Your business is important to you and your business identity should be too. But this does not mean that from time to time providing some charity work would do you any harm. And possibly on this site, just possibly you might have a good chance of getting a year around support and resources in case you are looking for people in your philanthropic prospects. After all, it is the image you present to everyone. It is the image you carry out consistently across all your marketing materials. Developing a business identity involves careful choices and knowledge of your industry. Things to consider are your target market, competition, your position in the market relative to your competition, and the visual elements.
Business Name
You should choose a name that is easy to remember and pronounce. It should be related to your business if you can and shouldn’t be easily confused with any of your competitors. You should also verify that you are legally able to use the name by checking with your Secretary of States office.
Tagline
You should think of a word or tagline that will be associated with your business name and that will help customers distinguish you from the competition. We’re all familiar with well-known taglines. Your tagline should set you apart from the competition and be a phrase you’re willing to use for a long time in order to establish your brand.
- Coca-Cola – “Have a Coke and a smile.”
- Capital One – “What’s in your wallet?”
- Butterfinger – “Nobody better lay a finger on my butterfinger.”
- Ford – “Built Ford tough.”
Domain Name
Purchase a domain (we recommend GoDaddy.com) name. It’s important to do this early to ensure you get the name you want and also so you can start publishing it and generating backlinks. Backlinks are an important part of search engine optimization (SEO) Try to match your business name or tagline. If need be, shorten it from the full name but only if it’s easily remembered and easy to type. There’s nothing worse than having to type a long url or one that uses dashes or cryptic initials.
Business Collateral
A logo goes a long way toward establishing your business identity. Hire a graphic designer for this one. Your logo should be relevant to your business
, eye-catching and easy to recognize. Color is important here so think of a color scheme not only for your logo but your overall brand. These colors should be used consistently throughout your business.
Business cards are still relevant. Make them and use them. Your card is a means of introduction to new clients and will create a positive first impression. If at all possible, don’t use “do it yourself” or “template” business cards. Have cards designed that have all the information about you including: your name, business name, tagline, address, contact numbers, email and website. If necessary, you can also make a “corporate card” that is more generic, has no personal information on it and can be used in situations like trade shows when you want to get your business name out there but your personal information isn’t so important. These corporate cards can also serve as coupons or special offers when designed correctly. Again, color is important here.
Coordinate your letterhead design in conjunction with your business card. Many of the same rules apply to letterhead design as to business cards so hire a designer, add color, etc. Also, get matching envelopes at the same time.
The next items to consider are: brochures/flyers, postcards, calendars, promotional items, apparel, car graphics and more. Consistency is the key to a business identity that works.
Put It To Work
To make your brand recognizable to the masses you need to put all the pieces together and make it work for you. Use your business cards, write letters on your letterhead, even if (maybe better) they’re hand written, and wear the apparel. Keep consistent and keep at it, it takes time.
We help business owners market and brand their company better through interactive print and mobile web.
By helping businesses interact with their customers, we’re able to engage the consumer and track results on a level never imagined before.
If you have questions or need help with your business identity, contact us anytime.
Best Way To Print Deep, Rich Blacks
DesignThe term Rich Black refers to a mixture of inks containing the four process colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). It is necessary because no black ink is truly black, and the combination of the four inks will result in a denser black, or “rich black.” There are many recipes for rich black but after much testing and calibration, ProSource Printing has selected the CMYK breakdown that works best with our systems and presses:
Cyan: 30%, Magenta: 30%, Yellow: 30%, Black: 100%
Here is a simulated comparison of what it would look like with just black, and ProSource Printing’s Rich Black recipe:
We do not recommend using CMYK values higher than these. Using too much ink will cause the final print to be muddy, and will have a higher chance of smearing.
Flat Rate Shipping
NewsWe are proud to announce our new Flat Rate Shipping!
All orders will be shipped with our new Flat Rate Shipping of $9.99 per order within the US via UPS Ground or FedEx Ground. Our Flat Rate Shipping option will automatically appear as an option when checking out for qualified orders. Orders can have one item or multiple items (including sale items!) shipped to the same address.
This new flat rate shipping will make ordering simpler while at the same time making it easier to estimate complete order totals when setting up marketing budgets.
Best Practices For QR Codes
Marketing, Mobile Web, Portfolio, QR CodesQR Codes
By now you should be familiar with QR – or “quick response” codes. They’re two dimensional bar codes most commonly used as a convenient marketing tool to quickly connect print advertising to web-based content via your smartphone. Here is a more in-depth look at QR codes.
How Can QR Codes Help Your Business?
Since most QR code link your customers to online content, these codes (or the content they link to) can be tracked! That’s right, anything you print a QR code on, can be tracked with most any analytics software.
No more guessing at what does and doesn’t work. You can even create multiple QR code to use on different marketing materials. This enable you to track one campaign over multiple mediums (postcards, posters, signage, etc.) and generate reports on each one.
Where Can You Use QR Codes?
This is the best part. Since QR codes are relatively small (as small as 1″ square), they can be used on the smallest of marketing materials including business cards. And since one of the main purposes of a QR code is to link the user to more in-depth information, it is beneficial for businesses to incorporate QR codes into most every aspect of their marketing. Some of the best places to use your QR codes are yard signs, car magnets, postcards, business cards, flyers and brochures. As an aside, there are some places that QR codes should not be use. Billboards and along highways are a good example, it’s simply unsafe. Email signatures are another place to skip since you need a smartphone to scan the code. Most people are reading email on their computer and wouldn’t need mobile content since they are already online (although we have seen some success with the use of QR codes in emails).
Tips For Creating Your QR Codes
Whether you are promoting a monthly special, selling a house, wrapping a vehicle or using a POP display, QR code are becoming essential to most every marketing campaign.
We help business owners market and brand their company better through interactive print and mobile web.
By helping businesses interact with their customers, we’re able to engage the consumer and track results on a level never imagined before.
For help creating, implementing and maintaining your QR code marketing, contact us at ProSourcePrinting.com.
Shipping to Multiple Locations
Business Cards, Marketing, News, Offset, PrintingDid you know you can place a single order with ProSourcePrinting.com and have it divided up and shipped to multiple locations? Let’s say you have a client with 10 locations across the country and each location needs 1,000 brochures, you don’t need to place 10 different orders. Simply place an order for 10,000 brochures and supply 10 different shipping addresses. You save money by combining 10 different orders into just one order.
Another smart way to use this service is to have samples of an order sent to you while the rest of the order is sent to your client. Because ProSource Printing overprints on orders over 500 units, your client will still get their full order even if you have up to 20 samples sent to you.
Keep these options in mind when you place your next order. Additional Shipping charges will apply.
QR Code Basics
Marketing, Mobile Web, QR CodesHere are some basic items to consider when using QR codes.
1. Mobile-optimized. Don’t send users to an ordinary website. Create an experience that is based on portability, location, SMS, sharing, or instant fulfillment and feedback – anything but an ordinary website.
2. Audience awareness. Some still don’t know much about QR codes. Do the obvious: include instructions to help new users engage. Inform savvy users on what rewards to expect.
3. Usage patterns. If you plan to use QR codes multiple times for multiple campaigns, treat each as its own campaign – complete with strategy, goals, success measures, etc. Then, for each instance, caption each code with the URL, call to action and reward info. Set the stage for fulfillment by setting user expectations before they scan your code.
4. Size and placement. Make it big enough. Your QR code must be of sufficient size, placement and proximity to be easily scanned. This excludes TV (too fleeting), subway (no wireless signal means no way to access the online content) and Billboard (too distant; your own pulse will cause your handheld phone/camera to shake too much to reliably scan the code). Ideal: printed material or flat surface, within arm’s reach. Up close and personal.
5. Visual Appeal. You can dress up a QR code to make it look nicer. Contact us for detail on that. It’s a nice touch, and we can expect this beautification trend to increase. Whereas the lowly barcode has faded like a footnote into the borders of package labels, the comparatively prominent physical placement of a QR code could harm the beauty of your content or its location.
6. Convenience. Is a QR code the fastest, easiest and/or only way to access the content, share it, and/or fulfill some need? If so, great; go for it. If not, think about other ways to deliver content more effectively. Again, an ordinary website, not mobile-optimized, is not a value-add experience and not a fulfilling one.
7. Reward. Make it memorable. Reward users, rather than disappoint them. Give them a discount or special offer. Make your destination content instantly useful and satisfying. Include share buttons so your audience can tweet, email, post and rave about the cool experience you provide. Want viral? Do that!
QR codes: end of a fad! They are here to stay. QR codes can help you create a delightful and amazing customer experience and you can track all of the results!
Tips for Building Your Business Identity
Branding, Design, PortfolioYour business is important to you and your business identity should be too. But this does not mean that from time to time providing some charity work would do you any harm. And possibly on this site, just possibly you might have a good chance of getting a year around support and resources in case you are looking for people in your philanthropic prospects. After all, it is the image you present to everyone. It is the image you carry out consistently across all your marketing materials. Developing a business identity involves careful choices and knowledge of your industry. Things to consider are your target market, competition, your position in the market relative to your competition, and the visual elements.
Business Name
You should choose a name that is easy to remember and pronounce. It should be related to your business if you can and shouldn’t be easily confused with any of your competitors. You should also verify that you are legally able to use the name by checking with your Secretary of States office.
Tagline
You should think of a word or tagline that will be associated with your business name and that will help customers distinguish you from the competition. We’re all familiar with well-known taglines. Your tagline should set you apart from the competition and be a phrase you’re willing to use for a long time in order to establish your brand.
Domain Name
Purchase a domain (we recommend GoDaddy.com) name. It’s important to do this early to ensure you get the name you want and also so you can start publishing it and generating backlinks. Backlinks are an important part of search engine optimization (SEO) Try to match your business name or tagline. If need be, shorten it from the full name but only if it’s easily remembered and easy to type. There’s nothing worse than having to type a long url or one that uses dashes or cryptic initials.
Business Collateral
A logo goes a long way toward establishing your business identity. Hire a graphic designer for this one. Your logo should be relevant to your business , eye-catching and easy to recognize. Color is important here so think of a color scheme not only for your logo but your overall brand. These colors should be used consistently throughout your business.
Business cards are still relevant. Make them and use them. Your card is a means of introduction to new clients and will create a positive first impression. If at all possible, don’t use “do it yourself” or “template” business cards. Have cards designed that have all the information about you including: your name, business name, tagline, address, contact numbers, email and website. If necessary, you can also make a “corporate card” that is more generic, has no personal information on it and can be used in situations like trade shows when you want to get your business name out there but your personal information isn’t so important. These corporate cards can also serve as coupons or special offers when designed correctly. Again, color is important here.
Coordinate your letterhead design in conjunction with your business card. Many of the same rules apply to letterhead design as to business cards so hire a designer, add color, etc. Also, get matching envelopes at the same time.
The next items to consider are: brochures/flyers, postcards, calendars, promotional items, apparel, car graphics and more. Consistency is the key to a business identity that works.
Put It To Work
To make your brand recognizable to the masses you need to put all the pieces together and make it work for you. Use your business cards, write letters on your letterhead, even if (maybe better) they’re hand written, and wear the apparel. Keep consistent and keep at it, it takes time.
We help business owners market and brand their company better through interactive print and mobile web.
By helping businesses interact with their customers, we’re able to engage the consumer and track results on a level never imagined before.
If you have questions or need help with your business identity, contact us anytime.