5 Easy Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Don't get me wrong- Marketing is a process that requires a great deal of planning, but those plans are

meant to be changed. These 5 tips are great things you can throw in to your marketing mix when you feel like your plan needs a little jolt. Just remember- incorprate them in to your existing marketing plan and always measure your results.

• Give Your Stuff Away: Free stuff is ALWAYS popular. If you don't have a physical product, try giving away free consultations, or try using branded promotional products. Giving away your product helps people get a feel for what you have to offer, and can encourage them to come back for more. Just remember- make sure you have some kind of way to follow up with them, by collecting contact info, liking your Facebook page etc.
• Support a Cause or Organization: Throwing your financial support behind a charity or organization is a great way to get brand exposure, and can help you earn new customers. The members of these organizations always appreciate those who support them. And in addition to the obvious benefits for your business, you can feel good knowing your money is going to a good cause.
• Email Useful Information: A monthly email can be a great tool for marketing, and doesn't take up too much time. Just make sure to take a "soft-sell" approach. Meaning, don't simply tell your database about upcoming promotions, but give them great tips related to the benefits of your product.
• Choose 1 Social Network: If you find yourself overwehlmed by social media, don't try to do everything. Just because you can have a Pinterest account and a Facebook account and a Linkedin account, doesn't mean you need to. Focusing on being the absolute best you can be on one particular social network will go much further than spreading yourself too thin amongst several networks.
• Attend a Networking Event: Networking events may seem like an old school tactic but they made the list because they still work! Attending a local networking event where you can meet some other small business owners. It's a great opportunity to not only generate leads, but also to get advice from other entrepeuners.

5 Creative Designs for Your Holiday Card & Envelopes

The most wonderful time of the year is just right around the corner! While there's so many things to love about the holiday season, one of our favorites is receiving holiday cards from friends and family. It's not just hearing from loved ones, but seeing the fun and creative card & envelope designs they come up with. So with that in mind we did some searching around the Internet, and found some really interesting and creative holiday cards and designs to help inspire you this season:

 

 

Wooden Airplane Postcard

 

 

 

A seaon's greetings postcard and a toy all in one! This ingenious idea is a great gift to send nieces and nephews or younger cousins.

 

 

 

 

The "Awkward" Family Christmas Card

 

 

 

You've probably seen a few of these awkward family photos online. Whether you think they're funny, weird or a little bit of both, they'll definite get peoples attention!

 

Fingerprint Reindeers Custom Envelope

 

 

The reindeer family is creative enough, but they took a step further using each family members individual thum print to create the members of the reindeer family.

 

The Playfully Generic "Holiday" Card

 

 

Sometimes the best way to say "Happy Holidays" is to just....say it. This plain holiday card comes with tongue planted firmly in cheek, and is the perfect card for anyone with a bit of Scrooge in them.

 

 

3D Mailable Christmas Ornament

 

Why mail a card when you can mail a card that turns in to an ornament? These creative designs transform in to 3D ornaments that you can actually hang on your tree!

 



Can You Really Mail a Coconut? And 6 More Strange Mail Questions

A few months back we wrote a blog post about mailing a coconut through the USPS. Well, that got us thinking- What other type of strange things will the United States Post Office ship for us? So we called up our local post office and asked a few questions. While they were a bit puzzled, they were more than happy to oblige. Then we collect all of that info in to this helpful infographic. Enjoy!

5 Creative Custom #10 Envelope Designs

Think the old tried and true business envelope has to be boring? No Way! With a little creativity, custom #10 envelope printing can transform those boring envelopes into a unique part of your businesses marketing plan. Here's 5 creative #10 envelope designs:



1.

This creative envelope design from Japanese stationery company D-Bros features a cut out tab so that you can easily tear open each envelope without suffering any nasty paper cuts.

2.

These fun map envelopes are offered in a variety of different sizes and each continent has it's own envelope design!

3.

ChickChirik is a gift registry company that uses recycled and natural material for it's packaging. The design may be simple but it's execution is very effective!

4.

Need directions? These custom envelopes allow you to print the location of your event or place of business on the inside liner of the envelope!


 5.

 

 

These beautiful envelopes from Tower Twelve Studios features the same branding throughout all of the company's stationery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun facts about the Classic Business Envelope

Fun facts about the Classic Business Envelope

Believe it or not, there's a great deal of interesting history behind the envelope. Let's take a look at some of the fun facts about the envelope:

• The first known "envelope" is dated back to between 3,500 to 3,200 B.C in the Middle East. Unlike what we use now, these envelopes were clay spheres molded around financial tokens.
• Paper envelopes first used in China in the 2nd Century.
• The first envelope making machine was invented in 1845.The paper was diamond shaped and did not come pre-gummed for sealing.
• In the Victorian Era, the placement of a stamp were used as coded messages between young lovers whose parents censored their mail. For instance, an upside down stamp meant "I love you" a diagonal stamp means "I miss you".
• The classic #10 business envelope. Measuring 4 1/8" x 9 1/2", the #10 is the most commonly used envelope, and it perfectly fits a tri-folded 8.5x11 piece of paper. At Precision Envelope, #10 envelope printing is a huge part of what we do, and is the envelope most frequently used by businesses.
• When creating printed wedding invitation envelopes, it is proper to spell out house numbers under 20.
• A chemical company recently created an envelope made of “spunbonded olefin”. This envelope looks like and can be written on just like paper, but it is insensitive to water and chemicals and is virtually impossible to tear.
• In 19th Century England, the recipient would pay the postage of the envelope. Correspondents figured out a scheme to transmit brief messages through prearranged envelope marking. The recipient would decode the message, then hand it back to the postman, refusing payment. Postage stamps were created in order to put an end to this.

(Sources: http://allamazingfacts.com/Invention-of-Envelopes/245.php, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envelopes)

How to Find Cheap Custom Printed Church Offering Envelopes?

At Precisionenvelope.com we serve several churches and religious institutions- Both in Long Island where we are headquartered and around the country! A common theme amongst these institutions is a need for high quality, but affordable church offering envelopes. As non-profits, these churches use their offering envelopes to help project a positive image in their community, and the printed envelopes have a direct influence on the contributions that help sustain the church. So how do you find quality offering envelopes that won't break the bank? Here's my five tips:

• Look for Coupons/Price Breaks at Higher Quantities: With most envelope printers, the more you order, the lower the price per envelope. As a church, it would probably be helpful to have a few extra hundred donation envelopes in storage. Plus almost all of these printers will have a coupon code available or a special deal they're running. Check their social media accounts, as well as third part coupon websites like retailmenot for codes. If you go for a higher quantity and combine it with a 10% off coupon code, you can save big!
• Ask for Samples: Price is always important, but quality is key. You'll want to work with someone who has printed church offering envelopes before, as well as creates quality work. Most of these printers will have samples of their work available (whether it be a physical sample or a digital one) and you should be willing to share it with you.
• Have Your Artwork Ready: Most envelope printers will be willing to create artwork for you, but it won't be cheap. Make sure that you have high resolution, quality artwork that you can easily share with the printer. If you don't already have this artwork, try to see if you can find a graphic designer (perhaps a parishioner) who would be willing to volunteer their time to help you create your envelope artwork.
• Check for Non-Profit Discounts: Many printers may be willing to work with you on the price if you are a non-profit. Don't be afraid to call or email the printer directly to see if they offer more lenient prices for religious institutions and charities.
• Ask for Testimonials: Don't be afraid to ask for the contact info of customers who have ordered custom church offering envelopes in the past. That way you can speak to someone directly and ask them questions about both about the quality of the envelopes as well as their experience with the printer.

Want to learn more about saving money on church offering envelopes? Please email me directly: greg@americanmail.com. Or Post a comment and I'll be sure to reply!

7 Ways to Give your Small Business Marketing Plan a Competitive Edge

As a small business owner, you need to get used to the idea of self promotion. Whether you're using social media, direct mail marketing, print ads or all of the above, you must take every opportunity you can to tell potential customers about how your business can benefit them.

Of course, there's some fierce competition out there. So how can you give yourself a competitive marketing edge? What can your small business do to make sure that potential customers come to you instead of one of your competitors? These 7 tips below will help you in developing a marketing strategy for your small business:

1. Start with Specific Goals: Obviously the goal of your marketing will be to earn new business, but you'll need to set specific, achievable goals in order to create a tactical plan and measure your results. Let's say the goal is you want to increase the average value of your customer's orders by 25%. Once you have that in mind, you can then work backwards and figure out how this will be achieved.
2. Combine Your Marketing Efforts: You've got your goal  of raising average order value mind, now let's think of a tactic. Let's say you decide to offer a Buy One Get One Half off deal. Now how will you help spread the word? Rather than viewing your direct mail marketing, social media and Email marketing as separate entities, each medium should be working in tandem to help spread the word. Some people might ignore the email, but are more likely to respond to your direct mail piece.
3. ...But Don't Use Everything: While generally I would recommend using a variety of tactics to help spread the word about your offer, trying everything will spread your resources to thin and will ultimately hurt your message. Remember, you don't need to be on every single social network. And you may not need to send out a direct mail piece. Do some research and figure out which medium is most appealing to your audience.
4. Have a Clear Call to Action: You've got your goal and your tactics- Now ask yourself this question: "When they receive my direct mail/email/Twiter message, what do I want them to do?". If the answer is visit this URL and get the coupon code, then create a compelling call to action that will drive them to that URL. One great way to create a call to action is to add an expiration date to the offer (i.e. Offer ends Tuesday! Get your coupon code Now!).
5. Create a Consistent Look: Your email, blog, website, direct mail piece etc. should all have the same consistent look. This will help create brand awareness, making it more likely that your customers will remember your business. For instance, If you're sending out a few hundred printed 6 x 9 envelopes featuring your redeisgned logo, you nee to make sure that the same logo appears on all of your other marketing pieces.
6. Always Follow Up: After your direct mail piece or email goes out, your work has only just started! Many people who received the direct mail piece may be interested in your offer, but perhaps didn't have much time for it at the moment, that's where a brief phone call, email or even another direct mail piece can help you close the deal.
7. Test & Refine: While statistics are helpful, the only way to know for sure if your offer will be something compelling to your customers is to test it. This can be done by sending out the offer to only a portion of your list, then adjusting your offer accordingly or through split testing (meaning sending 2 versions of an email or direct mail piece and seeing which gets better results).