Promote Your Business with Product Events

July 10th, 2010

By Joe Gass at Heritage Printing & Graphics

While a new product may become lost amidst advertisements or shelves of similar items, it can easily stand alone once people see and experience it firsthand. By enabling customers and prospects the opportunity to experience product benefits in person, they are able to create stronger opinions and make faster buying decisions. Here are a few ways that promoting with product events can increase sales and product knowledge:

Seeing is believing. Product events enable a personal connection between your customer and the product. Many prospects and customers prefer learning about new products and services by experiencing them firsthand rather than reading about them in promotional materials.
Provide customers and prospects the opportunity to see new products firsthand at tradeshows, exhibits, grand openings, etc. Send promotional materials and invitations for customers to come in and learn more about it at your site of business as well.
Invite a prestigious customer to present your product and highlight its features from her point of view, which will build additional confidence in your product.
By viewing live customer responses, you can easily highlight your product features and track buying trends and opinions.
Smaller events allow you to get closer to your customers and maximize interaction, yet a group atmosphere is less intimidating than one-on-one presentations.
By interacting with your target audience personally, you can learn more about their needs and build a stronger customer relationship.
Offer a Q&A session if appropriate. Prepare a list of frequently asked questions, and accept new questions as well.
Excited customers who benefited from the experience will generate buzz and extend your marketing effort via word of mouth, increasing sales for your business.

By offering a hands-on approach with greater impact than a pamphlet alone, customers will likely make faster, more confident buying decisions. Look to us if you’d like help creating promotional materials to market your next product event.

Heritage Printing & Graphics…. Improving Your Image in the Marketplace

Signs, Banners, Posters, Displays, Decals, Wall, Window & Floor Graphic

Brochures, Booklets and Publications, Marketing Materials & Direct Mail

5900 Harris Technology Blvd., Suite G

Charlotte, North Carolina 28269

www.heritageprintingcharlotte.com

704-551-0700/888-910-9914

22725 Washington Street

Leonardtown, Maryland 20650

www.heritageprinting.com

301-475-1700/888-777-9776

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Tags: branding, corporate identification, growing your business, marketing materials, Trade Show Materials
Posted in Business Growth, Marketing Tips, Trade Show Materials, branding | 1 Comment »

Promoting Your Company Year Round

July 10th, 2010

by Joe Gass at Heritage Printing & Graphics

Because many companies focus their marketing on Thanksgiving and Christmas sales, it is easy to feel bombarded with marketing overload during the holidays. Here are a few examples of how to use creative promotions to grab your customers’ attention and boost sales year round:

Happy Birthday! Take advantage of every opportunity you have to celebrate, whether it is your company’s birthday or your customers’ individual birthdays. Don’t have this information? Request it by creating a “birthday club” offering special discounts, promotions, or a free gift on customer birthdays. This is also a great way to build and update your customer database.
Ground Hog’s Day. While Valentine’s Day is typically the feature push during February, you can get a jump start by promoting a more light-hearted holiday. For example, a fireplace business could offer a discount promo to help customers stay warm during six more weeks of winter.
Earth Day. You don’t need one particular holiday to show interest in the environment. Does your company take every opportunity to print on recycled materials, use energy-efficient appliances, install solar panels for energy, etc? If so, toot your own horn and look for creative ways to reward customers who do likewise.
Cold weather fun. If you live in the Midwest, it may be fun to offer a promotion around the weather during the blissful month of January. For example, if yesterday’s high was 15 degrees, customers would receive a 15% discount on all purchases. Be clear upfront if exclusions apply.
Choose a quarterly way to highlight a target demographic. For example, seniors receive a free piece of pie with $5 purchase in April. College students receive a free pitcher of their favorite beverage with a large pizza in October. Families receive a 15% water park admission discount for groups of four or more in August.
Help your community with goodwill promotions. Offer discount coupons or free gifts with donation of a non-perishable food item, gently used clothes, or blood bank donations. Many people forget that non-profit organizations need donations and support year round.
Other ideas… Has your spring sprung? Overhead door companies could offer a discounted garage door replacement to promote the kick-off of spring. Enjoying the dog days of summer? A doggy-doo cleanup company can help you relax by offering summer promotions to clean up your yard.

If you’d like help creating marketing materials to advertise your low-cost, high return promotions, give us a call today! We’re full of unique print ideas to increase sales year-round.

Heritage Printing & Graphics, Inc. Improving Your Image in the Marketplace

Banners, Signs, Displays, Decals, POP, Wall and Window Graphic Brochures, Booklets, Publications, Marketing Materials & Direct Mail

5900 Harris Technology Blvd, Suite G, Charlotte, NC 28269
704-551-0700 www.HeritagePrintingCharlotte.com

22725 Washington Street, Leonardtown, MD 20650
301-475-1700 www.HeritagePrinting.com

*We specialize in wide format, offset and digital printing.
*Veteran Owned and Operated.
*Our house papers are recycled, FSC certified & Made in America.
*We have received over 100 print quality awards during the past 15 yrs
*GreenWorks certified for environmental responsibility.

Tags: branding, corporate identification, Creative Services, growing your business, print media, small business marketing
Posted in Business Growth, branding | 1 Comment »

Employee Training Tips for Success

July 2nd, 2010

by Joe Gass at Heritage Printing & Graphics

It’s no surprise that well-trained, productive employees are the key to business success. Whether you are creating an employee handbook or various training materials, here are a few tips to consider:

Think of employee training as an investment rather than an expense. While training can be costly up front, it’s a long-term investment in the growth and development of your employee team.
Consider making continuing education the responsibility of one person in the department, who updates all training materials and staff members on current policies, procedures, and the technology relevant to the department.
A well-written employee training manual ensures that every employee receives the same information about the rules of the workplace, your employees will know what you expect from them (and what they can expect from you), and you’ll buy yourself valuable legal protection if an employee later challenges you in court.
Create quality printed training materials, since they become valuable resources for trainees to refer to again and again once training is over. For example, if you are training an employee on an important piece of equipment, incorporate visual images that illustrate functions, examples, and example how-tos.
Consider organizing your training materials in a three-ring binder with easily identifiable tab dividers to make it easier to update and organize information.
Keep the reader in mind and avoid corporate terminology.
Provide blank pages or white space for employee notes.
If there are policy or procedure changes, consider distributing a brief information sheet (or training alert) and ask employees to update their training binder. Offer follow-up training if there are any questions regarding the change.
To ensure your training materials are read, consider testing trainees and offer rewards for top performing employees.
While a well developed training manual promotes consistency and ensures that important details are addressed, remember that a training manual should not replace a human trainer. It is simply a tool to assist both the trainer and trainee.

Considering your company will only be as successful as the people you work with, you can rest assured we can help you reach your goals when you trust your printing projects with us.

Heritage Printing & Graphics….. Improving Your Image in the Marketplace