4 Simple Steps to Set Intentions

It's that time of year again: Time to re-evaluate your life, business, and goals.

Setting intentions for this year will help you fulfill them and be more successful than setting a resolution. Both practices require looking at yourself and making changes. But an intention isn't as harsh as a resolution.

Rather than setting goals for where you want to go, creating intentions shifts your attitude and mindset toward how you want to be. It allows you to take steps and be proud of them. How does one do this? Take a look at these four steps to setting intentions.

4 Simple Steps to Set Intentions 

1. Evaluate Yourself

If you want more knowledge, energy, and creativity, you have to start by taking a step back and looking inward. 

This is true even for leaders who don't have time, perhaps, especially for them!

"Spending time casting our thoughts back over the past day, week, or month and sitting down to regularly set goals for the future feels like a luxury of time [executives] can't afford. But the truth is, these practices are proven to lead to more productivity and better performance from the world's best leaders."

2. Envision Success

This is not "an exercise in magical thinking; rather, it is a way for us to program our brain and our subconscious toward what we want to see happen."  

Studies show that if we envision something positive, we are more likely to see it come to fruition.

Likewise, if we envision something negative, we set ourselves up for this.

3. Get Away From Fear-Based Goals

Don't beat yourself up trying to achieve something this year.

Intentions will be more of a goal without negative implications. "Positive intentions can help us take action with self-compassion rather than the sense of pressure that goals create."

4. Write Down Your Intentions

Create a picture, write it on a sticky note or simply write it on a piece of paper next to your bed.

Then, contemplate it daily so you can focus on what you intend to do.

"The intention I set in the morning informs my day in subtle or profound ways depending on the extent to which I keep it in my conscious awareness."

These are a few ways to set intentions instead of resolutions; if you try them, you might be surprised at what you accomplish. In addition, you will be more at peace and able to enjoy life while accomplishing things daily.

If you are trying to tackle a big project at the office, let us help. Set an intention to check out our website today!

5 Graphic Design Trends to Look Out for in 2023

2023 is just around the corner, and a new year comes with new graphic design trends. 

Graphic design matters because it captures the attention of your audience, aids in memory, and influences the consumer's first impressions. This is why the global graphic design industry was worth $45.8 billion in 2021.

Make sure your business stays up-to-date with the latest graphic design trends. 

5 Graphic Design Trends to Look Out for in 2023

1. Science Fiction-Inspired Designs 

Many businesses are aiming to look futuristic with science fiction-inspired graphic designs. 

Certain elements are common within science fiction designs.

• Color. Shades of blue- like cyan- and neon colors are prevalent. There's often a contrast between light and dark.
• Shapes. Sharp lines, circles, and geometric shapes give off science-fiction vibes.
• Fonts. Science fiction fonts are an entire genre, often showing distorted letters that look stretched, chopped, or duplicated with inconsistent lettering size.
• 3-D images. Although graphic design usually cannot physically be 3-D, many science fiction designs give off the illusion of 3-D. 

If you want your business to appear modern, go with a science-fiction-inspired design. 

2. Font Trends  

There are four main 2023 font trends for which to look out. 

• Distorted fonts twist, stretch, and fade. For example, refer to the Cobya font, inspired by the ocean's waves.
• Condensed fonts are great at packing a lot of words into a small space. However, they can sometimes appear aggressive.
• Sans-serif fonts consist of neat, clean lines. Serif fonts, or those with decorative lines or tapers, have saturated the graphic design industry over the years. However, sans-serif fonts are expected to make a comeback due to their minimalistic nature and reader accessibility.
• Flared fonts are a combination of serif and sans-serif fonts. They appear friendly and optimistic, making them great for family or children-oriented materials. 

Experiment with different types of fonts, and don't be hesitant to make some unique choices. 

3. Liquid Gradients

Liquid gradients are a unique twist on the popular gradient trend. However, this one looks like glossy, colorful marble.

Add it as a background or an accent! 

4. Rich Colors

Neutral colors have been all the rage. Perhaps it was to compensate for the recent chaos.

However, bold, rich colors are expected to come back, and it's time to let a little color back into the world. 

5. Memes 

Memes consist of funny pictures with witty captions. 

Although especially popular on social media, memes are expected to travel into the graphic design world. Memes are memorable because they're funny, and this comedic aspect makes them more likely to be shared among friends and colleagues. 

Graphic design trends are constantly changing. Know the projected 2023 trends so your business can remain up-to-date. 

Whether you try a trend or go with the tried and true, we are here to get your graphic designs printed! Feel free to reach out to us today!

How to Develop an Abundance Mindset (and Why You Should)

 An abundance mindset is when you believe there are enough resources in the world for everyone and are grateful for what you have. 

This is in opposition to the scarcity mindset, which believes the earth contains limited resources. This mindset creates an overly competitive lifestyle and envy for others because the person tends to focus on what they don’t have. This mindset is damaging because it promotes unhappiness and less fulfilling relationships. 

Why You Should Develop an Abundance Mindset

Having an abundance mindset helps you create a happier, more fulfilling life for yourself. 

It comes with many benefits. An abundance mindset … 

• Promotes personal and professional success by letting you focus on the many opportunities.
• Helps you feel confident and capable.
• Generates creativity and motivation through a more proactive approach to life.
• Makes you feel better about yourself.
• Deepens your relationships. 

If you’ve been struggling with a lack of motivation, envy for others, and discontent with your present situation, try adopting an abundance mindset using the following strategies. 

Identify Your Negative Beliefs for an Abundance Mindset 

Everyone has subconscious beliefs about themselves. 

Sometimes these beliefs are negative and often untrue, limiting the person’s full potential because they’re held back by these beliefs. 

For example, someone may believe that they are destined for failure. This belief will hold you back from success, so working on changing it is important. 

• Step 1: Identify your negative belief. In this case, it’s the belief that you are destined for failure.
• Step 2: Ask yourself where this negative belief came from. Did it originate from past failures?
• Step 3: Ask yourself if this belief is true. Do past failures guarantee future disappointments? Are you focusing on past failures and ignoring all your successes to maintain this negative belief?
• Step 4: Ask yourself if this negative belief is helpful. If not, how damaging is it? How has it harmed you in the past? Where has it been influencing your behavior?
• Step 5: Change your negative belief. By this point, hopefully, you’ve discovered your negative thought isn’t true, nor is it helpful. Start by telling yourself success is possible. Notice when your negative belief appears, and challenge it. 

Identifying, challenging, and changing your negative beliefs is difficult. However, keep at it; you’ll be better off in the long run. 

Be Grateful for an Abundance Mindset

Gratitude is when you focus on the good things in your life and be grateful for them. 

Everyone is subjected to positive and negative events throughout their day, and some days the balance is quite off. However, people can choose what they focus on. If you’re struggling, start by finding three things you’re grateful for daily.  

Go With the Flow for an Abundance Mindset

Many people hate change and fight against it. 

However, change is the one constant in this unpredictable world. View change as an opportunity for new experiences. Even if the situation seems like a step down from your previous one, try viewing it with curiosity. 

Do What You Love for an Abundance Mindset

Filling your life with people and activities you love will make it much easier to feel happy and grateful, promoting an abundance mindset. 

Don’t expect to love every part of your day, but if you dislike most of your days, perhaps it’s time to brainstorm ways to fill your life with more of what you love. 

Celebrate Your Success for an Abundance Mindset

Often success is brushed off, and each new milestone begins with a focus on the next goal. 

What is a past success, big or small, that you didn’t take the time to celebrate? Write it down and make time to celebrate it. Late is better than never. 

In the future, be on the lookout for your successes and accomplishments.

Following these tips will help you on your way to fostering a more abundant mindset. We hope an abundance mindset will benefit your personal life and your business. Good luck!   

4 Tips for Getting More People to See Your Direct Mail

Direct mail is naturally advantageous when getting people to notice your business. 

85% of consumers open their direct mail, and 62% act after receiving direct mail, according to a recent report. However, your business can take action to increase further the number of people opening your direct mail. 

1. Use a Call to Action in Your Direct Mail 

The best call to action, or CTA, follows the format “Do something simple, get something great.” 

In this scenario: 

• Do something simple = open the envelope.
• Get something great = receive a credit card, special discount, or a gift or sample.

Creating a sense of scarcity works exceptionally well when prompting people to act. For example, try advertising a limited-time offer or a special discount while supplies last. Fear of missing out or not being enough gets the customer to act soon. However, don’t create a false sense of scarcity.  

2. Send Your Direct Mail in a Unique Envelope 

The envelope is the first thing people see when they take the mail out of the mailbox. 

Whether to open your mail or not relies heavily on the impression the envelope provides. 

Get your envelope to stand out and generate curiosity by switching up the characteristics of the envelope like… 

• Size. Larger envelopes stand out but can be more costly. Smaller envelopes create a sense of casual and friendly correspondence.
• Style. Use a color that catches the target audience’s attention, such as silver, gold, neon, or bold colors. Try changing the texture by using a matte or a glossy finish.
• Font. Using a handwritten style font will make your envelope seem more personal.
• Format. Including a see-through window lets your business prominently display products or enticing offers. 

Switching up the standard white 4 ⅛” by 9 ½” envelope will make potential customers more likely to open the envelope. 

3. Personalize Your Direct Mail Marketing 

If the direct mail recipient feels that the mail is truly meant for them, they will be more likely to open it. 

Research your target audience so you can better personalize your direct mail. Create target market subgroups based on their interests, potential questions, geographic area, and products or services most interesting to them. 

Often, businesses will have better luck advertising to their local target market because there’s a greater desire among consumers to support local businesses as opposed to non-local ones. 70% of consumers support local businesses because they want to keep money local, connect with the community, support local creators, and have better service. 

4. Track Direct Mail Statistics 

Finding out what methods work for you and what don’t will help you generate a higher return on investment or ROI. 

Track cost per 1000 impressions (CPM), open rates, response rates, and conversions. Impressions are the number of people who see your direct mail, and conversions are the number of recipients who follow your call to action. 

Remember that those who have interacted with your business are more likely to engage again. Also, sometimes it takes multiple direct mail deliveries before the customer acts. 

Once you find a high ROI strategy, scale up your marketing. 

We’re here to help you stand out to potential customers through direct mail. From the design to the mailing itself, we’ve got you covered! 

7 Print Marketing Ideas to Boost Holiday Sales

The holidays are a busy time of year for you and your customers, but print marketing has the power to get you noticed and boost sales.

How do you accomplish this? Here are seven ways to use print marketing to boost your sales this holiday season!

7 Print Marketing Ideas to Boost Holiday Sales

1. Creative Packaging 

Use beautiful boxes, papers, and images when you send out items to customers.

They are more likely to hang onto them and remember you in the future. Plus, it creates a warm fuzzy feeling when customers receive such packages.

2. Door Hangers

Create fun, whimsical door hangers to put on customers’ doors.

These will receive a lot of attention and will solicit a response. 

3. Coupons

Send coupons to customers on fun, holiday-centered postcards.

Include fun images, pictures, and sayings that will grab their attention during the holiday hustle and bustle.

4. Holiday Newsletter

Time and attention span may be limited this time of year, but a compelling and short holiday newsletter will get your reader to stop, read, and respond.

Put some fun quotes, tips, recipes, fun facts, a happy holiday message, and maybe even a coupon to help them save money during this time of year.

5. Subscription Package

A subscription package will keep them coming back throughout the year.

Offer special pricing, fun packaging, and items that will dazzle them. They can subscribe to your subscription box and receive great gifts throughout the year.

6. Gift Cards

A gift-card campaign allows customers to share your business.

It’s also an excellent way to offer deals. They can get something free if they buy a certain amount of money in gift cards. This is a popular way of helping people with last-minute and corporate gifts.

Make sure your gift card displays are front and center near your store’s entrance, checkout, and other high-traffic areas.

7. Loyalty Rewards

Mail special discounts to loyal customers during this time of year.

Research what most customers are buying this time of year, then send them a letter or postcard offering to discount it for them. Remember, it usually costs you a lot more to acquire brand-new customers than to retain the ones you have.

Whatever you decide to do to thank your customers during this time of year, we can help execute it with quality printing and papers. Contact us to get started today!

3 Winning Direct Mail Campaign Ideas You Can Start Using Today

We're proud to inform you that the reports of the supposed death of direct mail have been, as Mark Twain once said, "greatly exaggerated."

Not only is direct mail just as effective as it ever was - it's positively thriving. According to one recent study, the market for direct mail advertising is anticipated to grow from $71.57 billion in 2021 to a massive $72.67 billion by the end of 2022. Much of this has to do with the average return on investment for direct mail collateral is $4.09 for every $1.27 you spend getting those marketing materials out into the world.

But it can be challenging to know where to begin if you've been out of the direct mail world for a while or are wading into these proverbial waters for the first time. With that in mind, here are three winning direct mail campaign ideas that you can start using immediately.

3 Winning Direct Mail Campaign Ideas You Can Start Using Today

Taking Advantage of the Holidays

One of the best direct mail marketing campaign ideas you can start using immediately involves taking advantage of the holiday season - a time of year that is already upon us again.

Remember that while part of the goal of any marketing campaign is always to raise awareness for your brand and get the word out about your products and services, this is just one small portion of a much larger story.

Equally important is your ability to get in touch with people occasionally and simply remind them that you're out there. Because of that, don't hesitate to send out a simple postcard for Christmas or the New Year to wish people well. It doesn't have to be overly "salesy" at all - it can be a simple message that illustrates that you care about your consumers, even when you're not coming right out and asking them to buy something.

When executed correctly, you'd be surprised by the difference this can make in generating repeat sales from existing, satisfied customers.

The Benefit of Unusually Sized Mail

Another technique that you can use with direct mail, in particular, has to do with sending out unusually sized mail.

Think about it - part of why messages like emails are so easy to ignore is that they all blend together in someone's mind. They all look the same, and they're far too easy to archive when someone is wading through their email inbox in the morning.

But if you send out a piece of direct mail collateral that is slightly larger or shaped differently than every other piece of mail that someone receives that day, they're going to notice. You immediately stand out, and at that point, you can use someone's curiosity to your advantage.

Bridging the Gap Between Direct Mail and the Digital World

Finally, don't be afraid to bring the benefits of both direct mail collateral and digital marketing together in innovative ways.

Always include information about the various social media channels you use, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which are great for allowing someone to get in touch with you in other ways quickly. This way, you can begin an experience with them through physical mail but give them the option to continue it over the Internet if that is their preference. 

If you'd like to find out more information about getting started today with any of these direct mail campaigns, or if you have any additional questions you'd like to go over with someone in a bit more detail, please don't delay - contact our team today! 

8 Common Design Mistakes To Avoid in Print Marketing

 

There is much room for creativity in graphic design for print marketing. 

However, if you aren't a graphic designer, there are some definite no-nos you want to avoid in order to create a visually compelling design.

Here are a few to keep in mind.

8 Common Design Mistakes To Avoid in Print Marketing

1. Centering Everything 

A beginner design mistake is to center everything: Large chunks of text and more.

This approach makes it harder to read because the left and right margins are ragged.

2. Imbalanced Elements

Balance is one of the fundamental principles of design.

It refers to how elements are distributed throughout a layout, providing a sense of order and stability. But too much symmetry can get boring so try adding asymmetry to create visual interest. 

3. Not Leaving White Space 

Make sure you don't pack everything into your design.

You may have great design ideas, but you don't need to use them all in one place. Instead, save some for future projects.

4. Inconsistent Branding 

Whether it's fonts, colors, or images, make sure you're consistent.

Keep it similar throughout the piece and with your other branded materials, whether using specific colors or designs. Don't use random fonts, thinking it will make it more interesting. This practice helps tie your design into one visually appealing look. 

5. No Repetition

If you don't repeat a few visual elements throughout your projects — for instance, specific colors, layouts, or spatial relationships — your design could lack continuity, and your reader can't "tie it all together." 

6. Improper Use of Colors 

Understanding color theory and psychology can help you use colors at their optimal best.

Colors can set the tone, mood, and style of your design. Don't go crazy picking various colors; be consistent with them and keep the colors in the same family.

7. Not Enough Space Between Letters

You will want to ensure the spacing of your letters is just right, not too close or far away. 

This process is known as kerning to graphic designers, and it ensures each character fits well with its neighboring letters.

When you are designing marketing materials, you have so many creative options. These tips will help guide you through the process.

When it's time to print your project, please remember us. We're here to help guide you, answer your questions, and publish your project in the best light possible. Contact us today!