Archive for April, 2010

The Small Business; How to Increase Marketing Impact through Partnerships

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

The cost of market and advertising the products or services the small business produces is usually purchased at a premium. The reason is clear to people who operate a company employing 1-20 employees, purchasing power.

The company that can purchase mass amounts of broadcast media time pays less for that commercial spot. The enterprise that purchases ad space in a particular magazine will pay a lower cost for a twelve-month insertion order verse a one-month ad term. The basic premise of advertising is purchasing more is the pathway to better pricing for your advertising dollars. Therefore, the small company that purchases in smaller quantities pays a higher price to implement their marketing plan.

That being stated most small businesses do not use the mass media outlets of television, radio, or national magazines to advertise. These forms of advertising for the small business are too costly.

Smaller enterprises that sell a product or services do utilize trade shows and trade publications to target their marketing dollars to a particular customer or industry. There is another form of print advertising and product branding that is very cost effective. The product I am referring to are decals. The decal can target a small audience or can inform a mass market. Although even trade fairs, trade publications, and the employing of decals the small business can still pay higher cost because of purchasing small quantities.

How can the smaller companies change the cost dilemma of small quantities equal higher cost? The one-word answer partnerships with other companies or pooling your purchasing with other companies purchasing the same items.

What do partnership look like in the different advertising opportunities available at trade fairs, trade publications, and decals. The trade shows the company could collaborate with a non-competitor where the symbiotic relationship of the two products or services would complement each other’s business. To do this both companies could purchase a larger booth splitting the cost the benefit of having a larger space is location, location, location, both companies will have a larger presence and a better booth location, which translates into higher traffic counts.

Advertising in a trade publication collaborating with a firm again that is not a competitor and their combined products or service complement each other. Each company purchases a full page of ad space instead of a one-quarter page splitting the cost. The most import fact of this partnership the full ad space purchase has a greater impact, verses if each of the companies purchasing smaller ads separately.   

The decal used correctly is a powerful tool in the toolbox of a marketing team, because of two factors. The first is the cost of the decalcomania, which is very low; the seconded is the message duration, counted in years not minutes or months. The ubiquitous decal if designed correctly will communicate brand awareness long after broadcast and print media, complete its task, the decal will keep reminding the consumer of your brand as a 24-hour a day silent sales person.

Even the decal if not purchased in larger quantities the cost is much higher for small quantity purchases. The average small business that orders decals usually orders quantities of 250-1,500 decals.

    New Program Offered

 The Decal Factory® has a program to take advantage of the large number of small businesses that order decals. The Decal Factory® gangs all the various orders together thereby the 500 unit decal order will be priced like a 10,000 unit decal order. Therefore, The Decal Factory® felicitates and creates the partnerships with various companies that purchase decals. To participate all you have to do is order your decals from The Decal Factory®.

Call The Decal Factory® if your company wants to take part in this new and exciting program.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in Decals, Promotional Products, Security Signs, Small Business | 4 Comments »

Part Two Business Owner verses The CEO

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

The business owner are the people who have a new idea for a product, a service and work very hard and long hours to learn about their product, market and their customer, or potential clients. They have this funny belief if they build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to their door, or least to the retail establishment.

 We see these new products every day, or a new business such as a window washing service, a lawn treatment company, many up-starts like pest control companies, and we could fill this chapter with many different products, services, or retail store ideas. 

The business owners are running a business, learning more and more because they believe hard work, and knowing more than the next person will get us the brass ring or at least another day or month in the black. When they see new vista of increased business they tend to apply their usually business model hard work and more knowledge will win them conquest of this current summit these are the true over-achiever. 

The business owner has built their business with the equity of blood, sweat, and tears; also, they consider the business as one of his or her children. Which one of your children are you willing to give up? These entrepreneurs work long hours an eight-hour day considered a vacation.

A term which some may use to pigeonhole business owners is a work-alcoholic; this has become a negative term to define someone who is addicted to his or her business, or their life is the business, their business identifies them. This person when ask who they are? Their response is; I am a mechanic; I am a window washer; I am a salesperson, Etc, Etc. So the work-alcoholic is defined by what he or she does, each person is more than their profession, they could be a husband or wife a father or mother, a son or a daughter, a Christian, a Buddhist, etc, etc. 

It its much like Jeff Foxworthy stand up routine you know you’re a redneck when; Well you know you’re a work-alcoholic when you and your significant other have nothing to talk about except business. You know you are a work-alcoholic when you go on 14-day vacation and it takes 13 days to relax. You know you are a work-alcoholic when you do not take vacations. You know you are a work-alcoholic when hotel rooms on a vacation become your second office.  

Sadly, the negative connotation of a work-alcoholic does have some merit because many business owners have no life except in and through our businesses. In the beginning, being a hard working business owner is very important; in fact, it should never be any different. Most business owners are tireless hard working entrepreneurs that tend to be work-alcoholics.                                             

The work-alcoholic business owner believes no one can do their job better than they can. The business owner truly believes that he or she is the best resource for their employees because the employees do not possess the knowledge or the passion of the owner to be successful. This business model centralizes control, and limits the growth of the company to the owner’s vision and limitations.

Therefore, the first paradigm shift we need to navigate is from a work-alcoholic to a diligent business owner. The definition of a diligent person is not of a person addicted to work but he or she is conscientious, persistent, and hard working with care. The diligent owner can have time to become a CEO.

The companies that grow into a large successful company have CEO’s at the helm that believes their employees are their best resource. The giants of industry such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Ford, allowed their employees knowledge, experience and new ideas to attack new markets, produce new products. The CEO became the arbitrator of what market or new product proposed by the employees would be worth investing time and money in.

What the founder and business owner needs to accomplish is to become a CEO. The business owner operates a business with their wit and knowledge. The CEO oversees the resources in each of the company’s employees, and defines the overall vision so each new marketing paradigm aligned to the company’s vision.

The CEO allows the resources that are intrinsic in each employee be vetted to expose the resources that are honed to the company’s vision corner stone. The manufacturing or marketing paradigms that do not replicate the company’s mission the CEO rejects as a viable program.

As a business owner, I am currently morphing into a CEO and the day-to-day operation of the business is someone else’s job description. To let go was very difficult, but I have found that it liberated my employee’s to be all they can be. I still guide and direct, but I am no longer the only resource, my employee’s are building their business while they increase mine.

Become a CEO and enjoy your business again.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in Small Business | 21 Comments »

The Small Business Owner

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

The term small business defined as businesses with less than 100 employees. The average small business employs 5-20 employees, this is not a thoroughly researched number, but a close approximate. Many small businesses whose only employee is the owner operator; the printing industry is populated with 1-person offices as printing brokers.  

The opening of small businesses increases during economic downturns. The driving force behind this increase of small enterprises is the unemployed people unable to find employment. The unemployed who stop looking for employment do not just sit at home crying in their beer, as the news media would have you believe. No right think person who has a family just gives up trying to supply for their families needs, many start their own business.

The small business to the medium sized enterprise employs approximately 70% of those employed. A medium sized business defined in the United States as a business with fewer than 500 employees. Small and medium size businesses are not so small since the numbers of those employed by these concerns are about 50-70 million employees.

Now that we have a base line for this article, I would like to expose the difficulties of growing a small business into a medium sized company and then transforming this business into a large business.

Most of us who hear the word entrepreneur we think of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, or some other larger than life business owner who has in our minds earned the right to be called entrepreneur. The dictionary defines an entrepreneur as a person who undertakes a commercial risk for profit. The everyday small business owner does not see himself or herself as a larger than life entrepreneur.

One of the underlining difficulties facing a small business is that the vision of the small business owner is small. I do not say this to demean the small business owner, because the vision of each owner of a business is how to survive today, next week, next month, and throughout the year. These business owners are amazing people who not only drive sales, marketing, accounting, and purchasing, but do it all themselves.

Most entrepreneurs are the persons who will learn of their future business, while working in the profession as an employee and tirelessly learns the pros and cons of a product or a service. These are the people who eat, sleep and drink their job; we used to call these employees a company-person. They are the people who become successful even in the most difficult circumstances.

This is the person working as a salesperson, a chef, a press-operator, office worker, we could name almost any job title, and this person goes the extra mile. These employees can do their job better; in fact, they become an expert in their field. Soon because of their level of knowledge, they become a resource for others, and they begin to see that they can do their jobs on their own.

This trait of being an expert, which causes the business owner to succeed, is the same trait that will keep them small. The reason is the owner of the business knows too much, when someone knows too much they are not open to new ideas.

Being oblivious to what cannot be done and doing what others say is impossible has an example in nature. According to aerodynamics, the bumble bee should not be able to fly. The reason the bumble bee has such small wings to body mass to be able to fly, but the bumble bee flies because no one has told the bumble bee of this fact. The self-made business owner who keeps on impressing to their employees that certain things cannot be done. Effectively, grounding their employees so they will not soar to new heights by apply new business paradigms that will change the vision of the company.  

The entrepreneurs who are able to grow from a small business into a medium or a large company can traverse these boundaries if the founder does not tell the employees they cannot fly. If this entrepreneur vision allows for developing paradigms beyond the owner’s knowledge then company’s growth will result.

Part two of The Small Business owner to follow…

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in Small Business | 35 Comments »

The promotional product; the ruler is mightier than the pen

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Promotional products come in various colors styles and types, an example of just a few products, decals, mouse pads, counter mats, and floor decals. This certainly is not a comprehensive list of products, which promote a company’s brand.

There is a subset of products used to advertise brand these other products known officially as collateral products unofficially known as trinkets and trash. The term trinkets and trash usually refers to an item cleverly designed, but usually has no apparent use, which end up in the round file.

These products include such items as stress balls, which in the using cause stress so the user tosses the product in the round file. These promotional items usually freely handed to each attendee of a trade show. Because of the sheer volume of trinkets in your possession the hapless consumer is must locate a bag to haul the giveaway items around the trade fair. This same attendee packs the various collateral items to travel home.

In the solitude of their offices, the trade fair spoils divided among the useful, the novel, and trash. The items, which seem to find a home on or in the desk of the trade fair devotee, such as pens, calendars, mouse pads, and rulers.   

I have attended and have been an exhibitor at many expo product shows, and my company manufacturer’s promotional products. I have found and maybe you can agree the most often used collateral item given away at trade fairs is the writing instrument, the pen or pencil is so ubiquitous the advertising impact is lost. The promotional item almost non-existent as a collateral item is the measuring instrument.

The ruler is an item that does not end up in the round file, unless it is broken, because it is so functional. Ask yourself have any of us every thrown a ruler away? I submit that the ruler is king of promotional products in any office, pun intended.  The Pen is thrown away when it function ceases by running out of ink a pencil when it is sharpened to the last nub.

The ruler is on or inside the desk of the consumer, promoting the brand, product, or service, until the rulers use fullness ends. Over the years, I have employed the longevity of the ruler to promote our brand and the proof is in the pudding not in theory.

A personal case history of the rulers’ promotional longevity in 1986 I designed a ruler to promote our company in a particular industry. The ruler was a simple 2 ½” wide by 15” long measuring instrument, imprinted with our logo and products we manufactured and contact information.

I distributed the ruler to trade show attendees in 1986, and I continued to receive calls from potential customers into the early 1990’s. The callers noted they got our company name and phone number from a ruler they had on their desk. The requesters could not remember where they acquired the ruler, but when they needed our products we manufactured our name was the first to come up. The reason we stopped receiving calls from the ruler after 1993 is we move the company and changed our phone number. Remember this all occurred pre-internet.

The ruler is king of the collateral products; the pen is food for the round file. The next time you need a promotional giveaway product rulers never die they just rule.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in Promotional Products | 19 Comments »

Roll-to-Roll Banners How these Banners are Printed

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Custom printed banners are printed using various methods of printing, such as offset, screen-print, and digital. The roll-to-roll banners in large quantities printed using an unlikely method of flexography or roll-to-roll printing.

This article will not fully detail the ins and outs of the flexography printing method. If you would like a full detailed understanding of this method of printing please read my previous article Flexography printing what is it? At the following location http://www.decalfactory.com/wp-index.php/2010/01/flexography-printing-what-is-it/

Custom printed banners printed as individual banners not on a roll in small quantities usually digitally printed. In larger quantities, the method of printing used is either screen-printing, or offset printing.

The roll-to-roll custom banners are printed using two methods of printing; the method of printing determined by the quantity, width, and repeat or length of the banner on the roll. To define some terms would help at this time. The width of the roll banner called the web width and the length of each banners image on the roll known as the repeat size.  

The digital method of printing would be selected for a small quantity of banners on a roll. The digital method prints any substrate on a roll with web widths ranging from one foot to as large as sixteen feet wide. This method of printing does not have a restriction on repeat length, but because of the slow speed of this method the roll lengths tend to be shorter.

The flexography method of printing is the only economical choice when a large roll length is required. The minimum roll length for a roll-to-roll banner usually is one thousand feet long. Some printing manufacturers using this type of printing may have smaller roll lengths, but not many have lengths less than 500 feet.

Flexography methods of printing roll-to-roll banners also have two other limitations, web width, and image repeat lengths. The largest image web width is thirty-six inches, and the longest image repeat lengths are seventy-two inches long. Since flexography printing uses printing plates, the printing plate web image width would be three feet by six feet image repeat length, if we printed the maximum size available.

Using this method of printing for roll-to-roll banners is very inexpensive, except for the first time set-up charge to produce the printing plates. This printing method can print one color up to four-color process or CMYK. The cost of the printing plates could $500.00 for one color to many of thousands of dollars for the four-color process image.   

The question is who uses this type of banner? The number one industry that uses the roll-to-roll banner is the radio broadcast companies. I am sure many of you have seen a particular radio station in your town or city broadcasting in front of a retail store.

If you remember in the background was this long ribbon of material with the stations logo call letters and frequency number printed and repeated along the entire length of the ribbon of plastic. The roll-to-roll banner you have seen, but most of us did not know what it was.

The question is how a banner printed using flexography printing, when this type of printing does not last long in sun exposure? The reason using this style of printing works is the banners used by the radio station after two to three days on location the banner is trashed. The next time the station goes on location another section of the one thousand foot banner roll is used.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in Banners | No Comments »