Banners

Make your storefront stand out from the rest with banners. Perfect for grand openings, sales and special events, you can customize your banners to fit the occasion. Hanging up a banner can signal to people that something special is going on in your business. If you are hosting an event or sale, don’t forget to include important details such as the date, time and name of your event.

Window Decals

Do you have people visiting or passing by your business on a regular basis? Then a window decal is a great way to add a little more advertising power to your marketing efforts. Some of the many uses for window decals include listing your business hours, displaying a menu and promoting a sale. Window decals can also be used on car windows and offer an affordable alternative to car door magnets.

Lawn Signs

Catch the attention of passersby with lawn signs. Need some ideas on how to use them? Try putting a special offer or sale on your sign to draw in more business. If your business is located off a main road, consider putting a sign on a street corner with an arrow pointing to your store. Lawn signs are also great for anyone who wants to showcase work they’ve done on a specific property, such as landscapers, construction companies and real estate agencies.

Posters

Hang up posters that feature special offers or events on bulletin boards around town to make an impact on the local community. When designing your poster, consider making it into a calendar which you can give away as a promotional item. This will have customers and prospects thinking of you year-round.

Car Door Magnets

Looking for a quick, easy and inexpensive way to get the word out about your business? It doesn’t get simpler than advertising with car door magnets. This type of signage does double-duty. First, it allows you to brand your vehicles with your logo, company name and tagline without having to get a costly paint job. Second, by spending only a little, you can advertise to a lot of people simply by driving around town, leaving your car in the driveway, or parking in a lot.

Putting up signs to increase your business may seem too easy to be true, but with the right signage, you’ll be sure to keep new customers walking in your door.

Letterhead

Whether you’re sending out direct mail or simply corresponding with partners or vendors, having branded letterhead is like putting your stamp of approval on anything that gets printed on it. People always look for a logo, symbol or brand message to assure themselves that documents are authentic and actually from the business or organization being represented. By adding your logo you not only make your documents look more official, but you reinforce the authority of your brand and create increased recognition.

Envelopes

Simultaneously save time and reinforce your brand by purchasing envelopes that match your letterhead. By coordinating your stationery you’ll have a consistent look that will make you instantly recognizable to customers and prospects. You can also print your return address directly on your envelopes, saving you from the tedious task of writing it out every time you send something through the mail.

Return Address Labels

Return address labels are an affordable, yet effective way to brand your mail. Even if you don’t have letterhead or customized envelopes, return address labels let your target audience know where the mail is coming from and who you are. Furthermore, by adding your logo, you can continue to create brand awareness. To complete your stationery set you can match your labels to your letterhead and other marketing materials like brochures, window signs, car door magnets and more.

Holiday Cards

A great way to strengthen customer loyalty and make a positive impression on customers is to send out branded holiday cards and postcards. You can let customers know that you’re thinking of them during the holiday season while reinforcing your brand identity by adding your logo and a custom message to your cards.

Presentation Folders

Let customers know how professional and organized you are with presentation folders. If you own the type of business where you frequently need to present your customers with paperwork – like a real estate agency, home remodeling business or insurance agency – presentation folders can complete the reliable and experienced impression you want to make. For further cohesion, match your folders with your other stationery – and definitely add your logo.

Establishing a brand identity takes time and effort and requires you to do more than just slap your logo and tagline on your stationery and marketing materials. However, with these basic items you can lay the foundation for a solid, recognizable brand that shows customers and prospects that you’re the right business for them.

Creating custom notebooks is simple.  You can use your own design or customize an online template in seconds!   Designing custom materials for all of your employees is a great way to create unity and convey professionalism.  Consider matching folders, too!

Having a real person answer the phone instead of a recording is a simple way to directly reach more customers.  If customers can reach an actual person, they are more likely to call again.

Today comanies such as Vistaprint use Twitter to post top deals and special offers. Companies will tend to either post deals directly on Twitter or often send link to their top deals page where customers can choose which offer they like, sometimes it’s a combination of both. As Twitter continues to grow and evolve it will be interesting to see how Twitter and other social media sites affect businesses.

Keep your family in mind when planning your small business.  Talk openly about the changes that will take place.  Also, do your best to coordinate schedules, as to avoid conflicts.  Ask your family to share in this new experience.  Ask for help and have everyone perform a few simple tasks.  This way, everyone will feel like part of a team, and family time won’t be so difficult to squeeze in.  However, it is important that there is a quiet workspace available, somewhere that you can concentrate and be productive.

Having a real person answer the phone instead of a recording is a simple way to directly reach more customers.  If customers can reach an actual person, they are more likely to call again.

You are much better off pursuing other potential clients or taking a closer look at your marketing strategy.

1)      Limit text- The goal of a PowerPoint presentation is to summarize a particular chunk of information.  Use bulleted lists instead of long paragraphs of text.  Elaborate on each point as you speak.  Bullets and lists are easier to read and more likely to hold people’s attention.

2)      Limit animations- Keep it simple.  A few carefully selected animations are okay, but you don’t want a lot of distracting graphics or slide transitions.

3)      Visual aids- Visual aids are great.  If you have a lot of numerical information, make a chart.  Use programs like Excel to create charts quickly and easily.  These charts will help the visual learners in the audience to understand.

4)      Create a template- Make your life easier; create a template for all of your PowerPoint presentations.  This template should be clean and simple, and complement your business.  Create a template that matches your business cards or letterhead for an ultra-professional look.   Be sure to include your logo somewhere in the presentation.

5)      Make it available- After the presentation, make sure everyone in the audience knows where they can find the presentation for future reference.  It is also a good idea to print out a copy for everyone in attendance.

After you have taken note on what sites might be of use to you, do another search for company coupons.  For some reason, many people don’t think to do this.  You would be surprised at how many online retailers (i.e. Vistaprint Deals) have special deals or limited time offers.  Also, follow the company on Twitter.  Twitter is a great way for retailers to get in touch with consumers quickly and easily.  Great deals are often posted on Twitter.  Now determine which site will ultimately give you the best deal.

After you have gone through the online shopping process, take a look at the company’s privacy and security policy.  Find out how the site processes your information.  Also, don’t forget about the shipping and handling fees.  Often times, the default option is not the least expensive.  If you don’t need your products immediately, choose the least expensive shipping option.  This will save you money, and chances are, your purchase will arrive earlier than you estimated anyway.