The cool team from Marketcircle have kindly offered two licenses of their Billings application for Mac. Billings 3 is a time tracking and invoicing application that makes running your business a breeze. Fancy winning a copy? Access All Areas members can log in and enter the prize draw! Billings is a … Log in to your Access All Areas account to read the rest of this post. Not a member? Becoming an Access All Areas member gives you the ability to view exclusive members-only content just like this. The premium category is already packed full of discount codes and useful design resources, and there’s plenty more to come! Find out more about becoming a member, or take a peek at what’s available to premium members so far.
There’s nothing more unique to your creative talent than a series of your own doodles and sketches. Let’s use the good old doodle to represent our design services by combining quick and fun doodles with a print ready business card design.
The longest project is the one you don’t get started, and frequently where to begin is a problem. Knowing where to start is a boon, so here we’re going to cover some structure to provide over the creative process and which will help you manage the whole process while keeping it on track to help your business. It doesn’t matter whether you are creating a marketing brochure or a humble flyer, the principles are all the same, however you will need more of these basics applied when you deal with more complicated or larger projects. The Marketing Blueprint Establish a blueprint and then stick to it – this is your guide through the desert, so while you may exercise flexibility, you also should be careful that everyone is sticking to the plan too. A blueprint helps you be effective, stick to budget and be able to measure the results against your benchmark standards. Review Examples Find examples of work which has already been done, either by you or by someone else, especially competitors. Look at how this has been approached in the past and what has worked and what has not
Customer newsletters are one way of keeping yourself connected to your customers and prospects. Good newsletters inform and educate and bring interesting information and opportunities to the reader. Just as there are good newsletters there are bad ones, so take a look at these fast tips to ensure you create the former and not the latter. Be Relevant, Be Meaningful We touched on this briefly; to be interesting you need to be relevant and give meaningful information. Readers will follow what you have to say, but to be sure you are not simply sending tomorrow’s trash complement the promotional, sales orientated aspects of the newsletter with practical tips and advice or Q&A’s. Use Templates You don’t have to re-invent the wheel and there is no need to have journalistic or editorial experience.
Customer newsletters are one way of keeping yourself connected to your customers and prospects. Good newsletters inform and educate and bring interesting information and opportunities to the reader. Just as there are good newsletters there are bad ones, so take a look at these fast tips to ensure you create the former and not the latter. Be Relevant, Be Meaningful We touched on this briefly; to be interesting you need to be relevant and give meaningful information. Readers will follow what you have to say, but to be sure you are not simply sending tomorrow’s trash complement the promotional, sales orientated aspects of the newsletter with practical tips and advice or Q&A’s
Logos are an integral part of creating your business identity and they are especially valuable when it comes to creating a brand. You need to have a logo which is unique and the reasons for this are two-fold. First, a unique logo will satisfy the desire of many people to have a visual representation of your business
The humble business card is probably the most important and powerful business stationery tool for promoting your business and yourself. Making the most out of this extremely popular and never-sleeping salesman is essential for your business, so while there is no hard and fast set of rules to designing them, here are some tips and guide pointer to help you.
The most important element of your business printed material is not the presentation; not the graphics; not the layout; not the paper; not the fonts and colors. The most important element of any business print job is the message – the printed word. “Uniformity of message” simply means that all of your business communications relay the same message
Calendars are a great promotional tool for use with clients and prospects – they follow one very important sales rule – they are in front of the client all of the time! If you print calendars up for use with your clients and prospects there are some simple rules to follow when putting the design together. Use Good Quality Materials You need to have a superior print finish for a calendar to be used by a customer. They are not going to hang something on the wall if it made from poor quality paper or has a poor print finish. Do not skimp on the cost of the materials and work with your print partner to deliver the best result for your budget. It is better to reduce the print run and be more selective in handing the calendars out to people than have a larger print run of poor quality (as many will never be used). Include an Appointment Book Making sure there is adequate space to include appointments and key dates is a good tip – make sure you include all the key dates that you can think of
Whatever the business communication you are working on, even if it is not something for business use, the art of getting your message across is to concentrate on putting into words and images what is in your head. This is what writing is really about; conveying your thoughts into a message which will be understood in someone else’s head and as a print design tip, it is one of the most powerful.
