Logos – Page 2 – ImageBlog

November 6, 2014

Cool Idea: Put Your Logo on a Custom Printed Bandana

The classic bandana with a paisley pattern seems to never go out of style. We love these custom printed bandanas that incorporate the customer logo seamlessly into that classic design. They are lightweight woven cotton with screen printing in white and come in the whole rainbow of colors you would expect.

The pet bandana version is also pretty awesome – a triangular shape makes it easier to tie around your best friend’s neck. They come in different sizes to fit the tiniest dogs or cats or some king-size buddies. The entire imprint area can be designed with your repeating logo or with some other shape or design of your choice.

You’ll need a version of your logo that works reversed out in all white with no screens. In our large bandana sample here, we used the logo at a larger size in the center, and then in four smaller imprint areas on each of the four corners. When folded, you’ll always see one of the logos. You might want to include a tagline or web address as well if the imprint area works better with that information.

Developing your logo in different variants is important for multichannel marketing. Never settle for one “FINAL” version of your logo from your designer with the idea that it can multitask for every need. Develop different “flavors” of your logo that will be versatile enough to work in full color, single color with screens, spot color and at different sizes from tiny to billboard size, offset to online . The standard full color logo that looks just perfect on your letterhead may not be the version that works for embroidery on uniforms, screenprinting, promotional products, black and white forms, single color designs, or wide format prints. For versatility of use, it’s also great to have your logo designed in a “Tall” (portrait) and “Wide” (landscape) version. Think about it: what might look good on a round coaster might look pretty tiny if you decide to print it on the side of a pencil!

Call us at 828.684.4512 to order your bandanas, or for any marketing needs. As a printer, we understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmentally responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is now partnered with Extreme Awards & Engraving – our in-house partner providing custom engraved trophies and awards for employee recognition programs, sporting events, and promotional needs. With our new sister company, we will be sharing space, resources and expertise in a collaboration designed to further provide you with one place to meet all of your marketing needs… Under One Roof! Visit them online at www.extremeae.com or call direct at 828.684.4538.

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

October 30, 2014

Wear Your Brand – Embroidery & Screenprinting Bring Life to Your Logo

You’re proud of your business. After working hard to craft the right image, brand and logo youj now need to keep that identity fresh and visible to the public. The choice of promotional products to bear your brand is huge. But don’t forget, the choice for apparel – for you, your team members, and your customers – is larger and more diverse than ever. Printwear brings life to your logo and moves it out among people on a daily basis. Choosing the right apparel for your brand ensures you make the best impression.

Outfitting your employees with branded apparel and work gear makes a strong impression both in store and outside of your place of business. The public will see your team doing quality work, in quality gear. Consider standardizing the look, color and design of your team’s apparel, whether it is a typical uniform or a more casual style. Through embroidery and screen printing, most all work clothing can be customized to reflect and promote your brand. Digitize your logo for embroidery, or choose screen printing or full color tshirt printing for other more casual garments. Even tools, construction gear and footwear can be part of your public image.

Consistent, cohesive and high quality branding is all important for small businesses. Your logo design and identity should work for you across each aspect of your business, wherever you interact with the public. That includes signage, building design, interior decor, employee apparel and work gear, website branding, direct mail outreach…. you have a chance at each of these points when the public sees your business to make a good impression.

Begin to browse online for ideas and you will discover a huge variety of high quality, custom apparel to help you achieve the right look for your team. Your provider should be able to help you decide which applications are best for use with embroidery, screen printing or full color, direct-to-garment printing (dye sublimation). This branding offers a stylish, crafted finish to almost any garment. You recognize the UPS drivers immediately – do your customers recognize your employees? Even if you feel your business is not suitable for a uniformed workforce, an embroidered shirt in your brand’s color for employees who deal with the public is attractive.

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with any questions you have in fashioning your brand or designing your marketing materials. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for print, signage, apparel and integrated marketing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Shop our full ImageSmith catalog online here. We can work with you to find the best option to suit your needs. Please note, prices in online catalog do not include decoration, but call us for a quote at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

August 21, 2014

Why Great Customer Service Is a Powerful Small Business Marketing Tool

With the power of the Internet and the multitude of review sites, it’s difficult to avoid honest opinions about your company. Those reviews, both positive and negative, are just a Google search away, and whether the complaint or review is valid or not, people may still take it as gospel.

According to Fonolo, 68 percent of businesses plan to increase the amount of money they invest in customer management because the customer experience is so important. Additionally, positive feedback can be very useful for marketing purposes, especially when customers share how their issues were resolved efficiently.

Companies can use that testimonial information to develop customer service strategies, and show their customers that they’re appreciated. This in turn creates new and repeat business. Here are some ways to turn customer referrals and testimonials into increased business:

Take Care of Your Customers

The best type of marketing is word-of-mouth by your customers. The best way to create a positive buzz about your company is to provide great customer service. People will remember how you solved their problems and helped them find whatever they needed. Not only will they return to your company but they also will tell their friends about their positive experience. This is the easiest way to market your company because you let your customers do the work for you.

Reflect Your Caring for Customers

Taking care of customers is a vital marketing issue, perhaps even more so than buying billboards or advertising. When customers feel cared for, many are quick to share that experience, reflecting the hard work of your company. Every customer is a gatekeeper to evangelize your brand. Showing your appreciation and generosity for loyal customers builds solid support for your business.

Marketing customer service requires long-term vision “to move the needle on customer service operations, in order to keep customers satisfied and loyal to your brand,” states Kate Leggett in an article on Forrester.

Loyal customers deserve your attention. Those who receive a top-to-bottom customer support experience could become repeat buyers. Your company can go above and beyond the typical customer service requirements by showing appreciation to loyal customers. When you reach out and thank them, it comes across as a genuine attempt to make them feel special. One way to do this is to send something like a gift basket and a hand-written thank you note. You can brand any number of useful and desirable products with your logo and colors to use as giveaways – the promotional products field has items at all price levels ready to be imprinted, engraved, embroidered or branded with your company logo and message. Also, print wear is a great idea – loyal customers will be happy to receive and wear a quality clothing item screen printed or embroidered with the attractive logo of a company they appreciate.

Locate Testimonials

If your company pops up in Internet searches next to negative terms, then that gives people an early reason to look elsewhere for comparable products or merchandise. But, if your business connects to positive search results, it gives people a reason to trust you.

With customer review sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor, people can see what others said about you, and, luckily, you can use positive reviews to your advantage. Figure out who your most sustained, loyal customers are, and ask them to honestly share their experience in a video testimonial for your company’s website. Wistia offers advise and tips for creating video testimonials for your business such as being prepared but not scripted. If you don’t like videos, then you also can ask repeat customers to go onto Yelp, Angie’s List or other review sites to honestly talk about their experiences.

In your advertising, emphasize the real-world experience of your most honest customers, and more people will get a sense of what you’re all about.

Strive to buy your print locally! A community printer will understand communication and design, with a special emphasis on your local market. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmentally responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

August 12, 2014

3 Ideas to Promote Your Small Business Online

A small business does not need a large corporate budget to carve out a niche online. A study conducted by advertising research firm Communicus found that 60 percent of those multi-million dollar Super Bowl ads do not make potential customers any more likely to buy the corresponding product or service. Researchers asked 1,000 consumers about their buying intentions before and after the 2012 and 2013 big games, and most were unmoved by the big-ticket ads they saw.

There are very inexpensive ways to promote your small business online—even free approaches that are very effective. Here are three methods to consider.

Sell T-Shirts & Other Custom Branded Merchandise

Jason Sadler had a wild idea of approaching companies and offering to wear T-shirts bearing their slogans, logos, and phone number for a nominal fee. Six years later, iwearyourshirt.com earns him $500,000 per year with no signs of slowing down, according to Business Insider. Advertising executives are willing to pay a guy to wear shirts because they know it works.

There are plenty of options for small business owners to purchase T-shirts in bulk and sell them via their website or even give them away when customers spend a certain amount. A 15-20 percent markup on the price you paid to have them made will earn you some revenue, but it’s the free advertising that you’re after. But don’t limit your thoughts just to clothing. You can put your logo and brand on virtually anything! It’s great marketing and even a profit center.

While you can use a free logo design platform online to keep overhead low on the entire project, consult your local printer on options for a brand refresh – or, if it’s time, a complete logo and brand makeover. Make sure your logo is consistent across all your social media channels.

Start a Blog

The saying goes “content is king” for marketing, and that is especially the case for small companies building a customer base. Companies that blog had 55 percent more website visitors, 97 percent more inbound links, and 434 percent more indexed pages, according to an informal 2009 study of Hubspot customers.

The key to blogging, however, is to produce compelling content that will drive people to your website who were not necessarily looking for your product. A hair restoration doctor, for instance, could produce content about celebrity men and women in the news who have had procedures done to enhance their locks. A health food firm could write about all the bad things associated with genetically-modified foods. Consider hiring a freelance writer with a proven track record of producing content that is subsequently shared on social media. There are more than 150 million blogs on the web, so the only thing that will make yours stand out is good content. Hiring a professional writer may be money well spent.

Facebook Paid Ads

You already have a Facebook business page, so why not give their promoted post feature a try. The idea is that Facebook will put your posts in the timelines of people who are most likely to read, like, and share it. The best part of Facebook advertising is that you can test it out with a small initial budget. If it’s working for you, increase your budget and put posts in front of more Facebook users.

There are mixed opinions about Facebook promoted ads. A small case study by eConsultancy found that the traffic to promoted posts was definitely higher, but there was no way of telling whether it was because it was paid for or if the traffic was organic. Others believe that the affordability makes it a no-brainer option for low-budget firms.

Technology of the 21st century has made promoting a small business simple for anyone. Now it’s just a matter of finding the right combination of channels to reach your fiscal goals.

Strive to buy your print locally! A community printer will understand communication and design, with a special emphasis on your local market. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmentally responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

July 11, 2014

Sex and the Logo: Creative Typography in Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” Series and Beyond

This post is definitely SFW. No worries.

SEX – a loaded subject in the marketing world, and one that carries interesting choices for the graphic designer. The word itself ignites a hint of controversy when used in a headline, title or logo. While more common in song and book titles, the television and motion picture industries have used the word sparingly in project names, cautiously conscious of the line between art and pornography. Designers, when faced with a project using the word ‘sex’ in it’s title must simultaneously gauge how to temper AND excite potential reactions to the word in some way that will accurately reflect the intent of the project. That’s a touchy assignment. Good design will often push at the boundaries of acceptability within evolving cultural norms. Take for instance Showtime’s new series “Masters of Sex.”

This cable series is about the famous researchers Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson who, beginning in the 1950s, did pioneering study on human sexuality. The very name itself is a little double extendre, so it is no surprise that the logo reflects that very creatively. The slightly bawdy typographic logo features the “E” in “Sex” pushed over onto it’s back. Due to some carefully planned serifs, a new shape that just might be the groin area of a female figure appears with the help of the type’s negative space. Now the image is subtle enough that some see it as a martini glass, or a bikini thong. But that confusion in interpretation is just fine with Showtime, as it generates interest in the image and thus the show. The logo lets the viewer feel they are in on a joke, that we “got it.”

In some markets, Showtime has had to stand the “E” up, proper and respectable-like!, for outdoor billboard advertising so as not to run afoul of local decency laws. TV Guide reports that Donald Buckley, executive VP of program marketing and digital services at Showtime, said the point was to “strike a balance between subtle and salacious. ‘It’s intended to be sexy and maybe a little suggestive,’ he says, ‘but also ambiguous.'” (source)

Apparently there is a controversy over who designed the racy logo. In the TV Guide article, Buckley says a “freelancer” designed it, but doesn’t name names. French designer Abdallah Ahizoune had the original concept posted on Behance and other outlets back in 2011 – see it here – but has not been given proper credit by Showtime as of yet. Oddly enough, the Showtime trailer for the series does not show the logo with the sexy “E”, nor does the website itself, though many other print and online ad campaigns do make use of it. LogoThief is following that part of the story.

So historically, using the word SEX in a logo for TV or the movies has been, in and of itself, enough of a risk that few titles go there. Back in 1926, Mae West wrote, produced, directed and starred in a Broadway play named “Sex” – for which she was arrested and spent 10 days incarcerated on Roosevelt Island. Times have changed. Back in the 1960s, Helen Gurley Brown’s bestseller “Sex and the Single Girl” was made into a motion picture. Some of the marketing material made use of the male and female gender symbols that represent Mars and Venus – slightly shifting the focus from “sex” in a salacious sense to one more of gender roles and conflict. It was a comedy after all.

By 1989, the famously successful indie movie sex, lies, and videotape decided the name itself carried enough intrigue: the logo type was set in all lower case in a sans serif font. More recently, the logo for the popular HBO series Sex and the City chose to focus more on the ‘City’ than the ‘Sex,’ displaying the skyline of Manhattan around the words of the title. While the series certainly never shied away from sexual content, the logo design chose to steer clear of overtly advertising it.

I couldn’t find any other successful films or television shows that specifically included the word “sex” in their title. Considering it is so often a central topic, that is a telling fact. So it’s interesting to see how graphic designers have deftly handled these projects by walking a careful line when creating compelling movie posters and advertising. Isn’t it amazing what can be suggested by just the turn of one letter?

Strive to create and buy your marketing locally! A community printer will understand communication and design, with a special emphasis on your local market. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

May 28, 2014

Remembering Massimo Vignelli – One of the Greats of Graphic Design

One of the giants of 20th Century design, Italian-born Massimo Vignelli passed away on Tuesday (5/27/14) at the age of 83, after an extended illness. Credited with bringing the European modernist aesthetic to American design, Vignelli created memorable work for clients as diverse as the National Park Service, American Airlines, Bloomingdales, the New York City Subway – he even designed an entire church in New York.

Hear him in his own words below:

A hero of graphic design, Vignelli considered himself to be an “information architect” – yet his work resides in museums around the world. For a great overview of his life and work, check out the New York Times article on his death, Fast Company’s obituary tribute and of course the Vignelli Associates own website, where you will no doubt discover many familiar creations of this visionary graphic designer.

Your printer should understand communication and design, with a special emphasis on your local market. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

February 25, 2014

Can Your Logo Multitask? Design With Versatility in Mind.

The story may be true or may be apocryphal, but either way it illustrates a good point: The logo below was Apple’s logo until the day Steve Jobs decided they needed to order embroidered polo shirts.

That logo would never work well stitched at a small size onto your work shirt. Is your logo up to the demands of integrated marketing? Does it fly as well in print as online, stitched onto clothing, 10 feet wide on outdoor signage? While your goal is one unified brand image, that does not necessarily mean you will only have one logo for all purposes.

The logo design you tweaked and approved back on day one is really put to test when you begin to market across different media. Initially, many folks think of their logo only in terms of how it will appear on a card, letterhead or envelope – or perhaps how it will appear in full RBG color on their website home page. But when you begin to explore other marketing needs, the very design of that logo may prove to be limited, to not carry the same impact. For instance, a logo design may look great in full color, but when the day comes you need a solid white logo reversed out on a dark background as an awning over the front doorway entrance, the limitations of the design become apparent. Many times, more complex designs look great at a large scale but then don’t work well if you try to imprint them onto small promotional objects or on websites. Balance is also important – a logo with one oversized element may look fine onscreen, but when printed at a small scale the type can be illegible due to the difference in size with the larger element. The logo that looks great in full color on your website will need to work just as well embroidered on company uniforms, imprinted onto promotional keychains or ink pens, and embossed onto a formal letterhead. That initial design process needs to include the logo in all its variations.

Many brand images are designed with some built in variety to accommodate varying layouts and usage needs: for instance, your designer should offer you a “wide” version, a “tall” or “stacked” version, a version with and without a tagline or company “motto”. This set of logos will allow versatility in your marketing without altering the impact and unity of your brand image. Likewise, your designer can create your logo in the necessary range of color combinations: all black, reversed out as all white on a black or colored background, spot color versions using one or more defined PMS colors, and a full color version as both CMYK and RGB.

Famous brands like Coca-Cola employ a variety of type-styles, logos and brand images to differentiate their products and campaigns.

And the simplest part is often the one forgotten: once finalized, you will definitely want to have control of your brand by having possession of your actual logo… er, logos! Even if you do not have the software necessary to edit or change your logo, you will want to have the digital files in hand and a basic understanding of what file types you need for different outputs. Your designer and printer should be happy to supply you with these files.

Files… because there is never just one file that works for all occasions. While it is certainly not mandatory, a logo that begins it’s life as a vector is a happy logo! It can be edited, scaled, redesigned, converted, and proves to be the most conveniently versatile file type. Vector logos can be saved as a native .ai file or an .eps file. These can then be easily converted to other common file types such as .tiff, .jpg, .gif or .png. While you do not have to know all the mechanics behind each of these file extensions, you may be asked to provide specific ones. Your web designer may need a .gif or .png while your t-shirt vendor may ask for a vector file in two spot colors. With just the options mentioned in this post, your final logo set would consist of 30 separate digital files!

So, saving or exporting your logo to exist as different file types is not so difficult (well, if it begins as a vector file!) A well-designed logo will work well in spot colors, full color, reversed or as black and white. A logo that is created as part of a design package including a style manual will have its usage already thought out — work with your designer to ensure the versatility of your logo and brand, and once finalized to understand your different file types for marketing usage.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

January 8, 2014

9 on Design: Websites and Blogs to Inspire You

So many rich, inspirational, informative websites and blogs are now online that help keep us here at ImageSmith up to date. We have many favorites, and want to share a few in this post with the hope you find and bookmark a new resource to fire up your imagination. They are a true mixture, but one common denominator is they always help to provide inspiration and insight for design and marketing ideas.

In no certain order:

inkondapaper.com

“All things PRINT all the time.” Now with that tagline, you know we love this site. The proud creation of Chicago-based Brian Szubinski and Jason Shudy, inkondapaper is full of the latest news on print, design, direct mail, technology and more. A great resource for anyone working in or relying on the creativity and innovation of the print world.

mediabistro.com

With their tagline “the pulse of media”, media bistro is an expansive site hosting many different blogs all serving as an international resource for media professionals. Keep up with news from a variety of fields you may not have time to otherwise be an expert on such as 3D printing, mobile apps, job searches, public relations, advertising, semantic web and broadcast news.

Studiodaas Magazine or www.dnjg.be

Based in Rotterdam, this site with the cute green housefly logo is rich with stories, links, downloads and information about “design, web design, typography, web development, graphic design, photography and more…” Browse around and discover great links to tutorials on innovative typography, print projects, free font downloads. The site is well curated and geared for the progressive designer.

flavorwire.com

Live from New York, Flavorwire is a slick, up-to-the-minute website that features original reporting and critique on global cultural news. Their Twitter profile says that includes: “art, books, music, and pop culture the world over. Highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between.” Click over on the right to the Design section for great news and inspiration about the field of graphic design.

rebento.com.pt

The blog of graphic designer Visco Duque from Lisbon, Portugal – Rebento never fails to feature innovative, fresh, cutting edge designs, photography and illustrations that are an inspiration. It feels like a world market of design, a great place to browse.

Inspirationhut.com

Modern magazine redesigns, world’s biggest sand artwork, engraved typography, paintings for the blind…. just a sample of the wonderful mixture of current articles on Inspirationhut. This online art and design “magazine” focuses on talent and inspiration, and also offers frequent font, psd, texture and other downloads that designers love to find.

youthedesigner.com

A “graphic design lifestyle blog,” youthedesigner’s focus is the design professional – so expect to find practical inspirational spotlights and interviews, news on competitions, workshops, and technology as well as freebies, contests, print templates, info graphics, and the like.

trüfblog.com

The blog of Trüf creative, an award winning design firm in Santa Monica, CA – “A Creative Studio Obsessed with Designing Better Brands.” Great sense of style and color, this blog always inspires and informs.

messynessychic.com

“Blogging on the offbeat, the unique and the chic” – articles here on fashion, culture and inspiration feel like a great find in neat corner shop. Another great place to browse.

ImageSmith is proud to be a printer in an exciting era of digital communication. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

November 26, 2013

Bending Rules – Vintage Adobe Poster, 1987

What a great old poster from Adobe in 1987 that has been around the shop here all this time. It is nice to realize the illustrated typography advice here is just as applicable today as it way back before InDesign and the Creative Cloud, and indeed anytime in the history of printing or graphic design. In essence, the message is “Rules – once learned – are made to be broken.” Or to be more precise, don’t let a strict adherence to rules blind you to the opportunities that lie beyond them.

In typography, relying on auto-kerning, hyphenation, line spacing, etc. can be convenient yet often yield jarring, hard to read results – a problem only compounded when several fonts are used together. Good design creates pleasure in reading. Whether it’s an advertisement, job resumé, wedding invitation or webpage, the goal is surely to get your message read. Often, bending away from the status quo in any creative endeavor can create nice surprises and greater success – not a bad idea to keep in mind.

Speaking of good design, check out the old retro Adobe logo circa 1987 in comparison to the one used today. Quite a change.

Consider the ways you can use inspired graphic design to market your small business. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

November 21, 2013

7 Reasons to Love Promotional Products

Seed packets. Tiaras. Custom-etched wine bottles. Roadside tool kits. Wisconsin cheese platters. Guitar picks. Carbon monoxide detectors. A pen shaped like a pickle.

I just took a quick stroll through our online promotional products catalog and found it hard to imagine NOT being able to find an appropriate gift idea for just about any business enterprise. If the quick list above doesn’t entice you to consider promo products in your marketing, here are 8 good reasons to explore what they can do for you:

Quality speaks loudly. The convenience, usefulness and desirability of a branded promotional product will reflect on your business. The message it sends whenever someone sees, uses or finds it helpful – speaks for you as well. Consider the message you want your promotional products to say about your business?
Longevity. Promotional products have a lifespan far greater than direct mail or an online banner ad. The more useful they are, the longer they stick around – representing you. The gift keeps on giving!
Generosity. Whether including promotional products in your marketing plan as holiday gifts for staff or customers or everyday bonuses, making generosity a part of your brand is good for everyone. Customers appreciate and remember special treatment and paying it forward is just the right thing to do.
Price range and variety. When browsing, you can sort your online search by price, choosing from items as inexpensive as a pen or keychain to high-end electronics or jewelry in the thousands of dollars. The selection accommodates any budget.
Creativity. Consider creative ways to incorporate a promotional product into your company message or identity. Do you want to emphasize adventure? Backpacks or hiking supplies. Dependability? Clocks or umbrellas. Security? First aid kits, flashlights. Environmental commitments? Herb starter kits and products from recyclable materials.
The info you need, up front. Shopping online for promotional products is like strolling through a huge mall, but with less effort. Search by item type, number or description on our search tool, sorting results by price, quantity or name. Browse page after page of items with easy references to minimum quantities, production times, and price breaks.
Low unit pricing. You’re not being a Scrooge to be concerned with the bottom line. When you purchase promotional gifts in bulk you receive the lowest wholesale pricing possible – a big plus for any marketing budget.

…and 2 Reasons to Order from ImageSmith

We handle the hassle. Often the biggest concern with branding promotional products are the technical issues involved in providing your logo and/or text, proofing, correct color matching and sizing. With most sites you are left to do the best you can and hope for good results. We have years of experience with printing, embroidery and promotional products and can answer any questions.
We’re only a phone call away. Unlike many online sites that purposely keep you separated from being able to talk to a real person, you can call – or email, or visit! – ImageSmith to get immediate answers to any questions or concerns that come up about your order, delivery schedule, branding options… or any advice about further promotions you might have in mind.

Oh, and if you’re interested, you can click here for the link to the pickle pen!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.