Tips Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Marketing, content, & technology to help printers sell more printing

If Everyone Wins at SEO, then No-one Wins, Websites, Marketing Ideas For Printers,

Something we hear a lot is, “Do I really need to care about SEO on my website? I mean, aren’t you guys already taking care of that for me?” To get you an honest answer to that question, let’s unpack that a little. We’ll show you what we do to help you get the best search engine optimization (SEO) results, and follow that up with tips on how you can take your SEO to the next level. Form or Function? SEO is part form and part function, so let’s take a look at both form and function. Here’s what you need to know: We take care of the “function” part so that together we’re well-positioned to help you take care of the “form” part. How we help: We make sure your website functions in a way that makes search engines happy. We make sure the website code adheres to search engine best practices. One geeky example: Websites from Marketing Ideas For Printers embed properly-formatted sitemaps, and that’s a “must do” if you want to make it easy for search engines to index your website. That’s a little taste of what we do make sure you’re well-positioned for search engine success. Now, let’s turn the focus and

Let the Sparks Fly, Marketing Ideas For Printers, Websites, Ideas Collection

As sparks are to fire, inspiration is to great design. The word “spark” has become synonymous with life, vitality, or the heated release of anger, passion, or creativity. A creative spark is sometimes all it takes to inspire a grand slam idea. That’s why this month we’ve included a second BONUS design tip to every website from Marketing Ideas For Printers. After all, when sparks fly, fire happens! Prompt an Imagination Upgrade Want to help your customers re-energize or animate their design? This bonus design tip, available in the Ideas Collection of every website of Marketing Ideas For Printers, provides several strategies for sparking innovative ideas. Whether it’s a writer, artist, designer, or small business owner, everyone can benefit from an imagination upgrade. Here are five easy ways to release them from a rut: Make time to be creative. Designating a set time, tool, or training opportunity can unleash potential and open pathways for inspiration. Step away from your tribe. Changing your physical environment or the people you’re most familiar with can bring an exciting new perspective. Make a timeline. Breaking giant tasks into simple steps can move you forward in measurable, meaningful ways. Deliberately disconnect. Free at least part

Cut Through the Clutter with Beautiful Print Promotions, Websites, Ideas Collection, Marketing Ideas For Printers

Average media consumers are staggering under the weight of spam e-mails and information overload. Think you can’t compete? Think again! While your customers may believe print advertising has grown stale, the “digital deluge” means there has never been a better time to highlight beautiful print promotions. Rules of the Road The newest design tip in our Ideas Collection, available on every website provided by Marketing Ideas For Printers, features print options for anyone looking to cut through the digital clutter. Remind clients that repetition is crucial. Sending out just one mailing piece will not provide the desired results. Instead, help them to see the benefits of designing a series of staggered, targeted pieces, including a precise promotion, call to action, or a clear next step to ensure the message engages readers and delivers a consistent, compelling message. 5 Ways They Can Toot Their Own Horn Ready to roll? Here are five common promotions featured that will get your customers and prospects thinking about themselves: Self-Promotion: Detail exclusive offerings or illuminate company strengths. Brag Promotions: Let the audience know about an impressive award, ranking, or community contribution. Capabilities Promotions: Remind clients of breadth, depth, or proficiency of services. Invitations: Feature a

MIS, Odyssey, Marketing Ideas For Printers, Print MIS Reliability Check: Hard Drive or Internet?

A frequent question that comes up when printers explore moving to any cloud-based service is: What happens if my internet connection goes down? Our new Print MIS, Odyssey, is a cloud-based service, so it’s important to us that you get a clear answer to that question. If internet reliability is a concern in your area, then a cloud-based MIS service like Odyssey may not be the right choice for you. You may be better served by a legacy Print MIS like Printer’s Plan or PrintSmith Vision that resides on a hard drive. However, hard drives have reliability issues too. Whether your internet connection goes down for a cloud-based system, or your hard drive crashes for a legacy system, your primary concern is to get access to your data. So, when data access is needed, which option gets you there quicker and with less hassle? Let’s take a look at both contenders. In Corner One: Hard Drives Hard drives are not immortal. In fact, it’s just a matter of when (not if!) your hard drive dies. When that happens, think about this: what if that hard drive contains all of your Print MIS data? Now, calculate the time and hassle required to recover from a

Marketing Ideas For Printers, Are You Sure Your Software Is Up-To-Date?, Direct Mail

Recently, a customer contacted us looking for help with customizing their direct mail content. They had experienced a series of weird hiccups while trying to open their Adobe InDesign file with no clear indication of what to do next. After some digging, we discovered that their version of Adobe InDesign was outdated and had been corrupted. Thankfully, they subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud, and a simple update to their software fixed the problem and got them back on track! What You Should Know If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, the newest updates for your current software platform are available to you at any time. Additionally, you have access to the freshest software releases as soon as they become available from Adobe. If that’s news to you, keep on reading! Every Adobe Creative Cloud subscription includes the Creative Cloud app which manages your Adobe software and notifies you of any updates available. This app also gives you front row access to the newest versions of the software available. You can check out the “What’s New?” section to find out exactly what you’re getting with the update. To access the “What’s New?” section within any Adobe application on either Mac or PC,

Websites, Ideas Collections, Marketing Ideas For Printers, The Perfect Score

To score or not to score? This question faces anyone creating a printed piece that must be folded before mailing, display, or delivery. Your customers may not realize the importance of scoring paper or preparing printed materials so that they fold cleanly. Our latest print tip, added to the Ideas Collection of every website provided by Marketing Ideas For Printers, gives your clients a basic tutorial on the criteria and methods to consider when weighing the benefits of including this step in the print process. To Score or Not to Score? Educating your customers regarding scoring is easy with this latest print tip. Here’s a sample from the article: While in some cases folding without scoring is sufficient, often scoring will eliminate unsightly creases and buckling in the printed material. The primary consideration in whether or not to score a printed piece is the thickness of the paper being used for the project. As a general rule, paper that is 100 lbs. or heavier should be scored before folding. Other instances where scoring the paper is recommended would include: There is heavy ink coverage across the folded area. You will be folding against the grain of the sheet. A critical

White Paper, Websites, 6 Tips to Master Networking, Marketing Ideas For Printers

Networking can be the lifeblood of business, especially for businesses that find it difficult to advertise in traditional ways. Our latest white paper “How to Master Networking” takes the guesswork out of the right approach to using networking as a strong part of building a successful business. Become A Master Networker Included in this whitepaper are tips to help networkers understand the difference between networking and selling, as well as: How networking builds future sales Building trust-based relationships Choosing the right networking opportunities Making the most of your circle of contacts Creating power networking partners Building a lifelong sales funnel through the people you already know With this guide on “How to Become A Master Networker,” you can help your customers with great advice on how to build their sales funnel with networking and prove your value as part of their success! Read the complete white paper here on one of our public demo websites, or get started creating your own free demo website from Marketing Ideas For Printers today. GET NETWORKING

Each week we present two webinars to talk about Odyssey, the new Print MIS from Marketing Ideas For Printers. Last week’s webinar was one of the best because Cindy Heitman and Don Jones joined me. (That means you don’t have to listen to me drone on and on!) Cindy and Don both have a unique perspective on Odyssey, and you’ll find it helpful to learn more about Odyssey from a different viewpoint. Cindy is on our sales team and helps printers see the benefits Odyssey offers. Don is Odyssey’s lead developer and shares his excitement of Odyssey from the perspective of all the technical details that make it work. A New Print MIS: The Odyssey Live Event Web Meeting Enough of my words, let’s get you watching and listening. Here’s a recording of the Thursday, March 16, 2017, Odyssey webinar: Table of Contents Miss a spot? Here’s a convenient table of contents for you to get to the exact right place, along with links to pages referenced in the webinar: 0:45 – Book: The Influence of “Hooked” on Odyssey (Blog post: http://on.mi4p.com/hooked-blog) 3:55 – Odyssey from Cindy’s Perspective 8:53 – Meet Don Jones (Blog post: http://on.mi4p.com/meet-don-jones) 9:22 – Odyssey from Don’s Perspective 12:40 – Demo of

Marketing Ideas For Printers, Double Color Management: An Extraterrestrial Experience, Tip

Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses sounds like a good thing, right? It sure can be, except in print. When your printed images start taking on an extraterrestrial hue, it’s time to take the glasses off and see where this mystical glow is coming from. Recently, one of our customers experienced a rather “rosy” view of the images in our Direct Mail For Printers’ Business Forum newsletter package. Frustrated with the magenta casts and poor quality images, they contacted us looking for a solution. Our team suspected that double color management was to blame for the less-than-great print quality images our customer was experiencing. So, what is double color management? Simply put, double color management occurs when both the software and the output device are trying to control the color output values assigned to your document as it goes through the production cycle. This often causes hiccups and frustrations along the way. Double color management is a silent killer of good print quality because the settings are incredibly easy to miss and no error message is produced when the settings are incorrectly applied, The telltale sign of double color management is an unnatural pink or magenta cast to your print, in addition to very

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