PrintFirm's Blog

Establishing and maintaining a good relationship between law enforcement and the local communities they serve is an important aspect of the job for many police departments. Community outreach programs that inform citizens of the difficulties and duties that cops encounter and / or listening to concerns from local people can help to improve life for everyone involved.

There are a variety of different ways that law enforcement can reach out to surrounding communities. While the language and messaging approach may vary depending on where the outreach is occurring, custom printed promotional products can benefit any agency looking to improve the relationship with their community.  We’ve worked with a variety of government and law enforcement agencies to help promote their community outreach programs and spread their messages to surrounding communities.

Outdoor gatherings and BBQs are one of the most popular community outreach events that we see law enforcement agencies taking part in. Many advertise their events with custom printed flyers that include the location, time & date for people to attend. Guests will know that they’re in the right place when they see the large vinyl banner printed with the agency name and logo on it. The first goal is to make everyone feel welcome and at the event so that they are receptive to your message and outreach. But don’t stop there.

Neighborhood Youth Programs

Many law enforcement outreach programs focus on the neighborhood youth, because they will be the future of the community. Most kids aren’t going to be too interested in the event itself, but are looking to have fun with their friends and spend some time away from school. We’ve seen agencies get very creative with their promotional items for kids, including custom printed bookmarks to encourage reading.

Recently, there has been a number of Police Departments and Firefighters printing custom trading cards with their staff information included on the back. These can be great for both community outreach programs as well as everyday activity in the community when interacting with kids. What are your creative outreach ideas?

Working Together

Working together with the community day in and day out will help your agency or department to be as effective as it can be. Be sure to always carry your personalized business card as well so that residents and community members can keep your contact info close by when they need it most.

There was a point in the music industry when bands that had a website and online marketing strategy had the competitive edge. Most bands didn’t have the means to create their own website, or get their songs online for sale – but that has all changed. Now, most bands have websites live before they even release their first record, and their marketing strategy focuses on growing their audiences online. Unfortunately, many of these bands have more talented web developers than lead singers and never connect with their followers online in real life. Marketing your band offline has once again, become one of the more effective strategies in the music industry.

The truth is that most bands make more money off of merch, song licenses, sponsorships and concert tickets than they do off of song sales online. Getting fans out to shows is still extremely important. Building an email list to promote shows is very difficult – handing out printed club flyers with show info is easy, and effective. Handing out flyers outside near the club where the band is playing after other similar shows finish can put your band in front of the right audience – music lovers who attend shows!

Don’t stop with flyers though. Print posters in bulk with a white space included in the design that you can fill in with specific show info – date, time, venue, etc. Hang these in and around the venue to gain exposure to everyone who comes through the venue. These can also be given away as promo items to fans or sold at the merch table once at the show.

Event Night

The band is ready to play, fans ready to dance – it’s show night. Unlike digital e-tickets, custom event ticket printing allows bands to use their own design & personalize the fan experience. However your fans get in the door, it’s important to this opportunity to market your band offline the best way you know how. Whether you’re playing to long-time fans who sing along with every song, or trying to win over a new crowd in a city you’ve never played before – the merch table may be more important than the stage.

The obvious item that you need to have on sale at your merch table are copies of your CD. We offer several CD cover printing options that fit any band or artists needs. Make sure everyone who stops by your table gets a free band sticker – this classic offline band marketing technique has helped spread the name & logo of many groups that have gone on to make it big. Don’t forget, you probably still have some of those band flyers that you could sell as well…

Don’t Ditch the Website

Or social medial, or email list or digital downloads. You’re still going to need an online presence – and it should be tied into the items you print as well. Include your Instagram name on the club flyers or website url on the stickers. Just don’t make the mistake of forgetting to market offline entirely as so many new bands have done before disappearing.

There is a lot of money to be made in Real Estate, but many seasoned professionals will tell you that the market is getting a bit cluttered. Everyone knows a handful of real estate agents, but few know successful ones who have made an entire career in the industry. Selling houses can look easy to outsiders, but any professional agent knows just how difficult it is to be successful in real estate. It can take hundreds of leads to produce one sale, so staying motivated and continuing to market during downtimes can be difficult to justify – but it needs to be done.

By regularly staying in front of your target home buyers and sellers, you become the obvious go-to real estate agent when it comes time for them to make a move. The truth is that most people aren’t actively looking to buy or sell their house, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be marketing to them. Whether they are moving due to a job change or to be closer to family, you are more likely to get the call if they recognize your name from previous marketing efforts.

The two main targeting factors that you should consider when creating your real estate marketing approach are Income and Location. You need to find clients that make enough annually to afford a mortgage in a relatively local area. Once you identify these elements, the rest of your real estate marketing plan should fall into place.

The Keys to the Castle

Let’s start with location. You already know that you should be marketing to potential sellers at their home residence, and have likely already used EDDM postcards in target neighborhoods. This common real estate marketing strategy is used so commonly because it works so well. Quarterly mailings with pictures of homes currently for sale, recent sales, your image / logo, name & contact info will go a long way! Take it a step further, and make sure that your target location see’s your info with custom door hangers for realtors once or twice a year as well.

Now let’s look at targeting real estate leads a different way. Where do they work? Come up with a list of the top 10 companies with salaries in your target buyer / seller range, and drop off custom notepads printed with your logo. These notepads are likely to stay on employee desks for years, and the long-term marketing effect will have you selling more homes year after year.

Closing the Deal

You never know when you’re going to get a call from a potential buyer, or run into someone looking to sell at a local restaurant who recognizes you from your marketing efforts. Make sure you’re ready to close the deal by always having your cards on you. We offer business card templates for Remax, Coldwell Banker and other real estate companies – customize and print yours today with PrintFirm!

Paying quarterlies taxes all year can pay off big when it comes time to get your small business refund. Your accountant should be able to tell you exactly how much you’re owed in your small business tax refund when you file for the year – and we know that for some of you, this amount can be substantial.  Smart business owners who can see the opportunity for annual growth often reinvest this tax refund directly into their company. This extra boost of cash flow can allow you to reinvest in long term business goals that may have gotten lost in the day to day due to budget constraints and other immediate needs.

Rather than reinvesting your small business tax refund into immediate needs such as Google Adwords PPC, or using those resources on finding a new hire to replace a long term employee – using the additional money on branding can have long term benefits for any business. The truth is that your online marketing campaigns could always use more budget, and hiring good talent is always going to be the hardest part of your job – so it’s important to keep this tax refund money separate and use it differently than regular business income.

So, how should you reinvest your small business tax refund then? Printing branded promotional material for your business can go a lot further than you might expect. When is the last time that you printed new business cards? Most likely, it’s been years. They tend to last for a very long time – which is exactly where the value is. Never having to question whether or not you have the essential business products that you need to continue growing is extremely valuable – because not having printed materials ready can cost you big.

Invest Now so That You Can Invest Later, Too

Business events with potential customers & clients can bring about some of the best opportunities for your company to grow. But they can also be expensive to attend. If you’re starting from scratch, adding up to the cost of a booth, printing business brochures, travel expenses, meals & add-ons can quickly total thousands of dollars. With regular cash flow, attending a trade show without a booth might be your only option – but with the correct supplies on hand, you can send your top salespeople to make new connections instead.

Just like your business cards, branded promotional products will last for years, and can be used at a variety of events. Of course, these are just two quick examples of products that you can reinvest your small business tax refund into, but there are many others as well. Don’t plan on moving offices anytime soon – print envelopes with your business logo to have on hand whenever you need to mail leads or customers. Other ideas? Be sure to share them with us!

Turning Your Small Business into a Medium Sized Company

Efficiently reinvesting your tax refund can help you turn your small business into a medium sized company by keeping your branding strategies and marketing tactics one step ahead of your competitors. With printing prices as low as ours, you may still have some extra money for that annual bonus too.

You know that you need to order business cards, and have probably spent hours thinking about the design – but how many should you print? This option trips up many marketers during the business card ordering process, and for good reason. The answer is going to vary depending on the type of business, seniority level of the person you’re ordering for and how you plan on marketing using the cards. Order too few business cards and you’re going to miss opportunities, too many and they’ll just collect dust on the shelf. Don’t worry – we can help you determine how many business cards you should print.

Before we get into specific numbers, it’s important to note that the quantity you order is also going to effect cost. One thing you might not know, the more you order, the cheaper the cost per card. While this shouldn’t be the leading factor in determining how many business cards you order to be printed, it has to play some role in the final decision. Some people just don’t need to print 20,000 business cards at a time.

The other factor is the price of your product / service. If your business relies on high quantities of customers with smaller margins on each, your approach will be different from someone who targets a handful of specific clients that each spend significant amounts with their business. For example, if you’re selling custom designed business cards (like us!) you need more customers than a commercial real estate developer that works on just a few projects per year.

High Quality & High Quantity Orders

As a general rule, if your average customer spends less than $1,000 per transaction, we recommend printing standard or premium business cards because you will want to order in bulk. Do you ship orders to customers? Include 2 business cards in every package. Have orders picked up from your shop, drop a couple in the bag with the receipt!

For companies that rely on high value clients that spend over $1,000 per transaction, we recommend super thick business cards or custom shaped business cards to stand out from the rest. You won’t need to hand your card out as frequently as the first type of company, but will want to make a big first impression when you find the right opportunity. Having trouble finding ways to distribute your business card? You aren’t alone…

The Business Card Challenge

Need a little motivation to use those business cards you printed? Take the business card challenge! We want you to give out 1 business card per business day for an entire month to start. If you can make it that far – extend it to a quarter – then a year! Giving out one business card per business day of the year will help you introduce your company to 250 new people.

So, how many business cards should you print? Start with an order of 1,000 and see how long it lasts you. Pricing for 1,000 cards starts at just $19.99. Surprised? Get started on your design with our free business card templates now!

Any bar owner will tell you that making the most out of holiday’s can make or break your bottom line at the end of the year. Capitalizing on peak periods to make anticipated spikes in revenue is essential to running any business – but especially for bars / restaurants. Many bars across the country use St. Patrick’s Day every March 17th to celebrate this cultural and religious holiday by serving pints on pints of beer to thirsty customers. But before you can get the kegs ready, you’re going to need to let everyone know what’s on tap for St. Patty’s!

Whether or not you cater to the Irish crowd year round, your local bar can lead the St. Patrick’s day celebrations if you market it properly. We have put together 3 Simple St. Patrick’s Day Marketing Ideas that will help you get people to your bar, to spend money – AND come back to your fine establishment later in the year.

The best part about these St. Patrick’s marketing ideas for your bar, is that this strategy can work year after year to grow your business. Let’s get started…

Your Bar is a Pot of Gold

You don’t need to look very far to find your most valuable marketing real estate – the front of your bar! Our first St. Patrick’s Day marketing idea is to print a vinyl banner advertising that you celebrate with drink specials on March 17th to hang in front of your business. Our “pro tip” is to avoid using a specific day of the week, or year so that you can you use the same banner for years to come.

The second St. Patrick’s Day marketing idea is to make the most of printed tent cards. Don’t print the same thing on both sides of your tent cards – use one side to advertise your St. Patty’s drink specials, and the other to encourage patrons to come back. Highlight your daily happy hour, weekly trivia or monthly food specials – even your upcoming Cinco de Mayo party!

Go Beyond Green Beer

We’ll leave the pouring and serving up to you, but we do have one more suggestion to make the most out of the holiday. Our third St. Patrick’s Day marketing idea is to send your guests home with a take away gift. We recommend custom magnets or stickers as a simple gift that last a long time, and are likely to be seen daily if stuck to the fridge or personal item – great for Branding!

Bonus Tip

Once you have them in your bar, you want to keep them there on St. Patrick’s Day night. Hold a raffle or drawing for a Gift Certificate to your bar that they have to be present to win. Bring them back on the house so that they can introduce other friends to your bar as well!

Parents and coaches will tell you “it’s just a game” and that winning doesn’t define success for little league baseball teams. We think it’s a bit more than that. That doesn’t mean that we think every play matters, that a team’s win-loss record in little league baseball will determine your child’s path in life or that teenage umpires should be heckled based on a bad call. But we do acknowledge that it’s not “just a game” either.

Little league baseball provides kids with memories that they’ll have for the rest of their life, team work skills, and keeps them physically active. Keeping your kids motivated and engaged with their little league team can be tough, especially if they aren’t the best player on the field or haven’t won a game yet this season. Making a little league baseball team look more professional can help to motivate kids and keep them looking forward to practice and weekly games.

It’s likely that your team already has baseball uniforms, gloves, bats & balls – we want to look beyond the basics. What can you do that will make your home field look more like the pros? What can you do to make your team to feel like all-stars? We can help…

Go for Two With a Team Banner

Printing the name of your little league baseball team on custom vinyl banner can make your players feel more like the pros that they see on TV. If all teams in the league play at one field, you may want to print one banner that has the league name, along with the logos and names of each team. Printing a team banner doesn’t have to just be about motivation though – it can also add revenue for your league!

Running a little league baseball team depends heavily on your budget from player fees, donations and limited advertising payments. When you print a little league baseball banner, you can sell advertising space to local businesses that will benefit from exposure at the game. All little league groups could use more revenue, right?

Heading for Home

Banners are great when you’re at the field, but what about when the team parts ways and goes home? Printing custom baseball cards for kids that look and feel like the ones with their favorite pro players is a great way to keep them in the game long past the last out. You can design and print trading cards for your whole team, or just your star player with PrintFirm. Never designed a baseball card before? Don’t worry, our design team will help from start to finish!

There has been a shift in political awareness since the last Presidential Election, and many more people are getting involved in politics than ever before. For most, attending town hall meetings to have their voice heard, and vouching to vote in locally between Presidential elections is as far as they will take it. Others however, are throwing their hat in the ring to actually run for political office in their town or county. And in the process, they are finding out just how difficult it is to run a political campaign.

It’s easy for candidates to talk about where they stand on certain key political issues that directly affect the community they aim to represent, but defining policies won’t win elections on any level. In order to win elections on a local level, it’s imperative to have a strong campaign strategy with promotional materials to get the word out. Name recognition is key in these types of elections, which is why many printed yard signs focus on the candidate’s name over party or picture.

Campaign yard signs that are simple and to the point tend to be more effective than those that try to include too much information. Smart candidates share the details of their political policies with informed voters that attend town halls and local meetings within custom printed brochures that include far more information than a yard sign can.

The Cost to Win the Election

Local elections can be just as fierce as national ones, and it does take an investment for candidates to have a chance at winning. Monetary and time donations from supporters play an extremely important role in helping a candidate get the exposure and positive press they need to win the election. Assistance in spreading the word and boosting attendance at rallies is in the hands of prominent vocal supporters – but it’s not free to host an event.

Going beyond the facility fees and catering, successful campaign events include large vinyl banners on the walls, and tent cards on the tables – both of which will dip into the campaign fund. It’s important to make sure that funds are spent effectively, giving the candidate the best chance to win the election. Using printed campaign promo materials like these at fundraisers can help to make a local campaign appear as professional as possible.

Don’t Forget the Small Details

Not all campaign promo materials are meant to be shared in a front yard, or to hundreds of people gathered in a hall. Letterhead still matters, especially for political candidates that submit official paperwork on behalf of their campaign. Our graphics team has helped candidates work on campaign promo material designs that will work for a number of different print products that we offer. Rather than printing political signs from one vendor, banners from another and letterhead from a third, PrintFirm can take care of all your campaign printing product needs under one roof. Vote PrintFirm!

Direct marketing is no longer only about direct response. Consumers don’t need to order over the phone, or by mailing in a check to purchase products or services anymore. As more consumers got on the internet, many companies spent more marketing dollars online, and less on direct mail. Others were too afraid to change their marketing ways, and continued running their direct mail marketing campaigns in the same fashion they always did. Neither approach worked well, and here’s why.

Companies that abandoned direct marketing in exchange for a purely digital approach were likely to lose touch with many of their most loyal customers. While direct click to conversion metrics and better ROI tracking with Analytics online helped to justify digital marketing budgets, the costs being spent on acquiring new customers rather than nurturing existing ones hurt overall sales.

Most “Old School” marketers that decided to stick with their tried-and-true direct marketing campaigns rather than moving some of their budget to digital also eventually saw losses. While doing a great job at nurturing existing customers, people eventually realized they could purchase the same products online with less hassle.

The companies who survived and thrived the through the transition from analog to digital marketing learned not only to combine direct mail and marketing efforts, but to shift the focus of their mailed campaigns from response to brand awareness.

Sales Copy vs. Bullet Points

Marketers used to have to tell their whole story in a single mailing piece, but when coupled with a strong web presence, direct mail now can focus on brand awareness over direct response as it once did. This shift in approach requires a change in direct mail format as well. From small font sales copy to increase word count, companies can now stick to consistent branding with larger brand images, and big font bullet points of top benefits. Many brands aren’t even waiting for customers to open the mail before trying to get their point across.

Printing envelopes with company logo in full color reminds customers who you are, and what you do without them even having to open the letter. In the age of multi-touch marketing, your logo on an envelope might be all that is needed to get your customer to go online and purchase a product or schedule an appointment.

Bypassing the Envelope All Together?

The shift of direct marketing focus to branding has also increased the effectiveness of custom printed EDDM postcards. Include your company logo, image, address (physical or digital) and bullet point top benefits that convert into customers in the largest font you can squeeze into the design. Need help with your marketing creation? Contact our team of designers today to get started!

Too small and people can barely read it. Too big, you’re wasting space. Font size matters when it comes to printed products like brochures and business cards. When there is only so much room to work with, font size plays a key role in the overall design of the product before it goes to be print. You can find some general rules online that suggest using size 10 – 11 fonts for business cards, and size 12 for brochures. Those suggestions will work in many instances, but it’s important to think specifically about how your products will be seen by others.

Size 10 font can work on a standard business card if the majority of your business interactions are face to face, and you are handing the card to a potential client or customer. They are likely to be reading the details on the card when holding it, and at a relatively close distance, which is why the smaller font sizes can work. But not everyone uses their printed business cards this way.

For example, many local service businesses still generate leads and new customers by posting their business cards to community boards around town. People still do it because it still works. But a size 10 font isn’t nearly big enough if you want your business card to be seen, and read from a distance of 5 or 10 feet. If you are using business cards to attract new business that you don’t have the opportunity to hand the card to, larger fonts will work better than standard suggestions.

Another Example – Brochures

In general, the same rules regarding business card font size apply when printing business brochures as well. Some brochures are handed directly to customers, while others are placed where people can pick them up. The major difference is that this rule really only applies to the front and back covers of the brochure. Font size inside can be smaller to accommodate more copy, or larger to emphasize key points.

We always recommend testing different font sizes in the types of conditions that you will have once the product is printed. Test different font sizes at different distances to see what works best for you, and others who will offer their opinion. If you can’t decide between two different font sizes, we always recommend choosing the larger of the two as long as you have the space on the design.

Optimizing for Your Customer

There are other things to consider when optimizing print products for your clients than just font size. Run an amusement park? Print Mini Brochures that will fit in the back pocket of someone’s jeans with a map of the park so they don’t get lost. Own a batting cage? Print round business cards that look like baseballs! Need ideas? Contact us for help with your custom print product design today!