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Looking for some business cards that really POP? Click here to check out 5 different business card genres and the advantages and disadvantages of each!

When selecting and designing wedding invitations, it’s important to choose options that make your invitations stand out as one of a kind. Paper types, font and color choices, along with printing techniques, and of course hiring a top of the line graphic designer can all lead to the perfect invitation for your special day! The first step is knowing what speciality printing techniques are available for wedding invitations and how they effect the design of the invitation itself.

• Letterpress: once considered an old-fashioned printing technique can give your invitations the look and feel of a vintage and classic design.
• Thermography: originally developed as a less expensive alternative to engraving, uses heat to gives text a raised look with a sheen.
• Engraving: the most traditional form of wedding invitation printing and also the most expensive, provides a clean and elegant look and often uses a soft high-quality paper type to create the effect of raised crisp text.
• Embossing: often used on Monograms creates a raised impression by running the paper through two metal sheets.
• Offset Printing: generally used on less formal wedding invitations presnts invitations with bright color and crisp contrast.

A QR Code is a 2-dimensional quick response bar code that contains a set of data (text, numbers, or a hyperlink). This data can be decoded by QR Readers, which are widely available as free Smartphone apps - simply take a picture of the QR Code with the phone’s camera, and the embedded information instantly appears. QR codes are starting to appear on a variety of forms of traditional marketing including business cards, direct mail pieces, storefront displays, and more! QR codes give businesses the option to include additional information with out cluttering up their marketing piece. For instance, perhaps you’d like to include additional information on your business card such as links to all your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter business pages. Those links can take up a lot of space and make the card seem cluttered. By generating a QR code for free, and placing it on your business card, you can still provide clients with all the information you feel is necessary in an easy to scan format that won’t clutter your card.

Ask today how Ilana Pryor Design can help you create custom marketing pieces that include QR codes!

When creating a new marketing campaign, it is crucial to consider how persuasive color can actually be. Knowing what colors mean is the first step to understanding what emotions, thoughts, and feelings are evoked in potential clients. By knowing what colors are communicating, you can further figure out what you want your brand and marketing to say. Check out the info graphic  for details on what color is really saying!

First step, hire a professional to help create your branding! Your logo, tagline, and message to your target market are great first steps when beginning to build your business.

Join professional organizations. Go to local events, volunteer your time, and get involved! Networking with others in your community can help create referrals for your business and build a name for your company in your area.

Become an expert! Offer your customers quality services or products they can’t get anywhere else. Stand out from the crowd by creating custom blog entries offering free advice, information, and resources that pertain to your business.

Define your target market. Be sure to decide who your product or services appeal to, and create your marketing based on them. Don’t forget to think about your secondary and tertiary markets as well which are also important to include into your marketing strategy.

Integrate social media into your business. Social media is a revolutionary form of marketing and every business should be using it to their advantage. Post all your business’s news, specials, and other related items daily. Devoting the proper amount of time to your social media marketing will help your market to develop and grow.

Are you interested in starting a new business? Click here for a coupon for discounts on your branding!

Did you know that facebook added 100 million users with in 9 months of its launch? Social media is a revolutionary form of marketing and every business should be using it to their advantage. The question is, where to start?

Begin by determining what you want social media to accomplish for your business. Do you want to provide a place for you clients to interact or perhaps build brand awareness? Will your social media be used to gain valuable information about your target market or a place for your customers to use as a resource? Determining how you want to use social media will help you form a plan and meet your business goals.

Knowing your audience is another important step to building your social media following. Instead of trying to sell your customers your product or service, provide them with information they can use! Once you begin to build a following, you will be able to determine the desires and needs of your fans and be able to cater to them.

Don’t forget, that social media also needs constant upkeep. Be sure to post all your business’s news, specials, and other related items daily. Monitoring and always responding to fan interaction is also extremely important. Devoting the proper amount of time to your social media marketing will help your market to develop and grow.

Lastly, stand out from your competitors and get involved! Participating in community events and fundraisers while cluing your followers in about it can really drive interest to your business. People like to see the real you and showing them that you care about your community and others can help them to choose you over another competitor.

Many times, a company’s office can be a customer’s first impression. Conveying a professional and well-branded atmosphere can make all the difference on whether you gain that customer as a client. Impressing your guests is key and is guaranteed to improve a customer’s first impression of your firm.

Promoting your branding within your office will increase the professionalism and feel of your business. Consider not only implementing your logo and company name on items such as pens and signage, but don’t be afraid to use your tagline as well! Infuse your office with your personality, be sure to get creative, and definitely think outside the box. When choosing your office colors and accents, pull from the same color palette within your branding. This will make everything cohesive, consistent, and professional.

Business cards are often the first impression a customer will get of you and your company. They are a valuable marketing tool and essential in making your business stand out in a crowd. Unfortunately, many people choose to have business cards that blend in. Why choose to blend in, when there are so many endless possibilities out there to help you business become unforgettable?

Start by thinking outside the box. Most people typically have square business cards, printed on the same white stock, and look for the cheapest option available. News flash, if you buy from the cheapest option available, your business cards will most likely look that way. Think about working closely with a local printer. This gives you the option to speak with someone face to face about paper choice, card shape, specialty printing techniques and more. You will also get to work closely with the design team and possibly see samples of other company’s business cards, which can get those creative juices flowing. Creating something that people will not only remember, but want to show their friends and colleagues can help grow your business faster then you ever imagined.

Did you know that 65% of businesses plan to increase their use of email newsletters? Email newsletters are effective because they give your business the opportunity to provide customers with relevant information while building a relationship where people can get to know and trust your business. Email marketing is also trackable and affordable making it a growing trend for various companies.

Starting with an eye catching subject line is the best way to get customers to notice you. Provoking curiosity while including a hint to what is included allows the recipient to go further and open the message.

Including useful content is also a must. Unfortunately, most people aren’t interested in your business’s latest news. That doesn’t mean that you can’t discuss your business at all but providing the reader with content such as resources and tips are far more valuable and will peak interest in upcoming newsletters.

Remember to keep it simple. A newsletter that goes on and on and can overwhelm a reader and cause them to be bored all together. Including a few simple items makes it easy for customers to remember and understand your email newsletter.

Feel free to include special offers. Customers love to take advantage of discounts and coupons. Special offers may not only entice them to use your product or services, but also provokes them to look forward to further newsletters.

Lastly, be sure to place plenty of links through out your newsletter. Links make it easy for readers to find and contact you. They can also direct customers to other marketing tools such as your website and social media.

By using these tips, you will be able to create  successful and valuable email newsletter campaigns for your business. Need help with an email template design? Contact me, Ilana Pryor today!