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Postcard Printing: Why Offset is the Best!

Postcard printing is one of the best ways to market your brand. You can include it in your print advertising campaign along with business cards, brochures, flyers, banners, and more. What’s good about postcard printing is that it contains more information than business cards, but less than what you can print on a brochure. This means that it can have just the right amount of information when you’re launching a new product or service, or introducing your brand to a new set of customers.

When printing postcards and other advertising materials, you can take your pick from two types of printing: digital and offset. Digital desktop printers are cheap and easy to find, while offset printing delivers more professional-looking results. Here, we will look at why it pays to choose offset printing when ordering postcards for your business’ advertising campaign.

Why Use Offset Printing for Postcard Marketing

Fortunately, there are many color postcard printing service providers that use offset printing. Here are the top three reasons why you should choose this method over digital:

Quality

Digital printing companies are cheap and common because there are no complicated equipment needed – a desktop printer will do. The problem with this type of printing is that it cannot necessarily deliver professional-looking results. Compare the appearance of a postcard made with digital and offset printers and you will see the subtle differences. Also, there are more laminating effects that can be done using state-of-the-art printing presses so offset really is the way to go.

Speed

Once the digital steps like layouting, film stripping, and color separation is done, offset printers can print hundreds or even thousands of postcards in a matter of minutes. This is something that a digital printer just cannot do.

Volume

The same thing holds true when it comes to volume. Offset printers are huge so if you need to print dozens of banners or a thousand business cards, for example, the machines can easily handle the bulk and volume.

As such, it pays to look for offset printing companies if you plan to print postcards online. In terms of quality, speed, and volume, offset is your best bet.

Must-Remember Postcard Printing & Marketing Ideas

Decades ago, postcards were used to send short personal messages when traveling but now, postcard printing can also be used for advertising purposes. If you’re a business owner, you will definitely benefit from reading through our list of postcard printing and marketing ideas.

Printing Postcards

First, how and why are postcards use for advertising? Let’s say that you just opened a bakery selling specialty cupcakes. Your immediate neighborhood might have seen your physical store, but how about those who haven’t? How can you reach out to them? By sending out postcards, you can let them know that your store actually exists and that you have a line of delicious products that they might want to try. Postcards are cheap to make and mail but are effective in getting the word out about your business.

When printing postcards, look for a color postcard printing service provider that offers offset printing. As compared to desktop digital printers, offset printers deliver professional-looking prints. Choose a thick paper stock and take your pick from high gloss or a matte finish. Size-wise, the most popular is 4” x 6”. However, if you want to stand out, you can go for larger postcards such as 5’ x 7’, 6’ x 9’, or even 8.5” x 5.5” cards. Jumbo postcards may cost a bit more to print and mail, but they are attention-grabbers.

Marketing Postcards

Second, after looking for a company that can print postcards online, you need to think about how you can use the postcards for your marketing campaign. Here are a few ideas:

Use the postcards as discount cards. Incorporate a discount code or turn the card itself into a physical coupon that customers can bring to your store and use to get discounts. Print advertising is all about offering the best benefits that you can provide to customers, and this is one way to do exactly that.
Use the postcard as a way to remind customers of their appointments. If you’re offering salon services, for instance, mail a postcard to remind a client of her hair coloring appointment.
Use the postcard as a holiday greeting card. Consistency is key if you want to develop customer loyalty so make sure to send out postcards during the holiday season to your existing and potential customers.
You can also use the postcard to let customers know about a sale that you’re having, a referral program that you might be running, or any other event that they can participate in.

As you can see, there are a multitude of ways for you to incorporate postcards into your marketing campaign, so get started right now!

Brochure Printing & Marketing Tips to Live By

One of the biggest misconceptions that entrepreneurs have is that old school ways of advertising such as brochure printing is outdated and ineffective. Although digital marketing is cheap and in keeping with the times, it would definitely help if you can combine it with something “classic” like print advertising. In fact, it would make your brand stand out. Why? Since almost everything is digital these days, having something tangible – a brochure that customers can actually hold in their hands and read – is sort of a novelty. It etches the name of your brand into the minds of customers, and it complements your existing digital marketing campaign.

Tips for Printing and Marketing Brochures for Your Business

Now, if you have no idea about how to get started on brochure marketing, here are a few printing and marketing tips to live by:

Look for a reputable printing company that specializes in brochure printing.

There are many companies offering brochures print services out there, so choose one that’s right for you. Take your pick from digital desktop or offset printing – the latter produces more professional-looking results, although it can cost a bit more. Also make sure that the printing company has plenty of experience in printing advertising materials, and that they offer quality customer service. They should be able to assist you starting from the layout process to giving a digital proof of the design. This ensures that you will have an attention-grabbing brochure.

Talk about your brand, if you must, but focus more on your customers.

When thinking about the content of your brochure, determine what your goal is. If it’s to introduce your company to customers, then there’s nothing wrong in dedicating a page that indicates your company history, mission, vision, etc. But if your brochure is more marketing-oriented, you need to focus on how your product or service will benefit your customers. After all, they are the ones who will read your brochure – so the content should “speak” to them.

Organize the contents of your brochure.

Depending on the fold and size, the number of pages of a brochure ranges from 4 to 12. How will you organize the content in such a way that there’s a beginning, the main promotional pages, and an ending with a call to action? Make sure that the heading is enticing enough to prompt the customer to read through the rest of the content. Use words that are enticing but are still easy to understand. Focus on reaching your goal in printing the brochure in the first place.

Think of something that will make you stand out.

Lastly, think of an element that will make you stand out. It could be your folding option or the size of the brochure. How about an 11” x 25.5” brochure with double gate folding option, in a semi-gloss paper finish? The thicker the paper stock, the more impressive it will be. Again, you need to invest in high-quality offset brochure print service to come up with the exact type of brochure that you want – one that will help you achieve your marketing goals in no time at all.

How Brochure Printing Design has Evolved Over the Years

Similar to how television has evolved from black and white to colored and now, to smart TVs, brochure printing and other forms of printing advertisement have also evolved. Here, we will take a look at how this type of branding has evolved over the years, and how you need to print your own brochures now in order to promote your business.

A Quick Look at How Brochure Design has Evolved

As you may already know, a brochure looks like a mini-book or magazine. It contains information and pictures about the products or services you are offering. If you’re a business owner, you can definitely benefit from printing and distributing brochures with well thought-out designs and marketing copy.

So how did brochures look a long time ago? Here’s a brief glimpse:

In the 1940s, digital photography wasn’t born yet so there was heavy reliance on hand-drawn illustrations. If one or two photographs are included in a brochure, it’s black and white and the resolution is not that great. Also, colored printing was expensive during this decade so most printed materials are black and white.
In the 1950s, photography has greatly improved and the costs of colored printing went down, so brochures have become more colourful.
In the 1960s, it was pretty common to see colored brochures although old school hand-drawn illustrations and fonts were still used.
A decade later, brochures print has gone full-color because of the improvement in photography techniques. It has also become easier to layout printed materials and the costs of printing colored brochures have significantly gone down.

From the 1980s onwards, designing and printing brochures have become fully digital. Digital photography has evolved along with it, so it has become very easy to blend all these elements together. You just need to know how to come up with a strategic design that will appeal to your target market. You also need to include a call to action, as well as updated contact information for you to realize your marketing goals in the first place.

Today, when looking for a brochure print service provider, you even have the option to go with small desktop digital printing services or companies that use offset printing through huge printing presses. Offset printing presses deliver more professional-looking results, but there’s nothing wrong with going digital, either.

With the improvements in photography, printing, and layouting technology, there’s no doubt that brochure design has come a long way. Whether you prefer to use old school hand drawn illustrations or modern photography to make your brochure stand out, what’s important is to pay close attention to even the smallest details. Doing so will make you achieve your marketing objectives in printing the brochures in the first place.

Factors to Consider when Looking for a Business Cards Online Service Provider

There are numerous benefits from ordering business cards online. First, you don’t have to physically go to different printing companies just to order a set of business cards. You can take your pick from the many companies online and process your order through their website. Second, you don’t have to sacrifice quality for convenience. Simply check out the reviews of the printing company you’re considering going with – and do a bit of research. From there, you can easily decide which one to order business cards from.

Just to delve a bit deeper into the process of looking for printing companies, here are a few more things to consider:

The printing process used

Does the company use desktop digital printers or huge printing presses? If it’s quality you are after, it is better to go with offset printing. This uses state-of-the-art printing presses, the process of which is called offset printing. As compared to digital, offset produces more professional-looking results and there are more lamination effects that can be achieved. If you want something that’s luxurious to the touch, for example, the can print silk business cards that have a special laminate. This makes the surface of the card feel like fabric to the touch.

The length of experience that the company has

When taking advantage of any type of service or product, it is a must for you to look at the length of experience that the company has in the business. The longer that they’ve been in existence, the more expertise they’ve gained over the years.

The material used and the printing effect

Of course, you also need to look at the quality of the material and the printing effect applied on the business card. What kind of paper stock is available? How many laminating options and printing effects can you choose from? If you’re looking for soft touch business cards, most printing companies would offer suede and silk variations.

The quality of customer service offered

Finally, make sure that the printing company provides high quality customer service. Since most transactions are purely online, see to it that they are highly responsive to your messages. Make sure that they will send you a digital proof of the business card design, and even offer color suggestions if the grey that you used is too light or too bright for the effect that you want, for example.

Take these things into consideration when looking for a company to print your business cards to get the results that you want.

Business Cards Online: Should I Opt for Suede or Silk when Ordering?

When ordering business cards online, there are several choices that you have to make. For instance, should you go with a standard-sized business card – or something larger or smaller to make your brand stand out? Which paper stock should you use? How about the printing effect? For this, there are over a dozen options to choose from: textured linen, metallic, foil-stamped, brown kraft, suede, ultra-high gloss, black edge with three layers, plastic, spot gloss, and rounded corner.

Here, however, we will focus our attention on two types of soft touch business cards: suede and silk. Why are they called “soft touch” business cards in the first place? Because the printing and laminating effect on the paper stock produces a fabric-like effect that is soft to the touch. If you want to impress the heck out of your customers, you should definitely consider having silk or suede business cards made.

Next, what is the difference between suede and silk business cards? Here’s a quick look:

Suede

The difference between suede and silk, when it comes to business cards printing, is actually very subtle. It all depends on your color palette. When designing your business card, what color is the background and the font? Are there any images or hand-drawn illustrations that you would like to highlight? Suede is perfect for card designs where a deep black is used. When viewed under bright lights, suede reflects less light as compared to silk. As such, business card designs where high-contrast colors are required may opt for that luxurious suede, fabric-like effect.

Silk

Just like the fabric, silk business cards feel smooth and silky to the touch. Both suede and silk cards are finished with a matte laminate after printing to create that fabric-like effect. Silk printing has been around longer than suede, so it has a more classic feel to it. Suede has a richer, velvety texture while silk is a lot sleeker and smoother. Color-wise, silk reflects more light than suede so keep that in mind when using high-contrast hues for the background or font.

As compared to plain, uncoated cards, silk or suede business cards give off that ultra-luxurious vibe. When having cards printed out for your business, you should definitely consider going for these fabric-like textures.

Postcard Printing: What Do I Actually Write on the Card?

If you’re considering using postcard printing as a way to advertise your business, you need to think about what you’ll actually write on the card. When “snail mail” was still popular, people used postcards as a way to send a quick greeting to loved ones. Business owners also used them as holiday greeting cards for customers.

Now that everything has gone digital, how can you write postcards in such a way that you can quickly deliver your marketing message to your target audience? Here are a few quick tips on how you can write the copy when you print postcards:

Base the content on your marketing objective.

If you’re a beauty products manufacturer, for example, and you are introducing a new product line, you cannot list down all the information on the postcard. Crowding the card with too much text will confuse the reader, and make the printed material look cheap. Since your marketing objective is to introduce the new product line, come up with a two or three-liner content that will make the reader interested to learn more about it. You can also incorporate a QR code which they can scan – and it will lead the browser or their smartphone to your website. Or, you can simply include the URL of your website or the address of your store. A short, dynamic introduction will do for the postcard content if you have a lot of information to sift through.

Balance the white space with the text and images.

Again, when you print postcards online, be careful about overcrowding the space with too much information. There should be just the right balance of white space, text, and images. If the page is too bare, you will not maximize the marketing potential of the card. On the other hand, a card that looks too busy is not really aesthetically pleasing, and will not impress your customers at all because it will look too cheap.

Make sure that there’s a call to action.

Do you want the recipient of the card to visit your website? Go to your store because you’re holding a sale? Give you a call for more information about your offer? Based on what you want the customers to do after receiving the postcard, there must be a call to action.

Offer incentives to the recipient of the postcard.

Finally, to make your postcard stand out, offer a little extra incentive to your customers. Why not use the postcard as an appointment reminder? You can also include a QR code which they can use when checking out items from your online store. Or, you can turn the postcard into a discount coupon that they can use when visiting your physical store.

By knowing how to write the content for your postcard, you can turn your print marketing campaign into a successful one.

Take Your Pick from these Postcard Printing Design Ideas

Postcard printing is one of the many ways that your brand can stand out. When combined with business cards, envelopes, folders, letterheads, and similar products, you can launch a print ad campaign that will leave a lasting mark to your customers.

Postcard Design Ideas You Can Apply

Before looking for a print postcards online company, you must first come up with a design idea. When doing so, think about your goal for printing the cards in the first place. Do you need to relaunch your brand to your existing market and a new age group of potential customers? Are you planning to introduce a new line of products or services? Is your business moving to a new location? Base your content on your marketing goal, then apply these ideas when creating the design for the postcards:

Use hand-drawn illustrations or professionally-shot photos.

Postcards have more space than business cards but less space than flyers or brochures. With the available space that you have, you need to include one element that is striking enough to capture the attention and imagination of your readers. For this, you can go for hand-drawn illustrations to create that old-fashioned look. If it’s a photograph that you want to include, make sure that it’s professionally-shot and suits your marketing objective.

Focus on your marketing copy.

Since postcards are a cross between a business card and a flyer or brochure in terms of size, you need to maximize the available space that you have. Make sure that there’s a good balance of text and images. For the copy, keep it short and the language simple. You don’t even have to hire a copywriter – just make sure that the copy is free from grammar and spelling and errors. Still, you have to include a call to action so that the material will fulfil your marketing objectives in the end.

Go for giant postcards.

Another way to print postcards that stand out is to supersize it. You might have to spend a bit more on mailing the oversized postcards but it will surely make an impact on the recipient.

Take your cue from these postcard printing design ideas to make a standout marketing statement.

Why It Pays to Invest in Printing High-Quality: Business Cards Online

You will find a lot of companies offering business cards online services, but not all are created equal. Some will offer you cheap packages, especially if you are ordering in bulk. Others provide 24-hour printing services, which is a very fast turnaround time. But quality-wise, how do the cards look? If you want to leave a lasting impression to your customers, you do need to invest in professional-looking business cards.

Are Cheap Business Cards a Bad Idea? Yes!

Sure, you might find printing packages for a set of plastic business cards to be quite affordable or cost-effective. But if they end up looking like a set of cheap business cards, it really is a bad idea. Why? Take a look at these reasons:

It leaves an impression that you don’t care about the customers.

Let’s say that you are participating in a trade show and there’s a booth opposite yours that is offering the same product or services. A participant walks in, visits your booth and that of your direct competitor. The customer will be holding two business cards after learning about what you both have to offer as a business. How does your business card compare with the other company? If you hand over a cheap-looking business card made of thin cardboard and has a barely readable print, you won’t create a good first impression. This customer will naturally choose the better-looking card, because that is what he or she will be impressed with.

It’s a reflection of the quality of your products and services.

When you walk into a beauty salon, you naturally expect the hair and makeup artists to look their best. The same thing applies to business cards, which are a reflection of what you are all about as a brand. If you hand over cheap-looking business cards, they will have an impression that they will receive the same cheap quality from you. On the other hand, if they receive a thick business card that they can ooh and ahh over, they’ll think that you are only offering the best quality product or service.

It’s something that a person can easily forget or worse, throw in the trash!

Business cards are still a must-have in this digital age but if you distribute cheap-looking or forgettable ones, a customer can easily forget about it. Or worse, once they see the poor quality of the print or the paper, they will throw it in the trash the minute your back is turned! To prevent this from happening, make sure to invest in high-quality products like silk business cards or ones made from thick paper grade with high-quality offset print.

You might be saving a lot of money when ordering cheap business cards, but it’s really not worth it if it will leave your customers with an ill or poor impression of your brand.

Printing Business Cards Online? Know When to go for the One- or Two-Sided Option

You have to go through a series of steps if you want to order business cards online. When doing so, you’re already aware that this tiny 3.5” x 2” card is your representation as a business owner – so it has to suit the image that you’d like to project to your target market.

First, you need to look for a good print service provider. It’s recommended that you go for ones that offer offset printing instead of desktop digital printing. The former uses state-of-the-art printing presses, as well as an offset printing method for professional-looking results.

Second, you must come up with the design of the business card. You have very limited space so make the most of it. See to it that the font type and size, colors, logo, and images, if any, all combine to create a coherent whole.

Third, pay attention to the small details that make the card. Choose the material – you can go for plastic business cards or silk business cards which are made from thick cardboard, but are laminated to create a fabric-like effect.

Fourth, decide whether you will use just one or both sides of the business card. Here are a few key points for each option:

Printing on one side

You will save on printing costs if you will go for the one-sided option – and this is actually a popular choice among business owners. From a customer’s perspective, some prefer to receive one-sided business cards so they can write notes on the blank side. If this is your goal, make sure that the blank side of the card is pen-friendly – which means that the finish should not be shiny. Otherwise, clients cannot write notes on it like a brief introduction, the time and date of their next appointment, etc.

Printing on both sides

If you think that one side of the business card is not enough to contain your contact information, you can definitely print on both sides of the card. It may be a bit more expensive but if it will convey more of your marketing message, the extra investment is well worth it in the end. Aside from doubling the available space, you can also use the other side of the business card to make a standout statement. You can print a pattern of your logo on the other side; a small graphic or hand-drawn illustration, or even something like: Write down your next appointment with us on this space: then leave a couple of blank lines. Aside from increased printing costs, two-sided business cards may take a longer time to print – but overall, it is a lot more impressive.

Based on the pros and cons of each, you can make an informed decision about whether a one-sided or two-sided business card will work for your business.