Interactive print marketing allows more engagement from the receiver, upping retention. 

Interactive print marketing is any print that allows engagement beyond reading from the user. It can have digital or non-digital aspects. 

Non-Digital Interactive Print Marketing

Non-digital interactive print marketing uses creativity to enhance print, creating a unique experience. 

1. Scents

Sending scents through the mail is especially helpful when advertising the wonderful smell of your perfume. 

However, even if you don't sell perfumes, sending a scent through the mail can still be helpful. By associating your business with good smells, you'll intrigue and please potential clients while influencing their emotions, as 75% of emotions are due to smell.

Incorporating a particular smell could become part of your brand identity, boosting recognition. People are 100 times more likely to remember a smell than something they see, hear or touch.

2. Invisible Ink

Make your campaign fun by telling your recipients to get the paper wet or bring it outside into the sun. 

Having "hidden" messages appear after following the prompts creates a fun experience for the customer while also making your advertisement memorable. 

Entice your readers to follow the prompts by providing a discount or some benefit after following through. 

3. Origami

Send print that can be transformed into something more through origami. 

This is a fun activity for the recipients. Make sure the directions are clear and the origami doesn't get too complicated. Otherwise, the recipient will become frustrated. 

Connect the origami piece to your marketing campaign and product. Make it even better by providing the customer with something functional once they're done, like a pencil holder. 

Digital Interactive Print Marketing

It can be beneficial to change your strategy mid-campaign by including digital aspects. 

It also increases response rates; a study shows the increase in response rates could be from 2 to 35%!

4. Lights 

Did you know you could include lights in your print marketing?

Adding lights can make your direct mail shine. With the holidays just around the corner, adding lights to Christmas trees in direct mail will help you stand out. Use your imagination to find ways to enhance your package through digital lights. 

5. QR Codes 

QR codes help to create a seamless omnichannel approach by creating a bridge between the print and the digital world. 

QR codes can connect consumers to…

• Social media. Social media is a wonderful way to interact with clients while showcasing your best products or services.
• Website. Your website can be used to find out more information about your company and answer any questions. To make it even more effective, you could include QR codes that bring the customer directly to the product you're advertising.
• Video. If you'd like to share more information than can be included in the print piece, then have the QR code direct users to an engaging video for more info. 

QR codes can help your print marketing deliver more than would otherwise be possible while helping people follow your calls to action more easily. 

6. Artificial Reality

Artificial reality gives your print marketing a chance to come alive. 

When the recipient scans the image with their phone or tablet, they'll be able to see images moving and making noise through their phone.

It's another element that increases the recall of the recipients while also providing them with a bit of fun in their lives. 

Print marketing is not archaic. Although it has been used for many years, it has kept up with modern technology to provide unique, memorable features to your target market. 

Let us help you engage your audience with interactive print marketing! Reach out today!

Color Talks... Are You Listening?

 

Color, color everywhere. But what does it mean?

Believe it or not, color has a lot of implied meanings, and it imparts a lot of feelings. Color meanings stem from psychological effects, biological conditioning, and cultural developments.

Color Talks... Are You Listening?

Depending on where you do business, you’ll want to consider color. There are cultural differences, such as red representing good luck in China, but in South Africa, it’s the color of mourning.

For this article, we will focus on meanings in the United States. Take a minute and consider what your color scheme means to the readers. Does it need to be changed so you can reach your business goals? Let’s learn.

Red

Red is the color of passion and energy.

It’s an intense color that is supposed to motivate us to take action. (Remember, stop signs and signal lights use red for a loud caution. It is meant to move us in the right direction.)

Red also stimulates appetite, which is why many fast-food restaurants use this color in advertising and decorating. Red is an excellent color for getting people to “act now.” Think about your brand and what you want to do with the logo and advertising.

Orange

Orange exudes enthusiasm and emotion.

It is supposed to be a fun color that represents emotional strength. It adds spontaneity and positivity and encourages social communication and activity. It’s also youthful, vibrant, and fun. Think about how much fun you want to add to your advertising.

Blue

Blue is the color of loyalty and trust.

It relaxes our psyche and gives us peace and tranquility. Light baby blue is peaceful, while dark blue can signify depth and power. It represents intelligence and responsibility, which is excellent for businesses that want to promote a sincere business image. 

Green

Green is the hue that represents health and harmony.

It balances our emotions and makes us feel safe and secure. It often represents rebirth and new life, just like the grass and trees in the springtime. In our culture, green also represents wealth because of its tie to money.

Purple

Purple typically represents luxury, mystery, and spirituality to people because of its link to royalty.

This color holds a special meaning in religions, including Catholicism, Judaism, and Buddhism. So if you want to add some spiritual dimension, this is a great color to use. 

Yellow

Yellow makes us feel optimistic and happy.

It’s a cheerful color that brings fun and joy into the space. It represents spontaneity and youthfulness. If your target market is young people, try incorporating some yellow into the color scheme. Yellow is a great choice if speed, fun, and low cost are attributes that you want to be associated with your brand. 

Pink

Pink represents femininity and the softer side of things.

Combine it with a bolder color, and you will soften your image. It is known for romance, sensitivity, and tenderness. It’s also a color for passion and love. Pink seeks to make others feel accepted by offering an unmatched level of sympathy.

When you think of advertising, colors are one of your most important choices.

If you have questions about what colors would work best for your print marketing and business materials, feel free to reach out. We want to ensure every element of your marketing efforts gets the intended message across! 

11 Print Products That Make Great Holiday Gifts

 

The holidays are coming, and you want to reward your clients (and possibly even your staff) with fun items that will benefit them and keep your name buzzing around.

Utilizing giveaways helps people identify your brand and reminds them of your business when they’re ready to purchase.

Here are some great ideas to help do both of these things. 

11 Print Products That Make Great Holiday Gifts

1. Water bottles

These are popular because they are reusable and reduce waste in landfills.

Of course, we all want to stay hydrated, but it’s also a perfect canvas for your business logo.

2. Calendars

We all use our phones but hang up our paper calendars to remind us of important dates.

Add photos and your logos, and you’re set. Each month, there will be a different picture to admire.

3. Mugs

Who doesn’t like to curl up with a good book or Kindle and read with a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

Mugs are perfect for winter months to warm hands up during a chilly business meeting. And your name is front and center.

4. Keychains

Create a fun, engaging, creative keychain for your customers and employees.

Then, tie it in with a popular sporting event in town or location to bring camaraderie.

5. Bookmarks

Design some fun bookmarks for your guests.

Include engaging local scenery and fun graphics. Believe it or not, people still like these types of gifts.

6. Stationery

This is a wonderful idea if you are looking to reward your employees.

Create one-of-a-kind stationery that is customized to them.

7. Caps

Whether you create winter caps or baseball caps, the message is clear.

This type of gift has your logo front and center and is something useable for months. These are great ways to get your logo noticed. 

8. Magnets

Fun, fun, fun! Magnets are great in the office or at home.

People use them all the time. So consider it a challenge to come up with something clever.

9. T-shirts

These are great giveaways because we all wear t-shirts.

They are great under sweatshirts, in the gym, or on a casual day at the office.

10. Bottle opener

No one wants to be stuck without a bottle opener at their next event.

Make sure your bottle opener flaunts your logo clearly, and pick colors that represent your business well.  

11. Notepads or notebooks

We all need more of these; they get used a lot.

Find a fun style, size, or shape of notepad to create a long-lasting appeal.

No matter what products you choose to use, it’s clear that your logo will permeate their brain, causing them to remember you when they need your services. It’s like subliminal advertising.

Giveaways and contests help you generate leads, engage your customers and increase your audience reach, all simultaneously!

So remember, when you need printing done, we are here to help your ideas become successful. Contact us today!

5 Entrepreneur Tips You Need to Know

Being an entrepreneur is challenging.

In fact, 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. The world of business can be competitive and cutthroat. Follow these five tips to prepare yourself for success. 

5 Entrepreneur Tips You Need to Know

1. Mix passion with skill

You’re going to be pouring many hours and a lot of energy into your business. 

It’s crucial you not only find something you’re passionate about but also in which you have potential. Find the perfect founder, product, and market fit by choosing a business matching your unique skills, experiences, and personality. 

This can be accomplished by zoning in on a unique niche. 

2. Find the right niche

Find the perfect “Goldilocks niche:” not too broad, not too narrow; just right. 

Most successful businesses begin with a narrow niche. This helps you differentiate from your competitors and draw in customers. Once you’ve established yourself, then you can work towards expanding your business into other areas that make sense. 

Be careful when choosing a niche. Try finding one that’s popular all year long and allows repeat business. Although not impossible to succeed, seasonal niches are challenging because they allow for fewer repeat customers and year-long sales.  

Whatever your niche, make sure your business is solving an urgent problem. If not, you'll fail to make sales because customers won't see why they need to buy your product or service. 

3. Do your research 

Solid research attracts customers and investors. 

Doing quality research up front helps increase trust in your business. You’ll be able to show your customers and investors exactly why your business can help them and where your information is coming from. 

Furthermore, by researching all facets of your business, you’ll be better able to outsource and hire without being taken advantage of. 

4. Make employees a priority

Employees help you reach your business goals. 

Happy employees are more likely to want to help your business succeed and work towards company goals. Companies with higher work satisfaction scores outperformed lower employee satisfaction companies by 202%!

To maintain content employees, ensure they feel appreciated, heard, and valued. Complimenting employees often while avoiding too much criticism can go a long way toward employee contentment. 

Do your best to ensure your employees are part of the 65% of employees satisfied with their job.

5. Be professional 

Professionalism helps promote company trust. 

Professionalism spans many aspects, including being reliable, using a professional manner, and having business cards. 

Business cards are an easy, cost-effective way to maintain a professional front. They also serve as an effective marketing tool. They’re easy to distribute and provide all the relevant information potential customers need. 

Being an entrepreneur is risky and challenging. Set yourself up for success by finding the right niche that solves a relevant problem and mixes your unique passion and skills. Furthermore, by researching, maintaining happy employees, and remaining professional, you can better navigate the unpredictable business world. 

We print high-quality marketing materials that help propel your business forward. Contact us today!

How to Set Smart Goals for Your Next Social Media Campaign

 

SMART goals help you identify areas you'd like to improve and clarify your objectives for a successful social media campaign. They act as a guide to data collection and help your team know which tasks to prioritize. 

SMART Goals

SMART is an acronym for… 

• Specific. Use statistical values to narrow down what and how much you'd like to achieve.
• Measurable. Attribute values to non-numerical indicators of success, being precise in how you'd like to measure. 
• Achievable. Look at past campaigns and use them as a base for how much you think your business can achieve.
• Realistic. Similar to achievable. Make sure your goal is relevant.
• Timely. Set a date for when you'd like the goal to be completed. 

Setting SMART goals acts as a base for your social media campaign.

Create a Social Media Campaign With SMART Goals

SMART goals help create a stellar social media campaign that works for your company. 

Step 1: Set a goal using the SMART goal method, making sure it's specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Determine what metrics are best to measure. 

Step 2: Determine your target market. This will guide decisions, including which social media channel(s) to use and content to put out. Make sure it all ties back to support your goal. 

Step 3: Create a content calendar. Plan out your content using a calendar. Make sure everything is spaced out, and posts build off each other. 

Step 4: Manage the campaign. Actively engage with customers by replying to comments and answering questions. Adjust your strategy as needed. If you're not in line to meet your goals, then try new tactics to boost engagement.

Step 5: Analyze the results. What went well? What would you do differently? Why? Use what you learn to create a better social media campaign next time. 

Using SMART goals as a guide can help you get the results you want in your next social media campaign. 

SMART Social Media Campaign Goals

Sometimes, determining what goals to set can be challenging. Here are two ideas to get you started. 

1. Increase brand awareness 

If you're running a social media campaign, this is a great place to start because it's the top reason marketers use social media.

To set a SMART goal, answer these questions: 

• Who do you want to increase brand awareness with?
• How will you measure this? Through followers, views, likes, or shares?
• Once you've determined how you're going to measure your campaign, how many followers, views, likes, or shares do you want? Is this goal achievable and realistic? Do you have access to past campaigns to use as a benchmark?
• When do you want to reach your goal? 

By effectively increasing brand awareness, your business will increase sales and traffic. 

2. Improve customer service

More and more customers are looking to social media for customer support. 

One in five people says they use social media for customer support.

To set a SMART goal, answer these questions: 

• How many people reach out via social media for customer support?
• How fast is your current average response time through social media?
• How fast would you like your response time to be? Is this realistic?
• What is your customer satisfaction score for those who sought help via social media? Where would you want it to be? 

Your business can increase revenue, customer satisfaction score, and customer retention by having good customer service available through social media. 

Having goals, especially SMART goals, improves performance and happiness. Setting SMART goals for your social media campaigns can have a significant impact. 

Social media is one of your business's many avenues to reach customers. Effectively reaching a variety of customers requires an omnichannel approach, including online and offline marketing.

As always, we're here to help you with whatever print needs come your way, including print campaigns that help boost your social media! 

3 Tips for Choosing the Right Flyer Font

 

When putting together a flyer, sometimes the flyer font can be overlooked. 

But, your font plays an essential role in the overall flyer design. Depending on your choice, it holds the information being shared and can convey different meanings. 

Sans-serif vs. serif fonts

Fonts can be classified into one of two categories: sans-serif or serif. 

Sans-serif fonts don’t have little lines underlining the letters, making them good for digital posters. They also tend to be bolder, making them good for headlines. Examples include Century Gothic, Verdana, and Helvetica. 

Serif fonts have little lines underlining the letters. They’re good for body text because they can be easier to read. Common serif fonts include Times New Roman and Garamond. 

Remembering the difference between sans-serif and serif fonts is important when choosing the correct font for your flyer. 

1. Readability is key!

Readability is the most crucial aspect to consider when choosing a flyer font. 

If people can’t easily read your flyer, they will not stick around to try. They’ll get frustrated and throw your flyer out. 

Stick to 10 pt and above font sizes and aim for Arial, Georgia, Verdana, and Times New Roman, as these are easier to read.

Also, be mindful of your dyslexic audience by choosing a font they’ll be better able to read, such as sans-serif fonts, especially Helvetica. With about an estimated 1 in 10 people with dyslexia, making sure your flyer is accessible may be more important than you thought. 

2. Fonts convey meaning

Various fonts add nuance to your design. 

Paying attention to these nuances can help you pair the right font with the message and goal of your flyer.

Check out the following common flyer goals and how to achieve them.

• Formal, conservative, or vintage brand: serif fonts
• High-end buyers: minimalist font
• Convey stability: Times New Roman, Arial, and Cambria
• Convey assertiveness: Impact, Rockwell Xbold, and Georgia
• Show expertise: fancy fonts
• Discount flyers: bold fonts

The little decisions, like matching the right font with your flyer, can go a long way in promoting your business. 

3. Don’t overdo it

With about 200,000 fonts worldwide, it can be easy to choose too many fonts for your flyer. 

But, too many fonts create a busy, confusing flyer design. Instead, stick to about two fonts or one font in different weights. The font’s weight includes the various ways a single font can appear. Font weights include hairline, thin, light, regular, italic, medium, bold, and black, to name a few. Never use more than three fonts. 

If you decide to use two fonts, finding the right font pair can be tricky. Many find pairing a sans-serif font for the headlines with a serif font for the body text to be a helpful guideline. 

Font selection may seem like a small detail, but it affects how your marketing is perceived. When choosing a flyer font, readability and accessibility are the most important factors. 

Whatever font you choose, we’re here to help you print your flyers so you can share your business with your target market!

Extraordinary Marketing: How Your Marketing Can Make an Impact Anywhere

Marketing has a powerful impact on your business.

Marketing matches your business with potential customers around the world, increasing sales. Business owners know the power of marketing, which is why the average local business puts 5-10% of its revenue towards a digital marketing budget.

Extraordinary marketing: Grow your business

The main priority of marketing is to grow your business. 

You can use a variety of avenues to reach your target audience. By having a well-defined business plan, target market, and pain point your company addresses, you’ll be better able to reach the people who need to know about your business. 

Extraordinary marketing: Reach your goals

Marketing is a standard method to reach your goals defined in your short and long-term business plans. 

Some common business goals marketing can address include: 

• Increase your business’s market share
• Reach out to community members
• Maintain or increase profits
• Growth
• Establish brand message and voice
• Improve company value

Take a look at your business’s unique goals. Then, pinpoint which ones you can achieve through a marketing campaign. Finally, plan a marketing campaign with well-defined goals and measuring methods. 

Extraordinary marketing: Customer loyalty 

Loyal customers keep your business going. 

61% of small and medium businesses report greater than half of their revenue coming from repeat customers. It would be difficult for a business to survive without repeat customers. Reach your existing customers through marketing campaigns. 

When your customers shop with you, ask them for their contact information. Then you can keep them updated and coming back for more through newsletters, social media, and direct mail campaigns. 

Extraordinary marketing: Reach anyone anywhere

Today’s global, connected world provides many opportunities for business expansion. 

Small and medium-sized businesses now have the tools to sell to anyone, anywhere in the world. Having a larger target market pool increases your business’s growth potential.

Seize this opportunity by having a well-functioning online store. Then expand the scope of your marketing campaigns to reach people around the globe whom you may not have previously considered. 

Extraordinary marketing: Promising channels

Marketing can take on endless forms.

Often, the best marketing strategy is an omnichannel approach. Examples include: 

• Influencer marketing: pay a person with a dedicated follower base to endorse or mention your product or service. 89% say ROI from influencer marketing is about the same or better than other channels.
• Content marketing: create content through various channels to inform customers, driving them to your business.
• Print marketing: create tangible content you can share with your target market. Print boosts customer loyalty and trust. 

Pay attention to the various forms of marketing and find the ones that work best for you. 

Marketing is integral to the success of your business, and print marketing can be especially powerful.

We’re here to help you with all your print marketing. Contact us today to get started on your next campaign! 

 

Top 8 Print Marketing Design Hints

 

Designing marketing materials has much room for creativity, but you should also avoid common mistakes.

If you aren't a graphic designer, you may be tempted to do your own thing, but there are some definite no-nos in design. Here are nine hints to guide you.

Top 8 Print Marketing Design Hints

1. Have a clear concept for your marketing campaign

When people start designing, they often keep adding to it without a clear idea of the desired design.

This is a big red flag that your design is off to a bad start. You need to know what you want your design to look like.

2. Use symbolism

For example, try to enhance the text's mood with a sketch, a drawing, an image, or a picture representing what you are trying to communicate.

3. Target the right audience with your print media

Your content isn't for everyone.

But there's one particular group of people you should always aim to impress and engage: your target audience.

Think like them. Read like them. Try to entertain and engage them in your words and design.

4. Use white space

Make sure you don't pack everything into your design.

You may have great design ideas, but you don't need to use them all in one place. Instead, save some for future projects.

5. Add pictures and graphics

Don't just pack in the text.

There needs to be a break in the page. Add a pertaining photo or an image of something else with its own caption. Maybe it's a picture of a new employee, a party you had for your clients or a giveaway.

Sometimes the simplest designs are the most effective, so don't overdo it with images. There are ways to make your design clean, clear, and attractive without too many graphics. You want it to look uniform and enhance the text.

6. Be consistent across your marketing channels

Whether it's fonts, colors, or images, make sure you're consistent.

This helps tie your design down into one visually appealing and harmonious look.

So keep it similar, using specific colors, fonts, or designs.

7. Be careful with the fonts

Stay with two to three fonts throughout the publication you are producing.

8. Choose colors wisely

Understanding color theory and psychology can help you use colors at their optimal best.

Colors can set the tone, mood, and style of your design.

Don't go crazy picking a variety of colors. Instead, be consistent and keep the colors in the same family.

When it's time to print your project, please remember us.

We are here to help guide you, answer your questions, and print your project.

Contact us today!