Monday, April 30, 2012

Five Steps to Your Marketing Success

1. Compromise in marketing is almost always a bad idea. Extreme A could work. Extreme B could work. The average of A and B will almost never work.

2. You won’t get it right the first time. Your campaign will need to be reinvented, adjusted or scrapped. Count on it.

3. Convenient choices are not often the best choices. Just because an agency, an asset or a bizdev deal are easy to do doesn’t mean that they are your best choice.

4. If it makes you nervous, it’s probably a good idea. If you’re sure you’re right, you probably aren’t.

5. Test, measure and optimize. Figure out what's working and do it more.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com

Friday, April 27, 2012

Looking for a Short Run Post Card Deal?

This week let's take a moment and talk about "Post Cards!"

Direct mail is a very effective way to reach your customer and let them know about your latest products, newest services, up-coming events or your website. There are so many ways to use post cards in today's marketing environment.

With our new digital printing we can even make short-run post cards a very cost effective tool.  You can target a smaller group of potential customers and get out your sale notices even faster.

We can also do your long runs in many popular size Post Cards.  If you have a motel / hotel or tourist attraction we can help you with Post Cards that promote your location and even sell to your customers.

Post cards for sales and For Sale!

If you need help from start to finish MI Printing is here to help meet your Post Card needs. We are known for our fair prices and quick turn arounds.

Call us for your post card solutions at 623-582-1302 and ask Paula about current our pricing!

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Feel Comfortable with Your Marketing

Your marketing should match the feel of your business.  As you watch TV or listen to the radio you see and hear all types of marketing.  Some could be called “In Your Face”.  They are loud and brash with a short focus message that is usually “Buy, Buy, Buy!!!”

Other ads are more laid back and they message can be very soft and informational in nature.  These ads can be informative and educational.  They try to educate the consumer or perhaps even warn the consumer.

Before you think car dealer versus your local community college it is more far flung than that.  Yes, while the loud brash, buy-it-now ads do bring car dealers to mind, all types businesses have used that format.  The most important point is your advertising and marketing set the tone for what your customers expect and even the demographics of the customers you attract.

We all know that where you advertise will limit where (the demographic) your ad reaches or is targeted.  Generally the advertising medium will be more than happy to tell you the age group and buying power of their target market.  Knowing that will tell you if the audience they reach is the audience you want to attract.

A nice quiet sit-down Italian restaurant may not be looking for the same buyer that the local pizza parlor wants.  While they might both sell pizzas, they need a different buyer.

Your printed materials work the same way.  Your choice of colors, font types and sizes have somewhat the same affect on the viewer.  Make sure your message is a match to the buyer you expect.  Call MI Printing and let us help you make those choices.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Work Smarter, Not Harder… Right?

No matter how hard we work, it seems like there is never enough time to get it all done. The alternative to working longer and longer hours, is working smarter, not harder.

Ask yourself if some tasks you are now doing can be shifted to a coworker.  Before you break out in guilt-mode, there are always tasks that creep into your daily work load that really don’t belong there.  You need to step back and re-evaluate your workday routine.  You can look at it by time-of-day,  most time consuming or any grouping that makes most sense to you.

Next develop a work plan.  Just like every organization needs a business plan, an efficient worker needs a work plan.  Once you have decided on what needs to be completed by you during the day form a well-thought-out format to help guide and direct work activities. Schedule your tasks throughout your day.

The next step may be the hardest.  Now that you have a plan, stick to it! If a typical workday consists of some writing tasks (emails, reports), one-on-one meetings, and processing data / record keeping, set aside specific times each day to accomplish each category of tasks. The reliability of a consistent schedule ensures that each grouping of work gets completed, and makes it less likely that tasks will be overlooked or added in.

Perhaps the most important step in your new plan is “Don't Make Work Harder Than It Is.” Keep in mind that time pressure is almost always self-induced. We set unrealistically high goals or standards for ourselves and feel like we should be doing more. Remember that tasks get completed in a step-by-step fashion. Focusing on each step, rather than on the entire project, may cut down on feelings that we are "overwhelmed."

You may find that you need do these steps more than once and to re-evaluate your trimming and re-setting of goals.

If you need help with your business printing let MI Printing take those printing needs off your shoulders.  Please call us at 623.582.1302.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Animals In Your Marketing

Several times we have mentioned that one of the first things to remember about marketing is the old saying, “First, Get Their Attention!”

Studies have shown that using “cute” animals is a great way to do that.  Actually using animals in advertisements and marketing works in most cases even if the animals aren’t even cute.  They make the ad or brochure memorable.  You want to be memorable. You want your marketing to be shared. If the animal works really well you could even reach the Holy Grail by having your message Go Viral!

So think about using animals. People can’t resist cute animals. They’re even reported to get more attention than major media outlets.

But you can’t just slap a random picture of a kitty in your design. It looks out of place, and a little desperate. The key is to use images that work with the flow of your email.

Here are some examples of how other businesses do that, and how you can apply it to your marketing. Think about using animals in your logo.  This is easy to implement; have your company adopt a mascot and make it part of your logo. Mascots can help more than your design – they can be converted into stuffed animals, stickers, or posters that make for great free gifts.

If you want a great example of combining animals in your marketing, think, Coca-Cola.  They get product placement in different media outlets from there use of cute polar bears. Nothing says cute like a baby animal using a human product.

If you’re selling a tangible product, give it some animal love. Set up a pose with your pet or a friend’s, and share it with customers or email subscribers.

You can even use animals across a wide range of marketing.  The link below leads to a YouTube video from Jeep that shows how humor and animals can reach a very large and free audience.

http://youtu.be/ZY_-JF8EeYI

Want help with your next print advertisement?  Call MI Printing 623.582.1302 and lets us help.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com/

Monday, April 23, 2012

Does Warm Weather Affect Your Business?

Different parts of the country are affected differently by the summer season.  But how does the warm weather affect your business marketing?

If your business is snow removal the summer season can mean a long deserved hiatus for five or six months.  If you have a landscape business then the arrival of warm weather means gearing up for your prime season.

Most business are not seemingly turned on or off by the arrival of warm weather.  But warm weather does mean a change in the behavior and activity of your customer base.  How you respond to that behavior change can increase your bottom line.

If what you sell is weather or activity related then you need to plan well in advance to bring new or improved  items to your market place.  What benefits can you bring to your customers.  Does the new product save them money?  Does the improved product improve the customers results?  Is the new product safer to use or operate?

Will a new brochure help explain the new product’s benefits to your market?  Brochures are a very cost effective way to reach your existing customers.  Your regular customers can become an “in-house market.”  Always make sure your regulars have the first shot at new items and techniques.  You should have a good idea of those customers that will want and benefit from your new product lines.

So as the weather warms up make sure your business is ready to warm up with it.  Call MI Printing at 623.582.1302 and see how we can help you communicate with your warm market.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
http://printinginaz.com

Friday, April 20, 2012

MI Printing: Indoor Magnets

Make your advertising message STICK!

Indoor Magnets... Several Sizes and Styles available  4/0 (Full Color One Side), 17pt UV coated stock.   From customer supplied art. Art should be 300dpi PDF file.

At MI Printing we can take care of all of your specialty printing needs.  Learn about the many options we offer for your business printing needs.  Questions... Please give us a call at 623-582-1302.

Please ask about money saving larger quantity print runs.  For best results a high quality PDF file is required for the customer supplied artwork.

Thank You
Matt & Paula


Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Advertising and Other Marketing

What a business needs is very simple, it needs customers.  There are many ways to attract customers.  What we want to discuss here is going to be under a simple term, Promotion.

Promotion is a term that can encompass many different ways of reaching customers.  A business can have different types of customers.  For now we are going to talk about three different classes of customers, regular customers, occasional customers and new customers.

Different business have different time cycles for customers.  A car dealership may have a regular customer that only makes a visit once every three years or so.  A restaurant on the other hand, could have a regular customer that visits several times a week.

Promotions are meant to bring more customers into a business than occurred in the last time cycle you want to compare.  The increase must be measured against a baseline that makes sense for that event being measured.

A promotion for a restaurant could be based on last weeks sales versus this weeks sales.  The success of any promotion must be measurable so the effectiveness can be understood.  Is the promotion’s goal the number of people through the business, gross sales dollars or the increase (hopefully) in net profit over that time period.

What parameter of the promotion is being measured?  What goal was set for that promotion?  If you don’t know the goal of a promotion before the promotion you will never know it the promotion was a success.

So if the promotion was designed to attract just new customers, how did that work out and what technique was used to attract news customers. How did the try to get new customers affect your existing regulars?  Did something you did within the promotion turn-off existing customer.  Do you reward a new customer more than you reward a regular customer?

And last but not least, did the promotion help or hurt the bottom line?
There is an old saying; “We loose money on every one we sell, but we make up for it in the volume!”  Is that a reality statement?  Do you ever want a promotion to attract new customers to be unprofitable at the same time.  Is this your risk – reward test?

Promotions and food for thought from MI Printing.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
printinginaz.com

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Customer Surveys Are Needed Feedback

When should you begin to ask for customer feedback?  How about from day one of business operation.  No matter how long you have been in business if you aren’t asking for feedback you are missing a very big opportunity.

One thing you need to know that customers very much appreciate being asked for their feedback on your business operation.  You will learn things that you didn’t even know that you needed to ask.

Yes, you can ask simple questions that you would like to know how your customers feel about.  But you want to give them at least one chance to give you completely unrelated suggestions or feedback on any item they want to.  They may want to bring up something that is a suggestion or beef about an area that is off your radar.

Much to your surprise they may have a good idea about adding a product or service that will be a whole new profit center for your business.

Start tomorrow asking for customer feedback.  It needs to go well beyond the simple end of purchase questions like.  How was everything?  Did you find everything?

You may want to have several different surveys.  They can cover stock on hand or pricing.  They can cover overall store appearance or cleanliness.  They can be a request for ideas of “new” products or services needed.

These surveys can be a printed form that is handed to a customer or slipped inside their purchase.  The last thing you want to do is leave them in a pile on the counter.  You want to get as close to 100% percent of the customers getting an opportunity of filling out that survey.

On your printed survey you can give them the chance to go to your web site to fill out the survey.  You can even use a QR code to get them started on your feedback.

This is one of those ideas that need to be under the banner of “Just Do It.”  Call MI Printing to have your surveys printed.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
printinginaz.com

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Guerrilla Marketing – Thinking Outside The Box

This week we need to make sure we have a good definition of what is Guerrilla Marketing.  Guerrilla Marketing is an advertising strategy in which low-cost unconventional means are utilized, often in a localized area, to convey or promote a product, service or an idea. The term guerrilla marketing is easily traced to guerrilla warfare which utilizes atypical tactics to achieve a goal in a competitive and unforgiving environment.

The concept of guerrilla marketing was invented as an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, potentially interactive, and consumers are targeted in unexpected places.

The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing textbooks.

Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, or any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to Guerrilla marketing now utilize mobile digital technologies to engage the consumer and create a memorable brand experience.

Guerrilla marketing focuses on low cost creative strategies of marketing. Basic requirements are time, energy, and imagination and not money. Sales do not compose of the primary static to measure business but is replaced by profit.

Guerrilla marketers need to be creative in devising unconventional methods of promotion. Guerrilla marketers need to use all of their contacts, both professional and personal, and examine their company and its products, looking for sources of publicity. Many forms of publicity can be very inexpensive, or even free.

The concept shown here this week is very creative.  Dog foot prints are placed on the floor in a public restroom.  The prints lead into just one stall and when you enter a raise the lid you find an add for a Dog Training company.  While the add lists just the phone number it could be further expanded to use a web site name or even a QR Code.

Need to have a creative twist to your next commercial printing job?  Give MI Printing a call 623.582.1302.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com
printinginaz.com

Monday, April 16, 2012

Quality Printing In-House?

Many times businesses are “penny wise and pound foolish.”  If you haven’t heard that one before it is an old English saying from the early 1600s.  The general meaning is thought of as over careful about trivial things and under careful about important ones. The literal image is of the person who fusses over small amounts of money to such an extent that he misses opportunities to save or make large amounts. 

Many businesses with a computer and a laser printer believe that they can be the source of all their business printing needs.  While a laser printer can put out a reasonable quality image and do it well for a very short run printing job they were never meant to truly replace a “print shop” for flyers and advertising jobs.

The quality and paper stock that comes from a commercial printer is far better than what a business level laser printer can do.

Cost is the “final nail in the coffin” for a business laser printer.  Most lasers today cost about 10 to 15 cents (in grayscale printing) per sheet when you figure the paper and the toner used for a typical job.  Most companies quote their printers cost of operation based on 5% page coverage and a flyer or brochure can be 50 to 80% coverage.  That means you need to take the manufactures cost times ten when trying to get you per page cost understood.

When you figure a full color flyer or brochure the typical business laser is over 50 cents per side.  Many color lasers have a true per page cost of 65 cents when you figure in all the costs involved.

Getting ready to do something on your office laser?  Give MI Printing a call so we can show you our savings that go straight to your bottom line.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Friday, April 13, 2012

MI Printing: Special Carbonless Forms

At MI Printing we can take care of all of your carbonless needs far beyond just carbonless forms.  These can be used for employment applications, order forms, job tickets, invoices, estimates or proposals. If needed, backside printing is available.

Please let us know what type of padding you expect for your forms.  For best results a PDF file is required for the customer supplied artwork.

Need to know more about all the uses for carbonless forms contact us at MI Printing.

We are ready to help just give us a call at 623.582.1302 for our current special pricing on carbonless forms.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com 

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Old Marketing Ideas That Still Work Today

If you’re looking for the future of small business marketing.

Market to your existing customers.  The general rule is that 20 percent of your customers deliver 80 percent of your profits. If this is your business, extract more revenue by calling and emailing customers in the 20 percent group with personalized deals and promotions.

Focus on your customer’s needs. Play to your core customers' needs, offering them a short-term sale or some long-term discounted price. Treat them with respect and meet them in person. Mark down significant dates such as birthdays and send them cards by mail.

Use your customer service as a marketing tool.  A recent survey suggests some American consumers may be willing to pay at least ten percent more for good customer service making it an important potential product differentiation when marketing any product or service. Have you thought about how your customer service impacts your bottom line? Are there ways you could increase the level of customer service in your business?

Make sure you are delivering a quality product or buying experience.  There is an old saying that is; “The Quality Is Remembered Long After The Price Is Forgotten.”  Do you remember the last meal you had that the taste or presentation just blew you away?  Do you remember the last meal you had that the price and quality were low?  Perhaps, more importantly do you buy from the low price, low end quality establishment ever again?

Let MI Printing help you with print marketing.

Brought to you by;
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Quality Is A Long Standing Measure

Yesterday we talked about “quality” as a measure for being a successful business.  During that research we ran across a bit of research that leads to a question about long term product identification.

A recent survey shows that one product that has had a very high score for “quality” is the Coca-Cola Bottling Company.  Many “soda” companies have taken a lot of bad press lately for the “health” issues.  Part of the obesity issues our country faces have lead many people to blame any high sugar content food or beverage items to blame for our over-weight population.

But when asked to name companies that have a long term reputation for a quality product or having a reputation of quality, one of companies in the top five was Coca-Cola.

So we find that a company can have two different public faces.  In Coca-Cola’s case we have a company that is perceived as causing damage to our youth by having a beverage that is causing those that use it to be overweight or worse and yet that have made and continue to make a quality product.  Some people have even gone so far as to compare “sodas and cigarettes” as both being additive products.

Both cigarettes and sodas advertising have been called into question as targeting the youth market.  The rough side of that is the perception that if you have an addictive product you want to get them while they are young so you have a longer usage lifetime.

So who makes a quality product, well Coca-Cola does.  I think even Coca-Cola would admit that drinking too much “Coke” isn’t good for you and anything to excess should be avoided.  So on a real hot summer day enjoy an ice cold Coca-Cola, just not too many of them.  Isn’t there an old saying about “Everything in Moderation?”

So give MI Printing a call about flyers to build your product or service reputation.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

 Photo by Rachael Hale Photography
Or, should I start with “Don’t Be A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.”  Many small businesses start with good intentions and somehow as time passes they end up going down the “Dark Path”.

While it is always easy to couple that type of a shift in business focus to a simple profit motive that would be too simple of a reason.  When Google first started in business the had a corporate focus that was summed up by the statement “Do No Harm.”  As the years have past some folks have accused Google of loosing sight of that motto.

Far be it from me of throwing stones at Google (I think they do a real first rate job overall) it does show that good companies with good intentions can, with out meaning to, come across as wearing at least a gray colored hat to some outside viewers.

The old saying “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is usually understood to mean that you have a given exterior appearance that masks an otherwise sinister interior.  Car dealers and lawyers jump to mind for many folks.

You don’t have to spend much time reading a newspaper or following an online news source to run across stories of companies that put their profits ahead of providing a quality product.  In some cases the changes lead to direct harm to their consumers and the public at large.

If you spend anytime watching cooking shows that feature various restaurants there is a common theme that is related to the restaurants that rate the highest.  That is a simple basis, fresh, quality ingredients produce the best tasting meals.  Serving a product your customers want to consume is always a great place to start.

If your bottom line ever becomes finding the “cheapest ingredients” that will get by, you need to dust of your “Sheep’s Suit or put away your white hat” as you have started down that Dark Path!

When you need business printing, give MI Printing a call at 623.582.1302 and let’s show you our “White Hat”.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Friday, April 6, 2012

Easter Traditions Around The World

As with other Christian festivals, the celebration of Easter extends beyond the church. Since its origins, it has been a time of celebration and feasting and many traditional Easter games and customs developed, such as egg rolling, egg tapping, pace egging and egg decorating. Today Easter is commercially important, seeing wide sales of greeting cards and confectionery such as chocolate Easter eggs, marshmallow bunnies, Peeps, and jelly beans. Even many non-Christians celebrate these aspects of the holiday while eschewing the religious aspects.

Many central and eastern European ethnic groups, including the Albanians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Macedonians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians decorate eggs for Easter.In Croatia and Slovenia, a basket of food is prepared and covered with a handmade cloth, and brought to the church to be blessed. A typical Easter basket includes bread, colored eggs, ham, horseradish, and a type of nut cake called "potica". The butter lamb (Baranek wielkanocny) is a traditional addition to the Easter Meal for many Polish Catholics. Butter is shaped into a lamb either by hand or in a lamb-shaped mould. In Hungary, Transylvania, Southern Slovakia, Kárpátalja, Northern Serbia - Vojvodina and other territories with Hungarian-speaking communities, the day following Easter is called Locsoló Hétfő, "Watering Monday". Water, perfume or perfumed water is often sprinkled in exchange for an Easter egg. In Bulgaria the Easter eggs are decorated on Thursday before Easter.

Throughout the English-speaking world, many Easter traditions are similar with only minor differences. For example, Saturday is traditionally spent decorating Easter eggs and hunting for them with children on Sunday morning, by which time they have been mysteriously hidden all over the house and garden. Other traditions involve parents telling their children that eggs and other treats such as chocolate eggs or rabbits, and marshmallow chicks (Peeps), have been delivered by the Easter Bunny in an Easter basket, which children find waiting for them when they wake up. Many families observe the religious aspects of Easter by attending Sunday Mass or services in the morning and then participating in a feast or party in the afternoon. Some families have a traditional Sunday roast, often of either roast lamb or ham. Easter breads such as Simnel cake, a fruit cake with eleven marzipan balls representing the eleven faithful apostles, or nut breads such as potica are traditionally served. Hot cross buns, spiced buns with a cross on top, are traditionally associated with Good Friday, but today are often eaten well before and after.

In Scotland, the north of England, and Northern Ireland, the traditions of rolling decorated eggs down steep hills and pace egging are still adhered to.

In Louisiana, USA, egg tapping is known as egg knocking. Marksville, Louisiana claims to host the oldest egg-knocking competition in the US, dating back to the 1950s. Competitors pair up on the steps of the courthouse on Easter Sunday and knock the tips of two eggs together. If the shell of your egg cracks you have to forfeit it, a process that continues until just one egg remains.

In the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, historically famous for growing and exporting the Easter lily, the most notable feature of the Easter celebration is the flying of kites to symbolize Christ's ascent. Traditional Bermuda kites are constructed by Bermudians of all ages as Easter approaches, and are normally only flown at Easter. In addition to hot cross buns and Easter eggs, fish cakes are traditionally eaten in Bermuda at this time.

In Finland, Sweden and Denmark, traditions include egg painting and small children dressed as witches collecting candy door-to-door, in exchange for decorated pussy willows. This is a result of the mixing of an old Orthodox tradition (blessing houses with willow branches) and the Scandinavian Easter witch tradition. Brightly coloured feathers and little decorations are also attached to birch branches in a vase. In Finland, it is common to plant rye grass in a pot as a symbol of spring and new life. After the grass has grown, many people put chick decorations on it. Children busy themselves painting eggs and making paper bunnies.

No Matter what your Easter Tradition is we would like to wish you a Happy Easter.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

MI Printing: Special Carbonless Forms

At MI Printing we can take care of all of your carbonless needs far beyond just carbonless forms.  These can be used for employment applications, order forms, job tickets, invoices, estimates or proposals. If needed, backside printing is available.

Please let us know what type of padding you expect for your forms.  For best results a PDF file is required for the customer supplied artwork.

Need to know more about all the uses for carbonless forms contact us at MI Printing.

We are ready to help just give us a call at 623.582.1302 for our current special pricing on carbonless forms.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

What Is A QR Code?

What Is A QR Code? QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from an advertisement and put it in to your cell phone. You are seeing QR Codes in magazines, newspapers, brochures, billboards,  TV ads or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it can give you details about the business or a more indepth video about the product or business.

The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including web site links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them. The full Wikipedia description is here.

How does the cell phone read the code? The cell phone needs a QR code reader, like this one from Kaywa. It takes literally 1 minute for someone with an iPhone or Android phone to find and install the reader.

Consider putting a QR code on your next brochure or flyer.  It can be a link to an interactive map or a video about your business or products.

Let MI Printing keep you fresh and up-to-date.  Give us a call at 623.582.1302.

Presented By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Building Customer Relationships

How do you build or grow a business?  The one constant in a good business model is how well the customer relationships are working.

It doesn’t matter if you are selling goods or services your business success depends on the quality of the relationship you have with your customers.

If you are doing a good job and are satisfying your customer’s needs that will build a good relationship with your end user.  Yes, it breaks down into many different facets of business.  The product has to get to the end user at the right price.  The customer has to like and use the product or service.  Yet, many people miss one more important aspect… the customer has to also feel appreciated by the business.

If you sell a good product at the lowest price you will generally find a customer base.  But, will that model end up being a profitable one for the business?  There are many factors that work their way into the “cost” of doing business.  Your overhead is very touchy when your business model is based on being the “lowest” priced seller. 

You customer still needs to feel that he is appreciated even if the lowest price is also “his” basic driver in making or not making a purchase.  The quality of a product is also part of the “price” feature.  You can always sell a poor product at a cheaper price. 

Many customer have come to understand that the lowest purchase price isn’t the true “lowest” cost of a product.  How long a product lasts, its “lifecycle” is the real judge of a product cost.

No matter what price is, the real relationship between the business and the customer is what will ultimately determine the success of any given business.

Call MI Printing at 623.582.1302 and let us help you in your business printing relationships.

Brought To You By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com

Monday, April 2, 2012

Location, Location, Location

The “Location, Location, Location” is the holy grail of small business and the very first rule in setting up a new business.

You can set-up the right business in the wrong location. You can change the structure, remodel it or alter the layout but, ordinarily, you cannot move the building. It's attached to the land. The best locations are those in prime spots with high traffic.  What's that word... traffic?

That means the real secret to setting up a new business is really: Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!

The more people that visit a business the higher the gross sales will be.  So rather than location what a business really needs is traffic through the door, buts in the seats or the loud and strong ringing of the cash register.

Now-days that is the near silent swiping of a credit card that puts money in the pocket.  Traffic is a word that the internet uses everyday.  What is the “traffic” through my website? Is a very common question.  The same thing applies to any brick and mortar business.

You can only hope that your business location has great traffic from the start.  Better than hope, you can plan for many printed brochures, door hangers, flyers, business cards and regular advertising to bring more and more people to your business location.

Your promotion can and will improve the “Traffic” to your “Location.”  At MI Printing we can improve your traffic by helping you tell a good story about your business.

Brought To You By
MI Printing
Phone: 623.582.1302
Email:
sales@printinginaz.com