8 Cheap Promotions That Will Strengthen Your Branding

No matter how big or small a business the brand is what customers need to remember. One of the best marketing strategies is printing cheap promotions to attract attention. Everybody loves getting something for free. Here are some suggestions for cheap free give-away promotions that are fun, useful and keep your brand in front of customer’s eyes. 

1.     Bookmarks are a very popular promotion. Since so many people read books, custom printed bookmarks are a great way to reinforce your brand to parents, teens and children. Put a cute photo or illustration and non-selling inspirational or funny copy on one side. On other side, add a strong call to action along with your logo, business name, address, phone number and web site. Your free gift will be used for a long time and every time the book is opened, your brand and contact information will be seen. 1,000 bookmarks are printed as low as $ .13 each

2.     Calendars are always a welcome free gift everyone can use and appreciate. They can be handed out or mailed to your targeted audience. The best thing is they are a full year’s promotion for a very low cost. 5,000 8.5 X 11 24-page full color custom printed calendars cost about $ .83 each. What other marketing promotion can you buy for that little money? It’s a good idea to distribute calendars around Thanksgiving so there is no rush to receive them before the holiday rush.

3.     Magnets attract attention and can be placed on any metal surface. They can promote a business for years. They are available in many sizes from 3.5 X 2 business card to 8.5 X5.5. They can be printed with a team schedule or any other important emergency information like police, fire department, hospital or contacts and your ad can be placed on top or bottom of the magnet. 1,000 business card size printable magnets cost less the $ .17 each.

4.     Membership Cards are a fabulous restaurant or local store promotion.  They are same size as credit cards so they make customers feel like VIPs. They can be offered as a freebee or as a valuable discount when a predetermined number of visits or total amount is spent.  They can keep customers coming back to build and collect their rewards. To make membership card more valuable, offer VIP specials on occasions like birthdays and holidays. If you let them bring guests, your member list will grow and so will your business. Membership cards on 20 Pt. white plastic can be printed on both sides while frosted or clear plastic cards can only be printed on one side. White is the most popular choice for VIP membership cards and 5,000 cards cost about $ .11 each.

5.     Notepads are used by many local businesses including realtors, doctors, dentists, attorneys and lots of other professionals and businesses that want to keep their name close to your eyes. Cheap notepads are available in 25 and 50 sheet glued chipboard backs. They are 5 standard popular sizes including 4.25 X 5, 4 X 6, 5.5 X 3.5, 8.5 X 5.5 and 8 X 11. They are printed on premium 70lb. white smooth offset paper and they can be tinted to any CYMK color you choose. Printing is on one side only. 1,000 pads 8.5 X 3.5 cost $1.20 ea.

6.     Stickers are a collectable marketing promotion. Since customers want discounts let them earn and redeem them for points. Place a value on each sticker and when a given quantity is redeemed, an appropriate discount or item is given to them. The more stickers, the bigger the discount or the more expensive the item. For a collectable promotion, the best size is 2.5 X 2.5 so a lot of sticker can be placed on a sheet of paper. Stickers are available in many sizes and shapes and can also be used as labels. They are printed on 70 lb. crack-N-peel sheets on rolls. 5,000 roll stickers cost $ .05 each.

7.     T-Shirts printed with your businesses logo and a powerful graphics in full color are walking billboards that promote your business. They can be sold with a low markup or regular customers can earn them. Good quality 100% cotton custom printed T-Shirts are affordable and the ROI is very high when you consider the amount of coverage and the length of time they last. T-Shirts are a terrific way to drive new customer through your door. The cost depends on quantity of the order and the brand you choose. They can be ordered in mixed sizes so they fit everybody.

8.     Trading Cards are a novel approach to marketing. If you make new trading cards every month and give them to your customers, it will drive them back at least once a month. Once they collect 12 months, they receive a free gift or reward. If the customer is a regular, they can give a extra card to another person who might start collecting them. 1,000 trading cards cost about $ .12 a piece.

As I said in the first paragraph, “Everybody loves getting something for free.” Any one of these eight marketing promotions will create higher brand awareness in a fun and affordable way. Building a loyal customer base is the foundation a successful brand every business is built on.

ATTRACT ATTENTION WITH AKUAFOIL CARDS, FLYER AND BROCHURES

Do you want people to stare at and remember your new business cards, postcards and flyers? Why bother printing them if they don’t attract attention? With all the business cards and other printed stuff you see every day, it gets harder to pay attention to them. If you want to stand out, you need something that will be remembered.

Full color foil AkuaFoil cards and flyers and brochures are a unique eye candy marketing pieces that captures and holds the receiver’s attention. Everybody that gets a color foil promotion plays with it, tilting it in the light to see its colorful reflections. Another advantage is that they get passed around so others can see this unique printed marketing tool.

AkuaFoil cards, flyers and brochures are very affordable and worth the extra cost for their big bang for the buck. Colored foil can be used on business cards, social cards, postcards, trading cards, greeting cards, stickers, labels, flyers, brochures and posters. They are available in many sizes. Depending on the product ordered, you can choose from overall UV or spot UV coating as well as no coating at all.

Colored foil is easy to add to any design. The instructions are simple.  You just need to make an extra file that is a 100% black mask showing where the foil goes. You can use as many CMYK colors as you want. You can even make blends and color gradations on both sides of the paper.

The process to print foil on card stock or coated paper is known as cold foil printing. The way it works is silver foil is laminated on the paper where your mask is. The standard 4 color process inks are then transparent so that a silvery effect becomes the color in your design. Hot foil stamping is much more expensive because you need custom-made magnesium dies for every color you use. With hot foil, you can’t make colors blend and gradated. Only solid colors can be used in the hot stamping process.

The whole idea of print marketing is to be noticed and remembered. As I said before, you need something that grabs attention. Akuafoil full color foil is the perfect affordable solution to improving a business’ branding. There are so many ways to use Akuafoil printed products for advertising, direct mail marketing, packaging, social events, trade shows, meeting and conferences, fundraisers and anything else you can think of to improve your business’ ROI.

8 TIPS TO INCREASING SALES USING FLYERS

Here are some valuable tips on how to increase sales with affordable printed flyer promotions. Promotional flyers are not expensive as long as you get a high conversion rate. There are many reasons why flyers may not be working for you as hard as they could be. It may sound harsh but nobody cares about your company, your product or your equipment. What they do care about is great customer service and what you are selling is a benefit to them. Using fast food and restaurants as an example, here is how you can apply these tips to any business, product or service. Take advantage of affordable flyer printing.

1.     While printing flyers, keep in mind that, before you start telling them what you are selling, tell them in your headline why they need it and how it will make their lives better. There’s an old advertising adage, “Sell The Sizzle And They’ll Buy The Steak”. Customers are looking for a solution to a problem. It could be as simple as, “what’s for dinner?”

2.     Write a compelling call to action headline at the top of your flyer. “Buy One Get One Free” could be a great way of getting customers attention. Select the slowest day of the week and make the offer for that day. Near the bottom of the flyer offer a 20% or other discount coupon for those who can’t take advantage of your headline offer. This extends the life of your promotion. Print flyer with one side giving a “two for the price of one” offer or any other offer you want to make. The other side of the flyer could be a take out menu or other promotion that will attract attention.

3.     It makes sense for businesses to use multi-marketing with a flyer thereby drawing the customer to your website as well. Instead of using your home page, an effective way to involve customers is to create a new landing page or a new dedicated URL. This makes result tracking easy and gets fast feedback. Offer discount coupons or a code number for online offers that can change weekly or monthly.

4.     If you are a creative person and would like to design your own flyer, be sure to checkout the printing requirements needed to make your flyer print correctly. Use free flyer templates to start your layout giving you guides for bleeds and safety areas. If you don’t have time or it’s more than you want to learn, save yourself a lot of headache and hire a local designer that specializes in print production. Another option is to find a flyer printing services. The benefits of having someone else design for you are that this is cheap insurance, you won’t have printing problems and the printing service will be responsible for the quality of the printing. You won’t be in the middle if a problem occurs.

5.  Be sure to design a flyer format that can be used many times so your flyers becomes a recognizable branding tool that people will respond to. Keep this format every time you send out a new flyer to strengthen your branding.

6.     Your flyer represents your business. Don’t skimp on thin paper to save a few dollars. The old adage is “you get what you paid for”. A first impression is instantly made when your flyer promotion is picked up. People will notice the quality of the paper your flyer is printed on. If it’s too thin it will feel cheap.  Flyers printed on a thicker stock create the impression of quality. The minimum paperweight should be no less than 80 lb book weight. For a bigger bang, 100 lb book is not much more expensive and worth the cost. Other heavier paperweights for consideration are 100 lb cover weight and heavy 14 pt or extra heavy 16 pt card weight.

7.     For cheap local distribution consider Every Door Direct Mail(EDDM) a USPS direct mail distribution service that only costs $.175 for each piece. You can target every home or home and business in your best demographic areas, right down to the carrier route. The advantages are low cost and you don’t need a bulk permit, expensive mail lists or imprinting of addresses. It’s faster than bulk mail so you get a quicker response. Be sure to follow the post office requirements and you’ll get an incredible bargain.

8.     Printing flyer promotions is not a one-time deal. Flyers won’t bring high results unless you make it a marketing campaign. Print advertising works best only if it’s distributed to the same people at least once a month with different offers. This is the way to build your business and confidence in your brand.

Implementing these tips while printing flyers will create a high ROI and keeping your brand in the front of people’s minds. When they think of a product or service that you provide you want them to think of you and your business name.

PRINTING SERVICES FOR STARTUP BUSINESSES

A budget for a marketing plan is most important first step in developing a new business. This is your path to reaching new customer. Of course the best way to start is to use cross marketing, both printing and internet to attract customers. But with a low budget many small business can’t do both.

Full color printing online is cheapest and faster way to getting your message out to lots of people in a short time. Every business needs business cards to hand out. Most business use direct mail postcards, flyers and brochures as standard marketing tools to advertise promotions and new products and services.

Custom printed top quality full color business cards make an impressive first impression. You will need to attract attention, get noticed and remembered. There are many business card options to choose from.  A standard business card should be printed on 14 or 16 point card stock with products on 20 and 21 Pt  plastic stock with round corners. Anything less will feel cheap and flimsy and if it’s heavier it will be to stiff. Inexpensive business cards should be printed in full color with choices of high gloss UV coating, matte / dull coating or no coating. You can write on matte or uncoated cards. High gloss spot UV coating on selected areas on your can add flair to your business card with cards to create a matte / high gloss effect.  It’s a little more expensive but worth it if you want to stand out.

EndurACE cards and flyers on printed on 10 Pt. water proof, tear and fade resistant synthetic paper. It’s the perfect solution for harsh environments both indoors and out.


If you want a truly unique business cards that is so unforgettable it will be remembered even if your name is forgetting choose a WOW FACTOR supper card with eye candy. Choose an elegant smooth silk laminated card that is water and tear resistant. Add spot UV coating and / or stunning gold or  silver foil.

Akuafoil cards print every CMYK color into foil. They are printed  on heavy 16 Pt. card stock and you You can make as many foil colors you want and mix them to make solids, blends, gradations and halftones. You can choose between no coating, UV coating or spot UV  coating. Foil cards are not as expensive as you may think. They use a cold foil process that does not need expensive dyes or hot foil stamping. The foil is printed on the business card using a process using a process the was reserved for book covers, labels and packaging. This foil printing service is not available for business cards, postcards and flyers.

Plastic cards are very popular because they are an eye magnet that’s sturdy. They are available in clear, frosted and white plastic. They last for a long time. They come with rounded corners in your choice of 1/8 or 1/4 inches.  Standard business card size is available on 20 pt stock or

Lenticular cards can tell a story in 2 or 3 flips. They are printed on 21 Pt. card stock and come with rounded corner  to protect for sharp edges. Most lenticular card are printed in China so thay have to go through customs and take a long time to be delivered if there is a problem you will have to pay to print them again. We print lenticular right here in the United States and they are a 100% guaranteed to be printed correctly from you files.  


Postcards are a  great marketing tool. Most of the business card effect are available with postcards.
Local businesses can take advantage of Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), a USPS service the distributes mail to every home and home and business in your selected carrier route for $ .175 each piece.

When compared to building a website and paying for design, programming and expensive constant search engine optimization and content writing as well as social marketing that’s necessary to get a high ranking to keep you on the first page if you can get there which is unlikely if you have a new url. First page can never be guaranteed no matter how much money you spend on pay per click unless you ready to get in a bidding war with your competition. The truth is very few people ever click on paid ads.

CHEAP BROCHURE PRINTING FOR MARKETING

Cheap brochure printing is an essential marketing strategy for big and small companies. Full color brochures are used as a promotional tool to display a business products and services to buyers. Full color brochures are an effective way to show photos and graphics that describe what a company has to offer in an impressive and affordable way.

When planning content for a cheap brochure, it’s a good idea to properly light your products so they look attractive. Don’t even think about taking a photo off the internet. Photos on the internet are 72 dpi, which is low resolution. Your photo must be 300 dpi when you print on a press. Don’t use a copy of anything that has been printed before, it won’t be sharp and scanning picks up the dots, not a sharp image.

Writing content for a cheap brochure can be difficult for many small business owners. The fact is you know your products and services better than anyone else so you must spend time listing all the points you want to cover. One of the most important things a promotional brochure can do is to tell the reader how they will benefit and how your product is of greater value than your competitors. Show why your products will make their life easier when they buy what you are selling..

It’s best to plan the content of a custom brochure before you even think about the design. If you’ve never designed a brochure yourself, you may want to hire a professional designer that specializes in printing production. This will avoid technical problems when it’s ready to print. If you plan to save money and do the production yourself, be sure to read the printers file requirements and check out their FAQ page which are on many printing web sites

One of the cheapest ways to print a brochure is to compare online cheap brochure printing services. Checking prices is easy. Don’t make the mistake of going with the lowest price. Savvy print buyers compare the price and the value.

All online printing services are not the same; they all have different presses and capabilities. In wanting to print a brochure, it is value for your money you want, not just the cheapest price.

Once you know the quantity, size and how many pages your brochure will be, contact some online full color printing companies. Of course, everybody wants an attractive brochure to attract attention but there are lots for options to consider when finding the best value. A top quality cheap color brochure should be printed on glossy 100 Lb. book weight paper. The inks sit on top of the gloss coating so the printing is brighter and sharper. This also keep the inks from being absorbed into the paper fiber. It is standard for online printing shops with newer modern presses to add aqueous coating to protect the sheet from scratching and scuffing. To get the best value, look for a printer that offers aqueous coating at no additional cost. Some printers with older press might offer varnish instead. The problem with varnish is it adds extra cost because it’s applied after the job is printed and the ink is dry. Varnish emits harmful volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and it’s suspected to cause cancer in humans. Don’t accept varnish instead find another printing service.

Like everything else in life, it takes due diligence to find the best value cheap brochure printing service. Remember your brochure will be judged on quality as well as design. The quality of your brochure reflects on the quality of your products. Take the time to find value as well as quality at the cheapest price.

PRINTED CAMPAIGN PRODUCTS THAT HELP GET OUT THE VOTE

It’s campaign season and candidates are getting ready for elections. Business cards, bumper shirts, t-shirts and postcards are necessary items to promote candidacy. Prospective congressmen, senators and other elected officials need name and face recognition and what better way than with printed promotional products.

Business cards with the candidate’s face, slogan and important information such as QR code to website or email and phone information to sign up are essential. But campaign finances must kept low so finding a high quality printer with cheap low prices are important. Price alone is not the only consideration. Candidates must also make sure that what is printed does not appear cheap and flimsy because this will reflect on them. Business cards printed on 14 or 16 PT stock will give the impression of quality that is passed on to the prospective official.

Postcards must be sent out on a regular basis in order to make sure name recognition grows. Postcards can be sent using EDDM. Political campaigns can customized their mailings regionally targeting their demographics at a small fraction of the traditional direct mail marketing costs. Every Door Direct Mail Retail is a USPS cheap and effective direct mail marketing solution for targeting political campaigns, nonprofit organizations and businesses with affordable direct mail services. You can target local area mailings for only $ .175 cents for each piece. EDDM Retail is a strategy that produces very high returns on a very small investment. It's simple and easy to take advantage of this cheap direct mail service offered by your local post office. You don't need bulk mail permits, mailing lists or address imprinting. You choose the zip codes, city or mile radius and quantity you want delivered. Your message will go to every residential address and business or just residential address in that zip codes, city or mile radius of your choice. Rules for everydoor direct are specific so be sure to check them out.

Bumper stickers are a cheap way to make sure your slogan and candidacy is remembered. They get fast and easy attention.  It is an affordable way to get your message out. Cheap to produce, bumper stickers are cost effective marketing and advertising. Besides bumper stickers, posters and yard signs help keep awareness.

Buttons and t-shirts are also important campaign products. Buttons are a must for any political ad campaign and are great giveaways. But buttons alone should not be used for low cost advertising, t-shirts are a vital election item too. Campaign workers wear custom t-shirts with pride and show their support of their candidate. It makes a great keepsake and can make a political statement that lasts.

Doorhangers, letterheads and envelopes add to the list of political printing.  Reaching people where they work and live, doorhangers are a great alternative to a direct mail piece. Let's not forget that custom printed stationery is also imperative. Custom printed letterheads and envelopes gives validation to campaigns and can carry requests for support.

Whether you are using cards, buttons, banners, bumper stickers and more, these political printed materials all work to increase awareness, gain recognition, or speak your mind. Campaign time is here and now is the time to get started.

MAKE YOUR OWN TRADING CARDS

     Trading Cards are a cheap fun social networking tool as well as an eye catching technique for advertising a product or brand.  Normally, used as game cards, sport team cards, collectors cards, and motivational handouts. Trading cards can also be used as invitation cards for business professionals. Trading cards allow you to express your creative and artistic designs. Our trading cards measure 2.5 X 3.5 and are printed on 14 PT or 16 PT (free upgrade) - your choice.

Color Printing Pros gives you the option to print on the front only, or front and back. We also give many options for finishes. You chose from UV coated both sides, UV one side/no coating one side, Matte/Dull both sides or adding a WOW factor such as Spot UV. Trading cards are also available in Colored Foil for that special WoW effect.

     Sports are enhanced by the use of trading cards. Trading cards are great for making sports and activities more exciting as well as putting smiles on faces. A custom sports trading card will do it every time.   With trading cards it's easy to smile and get nostalgic. I remember when I was a kid and how important they were for socializing after school. Trading cards are still popular today, but they have taken on a new personal roll. Now every kid can become a sport hero with his or her own trading cards. They’re also very popular with adults too, and not just athletes. Kids love to trade cards with their picture and a short bio about them. They like to hand them out at team sports events because it's a cool thing to do. Many teams have sets printed for each team member and different team trade cards. Schools can create trading cards for their athlete students to share with other schools.

     Trading Cards printed with UV coating both sides gives your cards additional strength to last longer and stand rough handling. This is required when trading cards are used by children more than adults. Color Printing Pros offer a free trading card template to help you design your card so you don't have to think about a production layout. All you have to do is the creative design artwork, upload your file to our site and we do the rest. We supply you with a free digital proof, so you can okay your work. Once approved, we print and ship. Your full color collector cards can be printed on thick 14 pt or heavy 16 pt card stock (This upgrade is FREE). Trading cards are also available in Short run.

        Customer service is priority with us so if you need any advice or help in designing your card, be sure to call us. We are here for you. Color Printing Pros offers trading card printing at wholesale prices. Try us for your trading card printing and see for yourself why we are called the experts in trading card printing.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRINTED BROCHURES

Printed brochures are an ideal way for companies with large product lines to showcase their goods. If you are only presenting your line on your website, you are missing a large sales opportunity. Online brochures are proactive, meaning that potential customers must find you online (hopeful by a search engine). Chances are they will also find your competition. A strong advantage of a printed brochure is the fact that they are passive. You present your brochure to your customer base. They directly receive your full color brochure. You can target your market and they can view your product brochure without turning on a computer and connecting to a URL. Full color printed pages can be viewed more easily than a web page and they create a stronger impact. They can be easily shared with others and that can increase your distribution.

Many brochures are distributed at trade shows. The purpose of trade shows is to increase sales and attract new customers. Many companies with large product lines often introduce their new brochures at major trade shows. Frequent buyers look forward to seeing the new lines and products being offered in a new brochure. For many buyers, there is true anticipation and excitement in receiving a new brochure.


 Although trade shows can be an overwhelmingly busy experience to attendees, one way to give them a lasting memory of you and your company is to present them with the most attractive high quality sales and marketing literature you can. There are a number of online companies that can provide these services. Color Printing Pros is such a online printing company that can fit all your needs. With our state of the art technology and the availability of gang run printing, the costs of printing a brochure is actually cheaper today than printing the same brochure ten years ago. Our full color printing service with our FREE aqueous coating on top quality 100 Lb coated text paper is our standard.


 Color Printing Pros is there for you offering cheap trade prices without compromising service or quality. We pride ourselves on unsurpassed skill and professionalism. Communications between commercial printers and their clients is paramount in building a relationship. Therefore we are always available to discuss your project and when appropriate offer our expertise in suggesting possible alternatives that may save you time and money. We strongly believe it is better to build long term trust than to maximize profit on any job.  

Silk Cards Adds Elegance with its Satiny Feel.

Silk laminated cards have a smooth matte finish that attracts attention and creates  an impressive presentation. Silk cards are touched before they ‘re looked at giving  your business the impression of elegance. The heavy 16 Point card stock and silky feel of these cards instantly sends the message of top quality.  

Silk cards are available in 10 different sizes including business cards, bookmarks, greeting cards, mini cards, oval cards, postcards, presentation folders and square social cards. Another option that can be added to these cards are rounded corners. All Gold or Silver foil cards are also printed on this luxurious silk laminated stock.

Silk Cards are laminated so they are water resistant, tear resistant and writable. Because of these features, many use them as appointment cards. Want to add something different to set you apart from the competition? Try a Spot UV for a WOW Factor effect. An even bigger bang can be made with an elegant gold or silver foil card which also can include a Spot Uv.

Think your budget can afford it? You are wrong.  Silk Cards are not expensive and are unique and attractive. Whether you're at a networking event or simply marketing your company, you never want to miss out on an opportunity to create a good first impression for your business. Go to Color Printing Pros to learn more.

Selecting the Best Online Color Printing Service

Finding the best online color printer with the cheapest prices can be a challenge. When it comes to your business, only the very best in printed products will suffice. Your business card, catalog or flyer will often be the first glimpse that a prospective customer has of your company, and it has been proven time and time again that first impressions really do count. Therefore choosing the best online printing service to handle your important orders is vital.

A great way to get a feel for the company is to request a free sample of their products. A reputable, professional company will be more than happy to provide free samples of the products you need. It’s always worth ordering samples from a few different companies so that you can compare the quality of the color printing, as well as the general service and speed of delivery.

Online testimonials are a really fantastic way of getting an idea of the service and quality of product you would receive. A good company will usually have a page of testimonials submitted by previous customers for you to peruse. If you feel you would like a more impartial opinion, the internet is full of independent reviewing websites and some light searching should reveal all you need to know. Of course, it’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time, so make sure you read the reviews carefully. If a company has a majority of good reviews, you can be certain you will receive a good service.

When choosing a company to handle your full color printing requirements, it pays to find a company that really knows about their products. A good website will have an in-depth FAQ section to help decipher the jargon and make it easier to order. You should always feel free to contact the company if you have a specific question, or if you just want to talk to a human being about your color printing requirements. You need to use a company who will recognize that its success is entirely dependent on yours, and that take that responsibility seriously.

A good online ordering website will make it easy for you; there will be options ranging from the very basic upload-and-order, to full custom orders with which you can have full creative control over the product you will receive.

The company that fulfills all of these requirements and more is Color Printing Pros. Their combination of user-friendliness, professionalism, quality of work and genuine care for their customers make them the clear choice out of the many online printing services that are available. Be sure to check them out.