How Recycling Ideas Saves Time

Jennifer
September 7, 2010

In order to save the earth, we’re encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle, and the same concept can apply to your small business. With fewer employees – sometimes none at all – you must wear several hats, which can spread you thin. That’s when it’s time to make something old new again – it saves you time, resources and money. Take a lesson from Hallmark – the greeting card company says it’s celebrating its 100th year by rolling out Retro Remix cards, which are old designs with new updates, such as contemporary messages and added music. For example, a vintage card featuring a hen and baby chicks has a message that says, “Today Mom is celebrating a birthday with her peeps” – not exactly something you’d read in a 1910 card. Hallmark’s move is smart for a couple of reasons: By dusting off old designs, the company just had to come up with new messages rather than start from scratch with a new line of cards. In addition, Hallmark capitalized on the vintage trend. Think about your own company: Do you have ideas – graphic design or otherwise – that were left on the backburner and could be updated to fit a current project? Do you recall a successful promotional campaign from the past that could be recycled? Freelancers and small-business people are prone to burnout, often because they have too much work for one or few people. By realizing that not every task needs to be tackled from the ground up, you can build upon past efforts and leave time to focus on everything else. Finally, if you’re self-conscious of reusing ideas, remember that it’s all how you market it: “Retro” and “recycled” are kinder, gentler terms than “old” and “used.”

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About Jennifer Moline

Jennifer Moline writes for the PsPrint Blog as well as maintains its Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Pinterest presences. She also guest-blogs for such notable graphic design blogs as Fuel Your Creativity and Inspiredology. She’s previously written about technology and small business for news websites, magazines and newspapers. In her off-hours, Jennifer can be found roughing it in the mountains or tucked away in a movie theater.

Anonymous's picture
January 07, 2016 03:21 am #

[...] Speaking of old stuff, PsPrint blogger Jennifer talks about Hallmark’s recent idea to cash in on the vintage trend by “recycling” their old cards and adding new copy in her blog post, “How Recycling Ideas Saves Time.” [...]

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The PsPrint Blog is a resource for graphic designers, freelancers, small business owners and fans of print marketing. You'll find helpful techniques on printing everything there is to print, including business cards, postcards, brochures, stickers, invitations, greeting cards, door hangers, magnets and more. The PsPrint Blog shares creative ways to improve your design and layout skills, and useful tips for marketing your business in any medium. We also like to have a little fun, sharing design inspiration and spotlighting some our favorite customers' printed pieces in our "Hot Off the Press" series.