Business Marketing Ideas - PaperDirect Blog

March 25, 2013

Business Cards Do’s and Don’ts

As Forbes puts it, the business card can be the “entrepreneur’s best friend.” Business cards represent an inexpensive, yet powerful, marketing tool that puts your information out into the world — and into the hands of potential customers, employers, business partners, and other movers shakers in your network.

That is, when it’s done right.

When it’s done wrong, well… the entrepreneur’s BFF can turn into his worst enemy. OK, that might be a bit dramatic, but think of it this way: Often your business card represents your first — or maybe your only — chance to make a good and lasting impression. So, although no one wants a boring business card, the alternative may be even worse. Who knew these little pieces of paper were so important?

These “do’s and dont’s” will help you get your business cards just right.

Business Card DO’s

Your card should include your essential information, such as:

Full name
Title
Business Name
Email
Phone Number/s
Website or online portfolio
Physical Address

Additionally, follow these tips for business card DO’s:

Whatever a potential client, employer or networker would need to get in touch with you should be on your card.
Keep your card design simple. Left align tends to look less cluttered and is easier to read than center or right-aligned designs. Pick a simple, classic font and stick to it; at most, use two complementary fonts.
Use color, but keep the palette to three or — at most — four tones that work well together. Choose darker colors as they’re easier to read and use larger font sizes because, again, they’re easier to read.
Include your business logo and other branded materials. Your business cards should match the look and tone of your company’s website, storefront and other marketing formats.
Tailor your business cards’ overall look and theme to your industry. In banking or law? Choose a conservative, dignified theme. In design, art or fashion? Choose a theme that reflects your innovative style.
Finally, use high-quality cardstock and a professional printer to create your cards. After all, they represent you and your business!

Business Card DONT’S

While including your essential contact info is essential, avoid including too much information. After all, this isn’t your resume or your portfolio, so you don’t need to list all of your skills and experience. Packing your card full will also make them appear cluttered and unprofessional.

Stick with your company’s established branding. You want a cohesive, memorable look, and using too many different colors, fonts or themed elements just distracts from the overall message.

Similarly, avoid using generic clip art on your cards. It looks cheap and unprofessional.

Finally, avoid using untraditional materials, such as chocolate or soap. Yes, it’s cute and creative, but once it’s all used up, so is your message — and your contact info.

For professional, custom designed business cards that will create a lasting positive impression, browse the huge selection at Paper Direct!

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March 20, 2013

Grammar, Punctuation and Syntax Rules for Writing

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — PDWriter @ 7:52 am

Whether you’re doing professional writing or just everyday emailing at work, you should ensure your writing is free of errors and looks and sounds intelligent. To ensure all your correspondence are grammatically correct and well-written, PaperDirect has provided grammar, punctuation and Syntax rules for professional and everyday writing. Let’s first take a look at the most common grammar mistakes that people make in everyday and professional writing.

Grammar Rules for Writing

Here, you will find a list of commonly misused words.

Who and whom: Use of “who” and “whom” depends on whether you are referring to the subject or object of a sentence. Substitute “who” for pronouns “he” and “she” and substitute “whom” for objective pronouns “him” or “her.”

Which and that: “That” is a restrictive pronoun and is used to refer to a specific noun whereas “which” allows qualifiers that may not be essential. Here are two examples of “which” and “that” being used correctly.

“I don’t eat fruits and vegetables that are not organic.”

“I recommend you start eating organic produce, which is available in most grocery stores.”

Lay and lie: You lay a pencil on the table but you lie down. To tell a falsity is to lie.

Continual and continuous: Continual means that something is always occurring but there are lapses; continuous means there are no lapses. Loud music from your neighbors would be continual; the second hand on the clock moves continuously.

May and might: May implies a possibility; might implies more uncertainty than might.

Father and further: Farther is used only when the distance can actually be measured; further is used for abstract lengths that can’t be measured. “How much farther must we drive to get to California?” “I refuse to explore this topic further as it’s very confusing.”

Since and because: Since only refers to time and because refers to causation: “Since I quit smoking, I feel much better.” “Because I quit smoking, I hope to enjoy a longer, healthier life.”

Disinterested and uninterested: These two words are not synonymous as most people think. Disinterested means you are impartial while uninterested means you don’t care about the topic at hand.

Bring and take: Bring is used for items brought toward you and take is used for items taken away from you.

Punctuation Rules for Writing

Here are some helpful punctuation rules that will help you with professional and everyday writing:

The comma splice is the most common mistake in all everyday and professional writing. A comma splice occurs when two sentences are joined with a comma but should be separated with a period. An example:

Let’s go to the store, we can pick up the kids on the way back.

It should be:

Let’s go to the store, and we can pick up the kids on the way back. Or,

Let’s go to the store. We can pick up the kids on the way back.

A run-on sentence is also a common punctuation mistake. This occurs when two sentences are joined with no punctuation like this:

Let’s go to the store we can pick up the kids on the way back.

A sentence fragment is another common punctuation mistake in everyday and professional writing. A sentence fragment is any non-complete sentence such as “On the way home” or “Before the game” or “If I wanted,” so these fragments must be joined with other words to make a complete sentence.

Syntax Rules for Writing

Here are some of the most common syntax mistakes people make in everyday and professional writing.

Lack of noun/pronoun agreement is the MOST COMMON mistake made in all types of writing. If you write the following, you have made this error:

If you are buying your professor a gift, you should get them something they can really use.

Professor is singular and you have the plural pronoun “them” and then “they” referring back to the “Professor.” This is an example of a noun and pronoun disagreeing. The preferred usage is

If you are buying your professor a gift, you should buy him something he can really use.

Ending sentences with a preposition is a common syntax error in all types of writing:

Avoid:

Who are you going with? Can we do that after? How are moving those documents around?

Corporations are not “they” but “it.”

“Coca-Cola has pulled all of its advertising” not “Coca-Cola has pulled all of their advertising.”

For all your professional writing needs, be sure to order high quality plain paper from PaperDirect online.

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March 11, 2013

Spring’s Almost Here– What’s Your Outdoor Marketing Plan?

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: marketing — PDWriter @ 7:31 am

With warm weather and longer days right around the corner, you should be thinking about ways to market your business outdoors as more and more people will be out and about enjoying their freedom from the cold, harsh winter weather. Spring is prime time to get your marketing creative juices flowing and utilize outdoor marketing strategies to reach a lot of people quickly and inexpensively. There are a number of ways you can market your business outdoors without spending a lot of money, taking up a lot of time and using a lot of man (or woman) power. Let’s take a look at some outdoor marketing strategies that really work.

Billboards

According to marketing experts, when it comes to outdoor advertising, the average person has an attention span of approximately eight seconds, so one of the most important things for outdoor advertising is that it must be eye-catching, simple to read and easy to understand. Even in this age of burgeoning technology, the good ole’ billboard is still one of the most effective outdoor advertising tools because of the its vast and consistent exposure, repetition of message to those who see it (for instance, while commuting to work) and for its cost-effectiveness. Despite the number of advertising media, mainly online, billboards are still capturing the attention of passersby.

Strategically placed billboards will attract a diverse population of potential customers/clients. In order to be most effective, billboards should contain vibrant, interesting images; your business name; logo, if possible; colors and signs that will attract the attention of those who see it.

Car Magnets and Vinyl Wraps

Car advertising has become very popular, and if you have a company car or truck, you can use this effective form of outdoor advertising to attract new customers. As you’ve probably seen, some companies choose to wrap their entire vehicles with advertising, while others keep it a bit more subtle and simple by placing the company information, logo and slogan on the sides or rear only of the vehicle, along with the website URL, of course. Keep the information short and sweet, as you don’t want people reading so much on your car advertisement that they cause car accidents all around you. Car wraps are perfect for food delivery, maintenance and moving companies.

Public Transit Marketing

Bus and rail advertisements are ideal for local businesses close to where these modes of transit travel. Bus shelter and rail station advertisements really work because of the repetition–the same people, usually, see the same ads every day they take public transportation. By seeing the ads over and over, the name of the business will stick with the potential customer. Keep in mind that public transportation shelters and stations in metropolitan areas also see a lot of tourists and businesspeople traveling in and out of the area; these groups make another demographic you can reach with your bus/rail advertisements.

Outdoor Signs, Banners

Advertising your business with outdoor signs may seem like an obvious choice, but you’d be surprised at how many owners don’t have large, easy-to-read signs on the outer exterior of their buildings. Attractive, clear signs with clever slogans or buying incentives can be seen by prospective customers any time day and night. You can make your own outdoor signs or hire a professional artist or sign builder.

If you do hire an expert, be sure to shop around so you don’t spend too much, and always ask for samples of his/her work and check references. If the artist or sign builder is not willing to give you names of previous clients he’s served, then that is a big red flag to continue your search.

Printed, flexible custom banners are very effective outdoor advertising tools and fairly inexpensive. Banners are most often used to advertise sale items and are usually placed at the entrance to a business. Banners can be easily rolled up and transported to other locations and are perfect for hanging on outdoor walls, fences and posts.

Fliers

If you don’t mind pounding the pavement to hand out custom designed fliers to passersby, they are a great way to reach a lot of people quickly and inexpensively. You can have hundreds or thousands of fliers printed, and they’re the perfect outdoor marketing tool to reach a very specific geographic target. If you have just opened up a pizzeria, standing right around the block or right in front of the restaurant with a flier announcing your grand opening or offering a coupon is a fantastic way to get that foot traffic to walk right into your new pizza parlor.

In nice weather, keep your restaurant doors open (if it’s not a health code violation) to allow that delicious aroma of tomatoes, garlic and pepperoni hit the streets to entice people on foot to come in for a slice.

PaperDirect has thousands of flier designs to choose from, so we’re sure you’ll find one you really love. We will design it especially for your business and print out as many as you need. If you run out, simply order online or give us a call!

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January 22, 2013

Unique Marketing Ideas for Valentine’s Day

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: marketing, Valentine's Day — PDWriter @ 2:33 pm

Valentine’s Day is not a just an opportunity for boyfriends, girlfriends and spouses to express their undying love for each other and celebrate their lifelong commitment to love and cherish each other til death do they part. It’s also a time for businesses to show customers how much they appreciate them and offer great deals that not only say “Thanks for your patronage” but encourages them to keep coming back (and bring a long a friend or too!). And since it’s the second most popular holiday (Christmas is first) for gift giving, the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day are a great time to do some aggressive, thoughtful marketing.

Valentine’s Day Marketing Tips That Work

Here are some unique marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day applicable to small and large businesses:

Promote love in every way you can possible think of–love for pets, family members, lovers, sports teams, cities, countries, foods, etc. You name it! Use love as a marketing tool this Valentine’s Day to get customers to your door and/or to your website.
Offer couples coupons, which require two people to be present to buy or require two items be purchased. You can offer a special buy one get one at a discounted rate or buy one and get the other free.
Day spas, hair salons and other “pampering” types of businesses do a tremendous amount of business around Valentine’s Day, so take advantage of the “love holiday” and offer relaxing, romantic spa days for couples.
Restaurants can offer meal deals such as dinners and desserts for two.
Movie theaters can offer two tickets for a discounted price, and the possibilities for candy shoppes, jewelry stores and florists to make huge profits on this holiday are endless. Be creative, beat the competitions’ prices and offer superior quality products and services, and you’re sure to set record sales this Valentine’s Day!

If you own or manage a business and need marketing supplies, PaperDirect is your one-stop online shopping source for advertising tools like banners, fliers, postcards and the like. Place your order online, and in no time at all, your treats will arrive at your front doorstep! No shopping in crowded stores and no paying exorbitant prices! Dancing Hearts Vinyl Banners by PaperDirect

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December 3, 2012

Business Holiday Greeting Cards for Clients

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: business cards — PDWriter @ 11:55 am

It’s that time–holiday cards for clients and customers should be mailed out by December 15. If you’re trying to decide whether or not to send business holiday greeting cards this holiday season, we think it’s a great idea. Not only are holiday cards a tradition, but sending holiday cards to customers lets them know you appreciate them.

One thing to keep in mind when sending holiday cards to clients is to remember that not everyone shares your religion. If you don’t know all of your clients’ religious affiliations (and most business owners/manages don’t), it’s best to send a neutral “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” Sending a Christmas card to someone who celebrates Hanukkah shows that you don’t know that person at all or indicates a bit of insensitivity to other people’s individual differences.

Business Holiday Greeting Card Tips

Here are some more suggestions for sending holiday cards this year:

Send business holiday greeting cards of high quality like the ones from PaperDirect. Sign each and every card instead of using a signature stamp, which can appear impersonal. Adding a personal message above your signature is a wonderful added touch that will mean a lot to the recipients.
Send tasteful cards as some clients will not appreciate an off-color holiday greeting, and you must maintain the business/client relationship even at the holidays. While you may find a card funny, your recipients may find it offensive. Keep with traditional themes and festive sayings to make a great impression on your clients.
Feel free to include your company information below your signature, and you can even include a business card inside, but if you do, you must include a personal, hand-written message. Simply including a business card with no note will look as though you’re just trying to get more business. You don’t want to appear to have an ulterior motive for sending out holiday greetings.
Try to avoid using computer-generated address labels as this looks tacky and appears as though the recipients are not important enough to have their own cards filled out. Even if you have hundreds or thousands of cards to mail, enlist the help of office staff to hand write the addresses, which is a nice, much-appreciated personal touch.
Use proper titles when addressing the recipients. For instance, “Dr. and Mrs. Brian Taylor is more appropriate than “Brian and Carol Taylor.” If you are sending a card to a couple with different last names, be sure to address the envelope and greeting as such. For instance, “Dr. Michael Thompson and Ms. Linda Arnold.” Traditionally, the man’s name comes first in the address if the couple is married and if not married, put the names in alphabetical order: “Ms. Linda Arnold and Dr. Michael Thompson.”
Send business holiday cards to the business address of the recipient unless you know the recipient on a personal level. If you send the holiday card to the recipient’s home address, be sure to include the spouse’s name in the address (if there is a spouse or partner).
Send your business holiday cards in time to arrive before the date of the holiday. December fifteenth is the standard cut-off date for cards to arrive on time in the states. International cards should be mailed out sooner. Here is a table for suggested holiday mailings.

PaperDirect is your one-stop online shopping source for holiday greeting cards. Check out our huge selection and stock up today!

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November 8, 2012

Christmas Mailings for Businesses

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — PDWriter @ 8:24 am

If you are working on Christmas mailings for your business (or even personal mailings), here is some helpful information to ensure on-time delivery of all your mailings this Christmas.

Holiday mailing deadlines to ensure your Christmas mailings arrive at their destination within the United States before December 25th:

Letters and Cards (First-Class): December 20
Priority Mail: December 21
Express Mail: December 22
Parcel Post: December 15

Since many businesses conduct international business, follow these recommendations for on-time delivery:

Recommended Mailing Dates for Delivery by Christmas

Note: Airmail Letter-post is now known as First-Class Mail International.

Items addressed to locations in:	First-Class Mail	Priority Mail International	Express Mail International	Global Express Guaranteed*
Africa	Dec. 2	Dec. 2	Dec. 10	Dec. 20
Asia and Pacific Rim	Dec. 9	Dec. 9	Dec. 15	Dec. 19
Australia and New Zealand	Dec. 9	Dec. 9	Dec. 15	Dec. 19
Canada	Dec. 9	Dec. 12	Dec. 16	Dec. 21
Caribbean	Dec. 9	Dec. 12	Dec. 15	Dec. 20
Central & South America	Dec. 2	Dec. 2	Dec. 10	Dec. 20
Mexico	Dec. 9	Dec. 9	Dec. 15	Dec. 21
Europe	Dec. 9	Dec. 12	Dec. 15	Dec. 20
Middle East	Dec. 9	Dec. 12	Dec. 15	Dec. 20

Holiday Mailing Date Guidelines for Military APO/FPO Mail

Items addressed to APO/FPO locations:	1st Class and Priority Mail	Express Mail*	Parcel Post	Parcel Airlift Mail (PAL)**	Space Available Mail (SAM)***
AE ZIP codes 090-098 (except 093)	Dec. 10	Dec. 17	Nov. 12	Dec. 3	November 26
AE ZIP code 093	Dec. 3	N/A	Nov. 12	Dec. 1	November 26
AA ZIP code 340	Dec. 10	Dec. 17	Nov. 12	Dec. 3	November 26
AP ZIP codes 962-966	Dec. 10	Dec. 17	Nov. 12	Dec. 3	November 26

Check out PaperDirect’s vast selection of Christmas cards and holiday greeting cards.

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October 17, 2012

DIY Marketing Tips That Won’t Break the Bank

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: marketing — PDWriter @ 8:30 am

When starting up a new business, whether large or small, it’s important to budget your money wisely because you will spend a lot of money quickly getting the business set up. Whether you’re starting a work-from-home type of business using the Internet or opening a retail store or restaurant, every penny must be carefully accounted for, and you must find ways to market your business in inexpensive ways. One mistake many new business owners make is over-spending on marketing their business; one way to avoid this is to take a look at some creative DIY marketing ideas that won’t break the bank.

Many new, inexperienced business owners don’t realize there are DIY marketing ideas/strategies that are inexpensive and require little, if any, experience. The DIY marketing ideas below will save you money and may help you to get your business off and running much more quickly than you expected. Wouldn’t that be nice? Imagine less stress, fewer dollars spent, and more business in the first few months you’re open!

Here are some DIY marketing ideas that have worked for large and small business owners.

Get your business listed in online industry directories.
Start an email campaign and be sure to target the demographic you are seeking as clientele.
Post client testimonials on your website.
Sponsor or participate in a local charity event or fundraiser.
Check reviews of your business regularly.
Join a professional organization and meet business men and women in similar situations as yours.
Use social media to promote your business as it’s not going away and it’s a great tool to get your business out there.
Choose eye-catching business cards and keep them up to date. There’s nothing worse than inaccurate contact information on a business card.
Show appreciation to customers through customer loyalty cards, discounts, coupons and other special offers.
Use direct mailings to show you appreciate your customers. Buy one get one free offers are a great way to keep existing customers and get new ones.
Start a blog on your website and post regularly. Make sure your blog’s content and tone match your business.
Spend time optimizing your website. Make sure web content is well-written and well-optimized so it gets ranked by search engines.
Make sure your website is user friendly by adding videos, if possible, and contact forms. If there is a comment section on your website, be sure to respond to comments and questions regularly.
Word of mouth does wonders for new businesses. Ask happy customers to spread the word about your new store or website and offer incentives for them to do so.

If you’d like to learn more about DIY marketing ideas from PaperDirect, please check out these blogs:

Remember to shop online at PaperDirect for all your start-up business needs including business cards, letterhead and envelopes, and various business communication supplies.

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September 12, 2012

Halloween Postcards Make Effective Direct Mailers

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: Halloween, postcards — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Many people consider Halloween to be the most fun of all the holidays, but it is one of the most commercially successful holidays. Don’t miss out on marketing opportunities for your small business by sending out Halloween postcards to market your products or service. You can be extremely creative with Halloween postcards to yield a “monster” return on your investment.

Here are some suggestions for using Halloween postcards for direct mail marketing:

Offer a treat, not a trick, to those who come to your place of business or website and purchase something. Your postcard can include a buy one get one free offer, a discount, or can serve as a loyalty card in which repeat customers buy a certain number of items and get the ninth or tenth one free.
Advertise a midnight special sale with a Halloween postcard. Encourage employees and customers to dress up in their favorite Halloween costumes and offer amazing midnight madness deals. Be sure to offer refreshments such as light snacks and beverages to encourage customers to stay longer. A well-fed customer is a happy customer.
Postcards, due to their small size, are more likely to be read by recipients than longer newsletters. With eye-catching Halloween graphics, you’re sure to grab the recipients’ attention, prompting them to read your message.
Keep the content on your postcard brief and to the point. Be sure to include contact information such as the name of your business, address, phone/fax numbers, email address, website URL, your name and title (if applicable), and on the back of the postcard you can include directions from various locations. Be sure your special offer or whatever your reason for sending the postcard is clear on the front of the card. Choose font that’s large and easy to read. Some “spooky” fonts can be difficult to read, so be sure you don’t go overboard with difficult-to-read Gothic lettering.
Consider your target demographic when planning your mailing list.

PaperDirect’s online store has the Halloween postcards you need to get the traffic you want!

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August 27, 2012

Best Resume Paper to Get Noticed

Filed under: Designing Your Business Communication — Tags: resume, resume help — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

In tough economic times, job hunting can be a daunting task because of the sense of urgency that accompanies the job search, but with the right “stuff” and a stellar resume, you will get noticed by employers. Printing your resume on the best resume paper in the business will show companies hiring that you have got what it takes to be an asset to the team.

Best Resume Paper–PaperDirect

With so much competition out there in the job market, you really do have to stand out and make sure your resume gets moved to the top of the pile and not the trash can. While the type of resume paper you choose may not seem like a big deal, when all employers have is the resume to decide who gets the interview, yours must be the very best. PaperDirect is your resume paper headquarters and provides a huge selection of colors and everything from plain linen to colored parchment.

Some of our best sellers are the Perfectly Plain 28 and 38 lb letter paper, Linen 32lb Letter Paper and Earth Tones Letterhead Stock.

PaperDirect has so much more than resume paper to help get you prepared for the job market. If you need high quality envelopes, we have those, and if you need business start-up tools like business cards and such, PaperDirect has a huge selection of professional business cards for all types of budgets.

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August 24, 2012

Now is the Time to Design Fall Newsletters

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: newsletters — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Is there an upcoming event that you’ve been asked to announce? Do you have a large number of people on a mailing list, and you want to save time and money? If you have been given the task of designing and mailing fall newsletters, PaperDirect can help! Newsletters are a great way to announce company business, family events or send out mass invitations. Newsletters are also a great way to simply connect with people and let them know what’s going on this fall.

Purposes of Newsletters

Newsletters basically have three purposes:

A promotional newsletter to sell something
A relationship newsletter to communicate with family or members of the same group
A professional newsletter sent to students, patients or church members

All three types of newsletters can take a seasonal approach, and fall is a great season to create festive, vibrant newsletters.

Direct Mail–A Lost Art?

PaperDirect newsletters come in two sizes: 8″X11″ two-sided or 11″X17″ for a four-page newsletter. The vibrant colors of fall such as oranges, reds, yellows, and browns will add a lovely seasonal tone to your announcement! You can send out fall newsletters announcing a special sale your business is having or a contest. Halloween stores can send out mass mailings advertising all the wonderful costumes they have in stock and other Halloween accessories like decorations for the house and yard. Maybe there’s a German restaurant in town that is holding an Oktoberfest celebration and is offering a buy one drink get one free. A newsletter would be a great way to spread the word and get customers in the door.

Is your place of business giving away free stuff to people who come shop in costume? How about candy donations for underprivileged children who may not be able to go trick or treating. Costume donation drives can be announced by sending out festive fall newsletters.

Do you want to connect with distant relatives this fall and let them know about upcoming family gatherings for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Fall newsletters with all the necessary information will allow plenty of time for family to make plans to join the festivities.

Shop PaperDirect for all your business communication supplies.

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August 8, 2012

Autumn Flyers Are More Effective With Fall Border Paper

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: business flyers, flyer — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Do you have a fall event you’d like to announce with a flyer?

Fall border paper from PaperDirect will jazz up your flyer and with autumnal colors like bold orange, earthy brown and sunflower yellow, your fall celebration flyer will surely be noticed!

Some of our Favorites:

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Flyers are a great tool to announce a wide variety of events, from autumn festivals to small parties for the kids. If you’d like to design your flyer, then choose the fall border paper from PaperDirect that you love the most and get ready to do this at home or the office.

Flyers 101

Brochures, pamphlets and flyers are often the entrance point to your larger marketing efforts. The goal of a flyer is not only to educate a potential customer about your products or services but also to highlight that your company offers a better set of products or services than the competition. Our approach to flyer design revolves around these fundamental concepts while focusing on your wishes.

Fancy Foliage Border Papers

At PaperDirect, we know flyer layout, graphics and presentation. Our professional flyer templates afford you easy access and complete control over developing a high quality brochure, pamphlet or promotional flyer tailored exactly to the needs of your business (or personal uses for parties, weddings and the like).

With our specialized advanced flyer designs you can make a flyer with templates in minutes, from the comfort of your own office, home or chair. Our no hassle custom flyer development platform couldn’t be easier. Get started today and create award winning flyers at a small fraction of the expense of even modest basic flyer development and creation costs!

Design Your Autumn Flyer

When it’s time to lay out your flyer, you’ll want to use a type style that’s easy to read. Be sure to balance bold and regular type using the bold type to grab attention for the most important part of the message while small and regular type styles can be used for the details of your message. A flyer without graphics or arts is blah, so you will want to include some art work in your flyer. Perhaps the simplest way is to use a pre-printed background appropriate to your message.

How about a Halloween-themed flyer? PaperDirect has Halloween border paper that will work great for your Halloween bash or festival. Check out these Halloween border papers:

Spooky Lane
Haunted Hill
Moonlight Mayhem
Good Ghost

And so many more Halloween border papers from which to choose!

Nothing says autumn better than brightly colored, seasonal fall border papers from PaperDirect. Shop online today, and in no time at all, your new fall border paper will be at your door.

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August 6, 2012

Improve Your Open Rate for Emails with These Tips

Filed under: Online Marketing Ideas — Tags: email — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

If you’re sending emails as part of a marketing strategy, do you know what your open rate is? If not, and if you have never even heard of “open rate” for emails, let’s take a look at what open rate is and how you can improve your open rate to boost business. Open rate for emails indicates the percentage of delivered emails that are opened by recipients. You get credit for an “open” email when images are enabled or a link in the email is clicked. A small one pixel by one pixel graphic is inserted into the email that you send. Then, each time the pixel is loaded, the email registers as having been opened.

Since recipients may open the email but not enable images or click on a link, this measurement can be inaccurate; however, for the most part, open rate for emails does give a business owner a fairly good picture of an email campaign’s performance. The open rate is calculated by dividing the number of emails opened by the total number of emails delivered and is expressed as a percentage.

Open Rate Facts and Figures

Generally speaking, open rates for small email lists do better than larger lists. According to MailerMailer’s “Email Marketing Metrics Report,” the average open rate for the past nine halves for 25-499 members was 28%; 500-999 members was 22.3%; and for 1000+ members was 12.2%. Which industries did the best regarding open rate? In the lists with 25-499 members, Transportation 51.6%, Religious 37.3%, and Retail 33.3% had the highest email open rates.

In the email lists going to 500-999 members, Retail did the best at 36.2%, Religious was at 31.2% and Real Estate was at 30.7%. For the largest email lists of a thousand or more recipients, Banking fared best with 16.4%, Transportation close second with 16%, Non-Profit coming in at 15.8% and Small Business tying third with 15.8% open rates.

Open rates for email will typically peak the first hour after delivery. The peak is followed by a decline over the next 47 hours, and open rates fall to zero. An email marketer can expect about half of their opens to happen in the first six hours and 77% within the first 24 hours.

We mentioned above that the open rate metric can be inaccurate. One contributing factor is the use of smart phones (and other devices) to open emails. Users who open emails on their phone will only see the text version of your email, so with no images being loaded, it appears as though the email is unread, which is not correct. At the current time, an email open rate can be off from 11-35%, so careful! Even though it can be inaccurate, the email open rate percentage is a good tool to use to gauge whether or not your email campaign is working. Most small business owners are looking for an email open rate of 20% or higher.

Questions? Read some PaperDirect blogs about email marketing and learn more!

Would you like to try a free email marketing campaign? Partners PaperDirect and ConstantContact can get you started with a free email marketing campaign and coach today if you like.

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July 4, 2012

Customizable Back to School Flyers for Your Events

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: business flyers, flyer — PDWriter @ 2:04 pm

Flyers are, perhaps, one of the most under-utilized tools to get information out to a large number of people in a short amount of time and at a fairly low cost. You will most often see flyers advertising new businesses, promoting upcoming concerts, touting certain religious beliefs, or spreading political messages.

Why You Need Back to School Flyers

The uses for flyers are practically endless. And with back to school time quickly approaching, let’s think about some ways you can use back to school flyers to get your message out. A lot goes on at the beginning of the school year: sports teams, cheerleaders and dance teams often hold tryouts at the beginning of the year. Clubs, such as the Student Council and Young Republicans, are often formed at the beginning of the year, and sometimes class elections for “Class President” are held early in the year. Here are some tips on how to design flyers for any occasion, especially those related to back to school events.

Back to School Flyer Content

One of the first and most important things that needs to be done is to plan your content. Gather all necessary information that must be included in the flyer and organize it so it’s easy to read and fun for the recipients. Too much content will be unappealing and your flyer will likely end up in the trash. Use short, succinct sentences and lots of vibrant language representative of whatever you are promoting. People are busy and attention spans are short. In order for your flyer to get noticed, it must stand out. If you don’t consider yourself a creative person, then enlist the help of others who are. Be sure the content is error free, and if contact information is necessary, make sure that it’s included: name, phone number, email address, physical address and even the website URL are all important information if some type of response is necessary.

Eye-Grabbing Graphics

Choosing attention-getting images related to your back to school event is the next step in designing your back to school flyer. Football team tryouts flyers could include helmets, footballs, goal posts and a scoreboard. Glee Club back to school flyers could include music notes and images from the popular TV show, “Glee” that has taken the nation by storm over the last three years. One important tip is to make sure your content does not get lost in the images. You do want to have enough appealing images to entice your recipients into becoming involved in whatever you’re announcing or advertising.

Do-it-yourself Back to School Flyers

If you want to design and print your own back to school flyers, there are some things to consider. First, your file layout may need to account for bleed and trim if you’re working with a commercial printing service. You can save yourself a lot of time and effort by ordering your flyers from PaperDirect, an online store with an extensive line of flyers for your back to school announcement.

Flyer Production Made Easy

PaperDirect will custom design and print your back to school flyers. Simply provide the information and in no time at all, you’ll have durable, professional, attractive flyers printed on high quality, durable paper.

Save time and money by using PaperDirect’s flyer templates; follow these easy steps and your back to school flyers will be done quickly and professionally:

Pick out the flyer design from the hundreds offered from PaperDirect.
Next, customize your flyer template by using personalization tools such as text boxes to fill in necessary information. Choose the font and text size, add images, borders, tabs, and continue to format your back to school flyer.
Continue to format the flyer to achieve your desired look. Click the big blue “help” button in the upper right hand corner at any time you need help.
Preview the flyer to ensure it is exactly what you want. When it’s perfect, click the “next” button to see what the flyer will look like.
Click the “checkout” button to pay for your purchase.
Finally, load blank stock paper (available from PaperDirect) into your printer and start printing. You can print one single flyer or hundreds at one time.

PaperDirect is your one-stop online shopping source for business supplies, event planning necessities and party supplies including invitations, place cards and table tents.

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May 14, 2012

DIY Outdoor Marketing – Designing A Marketing Banner Yourself

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: marketing — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

You can custom design your own banner (with a little help from PaperDirect)! Our vinyl banners make great advertising tools for grand openings, special sales, one-day only events, and the like. PaperDirect weather-resistant vinyl banners come in three sizes, and we can print and ship them to your door in just three days! DIY marketing saves money and allows you to create the banner you want.

With spring upon us and summer right around the corner, now is a great time to utilize DIY outdoor marketing techniques, and vibrant banners are a sure-fire way to grab people’s attention! Hang the banners over the entrance to your business or place them strategically around the neighborhood. Ask sister businesses if you can hang a banner on their storefront.

Using Banners for DIY Outdoor Marketing at Trade Shows

Your business can’t be a success if people don’t know about, and many people won’t seek out a new business–they’ll wait until they hear about it via word of mouth, some type of advertisement online or in a newspaper or drive by and see some type of eye-catching outdoor advertisement. Of course, the more people that see your advertisement, the more prospective customers you may get. There are numerous ways to promote your business. Participating in trade shows is one effective method of promoting your business, and one where banners from PaperDirect will work as a great advertising tool. When you use banners for advertising, sometimes banner stands are necessary.

Using a banner stand is a great way to keep your banner stationary if it’s a windy day or there’s a lot of foot traffic that may cause the banner to fall. Though banner stands are traditionally seen at mobile events and trade shows, they can be used for a variety of advertising campaigns.

Banner stands are easy to move from event to event and can be taken down and put up in a short period of time. Now, with such strict rules for carry-on and checked luggage at airports, having a portable banner stand will save you money. Make sure your banners are easy to transport in case you’re on a mobile advertising campaign that requires you to travel.

Looking for some creative DIY outdoor marketing techniques? Try vinyl banners from PaperDirect. You can design your own and PaperDirect will take care of the rest!

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May 2, 2012

Direct Mail Ideas That Work

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: mailing — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Even in an age where virtually every type of communication is done electronically, there are still direct mail ideas that work to promote your business and get customers to your door or your website. Postcards are an inexpensive, highly effective direct mail idea that has been used for decades. When designed and utilized properly, direct mail postcards can generate quite a bit of business for your company, large or small.

The key to direct mail postcards is to target the right audience–the demographic that you think needs your product or service. If you are new to postcard design and printing, these suggestions can help you make wise choices from the very start, and for you veteran postcard users, consider these tips to enhance your already-successful direct mail postcard marketing campaign.

Use vibrant, eye-catching colors on your postcards. Dull, lifeless postcards will likely end up in the trash. If you don’t get the recipient’s attention right away, you’ve probably missed your chance at getting a new customer or client. Many advertising experts emphasize the importance of using glossy postcard paper as a matte finish does not allow the graphics to jump off the postcard and catch the viewer’s attention.
Use a company that will not only design your postcard but will also print it. Why make extra work for yourself by having to deal with two firms? Find one that can do it all if you are not able to do it yourself.
Use images on your direct mail postcards. People like to see the product you’re selling, and a postcard with text only is not going to get the attention that images would. Incorporate a reasonable number of images. As with any suggestions, don’t over do it. More is not always better; make sure the images are relevant and applicable to the text that accompanies the graphics.
Include a coupon on the postcard. There is no greater incentive for a prospective customer to do business with you than a discounted price or a buy one get one free offer. The money you may lose in the beginning will pay off in dividends if those customers become regulars. The same philosophy is true with customer loyalty cards. For every ten purchases, offer an eleventh item of equal value free. So you know that it was the postcard that brought the customer in, be sure to indicate on the card that the customer must present the postcard at the time of purchase. Also, if a postcard recipient refers a new customer, reward the postcard holder with a discount, coupon or freebie.
Include a limited-time-offer call to action on the postcard. This will get customers to your door or website quickly because who wants to miss out on a limited time discount of some sort? Be clear about what the offer is and when it ends.
Include a couple of testimonials from actual customers on your direct mailings. Consumers can spot a fake testimonial, so be sure your testimonials are sincere and real.
Offer a money back guarantee if the customer is not satisfied with the product or service you have provided. Trust between consumer and business owner is imperative to success.

PaperDirect has postcards in many sizes and styles including over sized postcards and photo postcards. Read these PaperDirect blogs for more great direct mail ideas that work:

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April 17, 2012

Use Flyers to Market Your Business

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: business flyers, flyer — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

A well planned flyer can be a powerful marketing tool PaperDirect has a wide variety of flyer papers that can be used to promote your business. Pass them out at events, place on doors, or partner with other local business.

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April 11, 2012

Unique Marketing Ideas to Rise Above the Competition

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: marketing — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

In tough economic times, marketing your business is crucial to keeping it up and running. With limited money to spend, consumers must be choosy about where to spend their hard-earned dollars. When it comes to getting customers to your door or to your website, the key is to promote your products and services in a unique way that will make prospective buyers put your company at the top of their list.

Here are some unique marketing ideas for businesses large and small:

Compare your business to the competition and make it clear why yours is the best choice.
Focus on small details like creating an effective logo, clever tag line and attractive business brochures.
Offer specials deals and discounts, especially to first-time customers. The money you lose by giving discounts will be made up in the long run with repeat customers.
Personalize communication with customers. Send emails, direct mail postcards and other such communications to customers using their names. This creates a connection and makes the customer feel special.
Keep your website up to date and post new information regularly. Blogs are a great way to keep your clients and customers informed of new products and services you’re offering and shows that you’re putting effort into keeping your business going.
Post testimonials on your website. Ask regular customers to write honest reviews of your business and show your appreciation by offering a coupon or customer loyalty card.
Offer package deals. Some businesses may not be able to do this, but if the product or service you provide can be bundled, then offer customers more bang for their buck. Make it clear how much money will be saved by bundling, and the consumers will see the great deal they’re getting.
Get your business involved in the community by participating in a charity event or fundraiser. If there’s a county fair, have a booth and offer giveaways and samples of your products.
Support other local businesses. This establishes camaraderie with other companies and will get your face and company name out there in the community.
Team-up with your weaker competitors to beat your stronger competitors.
Beat your competition by giving away a similar product or service that they charge for or beat their price.

Need more unique marketing ideas? Check out these PaperDirect blogs:

If you need marketing supplies like banners, flyers and business cards, PaperDirect is your one-stop online source for all your business needs.

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March 20, 2012

Presentation and Trade Show Helpers

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Planning a presentation or trade show can be stressful and when done well can be beneficial for your business. PaperDirect has a wide variety of presentation and trades show products including trade show boards, presentation folders and vinyl banners.

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February 27, 2012

Creative Business Card Designs

Filed under: Designing Your Business Communication — Tags: business cards — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

Business cards are a must to get your company name out there. The PaperDirect blog has posted a lot of information to help you design or choose the business card that perfectly represents you and your business. Creative business card designs will get the recipient’s attention and make him/her more inclined to do business with you.

The ideal business card has the perfect combination of professionalism and creativity. PaperDirect has numerous creative business card designs from which to choose, and our convenient online shopping makes it easier for you to take your time and find the one you think is best for your needs.

Even though business cards must include contact information and often have the company logo on them, they can still be jazzed up to make them more creative. The more artistic and creative your business, the more creative your business card can be. You can choose different materials to have your business cards created from or use standard white business cards with black text. Your business cards can be portrait or landscape format, folded, or two-sided, but we recommend you keep them the standard size so they fit easily into business card holders that many people carry.

PaperDirect even has “print your own” business card templates allowing you to download our designs and print any time you like. Whether you need ten or a thousand, these easy-to-use templates will surely produce the creative business card design you want. An 8.5″ X 11″ sheet of paper you choose prints 10 cards per sheet in full color for a one- or two-sided design. It’s that easy. With no waiting for delivery and with our selection of business card verses to use, you will have as many business cards you need in no time at all. All you need is a computer and printer, and the rest of the supplies come from PaperDirect.

For more ideas regarding creative business card designs, read “Make a Good First Impression with Eye Catching Business Cards.”

Just imagine the creative flair you can add to your business cards yet still keeping the message professional and informative. Why not order online today at PaperDirect?

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February 14, 2012

How to Make Business Flyers

Filed under: Marketing & Sales Promotion Techniques — Tags: business flyers, design flyers, DIY flyers, flyer — PDWriter @ 8:00 am

If you think making a business flyer is way beyond your creative ability, PaperDirect can change your way of thinking by providing step-by-step instructions for making business flyers. We can show you the steps of how to make a business flyer that looks professional, eye-catching and memorable. Using PaperDirect’s flyer templates, you can save money and time by doing it yourself. Simply follow these easy steps, and, in no time at all, you’ll be making business flyers like a pro!

First, pick out the flyer you want from the over 500 choices PaperDirect offers.
Next, customize your flyer template by using personalization tools such as text boxes to fill in all the necessary information. Choose the font and text size, add images, borders, tabs, and continue to format your business flyer to achieve your desired look. If at any time you need assistance, simply click the big blue “help” button in the upper right hand corner.
Previewing your business flyer is the next step in the process of making business flyers. Once everything looks exactly how you want it to look, click the “next” button to see what your business flyer will look like.
Click the “checkout” button to pay for your purchase.
Finally, load blank stock paper (available from PaperDirect) into your printer and start printing. You can print one single flyer or hundreds at one time.

Yes, it’s that simple!

Flyers are a great marketing tool to get your company’s information out there to a lot of people quickly. Making business flyers has never been easier with flyer templates from PaperDirect. Everything you need (except the printer) is available at PaperDirect’s online store, and we even have some ideas to help get your creative juices flowing. Read these PaperDirect blogs to get more information about how to make a business flyer that really works: “Unique Flyer Design Ideas…” and “How to Design Flyers…”

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