We would like to introduce you to the newest member of the P & B family. She’s an important member of the team, and is a strong force that is going to increase our output capability and put our production times into lightspeed!
Help us welcome Leia, our new Xerox Versant 80 Press:
We won’t have to worry about down-time again with this additional machine in our growing printing arsenal. Don’t let her good looks fool you, though. She’s one tough cookie with a head for no-nonsense, fast and efficient digital printing and an eye for color on any stock you give her.
She truly is the princess of our shop, joining all of our other great equipment that helps us provide you with the variety of products and services you need and expect.
We can’t wait to get Leia to work on your next project, so come on down and meet her!
Back to school time is just around the corner. Now’s the time to order new promo items to fit the season. We can design custom totes, pens, highlighters, rulers, lunch bags, and more! Check out our special ”Back to School” catalog.
Did you know that 25% of workers feel less productive during June, July and August than in the rest of the year? Check out this infographic about the office summer slump. Depending on your business, your sales may be experiencing a summer slump, too. Here are some tips to battling the summer slump:
1. Boost morale in the office!
— When’s the last time you did some team building? Brought donuts for the team? Gave positive comments to your staff? It’s the little things that mean a lot, and will energize your team.
2. Brainstorm
— Hold a brainstorming session with your team. Let them feel free to offer any suggestions to improve sales or reach. Don’t knockdown any ideas, write them all down, and let them know you’ll review them, or if you immediately like it, let them run with the idea. Give your team ownership, make them really feel apart of the company.
3. Reach out
— Reconnect, or connect for the first time with your clients. Do you have a newsletter? Now’s a good time to start one. Did you know it takes 7 “touches” to get a client to make an action? Send your clients a survey ask key questions so you can improve.
4. Network
— Join local business groups, go to a meetup in your industry, make sure to have business cards and / or promotional items to give out. Interact with your community to build your reach.
5. Social Media
— Maybe you don’t “get it”, or don’t have time for it, but in this day and age it is a vital part of promoting your business. We can help you with custom graphics, if you don’t have a designer.
We hope this post will get your wheels turning and help you beat the summer slump.
We recently produced some custom labeled bottled water to give to a local radio station, and we just wanted to show them off! They turned out great and it shows how you can customize nearly ANYTHING if you have the notion.
We are proud at how these turned out, and the folks at the Dudley & Bob show on KLBJ liked them too. They gave us a couple of shout-outs during the show! Take a listen below, and call us if you want to create your own unique bottles for your next party or event.
*”A brand’s visual identity is the overall look of its communications. Effective visual brand identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colors, and graphic elements. At the core of every brand identity is a brand mark, or logo.”
When is the last time you gave your business a facelift? Is your logo outdated, are your colors reflecting your business the way they should? We know you’re busy, but it’s good to take a moment to review what you’re putting out there.
Here are some things you should consider if your brand is in need of some polishing up…
Why do you think you need to rebrand?
Has your customer profile changed?
Are you stuck being viewed as something that you (or your customers) have outgrown?
Does your brand tell the wrong (or outdated) story?
What do you want to convey? To whom?
Has there been a change with your competition that is impacting your growth potential?
Is your brand out of step with the current needs and desires of your customers?
If you were starting your business today, would this be the brand identity you would want?
Your brand identity should tell a cohesive story from your logo, to your website, to your marketing materials, to your business cards. Take a look at your branding and see if it’s still telling the story you want it to tell.
Did you know for every 2,000 business cards you give out, company sales increase by close to 3%? That’s a lot of power in a small card you can easily give out. Here are some tips on making your card stand out and stay in your customer’s hands.
Quality
If your cards have a little more weight to them, they’ll feel worth keeping, and stay in good shape. Your clients will see your investment in your card as your investment into your business. Show them you know you’re worth it.
Design
You want the design of your card to showcase your logo, who you are, and what you do.
Who Are You
Put a name and title on your card to connect with your clients. Include a tagline or description of what you offer, otherwise they could forget and your card will end up in the trash.
Communication Options
Not everyone likes to communicate the same way. You need to give your clients options to reach you, otherwise you’ve wasted an opportunity.
Email address
Web Address (aka URL) — putting your web address gives them another way to contact you, since you should have a contact page on your site.
Phone (if you put business and personal, make sure to note which is which) — believe it or not, calling is still some people’s preferred method of contact.
Physical Address — if you business is primarily online a physical address is not necessary. Only include it if you have a storefront.
Social Media
Focus on the channels that resonate with your client base (and where you are active).
QR Code
These can take up a lot of space, so evaluate if you have enough room on your card for it, and if your potential clients are likely to use it.
Call To Action
Why not add a sentence to say “email me today for a quote!” or “visit our site”? Calls to action can influence your potential client to reach out.
Proof
Before you approve your cards to go to print, make sure your proofread everything. Get a second set of eyes from your office on the content, you know what your contact information looks like, but sometimes you can glance too quickly and miss something small like a switched number.
Now that you know what should go on your business cards, let’s go to print so you can give those cards out and increase your sales!
Do you have a wedding coming up this fall or winter? Congratulations! We know how exciting this time can be. Did you know Save the Dates should go out 4-6 months before your wedding, or 6-8 months for a destination wedding? Here’s are some tips for after you’ve set the date and location…
Hire a photographer to get your engagement photos taken
Mail your Save the Dates
As we mentioned Save the Dates should be sent 4-6 months before the wedding. If you’re having a destination wedding, save the dates should be sent 6-8 months in advance. Add in a few weeks if your wedding falls on or near a holiday.
If most of your guests will be traveling no matter where you’re getting married, it’s good etiquette to include further information or a reference to your wedding website so guests can begin making plans as far out as they like.
Keep in mind many of your guests will need to request time off, possibly arrange childcare, and save money, so try to get as much information out as early as you can.
Formal invitations should follow the Save the Dates roughly 8 weeks before your big day. So much to plan and coordinate! We hope these tips will help you out. We’re here for you when you’re ready to design something unique for your special day.
Mother’s Day is just one month away. That gives you a month to come up with something more than flowers and candy
(though don’t forget the flowers!). We have some ideas to help you make this coming Mother’s Day even more special.
— Create a family tree
We can take your family tree and design it to be frame worthy.
— Family calendar
While we are closer to mid-year, this will give you an instant gift idea for next year, too. The calendar can have family birthdays and anniversaries pre-printed, and feature family photos for every month.
— The old trusty coupon book
We all know what mom really wants is to spend more time with you. We can design a more grown-up version for you to give.
— Enlarge a wedding, anniversary, or a family photo to be framed
We can do color corrections, and even clean up some of those old torn photos.
— Put together a family yearbook
Pull photos of everyone in the family and show everyone’s milestones. We can help with design and layout and bind it up nicely.
We hope this list helps spark some ideas to give your mom something unique this year. Let us know how we can help you create something special.
Spring is here! Spring cleaning is not just for your home. You should include it in your business as well. Have you started spring cleaning your work space? What about your digital files? I bet those files could use some sorting and deleting. Another thing you can do for your business in the spring is include spring colors in your marketing. Pantone comes out with the color trends for each year in advance giving you a chance to see what colors you can mix in with your short term marketing materials.
Does using new colors scare you? We’re here to help! We can help you freshen up your marketing materials keeping up with current trends, but staying true to your brand. This will free you up to work on the sorting and cleaning up of your office.
After we print your files for you, let us help you keep them together with one of the many binding options at P&B Print. Not all options are right for all types of bound materials, so here are just some of the possibilities for binding your book or photo album:
Coil Binding / Spiral Binding
Probably the most common binding choice you’ll find at your local printers (like us!) is coil binding, also known as spiral binding. It consists of a coiled strip of plastic that loops through holes punched into your paper. It is available in a variety of colors and sizes and is a sturdy and secure option for both thick and thin books.
Comb Binding
Comb binding (or GBC) is composed of a set of plastic “teeth” that are hooked into a set of square notches punched into the paper. You don’t see comb bound books as often, but they can still be found in the wild. The main advantage to this type of binding, is the ease of page removal and you can add new pages to the bound set without destroying the binding. The down side to this is that it isn’t the most secure of the options available to you. Books bound in this fashion lay flat when opened and it is best for thick books.
Tape Binding
The least secure of these three types of quick binding is the tape bind. It is a thin strip of book-binding tape that is coated in glue. The tape and the stack of pages to be bound are put into a machine that heats the glue and adheres it to the spine of the soon-to-be-book. Once it’s cool and dry, the glue holds the pages in a similar fashion to a book you might find in a store. The downside? You can’t really lay a tape bound book open flat. If you force it, the spine can crack and the glue could release some of the pages. Tape binding is good for manuscripts or something where a plastic spine would normally get in the way.
Saddle-Stitch
You’ve probably seen this type of binding in instruction manuals or small magazines. A large stack of printed paper is folded in half and then stapled at least twice along the spine to hold it together. This binding option is usually the cheapest and fastest, though it typically only holds around 20 sheets of larger paper (which translates to a 40-60 page document). Saddle-stitching is relatively strong and can lay flat when opened completely, though it will take a little smoothing out at first.
