Need Some Creative Ways To Cut Down on Printing Cost?
Think back to when you first started thinking about starting a business; wasn’t there so much to do?
Putting together a business plan, and a marketing plan, aren’t small tasks.
Raising capital, or as many do it; beg, borrow and ‘steal’ money from retirement savings and relatives…
Many small business owners heavily invest cash in product and services, rent and renovations, but often forget to invest dollars in marketing!
Guess what, you can have the best product idea or offer the best possible service package but if no one knows about you and your business, you’ll go under!
Flyers, Media Kits, and Business Cards Are Expensive!
Sure, printing costs aren’t cheap.
There are printing costs you can not avoid!
You need certain things printed to run your business, and you need signs for your building made; these are times you can not cut corners (and cost).
- If you are a restaurant, you need good quality menus printed.
- If you are a non-profit, you need ‘donate now’ materials printed.
- If you are a local business, you need signage outside of your establishment.
Other times, printing can wait or be deferred.
And sometimes, you can skip printing all together…
Save Dollars on the Smaller Stuff, Creatively!
I am not advocating going cheap!
Cutting costs by going with a cheap look is not what I am after, or something I would ever advocate.
Instead, go the creative route to save money!
Here are 3 creative ways small businesses can save on marketing materials and still make a big splash!
Each idea is easy to implement, and free!
1) Create a Virtual Business Card
I understand business cards aren’t too expensive, but when every dollar counts, consider uploading your business card as a PDF or image to your phone and exchanging virtual cards at your next networking event. Added bonus; you’ll always have access to your cards, no matter where you are and if you text your virtual card to someone, add them to your address book immediately; this will save you time later! Don’t forget that you will surely be remembered by those who receive your virtual card! Being memorable is a great way to start a business relationship!
2) Use Pinterest To Create a Digital Media Kit
There are a lot of things you can do in Pinterest. Use it as a portfolio, showcase products or testimonials and more.
How about using Pinterest to create a media kit? Sure you can!
Board ideas to use for your media kit include:
- Services
- Products
- Testimonials
- Our Industry Articles
- Our Brand Story
- Our Staff
- Our Vision Board
- Our Social Profiles
To ‘tie them together’ you could include the term ‘Brand Name Media Kit’ in each board description. If you want to keep it all together and more cohesive, you could just create ONE board and add all these elements to it!
3) Upload Flyers as PDFs to Your Website and Facebook Page
Print-on-demand!
Really.
How many times have you picked up flyers, menus and pamphlets at events and conferences, to only shove them into your purse, coat pocket or suit jacket for them to be never seen (and used) again?
If you are starting out and every penny counts, don’t make that mistake!
Upload your PDFs to your website, upload your (take-out) menus to your Facebook Page and print-on-demand when, well, people demand it!
Keep a link to the PDF on your website handy – I recommend putting the link in a note on your phone – to text or email to people when they ask for your flyer! How easy is that; copy and paste, it’s free!
How do you cut costs in your business?
How are you creative and unique in your business?
I’d love to know how you do it!
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