Marketing Ideas

Corporate Christmas Cards

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:18:00 GMT

The most common place for you to receive Christmas cards is in the work place. Not only do you receive cards from the people you work with but also from the company itself or from your bosses. Sometimes you even receive a card from the president of the company.

Companies like to give out Christmas cards not only to their employees but also to their clients since this is the most cost-efficient way to show them that each person is important to the company. The cards the companies send out are not just ordinary cards since they usually make sure that the person receiving it knows exactly who it is from.

There are company Christmas cards that are more formal and include the Christmas tree or a symbol, drawing, or some picture in front and write a general greeting to everyone. There are others that dress up or design the company's logo and use that on the front of each card. Others include the company's name in the greeting itself instead of just writing the company as the sender. An example of this would be "Have a Merry (name of the company) Christmas!" or "May You Have a Happy (name of company) Holiday!"

Bigger companies usually do not put just one person to be in charge of the cards for the year. A committee works on them and of course, more people working on it, means more ideas to make the card a special and unique one. The more creative the group working on it and the more resources available to them, the more interesting or entertaining the company Christmas cards are.

Some companies have the officers of the company dress up in costume or with a Christmas set which is used as a greeting on the front of the card. There are those that come up with two different designs, one for the employees and another one for the customers. There are even those that have a group of employees sing a Christmas tune which is recorded and included in the card to make it a singing card. Others have the mascot or icon of the company as the main character on the card. There are some company logos that do not have a character or mascot identified with them. What these companies do is they take the most famous product they have and turn that into a mascot just for the Christmas cards.

There are all sorts of ways to customise the company Christmas cards, which is also usually easier since there are more resources and funds available for doing so. The options are limitless which allows the company to send out cards with a number of possibilities. They may be three dimensional with a pop up feature, a singing card, a more funny and entertaining one, or something more elegant. These personalised greetings are a good way to spread the love and wishes around to those the company values and at the same time advertise the company itself.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4717580

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Order:

http://business4charity.com.au/b4c/cards

Attention Grabbing Print Ideas

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 06:23:00 GMT

Advertising is the core of any business’ success, no business can grow and make revenue when their name is not known to any and this is why embarking on advertising and marketing program is an essential step to be made, however in most cases, limits in budget can make it tricky to create an effective yet cost-efficient program.

One marketing tool that is effective as well as not prohibitive on your budget is printed materials that you can give away to the masses and make yourself known to them. Full color printing has become a very affordable and attractive alternative for smaller business, even large business still relies on them. Here are three things that you can employ that serves as a great advertising tools for your business.

Business Card Printing

Business card without doubt, is the most basic necessity for all business. This is one printed things that business should have, regardless what kind of business or services they are offering to their customers. Business cards are real messenger for any business in front of their potential customers, it is the front piece of information for any business, company or enterprise and therefore it is the first thing that your most potential customer will seek to find you. While it is not entirely accurate if we say that business cards are only prime mode of contacting a company for their products and services. In fact, business cards are true representative of every business. They reflect the quality of organization as well as the products and services being offered by them. A well designed and attractively finished business card can draw attention of people and convince them silently in favour of your products or service. You can find more information on how to get the best of business cards here.

Postcard Printing

Printing postcards is another way to reach your consumers, it is a relatively effective yet enormously much cheaper compared to campaigns using other media such as TV or radio. Postcard prints are useful because it can be kept by consumers for future use and as their name implies, it is meant to be sent to other parties. Thus helping you to promote and spread your business further. Therefore it is just imperative that you should print attractive postcards. Find more tips on how to ultilize postcards for your business campaign here

Flyer Printing

Flyers are one of the granddaddies of advertising tools, flyers has been used as an effective material to advertise products since the Roman Empire exists, even ancient Egyptians did use promotional papyrus complete with well written slogans that would probably be one of the first flyer every made.

There is one very obvious advantage when you advertise products using flyers; they are cheap, they are easy to make and they are easy to distribute. However that being said, flyers should be well designed, attractive yet containing meaningful information that are easy to be understood. Business flyers are used by many business, so you would want to make sure you go an extra length so that your flyers doesn’t ended up in a pile of trash among thousands other flyers made by other business. Although response rates are often very low leaflets are not expensive and can be an extremely good way of targeting your target market through placing information about your company directly into their hands.

by FURAI86

How to Combine Print with Online Marketing

Thu, 26 May 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Now this is the true $100,000 question isn’t it? The truth is, there is no real easy way to track the ROI of print advertising for your online business. There are a number of techniques you can do to help give you a better picture of the success of print marketing, but it is still really nothing more than a guess. Below I will outline a few various ways you can use printed materials to help drive traffic to your company website:

1. Turn Your Business Card Into a Coupon
If you are like many small business owners, you give out or leave your business card with almost every person you come in contact with. While the traditional business card is a business staple, many people underestimate its value as a marketing tool. Yes, having your contact information on it is important, but is that really enough to get people to visit your website? Why not turn your business card into a coupon? Adding a simple line that says, “redeem this card for a free social media strategy consultation” is a lot more likely to get people to contact you.

2. Create a Synergy Between Your Print and Online Image
Many designers already know that keeping a cohesive look between ads, website, and marketing materials is important. But, you would be pretty surprised ( or maybe you wont!) at how many small business owners aren’t aware of just how important this is. Using your logo on all your materials is not enough to create a cohesive look. You need to make sure things like colors, fonts, photos, logos, all match up. You don’t want someone thinking they went to the wrong website because it looks nothing like the flyer they have do you?

3. Create a Custom Landing Page for Printed Materials
First, let me say that this is not the same thing as creating a custom URL to try to track ROI from printed materials. Adding a www.mysite.com/nytimes url to your ad the auto redirects to your homepage is a fools attempt to track conversions. The majority of people out there, even the dumbest ones, are smart enough to know they don’t need to type that into the browser. What you need to do is create a landing page that is specific to your printed material and that persuades them to visit that url directly. For example, say your are a wedding photographer, you could create a custom landing page with a contest for seniors to get a free 8×10 print. In this instance, people are a lot more likely to visit the contest url before the root url, thus helping you track your ROI from printed materials.

4. The Power of Curiosity
Many small business owners are afraid of this tactic, but many could greatly profit from it. That said, this idea won’ work for everyone. The idea here is to say as little about your business as possible. For example, if you were a designer, try only printing your website url on the card. Obviously you can’t really track this method, but it is still worth while. Many people will be intrigued at what you do and want to see what you are all about. On a side not though, you need to have a somewhat descriptive url for this to work well.

5. Drive Traffic from Your Website to Your Printed Material
Say what?!? How does this work you are probably asking yourself. This is another tactic that requires a little more work, but one that could work very well for the right business and industry. The idea here is to make your customers have to do some work to be able some sort of discount or special from you. One idea here is to blog about a special on your website. Then tell your readers in order to get it, they must find your “secret flyer” at local downtown retailer. If launched correctly, this could lead to a nice little viral marketing campaign.

Source: http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/business/how-to-combine-print-and-online-marketing/

Top 10 Ways to Distribute Your Flyers

Thu, 12 May 2011 03:56:00 GMT

We’re often asked about various ways of distributing flyers and leaflets once they’ve been delivered, so we thought we’d share some tips with you all from our past experiences.

There’s always tables of business gumph, so don’t miss out, add yours to the mix as you never know who’s in the room!

If you know someone looking for some cash, why not get them to do some door to door drops of your flyers. You can target very specific areas to get a higher response rate to your door drop.

Do you know some local stores that would take your leaflets? If so, maybe you could approach them and ask them to put a few on their counters

Target specific post codes with some card flyers to get your message out to your customers or prospects. Direct mail is easy to setup using mail merge in Word so why not give it a go yourself?

If you’re running a local event that is targeted at the public then a fast and efficient way to get your message out there is to distribute flyers and leaflets in the street.

When you’re done at a job leave some behind so the customer can pass onto friends and family and recommend your services.

If you’re tradesman then why not pop some through the letterboxes of houses near and around where you’re working? If people can see your work from the outside it makes sense to let them know if was you who did it!

Got some left over? Give a wad to friends and family when you pop in and see them, they’ll be delighted to give them out to people they know who’ll need your services!

Okay, its an old one, but still one that generates leads. Look for noticeboards that are in high traffic areas or where your customers will be.

If you still have a few left over get off your bum and get them delivered yourself!!

Source: http://www.uprint.me.uk/index.php/blog/page/2/

Branding Exposure Right Under Your Nose

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:21:00 GMT

Take a look around your office right now and you will see three major items of stationery that you use every day that can give you a marketing edge over your competitors.

The note pad, the post it note and the SIGN HERE stickers.

Look at these items and they all have one thing in common they are blank. Does this work for your business, does it give you any marketing edge? The answer is obviously no.

The fact is you are paying for using this blank stationery anyway and for a slight up charge you can have all these items branded with your name and details on them.

Deduct the purchase cost of your blank stationery and you have a very small cost to add to your marketing that will go a lot further than anything else you can do for the price.

Give some of these items away when networking or after a customer call and you have left your brand in the right place where it will work for you better than any other form of advertising.

If your business contacts and referral sources work from an office then this method of marketing is ideal for you.

GeckoPads are offering a special to compliment their office pack promotion.

GeckoPads Office Pack – Special Offer

The office pack is a combination of GeckoPads in different sizes because in the daily office routine these pads are used everyday.

Office Pack includes:
1. GeckoPad 75mm x 70mm x 120 pads (50 sheets per pad)
2. GeckoPad 75mm x 50mm x 60 pads (50 sheets per pad)
3. GeckoPad 100mm x 75mm x 120 pads (50 sheets per pad)
+ BONUS 250 branded Sign Here Stickers 25mm x 75mm
+ BONUS 250 branded With Compliments Slips 125mm x 75mm

only $660

Includes GST, artwork, 2-colour printing and delivery (within Australia). For a limited time only.

That’s 300 pads in various sizes, 250 FREE branded sign here stickers or page markers, and 250 FREE branded with compliments slips.

Keep your name in front of your customers and take advantage of our special offer.

or phone 02 9417 4023

Once your order has been received, you will receive a PDF for approval. After confirmation we will supply your order within 10 days. Terms are COD and payment is required before dispatch (we will contact you for details).

Using GeckoPads to Promote Your Business

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:48:00 GMT

There are some novel ways to use GeckoPads in promoting your business.

Auto Industry

Depending on the type of business you are in will influence the way you use GeckoPads. If you are a provider of services that relate to the Auto industry then you can use the pads to canvas the car parks in your local area.

Develop a campaign that suits your business and promote it by sticking a note on the windscreens of cars parked in your local shopping mall.

Employ a casual or junior employee to rotate through the larger parking areas in the district and you will cover a better target audience in one day with the potential that if anyone is interested in what you are offering they will take it home and stick in a prominent place as opposed to putting it down and it being lost in a sea of loose papers.

Restaurants and Take Away Food Outlets

Develop a campaign to foster repeat business. Place a note on each bag or container as it leaves your shop with an offer that needs the note to be presented at a later time for redemption.

Make the offer one that is interesting enough for the customer to keep the note in a handy place so that for their next purchase they will come back to you.

Letter Box Drops

Used in conjunction with a small DL postcard which outlines your services put a note on each postcard and have them distributed in your area. The note will grab their attention and if you have an offer or important details on the note it will be put in a prominent position for further use.

Announcements

If you are a business who has just started up in the area or has introduced a new service or relocated to new premises or you want to announce something important to your clients use a GeckoPad.

You can send these announcements out in the mail with a note attached so it is kept somewhere handy or you can give out a pad to each client.

Drive people to your web site using the pads, all that needs to be done is announce in a brief message that you have something interesting for them to see and expand this in more detail via your web site.

You may see another application for our pads that suits your business. Contact us to discuss your ideas.

Leave Behind to Stay Fresh in the Mind

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:46:00 GMT

A simple idea for anyone who makes home visits in the course of their daily routine is to quickly canvas the local area before they depart.

Spending time to make a call is a cost so it makes sense to try and generate some interest in your products or services in the area you are in before you leave.

What is the best way to do this?

You can leave behind a flyer which you distribute into 20 letterboxes in the street that you are visiting. This is just simply walking 5 houses up crossing the street 10 houses down cross over and 5 houses back. Now 20 people know about your business. Assuming you make 4 to 5 calls a day that is 80 to 100 people a day 400 to 500 a week 1,600 to 2,000 a month, all for a quick letter box drop that should take no more than 10 minutes.

What is the most effective product to leave behind?

Generally one that will be kept around so it makes sense for it to be a useful item such as a note pad, fridge magnet, or sticky note pad. You can combine this with a simple flyer and if you have a website make sure the website address is clearly displayed on all your material.

To get more impact from your marketing GeckoPads have some ideas that will get attention.

On top of your pad either plain or sticky the top sheet can have a message on it. An example could be:

ANOTHER FRIDGE REPAIRED IN YOUR AREA BY ACE REFRIGERATION

This demonstrates that you will come to their area and that some one in the immediate vicinity has used your services. Most people regard this as a referral and are more likely to keep your details around for future reference.

What is the cost?

As an example 2,000 GeckoPads 100mm x 75mm printed 2 colours with 50 sheets per pad is 85 cents each plus GST. This price is extra with a top sheet message.

That is less than $1.00 per household, now because the pad is useful it will be kept. So by the end of the month for $1,700 + GST you have your name into 2,000 households. That is direct target marketing and should give a better return over general display advertising in the local paper.

There are other alternatives just contact us with your ideas our pick our brains either way we will work something out that fits your budget.

Remember your time is a cost so make good use of it and promote yourself effectively.