Promotional marketing is incentive-based and event-based – it could be a competition, free samples or coupons. Advertising is taking out a Yellow Pages ad or distributing posters designed to facilitate brand recognition.

Do you engage in promotional marketing? If not, you should. It works. Regardless of your company’s products or services, the right promotional marketing campaign can increase business exponentially; especially if you heed my three tips for promotional marketing success.

1.Set clear goals. You have to define a purpose for your promotional marketing campaign, and set clear goals so you measure your success. Your purpose might be lead generation, with a goal of 100 new leads; or your purpose might be direct sales, with a goal of 20 sales. If you define a purpose and set a clear goal, you can accurately measure your success when your campaign ends.

2.Think like a customer. Sure, your entire department knows that your new widgety-whack might be the hottest thing to hit your industry in a decade. But does your customer know that? Put yourself in your customers ’shoes and think about what benefits your product or service offers that will make them happy to spend their hard-earned money with you. Build this reason into your offer to motivate action.

3.Follow up. If you capture names, generate leads, or make sales as a result of your promotional marketing campaign you must follow up. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush … and a customer who has given you their name or already made a purchase is more likely to buy. Try comparing your marketing return on investment between campaigns tailored to prospects versus those catering to current customers, and you’ll probably see a difference. Use this data to your advantage on future promotional marketing campaigns.

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The most obvious way to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday is with food. If you work in an office, organize a potluck. Maybe schedule it for the day before Thanksgiving. DEFINITELY plan something for your loyal employees if they’re working on the actual holiday. Or maybe organize for something low key if people are working on that Friday – even pizza and simple snacks. As the organizer, step up and volunteer to bring a main dish, but encourage your employees to be creative and bring something they’re proud of.

Speaking of food, Thanksgiving is a time to show gratitude for what we have. It’s also a time to acknowledge those who don’t have enough. Organize a food drive and encourage your employees to bring in nonperishable items. Practically every city has a local food bank that’s just an Internet search away. If you have the means to do so, donate a turkey or two to match your employees’ donations – perhaps one turkey for every 25 canned goods. This will encourage your workers to donate as well as send a message that you’re a caring company. If you have clients, promote the food drive on your website and/or with signage and encourage them to donate, too. Offer your customers a discount or coupon with each food item they donate.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, but it doesn’t have to happen just once a year. Take these ideas and use them throughout the next year. An appreciated employee is a motivated employee, so now and then host a luncheon or other fun event. In addition, find ways to give back to your community. When your company gets involved in charitable activities, not only does it make you feel good but it also makes your company look good – and that’s probably the most satisfying form of marketing.

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Design

Make sure the menu represents the mood of the restaurant. Include attractive photos or other images to get your patrons salivating. Really take a look at these graphics and ask yourself, “Would I want to dine there? Does that look appetizing?”

Check out this article about upsell strategies for your menu.

Marketing

For takeout menus, always include coupons – that inclusion can ensure your menu a spot on the refrigerator as opposed to the junk-mail pile.

Spell check

As a copy editor at heart, it absolutely kills me when I visit a restaurant and notice typo after typo after typo. OK, sometimes if it’s a mom ’n’ pop establishment, it can be charming, but mostly, a poorly edited menu makes me cringe. If the restaurant proprietors aren’t detailed about a piece of print material that bears their name, then what else are they lax about? The food?

Printing

There are different types of menus that call for different types of printing. You obviously can choose a lighter paper weight for takeout menus than you would for the in-house one. There are even different folds and bindings to consider.

If you’re wondering about lamination, consider visitors to your establishment like me, who are always likely to spill their beverage all over your menu.

Don’t forget to check into green printing for your menu. Seek out recycled paper and soy-based inks. Be sure to mention on the menu about your attention to being ecologically friendly – perhaps the back where you include a bio of the restaurant. It’s good for the planet, and it’s also good for your reputation!

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Here are a few of the common barriers presented to online marketers:

The first barrier is the speed of the Internet that your potential customers are using. You may have a great website designed and using the latest technologies, but if your customer is still using dial-up your site will never load on his computer. You can actually become too advanced to make sales.

The second most important barrier to marketing online is one related to information security. Information security is important both to companies and consumers that participate in online business. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do not trust that their personal information will remain private. There are many companies that offer encryption methods. Using them and placing their logos on your site can help with this one.

Marketing online is important to every company. You have to market online or your company could risk losing a vast pool of potential customers. These few barriers can be easily overcome through research and putting security features in place. How would you approach these barriers?

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It’s always a nice touch to have personalized decorations. You may have something snappier to say than just “Merry Christmas.” You might have a Christmas cause that you’re trying to raise money for, or maybe you just purchased a new home and want to show the whole neighborhood how happy the whole family is in their new home.
Custom vinyl banners are a great weatherproof decoration. You don’t have to worry about one of Santa’s reindeer being blown away due to the blizzard, when that banner can stand the elements with just a couple of hooks.

Ask your printer about the options you can receive for a banner, vinyl is recommended for outdoor use, but can be printed in almost any dimension. The best part is you can buy even more Christmas gifts with the money you’ll be saving on this cost-effective decoration!

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Stickers are eye catching and cost effective. You can produce tons of stickers and distribute them at an office, store, event or in the street. A sticker generates great word-of-mouth marketing, as people will pass stickers along to friends and post them in easy-to-see places at work or home.

If you are a graphic designer, a custom-printed sticker is an especially great way to promote your design skills and really stand out from the pack. To get the most out of a promotional sticker, try these three custom sticker printing suggestions:

1. Experiment with custom shapes
With sizes ranging from two inches to up to a foot and a half, the possibilities for custom die-cut stickers are endless. A die is basically, a cookie-cutter for printed materials. You can select from pre-made die shapes or work with a vendor to create your own uniquely shaped sticker die. Remember to think about the purpose of your sticker, if you’d like customers to be able to stick them on a calendar as appointment reminders, then keep them small. If you are going for a bolder, more promotional design then the bigger, the better!

2. Try printing sticker business cards
No one will ever lose your business card again! Well, hopefully that will be the case, if you print business cards as custom die-cut stickers. This is a great way to make an impression on potential clients and customers. Be sure to choose a sticker size and shape that is suggestive of a business card. You can try using a rectangle with one rounded edge, or one cut-out curved edge, to suggest the feeling that the card is peel-able and adhesive. Sticker business cards are guaranteed to make you look creative and to spark conversations.

3. Use stickers to promote landing pages
Stickers can work really well with landing pages. First you’ll need a dedicated landing page URL for prospective clients and customers to visit. Make sure the URL is not just for your homepage, but a special page dedicated to the offer or service that you’ll advertise on the sticker. Then create a sticker that piques people’s interest. Use copy to advertise what you have to offer, for example, “Save 20% on Beauty Supplies” or “Affordable Personal Training.” Then below the copy, show the landing page URL in easy-to-read type. If your URL encompasses an offer in itself, such as www.discountfamilyhaircuts.com, then you can simply print a sticker with the URL or the URL and a related image, in this case, a scissors, a barbershop pole or a can of hairspray. Finally, place your stickers around town, give them out for free, get them circulating and look for an increase in traffic to your URL.

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.