If you have an event coming up, here are some guidelines to help you promote it in the best way.

BONUS: Train Your Staff to Get the Most From Your Trade Show Booth

1. What’s your budget?

It’s important to allot a large enough budget to promote upcoming event effectively. It’s always good to have a few different branded visual references at your table. Use these basics as a guideline:

• A table throw: about $179
• A retractable banner: about $249
• At least 1 handout (brochures, postcards): $79
• A Business card: $39

Total: $546

When planning your budget, remember that these promotional materials aren’t a one-time investment. Most of Printing Solutions’ customers reprint their signs and banners only once a year at most. So you can invest a few bucks into something big and high-quality that other marketing material just cannot do.

2. What functionality do you need?

Consider your purpose for attending the event when you plan your promotional materials. Do you want to connect with potential clients, or are you there to look for new companies to partner with? Tailor your materials toward your end goal.

Certain materials are essential regardless of your end goal — you’ll always need a large sign or banner to attract the most attention possible. But if your booth doesn’t include a table front and center, you might want to skip the table throw and put your budget toward more interesting freebies to hand out at the event.

Keep in mind that just because you purchase these materials for a specific event doesn’t mean that they’re useless between trade shows. A lot of wide format printing is very versatile in that you can use it for many different occasions. Once your event is over, displaying your signs or banners in your office or conference room just adds additional branding to your workspace.

3. What products do you already have?

It’s always a good idea to go through your existing supplies before an event and take inventory of what you already have. If you’ve attended trade shows or tabled other events before, chances are you can repurpose some of your existing materials, like table throws, business cards, and banners. But if the materials show signs of wear or are of a low quality, you might want to consider reprinting.

“We take print and see how we can design something specifically for it. The two go together,” says Kristyn Dingman, Printing Solutions’ Director of Marketing. “You can have a high-end retractable banner that has an unattractive graphic on it, or you can have a really solid design of your logo that is printed on a cheap material. The two are essential to one another. Printing on a high-quality material with a high-quality visual is the best route to take.”

If you’re planning your first event and need to start from scratch with promotional materials, our On-The-Go Package was created just for your. It includes over 6 different print marketing options for one price and is a customizable and comprehensive solution to that helps to promote upcoming event.

BONUS: Large Format Printing and What You Are Doing Wrong

For us, the best part of planning any event is seeing the customer’s face light up when we have the display set up in our office for them to pick up. Seeing that end result and the reactions we get are priceless.

Need Help To Promote Upcoming Event?

If you need help planning and to promote upcoming event or trade show, let Printing Solutions help. Give us a call at 480-596-6300 to get started.

The post How Should I Promote My Upcoming Event? appeared first on Printing Solutions.

Clear, Complete Information Upfront

It is important that your print vendor has all the information they need in order to be successful, and the sooner they have this information, the sooner the job can be done. Remember to share all relevant details, requests, dates and requirements for the project with the vendor before final estimates are given. Do not be afraid to ask questions and to request clarification on any pieces of the project that you are unsure of.

Communication

Seek to establish an open line of communication from the beginning to ensure that both parties remain on the same page and have the same expectations. Find out if there is one person, in particular, that you will be working with, and obtain their direct contact information and their preferred methods of communication. You should be able to ask questions and make comments in every stage of the process, from obtaining a quote, to proofing, to arranging pick up, and know that your comments are being received quickly and trust that you will get a response in a timely manner. Good communication from both parties speeds up the process and ensures accuracy and satisfaction.

Related: The Average Printing Time For Business Collateral

Digital Efficiency

Printing Solutions has systems in place that allow us to provide digital proofs for our clients and to exchange communication with them via our digital software platform. This greatly reduces our turnaround time and provides convenient methods of proofing and correction making for our clients. When you are exploring and comparing printing vendors, ask about their proofing process and find out how much impact it will have on the overall turnaround time. Digital proofing and project communication tools can make the most significant impact on the turnaround time, so it is worth checking into before committing to work with a specific vendor.

Completion

When you have given your approval of the proof and your printing vendor has the go ahead to complete the job, you should have a clear idea of how soon the project will be completed. The contact or representative you have been working with should reach out to you prior to completion to make sure you understand when you can expect the project to be done and to arrange pick up, delivery or shipping options. At Printing Solutions, our customers can approve or disapprove a digital proof with the click of a button. When approved, we move forward and complete your order as quickly as possible and with the highest quality possible. We will also go the extra mile to accommodate your needs with Valleywide delivery and a variety of shipping options.

Related: Worst Fonts for Marketing Material

Finding the right printing vendor and making sure they have the systems and customer service in place in order to deliver what you need is vital in minimizing turnaround times. Knowing that your vendor can provide fast, efficient service with digital tools to make your role in process faster and easier is the best way to speed up the process and know that you are in the right hands.

We would love to visit with you and find out how we can help get your latest project brought to life quickly and beautifully. Give us a call at 480-596-6300!

The post 4 Tips To Minimize Turnaround Times With Your Print Vendors appeared first on Printing Solutions.

One common mistake made by businesses both young and old, is to focus too much on one particular type of marketing without considering other options.  It can be very easy to stick with your traditional marketing tools while turning a blind eye to new tactics.  On the other hand, new businesses may not realize the value of more traditional strategies, choosing to stick exclusively with new technology.

This dilemma has never been more prevalent than when it comes to print and internet marketing.  Believe it or not, there are still some businesses out there that haven’t taken full advantage of marketing through the internet.  They may dabble with it, but they have yet to realize internet marketing’s true potential.  There are also businesses who have lost faith or interest in print marketing, instead putting all of their eggs into the internet marketing basket.

We’re here to tell you that this is a mistake.  There are some very important and crucial reasons why your print and internet marketing need to be working together.

1. Branding

There’s no way to overestimate brand recognition.  Not only does recognizing a brand play a psychological role in the customer’s decision-making process, but it also gives a more uniformed and professional look to your business.  When you have a consistent presence in both print and online, you give your company a stronger, deeper feel.  If your potential clients or customers are only able to see your brand online, you may be missing out on the true benefits of branding.

2. Double Punch

Not everyone is going to hold onto every piece of mail that comes into his or her office, no matter how well designed it is or what the special offer may be.  Similarly, every business has potential customers who may never once visit their website or read an email.  However, a printed mailer might be just memorable enough so that when your customer happens to see a PPC ad soon after, the combined effort turns into a sale.  When print marketing and online advertising compliment each other, the results can be very profitable.

3. Reach

Some businesses are simply losing out on potential growth and sales because they aren’t considering what their reach is.  They might overlook important internet marketing tools such as social media because they don’t believe people who would buy their product or service use social media.  Others refuse to send out mailers thinking they’ll all end up in the trash.  We’re not suggesting that every social media add or mailer will be 100% successful, but you could be missing out by not having them work together.

When it comes to finding the right marketing tools for your business, be sure to talk with the experts at Printing Solutions.  Let’s discuss options that will work for you.

The post Why Your Print and Internet Marketing Need to be Working Together appeared first on Printing Solutions.

Your Booth

You’ll be competing with everyone else at the trade show for visitors’ attention. You’ve got to have an eye-catching display to command attention. We can create for you something as small as a stand-up banner or as big as a whole trade show display that can house your technology and marketing materials. (Call for details)

Marketing Materials

We can help you design the perfect marketing materials that are sure to leave the expo with your visitors. You don’t want something that goes in the trash! Give them something they will hold onto like a plastic business card or an origami postcard!

Related: Why You Should Have Plastic Business Cards

Who Will Be Speaking?

Undoubtedly you’ll have to designate someone to speak at the trade show. As people pass your booth, they’ll be expecting a presentation. Who would make the best face of your company? Who is best at public speaking? Have them practice their spiel and they’ll be sure to knock it out of the park!

Related: Get Yourself Prepared to Speak at the Trade Show

Once you’ve taken the first step in deciding to showcase your company at a trade show or expo, your next step should be to call us here at Printing Solutions. As the leading print company in Scottsdale, we’re the go-to place for all things trade show. Our talented graphic designers can help you have the perfect materials and we can cover everything from banners to plastic business cards.

If you have any questions about our printed products, give us a call at 480-596-6300 or stop by our Scottsdale printing company. We’ll make sure you have the best booth at the event!

The post 5 Tips to Make a Successful Trade Show appeared first on Printing Solutions.

Our advice to small businesses is to stop viewing print and online marketing as mutually exclusive of one another and start seeing them as two pieces of a larger puzzle.

Through flyers, postcards, and sell sheets, you can target traffic to a specific domain. Here’s how it works:

How to Use Printed Products to Drive More Online Traffic

Step #1: Design an Eye-Catching Printed Product

It’s important to create a clean and sophisticated design that people’s eyes will instantly be attracted to. Believe it or not, design can influence your customers’ behaviors in both negative and positive ways.

Related: The Importance of Design

Step #2: Keep Text Sparse

Don’t overload your printed product with tons of information. Remember, the purpose of this particular printed piece is to drive traffic to a specific webpage. Thus, you’ll want to include only essential information with one clear call to action.

Step #3: Choose a Domain to Target

There are tons of webpages a business might want to drive traffic to. Some type of pages include:

• Event page
• Product/service page
• Client testimonial
• Launch page

The advantage of using print to direct traffic to a specific webpage is that you can target a whole new audience. While some customers may find the page through search engines, your printed marketing material can capture an audience that otherwise might have been excluded.

In conclusion, get help creating print marketing materials by giving Printing Solutions a call at 480-596-6300. We provide printing services that will work in conjunction with your online marketing efforts and as stand alone pieces.

The post Use Printed Products to Drive More Online Traffic appeared first on Printing Solutions.

For the small business owner unable to afford higher priced advertising methods such as television, radio and billboards, a well designed flyer is an excellent alternative and can be just as effective. Fundamentally speaking, a flyer is really no different that a billboard, just on a much smaller scale. Like its larger more visible sibling, the purpose of a flyer is not to tell a story, but rather to get noticed and entice the viewer. Once noticed, a clever “call-to-action” on an impactful flyer will challenge readers to do something further.

Big headlines should be used to get noticed and the most effectively designed flyers use them to highlight the most important information. They should be generally less than a sentence long and need to be clean, crisp and to the point. Putting the headline near the top of the flyer in large letters ensures that it stands out. Also, headlines should be memorable and closely linked to the event or business being promoted. By using phrases such as “Playing LIVE tonight”, “Huge Sale” or “Get Your Custom Business Cards Here” amongst many others, you immediately put yourself into the stream of consciousness for any interested parties.

Pictures should also be used to support your purpose and help grab attention whenever possible. They can be specific to the product or service being promoted or just a great visual that will catch the eye. In either case, pictures are worth 1000 words and they should be used advantageously. Just be careful not to overuse them and hide your headline.

Even the most beautiful billboards are considered unsuccessful if they do not evoke a response in the form of a sale or participation in whatever it is the message is trying to convey. In much the same way, printed flyers need to have a “call-to-action” that hits its mark and prompts the desired action. Also, be sure to include an address, directions, a telephone number, email address or a website for the reader to contact you. Including a coupon on the flyer for FREE admission or a FREE sample is another great way to increase the impact of flyer advertising. By keeping track of the number of redeemed coupons, you can also easily track the success of your printed flyers.

Now that the general format of effective flyer design has been outlined, let’s go back and revisit the example mentioned above with Robin Hood. In your opinion has the Sheriff making good use of his flyer? Let’s take a quick look.

The message is quite clear with a large headline that reads “REWARD” and absolutely grabs your attention. That message is fully supported with a picture of the alleged perpetrator. Furthermore, a top notch “call-to-action” that promises a reward for the capture of Robin Hood, is certain to spur the masses into action. Therefore, by all accounts it is safe to say that even back in the day of fables and fairy tales we can find examples of effective flyer advertising.

Printing Solutions has designed and printed custom flyers for many of its clients. Our experienced team of designers can help create full-color flyers with maximum impact. With our high-quality printing process, our printed flyers can deliver results and help drive business.

The post Custom Flyers are the Billboards for Small Business Advertising appeared first on Printing Solutions.