Marketing BEEP

Making the Most of Your Trade Show Budget

The hustle and bustle of a trade show can be energizing but also overwhelming, so make sure your presence is known among the crowd of salespeople and business owners. If you can accomplish this task, then you are halfway to accumulating customers from a day at the show. And although trade shows can be a very costly way to promote you business, even with a small budget you can give your business a face at a trade show. Here are some cost saving ideas to make you shine.
 
#1 Join forces with others from your industry
In many cases, you can find a sales representative in your industry that will display your product for you. You wont even have to attend the trade show. You could also share a booth with a company that sells a product or service that compliments yours. Not only can you split the cost, you are also giving the customer a built in referral. Also you will make yourselves more memorable.

#2 Reuse display items for your booth.
Tweeking old signs costs a fraction of what it would take to make new ones. Take last year's trade show display and make it new. Other companies will sell their old display for a very small price. Be creative and make these fit your business by changing up the basic information on them. While you are preparing your display for the trade show, don't forget business card printing. Have more than enough business cards to hand out. This will be a new item that will be worth its cost.
 
#3 Be creative so that you set yourself apart from the crowd
Regular signs are easy to ignore because there are so many of them. Put your sales pitch on a sandwich sign and have someone walk around the front of your booth. Use business card printing in a unique way. Create cards specifically for the trade show in a fun shape or set of colors that draw the eye. You could also attach a business card to a small sample of your product. This will give the potential customer a way to remember you, making it more likely for them to contact you later.
 
#4 Collect as many cards as you hand out
The most productive and inexpensive way to draw in new clients is to gather business cards. Business card printing serves to give you an easy way of exchanging contact information. By giving you their card, a potential customer is giving you permission to call, write, or email them. Collect as many cards as you can and then contact them within a week. You can use a raffle to collect a lot of cards fast. Or maybe you prefer spending some one-on-one time with customers. Either way, the object is to get the ball in you court. If you leave it up to the customer, you will likely not get called. If you are the one following up, then your trade show budget has accomplished it's goal.

Choosing the Right Grid for Print Catalog Pages

Using grids to lay out a print catalog can seem confusing at times. They can however be a useful tool in creating a page that makes sense. Remember that the grids are there to help guide your design, but don't let the grid force decisions on your page. Instead, choose a grid that compliments your content.

A few things to keep in mind...

There are a few elements that will determine which grid to use. Page elements, including graphics and text and whatever else you put on the page, will determine the grid. The type of text, whether you are using short or extended articles, will also be a factor. Lastly, the photographs and illustrations, what size and shape they are, will help you choose which grid to go with. 

Some guidelines for grids with different projects:

Books with mostly text and a few graphics would require a 1-3 grid only, while catalog printing with lots of picture would require many more grids. The more grids you use, the smaller each individual unit would be; therefore, you can insert more graphics and text. 

Newsletters use columnar grids more often. 1,2, or 3 columns work nicely for a newsletter with long articles with lots of text. Four or more columns give you a wider range of possibilities to mix it up with graphics. Keep in mind that even-numbered grids can make the page seem too symmetric. 

Suggestions for making grids versatile:

Instead of forming your content to fit into a grid, mix up the uses of your units. For instance, you can use two columns for text and then the third and fourth combined for a picture. Or you can leave some grids blank for extra white space. Be flexible with the use of grids to add interest to your print catalog. 

An idea to add variety to your print catalog pages:

Instead of using the same grid for every page, choose two and alternate them as is appropriate. Use one grid for short articles and the other for more lengthy ones. Or, use one for text-heavy pages and a different one for pages with lots of pictures. 

Once you are familiar with the different styles of grids, you will be able choose them more easily. Once you are comfortable with grids, your page design will be a breeze. 

Marketing Basics for New Companies

When starting a new company, it can be overwhelming deciding just where to start with your marketing campaign, and then there's the tricky part of keeping marketing going strong.

Below are 5 basic marketing steps that you can take to put your new business well on its way to established without drumming up a major headache.

How to Market Your Business with Calendars

Calendars make great gifts for customers and prospects. Most people will be happy to get an attractive calendar because they are very useful. Not only will people be grateful for the free gift, they will be reminded of your business on a daily basis as they use your calendar. To make calendar printing as effective a marketing tool as possible, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Make Your Calendars Attractive
Do not just put your logo and some dates on your calendar. People will only want to use your calendar if it looks appealing to them. You can hire a professional photographer and have pictures taken of any number of subjects. Local landmarks make good calendar pictures that people in your area will appreciate. You can also take pictures of nature or animals, which are always popular themes. Just make sure you also include your logo and contact information on every page to keep it a marketing tool.

2. Create Calendars for a Specific Audience
Think about the people you will be giving calendars to and create one that will appeal to each group. Calendars are a pretty inexpensive way to advertise compared to doing large newspaper ads and TV commercials, so you can probably afford to do a few different calendar printing projects. When people are interested in your calendars, they are more likely to use them; therefore, your business will get more exposure.

3. Use the Calendars for Direct Marketing
Within the calendar, you can print coupons that people can cut out. Coupons are a good way to generate business and also to keep track of how well your calendar printing is working as a marketing tool. You can also print special sales events in the appropriate date squares on your calendars to help get people into your store.

4. Have an Online Calendar
Another great way to promote your business is to have an online calendar for people to subscribe to. You can have a calendar of local events, little league game nights, national sports events, politically important dates, or anything else you can think of. Just match your business and the type of customers you have and go from there. The more that people use your calendar, the more it increases brand recognition and keeps your business in the minds of consumers.