are out of order are another unfortunate mistake of booklet printing. Be sure that you have a copy of the finished product to scrutinize specifically for consecutive page order.
 
#3 Skipping the Final Proofing

Always get a proof from your booklet printer of the final product. Most printers offer this as part of the package deal. The proof is your last opportunity to edit any grammatical errors or missing words before the booklets are shipped to customers.
 
#4 Not Printing Enough Booklets

Many times businesses fail to print as much as they will use and that is a mistake! In printing, the price each piece drops dramatically as the quantity goes up. So if you will use 20,000 in a year, go ahead and print them all at once to save significant money.
 
#5 No Color

Color is ideal for most any advertising. Unless you are purposefully using black and white for design emphasis, your booklet printing should be in color. Color allows a much greater range of design possibility and adds considerably to the credibility of the sales pitch your booklet holds.
 
The above information may seem like fairly common sense advice, so it might surprise you how often these details are overlooked either by carelessness or a greater interest in saving money. But a mistake is detrimental to the credibility of the booklet and your product. When readers see a mistake, it causes doubt for the business as a whole. Attention to details as small as a booklet printing project show customers that you are paying attention to the details that count.

Improving a brochure is a great way to increase revenue and retain existing clients, and images and content are one of the most important aspects when improving the memory retention of your brochures. So if your brochure printing pieces need an overhaul, try the following suggestions to turn your design into an easy sales tool.

Images    
Paint the perfect picture with images. Here’s how:

1. Images are a great enhancement to any brochure. They are often used to suggestively sell the product or service in the brochure. So, how does a suggestive sell create desire for a product? 
2. Show the value of the product with images. Inform the consumer of the utility that will be gained. A pain relieving patch will often show an individual before and after the use of the pain reliever.
3. But show more than proof of the product working. Show a dancer performing in a dance after using the pain relieving patch or grandpa playing catch with the grand kids. The utility gained here is much more than just pain relief. 

Content     
Remember that readable content makes all the difference when taking brochures from good to great:

1. Get to the context of the content by using an overview. Giving an overview and repeating it is much more effective and memorable than a lengthy description.  
2. Keep it simple to increase memory retention. Repetitive is not enough, the brochure must be an easy read. Big words and too many unique words will require the reader to decode the message that you are sending. Decoding and deciphering will reduce retention. 
3. When can context be contrary to the simplistic approach? If your brochures are for internal marketing or for a specific trade, the terms of the trade are best to gain the attention of the reader. If you are selling your team or management on something, use the terms that they are comfortable with and used to hearing. In wood working, instead of using the more common terms “wood and plywood,” use “dimensional lumber and sheet goods.”    
4. Be ready with a rhyme or a core catchy message. Memory retention is also improved with content that is very rhythmic. Help your viewer catch the fever of desire for your product or service with a core message that is catchy. 
5. Finally, keep a close eye out for offensive context. Be careful to not talk down to your brochure reader. When the printed material requires much telling, soften the message with an uplifting message before and even after your core message.       

When trying to create product/packaging labels for your business, the process can become quite complicated and frustrating. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be such a hassle to get your labels designed and printed. Here are a few steps to simplify the process and give you label printing designs that will reinforce your company image. 

First, list the required information and choose a paper. The paper used for label printing depends upon the product, company, and type of distribution. The packaging label for a piece of furniture is often cheaper and less essential than the label on a box of toothpaste. The same goes for the required information on a label — it depends upon the product. There are legal requirements for food and other products. There are also courtesy requirements due to industry standards. Just try to find a bar of soap without the amount in ounces on the label. Even the handmade craft or specialty soaps include the ounces on the labels.       

Second, choose a design and printing style for the label, keeping in mind the product and company. A children’s product will be colorful and use various sized fonts, while a label printing design for a package of financial books will show strength, stature, and stability. Label printing styles include glossy or matte coatings as well as size. The larger your package, the larger you want your labels to be.   

The third step is to decide on placement. Will the package include several labels or even include labeling on all sides? With front and back or multiple sides labeled, decide upon how important the secondary labels are. This will allow you to discern whether the money spent on the secondary labels should be equal to the primary label or not. The other part of placement is where the information is placed on the packaging. Convenience to the consumer and readability are the two main concerns when choosing where to place the information on the label printing.

Last, get some professional help or choose the do-it yourself approach. For the do-it yourself approach, there are pre-made label designs. In these designs, you just place your company name and logo and send it to your printer. A pre-made label includes pre-determined placement for product name, instructions, required tools or items, and other information. Keep in mind that label printing is an important part of advertising your brand, so if you are unsure about designing it yourself, consider using a professional. All of your time, and money spent researching and designing labels will not be wasted with a professional. Instead, this preparation will allow you to be a better customer and allow you to communicate what you want more effectively.

Flyer advertising is a great way to build your customer base without breaking your advertising budget. Just make sure that when designing flyers to promote your brand and image, to be clear with your message, and to then be prepared for responses. With these few techniques, your flyers will take your brand even further and increase revenue for your business.

Use Images
Images are great branding techniques, even if the only image you can afford to use is your logo. Photographs and graphic designs used are usually related to the product or service to build credibility. And never forget your logo and any graphic designs you use to reinforce your brand.  

Be Ethical
Be creative and outgoing when advertising with flyers, but never mislead the customer. Unethical behavior must be hidden and covered up, and a cover up is a distraction from the real service or product. Be ethical and build up your business, don’t tear it down. One of the most important aspects of being ethical is to provide amazing customer service. Always follow through with what you promise in your flyer printing message.

Be Assertive
Create desire and include a call to action with your advertising. Show how your product or service makes life better and more enjoyable — how it works better than your competitors’ products or saves time. Action phrases are the best way to motivate your customer. Don’t sell your message short by being too modest. Most ads use “Call Now!” or “Purchase Today” to motivate the customer. Whatever call to action you use, make sure it specifically states what you want a customer to do and keep your contact information handy.
             

Follow Up

A well-designed flyer will get the attention of the consumer and cause action. Unlike brochures, the purpose of a flyer printing message is primarily to cause viewers to contact you. It is the responsibility of the staff to follow up and close the deal. Be prepared for increase in business and inform the staff of the advertising. Make sure your staff is knowledgeable and can answer any detailed questions that consumers will have. You may even need to be prepared to hire temporary staff to handle to influx of new customers. You never know to what new heights an effective advertisment will take your company.