full color printing

...now browsing by tag

 
 

A simple, easy marketing idea

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Marketing that makes a mark!

limited edition stamps from the USPS
Here’s one of those simple little marketing ideas that anyone can do.
Have you ever thought of using limited-edition postage stamps to get noticed?
The vast majority of business-to-business mail is sent using standard first class stamps, bulk permits, or metered postage strips. Why not add a little style to your mail by using one of the many limited edition postage stamps produced by the United States Postal Service on a regular basis? The USPS limited edition stamps feature beautiful graphic design, quality four-color printing, and are often printed in an attention-getting, oversized format. It’s a simple way to make your mail special.
I used a different special edition stamp on the monthly statements we sent out every month for over 25 years. I also used them on my personal correspondence.
This simple idea makes your printing firm look creative. Limited edition stamps can provide a ‘smile moment’ for the person receiving them — and they look like you care enough to provide the extra effort to send one. Almost everyone enjoys seeing the special edition stamps for the first time. Of course, it’s not the kind of idea that’s going to cause your sales to jump 5% next month, but it’s still worth the extra effort if you believe, like I do, that every action we take provides an opportunity to make a favorable impression on our customers.

Pine Press Printing & Mailing delivers. Guaranteed!

Pine Press Printing your friendly hometown printer in Lexington, SC 29072

803-359-9162

Pine Press Printing

  • Share/Bookmark

Transfer Large Files with Ease

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011


Most businesses and email providers block large attachments in email messages. However, our website gives you the ability to effortlessly and securely send files of virtually any size! If you need to send large files to others that don’t have the means to accept large files, then here are a few tools that make it easy:

  • EmailLargeFile.com – (www.EmailLargeFile.com) is a free and secure service for sending big files and documents via the Internet.
  • Pando.com – (www.Pando.com) offers secure file transfers, however it requires a Windows or Mac app to transfer files and isn’t available if you or your recipients use other platforms.
  • TransferBigFiles.com – (www.TransferBigFiles.com) makes it easy to deliver files up to 1,000MB to email recipients. While it offers password protection, the files are only available to be downloaded for five days.
  • YouSendIt.com – (www.YouSendIt.com) the free version only offers occasional file sending, but it does offer various subscription levels to cover nearly every file delivery need.
  • MailBigFile.com – (www.MailBigFile.com) makes it fast and easy to send files up to 512MB to a single email recipient. However, it doesn’t offer password-protection on files.
  • SendThisFile.com – (www.SendThisFile.com) allows you to email files with no size limit free. Paid accounts enable you to send and receive files through your website, and also offer secure transfer and storage.
  • DropSend.com – (www.DropSend.com) is ideal for sending secure jpegs, PDFs and mp3s up to 2GB with no software to install. Also allows you to backup and store important files online and access them anywhere, as well as share stored files with others.
  • LargeFilesASAP.com – (www.LargeFilesASAP.com) allows you to upload files of up to 2 GB size with excellent download performance, as well as attaching notes and setting the subject of the email
  • Send6.com – (www.Send6.com) allows you to send and track files up to 100MB without registering. Paid accounts offer online storage, secure connections, branding, and an address book.

Got a huge file you need securely transferred to us in a hurry? No worries! Our website offers a quick and easy file transfer system that ensures no matter how large your files, they are quickly delivered safely and securely. After all, your security and satisfaction is just as important to us as it is to you.

Pine Press Printing & Mailing delivers. Guaranteed!

Pine Press Printing your friendly hometown printer in Lexington, SC 29072

803-359-9162
Pine Press Printing

  • Share/Bookmark

Designing Direct Mail That Sells

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Marketing Tips

If it sells, it is creative. This, in essence, is the first rule of direct mail design, according to legendary designer and author, David Ogilvy. But what sells? Here are a few tips to keep in mind when designing your next direct mail marketing piece:

  • The basics are in your mailbox.
    When you need inspiration, just go to your own personal direct mail idea vault… your mailbox! You probably receive tons of good direct mail each year. Set aside packages that catch your eye. The companies mailing these have spent thousands of dollars researching the best methods. Why not learn from their research?
  • Always try to beat your previous response rate.
    Play around with the design before sending the mailing out again. See if minor changes make a significant difference in the response rate. Send out different versions of your design to similar groups in your database, and test to see which one results in the most responses. Whatever you do, test it, and then test it again!
  • Use words that grab the reader’s attention.
    Here is a recent list of “Words that Grab Attention,” produced by Starch INRA Hooper Research Worldwide:

    Announcing / Discover / Easy / Exclusive / Free / Guarantee / Health / Help / Immediately / Introducing / Know / Learn / Love / Money / New / Now / Powerful / Profits / Protect / Proven / Results / Safe / Save / Secret(s) / Today / Trust / Understand / You

Pine Press Printing & Mailing delivers. Guaranteed!

  • Call Pine Press Printing- Your hometown printer in Lexington, SC 29072
  • 803-359-9162

Pine Press Printing | Create Your Badge

  • Share/Bookmark

5 Marketing Facts You Should Know

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

5 Marketing Facts You Should Know

A good reminder for everyone in marketing.

  • 82% of adults have replied to a “buy one, get one free” offer, and 73% have responded to a percentage discount offer on the direct mail pieces they’ve received.
  • 62% of search users click a link on the first page of search engine results.
  • 85% of women age 25-44 read the direct mail pieces sent to their home.
  • 46% of respondents said they’ve responded to a piece of direct mail in 2010.
  • More and more companies are now looking at production firms to help with the development, printing and mailing of direct mail pieces.

What makes all this work? Consistent and compelling content marketing.

Pine Press Printing & Mailing delivers. Guaranteed!

Pine Press Printing your friendly hometown printer in Lexington, SC 29072

803-359-9162

Pine Press Printing | Create Your Badge

  • Share/Bookmark

21 “must have” words of every marketing expert

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Marketing "must have" words

Did you know that the English language contains over 250,000 words? But most marketing experts agree that there are 21 “best words” to use when you want to sell. Words should be chosen with the utmost care in marketing to convey precise messages to the reader. Words can motivate and actually make people think differently when they read them. Choosing the right word at the right time can greatly enhance the likelihood of creating a favorable impression of your product or business.

What’s in a word?

The exact words you use in your company’s marketing materials can make the difference between success and failure. If you choose the right words, your prospects will find you and your company irresistible. If you choose the wrong words, you’ll spend a lot of extra time trying to convince prospects to do business with you. When it comes to writing copy for your marketing materials, your word choices matter. Here is a list of the top 21 words that can help you sell more. I’ve taken the liberty of putting my top 10 word choices first. Use them wisely, and watch your marketing response rates improve.

The Top 10

1. The person’s name
2. You/your
3. Benefit
4. Quick/quickly
5. Easy/easily
6. Yes
7. Free
8. Guarantee/guaranteed
9. Money
10. Fun

The Remaining 11

11. Health/healthy
12. Love
13. Save
14. Proven
15. Results
16. New
17. Solution
18. How to
19. More
20. Now
21. Safe/safely

You may find yourself looking at these words and thinking that there is nothing new or innovative here. It is true that these words have been used throughout recent marketing history, but they still hold great power in their meanings. Some businesses have made great use of these words in combination with great products and services. As your marketing and copywriting skills increase, try to combine words that sell in the same sentence. For example, maybe you could say doing business with a locally owned company like yours is “quick, safe and easy.” Or, perhaps your firm provides “proven results with guaranteed benefits.” Or, you’ll “love our fun and money-saving” approach to customer service. Well, you get the idea.

When you use these 21 words in your sales and marketing materials, you will increase your prospects’ interest in what you’re saying, which ultimately leads to more chances, leads, and opportunities to make a sale. Learning to get in the habit of using the right word choices in your marketing materials is a smart thing to do.

Can you do this? Yes you can! We can help! And you’re going to love the results. Guaranteed!

Pine Press Printing & Mailing

R. Chambers LeHeup, award winning wordsmith.

120 Ellis Ave.

Lexington, SC  29072

Wordsmith partner – R. Chambers LeHeup

  • Share/Bookmark

Getting Out of the Congestion

Monday, January 31st, 2011

You are One of Many

Getting Out of the Congestion

In today’s business environment, you are just one of many competitors trying to capture the attention of your target audience. Unless you’ve invented the proverbial “better mouse trap,” your message sounds a lot like all the other messages that are being broadcast in today’s market. Consumer Reports calculates the average American is bombarded with 247 advertising messages each and every day. (www.ask.com, 2010) By the end of a single month, that equates to 7,410 marketing messages! How will your message break through the congested marketing highway?

Consider these challenges…

• Your call for a sales appointment is perhaps the tenth received today by your prospect.

• The email you just sent? It’s highly likely it’s one of 50 or 100 already in the prospect’s in-box.

• Your voice mail message? Forget it; they will just hit delete before your message gets 5 words out.

The Challenge

The challenge for each business professional is to identify ways for
your message to break through the crowded marketplace. But how
do you get out of the congestion? We need
to develop a way to rise above the
crowd and get our message directly to the source – our target
audience
. More importantly, we must accomplish a more significant
task: Develop a brand that gets people talking about you.

The Solution

Allow the professional team at Pine Press Printing & Mailing to develop a winning marketing strategy for your business.

From start to finish, whether enhancing your current image or totally revamping your “brand”.  Combining: copywriting, design, full color printing, banners and signs, websites & mailing. Pine Press has the knowledge, experience and professional team to deliver your message to your target audience, your customers.

  • Share/Bookmark

Can a copywriter help you grow your business?

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Can a copywriter help you grow your business? Let us face it, running a business, even a small business, can be a daunting prospect.

Copywriting Services

There is so much to do each day to keep it going that it is almost impossible for you to do it all yourself. Outsourcing some of the work is bound to make things better for you, not only because you will be getting experienced people to help you, but because your time will be freed up to focus on the things about your business that you do best.

Hiring a copywriter to help with copy for marketing materials, mission statement, your website as well other materials is an excellent idea. You just have to be sure you hire a first-rate one.

You need a copywriter who has flawless English writing skills. That is why you want to look at samples of any prospective writer first, to see just how well they write in English.

However, it is not only English skills that make a difference; it is also the “voice” or writing style. You need someone who has a unique and personable voice, and one that will fit in well with the overall tone of your company and the theme of your business. If the writing of a copywriter is technically excellent but sounds stiff and too formal, you may want to keep looking for that personable writing style that you need.

Dependability is also a must, as you need a copywriter on whom you can rely. You do not want to be kept waiting for weeks for assignments to be turned in with no word from the writer. However, if you can find a writer who matches all of these qualifications, then you have found yourself a goldmine for your small business, and one that you should keep using for as long as possible.

The most important benefit of hiring a copywriter is that he or she can effectively convey your marketing message and promote your business, which in turn boost your sales. Market copywriters have an amazing way with words – they have a writing style which simply makes people want to buy what you offer!

Pine Press Printing has partnered with just such a writer. R. Chambers LeHeup an award winning wordsmith. Robert will take the time to discuss your business, the vision you have for your business, even tour your facilities, then create the words to convey that message to your customers. To see how R. Chambers LeHeup can help your business call Lori Moroz @ 803-359-9162

R. Chambers LeHeup

Here is just small sampling of the work Robert has done for us:

Home Page

Pine Press Printing is an award-winning, full service, state-of-the-art, copy and printing company whose capability is only matched by our care for the community. With equal focus on quality, value, and customer service, our printing staff has well over 25 years of experience, showing a long held tradition of serving the wants and needs of not only Lexington, SC, but a large portion of the Central Midlands.

For us, no job is too great! From posters, to banners, to even construction drawings and house plans, we offer a wide array of different large print, centered on any specifics desired by our clients.

We do small, too!  We not only print out business and post cards, we can design them and mail them at almost half the cost of the post office, saving both time and money for you, our valued customers. Send out magazines! Brochures! Invitations! The sky’s the limit, not only for our capacity to serve with excellence, but with our efficiency.

Our approach to sustaining our cutting edge technology means we can take whatever information our customer desires through several different mediums. From CDs to flash/thumb drives, SD cards or even downloaded through our website, we can receive your printing needs, allowing us to get the job done correctly and on time. This is our promise to you.

For advertising.

For weddings.

For business.

For family.

For you. Come see us.

Mission Statement

We at Pine Press have dedicated ourselves to offering the best quality print and copy jobs available to our customers, while giving the most affordable rates to our valued clients. As a family owned and operated business, we are far more customer oriented, ensuring that you have the very best service and in a timely fashion. And with our promise of customer satisfaction, we can guarantee it by staying on the cusp of technology, having the capacity and knowledge to satisfy whatever printing needs, large or small.

  • Share/Bookmark

Becoming More Customer-Centric

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011


If you’ve ever seen the movie “Groundhog Day,” you know that Bill Murray relives the same day over and over again. It is not until he has truly changed his ways that he can move on in his life. In the business world, we don’t get to keep repeating our mistakes until we finally get it right. One of the most common mistakes many companies make is not focusing on their customers. Here are a few tips to become more customer-centric:

  • Ensure everything your company does—from the products or services you offer to the staff who serves customers—is centered on customers and their experience at your business or website.
  • Create marketing materials that sell a solution to your customers’ problems. Focus on the customers’ needs and not your product.
  • Market using tools created for your audiences. For example, older generations often prefer traditional marketing (print ads, point of purchase displays, etc.) while younger generations often respond better to social media, e-marketing, and online shopping. Offer both options to accommodate multiple audiences.
  • Open the communication lines between your marketing team and sales force to ensure customer requests are being heard and appear in your promotions.
  • Keep an eye on your competitors and develop creative promotions that offer an extra incentive for customers to select your business over theirs. For example, “Receive 10 bonus bucks with any $50 purchase.”
  • Encourage open communication with your customers requesting feedback and suggestions. Offer options such as e-mail, surveys, toll-free number, chat forums, etc.
  • Develop a customer loyalty program that offers special promotions and incentives for return customers.
  • Offer a guarantee that not only demonstrates confidence in your products, but also gives customers a compelling reason to buy today without the fear of tomorrow.

Stop by today if you’d like help developing stunning marketing materials that speak directly to your customers. Located at 120 Ellis Ave., Lexington, SC (behind the Post Office & next to Wings and Ale)

  • Share/Bookmark

How Ink Is Made

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

At Pine Press Printing we take pride in our ability to meet the high standards of quality & consistency that our customers have come to expect over our 31+ years.  That is why we use only the finest printing inks in our Heidelberg and Ryobi printing presses.

Quality begins with good ingredients, skilled craftsmanship & the finest equipment on the market today! “Only the best will pass our test”.

  • Share/Bookmark

ZZ Top and a Sharp Dressed Man or Woman

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Written by: Tom Hackelman – an expert in the area of personal branding.

What can we learn about personal branding from ZZ Top?  Using their song, Sharp Dressed Man, as the backdrop, we can learn a lot.

For years, the professional dress of the modern salesman was a suit.  Sharp and tailored, the suit represented corporate America.  You could work for a small 10-person company, but a good suit, shirt and tie combination would still help you stand out.

Today, salespeople dress far too casually to be taken very seriously.  We have shifted from casual Friday to casual every day.  Don’t get me wrong; many of these salespeople still dress appropriately with a nice polo and slacks, but I have to raise the question:  Does this style create the image in the mind of your clients that you want to project?  Does it project leadership?  Credibility?  Does it command respect?

Dave Lakhani, in his book, How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying, writes:

“When I’m dressed better than my peers, better than my competition, and when I do it consistently, I stand out in a crowd.  I look like the leader, and your clients want to buy from people who meet their expectation of trust.  When you see CEOs on television and when you meet them in person, they are wearing the uniform of a CEO.”

Part of the story you are crafting – your personal brand story – is tied to how people perceive you.  Dressing according to your personal brand adds tremendous credibility to your narrative.  It sets you apart from the crowd and signifies you as someone people want to do business with.

Start being a sharp dressed man or woman – whichever applies!

  • Share/Bookmark