Month: October 2022

Postcard Printing for Mom-and-Pop Establishments

Mom-and-pop establishments are retail stores, bakeries, grocery stores, drug stores, bookshops, clothes stores, restaurants, and other retail shops which are independently run. They’re usually family-owned businesses passed on from one generation to the next or have family members running the entire operation. If you own a mom-and-pop establishment, you may want to go for postcard printing as a form of advertising. It also pays to establish an online presence, but this is best combined with printed advertising materials.

What To Do and Not to Do When Self Advertising

What’s good about self-advertising using postcards if you own a mom-and-pop establishment is that it is effective without being pricey. To make the most out of your self-promotion using printed marketing materials, here are a few things to remember:

  • Do your research when choosing which print shop to go with.

There are many online printing service providers offering either digital printing services, offset printing, or both. The printing process used will be based on the volume or your order, or the availability of the printer. When choosing between different print shops, always check on the quality of postcard prints they offer. Also check on the quality of customer support that they have, and compare different printing packages.

  • Do use a casual tone when writing your postcard copy.

Formal language may be suitable when promoting law firms or corporations but for independent businesses, opt for a more casual tone. Postcards have more space than business cards but less space than flyers, making them the perfect advertising medium. Keep the message short, casual, and succinct since you only have limited space.

  • Do not aimlessly distribute your marketing postcards.

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make when mailing out postcards is aimlessly distributing them. You won’t only fail to send the right message to your target market, but you will also be wasting your hard-earned advertising bucks. If you are selling women’s products, for example, there is no need for you to mail postcards to every household because not all of them have members included in your target market. For this, you can narrow down your mailing list based on demographics like gender, household income, household size, occupation, whether they are homeowners or renters, etc.

  • Do not forget to include a call-to-action.

Lastly, always include a call-to-action. Whether you want the recipient of the postcard to give you a call, visit your website, or sign up for a mailing list, this should be made clear in your copy. Also include a promo code with a deadline, if you can, so that you can get better response rates.

By knowing the things to do and avoid when self-promoting your mom-and-pop establishments, you can maximize the response rate of your postcard marketing efforts.

EDDM Postcard Printing: Why Should Bakers Go for it?

If you love baking and you don’t like the 9 to 5 grind, you might have thought about putting up your own business. Whether you already have one or if you are still thinking about it, having your own baked goodies business is quite profitable because everyone loves bread, sweets, and baked treats. You just need to come up with sumptuous products to sell, maybe start with an at-home operations then put up your own shop eventually. Whether you’re just starting up or if you already had a head start, eddm mailing is one of the cheapest yet best ways to advertise your bakery.

How does EDDM Mailing Work?

With eddm postcard printing, you first need to look for an online printing company that can create the postcards for you. Make sure that they offer EDDM or Every Door Direct Mail service where the print shop will work with the USPS to deliver your postcards to every mailbox in a specific address group. Since you own a bakery and your audience is not targeted – everybody buys from bakeshops – then you can simply choose your zip code or an individual mail carrier route. After the postcards are printed, the print shop will ask where you want the postcards sent. They will bundle the postcards in stacks of 100s as required by the USP, complete the paperwork, then deliver the postcards to your local post office for individual mailbox distribution – it’s that easy!                     

Other Things to Remember about EDDM Mailing

Whether you have an at-home operations or if you have an actual bakeshop, it is quite easy to choose where to send the postcards. Since you don’t have to put together your own mailing list, sending the postcards to every door within a five-mile radius of your location should be a good enough marketing technique. Once a homeowner receives the postcard, he or she will know about your bakeshop and hopefully place an order. It’s better if you will include a promo code with a deadline so that you can get immediate results. Finally, do send out those postcards regularly so that you can establish customer loyalty, enhance your brand, and boost your overall bakeshop sales. Goodluck!

Brochure Printing for Startups

Startup companies do not necessarily have the budget, manpower, and other resources to launch a full-blast advertising campaign. However, a little goes a long way and there are many resources where you can get cheap brochure printing services, for example. You already have the digital part down pat, so you need to focus on another technique which is print advertising. Digital may be the in thing these days but there is still something about tangible brochures, business cards, flyers, letterheads, notepads, and envelopes that appeals to people. Physical advertising materials can also be kept for future reference, so they are a good thing to invest in. 

Ensuring Success when Printing Brochures for Startups

Now, how can you ensure that your brochure printing task will turn out to be a success? Here are a few tips: 

  • Make an outline of the content first. 

Your goal in making the brochure in the first place is to introduce your startup to other businesses, customers, prospective partners, and other contacts. If you will print an 11” x 17” accordion folded brochure, what content can you place in eight panels? How will you organize the content in such a way that the most important information about your startup is included? Include a cover page; an About Us page; then introduce your products and services; the benefits that your clients will enjoy; customer reviews, if any; and your contact details. By making an outline first, you can decide on the size and the folding option that you would need for your brochure. 

  • There has to be a balance between the text and the images. 

People do not like reading chunks of text so make sure that there is an even percentage between images and text. Use colors which are of the same palette as your logo, and make sure that the font is easy to read. 

  • There should be a call-to-action. 

For people to actually want to call your startup for more details, there should be a call-to-action. Why don’t you include a QR code which leads to a URL of your social media pages? Or maybe a QR code with a link which, when visited, entitles the client to a 5% discount for your services? Be creative in phrasing your call-to-action and put a time-sensitive factor to it. This way, you can see immediate results from your print marketing efforts.

You may be a startup without many resources, but by looking for the right online printing partner, you can create brochures that will impress the reader and turn them into prospective customers. 

5 x 7 Postcard Printing for Cleaning Companies

“ABC’s Meaning? Thorough Cleaning!” or “Dirty Carpet? You Bet, We Can Clean It!”. These are a couple of headline ideas that you can put in 5 x 7 postcard printing if you are a cleaning company. Whether you are in the business of cleaning offices, houses, dirty pools, dingy carpets, or even dirty, delicate laundry, you need a way to advertise your services. Perhaps you already have official social media accounts and a website with an email address where clients can get in touch with you. This is well and good because the first thing that customers will do is look you up online. 

However, there is still a part of your target market who may not necessarily be online, so they will look for a number to call, an email address, or a flyer to read so that they can book your cleaning services. This is where postcard marketing comes in. By sending postcards in the mail or distributing them personally to existing and prospective clients, you can expand your customer base as a cleaning company.

Things to Remember when Printing Postcards 

The good news is that there are many ways for you to have cheap printed postcards to distribute. You simply need to look for postcards online companies that specialize in digital or offset printing, or offer both. Here are a few things to remember when printing postcards for your cleaning business: 

  • Think about the design first. Postcards have more space compared to business cards, but less space than brochures or flyers. For a 5” x 7” postcard, for example, what information should you include? Aside from the logo of your cleaning company, you can include a headline or a tagline. Place in a bulleted list the cleaning services that you offer, then your complete contact information. Use the back of the card – maybe include a promo code with a deadline so that they can act upon your call-to-action. 
  • Pay attention to even the smallest details when ordering a postcard. Decide on the size – you can go as big as you want to stand out from the competition, or go for the more popular sizes. For the paper finish, you can choose between smooth matte or smooth gloss. The overall look should reflect the image of your brand as a cleaning company. 

With a high response rate to direct mail that has discounts and promo codes, well-designed postcards make for the ideal marketing material for cleaning companies. 

Rack Cards Printing for Moving Companies

Do you have a moving company or are you an independent mover? If you are in the business of helping people move their possessions from point A to point B, then you should seriously think about advertising your brand. Whether you are just starting out or have been in the business for quite a long time, the first thing to do is establish an online presence for yourself. This is where prospective customers are. If they’re thinking about moving, the first thing that they will do is search online. If your website does not appear in the results search box, they might still look for you using Facebook, Twitter, or other social media accounts. This proves how important it is to establish an online presence. However, even if majority of your customers are online, there is still a part of your target market that you can attract using traditional advertising materials like rack cards. Rack cards printing is a must if you are in the moving industry because of these reasons: 

  • Rack cards are cheap to produce, but you do not have to sacrifice the quality of print. There are many online printing shops where you can order affordable, high-quality rack cards with free color, two-sided printing, and several folding options. 
  • You can easily distribute rack cards using a mailing list. You can also distribute them personally in areas where there is high foot traffic. Or, have them displayed in offices or countertops of local business owners. Rack cards are named such because they are designed to be displayed in busy areas where a lot of people pass by. They’re meant to be taken out of the display case, to be read and brought home for reference. Another option is to include a rack card in every customer receipt and any other paper-based transactions that you may have. 

When you print rack cards, think of an attention-grabbing headline or tagline that you can use to attract passers-by. Use high-quality photos, and you may want to go for the tear-off business card option. Make a bulleted list of why homeowners and business owners should choose your moving company. More importantly, make sure that your information is complete and accurate – include:

  • The name of your moving company 
  • A pinned location of your office in a map
  • Your phone number, email address, website, or QR codes to your social media accounts
  • Special offers, if any

With rack cards, you can provide as much information as a customer needs to help them decide to hire you should they need moving services in the future. 

Print To-Go Menus: Which Folding Option Works Best?

If you’re in the food business, why should you print to go menus? Before counting down the reasons, it pays to know that you can easily pair digital advertising with print marketing materials. Whether it’s a food truck, a pizzeria, an ice cream parlor, or a full-fledged restaurant that you are operating, you should establish a presence online because that’s where most of your audience is. For the print advertising part, you should think about printing business cards, banners, postcards, rack cards, takeout menus, notepads, and similar materials. The fact that these printed materials are tangible instead of clickable on screen is what makes them such a novelty – and this form of advertising still works. 

One of the many reasons to go with takeout menu printing is that it is really cheap to produce. There are many online printing companies where you can order takeout menus for less than a dollar each – cheaper if you will order more. These menus can be distributed personally to people in areas where there is high foot traffic. You can also turn them into mailers for mailbox distribution. Or, include them in every delivery or takeout package, supplier receipts, and any other transactions. Takeout menus can also be displayed right outside your restaurant or food truck, so that people passing by would have an idea about your menu and prices. 

Takeout Menu Folding Options

When having to go menus printed out, you need to pay attention to the details in order to impress your would-be clients. Do you want the paper to have a medium gloss or extreme gloss finish? The size ranges from 4.25” x 11” to 11” x 25.5”. For the folding options, here are some to choose from:

  • Half fold menus are exactly that: folded in half. As such, you have four large panels to place content in. 
  • Trifold menus are suitable for those who have quite a lot of items on their menu. This folds into three panels, giving you six pages in total. 
  • Z-fold menus form a letter Z, and also gives you six panels. 
  • Roll fold menus are folded thrice starting from the right, so there are about eight panels to write your menu items in. 
  • Accordion menus are folded in a zigzag pattern, the panels also add up to eight pages. 
  • Half then trifold gives you the most number of panels: 12. This is perfect for restaurants with full course menus starting from appetizers to desserts. 

By designing your takeout menus properly, you have an effective marketing material that you can distribute to hungry diners. 

Portable Rack Cards for Interior Designers & House Decorators

On social media sites, there are a lot of videos that show DIY living room makeovers or couples remodelling a kitchen. If you’re a homeowner, you may want to be featured in one of these videos or simply apply the designs to your own home. On the other hand, if you are an interior designer or a house decorator, the popularity of such videos will benefit you in such a way that your clients will increase. You can actually create a TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook account where you are featured talking about how people can come up with such fresh designs. The videos should be short and attention-grabbing. You can match your online marketing efforts with the traditional when you print rack cards. Any business owner will benefit from advertising using these rack cards because they are handy, cheap to produce, and can be placed in high-traffic areas. 

Tips for Ordering Rack Cards when You’re in the Design Business 

If you are a designer yourself, how can you design a rack card for your business? You may not have any problems choosing the colors, font, and images to use on the rack card design, but there are still a few things about online printing rack cards that you still need to remember:

  • Incorporate the same color palette as your business logo in the design. 

This is for branding purposes. If you already have a logo for your interior design or house decorating business, incorporate the same colors in your rack cards design. 

  • Keep the copy short but impactful. 

The available rack card sizes are 3.5” x 8.5” and 4”x 9’. This gives you more space than a business card but less space than brochures, so use it wisely. Depending on your purpose for creating the rack card, you can introduce your business or invite the recipient to a one-time event. Use a mixture of text and images, and avoid lengthy paragraphs. 

  • Take advantage of the tear-off business card option. 

People would want to book your decorating services so it is best to have the tear-off business card option. This means that the lower part of the card can be torn off to serve as your business card. Make sure that the information is accurate, up-to-date, and readable. 

  • Use the back of the card wisely. 

If you’re just introducing your decorating services to the public, you may want to entice clients by giving them a discount code for booked services, or may an offer of free initial consultation. If you have been in business for a long time and you’d like to gain new clients, make sure to include a QR code which leads to an online portfolio of your previous designs. 

Rack cards are portable, effective, and affordable to produce, so use them as a powerful instrument to advertise your interior design and home decorating services. 

EDDM Postcard Printing: The Nitty Gritty of Choosing a Carrier Route

No matter which product or service it is that you offer, you need to think of ways to advertise your brand. Digital advertising is a given and it is quite easy. You just need to make your brand’s presence felt online – by creating official social media accounts. This is where your existing and prospective customers can interact with you. However, your digital marketing efforts should be mixed with traditional print advertising to reach the part of the audience who are not online. One example of printed marketing materials that you can use is the humble postcard. For easier distribution, look for Every Door Direct Mail or eddm postcard printing companies.

With eddm, the printing company works in partnership with the United States Postal Service to get your marketing message to as many people as possible in a specific area. As a business owner, the number one benefit of eddm mailing is that you do not have to put together your own mailing list. Second, eddm mailing is cheap, it only costs a few cents per piece for your postcards to be delivered to every mailbox in the address that you have chosen. Third, postcard advertising in general is effective because you can reach out to as many people as possible. If you will include an effective call-to-action and a time-sensitive promo code, you are bound to get great response from your marketing efforts. 

Now, when you are in the process of choosing which addresses to send your postcards to, the USPS’ Every Door Direct Mail Tutorial lists a few things to remember: 

  • If you want to send one postcard to every address, you can contact your local print shop, or you can check out their website which has complete instructions on how to proceed with an eddm campaign. 
  • The USPS has a web tool which allows you to choose which area you want your postcards to go to. You can also select individual carrier routes.
  • Depending on the product or service that you are offering, you can send postcards to every business address in a mail carrier route. Otherwise, you can just send to every residential address in the area. 
  • If you have a pizzeria or a restaurant, you may want to send one postcard to every mailbox within a three- or five-mile radius of your location. 

You can easily stay within your budget because there is a feature on the website that allows you to see the approximate postage cost based on the route that you have chosen. You can perform all the steps from the USPS tutorial, or simply partner with a print shop that caters to eddm postcards. This way, you simply need to choose the mailing route, then the print shop will be the one to take care of the rest of the USPS requirements for you – along with the bundling of the postcards and sending them to the local post office for individual mailbox distribution. 

Letterhead Printing for Real Estate Brokers

If you’re a new real estate agent or if you own a real estate company, the first thing that you will probably invest in is a business card. These cards provide your contact information so if you run into someone who’s interested in leasing or buying a property, then you can simply hand over the business card. It’s a starting point of your business connection. But what about the day-to-day transactions for your real estate office? Or maybe you’re running a work-from-home setup as a real estate broker? To make your transactions look legitimate and branded, you need to invest in letterhead printing. A letterheads is a pre-printed heading that is usually placed at the top of a stationery. It contains the business name, logo, address, email address, and other contact information. There are some who prefer to use a background pattern on their letterheads. 

So what are the benefits of using a letterhead if you’re in the real estate business?

  • There are many online printing service providers from where you can order letterheads. Some offer one- or two-sided printing, with folding options, and same-day offset printing at affordable prices without compromising on quality. Although you do not want to spend too much on print advertising, the materials that you will use should still be high-quality because this is what will impress your future clients. 
  • Letterhead printing is a way to establish your image as a realtor. Just like your business cards, letterheads are a representation of what you are all about as a brand. You want people to remember your name or company name as a realtor. You want to earn their trust in the long run, and conducting your transactions using branded letterhead stationery is a way to do just that. 
  • You can customize your design when printing letterheads. It does not have to be the traditional on-top-of-the-page design. You can use a footer, or strategically place designs on either side of the paper. What’s important is to use the same color scheme as your business logo – and to ensure that the overall look is attention grabbing. 

There are many cheap printing services that you can work with in ordering these letterheads for your real estate business. Ask about the option of having the stationery folded, or adding blank second sheets if you need matching paper. 

Print Rack Cards: Learning the Basics for those in the Entertainment Industry

If you are part of a theatre production, you would know how difficult it is to get noticed by people outside your circle. Those who are not exactly theatre enthusiasts may not even look at a printed promotional material that you will hand to them, simply because they have no interest. This is why you should combine a good digital promotional campaign with old-fashioned print ads. Rack cards printing is a good start, because it is a popular advertising tool used by those in the entertainment industry. Read on to find out why else you should use rack cards, how you can distribute them, and what else you can do to promote your production, play, musical, or any other show that you might be currently a part of. 

Why Should I Use Rack Cards?

Rack cards are 4” x 9” or 3.5” x 8.5” cards made from thick paper which are used to promote a business, brand, or event. These are displayed in brochure or rack stands, which are then picked up by people passing by. They are displayed in areas where there is high foot traffic like hotel lobbies, theatres, movie theatres, tourist centres, gas stations, and clinics. Rack cards are very handy and are quite effective. If you are promoting a play and the rack card is displayed in a theatre lobby, the person who picked it up is already a part of your target market. They’re also cheap, you can order rack cards from online printing services at a very low per piece price, but the quality is not compromised. 

How Should I Distribute Rack Cards?

After you print rack cards for your theatre production, how should they be distributed? Here are a few quick tips: 

  • Ask local businesses if you can display your rack cards in their area. Start with the local bars, retailers, rest stops, restaurants, hotels, clinics, etc. Use a free ticket as an incentive if you can. 
  • You can also strike a deal with the local restaurants, bars, or retails stores in your area to provide free refreshments – in exchange for an advertisement during your show.
  • Partner with a local charity, and advertise this in your rack card. People will shell out their hard-earned bucks if they know that they are helping a cause. 
  • Distribute the rack cards out in the streets, preferably in areas where there is high foot traffic. Have members of the cast don their costume, make it as fun as possible!
  • Lastly, combine your print marketing efforts with digital promotions. Maximize your social media exposure by creating funny trailers, bloopers, highlights of the show, interview clips, etc. 

With the help of well-designed rack cards, you can encourage people to flock to your theatre production.