| Comic-Con Postcard Book for Charles Schulz |
| on Thursday, August 4 2016 |
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With Comic-Con over last week, we were excited to see the aftermath and the crazy costumes that come with the much anticipated event. So, we thought it only appropriate to showcase a project we did for Comic-Con for an iconic organization, Charles Schulz Creative. This project was exclusively sold at Comic-Con and cannot be purchased in any other venue. We thought we would mention that right away so you don’t get too attached!
This &ldqu … |
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| You’re Being Fooled by the “Go Green, Go Paperless” Movement |
| on Thursday, July 28 2016 |
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I recently received an e-mail that says, “Think before you print this e-mail, save paper.” Many marketers use this tactic in order to cut their costs, not with the intention to complete any philanthropic crusade. It is a common misconception that when you use paper you are wasting trees. Believe me, I have been tempted to press that paperless button to save my conscience, but the fact is that if paper farms are harvested responsibly … |
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| How to Tell Your Unique Story Effectively |
| on Thursday, July 21 2016 |
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Branding is irrefutably the most important part of marketing a business. It is what sets a business apart from its competition and what will hopefully be its defining feature in its industry. Finding what makes a company unique is something that should be within the mind of its leaders long before they open their doors. Yet some businesses still struggle with this form of identity crisis. Simply being the “best” or having “qua … |
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| Why You Should Design Your Vehicle Graphic With A Promotion |
| on Friday, July 15 2016 |
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Commercial car wraps, van graphics and truck wraps are the most cost efficient advertising you can get as a business. Their cost verses their benefit is scaled heavily toward the latter, and if you decide to enter the world of effective advertising it is sometimes hard to decide on which vehicle graphic or wrap design will be right for your business.
Wraps tend to last years and are seen when driving on the freeway, parked in a shopping center … |
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| 12 Tips To Being Successful and Efficient Working From Home |
| on Thursday, July 14 2016 |
| At AJ Printing & Graphics and Wine Country Signs (WCS) we are always inspired to write about our industry, but also the ailments and challenges faced by our customers. This topic is something that our graphic designers, freelance marketing professionals and pretty much anyone who is in the business world has struggled with: keeping focused while working from home or a coffee shop. Heck, it’s hard enough keeping focused while at work.&nb … |
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| 8 Ways To Make Your Next Brochure Design Stand Out |
| on Friday, July 8 2016 |
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We see a lot of brochures come through our printers and some ultimately stand out more than others. Brochures can be thick displays of products or simple tri-folds meant to tell a branding story. Either way, when a company adds something special to the mix it makes us stop and look. Changing up the mundane doesn’t always have to be expensive in the print world either, all you need to make your marketing more effective could mean a l … |
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| 10 Reasons Why You Should Always Buy Local |
| on Thursday, June 30 2016 |
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In honor of Independent Business Month in July we would like to remind everyone of the numerous benefits that come from buying local. As part of Sonoma County’s Go Local Cooperative we have seen first-hand how buying local impacts our local economy for the better. Preserving dollars in the community you live in and love helps foster more jobs, growth and prosperity among local business owners and the community as whole, simply making Sono … |
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| What Kind of Distribution Should You Use For Your Print Marketing? |
| on Wednesday, June 22 2016 |
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Once their marketing materials are off the press, packed and ready to go, many of our friends and clients struggle with distributing them in an effective way. Whether by direct mail, grassroots marketing or leaflet distribution, they want to ensure their marketing materials are yielding the desired impact without draining the marketing budget. Phew…that is a tall order. So, we did the research for you. When ordering leaflets, brochures o … |
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| Turn Failure Into Success- Famous Success and Failures |
| on Wednesday, June 15 2016 |
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We all need a little inspiration, whether we are having a bad day, week or month, it is nice to know our little failures are not so detrimental in the big scheme of things. And since we are in the habit of making our clients (and readers) happy in all aspects of life, we figured we go over just how miniscule some failures are and how even the most successful businessmen and women all fall flat of their dreams at one point or another. Most often … |
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| How To Handle Negative Reviews Like A Pro |
| on Wednesday, June 8 2016 |
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I almost had a heart attack when I heard that a customer recently threatened to leave a negative review on our Yelp page. His dissatisfaction was unavoidable, as any business has experienced, but alas, you can’t keep everyone happy. But when a customer review jeopardizes your five-star business on Yelp, what do you do? First, breathe, then realize that you cannot avoid this review but can only try to rectify the situation and show potenti … |
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| How to Maximize Your Mailing List For Maximum Returns |
| on Thursday, June 2 2016 |
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Our theme for the past couple weeks has stayed fighting in the corner for direct mail, because it is best time to add it onto your marketing "to-do" lists. With millennials favoring direct mail and the postal service reducing the price last month, your budget and ROI can't go wrong. Now the only other key ingredient to success through print is dusting off the print collateral cobwebs and compiling a mailing list that puts your valuable marke … |
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| With Postal Rate Drops It's The Perfect Time For Direct Mail Marketing |
| on Thursday, May 26 2016 |
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History has been made and it may have slipped under your nose. Last month marked the first time in over 100 years that the United States Postal Service (USPS) lowered its postage rates. Although only a fraction per package or mailer, when talking about direct mail, that could mean a huge payback for many companies that are thinking of starting a campaign.
So why is this happening now and how does it have an effect on our mail and more importan … |
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| Beef Up Your Sales Team With These 3 Expert Tips |
| on Thursday, May 19 2016 |
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We’ve all seen it, and some of us have felt it, the struggle to land the sale, to finally get that meeting with your dream client, and turn weeks, months and maybe years of hard work into a success that finally pays off. The process is expensive, time-consuming and sometimes frustrating because rarely does that lunch meeting end in the solid take home prize: the sale.
Leaving a meeting without that signed contract is something like finge … |
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| How to Connect with Millennials: Direct Mail |
| on Thursday, May 12 2016 |
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A generation brought up in the world of technology and computers, those that are now running San Francisco tech companies and developing your new favorite app are actually turning, looking and listening to an unexpected medium: direct mail. As this generation becomes a larger part of the voting and consumer population, new studies are showing their shift away from the digital realm into a platform less cluttered and more tangible. A new … |
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| Balance Financial Fitness Wall Graphic Installation |
| on Thursday, May 5 2016 |
| Last week we completed a fun and amazing project at Balance Financial Fitness Program, a financial wellness provider based throughout the Bay Area with locations in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Oakland and now in Concord. Balance and designer Sheree Kamler of SC Designs is a returning customer that we have completed work for in our hometown of Sonoma County. With a recent logo change (which turned out absolutely fresh and design forward, see the co … |
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| The Future of Search Rankings: Adding Value to Your Content |
| on Friday, April 29 2016 |
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Even if you are terrified and shriek and sulk away when you hear the word “algorithm,” as a marketer or small business owner you need to know about the changes sweeping through Google with its new (somewhat), ahem, algorithm, Panda. This week we will break this down so your head isn’t spinning just to learn some basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Although these changes have been slowly stirring since 2011, you … |
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| How to Successfully Combine Print With Your Digital Marketing |
| on Thursday, April 21 2016 |
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In the age of digital, to some, print looks obsolete. As more marketing is going online it seems as though variable data and direct mail may be falling out of the ROI spectrum. If you think this, you would be mistaken. Although marketing has made the shift toward digital, print is not being pushed out, but has simply made room for more marketing platforms. Some marketing professionals now see this as a more “non-traditional” s … |
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| SMART Goal-Setting: Become Someone Who Always Achieves Their Goals |
| on Friday, April 15 2016 |
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Do you ever wonder why some people kick butt at getting things accomplished while others set their dreams big but never seem to achieve them? Are you one of these people? It may surprise you but it has nothing to do with luck or accident. After talking with several successful entrepreneurs, we found that their success is in their goal-setting not their IQ. SMART goal setting is something they all have in common and in order to rock your next bi … |
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| Repurpose and Reuse: Get The Most Out Of Your Marketing Content |
| on Thursday, April 7 2016 |
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It is all too common for marketers to look at content as “one and done.” Meaning you spend boatloads of time and money designing and curating content and picking the right print materials and sending it to all the right people never to think about it again.
Wrong-o.
A high-quality piece of content will remain a high-quality piece of content. It is a shame that we can write these pieces off so quickly, especially with just … |
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| How Your Maketing Schedule Should Reflect "Quality Over Quantity" |
| on Friday, April 1 2016 |
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As marketing professionals, we are constantly hearing it again and again- one of the fastest ways to turn a prospective client into someone that will probably never do business with you in the future is to contact them too often in too short of a period. People do not like being bombarded with marketing materials- it makes them feel overwhelmed and can be dissuading. Despite this fact, quality is still important, you want to always keep your br … |
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