2012 Trade Shows are Coming Up!

Is one of the main ways you market your local Sonoma County goods or services at trade shows? Be sure to grab customers’ attention when you are there with eye-catching banners and other printed materials!

Most trade shows allow individuals a booth or area to market their small business. How will anyone know who you are without a spiffy banner to reel them in? Perhaps it was a flier you had printed for a specific show and distributed around the building that brought a new customer to you.

Look at Laura of Sweet Joyfulness marketing her cupcakes with an amazing banner, printed by Ajalon!

Sending postcards to Sonoma County customers

Do you have a special holiday deal or discount to offer your Sonoma County customers and clients? One of the most valuable marketing strategies of small business owners during the holiday season is the mailing of postcards to local residents.

Postcards are an easy and effective way to spread news about your business. They also give business owners a chance to show off their creative sides! If you are not already working with a local graphic designer, you have the opportunity to choose graphics and fonts, create the content and design the layout of your holiday business postcard.

Holiday postcards are the perfect size for mailing, displaying in stores and passing on to others. Contact us today to jump in on this awesome holiday marketing strategy. We would be delighted to send you a quote for your 2011 holiday business postcards!

Capture Prospective Business Clients with Postcards

Sending out business postcards is the perfect way to effortlessly engage your clients and customers, while simultaneously marketing your goods and services. People love receiving postcards in the mail, especially when it is from someone they know and trust.

If you have not printed postcards in the past, think about all the ways you can utilize this little piece of paper!

Share (Short) Stories

Promoting your business through postcards is super simple. A lovely image paired with minimal content that markets your services is sure to impress your clients and customers without overwhelming them.

Deals and Discounts

Announcing deals or including coupons within a postcard are excellent uses of this piece of mail. A great looking postcard is not likely to end up in the trash, nor is one with a good deal attached. Customers will save your postcard, and even pass it along to others.

Appointment Reminders

Many dentists send out appointment reminders within fun, color postcards. No one will forget their upcoming appointment with an awesome postcard!

~

Along with useful information and news, postcards give you an opportunity to show off your artistic skill or taste. An awesome color graphic will reel prospective clients in, while your included information will keep them coming back for more!

Place an order for your business postcards by May 31, 2011 and Ajalon will take 10% off of your order. We are excited to show you how versatile postcards can be for your small business.

There are some marketing materials that are particularly appropriate for doctors and dentists.  These are referral forms or pads, practice brochures and welcome packets. Ajalon has been providing these for medical and dental professionals in Sonoma County for over 50 years.

Referral Pads or Forms

Some specialties such as periodontics and orthodontics rely on referrals from general dentists.  Ajalon has been involved in providing attractive, effective forms for dentists from Ukiah to Petaluma for many years.  Whether you need pads or individual forms.  Carbonless forms are no problem.  Maps and postcards are easily provided.  Whatever you need is only a phone call away.

Practice Brochures

It is especially important when someone comes in contact with your office, whether it is in Sebastopol or Santa Rosa, that you have a well done brochure to explain your practice to them.  Your brochure should communicate the particular focus that your practice has and provide a warm, welcoming message.  We are proud of the many medical and dental professionals that we have been honored to help over the years in designing and printing their practice brochures.

Welcome Packets or Pocket Folders

When a new client comes to your office for the first time there is a lot of information that needs to be communicated and forms to be filled out.  It is a good practice to have a welcome folder with the forms to fill out and information about your practice for them to take home.

At Ajalon we are experienced experts in planning and producing presentation materials that fit for your office.  If you are looking to upgrade your look, and to present your practice in the best light possible, call or email Ajalon today.  707.528.0288 ajalon@ajalon.com

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Every business in Santa Rosa wants to grow.  We have been talking about how businesses in Sonoma County have been using business referral marketing, newsletters and postcards to attract new business.  Often after the initial contact a follow up written on your letterhead is the next step.

With your letterhead and business card you begin building the relationships that will make your business a success.  The image that others form about your company will be influenced by the stationery that you use.  Following are some design secrets that will aid you in creating and using fine business stationery.

Choose a good quality paper

Don’t skip on the paper.  The paper is a small part of the overall business stationery package, usually less than 20%.  Trying to save money here may be penny wise and pound foolish.  Choose a paper that has some cotton content.  The cotton makes the paper feel warmer and appears more professional.

Create a strong logo

Make sure that your company name and logo communicate clearly who you are and what you do.  You don’t want somebody guessing at what you do after they see your name.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money creating a logo. Your business name, set up well, can do the job.

Use a tag line

Your name alone may say it all and your logo, if you have one, may present you as a professional, but using a statement that explains what you do and communicates how that benefits your customer can keep working for you long after your initial contact.

A gardener in Sebastopol had the phrase “Expect Excellence” as part of his business stationery.  I always felt this set the groundwork for what his customers could expect in dealing with him.  A simple tag line can be powerful communicator when used properly.

Create your personal identity

Communicate the appropriate message to your prospective clients. Do they want to know you are licensed, insured, professional, new or old, creative and innovative, a larger, secure corporation or a nimble start up?  Give some thought to the image your real customers will be most attracted to and build that into your letterhead and envelopes.

All businesses communicate with their business stationery.  You want to do it well and appropriately.  Whether you are in Windsor or Rohnert Park, you have competition in your business, use your business card, letterhead and envelopes to distinguish you when you get to that all important presentation of a proposal to do business together.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Sonoma County Businesses are Sending Postcards

Businesses in Sebastopol or Windsor are always looking for an advantage in marketing and printed postcards are an effective way to do that. There are a number of ways that postcards can be used.

.        Increase sales from your customer base

.        Get new customers

.        Attract more traffic to your web site

.        Generate leads

.        When using postcards you must grab the reader’s attention quickly to keep them reading your card.  Offer them an incentive.

.        Advertise the higher quality of your product

.        Tell them of your special

.        Let them know of your lower price

You need to grab your customer’s attention quickly, before the postcard gets thrown out.  There is a better chance they will read and keep the postcard if you print the incentive so that it grabs their attention.

A powerful way to get their attention is to personalize your postcards.  A generic looking card will not be as likely to be read as one that is personalized.  Use your client’s first name and watch their response go up. Just think of the power of greeting a person who comes into your store with their name.  It builds instant rapport and usually produces a smile on their face.

It is the same with a postcard.  This style of postcard looks like a brief personal message from a friend.  They may realize it is advertising, but it lures them in and attracts their attention.

So you can tell that I like postcards when thinking about effective marketing plans. They are inexpensive.  You can have a stack of them handy to send out for various occasions like thanking customers who recently bought something or to alert people of an upcoming event or sale.

I love to imagine this web reaching out from your business in Petaluma or Santa Rosa criss crossing Sonoma County, keeping you in touch with your most important asset, your customers.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Postcard printer in Santa Rosa reveals secrets businesses in Sonoma county have been profiting by using postcards in their marketing plan.

In earlier posts I have indicated how to help your clients remember you by using a printed newsletter.  Now I want to show you how businesses in Rohnert Park or Cotati can keep in touch for even less money.

Postcards can be an even less expensive way to reach out and touch clients and prospects.  Postcards are usually cost less to print than a newsletter and are mailed for less postage.

Newsletters can contain more information than a postcard, and therefore have more ways to connect with a reader.  A postcard on the other hand has a short and sweet message that doesn’t have to be opened in order to be read and has an immediate impact on the receiver.  No delayed gratification here.  From the mailbox to their eyes.

Therefore postcards cut through many of the defenses that consumers have built up against the constant barrage of advertising messages.  Yet there can be enough content to get their attention and deliver your message and call to action.

Postcards also seem to have an ability to be saved more than other mailed pieces.  I know that I will tuck a postcard into a book, put into a briefcase or toss it into a drawer more quickly than I will a letter or flyer.   If I know I might want the information in the future, I am more likely to keep it than a flimsy letter.  Don’t know what it is, but I have more postcards around than old newsletters.

Postcards are less expensive than almost any other printed mailing piece.  There is no envelope and postage is always less than a letter (unless you send an oversize postcard).  Letters mail first class for $0.44 while a traditional size postcard mails for only $0.27 – quite a cost savings.  Using standard mail (for mailings 500 pieces or more) can bring the price down even more.

And you get a 100% guaranteed open rate. No other form of mail can promise that. It has to be read before it is thrown into the circular file.

There is a certain “openness” about postcards.  Unlike letters, you do not have to worry about your mailing being simply thrown out without even opening the envelope.  The customer immediately reads your message.

It is easy for a business in Sebastopol or Healdsburg to send out a postcard to someone in Windsor or Petaluma.  It costs only a little more than a quarter and provides an opportunity to get a personalized message out to someone  asking them to come in and see you or to visit your web site.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Stay Alive. Stay in touch with your clients.  Don’t let anyone drive a wedge between you and your customer.

Our customers are feeling pressure like never before.  Many are scared and looking for any help they can get.  They are looking to cut costs anyway they can.  So now is the time to stay in touch with them.  Your customers may have been loyal for many years but if someone comes in front of them and you have neglected your relationship they may forget your years of service and move on.

I know because this has happened to me recently.  A long time client sent out a large job to another shop, right in the midst of us doing other, smaller jobs.  Ouch!  Many businesses are trying to buy business by being very aggressive in price cutting.  It is difficult to protect completely against this but the best prevention is to stay in touch with clients.

One of the best ways to stay in touch is with a newsletter.  There are many forms of newsletters, from the very simple to the very elaborate.  A client of ours that sells a premium product stays in touch with their customers through a regular mailing of a simple one-color newsletter.  The quality of their product speaks for itself and there is no need to put a lot of puff and circumstance in the newsletter.

Another fine way to keep in touch is with postcards.  Postcards are quickly and easily read.  There is no need to open an envelope.  Their postage is less than a letter and there is no stuffing and licking involved. And it seems that postcard are tossed in drawers and kept around more than letters.  I know I use them for bookmarkers.

In addition to using postcards on a regular basis to promote seasonal or special events postcards can be used to thank customers for business. You can get a stack of postcards made for your business and keep them handy to send out after a job is completed, sending a handwritten note saying thank you.

Contests are another was to stay in touch and help you be top of mind with your customers.  One of our clients uses a postcard to announce a contest that he has each year about this time rewarding all his customers of the years with an opportunity to win a vacation get away.  What a great way to stay in touch and say thank at the same time.  And all for a little more than quarter postage.

It is the holiday season and cards can keep you in front of your clients.  And it can be helpful to think outside the box here.  If everybody is going to be sending holiday cards, send yours before or after the rush.  At Ajalon we have sent out Thanksgiving cards rather than December holiday cards.  Our cards come before everybody has become ho-hum about all the cards.  We have also sent out a Happy New Year card in January, after people are back from the holidays.  This assures us of standing out and being noticed.

At Ajalon we have the ability to meet what ever you want in terms of newsletters or cards.  We can produce short runs digitally or print thousands of newsletters, all economically.  We have templates of pre-designed holiday cards that we can personalize and even address the envelopes for you.  Or we can custom design something that you want done if you have a vague idea of what you want or if you have a clear idea in your mind.

When you want to stay in touch with your clients, remember Ajalon is here to help.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Printed Forms add Security and Can Save You Heartache

You make more money when you use well-printed business stationery.

A printed business form or contract that spells out the work to be done and is signed is critical in businesses that provide service. The phrase, “Get it down on paper” has never been more meaningful. Having words and images that you can examine and hold in your hand, review, show to others and keep in a safe place provides a degree of reassurance that no computer screen can match.

We have covered how printed business forms are durable and easily portable. How postcards and brochures prospects receive increase sales when used with other media. There is always the warmth and beauty of printed catalogs or flyers that can lead to a buying decision. Buyers often want to see it written down before the give the final yes. All these practices contribute to making sales increase.

People love the speed and scope of the Internet, but the www’s fleeting nature makes them wonder: Am I getting the fast shuffle here? And what’s all this contradictory information? Conversely, our ink-on-paper medium is believable because print is real, print is timeless and print is focused.

An increasing number of marketers are leveraging print’s high credibility by using custom publications to get their messages out and absorbed. More than 32 billion custom publications circulate annually in the United States, according to the Custom Publishing Review’s 2006 Annual Report. Total expenditures on the medium amounted to $29.9 billion for the year. The researchers also found that 66% of people surveyed read custom publications and that 80% agree that custom publications contain useful information. They are believers because print is the credible medium.

At Ajalon Printing we use variable data printing to customize letters or to aid in addressing brochures or catalogs that are being mailed out. By utilizing these data base capacities we help companies increase the return on their marketing. When people see their own name in a flyer or a postcard there is an increase in the credibility of the offer and an easier buy in.

Print is credible. That means that all of the printed materials that you use add to your credibility. Can you imagine doing business with somebody who can’t even offer you a business card? What response would you give to a sales letter that was written out on a sheet of paper from a yellow pad and not on printed letterhead?

Using professionally designed business stationery builds confidence and helps create that important first impression, so that those who come in contact with you are more likely to feel confident to buy from you.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Print is beautiful

Paper and Ink Create Striking Images

Lovely to look at and hold

Print is beautiful.  This is probably number one with me, and I dare say, most of the people working in the printing industry.  An email is no match for holding a printed letterhead in your hand and reading the message.  A well-printed envelope gets more attention than a “You’ve got mail” message.  And exchanging business cards that you can see and feel is more memorable than sharing electronic data.

I have covered how printing makes communication more permanent and meaningful. Printed brochures and postcards are definitely portable, have many lives and can pass through many fingers.  And printed material is often a very cost effective way to reach your market.

But I get more excited about beauty than simple practical things.  I picked up a number of catalogs of outdoor equipment this last weekend.  The items for backpacking and climbing are essential for safe travel in the backcountry.  But I love to look at the pictures, to see the well designed items and to see the wilderness that they are used in.  It is the beauty that is presented to me that really attracts me.

Print is beautiful and printers continue to consider every job they do a personal masterpiece. One of the satisfying parts about the graphic arts is that we do get to make things that are lovely to look at and to hold.   And with print the image is not some illuminated pixel but real pigment that binds to paper.

Photos can jump off the page. Special effects can be used that draw the eye to the printed content, and a new generation of papers and substrates make readers want to touch and feel your message. You can’t get any closer than that. The beauty of print will enhance your product or service, giving it a special appeal of its own and an extra tangible dimension that no electronic media can impart.

Our clients use catalogs, program guides and brochures to give their prospects an experience of the beauty that can be theirs if they engage their services.  Our client who leads trips around the world draws us into a world of exotic, beautiful animals and places with photos and words.  The YMCA program guides excites people to join in the fun and fitness through the beautiful descriptions and pictures.

It is always a blessing to have beauty in our lives and printed business material can definitely contribute to that.  The beauty displayed on a rack card can lead a person to further enjoyment on their vacation.  A newsletter describing the work that you can bring beauty and blessing into its readers lives.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design