Month: July 2020

Key Characteristics of Effective High-End Business Cards

Are you thinking about distributing high end business cards to your clients? If yes, you are on the right path because high-quality cards equate to a better impression of your brand in the minds of your customers and clients. As compared to thin, barely readable business cards, spot gloss business cards that are made using the offset printing process is the better choice. Not only will customers be impressed with your brand, but they will also equate it with the quality of services or products that you are offering.

So how can you say that a business card is high-end? Here are some of the characteristics of high-end business cards:

• It is readable, accurate, and well-designed.

Even if you are in the creative field, there is no need to go gaga over crazy-looking fonts – especially if they are not readable. Your goal in creating a business card is to indicate all your necessary contact information, so it should be readable. High end business cards are also designed in such a way that it reflects your image as a brand. More importantly, the information should be accurate and complete. You can skip the office address if you are a purely online business. If you’re a real estate agent, you need to include your contact number and email address. Also think about including your social media information, especially if this is one of the main ways that you interact with customers.

• Close attention is paid to the even the smallest details when printing out the card.

Another key characteristic of high-end business cards is that they are printed with close attention to detail. The US standard size of spot gloss business cards is 3.5”x 2”. With very little space, every typographical error or printing mistake will painfully stand out.

• There are special features to make the card stand out.

In a stack of plain linen business cards, what will make high end business cards stand out? Unique features like rounded edge, or plastic or recycled paper material are a few examples. Spot gloss business cards are also considered high-end cards because gloss is added to outline specific areas like logos or a name. Do take note that some features are only available if you will go with offset printing, so it is better to choose offset printers in the first place.

If you want attention-grabbing, high-end business cards, go for something like spot gloss business cards that will truly make your brand stand out.

Must-Remember EDDM & Postcard Printing Tips

EDDM stands for Every Door Direct Mail marketing. It can be part of your business’ print promotional campaign where you can finish a 4 x 6 postcard printing task and have it mailed out to every door within a specific address. If you have a line of organic products targeted towards women, for example, EDDM will work because there is a large percentage of households with women. On the other hand, if you are offering a service like real estate brokering, you might be better off going with a targeted 4 x 6 postcard printing and marketing list. Not all households would have owners who are interested in selling or buying property, so it makes more sense to create a targeted list first.

Whether you decide to launch an EDDM or a targeted 4 x 6 postcard printing mailing campaign, here are a few tips to make it more effective:

• Invest in high-quality postcards.

When looking for a 4 x 6 postcard printing company, go for offset instead of digital printing. There might be some extra cost involved but considering the professional look of the results, offset is worth it in the end. The images are razor sharp and there is a wider color palette that you can use in the design, not to mention more options in terms of paper finish.

• Include a call-to-action.

Be it an EDDM or a direct mail marketing campaign, you must know what to write in the postcard in the first place. The smallest postcard size available is 4” x 6” – which gives you very limited space to work with. The call-to-action should suit your marketing message, and it should be attention grabbing.

• Test a small portion of the market first.

What’s good about postcard marketing is that you can use it to test out a small portion of the market first. If you are launching a new scent, for example, you can mail out postcards as discount coupons to your first 100 customers first. If you get a good response, that is when you can mail out the same postcard to the rest of your mailing list.

• Be aware of hidden costs.

Lastly, EDDMs are usually part of a printing package offered by companies working with the United States Postal Service. When taking advantage of printing and mailing packages, make sure that you are aware of all the costs involved. Also take note of the size restrictions – you might have to spend more when mailing jumbo postcards as compared to the standard-sized ones.

 

Will You Really Save Money with DIY Inexpensive Business Cards?

If you’re a small business owner, you might think that you are saving money by purchasing a desktop printer for all your printed marketing needs instead of ordering inexpensive business cards from professional printing companies. Although there might be some advantages to taking the DIY or do-it-yourself route when it comes to printing promotional materials, there are a few downsides to it as well. In the next section, we will look at the pros and cons of DIY versus professional printing.

DIY versus Professional Printing

• DIY Printing 

DIY or do-it-yourself printing involves purchasing a decent desktop printer so that you can print out business cards, postcards, brochures, flyers, and similar marketing materials. Using a computer desktop printer may allow you to produce inexpensive business cards but when it comes to results, nothing beats the quality of professional printing. Business cards will make a huge impression to your customers because it’s a representation of your brand. If your desktop printer can only produce business cards that look homemade, your clients and customers will definitely not be impressed. Perhaps the only exception is when you are offering affordable products or services, so you want to create business cards that are quite simple.

Another disadvantage of DIY printing is that you still have to spend money on the hardware, paper, ink, and maintenance. If you have inexperienced staff, they might not set up the printer properly so instead of saving money, you might end up wasting even more of it due to rookie mistakes.

• Professional Printing 

With professional printing, you can order inexpensive business cards without compromising on quality. There are many professional printing companies that have a purely online ordering process, so you won’t even have to visit their office. You can make use of their online design tools or downloadable templates so that you can create a design for inexpensive business cards. They might be inexpensive to order, but the results are still professional-looking and impressive.
In the end, any extra investment on hiring a professional company to print inexpensive business cards is still worth it. By leaving it to the pros, you can have high-quality business cards that will impress your customers – without spending any more than what’s necessary.

The Importance of Call-to-Action when Creating an Every Door Direct Mail Campaign

Online printing serviceYou’re a business owner and you decided to use every door direct mail (EDDM) service when mailing out postcards. This is a good decision on your part because with EDDM, you can print and send out postcards to every address within a specific area, without having to pay too much for the service. Now, when it comes to postcard mailing services, no matter how many times you send out postcards to the recipients, it will all be for naught if you do not have a call to action. Remember that you have very limited space when it comes to sending out postcards using postcard mailing services. You need to maximize the available space in such a way that the reader of the postcard will be triggered to act after taking a good look at your offer.

Check out our list of tips on how to create a call-to-action when sending out printed material for every door direct mail marketing:

• Based on the product or service that you are offering, would every door direct mail marketing work? Or are you better off creating a targeted list first, then looking for postcard mailing services? Let’s say that you are offering a specific service like pet grooming. For this, EDDM might not work because not all households in your area would have a pet dog. It’s better to establish a targeted mailing list first. If you have a general merchandise store, it does make sense to send out postcards to every door in a specific area – because every family might have something that they would need from your store.

• Go for the tried-and-tested offers like offering freebies, discounts, free one-month trials, buy-one-get-one-free offers, or free shipping.

• Phrase your offer in such a way that the reader will be compelled to take action. It makes sense to include a deadline – something like “this offer expires 15 days upon receipt”. That sense of urgency will bring the user to respond to your call to action immediately.

• Whatever it is that you are offering, make sure that it is valuable and relevant to the recipient of the mailer.

With postcard marketing, you have very limited space so make sure that the content is attention-grabbing. Also pay attention to the details when designing the card – make sure that the overall design reflects the image you are portraying as a brand. Finally, look for postcard mailing services that updates you with the status of the delivery so that you can track the results of your every door direct mail or targeted mailing campaign.