Tag: online printing

Counting Down the Advantages of Takeout Menu Printing

If you’re in the food business and you have not taken advantage of the benefits of takeout menu printing yet, you are missing out on a lot. There are many advantages to this type of print marketing material, which we will learn more about here.

What are the Advantages of Takeout Menu Printing?

As the name implies, takeout menu printing involves printing copies of your food items which are for takeout or delivery. For this, you need to get in touch with an online printing company. There are some that use digital printing, others offset printing, while the bigger shops offer both – you just need to choose one that’s suitable for the volume of order that you will place. When printing out menus for takeout, pay attention to the design of the menu, the quality of material used, the paper finish and thickness, size, and the overall look of the printed material. 

Here are the many advantages of takeout menu printing:

  • It gives diners a chance to sample your menu even if they don’t have time for a sit-down meal.

Eating out is considered a luxury these days, giving people a chance to take a break from the chores of making homecooked meals. Still, there are those who do not have time for a sit-down meal but would like the convenience of eating restaurant quality food. This is your target market for takeout menus. 

  • It gives people an idea about your prices, encouraging them to try out your food some other time. 

If your fine dining restaurant looks intimidating from the outside, for instance, there would still be people who’d like to know what your prices and menu items are. Placing a stack of takeout menus right outside your restaurant door, or distributing them to people passing by will take the guesswork out of your menu prices. 

  • It increases the number of repeat orders. 

For those who have already tried your food, a takeout menu encourages them to place repeat orders, especially for the bestselling items. 

  • It enhances your brand. 

Finally, takeout menus – just like all the other printed marketing materials – enhance your brand. Your goal, after all, is to boost sales. By printing takeout menus, you are making your menu items more readily available for those who would like to dine in or order takeout from your food establishment. 

How to Combine Postcard Printing with Digital Marketing

People usually receive postcards from their loved ones who are on holiday, or during special occasions. This may be an old-fashioned way of sending greetings or any other message, but there is such a novelty in receiving something tangible because of the presence of digital options. Let’s say that you are a business owner and you want to send holiday greetings to your customers. With postcard printing, you can make your customers feel special – especially if you will include a promotional code that they can use for discounts when purchasing something from your store or when booking your services. 

Digital Plus Print is The Way To Go!

No matter what product or service it is that you are offering, you need to make people aware that your brand actually exists. This is where marketing efforts come into place. For digital marketing, you do need to have that online presence because that’s where the young audience is. If you don’t have a website, a Twitter handle, a Facebook page, or an Instagram account, you might as well not exist for the young people. This is where they get information and feedback about brands that they haven’t heard of before. As such, you need to establish an online presence first. 

However, there are members of the older generations who have not yet caught up with technology. This is the part of the market that you can reach through print advertising. If you will contact an online printing company to order 500 postcards, for example, you can mail these out to all the addresses within the vicinity of your business. With the help of the online printing services provider, you can launch a worthy print advertising campaign to complement your digital marketing efforts. 

By combining digital with print marketing, you can reach out to as many people as possible, based on how they consume their information. 

Brochure Printing: What does a Well-designed Leaflet Look Like?

Also called pamphlets or leaflets, brochures are effective marketing materials that you should match with business cards, postcards, letterheads, and the like. Brochure printing in particular gives you more extensive space to let customers learn about the products or services that you offer. Let’s say that you are operating a small accounting firm and you want other businesses or working individuals to become your clients. With a 9” x 12” double parallel brochure, you have eight panels of paper to write your content in. This gives you plenty of space to let the readers know how you started as a company, what specific accounting services you offer, and what benefits they can enjoy from doing business with you. No matter what product or services it is that you offer, brochures are a must have because they serve as a primary source of information about your business

Characteristics of a Well-Designed Brochure

If you want to have a complete print advertising campaign, the first thing to do is look for an online printing shop that offers print services. Do your research and find out how long they have been in the business, what specific printed materials they offer, the type of printing process used, the quality of customer service offered, and the turnaround time. Narrow down your choices to three to four, then make an informed decision from there. 

Now, before you even get in touch with a printing company, you should already have an idea of what the end product of the brochure printing would look like. To help you out, here are some characteristics of a well-designed brochure:

  • It should have a catchy cover. Similar to books, the cover of the brochure is the first thing that readers see. If the design is not attention-grabbing enough, they might not bother reading the rest of the pages anymore. 
  • Its overall design should be user-friendly. Complicated folding options may be cute, but not necessarily practical. Go for traditional tri-fold, Z-fold, or half fold options. There should also be a good mix of text and high-resolution photos. Some people don’t like reading through blocks of text, so do not go overboard in writing the copy. 
  • The copy should focus on your marketing message, and there should be a call-to-action. Use easy-to-read fonts and the colors on the pages should pop. The content should also be well-organized so as not to confuse the reader. 

With a well-designed brochure, you have a marketing material that will let people know what your brand is all about, and make them curious enough to take advantage of what you have to offer. 

Brochure Printing Marketing Strategies

Along with business cards, postcards, flyers, notepads, envelopes, banners, letterheads, menus, and rack cards, brochure printing should be part of every print marketing campaign. Despite the prevalence of digital marketing, there is still a certain appeal brought about by handling something tangible, so print ads still work. Here, we will take a look at the marketing techniques that you can use when printing and distributing brochures.

Marketing Techniques to Apply when Printing Brochures

Should you decide to launch a full print marketing campaign, the first thing to do is look for an online printing services provider. Take your pick from digital or offset printing companies. There are shops that offer both, and they will use a method that’s suitable for the volume of your order. After choosing which online printing shop to go with, you need to choose the brochure size, folding option, paper finish, and paper thickness. 

Naturally, the first thing that the print shop staff will ask is whether you already have a design for your brochures. Since you have plenty of space to write content in, it is important to apply these marketing techniques so that you can reach goals when designing this type of printed material:

  • Do your research about your audience.

Are you operating a restaurant or selling a product for women? If your audience is the general public, you do need a mix of print and digital ads to reach out to them. If you’re selling products for women, what is their age group and income bracket? Do your research on how they like to receive their information. This way, you can have a more targeted marketing campaign.

  • Use language that persuades them to buy your products or services.

A brochure can have up to twelve panels, giving you plenty of space to use. For the copy, use language that entices them to buy – ditch the old fashioned hard sell method. Highlight the advantages of using your product or service. Combine text with full color, HD images so the reader won’t get bombarded with too much text. 

  • Combine digital with traditional.

Lastly, mix your print advertising efforts with digital so that you can reach as wide an audience as possible. By doing your homework about your target audience, you can come up with brochures that will entice them to actually read and respond to your marketing message.

Done with EDDM Postcard Printing? What’s Next?

You may already have a print advertising campaign in place if you are thinking about EDDM postcard printing. If not, then it’s high time to include EDDM postcards in your list of print ad materials because it is cheap, hassle-free, and effective. First, what is an EDDM postcard? It stands for Every Door Direct Mail where the online printing company will charge you just a few cents per postcard for the postage. You only have to select where to send the postcards to, and they along with the USPS will take care of the rest of the process for you. 

Key Tips for Distributing EDDM Postcards 

When having EDDM postcards printed, make sure that the printing process has a high-quality output. This is especially true if you plan to include images in your postcards. The pictures should be professionally shot and printed in full color HD. Your goal is to impress your customers so anything other than excellent printing results would be a disappointment. They would equate the quality of your postcards with the quality of products or services that you are offering. Next, choose an EDDM eligible size for the postcards. You should also decide whether to print on one or two sides; and if you want a matte or a glossy finish. 

Once you’re done with EDDM postcard printing, what’s next? Distribution is the keyword here. You can choose to mail the EDDM postcards to a specific zip code so one postcard will be sent to every household in your chosen route. You want to be as specific as possible in selecting the route because you want to have good marketing results. 

Let’s say that you are launching a line of women’s products. You want to mail out promotional postcards to households with this demographic. You can select by zip code, individual mail carrier route, age bracket, income bracket, or household size. Aside from paying for postcard printing package, you only need to pay a few cents additional for the EDDM postage. The print shop will bundle the postcards for you, fulfil the other USPS requirements, and bring the cards to the local post office for mailbox distribution. 

Effective distribution is key if you want your print advertising efforts to be a success using EDDM mailing. 

How Cost-Effective is EDDM Postcard Printing?

When entrepreneurs think about something like EDDM postcard printing, the first thing that they might consider is the costs involved. It’s perfectly fine to scrimp on some costs but when it comes to advertising your business, you need to invest – and you should get your money’s worth. With EDDM or Every Door Direct Mail, you will get every bang for your buck. Read on to find out what makes EDDM cost-effective.

Factors that Make EDDM Postcard Printing Cost-Effective 

First, let’s have a quick look at how EDDM works. If you order business cards online from a print company, ask if they offer EDDM mailing. If yes, you need to order EDDM postcards and pay the printing fees. Then, you have to specify which audience you would like to send the mailers to. The online printing company will work with the USPS in sending your postcards to the zip code, mailing route, or any other demographic that you will identify. 

What makes this arrangement cost effective? Take a look: 

  • At just a few cents per piece, you can have a ready-made mailing list. Imagine how time consuming it is to put together a list of your customer’s names and mailing addresses. You can also pay for mailing permits, but that is another cost to pay and too much of a hassle. If you are soft opening a restaurant, for example, you can send postcards with promo codes to every door in the same zip code as your location. You can also narrow down the list by age bracket, household size, household income, number of people per household, etc. This is yet another cost-saving way because you don’t have to mail a postcard to someone who does not belong to your category of target audience. 

  • At just a few cents per piece, you do not have to do the ‘dirty work’ in mailing out the postcards individually. Once you order EDDM cards from a print shop, they will bundle the cards in stacks of 100 each. This is a requirement of the USPS. Then, they will fill out the necessary paperwork. Finally, they will be the one to deliver the ready-for-mailing postcards to the local post office in your area. This is what will be delivered to the individual mailboxes on your chosen route. 

As you can see, EDDM mailing is a cost-effective, hassle-free way of reaching out to your target market. The time and effort that you will save, you can use to focus on growing your business more.

How Do I Choose the Best Size for EDDM Postcard Printing?

When launching a print marketing campaign, you want to focus on two things: design and distribution. Let’s say that you would like to add EDDM postcard printing in your print advertising arsenal. EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Marketing. Here, the online printing company will work with the USPS to distribute your mailers to every door in a zip code or carrier route. You can also mail to a specific age bracket, income bracket, household size, or any other demographic. What makes EDDM mailing an ideal option for entrepreneurs is that distribution becomes hassle-free. Just pay for the printing and postage fees. After choosing the mailing route, you simply wait for customers to receive their postcards in the mail. Since distribution is already taken care of, you can focus your attention on designing the postcard itself. 

What are the EDDM Eligible Postcard Sizes?

Let’s say that you have already chosen a printing partner. Once you have your design, you can decide on the other details like the size, the paper finish, the thickness of the paper, and whether you are printing front and back, or one side only. 

Next, if your print partner is working with the USPS, they should have a list of the EDDM eligible postcard sizes that you can mail out to your customers. Here are your options for the EDDM postcard sizes:

  • 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”

There are dozens of other postcard sizes available but these are the specific ones accepted by the USPS for EDDM. The print shop will also handle other tasks like bundle wrapping the postcards in stacks of 100 as required by the USPS. There’s also paperwork to be done. After you have paid the postage fees, the print shop will ship directly to the local post office in your area for mailbox distribution. It’s that easy! 

One more thing to remember when designing your postcard is to not fill it with too much text or too many images – balance the two. You can also include a call to action so that the recipient of the card can take the next step in doing business with you. Better yet, include a promotional code so you can be sure that they will buy the product or services that you are offering.

EDDM Postcard Printing: How to Reach Out to Your Target Market

EDDM postcard printing stands for Every Door Direct Mail, a form of marketing using printed materials. These materials are displayed, given away, or mailed out. Despite the prevalence of digital advertising, there’s still a place for printed marketing materials – if only for novelty. But more than these materials being tangible, they are actually effective and reliable when it comes to spreading the word about your brand. So why should you go with EDDM mailing?

First, it’s easy. You simply need to partner with a printing shop, order your postcards, then they will take care of the mailing part for you. If you will order EDDM cards, they will work with the USPS and fulfil their requirements in mailing out the postcard. You just need to choose the route and your printing partner will handle the rest. 

Second, EDDM mailing is cheap yet effective. For just a few cents per card, you can have your advertising postcards mailed out to ‘every door’ in a zip code, for example. When you make it a habit to mail postcards to your existing and potential clients, you are actually establishing customer loyalty. With all these reasons and more, what is there not to like about EDDM mailing? 


Choosing Where to Distribute the EDDM Postcards

Again, the online printing company will be the one to work with the USPS in mailing out your postcards. You just need to choose which address category to mail out the cards to. Here are some of your options:

  • By zip code

If you’re in the food business, everyone can be considered your target market. So choose a zip code that’s within a five-mile radius of your restaurant, for example, then you’re good to go. 

  • By age bracket

If you’re offering a product or service with an adult or teenage market, choose a mailing list according to age bracket. 

  • By income bracket

If you are have a more upscale clientele, choose a mailing list of people on the higher spectrum of the income bracket. 

  • By household size

You can also decide who to send out your mailers to based on the number of people living in the same house. 

  • By individual carrier route

Finally, you can mail your postcards by individual carrier route. 

With EDDM postcards, there is no need for you to put together your own mailing list. Simply choose among the above categories and the printing company will work out all the details for you. 

Mistakes to Avoid in Rack Cards Printing

Rack cards printing is a popular material for print advertising. When you walk into a hotel or theatre lobby, you will usually see a stack of 4” x 9” cards made from thick paper stock. The font is large so it can easily be seen, with a colorful design and eye-catching details. The goal of displaying these rack cards is for people passing by to get one. Once they read it, they will learn more about the products or services that you offer. If they like what they read, they can take home the rack card for future reference or even give them away to family of friends for referrals. 

Rack Card Printing: Mistakes to Avoid

Rack cards can also be sent out as mailers. With a lot of marketing advantages, there really is no reason for you to say no to the prospect of including rack cards in your print advertising arsenal. Now, when having rack cards printed out, the first thing that you need to do is look for an online printing services provider. 

To get the best results out of your rack cards marketing efforts, here is a list of the mistakes that you should avoid:

  • Filling the card area with too much text or too many images. 

Aside from the popular rack display size, there’s also a lay flat counter size available which measures 3.5” x 8.5”. Although rack cards are bigger than postcards or business cards, it still has limited space as compared to brochures or flyers. This means that you should not fil the card area with too much text or too many images. Use colors which are present in your logo for a cohesive look, and make sure that the letters and images are sharp. 

  • Rushing through the process of looking for a printing partner. 

Another mistake to avoid is rushing through the process of looking for an online printing services provider. Take your pick from digital or offset print shops. Do your research and check on the length of time that they’ve been in the business, the quality of customer services that they offer, the turnaround time, and the price of the printing packages. Narrow down your choices to two or three, do further research on the quality of prints that they offer, and make an informed selection from there.

  • Not familiarizing yourself with your printing and material options. 

Rack cards should be loud, colorful, and eye-catching. Not familiarizing yourself with the material and printing options is a mistake because you would want to only get the best quality output possible. 

  • Not considering the printing costs. 

Finally, always consider the printing costs. Offset may be a bit pricier than digital but in terms of quality, nothing beats full color, HD printing. Also, the more pieces you order, the lower the per unit price gets. Consider this when choosing a printing package. 

By avoiding these mistakes, you can order a stack of rack cards with the best price and quality.

Pocket-Sized Advertising Wonders: All About Rack Cards

When using printed advertising materials, you want something that grabs the attention of the readers. It also helps if the material can be easily carried wherever they go. Such is the flexibility and portability of rack cards. Rack cards printing is something that you must consider if you want an eye-catching, pocket-sized advertising material for your brand. 

Everything You Need to Know about Rack Cards Printing

Fortunately, it is very easy to look for online printing companies that specialize in rack cards printing. Here’s what you need to know about it:

  • You can choose from offset or digital printing shops.

Rack cards are pocket-sized printed advertising materials which aim to promote a brand. You will often see a stack of rack cards in brochure displays at hotel lobbies, tourist centres, amusement parks, theatres, and reception areas of offices. The goal in rack cards advertising is to have people grab one from the display case, then read it and bring it home. Naturally, your business’ information should be printed on the rack card. Since there’s limited space in it, make sure that your copy is short but still attention-grabbing. 

Take your pick from digital or offset printing companies when having rack cards printed. Digital typically uses desktop printers while offset uses big printing presses. For large volumes and professional print quality, offset is the recommended option. 

  • You have different printing options to choose from. 

After choosing between offset and digital, there are several material-related decisions that you need to make. Would you like the regular 4” x 9” size or the smaller 3.5” x 8.5”? Would you like to use 16-pt. or 17-pt. paper stock? How about the paper finish – ultra-smooth matte or ultra-smooth gloss? There is also the tear-off business card option, and you can decide between one side or two sides printing. 

  • Aside from using them as displays, rack cards can also be mailed out.

Finally, rack cards can also be used as mailers. You can include them in your postcards marketing campaign, or just mail them out as is. It’s better if you can include a promotional code at the back of the card so that you can have a sure response from the customer once they read it. 

Indeed, rack cards are pocket-sized marketing wonders, so better take advantage of it!