Category Archives: Business

Happy Mail Newsletters

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Newsletters have become one of the most popular ways for companies to keep in touch with their customers. A well-written, interesting newsletter can establish expertise and credibility, inform and educate, as well as increase sales and influence positive word-of-mouth referrals.
Here are some tried and true newsletter do’s and don’ts:
People Like:
  • Interesting subjects
  • Short articles
  • Good visuals
  • Easy-to-skim designs
  • Bulleted lists
  • Content telling how to make money, save time
  • Clear organization
  • Calendars
  • Offers, benefits
People Don’t Like:
  • Intimidating pages
  • Disorganized information
  • Long, continuing articles
  • Overly frequent mailings
  • Irrelevant content
  • Impersonal tone
  • Receiving multiple copies
  • Chaotic page design
  • Too many pages
If you’re looking for unique ideas or expert advice on how to create a newsletter, or simply spice up your current newsletter, stop by our print shop. Not only can we provide you with inspiring ideas and printed examples; we can also help you create a powerful newsletter that will boost sales and stay within your company’s budget.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design, marketing – 318.868.3351

Power Presentations

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Maintaining Their Attention
Getting your audience’s attention is only the first step to a successful presentation. Once you’ve captured their attention, your next challenge is maintaining it. Typically, adults have short attention spans that shift constantly.
Here are some tips to help you out.
  • Provide handouts that outline your presentation. Ask your printer to use a heavier, 60 lb. paper if you have copy on both sides of the page. It will prevent a distracting show-through of your copy on the backside of the sheet.
  • Use colorful overhead transparencies with bold colors and large type. Use no more than seven words per line and seven lines per overhead. Letters should be one-fourth of an inch high and limited to one or two typestyles and no more than three colors.
  • To increase interest and keep people a little more alert, pass out one or two handouts during odd times of the presentation. Color photocopies of a product or graph are always effective, as are mini-catalogs, brochures, or postcards that contain your website address and contact information.
http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design, marketing – 318.868.3351

Guerilla Marketing Rule #6

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A customer is a very special person. Of the billions of people on planet Earth, only a tiny fraction have chosen to do business with you. They have selected your business on purpose. It is your constant obligation – though it should be a pleasure – to do what you can to improve the lives of these people: with valuable advice, reduced prices, and reviews of new products and services. The only way to do this is by staying in touch.
Customer reverence is felt by the heart and planned by the mind. Show your customer how much you appreciate them by sending:
A thank-you note within 48 hours of each purchase, although 24 hours is more impressive and memorable. Anyone can send a thank-you note. Guerrillas do it ASAP.
  • An offer of an item related to their purchase, tendered about 30 days after the purchase. The offer can be for a product or service.
  • A questionnaire. Send each new customer a questionnaire to learn more about them and their interests.
  • A birthday card. Use the questionnaire mentioned above to learn each customer’s birthday — month and day, not year. Then, send them a card when their birthday rolls around. Later, you can expand this tactic by sending graduation cards to the customer’s kids, anniversary cards to the customer and spouse, and postcards from your next vacation. Don’t overwhelm your customers, but continue to acknowledge their existence.
  • A newsletter, sent monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. If it’s created with customer reverence in mind, it will give more than it asks, provide valuable free information, and still make offers to sell something.
  • A catalogue of your offerings, sent only to customers or sent first to customers, then to prospects, if your customer list isn’t long enough. Customers will especially appreciate a catalogue that clearly communicates it is for customers only.
  • A fact-of-interest postcard, sent in the purest sense of customer reverence. Give data that can help your customer, without trying to sell anything. Keep it brief, and customers will actually look forward to your mailings — a dream world for most, but the standard situation for guerrillas.
  • Here are some of the more popular and creative ways to use postcards:
  • Thank you cards… have a picture of your business or organization printed on the front.
  • New product announcements… place a picture of the product on the front.
  • New employee announcements… feature the new employee’s picture on the front, with their contact information on the back.
  • Card pack inserts.
  • Customer follow-up mailings designed to create loyalty.
  • Low-cost direct mail marketing.

If you don’t stay in contact with your customers, somebody else may win them away from you. By constantly fanning the flames of love and loyalty, you will prove beyond any words that you revere your customers, while at the same time safeguarding against apathy.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design – 318.868.3351

Do-It-Yourself Letterhead

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Letterhead is one of the key elements to your corporate identity. It is ground zero from a design standpoint. The layout, typestyles, and colors you establish here dictate the design of all the pieces that follow — from your business cards and envelopes to your website brochure.
Why the letterhead? Because it is typically used to present the most important one-on-one personal communications — introductions, proposals, requests, personal messages, and such — the written greetings that require you to look your best.
Creating a striking design will create a favorable impression for your organization.
Here are a few helpful hints for designing a great letterhead:
  • Choose a smooth paper for your letterhead. It will print more evenly in your office’s laser printers.
  • A strong logo, placed in a prominent position, creates a focal point for your letterhead.
  • Using a bleed in your letterhead design looks wonderful, but will add to the cost of the completed project, because it must be printed on oversize paper, and then trimmed to 81/2×11.
  • When choosing a paper for your letterhead, it is often a good idea to check with us to see if matching envelopes are available. You might also want to check the folding characteristics of the paper, since most letterhead are folded and inserted into a #10 envelope.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design – 318.868.3351

Poster Design Tips

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At its best, poster design is the territory of the truly creative, and it has been used in the past as a public display of individual talent. When you are designing in this graphic form, the poster’s purpose and application should be your first considerations. The poster will normally be on display in a public area, where it will have to compete both with its surroundings and with other posters.
Poster Design Checklist:
  • Establish the information to be conveyed.
  • Decide on the size, proportion, and shape.
  • Research the locations for your poster.
  • Simplify the information to be communicated.
  • Produce scaled-down versions of the design.
  • Consider the space and its effects very carefully.
  • Select the typefaces that work for your design.
  • Make sure the message is conveyed clearly and dynamically.
  • Present a number of alternative designs.
When you are designing a poster, the first decision to make is the size and shape of the design area. This may be governed by the display site. For this example, three shapes have been explored: two differently proportioned portrait shapes and one landscape.
  • Portrait and Landscape: Most common sizes are 81/2×11, 11×17, and 22×34.
  • Large Format Posters: Most common sizes are 24″ wide and 36″ wide.
  • Both are available in unlimited lengths, but 96″ or less is most practical.

Design That’s as Easy as A-B-C

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When most people think of design elements, individual letters aren’t the first things that come to mind. Sure, selecting an appropriate typeface to complement the overall look or feel of a design is essential. But letters themselves (and the words they create) tend to be more the domain of literary artists.
If you stop to think about it, though, letters truly are visual elements. By themselves, each represents a particular sound or group of sounds. Grouped together, they represent various thoughts and ideas. Even more to the point, though, each letter has its own unique set of shapes. The S, for instance, has its sweeping curves, and the A has its crisp lines and angled peak.
With that in mind, can an entire design focus around a single letter form? Can an individual letter represent an entire idea on its own? Could the letter V, for instance, become a visual metaphor for anxiety? Or the letter X somehow display order? Take a look at the designs pictured here, and see for yourself. As you’ll see, each is based around a single letter form, which has been used to convey the desired emotion or idea.
So, the next time you find yourself facing a blank screen, with no idea how to proceed, remember these words… and, more importantly, the letters used to make them.

http://www.ParagonPress.net

318-868-3351

#1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design.

Eye-Stopping Headlines

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If you want to get prospective customers excited about doing business with your company, creating eye-stopping, mind-grabbing headlines is a great way to do it!
While the content of an advertisement is helpful for relaying information about your company’s products or services, it’s the headline that creates the initial relationship with the reader, and entices them to read about what your company has to offer. Here are six types of headlines that will boost inquiries about your company:
1.) The problem/solution headline. Readers are looking for products and services that will make their lives easier. By writing a headline that poses a problem many readers may have, and offers the solution your company can provide, you have created a situation that will most likely encourage the reader to take a look at the remainder of your advertisement.
2.) The historical event headline. If there is something newsworthy about your product or service, such as it is the world-premiere, or a limited-time offer, it can prove to be an effective draw.
3.) The testimonial. Providing a testimony from a person that has used your product or service encourages prospective customers to think, “If it worked for him, it can work for me, too!”
4.) Product claims. Include statistics and percentages in your headline to increase a product’s credibility. It is important to credit the source of the information you use because it gives your prospective customers a piece of mind about using your product. Even if the source is not well-known by the public, it should be included.
5.) Outrageous statements. The purpose of writing a headline is to provoke curiosity in your readers – making an outrageous statement relating to your product or service will almost force your readers to see what you have to say.
6.) Questions. Posing a question to your readers allows them to take an active role in your advertisement. The key is asking a question that most people will feel compelled to answer because it is relevant to their lives. People will naturally want to know what their answer to the question has to do with your products or services, and will continue reading your ad to discover what your company can do for them.
Headlines are a key component to successful advertising. Creating intriguing headlines will revolutionize your advertising and will have a great affect on your company’s success.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, design – 318.868.3351

Developing the Ultimate Sales TIP

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What exactly is a TIP and how does it work? In his book “Getting the Second Appointment,” author Anthony Parinello describes this sales weapon as, “a tool that helps you to eliminate individuals and organizations that are likely to waste your time.” TIP stands for Template of Ideal Prospects, and it works to qualify your sales leads by comparing your current prospects to the qualities you see in your top current customers.
Here’s how you can create your own TIP sheet:
  • Take your company’s current customer list and study it very closely. You may need to break the list down into sub-groups, industries or niches in order to get the best understanding of what lies at the core of each company.
  • Ask yourself: What do my company’s best, biggest, and most profitable current customers have in common? Then write down your answers this question for each top current customers, being very detailed and deliberate about what you record.
  • Develop a worksheet that lists these common factors, along with a way to record whether your prospective customer meets that criteria (see sample TIP sheet below). The longer the list of common factors, the more accurately and completely you will be able to prequalify your prospects.
  • Once you have created your TIP sheet, you can begin filling it out for your prospects. In the beginning, it is best to only spend your energy pursuing the prospects that meet all of your criteria. Remember, the criteria you have established was gathered from your top current customers, and offers a reflection of the type of companies you want to do business with. Don’t compromise on what you deem to be most important.
  • If you have been wasting your time tracking down lukewarm leads and prospects, this TIP sheet is sure to give you a fresh perspective on landing hot sales.

Creating the Wrong Brochure

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To be successful, a brochure needs to be produced with a precise objective and a target reader in mind. It’s best to create the least elaborate brochure likely to achieve its objectives.
Deciding on Your Purpose
Brochures fall into two broad categories — those that introduce a new product or service to a likely customer and those that turn an already interested customer into a buyer.
Using Color
Full color is more costly but is justified if the product or service you are offering needs color to show its features. For example, a wallpaper brochure or a brochure of knitwear would not work effectively in anything other than full color. Another reason for using full color may be to compete head-on with a rival’s color brochure.
Using two or even three colors is a cheaper alternative to full color and can be quite effective, especially if part of the brochure is printed in a screened color that lightens the tone and gives the effect of another color.
A limited use of color can look more sophisticated than bold colors. You might also consider using full color in only part of a brochure, or you might try using colored paper — although that is quite tricky to do well.
10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure
  1. Being concerned with the looks, but forgetting the sales objective.
  2. Giving the printer poor artwork, but expecting excellent results.
  3. Forgetting to emphasize the unique selling proposition of your business.
  4. Omitting (or hiding) prices if they are critical to the reader’s decision-making.
  5. Printing too many brochures with details that date too quickly.
  6. Giving insufficient thought to how the brochure should best be distributed.
  7. Using text on the brochure that is too small to read easily.
  8. Including poor-quality or inappropriate illustrations.
  9. Allowing a fussy or complex design to distract from the key selling message.
  10. Forgetting to monitor the response (as with any other type of advertising).

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA – Printing. Direct Mail. Design. – 318.868.3351

Powerful Business Cards

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Business cards may be small, but their impact is huge. A business card plays an important part in making a lasting impression upon those you do business with.
When choosing a business card, don’t be cheap. (If you’re on a limited budget, try to save elsewhere.) Experienced sales reps know how important it is to make a good impression on their prospects. They buy nice clothes, drive nice cars, and wine and dine prospects and clients – only to give them a 5¢ business card?!? Why not consider a 10¢, 15¢, or 20¢ business card that would really wow a customer and add to the overall good impression?
Feature your company name prominently, with your name and title smaller. Using your company logo is important, because it will help people associate your name with the product you are selling.
Don’t take up too much space listing all the ways you can be contacted. It’s best to list your phone, fax, and email address. Personal cell phone numbers and beeper numbers should be given to the client verbally, when necessary.
Full-color printing can add a dramatic impact to the look of your business card. If your budget doesn’t support full color, there are a lot of creative possibilities using two colors of ink combined with a third color of paper.
Don’t overlook the backside of your business card. It is a great place to add more sales and marketing information, your mission statement, a map and location, or photos of your products. It’s worth the time!
Business cards are one of the most important tools for business today. The time and effort you spend creating and printing excellent business cards will pay future dividends.
#1 in Shreveport, LA – Printing. Design. Mail.
318-868-3351