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Friday, January 22, 2021
Craft First-Class Flyers with 4 Quick Tricks
For decades, flyers have been a go-to marketing tool for businesses of many stripes. But are flyers still effective in the digital age?
“I am a huge fan of running flyers. My book, ‘How to Start Your Own House Cleaning Company,’ has a huge section on flyers,” Brown said. “Flyers are a great, cheap way of advertising your business, and if you do it the right way, you can have business coming in within a day or two. And lots of people save the flyers. If they are not ready to hire you today, they can hire you when they are ready. And once you have clients, you can work from referrals after that.”
Brown has moved repeatedly, and each time, she’s had to start her business from scratch. Flyers have been a key marketing strategy each time, with similar, conclusive results. “No clients, same business,” said Brown. “New neighborhood, new clientele. Running flyers is an old-fashioned way of doing business, but it’s effective!”
Flyers that Move People to Action
Flyers may seem insignificant, but they get the job done.
Though these simple bits of paper often end up trampled in puddles or buried in a pile of bills, they always grab attention. And, if they’re designed well, they’ll move people to act! (Attend this grand opening; subscribe to our monthly newsletter; visit the new farmer’s market.)
Want to build momentum for your event, promotion, or group? Flyers are a low-cost form of mass communication that can be mailed, personally delivered, or posted in public places. Flyers are fun to create and allow you to experiment with unusual images or layouts.
As you explore the possibilities, here are four strategic areas to sharpen your design:
Magnetic Focal Point
When you begin your design, clearly identify the theme of your message.
Look for an image or headline that best communicates this, and build your entire design around it. Every flyer should have one thing on the page that is huge, dominant, or captivating. Bright, bold color palettes give flyers punch and attract tons of attention, even from across the room.
Logical Design Flow
After the focal point, your flyer design should have a sensible layout that intentionally leads the reader through the page: left to right, top to bottom, or using visual cues like numbers or a “map” of dashed lines.
Strong subheads should allow viewers to scan the page quickly. And simple, elegant designs bring impact all their own. Keep text to a minimum and space your design elements generously.
Cohesive Alignment
Choose one alignment for the entire flyer.
Don’t center the headline, then set the body copy flush left. Don’t center everything on the page, but also squish extra elements in the bottom corners. Be confident in your layouts: try all flush left or flush right. Your design should feel brave and bold!
Appropriate Content
What should you include in a flyer?
While brochures or foldable flyers come in various formats, a basic rule of thumb is this: the “where” determines the “what.” The delivery of your publication has everything to do with its content. If your piece arrives in the mail to someone on your mailing list, you can include much more on it. If it is for public display, it should be readable at a glance.
Made You Look, Made You Look!
Flyers are fun to create because they allow you to abandon restraint. Your flyer will often go head-to-head with dozens of competing pages, so grab their attention and really go wild.
Anything out of the ordinary will make people stop and look, and that’s 90 percent of your goal.
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Simply Irresistible: Best Practices for Writing Compelling Lead Magnets
Have you ever made an impulse buy at the grocery store? Or been drawn to an online store that you knew was probably fakey clickbait?
Sometimes, when the right offer hits you at just the right moment, it seems impossible to resist! And they don’t call this “magnetic” appeal for nothing.
In marketing, Magnets are an effective technique for gaining a prospect's contact information and/or drawing them into your sales funnel. Sometimes called lead generation, this process of stimulating and capturing interest (to develop a sales pipeline) allows you to nurture a lead until they are ready to buy.
Sounds easy enough, right? But how do you build this curiosity or engagement with your target audience? According to Hubspot, about63 percent of businessesbelieve their biggest marketing challenges relate to generating traffic and leads, and60 percent of marketerssay lead generation is a key pain point for their company. Leads typically hear from a business after they receive and respond to some type of content, and knowing where to build this bridge can be a challenge.
Looking for some ways to engage your next VIP customer? Here are five time-tested options to consider:
Provide a Free Onsite Course or Webinar
People love information.
And giving it away for free is bound to create a sense of reciprocity with your prospects because humans naturally want to respond when something has been given to them.
Look for a point of need in your prospective customers and offer them valuable information in a podcast, an in-person event, or a consultation, and people will jump right in!
Compile Case Studies and Reports
Insider information about a company’s sector is always valuable.
This may be a quarterly white paper (like a comprehensive guide on the latest technology or trends in your industry) or a case studying outlining the benefits of certain methods, products, etc. Trade this information for your prospects’ contact information, or send a flyer with the introduction but release the full content only if people sign up to receive it.
Offer a Demonstration or Free Trial
A good way to secure customers is to give them a way to try your service or product without cost; or receive a free quote from your team.
Mailed postcards or website promo codes are an effortless way to get this offer in front of them.
Promote Contests and Free Products
A no-fail way to generate leads is to make generosity fun.
You can offer a free product, a BOGO offer or bundle promotion, or even a monthly drawing for a goodie bag of some kind. The more creative the offer, the better!
The Road to Opportunity
No matter what magnet you use, your lead generator should:
Position you as the guide.(Share empathy and authority as one who can help solve their problem.)
Stake claim to your territory.(Differentiate yourself from competitors and share unique knowledge in key areas.)
Qualify your audience.(Speak to the specific audience you are trying to reach with a succinct, irresistible headline.)
Create trust by solving a problem. (Even though your product should be the ultimate solution to their problem, your lead generator should provide an immediate benefit too.)
When you implement a lead generation program, you increase brand awareness, build relationships, generate qualified leads, and ultimately close deals.
And the better your leads are, the more successful your sales will be!
To See All of Our Marketing Products Visit Our Website at: www.printcafeli.com
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Creative Ideas for Local Brands to Run Paid Ads in 2021By Hiral Rana Dholakiya
One of the most eye-opening insights that local businesses have gained after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is that they need to go online, ASAP. The ones who caught up with the trend have been able to survive better through these tough times.
Though organic marketing strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and organic social media strategies work, they take a lot of time to show results.
So, if you are looking for a quick boost of traffic and leads for your local business, then paid advertising is something that you should consider.
In this article, you’ll learn some creative ideas to run paid ads for your local business. These strategies are used by thousands of top local businesses and have proven to show tangible results.
1. Run Geo-Targeted Facebook Ads
Running Facebook ads is one of the easiest and quickest ways to generate leads for your local business. Facebook is one of the most widely used platforms, and thus it is highly likely that your target audience is active on Facebook.
You can create hyper-targeted Facebook ad campaigns by customizing your audience based on their interests, demographics, and job-descriptions.
You can also target local customers by limiting your audiences to a specific location. This way, the chances of conversions increase by multiple folds.The most important thing to keep in mind is your ad visuals and copy. Without the right messaging, all your ad spends will go down the drain.
You should also consider creating attractive visuals and illustrations. You can use blank infographic templates and design your ad creatives using them.
2. Use Remarketing
Remarketing is the strategy where you target the users who have already engaged with your brand in some way. This includes your website visitors, your social media followers, your email list subscribers, etc.
But, why spend money on advertising for people who already know about your brand? It is because they already are familiar with your brand. You need to ensure that they cross paths with your local brand again, and again. And are finally convinced to convert.
3. Create and Leverage Lookalike Audience
Lookalike audiences are one of the best possible ways to bring about a massive increase in your conversion rates. Lookalike audiences are nothing but users who exactly fit your existing customers’ persona.
As a local business, you would definitely have an idea about what are the most common traits of your ideal customers. What demographics they fall in, what are their interests, etc.
You can leverage this fact to create and target lookalike audiences on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
These platforms allow you to import your existing customers’ details and help you create custom audiences with similar persona. Since the lookalike audiences will fit your ideal customer profile, the chances of conversions are maximized with little efforts.
4. Experiment with Different Types of Paid Advertising Platforms
The usual paid advertising platforms such as Google ads, Facebook, Instagram, etc are good. But, the competition on these platforms is too high. Hence, you should also look for other niches, lesser-known platforms to advertise your local business.
For instance, if you are a local restaurant owner, there will be a very high competition on platforms like Facebook. Instead, you can choose other niche platforms that are specific to food and restaurants.
You can niche down based on category, age, gender, demographics, and many more. For example, if your target audience consists mostly of Gen Z, you can try to use Snapchat, as the audience there is more relevant.
It is important to do your research prior to experimenting with new platforms. Ensure that the platform consists of users who match your target customer persona. Also, try starting with a smaller ad budget and gradually scale your ad spends.
5. Hold Contests and Giveaways
Contests and giveaways are the most fun and engaging forms of marketing. After all, who doesn’t like to engage in fun competitions and win exciting prizes?
You can start by brainstorming creative and engaging contests for your local leads. Ensure that it aligns with the interests of your target audience.
You should also make the contest easy and achievable. Do not complicate your contest or people might choose not to participate.
The most essential part of your contest is the final prize. Make sure the giveaway prizes will be loved and desired by most of your local prospects. This will be the eye candy of your contest.
Lastly, promote your contest or giveaway on paid advertising platforms. Use highly attractive ad creatives, and make your CTA as prominent as possible. Another thing to take care of is to make the signup process as hassle-free as possible.
Final Thoughts
There you go! Now you have a list of creative paid ad ideas to kill your local business’ marketing campaigns. So, start implementing these ideas now. Make sure to keep an open mind and be open to experimentation.
Hiral Rana Dholakiya is a Digital Marketing Consultant with over 10 years of experience. She’s passionate about all things Digital & Social Media and has conducted training programs at institutes like GLS University and L.J. Institute of Media & Communications. Hiral also shares her insights and knowledge with the audience of publications like AdWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Social Media Today and Social Media Examiner to name a few. You can follow her on Twitter @IamHiralRana.
2020 was a year we had to go with the flow in many ways.
In design trends, creativity flowed in liquid patterns, 3D realism, funky geometric shapes, innovative typography, and more. But while these concepts borrowed from sci-fi and futuristic tech, new styles may pivot toward bringing reality back in focus.
Here’s a sneak peek of four graphic design trends to watch for in 2021:
Back to Nature
One well-documented side effect of the coronavirus pandemic was a thirst for nature.
Creatives can capitalize on this by bringing the outdoors inside, highlighting gorgeous natural ambiance. Expect 2021 designs to mimic nature, natural lights, softer earthy colors and tones, natural gradients in color schemes, flowing lines, and more. Want to try it yourself? Use color filters to create natural ambiance in your images, or grab textures featuring wood, stone, waves, and more.
If you can’t go to the forest, let the forest come to you!
Simple Data Visualizations
When you’ve done your homework, you want to make this information matter.
Complex data is hard to understand, and simple data visualizations (like graphs, charts, educational posters, or infographics) make communication much more effective. Stats show that visual content is processed60,000 times fasterthan text, and 72% percent of marketers agree that visual content is more effective than text.
Seek to transform great ideas into powerful images through creative alternatives like custom symbols, photo manipulation progressions, educational posters, animated gifs, personified maps, and more.
Non-Conformity
After 2020 limited our freedom in so many ways, many will be looking to push back by breaking the rules.
Watch for this in design as trends teeter toward more rebellious features that create a feeling of brazen defiance.
“What we were first taught not to do,we now do by intention,” explains graphic designer Michal Sloboda, who’s also the founder of graphic design aggregator Trend List. “There are many more rules to be broken, and by doing so, we can come across something seemingly bizarre, but also unique or beautiful.”
What might this look like in your designs? The more imperfect, the better. Use clashing font, psychedelic photos, irreverent characters, chaos typography, surreal imagery, and wild colors like lush lava, phantom blue, and aqua menthe.
Blurred Backgrounds
Gradients and color transitions have been a popular trend for a few years now.
In 2021, many designers will look to add another layer, blending gradient hues with blurry and blended background images. Grainy filters can bring a sense of grunge and grime or rustic and vintage. And a blurred image can evoke emotions of what hides beneath the exterior.
Whether it’s a grayscale cityscape layer or a forlorn silhouette background, combining textured photos with blended gradients can bring a transitory -- yet authentic -- contrast to your design.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
2021 will be nothing if not interesting, so kickstart the new year with a style all your own.
To get started, it’s helpful to reflect on the past and decide what you’ll do differently in the future. Stay ahead of the curve with these design trends, and let us know if we can help infuse your designs with a fresh look in the months to come!
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Public Domain and Free Fonts For Personal and Commercial Use
Working on your branding, social media posts, or any sort of marketing effort? You probably need a good font that fits your budget. Here’s a selection of 100% free and public domain fonts you can use for both personal and commercial needs.
Public domain fonts, or open typographies, are all the fonts that are not only free to use but also open to edit, customize and modify, as well as redistribute.
On the other hand, 100% free fonts are made available by the authors to use for both personal and commercial use, but should not be modified or redistributed.
If you need a free font for your marketing purposes, whether it be a display font for a sleek landing page, a new logo, or even social media posts, this selection’s got you covered.
We separated the fonts into four different categories, so you can choose by style.
Serif fonts
Serif fonts are a classic choice: they are one of the oldest types of typography and are characterized by the extra swooshes and details at the ends and “feet” of letters.
Serif fonts date back to the 18th century when stonemasons still carved letters in rock. They that your brand is established and trustworthy, but also traditional and refined.
Plenty of world-known brands use serif fonts, such as Vogue, T Mobile, Sony, Volvo, and many others.
Check out these free and public domain serif fonts you can use with no extra weight on your budget.
This is a very noticeable font you’ve seen a thousand times, but you probably don’t realize that. It’s an Open Type proportional serif typeface, that was mainly created as a more contemporary and sleek alternative to the Times font family.
What’s great about this font is that it has more than 2,000 glyphs and encompasses the Greek and Hebrew alphabet, as well as the Cyrillic script. If your branding efforts need to be translated and used internationally, consider using this font.
And if you still can’t remember where you’ve seen it: it’s the Wikipedia logo.
Bodoni XT is a newer, reworked version of the classical Bodoni font, that dates back to the late 18th century when it was created by the Italian type-designer, printer, and publisher Giambattista Bodoni.
The original Bodoni font is used by fashion mega-brands such as Calvin Klein and even the Vogue magazine. Bodoni XT was modified by designer Manfred Klein, and is slightly more condensed and has longer feet.
Sansita Swashes is a newer, less famous, but definitely more playful typeface than the previous ones on this list. It makes a great font to use in the beauty industry or food packaging. It has a hand lettering feel to it, but it’s precise and elegant.
Oranienbaum is another, more modern Antiqua style font (same as Bodoni), with a high-contrast and well-defined features. It is a typeface whose look is typical for type designs from the early 20th century and characterized by pronounced serifs and contrasting geometry. It is created by type designer Oleg Poslpelov, with the art direction and publishing of Jovanny Lemonad.
This eroded and fancy-looking font looks nothing like pretzels but has a slight nod to Gothic typeface design and Bavarian aesthetic.
The eroded effect makes it look old and mystical, but the generous spacing and width of the letters balance it out to result in a clean and elegant design. Keep in mind that it only has uppercase letters.
The last free serif font on this list is leaner and sleeker, but perfectly legible and stylish. It makes a great display font, and the gentle extra swooshes allow for it to be paired with any sans serif or script font. It is also an internationalized typeface with all sorts of glyphs and symbols, so it can be used in a selection of languages other than ones using the Latin Alphabet.
Sans serif fonts
Whereas serif fonts are elegant, traditional and playful, sans serif fonts are the face of the contemporary, minimal and clean design. The difference is in the name: the “sans” part means that they don’t have the extra swooshes and ornamental additions on the letters’ endings.
They give off a sense of approachability, youthfulness and corporate design.
This luscious Art Deco-inspired vintage font comes in all uppercase letters and a bigger height. Since there are no lowercase letters, if you use it for web design or headings, you’ll need to pair it up with another font for your body text. However, used on itself as a display font, in packaging, poster design, or even as a logo font, it looks very retro and impressive.
The Bebas font, created by designer Ryoichi Tsunekawa, is perfect for headlines, captions, and titling. It’s also a commonly used font since the whole Bebas font family is available on online design tools such as Canva. But, that shouldn’t discourage you from using it yourself: it’s subtle and sleek and makes a great font for all your web design and social media post needs.
This cool (excuse the pun) font is built from scratch even though you might think it’s a variation of the more famous, classical Helvetica. It’s aesthetic is based on American chain store logos from the 1960s, an era when everyone was modifying Helvetica. Coolvetica successfully manages to mimic that style, but with a tighter kerning and funky curls, as the author Typodermic Fonts notes. It comes in four styles: regular, condensed, compressed, and crammed.
When the designers behind this font named it bold, they really meant it. This bulky typeface is noticeable, but clean, and will make a great headline or logo font. It has perfect circular shapes and a geometric base, similar to Art Deco fonts. Keep in mind that you might need to pair it up with a lighter and legible secondary font to balance out the noisiness of the design.
If the previous font was heavy and noticeable, Kiona is quite the opposite: contemporary, light, sleek and very elegant. It’s a very modern sans serif type, that will fit beautifully on luxurious packaging, logo design, or even collateral designs.
Possibly inspired by the Kenzo logo font, this fashionable font is characterized by rough cuts and geometric shapes. It’s slightly condensed but still lavishly designer, and will make a great font for both headlines, digital marketing ads, and even print design.
The Varicka font is yet another example on our list of typography that came to be from the industrial Art Deco movement of the 1920s. Flowy vertical lines and geometrically defined diagonals lend it a classy charm, but the sans serif nature of it makes it perfectly clean and legible.
Script fonts
A script font is a typeface that mimics handwriting, most often in cursive, and calligraphy lettering. Sometimes script fonts are based on personal handwriting, while other times they are made from scratch to just imitate a certain style. Nonetheless, both versions look elegant and flowy, and script fonts are known to be used in more creative, feminine and playful designs.
Thumbellia Test looks like the younger, more childish cousin of the Instagram logo font—it’s playful and very obviously mimicking cursive handwriting, but the legibility and distinguishable qualities are there. It makes a great font for a company in the beauty industry, fashion, or anything related to children’s products.
Instead of mimicking an ink or pen texture, Alita Brush looks exactly like it’s been written with a painter’s brush. It’s an urban, youthful and hip typeface, that will fit great on ads and posters.
Here is a font that is perfect to pair up with a stern-looking sans serif, and offer a feminine touch that will shake up the corporate look for sure. The Boardy is a bit harder to read, so it’s not recommended to use it as a primary font, but put it as a secondary and more ornamental font and you’ll do wonders to your design.
The Stella script font by Sudarman Mulkais the digitized format of the designer’s handwriting, and is a perfect choice to use if you feel like creating a logo or stationery that is supposed to mimic handwriting. It is dynamic and gentle, but probably not fitting as a header font or in web design body text.
Decorative fonts
Decorative fonts, as the name clearly tells you, are more ornamental and often include texture, three-dimensional design, or additional ligatures. They are a pretty addition to any design but keep in mind that the background and other design elements you’ll include with them have to be minimal, in order not to overwhelm the complete look of your design project.
Misto is a quirky font that looks both retro and futuristic at the same time; the oval-shaped circular letters and the bold vertical lines have a Bauhaus-style likeness, but the cleanliness of the design looks like it would fit a Dune poster.
This clean and simple sans serif font has an extra trick up its sleeve: it’s designed as a wooden 3D frame signage typeface. So, if you want a vintage Americana look or an industrial early 20th-century style typography, this one’s for you.
The last entry on our list of free and public domain fonts is Deadender, which has unique imitations of Art Deco metal parallel metal rods and curved angles. It’s a very noticeable and decorative font, so use it sparingly.
