If you’ve ever worked a boring booth at a trade show, you’ve most likely been the victim of the “avoiders.” Those passers-by who liken you to Medusa and refuse to look your way for fear of being turned to stone. You notice them by the way they engage actively with booth 1145, take a quick glance at your booth with that lonely poster and brochure, and then, hurriedly walk past you with their eyes carefully averted. After enough of these avoiders, you may start to wish you had some of those smiley-faced, squishy stress-balls to throw at them.

Carbonless forms

• Can be done in a way that modernizes.
• When Print It Plus creates a carbonless form, we can also create a fillable PDF to be used on your website or for electronic distribution.
• Often companies need the carbonless form as a paper trail… especially for trades people (plumbers, electricians, etc.) to go out with their sales people and/or technicians

Recently, a prospective client said they wanted to get customers’ attention through non-traditional marketing using printed products. Who knew that in 2016, the printed word would be considered “non-traditional?” Non-traditional? We’re saying this about a medium that was developed back in the 1400’s by Johannes Gutenberg! While Webster’s (of dictionary fame) mind might be little blown by this reference, when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Make no mistake about it: a business is more important than any one person. A successful business is truly the sum of its parts. It's a collection of people all working together to form a cohesive whole, helping the business as an entity move forward into the future and accomplish the goals that it has outlined for itself at the same time. Finding the right people to fill the right positions is one important step towards achieving this environment, but it is exactly that – one part. An element that is just as important (but one that far too many business owners fail to pay attention to until it's far too late) comes from the idea that your employees also have to actually enjoy working with one another if your business is going to succeed the way you want it to.

Kids and cats seem to have this well figured out. We’ve all seen or experienced first-hand the joy that kids and cats take in taking an “ordinary box” and making that product packaging into the most exciting plaything of all time. What they are instinctively telling us, without truly understanding for themselves, is this: if the packaging sparks the imagination, it almost doesn’t matter what’s inside.

So now we understand the importance of creating and then following a well-designed yearly marketing plan for your business, as discussed in the 1st blog of this three part series. In this 2nd part of our 3-part blog we give structure to your marketing plan. An unstructured marketing plan will invariably cost your company a fortune as you spend money in areas that are not giving the return on investment needed while not allocating enough funds in areas that could yield much more fruit.

The first thing you need to do is decide on your budget. And the most important aspect of deciding on your budget is: be realistic, but do not be too tight. You may have grand marketing plans for the new year, but if you don’t have the budget set correctly, you will run out of money for marketing long before 2016 ends.

As 2015 draws to a close and we look back and assess the results in our business, we are also looking forward into next year. By this time you should already have your preliminary business and marketing plans for 2016 in place. Of course that is often much easier said than done. But, even if you have your plans in place, having a checklist to make sure you have not missed anything is always a good thing to have.

“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.”
– Dr. Christiane Northrup

Have you ever felt under-appreciated? It is unfortunately a common condition in our culture. But, we can do something to combat its ubiquity. Like so many negative influences in our lives, we can turn this around and reverse its influence by doing the exact opposite. Actions may speak louder than words, but some words can have an unforgettable impact.

Marketing materials that you put out into the world aren't just a great way to introduce a new product or service to your target audience. If done properly, they can also be an invaluable way to create a huge amount of buzz and anticipation surrounding an upcoming product or service launch. That can then translate into increased sales when it is eventually ready for release. By keeping just a few, key things in mind, you can use hype to your advantage and build the type of momentum that most businesses can only dream of.

Master the Art of the Tease

One of the major lessons to be learned about building anticipation for a new product or service through marketing is to master the concept of teasing.

If you truly want to draw attention to your business and potentially attract a whole new variety of customers, there are few better ways to accomplish this than with a great marketing event. Regardless of the type of industry that you're in, a marketing event is a great way to get a hold of some people who wouldn't normally have your business on their radar. To accomplish this, however, you need to keep a few key things in mind.

As a small to mid-sized business you are constantly striving to stay in the front of your customers’ minds so that when they need your services, you are the first vendor they think of. Although there are a multitude of different marketing ideas for accomplishing this objective, most of them tend to be very expensive while not offering the reward that you are looking for. You need to create a piece that has a long-standing track record of success while not blowing your limited marketing budget out of the water. Here is a great idea for you: rack cards and flyers.

Trade Shows Are One Opportunity You Just Can't Afford to Pass Up

Like any business, you probably use a wide range of marketing materials in an attempt to spread your message far and wide. Even though you rely heavily on the print techniques that have worked so well in the past, you've probably also branched out into the wonderful world of social media and digital marketing. But one marketing opportunity remains largely untapped by many businesses. That opportunity is the trade show, which brings with it a wide range of prospects you can't ignore.

Building brand awareness is one of the cornerstones of successful marketing. Print It Plus has the expertise to help you and your company create and market your brand. We know that building a powerful, long-lasting brand starts with a consistent core strength, mission and values of your company, not your logo. Your logo as it is important to represent your brand but, it is only a small part of the way your company is viewed by customers. Your mission and value have to be driven by your brand and from everyone in your organization. When you analyze it, the your brand is actually more of a feeling than an object.

How a doctor’s office or hospital can be more successful at getting referrals

Getting consistently great results for physician marketing and relations is the goal of every physician relations and hospital marketing department. Since the potential opportunities are out there, CEOs and other decision makers often invest valuable resources into building up their physician relation and marketing departments. Unfortunately, CEOs often become impatient with the progress of the relations and discontinue or severely shrink the size of the program before it has had time to really take hold with the local physician community.

So, the question becomes what can liaisons do to justify their existence and produce quicker, more actionable results?

Quick Turnaround Business Cards

We have discussed the importance of business cards before in posts on this blog. Even with all of the technological advances we humans have developed over the last several decades, the business card is still most often your first piece of branding that a potential new client or business alliance sees during and/or right after initial contact. This particularly holds true for any small to medium-sized business person who is trying to build his or her brand through networking, charity, and other types of social events.

Creating a business card that helps you to make a positive, professional first impression is not a new or unique situation for us at Print It Plus. From the design and layout of your card (including the logo design) right through proofing and production, we have been turning out award-winning cards for over 25 years. In fact, just last week we had a new client come to us and order business cards with an extra short turn-around time. Here is the situation as it unfolded.