Starting a New Business? 

Here are 4 Print Marketing 

Materials You Need.

Entrepreneurs and startup owners have so many things on their plates that it's not uncommon for certain items to get pushed to the bottom of the list. One thing you don't want to overlook is the can't-miss benefits of print marketing materials!

When done right, your print materials can catch someone's eye — in a way that text, photos, or graphics on a screen can't capture. 73% of consumers prefer printed materials because they can read them whenever needed. After all, people see digital ads second after second, and it all tends to blur together. Here are four materials that a new business can't afford to skip. 

4 Print Marketing Materials Your New Business Needs

Business Cards 

Business cards may seem like a traditional marketing tactic, but that's because they work!

When you are making and exchanging contact information with potential customers or business partners, accuracy is important. Instead of asking for someone's phone so you can input your contact information or risk mishearing a potential client's contact information, give them your business card. Even if they take a photo of it immediately, you're confident they have the correct information.

Include everything about your business, like what you do, who you help, your hours, and the best way to get in touch. Remember: you're a new business, so spell it out. 

Brochures 

A printed brochure about your products or services allows people to delve into the material.

Instead of scrolling through page after page, people can flip at their leisure and take the time to absorb the details.

If your business offers a wide variety of customer options, brochures can also be a great way to break down your marketing into different audiences. For instance, if you run a toy store and sell equally to children and collectors, you could have two separate brochures based on the target demographic. 

Postcards 

This marketing tactic is a massive opportunity for new business owners.

Not only can they catch the attention of people thumbing through their mail, but they're also similar to a business card in that you can condense a lot of pertinent information so that people can quickly grasp the main takeaways. 

Whatever your competitive edge is, whether it's lower prices or a truly stellar staff, don't be afraid to come out of the gate swinging. In addition, you can consider using postcards for various reasons, such as an invitation to a grand opening or an announcement of a new service. 

Thank You Cards 

Your first few customers will be some of the most critical sales ever.

Not only are these people supporting you right off the bat, but they're also the people who will either brag about you or tell their friends and family to stay away. 

It's important to remember that customers typically have a lot of empathy for new businesses, as they realize that most operations will have a few growing pains to contend with. That being said, colorful and sincere thank you cards that tell customers how much you appreciate their support can go a long way. 

Print marketing for new businesses may differ from several decades ago, but its efficacy is undeniable. When you're starting, you'll need people to see your name and business model multiple times before they remember you.

Contact us today to create a list of the materials you need to reach prospective customers for your business! Call 516-561-1468

 

 

 

Pass Your Business Name Around 

the Office with Custom Notepads 

for Branding and Promotion

Sometimes we forget the simple things when marketing, such as notepads.

Research shows that people remember more clearly when writing it down than typing it into a tablet or phone.

When you give customers a notepad, they will use it to write down daily notes and phone calls. And they will see your name and logo repetitively, boosting name recognition.

Also, many people are more likely to do business with someone who gave them something.

There are several types of notepads to choose from, and you don’t need to limit yourself to just one. Think outside the box, use them at your front counter as giveaways and promotional items, and give them to new (and existing) customers.

Here are some ideas on how to create fun notepads that get noticed!

5 Top Ways to Use Notepads to Increase Business

1. Mousepad Notebook

Mousepad notebooks are a fun, attractive way to build your brand.

We all use mousepads and search for paper to write our notes on. Why not put it together and create a mousepad that does just that? It’s name recognition all day long, and they can ask for more when they run out.

2. Sticky Notes

Create sticky notes in fun colors with your logo on them.

These are used all day long and all around the office regularly.

3. Magnetic Notepad

Creating a notepad with a magnet can be placed on a refrigerator, file cabinet, or another magnetic surface.

These are helpful not only in the office but to take home and put in plain sight.

And guess what? Potential customers look straight at your logo daily, creating a lasting image in their minds.

4. Journals

Journals are great for keeping meeting notes.

They can also be used at home in a personal way. Either way, your name, and logo are front and center.

5. Be Square

Make a cube notepad that lasts a long time.

These cubes sit on your desk, by your phone, or at the cash register for people to use daily. Your name and logo are imprinted on the side for all to see.

And it’s just a plain, white paper that everyone can use to jot down thoughts, notes, and phone calls.

No matter what types of notepads you create, they are economical to brand your business and cause top-of-mind awareness.

We can help you create one-of-a-kind items that represent your business in a fun, exciting, and professional way. Contact us today to learn more! Call 516-561-1468

 

Print Marketing Mastery: 6 Key Steps to 

Crafting a Winning Print Campaign

Your current and prospective customers want to hear from you in an engaging, thought-provoking, and welcoming way. Print marketing is the best and most effective way to do just that!

Done right, print marketing raises awareness of your brand, drives new leads to your business, promotes the sales of new and existing products, and reaches people offline at home.

In fact, 79% of consumers find reading physical mail more convenient than going online.

But where do you start? Let's navigate the worthwhile road of print marketing together.

6 Key Steps to Crafting a Winning Print Campaign

1. Define Your Mission

Before thinking about fonts, images, and colors, set a clear goal or mission.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Do you have a new product ready to hit the streets? Are you trying to attract new customers, grow loyalty with your current customers, or increase your company's awareness?

How you answer this question will set the tone for your print marketing campaign.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

One of the most common challenges you'll likely run into is marketing your product or service to the appropriate audience.

Research and gather as much information about the demographic of your customer base. How old are they? Where do they live? Where do they work? What's the average salary in the area?

Remember, you're not trying to reach every audience; you are trying to reach the right audience. 

3. Focus on Trust

Prioritize transparency in your print marketing communications, and continually work to improve the trust that a customer can feel in the product or service you offer.

A survey of 1,000 consumers concluded that more than 80% consider trust a deciding factor in their buying decisions, but only 34% trust the brands they use. 

4. Clearly Communicate 

Always remember to include a few things in your design to get the purpose of the marketing piece across.

The headline should clearly state the topic of the copy, have a clear call to action, and tell your target audience what separates you from the competition.

5. Remain Flexible

Leave room for the unknown and be on the lookout for trends in your business or a shift in demographics.

Being able to pivot your print marketing effectively can allow you to be more efficient in your overall marketing efforts.

6. Embrace New Technologies

Print marketing will always be a vital element of any brand strategy and can be blended with other technologies.

Personalized print products are a surefire way to connect your brand with a customer, as they speak to the customer as an individual.

No matter how you plan your print marketing, by working with an experienced print partner like us, you can lean on the expertise of experienced professionals! Contact us today to get started.

Call Today: 516-561-1468 or Email Us at: theprintcafe2@verizon.net

 

5 Helpful Hints for Print 

Marketing with Booklets

Booklets are a powerful marketing tool for attracting attention, informing the public, or educating customers.
 
Not only can booklets capture your target audience's interest, but they also convey critical messages accurately on various topics.
 
Handing out booklets can be an excellent way to increase brand awareness and subject matter authority. 
 
If you are considering giving this useful product a try, here are some helpful tips to make your booklets successful.

5 Helpful Hints for Print Marketing with Booklets

Before you hit the publish button, consider these five valuable tips!

1. Focus on Proper Brand Positioning

Your booklet's title, brand, and logo are critical components, conveying to potential customers what the booklet is about and why it matters.

If the introductory elements of the booklet are ambiguous, then the booklet's impact will be diminished. 

Consider these additional suggestions for effective brand positioning:

• Ensure your booklet's logo, title, and brand are loud and proud at the top of its cover page.
• Design eye-catching font in big, bold letters to draw attention quickly.
• Consider adding a specific image associated with your organization, event, brand, or business that readers can easily remember as an additional way to make it stand out from others. 

2. Ensure Ease of Reading and Clarity of Your Message

To ensure your booklet communicates its desired message, be sure it is both easy to read and clear to understand.
 
An essential part of ensuring ease of readability and clarity of message is taking the time to read through your work with a critical eye before sending it off for printing.

Remember that too much information can overwhelm readers, while insufficient will seem inconsistent. Thoughtfully consider what amount of content conveys just enough detail without overloading readers so they understand precisely what you want them to know.

3. Select Effective, Engaging Images

The visuals you choose to incorporate in your booklet are fundamental.

Images can capture people's attention and draw them into reading more. For maximum impact, ensure every image in your booklet is of excellent quality. Grainy photos just won't cut it!
 
Since booklets provide more room than other media types, such as brochures or leaflets, take advantage of the added space by including graphs and charts, which will help clarify information for your readers.
 
This lets your potential customers understand exactly what you're trying to convey quickly and clearly. 

4. Employ Vibrant, Eye-Catching Colors

The design of your booklet matters!

The colors selected should be captivating, engaging viewers while creating a visually pleasing experience.
 
Utilize vibrant and appealing hues to attract people to your content.

5. Display Your Contact Information Prominently

Your contact information must stand out to ensure that your booklet is successful.
 
Whether you are advertising for a business or event, including multiple points of contact should be a top priority!
 
Consider adding contact information, such as an email address or website URL, at the end of your booklet, so readers know where to reach you if they have any questions or comments about what was covered.
 
These five valuable tips equip you with all the tools necessary for success!

Are you considering booklets for your next print marketing initiative? We can help! Contact us by phone or email to get started. Phone:516-561-1468 Email: theprintcafe2@verizon.net

 

5 Embellishments to Help Your 

Print Marketing Rise to the Top

Do you want to captivate potential customers with your printed marketing materials?

Try using embellishments to make your print marketing exciting and memorable for your recipients! 

Embellishments refer to ornamental touches that accentuate critical features of your invitations, stationery, business cards, and brochures.

Check out these five suggestions that can make your print marketing stand out!

5 Embellishments to Help Your Print Marketing Rise to the Top

1. Foil

Modern printing techniques allow your company to go far beyond just the silver and gold foil printing options that were once possible.

Use foil in any color to add interest to your print material or draw attention to certain essential words or statistics by printing them in foil.

2. Embossing or Debossing

Embossing (creating raised images) and debossing (creating lowered imprints) words or your company logo is a simple way of drawing attention to certain parts of your print.

These techniques can increase your brand recognition since your name or logo will stand out from the rest of the design. It can also create depth, adding aesthetic appeal.

Just keep in mind that this embellishment works best on thicker paper stock!

3. Unique Inks

In the printing industry today, your company can try a wide variety of new inks. Scented, neon, or metallic ink are popular options that will undoubtedly make your product stand out.

With the constant advancement of printing technology, there are different ink options every day: one of the new and unique options is thermochromic ink, which changes color based on temperature. Combine a special ink with these other embellishments, and your print will shine!

4. Finishes

Instead of opting for a traditional matte finish for your printed products, try more specialized finishes!

A glossy finish can protect against ink smudges or damages while in transit while also elevating the look of your piece.

Research shows that when consumers can touch something, it increases the perceived value. Textured finishes can allow your company to create new textures on your print products (like scales, water splashes, or the grain of wood), which will be raised from the rest of the design.

5. Laminating

Lamination is no longer just for protecting a printed product (though that is a bonus)! You can use it to create the effect of specialty paper without the extra cost.

Experiment with metallic lamination or soft lamination, which creates a velvety feel.

And don't forget about spot laminating! Unlike a flood application, where the lamination covers the entire product, spot finishes are only used on certain design parts. Consider laminating your company name, logo, or tagline to make it pop!

We hope you are inspired by these ideas to help your next print marketing piece rise to the top! If you're looking for more ideas to make your next project extra special, give us a call at:516-561-1468

 

 7 Creative Folding Ideas for 

Your Printing: An Inspiration Guide

By Haidan Dong

Folding is not just for brochures and greeting cards. These are the most common folded print products because folding is often seen as simply an effective way to present a lot of content within a limited space. While this is true, folding can do much more than that. It can make a big impact through the way it interacts with design, stock, and product function.

Here are 7 folding ideas to inspire you and your clients, whether you’re a printer, a designer, or anybody else who works with printed products.

1. Fold something that’s not usually folded.

Folded brochures and cards are usually easier to take with you than bulkier print items, so what if you took the content on those bulky items and designed them for folding?

You could, for example, take the contents of a wall calendar and turn it into an accordion-style folded card, like this example.

Impact: Makes content more versatile without losing function.

2. Leave a tab.

You don’t always have to fold your products so that the edges line up. Leaving a tab or a lip can get the user curious about what’s inside the fold.

In this example, the promotions on the tab encourage the user to see what’s on the menu inside.

Source:SK Print Design

Impact: Shows only part of the content to generate curiosity.

3.  Fold a die cut piece.

Die cutting can cost a lot, but it makes a big difference if you want your folding to create a unique, creative effect. The cut shapes layer over each other when folded to add a new dimension to the design.

Here’s an example of a die cut brochure that combines this idea with intentionally uneven folding, which creates layers.

Source:Print It

Impact: Generates interest and makes the item stand out through uniqueness.

4. Create an unusual shape with folding.

If you’re looking to customize the shape of print products without die cutting, folding can do this as well. You can do this with foldable print product to turn its regular rectangular shape into something more unusual.

In this example, the folding turns a standard shaped flyer into a parallelogram and even back into a rectangle.

Source:Noelle Mullins Design

Impact: Presents the information in an unconventional, eye-catching way.

5. Make a folded label.

This idea combines the adhesive properties of roll labels with the functionality of brochures. Leave one panel or just an edge blank so that once it’s folded, you can apply the adhesive and attach it to the surface of a product.

Booklet labels are a common example of this. You can often see them on hazardous, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products.

Source: JH Bertrand

Impact: Folds a large amount of information into a small space.

6. Fold signage.

Folding signage turns 2-dimensional products into a 3-dimensional ones. Some materials such as coroplast require scoring before you can fold them, but the end result is functional, versatile, and sturdy when done correctly.

Here’s an example of folded signage in the form of bollard signs. While these are less popular in North America, the idea can be applied to signage in places where yard signs aren’t feasible.

Source:Universal Banners

Impact: Allows signs to be viewed from multiple directions at once.

7. Use folding to mimic your design.

Design and folding should work together instead of limiting each other. If you know that a piece will eventually be folded, you can design the piece intentionally so that the folding will imitate an element of the design.

In the example below, the door in the design opens with the gate fold of the brochure.

Source:Real Marketing

Impact: Lets users interact more physically with the design.

Preparing the print file for folding

Working with folding can get tricky, especially when you’re preparing the file for printing. The Print Cafe has file Templates for the most common types of folding that you can modify for more complex designs and folds. It’s a good idea to start with simple folded print products first. For Information on this Subject and others Call: 516-561-1468

What is BOPP? And Why 

Make Labels From It? By: Arthur Piccio 

What is BOPP exactly?

BOPP stands for biaxially-oriented polypropylene. It’s a variant of polypropylene (PP). Polypropylene a thermoplastic polymer, alternately known as polypropene. It’s an ideal printing surface and can be made into labels and stickers, as well as textiles and a host of different plastic parts and materials.

BOPP is essentially polypropylene that’s stretched flat. BOPP is oriented with a system that stretches it in two directions. This is where the “biaxially-oriented (BO)” part of BOPP comes from. The three most common processes for making BOPP are the tenter frame sequential process, simultaneous tenter frame orientation, and the double bubble process. This technical document from Brueckner-Maschinenbau, one of the oldest BOPP manufacturers, explains these processes in more detail.

BOPP parent material, PP, is the world’s second most produced synthetic plastic, after polyethylene (PE). It’s economical to produce while offering incredibly useful performance characteristics.

Common applications for polypropylene and BOPP include:

• Packaging labels
• Food containers
• Plastic ropes
• Medical-grade plastics
• Laboratory items
• Performance textiles

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What are BOPP film’s qualities?

BOPP shares the properties of other PP plastics, including ruggedness, fatigue resistance, moisture resistance, very low toxicity, flexible finishing options, as well a controllable transparency (manufacturers can make BOPP clear, nontransparent, or any translucency in between). Also, while they make long-lasting labels and stickers and easily printable, most off-the-shelf adhesives have trouble attaching themselves to the material. These qualities are perfect for long-lasting, food-safe labels and other common BOPP film applications.

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Why is BOPP such a great material for labels?

BOPP film can be white, metal-colored, or clear. The ability to make clear BOPP film allows the creation of transparent labels to show off the contents of clear containers. With the appropriate inks and adhesives, BOPP labels can also be waterproof. BOPP labels immersed in ice-water or subjected to high-humidity without deteriorating. Labels made from BOPP are extremely tough. The material offers exceptional resistance to fatigue compared to other common label materials and has an unusual resistance to common solvents, bases, and acids.

For food labels, BOPP film offers significant advantages. It’s non-toxic. The material’s also resistant to solvents and acids. Many food and beverage items, such as those containing tomatoes, citrus, or coffee, are quite acidic. Even when the items don’t directly touch the labels, there can be some off-gassing or limited contact during the manufacturing process that can stain or cause deterioration in other label materials. Using BOPP film for your labels can help mitigate this issue. These same properties make BOPP well-suited for bottle labels, jar labels, and canning labels.

For More Information on any of our Label Products Call or Visit Our Website at: www.printcafeli.com