Banners are amazing advertising vehicles – they are the most overlooked tool in small businesses. I love banners and for the advertising dollar they are hard to beat. Here are my 10 well kept secrets about banners:

1. You can  print banners on vinyl AND paper – paper is a low cost alternative to more expensive vinyl. Paper is perfect for a one-day event on one-time use banner. Paper is $2-3 a square foot less expensive which adds up quickly.

2. Short and sweet – to the point. On banners, think less is more. Banners are not good for writing a novel or trying to have multiple messages. Pick one message and get to the point!

3. Curiosity – hook your readers and have a clear call to action. Give them a reason to stop so they want to know more.

4. Make your banner easy to read! Use big and clear fonts that a viewer can read quickly and with ease.

5.  Think about how you are going to hang your banner when you design it. Need velcro? Using hooks? Don’t make the mistake of getting somewhere and realizing you don’t have a way to hang your new banner!

6. Need an outside banner? Make sure to spec out breathable fabric. A good printshop (like us) will stock wind resistant fabric made for outside use.

7. Want a banner to last? Make sure to ask for either UV inks or have your banner laminated so it will resist fading. This will greatly extend the lifespan of your banner.

8. 3-4 lines of text and numbers, max. More than that makes for a busy design that is hard to read.

9. Consider using a colored background and white letters. Red always gets attention.

10. Don’t forgetyour website address and phone number!

Need a banner? Give me a call; we pick up and deliver and have 24 hour turnaround.

Angie Ryan

www.prnashville.com

615-509-3192

angie@prnashville.com

Have you ever stopped to think about the environmental waste produced by your printing? Most printed items require INK and do you know how your printer disposes of unused ink?

If you’re unsure, ask.

Image Source: http://www.glgi.org

Petroleum-based inks leach volatile organic compounds—which cause cancer and birth defects—into the soil when printed papers end up in landfills. These toxins can also be released into the air as fresh inks dry. If you are using a non-digital printer, ask for one that uses Soy-based inks.

Greg Barber www.gregbarberco.com, an environmentally oriented paper and printing specialist,  recommends digital printing for economic and environmental reasons: Digital is ideal for short-run, four-color work for business cards, stationery, promotional pieces, and most print work that is less than 1,000 sheets of 14 x 20 inches.

This printing method even has advantages over traditional and soy inks. While soy is comprised of 86-percent oil—which isn’t biodegradable—digital printing uses 100-percent nontoxic toner. Toner-based inks also produce less chemical waste.

Being green means taking the time to think about the consequences of your choices. Next time you need anything printed, make sure to price out a fully digital option – the environment will thank you!

What a year it has been!

2009 was a roller coaster and we ended the decade with some much needed recovery. The dawn of the next decade brings a lot of promise and we want to take the journey with you. If you have used Professional Reprographics and Omni Digital at some point in the prior decade we are grateful.

We survived the economic storm by focusing on treating every single customer as if they are our only customer, by working with pricing and terms to produce what our customers need when and how they want it and by staying current on the latest digital printing technology. When the economy shattered, people realized that how you treat others is what really counts; everything else can disappear in a flash. We’ve been in business since 1995 and are as healthy as ever primarily because we treat people the way we would want to be treated.

Everybody needs printing and we realize that there are many printing options. If you need printing in the coming year and decade, we encourage you give us a try. You might find our amazing customer service coupled with very competitive pricing is just what you need.

This year and this next decade will be one of helping and sharing for myself and all of us at Professional Reprographics. I look forward to helping you and others for this year and the next decade.  If you would like to make my year a perfect year in 2010 please call me and remember to refer someone to Professional Reprographics and the services that we offer.

May this year be one to remember!

Francis LoGiudice and Angie Ryan

Professional Reprographics – Nashville’s premier digital printer. We print what you want, when you want it and we do it your way. If you need any type of printing or signage, we are your one-stop shop.

Are you stingy with your marketing dollars? I don’t mean to imply that you are cheap, just that when you spend marketing dollars to get your message out, you make sure that your investment gets to a target customer.

One of the most effective marketing investments is still the humble postcard. In the digital age, advertisements that people can hold in their hand are sometimes more effective than electronic emails and web ads. These days, using plain printed material delivered to customer’s old fashioned mailboxes still works.

The cost and logistics of using post cards can be difficult. Most companies have postcards printed in bulk to get the cost down then ship the cards to a mail-house  which does a mail-merge and prints mailing labels on the postcards. This involves several steps and inevitably, you have more cards left over or worse, not enough.

One easy way to do targeted mailouts is to us ‘Variable Printing’ where a company (such as mine) prints your postcards on demand and the mailing information is printed on each card at the same time the card is printed. Need 50 cards mailed? No problem! Need 5,000? Still not a problem. Need them shipped in several batches over random periods of time? Easy.

Variable printing gives you the ability to print different material for anyone on your list. If you are a Realtor, for instance, you can print postcards with photos of urban condos on the cards you mail to people who live downtown and cards with photos of single family homes to customers who live in the suburbs.

Its one of the conveniences of using a fully digital printer: you can print anything you need on demand and unlike using offset printing where you have to order large quantities, you can send me your mailing list and several postcard files and we can split them up however you like. You only pay for what you need – no waste!

I’ll warn you, though: this is guaranteed to make you stingy!

O M G!!!

A friend sent me this video of a ‘business card expert’ and I almost fell out of my chair. Take a look and read on:

I print a lot of business cards and I can tell you that following this guy’s advice is not a good idea!

Here are some really important things to keep in mind when you design or print your business cards:

1. Use heavy stock – don’t skimp on paper stock. Use good quality stock. When a customer holds your card in their hand, a heavier card simply makes a much better impression and like all things in life, you only have one chance to make a first impression.

2. Beware of coated card stocks. I always recommend using a stock that you can write on. Most people write on cards or scribble last minute notes and numbers. Get a sample and try writing on it – you’ll save you and your customer some unnecessary frustration.

3. Despite this guy’s idea that he is too important to fit into a rolodex, some people still use them so sticking with a standard size card is a good idea.

4. Don’t forget the back side of your business card! That is valuable real estate and everyone who gets your card will look at both sides. The best tip I’ve heard on what to put on the back is to print a coupon or promotion that a customer can use. People respond really well to these in today’s down economy and its a quick and easy way to make sure your card is sticky.

5. Make sure you include social media links to twitter, linkedin, your blog and even facebook. I’m doing more and more business that way and it is the way of the future.

As a last tip, I like the 3-foot rule: if you represent a company or do some type of sales, make sure that anyone who comes within 3 feet of you gets a business card. They are the least expensive marketing brochure you can purchase so use them!

If you want a quote on cards, give me a call. I can help you avoid looking like this guy!

Angie Ryan

615-509-3192

www.prnashville.com

What makes your company different? Why do your customers pick your company?

I think if you can find a way to make the experience memorable, you will have a customer for life.

If you can get them talking, or tweeting about it even better!

This is what has been going through my mind.  As I try to answer these questions I come up with great ideas to blow customers away.  After all there is plenty of companies out there to print, bind, scan and copy your stuff. Some of them will do it right and maybe even deliver it on time… But is that enough? I don’t think so! What do you think?

Tell me why you need 100 free color copies in the comments section below. I will choose my winner on Friday! Good Luck.

One of the unique things we do at my company is pick up and deliver printing jobs to our customers. Unlike many print shops, we go through the trouble to make it really easy for our customers to place orders and receive their jobs.

Yesterday I rode along with Roger, who is both our driver and a good customer service rep, and together we experienced a good lesson about sales:

The Relationship Always Comes Before the Sale

We visited a customer who had ordered some printed copies of a program.  This order was a good sized order with ten boxes of printed material and normally Rodger would have dropped it off himself. I rode along because this is a customer I really like and she had been worried about the deadline. In the down economy, I take every order seriously and I want all of my customers to know I’m thankful that I have them. In fact, I want all of my customers to think they are the only customer I have!

The customer and I talked for a few minutes about her dad’s health and a trip she was taking this weekend to see the beautiful trees change colors in the Smoky Mountains. We talked for a good fifteen minutes before talking about work and it was sincere conversation. When we finished talking, she gathered up copies of all her printed materials: thank you cards, post cards, folders, letterhead and anything else they regularly print and gave me copies so the next time the needed to reorder I would have a copy and would be prepared.

When we got back in the van, Roger was amazed. “Wow – that was nice she went through the trouble to help us print other stuff. It seems like you are good friends with her.”

The truth is we are friends. Like every one of my customers, I believe that if people like you and trust you, they will always find a way to do business with you. I work on building real, personal relationships with my customers first and selling second. I think in this day and age, real personal service and salespeople who take a genuine interest in you as a customer are hard to find.

Do you put your relationships before making sales? Do you have an experience where you use a company because they take a real interest in you?

Ever worked with a complainer? Have someone on your team who is always negative, finding an endless stream of critical things to say?

Have you noticed how these people suck the life out of a business and take the fun out of work?

On the plane today (I had a five hour flight from Oakland to Nashville) I read through Jon Gordon’s The No Complaining Rule. The short, 136 page book was easy to read on the plane and hit on some of my favorite points about working as a team.

As a rule, I avoid negative people and I work hard to be a solutions-oriented person at work and at home. I gravitate towards enthusiastic and positive people and like most people I avoid negative people like the plague.

Here are some points I learned from reading this book:

1. Complaining serves little purpose. It sucks the life out of company, is hurtful to those around you and kills both productivity and moral.

2. One negative person can create a miserable office environment for everyone else.

3. Complaining and negativie emotions are associated with:

• decreased life span
• fewer friends
• increased risk of heart attack
• more stress
• less success

The book is worth a read for anyone who works with others or has a family. In other words, it should be manditory reading for anyone in your office or family!

The book focuses on positive thoughts and behavior as the key to eradicating negativity:

Start with yourself – you might be more of a complainer than you realize. Lead by example!

Try not to complain. At all.

If you can’t avoid a complaint or a negative statement, add a ‘but’ to the end and stack on two solutions.

Start your day with gratitude – be thankful for the things you have. If you are stuck in traffic, be thankful you have a nice car to drive.

Avoid saying ‘I have to…’ and replace it with “I get to….” Don’t say “I have to work late to finish this job.’ Say, ‘I GET TO finish this job!’

If you’ve read it, let me know by leaving a comment. I’m going to make my kids read it and buy some copies for my office. How about you?

Banners are great – they are low cost advertisements that can really get you noticed. At PR Omni Digital, we print banners often and here are some tips you should consider if you want to design your own banner:

1. Use software that handles full CMYK color output. If you want to know what CMYK is, check out this link. If you don’t know what CMYK is, email me for some help!  Software such as Photoshop, Illustrator or Indesign are common.

2. Design your banner to be bold and simple – less is more! People only look at banners for a couple of seconds so it should have a very clear message and lots of visual impact. Think billboard.

3. Make sure your message is large enough to read! If you are designing  a banner for the outfield of a ball park, the letters need to be LARGE! Fine print does not apply here.

4. Design with contrast or bold colors  so it jumps out.

5. Make sure your photos and images are high enough resolution. A small .jpg image from the internet will not work on a 6 foot banner! Again, my advice is free and I’m charming to talk to, so ask if you are not sure.

6. Consider how you are going to hang your banner. I’m always amazed that people don’t consider this before ordering their banner. Do you need velcro? Grommets? plastic ties? If you talk to me, I’ll ask you this up front so you look great to your team.

Need a banner? Want some fabulous banner advice?

Tweet me at @reprographicpro

Angie Ryan

angie@prnashville.com