A simple question that plagues business owners everyday is how to
attract new clients to their business. If you are a budding entrepreneur
or a small business owner then this question is probably what keeps you
awake at night.

Even those with a steady stream of clients need new clients to keep the
profits coming in. Most small businesses do not have thousands of
dollars to spend on marketing campaigns, be it brochure printing or
print catalogs. There are still many ways to promote your business and
conduct an extensive advertising or marketing campaign even with a
shoestring budget.

Here is how:

Begin by asking. It is the simplest technique in the book but often the
most ignored. Do not shy away from your clients and simply ask them how
they found out about your business. Better yet, if you are still
employed, ask your clients how they found your company. Then use the
information you have to start promoting your business. By asking, you
will learn what worked to get clients to come in.

Custom fit your offer and let your prospects know about it. This means
looking for that niche that will get you recognized by your target
clients. Ask around and see what services have not been offered yet.
Then be an expert on that particular niche. Call around and see what
shops or stores are closed to new customers and then let them know that
you are open to serve them. Do not be afraid to ask for referrals from
other shops. You will never know who are willing to help you if you do
not ask.

Have a print sales literature. Every business, a reputable one at that,
is expected to have printed sales literature such as brochures. People
looks for one every time. In addition, it is one way of getting the word
out about your services. Brochure printing is the best way to have a
printed literature about your products and services, even about your
business as a whole. You can do your own brochures and print it in your
office printer if you do not have that much budget for professional
printing.

Have a website. The Internet has become the no. 1 venue for customers
looking for the products and services they need. By having a website,
you can avail of the opportunity of having millions of people that might
browse your site. You might be surprised by how many clients would tell
you that they actually found you on the Internet.

Pay for an ad in the yellow pages. On the other hand, look for various
directories available in your area or locality. As there would be a lot,
you have to choose which ones would best promote your business to your
target clients. Not to mention that you also have to consider the amount
that you are going to pay to have the ad. Many people still use the
yellow pages when they look for services so it would be a wise move on
your part to consider it part of your marketing activities.

Lastly, keep track of your results. Use it again if a technique works; or adjust it to get the results you expect.

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Using calendars for marketing has always been a proven effective. So if
you want to invest in calendar printing for marketing, I highly
recommend it. Small and big business alike can get great marketing
advantages with their custom calendars. This includes getting increased
sales as public relations mileage for corporate image building.

In this guide, I will give you seven easy to follow tips in calendar
marketing. These tips should help you get started in efficiently waging a
marketing campaign using your own custom color calendars.

1. Print custom calendars early – The first essential tip that you
should know is that you should print your custom calendars early. Do not
actually wait till the end of the year to print your marketing
calendars. Have them ready one or two months before the new year. People
already look for new calendars a month or so before the new year for
their own personal use or for gift giving. So make sure your marketing
calendars are ready for these people. This is a great way to distribute
your marketing calendars early on and get more people to take them home.

2. Make your marketing calendars useful – Another important tip when
creating marketing calendars is to always make them useful. Don’t just
add in calendar tables that only have dates. Make space for each date so
that people can add in personal notes and events. The more useful your
color calendar is the more people will take it home with them. This
should help quite immensely in your distribution efforts and should give
you a wider market audience for your marketing calendars.

3. Use unique memorable images for each month – For your monthly images,
a good rule to abide by in designing those images is to always make
them memorable. Do not just print out the usual lame images of your
products or of panoramic views. Always use a very memorable image that
really looks interesting to people. This means that you will have to
create your own original images for your calendars with special
compositions that really engage the reader. Aim for funny, artistic as
well as shocking images for each month for the best kind of memorable
impact.

4. Have a product or business logo for each month – For your public
relations efforts, it is a good tip to always have a product or business
logo at each monthly page in your color calendars. You should always
display these symbols prominently to increase their exposure. The more
visible they are, the more readers will recognize you beyond the
calendars themselves. This is a small investment that can go a long way
for business exposure.

5. Include important dates and holidays related to your company –
Another great tip for marketing calendars is to always put in important
dates and holidays related to your company. For example, the company’s
foundation day as well as important milestones in business can be
inserted among all the other holidays throughout the year. Since they
are marked as an event, readers will most likely look at these company
events to see what it is all about. You’ll at least get a glance or two
from them when you do this and you add exposure to your business because
of this.

6. Always add invitations to do business – You should also always
remember to add invitations to do business or buy from you in all your
custom calendar pages. People must always be reminded about the process
of ordering or doing business with you. They usually must be told what
to do since they will not actively think about it unless they read it.
So make sure you put in statements like “call us now at…” or “visit us
now at…” so that you invite people to do something about your
marketing calendars. Believe me, this will increase your response rates
for marketing color calendars.

7. Always include all avenues of contacting you – Finally of course, do
not forget to list down and include all the different avenues that
people can use to contact you about your marketing calendars. Always
print out your telephone number, fax number, mobile phone number,
website URL, email address as well as your full physical address. This
will be key factors for responding to your marketing calendars that is
why you should always have them printed prominently as well.

Great! You should now have a better and more efficient time in calendar
marketing after those tips. With the right kind of strategies in
calendar printing and design, it should be easy to do marketing
correctly with calendars as tools. Good luck!

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For a business to work from beginning and all throughout, you need to
have the enthusiasm and zeal in what you do as well as the undying
commitment to the passion that makes it exist in the first place. For a
business to succeed, risks should be taken but flaws and slip-ups should
be avoided as much as possible. So that before a businessman could even
commence his business, he needs utmost planning and preparing for
whatever crisis he might meet along the way. Indeed, any businessman
would say that starting a business and seeing it through is truly a
daunting yet challenging mission.

Businesses succeed because of the countless customers that have come to
trust and continuously support their products and services. Customers
also dictate the prices of these goods in the market. Nevertheless,
clients can be drawn to your product or service in more ways than one.
Entrepreneurs have come to discover these ways — from giving out
product samples to flyers and brochures to business calendars that are
made personalized in sync with a businessman’s needs.

At this time and age, having printed materials and items personalized is
one great benefit that technology has caused. And businessmen are some
of those people who have taken advantage of the use of these
personalized items to catch a bigger audience. One of these personalized
items that are widely used by businesses the world over are calendars.
Absolutely, calendars have been tried and tested — they are a true
innovative and efficient venue of advocating and advertising one’s
business. Therefore, if you make your calendars reflective of your
company’s image and identity, you can expect more people to know about
your business and understand whatever it is you are espousing.

To give your business calendars that memorable personal touch, it is
truly crucial to think of extraordinary ideas that would make it
remarkable and all the more impressive. It would be so much easier to
get your message across once you have brought life to your ideas through
your calendars. So how do you put your business calendars into the
hands of your clients? You can leave them on your front desk or counter
where your prospects can easily grab one. Or you can have them sent to
your patrons or partners if you want a more personal and straightforward
message delivery. By doing the latter, you make your clients feel
important and valued; thus, you keep them coming back. You can really
never go wrong with using business calendars in promoting your product
and your business in general.

Another great thing about personalized business calendars is that it
never falls short of capturing attention because of its distinctiveness
and creativeness. Also, imagine how calendars can be that important as
well in everyday living. Who doesn’t need a calendar? Who doesn’t turn
to a calendar in preparation, planning and scheduling? Thus, when you
hand out a business calendar, you make it serve a lot of purposes for
your client. Indeed, calendars, with its several functionalities, are
superior marketing collaterals.

Nevertheless, make sure that your business calendars are the best that
they can be. Compose attention-grabbing headlines and statements as well
as brief yet engaging text. Also, don’t forget to put in eye-catching
images and photos captured in high resolution. That is how you make
people listen and pay attention to your message. That is how your
business calendars can work wonders for you.

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Probably you would agree with me if I say starting and making any
business work is a nerve-wracking task to do. Before you could even get
your engines running, you have to plan out everything properly and
completely. Yes you have to take risks but you cannot afford to commit
mistakes. And yes you have to have the passion and commitment to make
your business love you back. What make businesses achieve success are
the hundreds or thousands of customers that patronize their products or
services. The latter too establish the prices. But did you know that are
so many ways of drawing clients to your business? Among these are
providing product samples, distributing brochures and flyers and even
giving away business calendars with a personal business touch.

One good thing about technology today is that we can now have
personalized items and materials made for our use. These personalized
thingies are mostly used nowadays by entrepreneurs to capture a larger
market to try their product. And one of these items that is widely and
commonly given out are calendars. Through the years, calendars have
proven to be an effective yet creative ways of making people learn about
one’s business. Now when you personalize your calendars to be attuned
to your business needs, you even draw more clients to pay attention to
your product.

It is therefore vital to concoct out-of-the-ordinary ideas to get your
business calendars personalized. Once you have decided on the best idea,
communicating it to your audience would come smoothly and easily. What
you can do to distribute your calendars effectively is to put them on
your counter or lobby desk so anyone can quickly spot them and get hold
of a copy. If you want a more personal dissemination, you might also
want to send or mail your business calendars to some of your loyal
patrons. Now this one’s a wise move of keeping your clients because you
make them feel important and special to you. Certainly, calendars are a
brilliant way of promoting and advocating your business.

In addition, personalized business calendars are a distinctive type of
advertising material and will therefore never fail to catch anyone’s
attention. Apart from its advertising capabilities, its functionalities
are unparalleled. Through time, calendars have become part of people’s
everyday lives. It has become a valuable planning tool, be it at home,
in the office or in any other arena that needs preparation and
scheduling.
Therefore, as a businessman, you have to instantly give out your
calendars once you have them printed. Hand them out to as many target
customers possible. You cannot afford to waste time. You have to
instantly get your business out there so you can immediately gain the
profits you are aiming for. Remember, every person can be a prospective
client, so waste no calendar. Put them into the hands of your prospects
at once.

You are sure to be surrounded by a lot of potential clients wherever
your business may be situated. Your calendars must speak well of your
business so your clients will have the impression that your company is
the best in the area. The trick here is to have the most impressive
marketing campaign not only through your calendars but through your
other marketing collaterals as well. Your aim is to really make your
audience remember and support your business to the highest level.

Just remember to include in your business calendars an eye-catching
headline and striking photos and images to steal more attention. If you
truly want people to listen to what you have to say, give them something
they can appreciate, understand and relate to. And that’s basically
what your business calendars can do.

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After you’ve chosen your business name, logo, and successfully launched
your store, it’s time to select the marketing materials that would tell
your customers about your business. In most cases, businesses use
several materials in their campaign. These can include all or some of
the following:

• Business card. This is a small piece of paper that contains
information about the business such as business name, logo, address, and
contact numbers. It can also contain slogans or short messages at the
back.
• Stationery with letterhead. These are pieces of paper bonded together
that contains the basic information of the business in the letterhead.
Each piece of paper is printed with a letterhead.
• Postcard. This is used to send to customers to keep in touch with them.
• Greeting cards. These are sent to customers long after the sale is
done as a way of showing appreciation to them. This helps customers know
how important they are to the business.
• Booklets. This type of material mixes the function of catalogs and
flyers. A booklet printing highlights the products of the company and
tells people more about the business.
• Brochures. This is used to showcase the products or services of the company to encourage readers to make a purchase.

Any of these materials can be use to promote your business. But of
course, if you use a combination of materials you need to make them look
consistent. Consistency is the key to creating materials that grabs
people’s attention. If your brochures, catalogs, booklets, and postcards
look coherent, you are actually telling your customers of the quality
of your products or services. To build consistency you need to consider
the following elements:

• Background. This refers to what you would put in support of the overall look of your material.
• Color. The choice of color does a lot to the success of a material. It
is important that you choose the right colors in all your materials to
maintain consistency.
• Font choices. Choose simple and readable fonts in all your materials.
• Graphics. Make sure to choose graphics that are consistent to your business and the image you wan to project.

When all these elements are done coherently, you can be sure to create a strong and easily recognizable brand.

Many business owners, though, make the mistake of creating marketing
materials that they won’t actually use. Just because they see their
competitors using them, they insist on using them as well. Keep in mind
that when you print a material, you are spending money and time for it.
If after printing your materials simply sit in a corner in your office,
you are just wasting money, and even office space, that could have been
used for more important endeavors.

This is why it is essential that before you decide on using a
promotional material, be it a flashy and costly brochure or a cheap
booklet printing, analyze your promotional need and budget first. Don’t
simply jump into the situation and claim that whatever works for your
competitors will work for you as well.

Keep in mind that every business strives for customer satisfaction,
competence and increased profitability. If you have the right marketing
materials, you have a certain edge against your competitors. Your
products would seem better and your service more impressive. That would
be a plus factor for you.

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Nowadays, more and more business owners have turned to another effective
advertising medium — bulk mailing. If you have anything to advertise,
bulk mailing can help you efficiently promote your product or service.
For one, your market is directly and highly targeted. It may also be a
cheaper form of advertising. These days, people would rather read bulk
mail than bulk email. The latter has come to be considered as spam. In
this article, you will understand the basics of bulk mailing that may
come in handy once you embark on this activity.

Firstly, you should come up with your mailing list. This can come in two
ways — it can either be affordable yet time-consuming or costly yet
convenient. You may choose to use a mailing list provider which can help
you target your market according to location and annual income among
others. This, however, could be costly on your part.

You might also want to create your list by doing an online search. In
the same way that using the Yellow Pages will give you the information
that you want. However, this could take up so much of your time. If you
have already established your business, it is good if you have already
your very own mailing list.

The next thing you need to do is apply for a bulk mailing permit. What
you can do is contact the Business Mail Entry Unit of your post office
and ask a bulk mail permit from them. Bulk mail has also come to be
called Standard Mail. It is a class lower than First Class; hence, it is
actually cheaper per piece. Now you might want to affix the postage
yourself or you might want to have a “permit imprint. When you affix the
postage yourself, it may take up some time but there is no permit fee
to pay. On the other hand, a Permit Imprint can make you print your
permit number on the mail. It also allows you to write “US POSTAGE
PAID”. In so doing, you can pre-print your envelopes without worrying
over affixing the postages yourself. This, however, entails a yearly
fee.

Once you have done this, the next step is to gather your supplies. As
required by the Post Office, the bulk mail should be sorted and
classified and put on USPS-approved trays. These can be found at the
post office in your vicinity.

After this, it’s time for you to clean and prepare your mail block and
addresses. One of the requirements of the Post Office is the conformity
of the addresses in each mail piece to some USPS standards. For
instance, it advises that you utilize your full Zip+4 codes, meaning the
extra 4 digits after the standard 5-digit zip code should be indicated.

The step to be done next is to print and sort your mails. It is highly
recommended that mail pieces be classified based on exacting
specifications. You can, however, do this easily by sorting your mails
before printing. For instance, you might want to use Microsoft Excel to
classify your mails. Now, putting your mails inside envelopes can also
be wearisome. If you want to undertake multiple mailing, you might want
to purchase and invest in a machine that is called folder-inserter. It
makes the envelope-stuffing process fully automated, and therefore
faster and more convenient.

Now the next step to take is to deposit your mail. Standard mails must
be deposited at a drop facility that has been pre-designated. Talk with
the Business Mail Entry Unit about your drop point.

But let me ask you this. Are you a businessman who is already using
mailing services? If you already are, I’m pretty sure you can attest to
the great advantage of hiring mailing services – that is directly
reaching out to your prospective customers. A mailing services company
can provide you with these mailing services. You can go online and
search for these companies. It is time for you to find out the benefits
of getting professional mailing services to advocate your product
straightforwardly and establish relations with your prospects.

So if you want your advertising efforts to succeed, you can go try bulk
mailing. You have two choices – do it through your local Post Office or
hire professional mailing services to do the groundwork. See what works
best for you.

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