Tag: online printing

Rack Card Printing: Choosing the Right Material

When it comes to print advertising, choosing the right material is important. Unlike digital ads which can only be viewed from a screen, printed materials like brochures, business cards, notepads, envelopes, and rack cards are tangible. They can be seen, held, and felt by the recipient. If you will use thin cardboard material for a business card, for example, imagine the disappointment that a potential business partner would feel. Your goal should be to impress the client right away, so use premium materials for  rack card printing.

Tips for Choosing the Right Material

There are many offset or digital online printing service providers from where you can order rack cards. These are designed to be prominently displayed in rack cards or brochure cases so they should be attention-grabbing enough. The first thing that they will notice from afar is the design, so make sure to use colors that pop. However, you should still incorporate the hues which are present in your business logo to make a solid marketing statement. For the content, rack cards have lesser space than brochures but more space than postcards or business cards – making them perfect for advertising one-time events, for example. Don’t forget to include your contact information and a call-to-action when writing the copy for the rack card. 

The next thing that a person will notice once they pick up the rack card is the feel of the material. Check out these tips for choosing the right paper:

  • The card should have 50% the thickness of a credit card. The typical paper stock used is 16-pt. or 17-pt. A rack card should be able to stand on its own, yet still be handy enough to fit in a jeans back pocket – so the thickness of the paper is important.
  • There are two sizes available: 3.5” x 8.5” or 4” x 9”. You can choose either one since there’s only a slight difference. 
  • For the finish of the card, you can go with a matte or a glossy finish. Depending on the design and the colors use, a matte finish will make your rack cards look elegant and sophisticated. For an even more luxurious, fancy look, go with a glossy finish. This is perfect if you have HD photographs included in your rack cards layout. Restaurant rack cards can be made with a glossy finish for that full, mouth-watering impact. 

If you still have more questions about your options for the material of the rack cards, you can always ask your chosen online printing service provider.

Rack Card Printing: Elements of a Good Design

If you want to have an affordable marketing campaign, printing business cards might be the solution. But what if you want to print more information than can be contained in a US standard sized 2” x 3.5” card? You may want to go with brochures. These have panels that range from two to twelve, depending on the folding option and the size. However, this can be too much especially if you just want to tell customers about an upcoming event or if you simply want them to visit your website or your store. A good balance between a business card and a brochure is a rack card. These come in two sizes: 3.5” x 8.5” or 4” x 9”. Rack cards are displayed in areas where there is high foot traffic, for people to pick up and read. 

Elements of a Good Rack Card Design

For rack card printing, you need to work with a good print shop to create the stacks of cards for you. Make sure that they use good quality material and a reliable printing process. But before you can even place your order, you need to make sure that your rack card is well-designed for you to receive good response from your target market. Here are the elements of a good rack card design:

  • Branded look

Most online printing companies would advise you to use the same colors as your business logo when designing rack cards. This creates a cohesive, instantly recognizable look for your brand. 

  • High-quality material

Your goal is to impress so rack cards should never be printed in cheap cardboard paper. Premium 16-pt. stock paper is recommended. For the finish, choose between ultra-smooth matte or ultra-smooth gloss. 

  • State-of-the-art printing process

Digital and offset are the available printing options. Some print shops offer both, while others just have either a digital or an offset printer. Digital printers can handle small print jobs and the quality is passable. But if you are placing a big order and you want fast results with excellent quality, go for offset printers that use state-of-the-art printing process. This ensures that the colors on your rack cards are vivid and the images are sharp. 

  • Unique features

Finally, go for unique features such as a detachable business card. You want your rack card to stand out in a brochure display – so by having a good foundational design, you can achieve exactly that. 

A Quick Guide to Letterhead Printing

No print advertising campaign will be complete without letterhead printing. Like your business cards, notepads, envelopes, brochures, flyers, rack cards, or takeout menus, letterheads are a great way to represent your brand. Even though digital ad campaigns seem to have taken over, a huge percentage of the market still prefer to receive and hold something tangible, instead of clickable or watchable ads on screen. This is why letterhead printing is a must if you want to succeed in spreading the word about your brand using printed marketing materials.

Steps to Follow for Letterhead Printing

Now, if you want to print letterheads for your business, here are a few steps to follow:

  • Design your letterhead.

There are downloadable templates that you can use when designing a letterhead. It is important to pay close attention to detail such as the font and colors used.

  • Incorporate your business logo.

If you have a yellow and black business logo, you might want to have a variation of it in your letterhead design. The letterhead design and the logo may not look exactly the same, but incorporating the same color palette helps. Do the same thing with the font used.

  • Decide which information to include.

For letterhead printing, you would have lesser space to put information in. Brochures and flyers can have as many as four to six panels. With a letterhead, you only have that space at the top, bottom, or one side of the paper to put information in. As such, you need to decide which information to include.

  • Test and print!

Finally, look for an online printing company that can take care of the printing for you. Some will show you proof of a test print before printing the entire order. You can also do a test print yourself using a desktop printer. You can check on the previous work of the print shop, the quality of customer service that they offer, and the printing packages that they have. Additional options include an extra blank sheet or having the paper folded when ordering letterhead package.

No matter which printing package you end up using, what’s important is for you to include letterheads in your print advertising campaign.

Letterhead Printing: Ways to Use & Distribute

If you’re running any kind of business, you most likely already have a logo and some level of online presence. These are good things to have, but what about taking things up a notch and launching a full-fledged print advertising campaign? Since you already have a logo, you should stamp that brand on other printed marketing materials like letterheads, business cards, postcards, banners, envelopes, notepads, brochures, and flyers. Letterhead printing in particular is very effective in legitimizing your brand, making your transactions look official, and completing your print promotional campaign.

Printing, Using & Distributing Letterheads

So how do you use letterheads for advertising? Here are a few techniques:

  • Choose which online printing company to go with.

You can select between offline and digital printing. Some online printing services offer just one, while others have both – what they will use depends on the volume of your order. Since letterheads are tangible and they are seen, read, and held by customers, they need to feel luxurious and look professionally-printed. Invest in a good letterhead design and make sure that the quality of print as well as the materials are excellent.

  • Use letterheads in every transaction.

You can use notepads or stationery with your business letterhead to send correspondence to business partners, clients, customers, suppliers, and other contacts. They can be used to write memos, acceptance letters, price quotations, invitations, or any other information or event that’s related to your business.

  • Distribute notepads or stationery with your business letterhead.

Finally, you can get in touch with an online printing shop to create notepads or stationery with your business letterhead. Distribute these in trade shows, corporate events, give them as gifts to clients and customers, or personally hand them out on the streets. Since they are practical to use, people won’t hesitate getting one.

Learning how to print, use, and distribute letterheads is essential if you want to include them as part of your print marketing campaign.

Letterhead Printing: Designing Techniques

When watching a movie, there is usually a scene where the protagonist receives a letter from a prestigious university and the camera zooms in on the university logo. This is one example which shows how important letterhead printing is. If you’re an entrepreneur and you need to send correspondence to a customer, supplier, or other business contact, you want the transaction to look official. Imagine how it would be if the letter is printed on plain white paper. The recipient might even question the legitimacy of your letter if there is no branding present at all.

The good news is that there are many online printing where you can order letterheads. When selecting from the many print shops available online, make sure that they use good quality offset or digital printing. Also check on the type of paper available, the thickness, and the finish. Ask whether they offer 24-hour, full color HD printing, and make sure that they have good quality customer service. Of course, you should also check on the price of the printing packages and ask if they offer a blank second sheet or folding options.

Designing the Letterhead

Let’s say that you have already chosen which letterhead printing company to go with. The next thing to do is design the letterhead itself. Check out these design tips that you can apply:

  • Know what type of information to include. Unlike business cards or postcards, letterheads are limited to printing on just a portion of the stationery. It can be the upper, lower, or one side of the paper.  Thus, the information needs to be concise yet still recognizable. The letterhead can have: your business name; address; email address; contact number; and company or business logo.
  • Consider including a border on the sides of the stationery. If your logo is blue-and-white, for example, a narrow blue-and-white strip on the upper, lower, and both sides of the paper will add to a cohesive look with a bold design.
  • If you have no experience in graphic design, you can simply download a free letterhead template available online. Once done, save the file of your design because you can also use it in electronic correspondence and when sending out quick notes to customers.

By designing your letterhead accordingly, you can use it to enhance your brand, promote your business name, and boost your sales.

Letterhead Printing: Still a Must for Businesses

Digital advertising may be the default these days when it comes to promoting a brand. But there are still a few aspects of running a business that require printed materials. Let’s take letterhead printing as an example. You can use letterheads when sending official printed correspondence to business partners or suppliers. You can also use them to send memos, price quotations, product or service details, and other similar information. If you will get in touch with an online printing shop, you can have a letterhead made and turn notepads or sheets of paper into corporate giveaways.

Benefits of Letterhead Printing

The good news is that it is quite easy to design a letterhead. When doing so, make sure to incorporate the colors of your business logo in the design. Keep the overall design simple and if you must include your contact information, keep it minimal.

Next, here are more benefits of letterhead printing:

  • Your transactions will look more legitimate if you are using a notepad with your business letterhead. Whether you are sending an acceptance letter to a job applicant or price quotations to a supplier, your transactions will look more official if you will use a sheet of paper with your letterhead printed.
  • Letterheads are an excellent marketing tool. You can distribute notepads with letterheads as corporate giveaways, give them to people visiting your stall in tradeshows, or simply hand them out as gifts to clients. Notepads or sheets of paper with a letterhead is a great marketing tool because people will find a practical use for it. At the same time, it enhances and spreads the word about your brand.
  • Letterheads can complete your print marketing campaign. Along with business cards, envelopes, notepads, banners, brochures, flyers, and postcards, letterheads can be part of a full-fledged print marketing campaign.

When having letterheads printed out, make sure to work with a trusted print shop. They can use either a digital or offset printing method. Pay attention to even the smallest details, make sure to use good quality paper, and the quality of print should be excellent. By following these tips, you can have a letterhead that’s worthy of being part of your print advertising campaign.

Handy & Easy to Carry: The Many Reasons to Print Rack Cards

If you are selling a product or service, there is no better way to promote your brand than to print rack cards. You will usually see these in tourist centres, theatre lobbies, or hotels. They are displayed in brochure or rack stands and the idea is for everyone to feel free getting them from the case. Since these are promotional materials, they are obviously free for the customers so if you’re a business owner, what benefit will you get when you invest in printing rack cards? Read on to find out.

Characteristics of Rack Cards

When you print rack cards, you first need to get in touch with an online printing company. They will usually offer you packages where the cards can be printed at a certain cost for 500, 1,000, or more pieces – depending on what you want. For offset printing, the more pieces you order, the lower the per unit cost gets. Here are the characteristics of rack cards that make them great for advertising:

  • They’re handy and easy to carry.

Rack cards measure 3.5” x 8.5” or 4” x 9”. Unlike brochures, flyers, or takeout menus which can be bulky, rack cards can easily fit the palm of your hand or the back pocket of your jeans. Since they are very easy to carry, customers will be encouraged to get one from a rack stand.

  • They are easy to read.

Again, comparing rack cards to brochures or flyers, rack cards are very easy to read. Brochures can have anywhere from four to twelve panels. With a rack card, you only have the front and back page to read. Most people do not like reading through chunks of text, so the size and space for writing content for rack cards is just perfect.

Since this is the case, it is important for you to design your rack cards accordingly. Make sure that the information is accurate. Include a tag line or two to make your brand known. Use the back of the card to maximize the printing costs. Include a call-to-action and a promo code, if possible – so the rack card can double as a selling tool.

  • They can be made easily accessible.

Aside from displaying rack cards in areas where there are a lot of people, you can also distribute them personally in areas where there is high foot traffic. Or, include them in delivery packages, supplier receipts, corporate giveaways, or simply place a stack of them in your office reception desk.

As you can see, there are numerous benefits from rack cards advertising so get started on designing your rack cards right now.

Questions to Ask Yourself When You Print Rack Cards

If you’re a business owner, you may want to start promoting your brand by printing rack cards. Read on to find out more about this type of print advertising.

Why Print Rack Cards?

First, why should you print rack cards? These cards measure either 3.5” x 8.5” or 4” x 9” and they are used as a form of print marketing material. The content may include the business logo, a line or two about what is being promoted, the contact details of the business owner, and perhaps a photo and a promotional code at the back page. Unlike postcards which can have anywhere from four to twelve panels to write content in, a rack card only has the front and back side. This means that the information that you can include in the design is limited.

What’s good about this, however, is that they are very handy and easy to carry around. Rack cards are designed to be displayed in brochure or rack holders – thus the name. They are placed in areas where there is high foot traffic so anyone passing by can pick one up to read and bring home. On a business standpoint, rack cards are quite cheap to produce, but they are very effective marketing materials so they’re really a must-have for entrepreneurs.

How Do I Get Started in Printing Rack Cards?

To get started, look for an online printing service provider. Decide on the size, whether you want a detachable business card option or not, and how many pieces you want. You should also pay attention to other paper-related details like the thickness and finish of the paper. When it comes to design, remember that you have very limited space so the content should be short but impactful. If you must include images or illustrations, make sure that the quality is sharp to really impress the reader.

How Do I Distribute Rack Cards?

As mentioned earlier, after you print rack cards, they can be displayed in areas where there is high foot traffic. Hotels, tourist destinations, theme parks, gasoline stations, local landmarks, convenience stores, etc. You can also use them as inserts in every delivery or takeout order, in business transaction receipts, or as part of your postcard mailers.

When designed and distributed effectively, rack cards are a great way to attract more customers to try out the products or services that you offer.

Styling Tips When You Print Rack Cards

If your goal is to print rack cards and display them in areas where there is high foot traffic, the challenge is how to make your printed marketing material stand out. Here, we will take a look at the basics of rack cards printing and how you can style it in such a way that it truly stands out. 

Rack Card Styling Tips

First, what are rack cards and why should you include them in your print marketing campaign? Similar to business cards, flyers, brochures, postcards, posters, letterheads, envelopes, etc., rack cards are printed materials used to advertise a business. If you own a shop selling health care supplies, for example, you need to display your rack cards in areas that patients usually visit. Think of clinics, wellness centres, gyms, spas, etc. At the same time, you also need to target the general public because they might find a use for your services as well. The usual places where rack cards are seen are in theatres, movie houses, tourist centres, theme parks, golf courses, and similar establishments. 

Rack cards got their names from the fact that they are displayed in brochure stands which are also called rack stands. When you place your rack cards in a stand, it will compete with dozens of others vying for the attention of people passing by. How can you make yours stand out? Here are some tips:

  • Use full color, HD prints. You want the colors to pop from the page. Invest in professional photography if you want to include images so that the rack card will look impressive. Also inject your business logo in it by using the same color scheme. For professional-looking, full color, HD prints, offset printing is the better option. It uses state-of-the-art equipment and Heidelberg color match technology to ensure that the hues are vivid and very eye-catching. 
  • Rack cards come in two sizes: lay flat counter size which measures 3.5” x 8.5” and the popular rack display size which is 4” x 9”. Choose between the two. To make yours stand out, include a tear-off business card option. You can also choose from either an ultra-smooth matte or ultra-smooth gloss finish.
  • Work with an online printing that has plenty of experience in printing rack cards. They would know how to print these marketing materials in a way that your customers would immediately pick one up from a display rack.

Rack cards styling is all about focusing on the design. Since you have limited space, you can write a very short but still compelling copy – and don’t forget to include a call-to-action. 

Takeout Menu Printing Design Techniques

One of the easiest ways to promote your food business is through takeout menu printing. As the name implies, this involves printing a menu that is specifically for takeout. When paired with your dine-in menu, these two printed marketing materials will represent what you are all about as a food establishment. 

So how can you spread the word about your business using takeout menu printing? Once you have a stack of these made by an online printing shop, you can include one takeout menu in every delivery or takeout order. You can include one in receipts for suppliers and all your other business contacts. You can place a stack of them by the cashier or right outside the restaurant for would-be diners to pick up.

You can also leave the takeout menus at gas stations, tourist spots, local hotels, and similar establishments in your area. Moreover, you can distribute them by handing them out to people on the streets – make sure to do this during the busy hours to get the menus in as many hands as possible. 

Designing Your Takeout Menu

Next, when designing your takeout menu, here are a few techniques to apply:

  • Use the same color scheme as your business logo. 

Just as it is when designing other print marketing materials like brochures, business cards, or postcards, there should be a common color scheme in your takeout menu. Use the same colors as your restaurant’s interior design, or the hues present in your business logo. 

  • Group your products and organize the information on the menu. 

A takeout menu can have anywhere from four to twelve panels. That’s a lot of areas to place your information in, so make sure that your menu items are organized. Although it’s fine to have the same menu items for your dine-in and takeout menu, it’s better to cut back the number of items for the latter so as not to confuse customers. Make sure that these are high-profit items which are easy to prepare, to also boost your sales. 

  • The colors should blend well together, the images should pop. 

That picture of a burger on your menu should look mouthwatering right out of the page, so invest in professional food photography. The images should pop and the colors on the menu should blend well together. Use easy-to-read font, and make sure that your contact information is accurate and is highlighted. Use the back sheet of the paper if possible, to save on printing fees. 

By applying these design techniques, you can have a takeout menu that will enhance your brand and increase your sales in no time.