Print may not be the rock star it was in yesteryear, but it is not dead. If you’ve been to a networking event lately, met with a new prospect, or considered working with a new vendor/supplier, the odds are in favor of some kind of ink-on-paper product being exchanged. Business card, letterhead, promo item…whatever. People still like tangible stuff. Until the Millennials take over, this will be the world we operate in: A balance of web and print.
Printed stationery is one project that Brand Shepherd works on after creating a new or updated brand identity (logo). Stationery projects range from the multi-elemented stack of everything under the sun, to the simple business card, letterhead and envelope.
We believe there are 4 stationery items that most business don’t think of, and therefore do not have… but should! Here’s our list:
1. Note Cards
A note card has power, longevity, and a personal touch. It is our experience that when a note card is sent out, the card is posted somewhere in the office or camps out on the recipient’s desk for a while. On the back or inside of this card is your business’ web address, phone number, and a hand-written note.What surprises most people is how inexpensive note cards are to have printed. The cost is very comparable to having business card printed, and you can cut costs even more by having your note cards printed on the same paper as your business cards and asking your printer to not fold your cards. Just ask for the note cards to be “scored and shipped flat.” It’ll save you time and money. And when you send your recipient a hand-written Thank You or personal note, there’s a good chance it is going to be kept on display – a lot longer than a mass email or web page… or even business card, for that matter.
2. Stickers, Not Envelopes
You ship things via FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc. You mail things (like the aforementioned note card?). So why would you pay a printer to print all those different envelopes, or worse yet, use a cheesy addressing method that is not consistent with your branding? By cheesy we specifically mean: Rubber stamps or label that features cute little chirping birds you get from your insurance agent? These are low-class. You can do better. Your business deserves better.The better solution, my friend, is a simple “kiss-cut” peel-and-stick label. A quality commercial printer makes these all the time, and it is quite the cost-saving method to have labels printed with your logo and brand font than to use a bunch of printed envelopes.
Many printers have pre-sized die lines that you can utilize to have your labels printed and cut. If your local printer doesn’t have such a convenience, there are scores of online printers that do. Pre-printed labels are cost-effective, and are part of the vast group of little things that tell people your brand is legit.
3. Letterhead… *printed* letterhead
Over the last 5 or so years the printed letterhead has lost out to the request that we create a letterhead template in MS Word®.Let’s be honest – do you really need a printed letterhead… won’t the Word template suffice for most of your needs? No, you do not need a pre-printed letterhead. But those businesses that need to look their best, be absolutely consistent at all touch points, need to ask themselves if having an inkjet printer produced letterhead will make them look like pros or like hacks when they send off a proposal.
Desktop printer technology is great, but it still a long way from replicating the color accuracy, tightness, and professionalism of a commercial printer.
And let’s address the elephant in the room: Technological know-how. Do you know how to set up your header and footer in Word or Google Docs so that the graphics are proportional? We see a lot of cramming going on out there due to folks simply not knowing how to scale proportionally, and the end result is a letterhead that looks like a toddler tried to cram a garden hose into a soup can. By being honest with yourself about your technological know-how, you’ll give your branding the respect it deserves by not messing up something as simple as a letterhead. Get it printed, even in short quantities, to save the headache.
4. The Other Side of Your Business Card
First thing’s first: Printing on the back of your business card is not going to double the cost of your business card printing bill. Printing on the back, however, will open up space to allow you to let contact know how to find your social media links (FB, Twitter, Buzz, etc.), or maybe list your core services that set you apart from the competition.While printing on the back has gained a lot of steam and adaptation, it’s always surprising to go to networking events, come back with 100 or so cards, and maybe 5 of them have printing on the back!
In full disclosure, we do not have any special or strategic relationships with commercial printers. We do have a very short list of printers we prefer to work with, and we would be happy to share that list with you. Printed stationery is a great way to keep your branding momentum going, and we hope this list has caused you to take inventory of how your stationery is or isn’t working for you. Get in touch with us today… let’s talk!
Cheers!