Get Professional or Get Lost

And I don't mean the sort where I say "Scram, you're bugging me."  Like I discussed last time, if you want customers to actually use a program - be it loyalty, discount, etc - you need to provide them with some form of marketing material.  This is sort of the second half of that.  I find this topic to be very important to me, therefore, as a head's up, this is a more verbose article.  This means a lot to me so I'm typing out very plainly for all to see.

Provide professional looking marketing materials.

Now, I go further in depth on this one.  Anything that a potential client has a chance to look at should look as if it's professionally made.  I am not saying everything that you print and hand out has to look like a work of art, but it should look nice.  Plus, you don't have to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on printed material.  But by spending a few dollars, it may give your clients a more favorable opinion of you.  I'm going to start with a few ways that you can still get high quality printed material for far less than going to a design studio to produce it.  Then, I will give you an example of how this can be really lucrative for you. 

Business cards are one thing that you should definitely have if you own your own business.  If you're just starting out, I'm sure you don't have a $250 budget just for printing business cards.  You don't have to spend that much, but too little can make your material seem cheap.  For example, one thing I really dislike is getting a business card that has perforation marks on it.  In my mind, this person isn't legit and they are too cheap to get business cards made.  They also may not be serious about their business or the product they are providing for you. But the thing is you don't have to buy 2,000 business cards and spend $150.  You have options.  You can go to Office Depot and purchase Avery Business Card products that have clean edges and come in quantities of 30 to 2500.  Another idea, that I personally love, is using an on-line printing company.  There are other places besides Kinkos.  A site that I really like is called VistaPrint.  Several times I have gotten personalized return address labels.  They aren't that expensive and they really show off my personality.  But VistaPrint offers many products including premium business cards.  They also offer free business cards if you aren't dedicated to a logo.  They offer several different templates that range from whimsical to very business like.  Granted, you may have to pay $5.45 for Shipping and Handling, but it's still 250 business cards for roughly $0.02 a card.   

Besides business cards, make sure all pamphlets and handouts look professional too.  I know that it may be easy to just type something up on the computer and print it out.  But take some time.  And you can print it out at home, but make sure you have a nice color printer and high quality paper.  And DON'T PHOTOCOPY!!!!  I have nothing against photocopying for somethings, but doing it for all of your material is unnecessary.  Changing the color of the paper also doesn't change the fact that it's a photocopy.  It may be cheap, but I hate getting photocopied material where some piece of information is missing because it wasn't scanned in properly.  I could literally write for hours about the need for personalized folders (if you provide a lot of information), glossy finish tri-fold pamphlets, high quality paper stock vs. generic ink-jet paper, but I won't.  I will explain how spending a little bit more for nicer materials can really pay.

Every year for the last three years I have had to move. I like choices when looking at apartments.  My last move occurred in May of this year and I visited about a dozen different complexes before deciding.  As petty as this sounds, if an apartment complex had a crummy looking marketing folder, they were automatically off my list.  Giving me a piece of paper which is supposed to include amenities but the last word is cut off just doesn't cut it with me.  Also, complexes that had information, but it had been written on rather than reprinted also bugged me.  It made me feel like they were more interested in getting me to sign a lease rather than making me feel at home in my new community.  I ended up renting an apartment, not only that I liked and fit all of my criteria, but they had a very nice folder with glossy inserts, no missing words, and it was all organized very nicely.  Considering I spend about $950 a month on an apartment, that's a pretty sizable chunk of my income.  $950/month * 12 months = $11400  While the marketing material wasn't the only contributing factor that lead to choosing where to rent, it didn't hurt anything.  Other apartment complexes lost out because I didn't even want to look at what they had to offer.  Just goes to show how something so little can pay off so big. 

Happy Marketing!!!

Comments

[kenneth]

The reputation your business has, is upheld by the quality of your business cards. This may seem a high reaching statement but the fact is the business card is your business actual representative. While it may seem that investing in these small cards will be high cost the fact is there are very professional high quality inexpensive business cards available in the market.

[Juli]

I agree that it may seem like a high reaching statement, but I also believe you're correct when you state that a business card is a representation of your company. I do believe that providing a high quality looking product, while possibly not helping your reputation, not having a professional one can hurt it. There are many places to get inexpensive, quality cards. A little research goes a long way and can really help out in the end. Thank you for your comment!