Online printing offers that. I can be in Tennessee, have a meeting in Nevada the next day, and know that the material I need will be delivered to the hotel I am staying at and be correct and ready to go when I am. A few days heads up and everything is ready. I tried that with a brick-and-mortar location. That was a disaster. Material wasn’t shipped on time, shipped to the wrong address or printed incorrectly. I even tried some of the “bargain” online printers. Yeah, they were a bargain alright. What a waste of time. You don’t understand the peace of mind that a reliable company offers until you suffer the results of an unreliable one.

The only universal truth in online printing is that you have to research the company and be able to trust the one you work with. Most companies offer the same services, but it is the reliability factor that will help you get the sale.

Are there any other printing issues that you think are important? What do you look for in a printer?

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As you fall farther and farther behind, you start to feel the urge to slack in the quality department. Maybe rush through the proofreading, maybe only research from one source. In truth, what good will it do you? You might get away with it on occasion, but in general people want quality copy. Content is still king on the internet and people want theirs to be good. I charge more than other people do, so what I write needs to earn that money.

How would you like it if you sent your brochures or business cards out to the printer and got back a sloppy job that you could tell had been rushed? It would go right back for a reprint wouldn’t it. So, did the printer save time in the long run? No, he actually doubled his time on the project thereby lowering his profit

Quality is king in any industry. Spec out jobs with a little fluff time to insure that you are able to get them done with quality in mind. What do you think?

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It doesn’t matter if you are searching for a job as an agency copywriter or a freelancer, there are five basic mediums you have to know how to write.

Print Ads

Make sure to learn about print advertising. Once you understand what makes these effective, you can move into flyers, newsletters, postcards, etc. Print ads make great additions to your portfolio.

Brochures

You need to know how a brochure fits into the overall marketing scheme before you try to sit down and write one. You have to know if it is meant to stand alone or within a larger marketing campaign. Knowing the five types of brochures will start you on your way to writing an effective brochure.

Direct Mail

After you have begun to create brochures, you will want to tackle direct mail. It will expand on your knowledge base. Not every direct mail package is the same. Some may just be a sales letter or postcard, while others may be more indepth. Some agencies specialize in direct mail, so if you like direct mail then you have a niche.

Commercials

Writing for television helps you learn how to write audio that match video. A 30 second t.v. script is an excellent copywriting experience. The writing has to end on time and match the video seamlessly. Now is a good time to learn how to write a radio commercial. Both can be used as part of your expanding portfolio

Websites

Learning how to write for websites is a standard requirement for any novice copywriter. Every company needs a website that has clear and concise copy. In steps you, the copywriter to save the day.

Website copy can be used in your portfolio, also.

These are just the five most basic forms of writing that a good copywriter needs to know. Advertising mediums take all shapes and sizes. Master them all and you will master your future.

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But what about the simple, time-intensive tasks graphic designers tediously undertake? Things such as identifying a font, changing a CSS style, or choosing a complimentary color can take hours away from more “important” tasks such as creating your designs and choosing imagery. The creative can be stifled by the banal.

Some of my favorite productivity software for graphic designers include:

FileZilla — An FTP application that lets you instantly edit server-side files. This comes in handy when you need to make a simple CSS change or swap a banner image.

7-ZIP — Lets you compile, compress, and unpack a myriad of file types that the built-in Windows application can’t. If you work with large file transfers, Z-ZIP and FileZilla are necessities.

IdentifFont — Identify a font by name, style or by answering a series of quick questions.

Open Source CMS systems — Content Management Systems, once put in place, save time and money. When you need to make a portfolio update, you simply fill out a form and upload your file. If you want to change content, add products or do anything else in a flash, there’s probably a CMS that facilitates the action. Learn to design and find a good developer (if you don’t code) for systems such as Wordpress, Joomla! and Drupal. Content is still king, and Open Source CMS is here to stay.

Color scheme generators/color wheels — Here’s a great list of 25 color scheme generators.

Whatsitscolor.com — Upload an image or submit a link to an image and Whatsistscolor generates a color scheme based on the colors in the image. This is valuable if you like the look of a website, brochure or postcard and want to emulate its color scheme. Color Hunter does the same, perhaps slightly cleaner.

Don’t forget that Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Quark and other software have add-ons, plug-ins, actions and a whole host of other time-saving devices available for free download. Try this list of Photoshop plug-ins for starters.

Of course, software suites such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice deserve a mention, as well as the many commercial project management applications. For free and simple project tracking, check out FreeMind.

Image CC License Flickr.

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Instead of trying to capture everyone, you should write your pitch and design your materials for just one customer. This helps you tailor your sales materials — whether they be brochures, postcards, websites, e-mails or something else — to the perfect customer who is ready to buy.

Start by defining who your perfect customer is and giving that customer a name — we’ll call her Jane. If you know what Jane is looking for in a product, where Jane lives, what Jane makes, what Jane’s values are, and other demographic information it becomes easier to succinctly sum up the portion of your pitch that Jane is likely to respond to. Sure, you have other customers, but your goal is to target a specific customer type and giving your perfect customer a name helps you refine your pitch on a personal level. Other customers will still appreciate your pitch, and you can refine other materials to speak to them.

Amateur designers often load their designs with graphics and images that are more distracting than facilitating. Amateur copywriters pack line after line of features and benefits into their copy. On the other hand, seasoned professionals tend to keep it short and sweet.

While long copy sales letters and web pages do have a place, short pitches work best in most applications. Google once conducted a study to see whether long or short copy performed better, and found that short copy won out by a long shot. Why do you think Google’s pages are so sparse?

Being concise doesn’t mean you can’t make an impression — quite the opposite, in fact. Since you’re forced to write and design “light,” you have to find a way to say more with fewer words and to evoke emotions with fewer graphics. That’s why great taglines are more powerful than paragraphs, and a single image is more meaningful than a collage.

Examine your sales materials. What happens if you delete your first paragraph, or paraphrase it into a short headline?

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Here are a few points to ponder before you decide:

When it comes to print advertising, it pays to “dominate” the page. Does this mean you have to run a full-page ad? Not necessarily. In a tabloid format you may only have to run a 2/3-page ad to get noticed first on the page. Review the formats in the publications you use. You may be able to save some money.

Another tip to save money is check with your ad rep about “remnant ad or air time space” that hasn’t been sold by the time the deadline rolls around. You can save up to 70 percent by purchasing this kind of ad space.

Postcard ads are the most cost effective way to market a product or service. Pennies can be spent to make hundreds of dollars. Postcards convert at 2 to 3 percent while newspaper and magazine ads are more for branding and only convert at 1 percent on average.

No one marketing strategy can stand alone. You have to run a full-court press in order to be successful. Use both magazines and postcards, and throw in a few flyers and brochures for the fun of it. Everything you do will help to brand your company one way or another.

Do you have any thoughts on different ways to approach the marketing game?

©2009 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.