Promotional material such as flyers, emailers and posters can all have a great positive affect on your business, but it is very important to think carefully about what you include and how they are laid out as if done incorrectly they can actually do more harm than good.

When designing an email marketing campaign for example, you need to consider who your target audience is. You need to think carefully about the tone of your email and consider everything in detail. It is easy for an email to be read the wrong way for example, so it is vital that you ensure you have said what you need to the correct way. Although online material can quickly be updated, once an email has been sent and received it cannot be unsent. Take the time to double check your emailer for typos and to ensure that all the links  / phone numbers are correct and work. You should also make sure that any image that is used is of a high quality so does not look pixelated. Ideally you should get a few people to look over any promotional material before it goes to print or is sent out as often when working on a project, you can easily miss things if you are too close.

If you own your own business then you should try and have business cards made. You don’t have to spend a fortune on them, but having a business card will make you look professional and is an easy way to pass on your contact details. IF someone is given a business card then they may put it in their wallet or on a notice board, it is a lot less likely to get chucked away than a scrap of paper with a number on it.

Business cards are often passed around quite freely at networking meetings, conferences or events but it can be easy to forget where a business card came from and why you have it. You need to make sure that your business cards stand out for all the right reasons. You want someone to remember your card and go to it should they need your services.

Don’t always be fooled in to buying cheap business cards. Research has shown that business cards that have been printed on better quality card are often perceived in a better way, leave a stronger impression and help to build your brand.

If you want to be a little quirky and stand out from the crowd  then why not go for a card that is not standard business card size. Choosing one with rounded corners, mini business cards or even square ones will surely make your card get noticed.

Many people have set up a new business during the pandemic. It may be that they have found themselves out of work or that they simply have had the time to do something that they have wanted to for a long time.

As the shops are not open at presence, people are having to buy a number of products they would in store, online. This may include gifts for birthdays, cards or banners. It may be that you want to buy personalised items and gifts such as cake toppers, birthday banners or mugs. It is often hard to get personalised items in shops, especially when only essential shops are open. This is where online printing businesses come in. Setting up a business which allow you to make these products and post them out to people is in high demand at the moment but you need to move fast as it may be when every starts to return to normal, it dies down again. You may ant to have your won website created that allows people to order from you, or maybe you decide to sell through places such as Etsy or Facebook. Once you are up and trading you can then start to expand your reach and advertise in other places.

When it comes to marketing, advertising plays an important role. When setting up any business you should try and create a logo as soon as possible. This logo should be used on all advertising and across all platforms such as social media, signage, and stationery a long with printed adverts and of course your website.

Having a uniform logo and colourways across multiple platforms will help to build up brand awareness. Ideally you need to hire a graphic designer to make you a logo or you need to use one of the many websites out there that will create a logo for you for a small fee.

When it comes to print, you need to do your research on which company you will use. You may like to find a local printers who you can liaise with directly and go and look at samples etc if needs be or you may decided to use one of the larger companies online that allows you to upload your finished design or use one of their many templates to create your business cards etc. You may also want to think about uniform or signage. This can often be purchased from the same place and you may be able to save money if ordered all at the same time.

Business cards can be very important as they allow you to quickly pass on your details to a potential client, new client or for handing out at networking groups. You may not realise it but your business card has a massive reflection of you and your business as a whole so it is important to get it right.

A business card should clearly have all your contact details on such as name, office address (if required) phone number, email as a minimum, maybe even your Facebook / Twitter address etc. IT is vital that you double check all the spellings and numbers on your business card before it goes to print.

When designing a business card, you should try and keep in line with any existing branding you already have for example, your logo or colourways. If someone is looking for your card amongst a pile of other ones and cannot recognise your logo, then they may well skip past it. You may decide that you want your design to be a little bit more out there. You may want it to stand out from the crowd, but it is important that it stands out for the right reasons.

If you are struggling for ideas for a business card, but cannot afford to pay a designer to come up with one for you, then take a look on some of the print websites.