Must-Have Features for Rack Cards Printing

When you’re ordering any type of printed marketing material, your goal is to make it noticeable, for it to send the right message to your audience, and for you to save on printing costs. Let’s say that you are thinking about rack cards printing. These are typically 4” x 9” or smaller cards which are displayed in high-traffic areas. The idea is for people passing by to get one card to read, take home, and maybe even distribute to friends and family for referral. If your rack cards are attention-grabbing enough, passers-by will surely grab one from the rack. If they are displayed prominently in areas where there is high foot traffic, you are bound to get a good response for your rack cards advertising efforts.

Next, how can you make sure that the rack cards are noticeable and that they are sending the right message to your target audience? Here are the must-have features for rack cards:

  • Eye-catching design

Rack cards are usually displayed in hotel lobbies, theatres, and tourist centres. Your card will be displayed with cards of similar sizes. How do you think yours will stand out if it’s made from thin, rough paper with black-and-white print? You need to make sure that the design of your rack card stands out, and that it is made from high-quality materials to impress your reader.

  • Catchy slogans

Rack cards have more space than business cards, but less space than brochures or flyers. Since you have limited space, you need to come up with a catchy slogan to deliver your marketing message. Stay away from chunky blocks of text, people want to get your message right away.

  • A benefit for the reader

What benefit will a person get by reading your rack card? You may want to include a promo code or any other similar offer for them to be enticed into trying out your products or services.

  • An urgent call-to-action

Once you identify the benefit, include a call-to-action. Do you want people to call you, sign up for a newsletter, or visit your website? To incorporate digital marketing into your traditional printed marketing material, a QR code would be a nifty addition.

When you print rack cards, look for a reliable online printing services provider. Make sure that they offer affordable package prices for high-quality products so you can get the best value for your money.

Looking for an In-between Solution? Try Rack Cards Printing

One of the most popular ways to advertise your business is by distributing business cards. When you meet a prospective client, handing out a thick, beautifully printed business card is a sure way to impress the person. Brochures, on the other hand, provide a lengthier version of your business information. They can have anywhere from four to twelve panels, giving you plenty of space to tell the readers about the background or mission and vision of your business, for example. Brochures are usually given away during trade shows, or handed over to clients who want to learn more about the products or services that you offer. Business cards may contain too little information while brochures may have too much, so if you are looking for something in between, rack cards printing is the ideal solution.

Rack cards come in two sizes: 3.5” x 8.5” and 4” x 9”. You can also go for the tear-off business card option, which means that the bottom part of the rack card is perforated and can be torn off. Since rack cards have more space than a business card but not too much space such as in brochures, you have just the right area to place information in.

Let’s say that you are promoting the soft launch of your restaurant. You can print rack cards with the help of an online printing company. Once done, the cards will be delivered to your doorstep for distribution. But how will you get the rack cards out to your target audience? Rack cards are meant to be displayed in rack or brochure stands, thus the name. They are placed in high-traffic areas and the rack cards are meant to be picked up by people passing by. For your soft opening, you can place rack cards in areas where a lot of people pass by including tourist centers, hotel lobbies, theatres, and rest stops. You can also include them as mailers if you are sending out postcards to every doorstep in your area.

When having rack cards printed, make sure to work with an online printing company that offers a good rate, quality prints, and excellent customer service. No matter what type of product of service it is that you are offering, rack cards are an in-between solution when it comes to containing just the right amount of information.

Use Promo Codes When You Print EDDM Postcards

If you are soft launching a restaurant or if you’re a startup and you want to let people know about your business, the easiest way to reach out to your customers is to use EDDM mailing. EDDM is Every Door Direct Mail and it’s a service provided by the USPS to specifically help startups and local business owners. You cannot use EDDM to send packages – its specific purpose is to mail out postcards or other printed promotional materials to a specific group of addresses.

What’s good about this type of print advertising campaign is that you do not have to put together your own mailing list. If you’re just starting out in the business, it is perfectly understandable for you not to have any sort of mailing list yet. Instead of spending your time on something this tedious, you simply need to pay a small fee for the postage of EDDM postcards.

Basically, you need to get in touch with an online printing company and ask if they offer EDDM postcards. If they do, they will complete the following tasks:

  • Print the postcards for you, making sure that the size is acceptable for EDDM mailing. The EDDM eligible sizes are: 4.25” x 11”, 4.5” x 12”, 6” x 11”, 6.5” x 12”, 6.5” x 9”, 8” x 10”, 9” x 12”.
  • After printing the postcards, you will be asked where you would like to mail the postcards to. You can either choose by zip code so the USPS will send one postcard to every door within the address. Or, you can narrow down the list to individual carrier route, demographics like age bracket, income bracket, or household size.
  • Some print shops will bundle the postcards for you in 100s, which is a requirement of the USPS. They will also take care of the other paperwork requirements.
  • Once done, the print shop will deliver the postcards to the local post office for individual mailbox distribution.

To get the best value for your money, there are some EDDM mailing services providers which give out promo codes. Search for this online or ask the print shop if they offer such promo codes. These will entitle you to discounts so that you can save even more when having the cards printed out. During the design process, make sure that the overall look of the postcard fits your brand’s image. Also include a call-to-action and promo codes that the customers can use. This way, you will get a positive response after the USPS sends out the marketing postcards.

How Print EDDM Postcards Benefit a Variety of Businesses

If you have a local business, you might think that word of mouth is the best advertisement for your business. Although it is true that word of mouth helps, you still need to exert a lot of effort in digital advertising and invest in printed marketing materials to reach the part of your target audience who are not online. Better yet, combine digital and print to get your marketing message to as many people as possible. Here, we will look at one print ad material in particular: EDDM postcards. What is EDDM mailing and how can it benefit a variety of businesses? Read on to find out.

How EDDM Works

EDDM is Every Door Direct Mail and it is a service offered by the United States Post Office to benefit local business owners. It allows you to target a specific area when sending postcards so you can send mailers based on:

  • Zip Code
  • Household size
  • Average household income
  • Age bracket
  • Individual mail carrier route

You do not need to go through the hassles of collecting individual names and mailing addresses – the USPS will provide it for you. The local post office will deliver your business postcards to every door within the route. Another convenience offered by EDDM mailing services is that you do not have to go through filing the paperwork or requirements yourself. By working with an online printing company that offers EDDM mailers, they will be the one to partner with the USPS to complete the requirements and even bundle your postcards together. You simply need to pay the fee for the postcard printing package, plus a few cents for EDDM mailing. The print shop will take care of the rest of the process for you, then the postcards will be delivered to your chosen mailing route.

Different Businesses that Can Benefit from EDDM

Next, which businesses can benefit from EDDM? Restaurant owners, landscapers, lawn care experts, commercial offices, retail stores, real estate service providers, coffee shops, aestheticians – almost any service provider or product seller can enjoy the advantages of EDDM mailing. When designing the postcards, be sure to include a call-to-action and use the colors which are present in your business logo.

By sending a postcard to every door through EDDM mailing, you can easily and effectively send your marketing message to your target audience.

Print EDDM Postcards vs. Digital Advertising

Whether you’re manufacturing a unique product, if you are into retail, or offering a service that everybody uses on a regular basis, you need to have a form of advertisement for your business. You may already have a regular slew of clients but it can’t hurt to have new people to provide services or sell your products to. Here, we will compare traditional print marketing, specifically  print EDDM postcards and digital advertising. Does one work better than the other? How about the costs involved? Read on to find out the answers to these questions and more.

EDDM Mailing Benefits

EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail. Here, an online printing services provider works with the United States Postal Service to deliver mailers to every door in a specific address, thus the name. As you know, postcards are cheap yet effective advertising materials. If you are just starting out, it is very convenient to take advantage of EDDM mailing because of these reasons:

  • You don’t have to put together your own mailing list. Simply choose which zip code, address based on demographic, or individual mailing route to send the postcards to. This saves a lot of time and is a more effective form of postcard advertising.
  • You don’t have to spend a lot of money. If you order more postcards from an offset print shop, the costs actually get lower as the volume of your order increases. For the postage, it only costs as few cents per piece to have the cards mailed out via EDDM.
  • You don’t have to take care of the USPS requirements or even bundle the postcards in stacks of 100 – the print shop takes care of all the dirty work for you. Once done, they will deliver the postcards to a local post office for mailbox distribution.

What about Digital Advertising?

Digital advertising is very popular with new businesses. They maintain official pages on different social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. For this, it is important to always upload content and interact with followers so that your brand name will make an impact to them.

Combining Digital with Traditional Print Marketing

Although some business owners focus on either digital or print advertising, it is best to combine both. For example, with postcard printing, you can include a QR code on the postcard which leads to your website. You can also include promo codes and make sure that the postcard has a call-to-action.  What’s important for entrepreneurs is to know which type of advertising works for them, and maximize their efforts on that to get the best results possible.

Maximize the Value When You Print EDDM Postcards

When taking on any task that’s related to your business, you naturally want to make the most out of it. If you have to spend money, your goal is to get the best bang for your buck. At the same time, you want the task to be successful in fulfilling its purpose. Let’s take print advertising as an example. No matter what product or service it is that you are offering, you will benefit from printing postcards, business cards, flyers, brochures, and similar materials. These represent your brand in the best way, especially if you will pay close attention to the details.

One example is when you print EDDM postcards. For a small fee, you can send the postcards to a targeted group of customers without having to put together your own mailing address. The online printing services will take care of all the behind-the-scenes work for you. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail and here, the print shop works in partnership with the USPS to distribute your postcards to your chosen recipients.

Tips to Make the Most Out of EDDM Mailing

Now, to make the most out of your EDDM mailing task, here are a few tips to remember:

  • Order more postcards to lower the cost.

You can choose between offset and digital printshops. There are some shops that offer both types of printing process – they will use one based on the volume of order that you have. For offset printing, the more pieces you order, the lower the per piece cost gets. This is because it’s only the initial cost that is expensive for offset printing. Once everything is set up, they can easily print out hundreds to thousands of copies for you at a lower price.

  • Send postcards only to your target market.

For EDDM mailing, you have to choose which addresses to mail to. You can send mailers to every address in a specific zip code. Or you can narrow down the list based on demographics like age bracket, income bracket, household size, etc. Narrowing down your list eliminates the need to spend on postcards and postage to those who are not part of your target audience.

  • Include a call-to-action and a promo code.

Finally, include a call-to-action so the recipient would know the next step to take in your print ad campaign. If you will include a promo code with a limited time to claim, you are bound to get positive results because there is a sense of urgency in your marketing message.

Follow these tips and make the most out of your print marketing campaign.

Print EDDM Postcards for Your Landscaping or Lawn Care Business

Some businesses benefit from certain printed advertising materials than others. For instance, everyone needs business cards but only those in the food business can benefit from printing dine in or takeout menus. If you are in the landscaping or lawn care business, you can print business cards, notepads, postcards, flyers, and brochures. Postcard advertising in particular becomes a lot easier through Every Door Direct Mail or EDDM mailing.

How EDDM Mailing Can Benefit Your Business

First, how does EDDM work? If you have a new landscaping or lawn care business and you want to tell people within the vicinity that you are offering such services, you need to find a way to reach out to them. Here is how EDDM mailing works:

  • You get in touch with an online printing company that offers EDDM mailing services. There are print shops that offer print only, EDDM only, or direct mail services if you are ordering postcards.
  • Decide on the number of postcards that you want printed. Pay the fee for the entire postcards printing package.
  • For EDDM postcards, the print shop partners with the USPS so that your postcards will be mailed out to a group of addresses. You need to decide whether you want to send the postcards to every house in a zip code. Or, you can narrow down your audience to a certain demographic. If you want to send the postcards only to households in a certain income bracket or those with three family members and up, you can do that. But instead of putting together your own mailing list, the USPS provides the mailing list for you.
  • You only need to pay an extra charge for the postage of each postcard. The print shop will take care of the bundling of the postcards for you, as well as the USPS paperwork requirements. After all that is done, they will also be the ones to deliver the postcards to the nearest post office for mailbox distribution.

As you can see, EDDM mailing makes it easy for you to reach your target market. You only need to make sure that the design and message of the postcard is effective. Since you’re in the landscaping or lawn care business, use earth colors or green hues. Better yet, use your business logo as basis for the design of the postcard. Include a call-to-action and with EDDM mailing, people inquiring about your landscaping or lawn care business should soar in no time.

How to Print To Go Menus to Boost Your Sales

Would you like to know how print to go menus and other types of menus can help boost sales? If you’re in the food business, menus should always be part of your daily operations. Dine in menus are for those who have time to spend for a sit-down meal. Takeout menus are for advertising and those who simply do not have time for a homecooked dinner. You should also have countertop signs and table tents to complement all your other printed menus.

How Takeout Menus Help Increase Sales

There are many online printing shops that specialize in takeout menu printing. Look for one that offers the highest quality possible for the print, without requiring too much from your advertising budget.

Next, here are some ways that takeout menus help increase sales:

  • Not all people go to restaurants on a regular basis, so a takeout menu targets this part of the market.

Although there is quite a big part of a local town’s population that regularly goes out to dinner, not everybody has this luxury. There are those who simply do not want to wash the dishes after preparing a homecooked meal, and takeout menus will target this part of the market. Takeaway food is convenient, but still fulfils people’s cravings for a restaurant-quality meal.

  • Just like postcards, you can use to go menus as part of your print advertising campaign.

To go menus are made to be distributed, unlike dine in menus which “live” inside your restaurant. As such, it is fine to print them in not-so-expensive paper – but this does not mean that the quality of print should suffer. Just because the menu isn’t leatherbound does not mean that it has to look cheap. There are many online printing companies that offer cheap printing packages without sacrificing the quality of print.

  • Along with all your other menus, you can use takeout menus for branding.

When designing takeout, dine-in, and other menus, create a consistent look. Use the same colors as your business logo. The takeout menu can be a shortened version of your dine in menu. All these should complement each other in terms of look and feel. This way, customers will instantly recognize your brand once they see the menu.

  • Takeout menus encourage repeat order.

Pizza parlors are a perfect example of how takeout menus can mean repeat orders. Once you include a takeout menu as part of a pizza delivery package, the recipient will keep the menu for future reference. They will most likely place a repeat order, which is always good for your business.

As you can see, menus greatly help boost the sales of those who are in the restaurant business, so get yours printed out now.

Print To Go, Dine In, and Other Kinds of Menus

Those who are in the food business would know how tough the competition gets sometimes. All restaurants have something different to offer and most of the time, diners get torn about where to eat so they just pick the first restaurant that comes to mind. This is why it is important for restaurateurs and anyone who owns a food business, big or small, to invest in dine in, print to go menus and other types of menus. Read on to find out the difference between the different types available.

Different Types of Menus

A menu basically sets the tone for the type of food that you will be serving your customers. If you have a pizzeria, for example, you might have a black-and-white menu with hand drawn drawings of pizza ingredients. The flavors, prices, and a short description will be printed, along with instructions on how to place orders. So what are the different types of menus available?

  • Dine In Menu

This is perhaps the most well-known type of menu out there. Once you walk into a restaurant, you get handed the dine in menu so that you can choose what to order for starters, the main course, and dessert. Dine in menus are designed to suit the theme and feel of the restaurant. A casual diner, for instance, would have a less sophisticated menu than a leatherbound menu for more formal restaurants.

  • Takeout Menu

Takeout menus are printed on less expensive paper than dine in menus because they are more for promotional purposes. You want people to place repeat orders, order something for takeout, or for delivery. Thus, your takeout menu should consist of high-profit items which are easy and quick to prepare.

  • Table Tents

Table tents are mini menus which feature a special promotion or soup for the day. These are displayed on top of the table where customers are dining in.

  • Countertop Signs

Countertop signs are exactly that: signs displayed on restaurants. These have short messages and they are posted on areas where they can be easily seen.

There are many online printing shops where you can order takeout menus, dine- in menus, table tents, and countertop signs. For a print to go menu, make sure to distribute personally in high-traffic areas. You can also include them in every delivery or takeout order, or send them out as mailers to spread the word about your brand.

Print To Go Menus for Food Truck Owners and Food Sellers

Brochure printing is to offices what menu printing is to restaurants. Whether you are the owner of a fine dining restaurant, a fast food chain, a small food truck, or even a snacks stand, the menu is the heart and soul of your business. It’s the first thing that hungry diners look at when they walk into a restaurant. If you have a food truck, customers will check out your menu first so that they would know what to order. 

Now, for mid- to small-sized food sellers or food truck owners, it is important to also have a to go or takeout menu. Print to go menus serve more of a marketing purpose so it’s a good thing to invest in. Here, we will take a look at the basics of having to go menus printed out so that they can be used to promote your food business.

Printing To Go Menus 

To get started on promoting your brand, here are a few steps to follow in printing to go menus:

  • Design your to go menu first. 

If your food stall or truck is solely for takeout, you can include all your food items on the menu. Make sure that the dishes are high profit and quick to prepare. After all, your goal in printing the takeout menus is to promote your business – so you might as well highlight the most profitable dishes and turn them into bestsellers.

On the other hand, if you have a separate dine in menu, you can trim the number of items in your takeout menu. Again, choose the high-profit yet easy to prepare to dishes. Also make sure to include your contact information accurately. The menu should be designed based on the logo of your brand to create an instantly recognizable look. The pictures should be professionally shot, and include a brief description of each dish if you want. 

  • Decide on the size, material and folding options. 

Takeout menus are available in these sizes: 11” x 17”, 8.5” x 11”, or 8.5” x 14”. For the folding options, choose from double gate, double parallel, half fold, half fold then half again, half fold then trifold, roll fold, tri-fold, and Z-fold.

  • Work with an online printing services provider to print out the menus for you.

Finally, look for an online print shop that can print the takeout menus for you. Printing options include digital or offset – some print shops offer both. Make sure that the quality of print is excellent and check on the package price to ensure that you are getting the best bang for your buck.