5 Things You May Not Know About BrandDemand

Posted on October 24, 2013

Chances are you know BrandDemand is an intelligent web-to-print system that can save your company time and money. But perhaps there are some hidden tidbits of information that have passed you by. So we present 5 Things You May Not Know About BrandDemand.

1. No Set-Up Fee

We won’t charge you a set-up fee if your anticipated annual spend is $25,000 or more. Why pay tens of thousands of dollars for a custom-designed web site that takes months to build when we can build you a branded web portal for free in a matter of days? You have more important things to do than overseeing a complicated and expensive site build ‘ like running your own business.

2. Discounted Pricing

As if a free portal set-up wasn’t enough, we also offer discounts on the products you’ll be ordering, provided you meet volume requirements. Key price points include $33 for 250 Regular Business Cards, $83 for 250 5.5″Â x 8.5″ Premium Gloss Flyers, and $171 for 250 Premium Gloss Brochures. It’s our way of saying thanks for trusting us to produce your marketing materials.

3. Training Tailored for Your Company

We can adapt training (typically a 2-hour process) to meet your requirements, whether your portal will have 2 users or 200. We can facilitate face-to-face training in our production hub, host online training through webinars, or use a combination of both.

4. Track Your Order Through Every Stage of Production

Sometimes you just can’t wait for your order to arrive. Now, it’s no longer necessary to call your printer to ask, “How much longer?” With BrandDemand, you can track your order’s progress online in real time, up through and including UPS delivery.

5. Offer of the Month

If you’e a printing.com customer already, you’re familiar with our famous Offer of the Month. Each month we offer a variety of popular products at huge discounts ‘ usually 25%-50% off. These offers extend to the relevant products on your portal where the discounts are greater than your negotiated discounts.

Have questions? Contact us if you’re interested in learning more about BrandDemand and how it can save you time, frustration and money.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Consider Web To Print

Posted on September 19, 2013

A web to print solution is a marketing collateral management system where control of order entry, fulfillment, accounting and reporting are consolidated and streamlined into one convenient package. Maybe you’ve wondered if your company should use web to print. What are the benefits? Is your company big enough to need it? Factors to consider are your company’s size, marketing budget and number of locations.

There are several benefits to using a web to print system.

1. Brand uniformity

Your brand is more than just a logo. It’s your company’s identity and it communicates that identity and your corporate values. Large companies spend millions of dollars creating and maintaining their brands. Uniformity is essential to the entire concept of branding. Your brand needs to communicate the same message across channels and geographic markets because lack of uniformity weakens your brand. When your sales people meet for a trade show or other convention, do their business cards all match? Are the colors, fonts, paper, design and quality the same from one salesperson to the next?

2. Faster turnaround times

In the past, ordering marketing material meant calling various vendors, requesting quotes, designing and sending files, waiting for proofs, making corrections, and waiting for your products to arrive. Not anymore. A web to print system eliminates much of the waiting and communication, and it avoids costly mistakes. Costs are negotiated ahead of time, proofs are instant and interactive, and there is no need for corrections. The ordering process takes a matter of minutes instead of days. In today’s fast-paced business environment, that’s worth its weight in gold

3. Centralized purchasing

Purchasing marketing materials from one vendor saves time and money. If you’re ordering your marketing material from multiple vendors, it may be harder to keep costs down and to track what you’re spending. Even if your products are sourced from various vendors, a good web to print solution will allow your associates to purchase them on a single storefront. Trust us, your accounting department will thank you!

4. Product line control

Web to print solutions aren’t just for printed products anymore. If you’re dreaming of a way for your associates to access various products such as business cards, brochures, name tags, embroidered shirts, and Facebook banners, then web to print is for you. A web to print system allows users to obtain these variable, static and inventory products from one web storefront.

5. Cost savings

Implementing a web to print solution represents a certain level of commitment to your vendor. Vendors like to know that they can count on your business. This means they’re likely to reward your commitment to their web to print system with special discounted pricing for the products ordered there. Additionally, a web to print system eliminates the need to use a graphic designer to make basic updates to variable items like business cards. Web to print saves you money because it allows people with no prior graphic design training to make changes during the ordering process.

Does your company qualify?

If a web to print solution sounds appealing, you may be wondering if your company qualifies. If your company uses several marketing products, has multiple locations and has multiple requisitioners, you will almost certainly save time, money and frustration by using a web to print solution. Franchises and large companies with multiple offices spread across different geographic regions are especially ideal candidates. We’re willing to bet that you can’t afford not to.

How to use QR codes for your brand

Posted on August 22, 2013

A what code? You may be unfamiliar with them, but over the last few years QR Codes have slipped into mainstream advertising, making them a viable business tool. A QR Code is just a barcode, like you’d find on your cereal box. But unlike the barcodes in supermarkets, QR codes are arranged in a matrix, which packs lots of information into a tight space. The QR stands for Quick Response because they provide a fast way to access information. They connect people from print to digital media in just a matter of seconds, making printed materials truly interactive.

How do they work? Anyone with a smartphone such as an iPhone, Android phone or a Blackberry simply takes a picture of the code using a free app and their inbuilt camera. Their phone then triggers an action ‘ it could be a link to download content, some contact information, a message or a link to a website.

Why use them? Despite improved keyboards on smartphones, typing a long URL or website address on the move can be fiddly. Having to type in URLs prevents mobile users from accessing mobile content on a regular basis. When you consider that a typical web address consists of a mix of letters, colons, slashes, dots and dashes, it’s no surprise that typing them in loses appeal quickly. With a QR code, there’s no typing. Just point your camera at a code and an app reads it, switches to a browser and loads the page.

Where should I use them? QR Codes may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, shop posters, flyers, T-shirts, IDs and just about any object you can think of. Since the diversity of information that can be held within a QR Code is unlimited, the potential marketing applications for mobile barcodes is vast. The remarkable growth of mobile and smartphones (which are becoming a more and more popular way to access the internet) means this potential can be easily implemented.

Smart businesses are using QR Codes in smart ways. Retailers print them on receipts. Event producers employ them to provide exhibit information. Doctors and beauty salons use them to let people make appointments over their mobile phones. Print them on your business cards so people can create a contact record in their phone without typing a single thing. Even some TV shows use QR codes in the corner of the screen to provide additional information.

You may not have the same budget as a TV show, so what could you do? The only limit is your imagination (you see some ideas, right?). QR codes are a great way to take part in a growing trend, position your business as forward thinking and produce useful information resources at the same time.

What info could a QR code contain?

â?¢ Product specifications and pictures
â?¢ Your contact details
â?¢ Offer terms and prices
â?¢ Event listings
â?¢ Competition rules
â?¢ A coupon or voucher
â?¢ Twitter or Facebook links
â?¢ A link to your YouTube video
â?¢ A map of your store location
â?¢ Link to your online brochure

Try putting a QR Code…

â?¢ On your business cards. Your recipient can save your contact details simply by scanning the code.
â?¢ On your marketing collateral. Got a big sale coming up? Direct customers to your special offers page.
â?¢ On the posters in your shop window so they can do the selling even when you’re not there.
â?¢ In your email signature, blog posts and online newsletters to capture a wider audience.
â?¢ In advertisements to save on advertising space.
â?¢ On your invoices, to link people to your Facebook or Twitter page.

How do I create a QR Code?

You can create you own QR codes for FREE through your BrandDemand portal.

5 Minute Workshop: Creating a Customer Feedback Survey

Posted on July 30, 2013

When would you rather find out you’ve lost a customer? In a year’s time when they’ve built a relationship with your competitor or as soon as you’ve upset them? There’s no use delaying bad news. If you’ve disappointed them, it’s best to find out sooner so you can correct the situation. One of the best ways to get quick feedback is to run a customer feedback survey. If it’s something you know you should be doing but haven’t gotten around to it yet, follow these 5 steps and have your program set up in no time.

1. What do you want to know? Sounds simple, but what do you want customers to rate you on? I’d suggest picking between 5 and 10 aspects of your product or service that you think are important.

2. How should they answer? It’s usual to give people a few check box options to choose from like “great” or “poor.” Always have at least one question in your customer feedback survey where they can write comments that they may not be able to fit into one of your questions.

3. Should I offer an incentive? Possibly. You may encourage people to fill out your cards if you offer a prize or discount. Think about whether once a month you want to give someone a free haircut or a free meal. You could pick a card out out of the ones that have been returned.

4. How should it look? Keep it clean and simple. A Small Postcard size (4.25″x6″)Â is usually big enough. Your Client Service Team can help design a comment card to match your branding. Try our SmoothWove Showcards.Â These are easy to write on, and they are thick and bright white.

5. Where to put the cards? If you run a cafÃ© or restaurant, put cards on your tables. Run a hotel or guest house? Leave cards in your rooms. Manufacturer or distributor? Put cards in your boxes. Service provider? Send cards with your invoices.