Category Archives: marketing

The Power of MEMOS

Whether they’re sent to a digital or physical in-box, memos still play an important role in the daily communications of most companies. Before you hit “send” or fill your coworkers’ in-boxes, take a moment to decide if a memo best serves your needs. If a face-to-face meeting would be quicker than sending a memo, or if you have a lot to say, then hold a short meeting instead.

If you do decide a memo will be the best course of action, here are some ways you can make sure your memos are accomplishing their goals:

• Include the date, the recipient’s name, and your name at the top of every memo you send.

• Begin with a sentence explaining the memo’s purpose.

• Keep the memo short. Use active verbs and only include information vital to understanding the meaning of the memo. If you think you’ll need to explain in greater detail what you are writing about, include a request for a meeting.

• Conclude the memo with a call for action. If you want the recipient to contact you or to save the memo, put those instructions in the memo. Even if no action is required, make sure you mention that, too.

• Save a copy of the memo for your files. This way, you will have something to refer to when someone has a response or a question about the memo.

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

ENVELOPES – Be Sure Your Mail Gets Opened!

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The post office handles nearly 200 billion pieces of mail each year. If you want your mailing to stand apart from the crowd, start with the envelope.

The envelope is much more than simply a means of sending communication. It creates a valuable first impression of your business, and also sets the expectation for the contents. Is it an invitation, a bill, business mail, or a surprise to be anticipated?

The more convincing and enticing the envelope, the more likely it is to be opened.

In addition to the design and color selection of your envelope, here are a few creative envelope ideas to ensure that your mailings get opened.

• Envelope Size. Large or oddly shaped envelopes (such as square shapes) draw more attention and get better response rates. The goal is to make it to the top of your recipient’s mail stack.

• Paper Type. The type of paper you select, together with creative design, can add a sense of quality to fit with your brand and target audience. For example, envelopes made from recycled paper depict you are environmentally conscious, while translucent envelopes provide a glimpse of your creativity.

• Windows. While windows are often used solely to show the recipient’s address, they can also be used creatively to link the envelope with the contents. Perhaps try various shapes and sizes on one or either side of the envelope.

• Envelope Teaser. Generate interest with a provocative statement. Effective teaser copy is compelling and entices the recipient to open your envelope.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, graphic design, social media, marketing services. 318-868-3351

NOTEPADS – Great Marketing Tool

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Have you been looking for a creative marketing tool that can increase awareness about your business and benefit your customers at the same time? Look no further … notepads may be the perfect solution to this unique marketing challenge.

Notepad Store

Every business dreams of having their customers promote their company. This dream can easily come true with customized notepads.

Customized notepads not only increase awareness about your business, they are a fun promotion that your customers will enjoy using.

Think about how often you use notepads to jot down notes to coworkers or family members, capture random thoughts, or even make grocery lists. Now imagine that your notepad, with your company’s logo and sales message, is being used like that several times a day, and possibly even being passed along to other people. All of those notes add up to a powerful marketing agent for your company.

So how do you determine what kind of notepad you’d like to use to represent your business?

Notepads offer a lot of creative freedom. They can vary in sizes, shapes, colors, paper textures, and graphics. Notepads can range anywhere from a typical 8-1/2” x 11” lined memo pad, to a smaller 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” scratch pad. They can be designed to portray the personality of your business, or promote a functional use, such as “To-Do List” or “Shopping List.”

If you’d like some more creative ideas on how to use notepads as a promotional tool for your business, stop by and talk with one of our customer service representatives. Not only can they show you examples of various styles of notepads, they can help you determine what kind of notepad would best promote your business.

So go ahead, write “order notepads” on your to-do list. And hopefully, before long, your customers will be jotting down notes on your company’s classy, customized notepads … thinking of your great service or product every time.

http://www.ParagonPress.net – #1 in Shreveport, LA for printing, direct mail, graphic design, social media, marketing services. 318-868-3351

The Truth About Newsletters

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Newsletters are one of the most effective marketing and loyalty-building tools a business can use. We all know businesses that have produced their own in-house newsletters and have used them as powerful marketing resources for their company.

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Newsletters “connect” potential buyers to your business in a way that most conventional advertising never will. People love to read them! Providing your customers with a monthly newsletter is an easy to build loyalty, goodwill, and devotion to your company.

Here’s a list of three newsletter tips and ideas you might find helpful.

Think about your content. Generally, the most popular newsletters don’t contain a lot of industry-specific, technical copy. This can seem boring and self-serving to your readers. It’s better to provide interesting articles that will appeal to most people. Use a strong nameplate masthead and a few display ads in your newsletter to “sell” your products or services.
Newsletters increase customer loyalty, so your mailing list should include customers as well as prospects that you would like to develop into customers.
Lastly, newsletters don’t have to be expensive. Paragon Press can offer several different printing options. You might start with a simple, inexpensive, one-color newsletter, and progress to two-color and full-color as your newsletter’s popularity increases.

Newsletters can help your business muscle through the mail stack with your company’s selling message. If you’d like the phone to ring more, we’ll help you make it happen with newsletters.

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

Signatures Could Save You Money

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Of course, we aren’t talking about your autograph, but a printing concept. As you may know, printing companies don’t always print documents in the one-page-per-sheet way that your office laser jet does. Instead, they may print several pages of material one a single, larger sheet (that’s called a press sheet) and then fold it and cut it to get the final finished page sizes.

What that means is that one large piece of paper coming off the press (before it’s folded and trimmed) could hold four, eight or more pages of material. That large piece of paper containing multiple finished pieces is called a “signature,” and the number of finished pages in one signature is called the “signature unit.”

The key to properly planning your multi-page documents is to think about the signature unit.If you have a project that is nine pages long and the signature unit is eight (meaning the signature contains eight finished pages),you would use two signatures: one signature for the first eight pages, and a second signature for that last (ninth) page. But if you were to do a little bit of editing to reduce your document page length to eight pages, you would only use one signature.

By being aware of the signature unit (the number of finished pages that can fit on a press sheet) required for your project, you can remove or add content so that your final product fits the signature, which reduces waste and saves you money.

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

Evaluating Your Customer Relations

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There is a lot that goes into maintaining positive customer relations. one-time customers can turn into loyal customers if the right attention is paid to them. Make your customers feel valued and appreciated, and they will be hard-pressed to go anywhere else.

Here are a few questions to ask as you evaluate the relationships you have with your customers:

How would you describe one of your typical customers?
If you saw a regular customer at the mall, would you recognize him or know his name?
Do you request customer feedback and take their comments into consideration?
Do you organize your business schedule around the convenience of your customers?
Do your customers keep coming back?

If you have satisfactory answers to these questions, congratulations! If you were unsure of how to answer, it is time to brush up on your customer skills.

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

POSTCARDS – Simple Yet Effective Marketing

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ostcard marketing remains one of the most cost-effective means of getting your name and message in front of prospective buyers. With a postcard, you can target your message to only those customers and prospects who are most likely to want your services.

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Postcards can come in a variety of sizes. Standard-sized postcards offer just the right amount of space for your message. Jumbo postcards are an effective way to spread your message because they stand out, get attention, and offer more space for your important messages.

Here are some more great reasons why postcards should be included in your marketing plan:

Postcards are CONVENIENT. Your message is right in front of your customers. They can read your offer and find out about a sale without having to open an envelope. in addition, they are able to refer back to your postcard at any time, and save it for future reference.
They’re INEXPENSIVE. Printing costs for postcards are small, considering the large impact they can have on buyers.
They’re EASY TO TEST. Because they’re so inexpensive, postcards are a great medium for testing the effectiveness of your messaging. Start by sending postcards to a small sampling of your mailing list. When you’re satisfied with the results, have more printed and spread out from there.
They’re EASY TO TRACK. Especially if you include a coupon or special offer on the card.
They make a LASTING IMPRESSION. How many TV or newspaper ads do you remember after just one viewing? The reason we forget most conventional ads is because they’re a distraction, not the main focus of our attention. A jumbo postcard has staying power. It leaves a more lasting impression because of its size, its content (especially if it includes a coupon or special offer), and its simplicity.

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Contact us today about printing postcards for your company!

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

SMART Advertising

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Advertising is vital for the health of all businesses – but how can you tell if the advertising method you are using is working?

Here are some easy ways to test your ads:

Advertise just one item in an ad, but don’t display the item at your business for a set amount of time. Then count the calls that come in for that item. If customers can’t see the item on display, they will be less likely to ask about it, so you will be able to tell how many sales have resulted fro your ad.
Run the same ad with a different-colored coupon in 2 different publications. Ask customers to bring in the coupon to redeem the savings. This will let you know which publication reached the right audience and is worth your advertising dollars.
Switch advertising mediums and watch any change in sales.
Ask new customer how they heard about your business, and use this information to make future advertising decisions.

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

Low Cost Clip Art & Image

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Digital clip art collections provide a great source for designers to obtain inexpensive (sometimes even royalty-free) images. If you’re considering purchasing a digital clip art collection, here are some questions to ask:

Are the images in this collection compatible with my operating system and the software I use?
Is the file format (EPS, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, etc.) versatile enough for my needs?
Are the images of a high-enough resolution and quality?
Are the images bitmapped or vector-based? (Vector-based images are better if you’ll need to enlarge them.)

Other Sources to Check

As you search for images, don’t forget to check the Library of Congress web site. In addition to copyrighted images, their online catalog of prints and photographs even includes a number of quality images in the public domain, as well.

Old magazines and books are another potential source for images. Any that were published before 1923 are in the public domain. Those published between 1923 and 1963 might be in the public domain, unless the copyright holder renewed their claim. Anything published after 1963 is still under copyright, so you’ll need to obtain permission before using it.

And finally, our print shop has a number of print-quality clip art collections on file, too, which you are free to browse.

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

Painting with Light

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Adding Dramatic Lighting Effects to Your Photo

With a bit of selective lightening and darkening in Photoshop, you can make a dull, lifeless photograph pop off the page.

There is nothing wrong with the original image, although the “before” picture lacks the dramatic mood that the change of lighting adds to the “after” picture. By using Photoshop to accentuate the darks and the lights, the viewer’s attention is now focused directly on the couple.

Here’s how to do it:

First, add a new layer and fill it with 50% gray with 100% opacity.
Change the layer’s Blending Mode to Color Burn, which will darken the image and make it look over-saturated.
Then decrease the layer’s opacity to your taste. (Opacity in the range of 50% to 80% usually works well.)
To create the ray of light, use a large, soft-edged, white airbrush at 2%–3% opacity and paint on the gray Color Burn layer to create a new light source.

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