It seems early to play holiday music in stores. Or to plan your dinner parties (is it ever too early to think about food). But it is time to focus on this Fall in your business.
Whether employee or customer gifts or give away for Thanksgiving or Christmas or another holiday, it is the right time to order to take advantage of both price and shipping discounts.
Also, guaranteeing delivery on your time frame is our priority. This means planning ahead.
From calendars to clothing, from unique gear to stand our surprises, it is the best time to brainstorm. Email kori@heuss.com with your information on what you may be thinking and we can send you ideas to perfectly enhance your goals. After all, YOU don't have to do all the work. We are here to think and support you with new creative ideas.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sometimes simple is better
I often think about my messaging when producing an item. Does it make sense right away? Does what I say make the person who is reading it more interested?
This weekend on the way to a fishing pond, I passed this sign.
I wasn't prepared for a marketing lesson in the middle of my day off so this photo was taken with a phone. It says "SALE GUYS STUFF" with an arrow. Yup, Guys Stuff. What is guys stuff? I am significantly intrigued. My mind is wondering, will I find fishing lures, jock straps, engines, cars, moustache grooming devices?
On the way to the Guy Stuff Sale, I passed a house. There was a sign in front of the house, it said "Not Here". I was on the right track. The next house had a sign that said "HERE". I was at the secret GUY STUFF SALE!!!!!! Go me!
There was a mean dog. I figured this is ok. Because guys who sell guy stuff should have intimidating dogs. The first thing my eye settled on was a table with china on it. Well, gosh, my illusions were shattered. There was an antique dresser, a german clock, some cool dental chairs and an engine! Yes, the GUY STUFF!
I left the small sale laughing. While I did not find a much sought after item, I loved that the message on the simple signs sucked me in. What a brilliant move for a truly terrible sale!
Sure, the rest of us in business should follow up our message with an actual product, but once in a while in marketing, we can take a moment and appreciate the little things. And really, our messaging choices are never a little thing.
This weekend on the way to a fishing pond, I passed this sign.
On the way to the Guy Stuff Sale, I passed a house. There was a sign in front of the house, it said "Not Here". I was on the right track. The next house had a sign that said "HERE". I was at the secret GUY STUFF SALE!!!!!! Go me!
There was a mean dog. I figured this is ok. Because guys who sell guy stuff should have intimidating dogs. The first thing my eye settled on was a table with china on it. Well, gosh, my illusions were shattered. There was an antique dresser, a german clock, some cool dental chairs and an engine! Yes, the GUY STUFF!
I left the small sale laughing. While I did not find a much sought after item, I loved that the message on the simple signs sucked me in. What a brilliant move for a truly terrible sale!
Sure, the rest of us in business should follow up our message with an actual product, but once in a while in marketing, we can take a moment and appreciate the little things. And really, our messaging choices are never a little thing.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Things that don't cost more that everyone should do
In printing and marketing, we see everything. We see brochures, business cards, magnets and shirts every single day. We bind, fold, package, ship and do our jobs. Our favorite thing? When someone asks us a question or lets us create or wants their marketing material to stand out! We love to brainstorm and believe that the best ideas come from an ongoing discussion. There are quite a few solutions we provide when someone asks us for input or fun ideas. Some very cool, stand out items that we produce and use to communicate messaging are an investment and have an increased cost. Often this comes with the quality of the materials chosen. However, there are many many ways to create impact without increasing the cost of the material being produced. Let's talk about some.
Folds - brochures, flyers, membership material, scorecards, any item that folds creates an opportunity. Often, we are designing material to stand out in a specific way. Creating a short fold, using a unique fold or thinking about folding in a non-traditional way can make a piece stand out without adding a cent to the production cost.
Messaging - What you say matters. Our writing services or consulting on customer base and WHAT to say to them provides a valuable, outside perspective. From teaching a pizza chain how to use facebook appropriately to creating stand out wording on a revised brochure to making business cards stand out because of a unique quote, the messaging on material needs to get a response from your customer.
Size - Is something very small? I sent someone my business card in an envelope just slightly larger than my card. How fun is that? Of course, I sent them a gift card as well. When we print gift cards for people, we do envelopes to put them in. Very few people actually mail those envelopes, but they really stand out! A good way to think about size is to look at what is on your desk. What is there? What size is it? In a stack of things or mail, what would stand out? Should something be square? Should it pop up when it is taken out of an envelope? Size is a fun way to look at material differently.
Color - What color is your eye drawn too? What is easy to read? Difficult to read? Yellow, red and reversed out text are difficult applications to read quickly. There is a place for those colors in marketing material and they stand out. They eye is drawn to red most readily, but reading red text is hard on eyes, especially aging eyes. Thinking about color, revising a logo, designing material in an unexpected way are great ways that we help with legibility and getting a message across quickly.
Mail - Variable data can put personalized information on a mailing piece. This increases readership of a piece by about 20%. With customers who mail all over the country or internationally, we are often able to vary data based on their geographically relevant information. Timing of a mailing can get a better response depending on the time of year or other items. Mail promotional items in a box with a fun design on it. Mail a paper plate inside a frisbee for a picnic invitation. Mail a ball, yes a ball, not inserted into a box and allow your customers to play and have fun.
Each person we meet with is different and your customers have unique needs. Sometimes a fun, creative discussion can provide fodder for your marketing plan and achieve goals while still keeping an eye on the bottom line. Happy brainstorming!!!
Folds - brochures, flyers, membership material, scorecards, any item that folds creates an opportunity. Often, we are designing material to stand out in a specific way. Creating a short fold, using a unique fold or thinking about folding in a non-traditional way can make a piece stand out without adding a cent to the production cost.
Messaging - What you say matters. Our writing services or consulting on customer base and WHAT to say to them provides a valuable, outside perspective. From teaching a pizza chain how to use facebook appropriately to creating stand out wording on a revised brochure to making business cards stand out because of a unique quote, the messaging on material needs to get a response from your customer.
Size - Is something very small? I sent someone my business card in an envelope just slightly larger than my card. How fun is that? Of course, I sent them a gift card as well. When we print gift cards for people, we do envelopes to put them in. Very few people actually mail those envelopes, but they really stand out! A good way to think about size is to look at what is on your desk. What is there? What size is it? In a stack of things or mail, what would stand out? Should something be square? Should it pop up when it is taken out of an envelope? Size is a fun way to look at material differently.
Color - What color is your eye drawn too? What is easy to read? Difficult to read? Yellow, red and reversed out text are difficult applications to read quickly. There is a place for those colors in marketing material and they stand out. They eye is drawn to red most readily, but reading red text is hard on eyes, especially aging eyes. Thinking about color, revising a logo, designing material in an unexpected way are great ways that we help with legibility and getting a message across quickly.
Mail - Variable data can put personalized information on a mailing piece. This increases readership of a piece by about 20%. With customers who mail all over the country or internationally, we are often able to vary data based on their geographically relevant information. Timing of a mailing can get a better response depending on the time of year or other items. Mail promotional items in a box with a fun design on it. Mail a paper plate inside a frisbee for a picnic invitation. Mail a ball, yes a ball, not inserted into a box and allow your customers to play and have fun.
Each person we meet with is different and your customers have unique needs. Sometimes a fun, creative discussion can provide fodder for your marketing plan and achieve goals while still keeping an eye on the bottom line. Happy brainstorming!!!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Weddings and Everything Social
We love happy people! Planning an event can be a tense time, especially a wedding where many family members are so excited. This process can also be fun (and affordable)! Let us help you create just the look for your entire event. It's what we do. And we love it!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Holy dance party batman!
Our work is full of a variety of deadlines and while no one ever dies, there are emergencies and things that need done very fast. Those of us who work here love this stress, thrive on the tight turn-around times and on making our customers (you) happy. This allows us to feel satisfied in our jobs and like we are helping the world be happier in a small sort of way.
This means, we have attracted the best, most interesting, most creative co-workers ever. In the midst of a disagreement, someone will ask for an arm-wrestling contest. Things like this happen.
In the past week, here are the moments that have filled our workplace with joy.
Go forth and have a happy day today. Thanks to those of you who call and fill our lives with awesomeness!!!
This means, we have attracted the best, most interesting, most creative co-workers ever. In the midst of a disagreement, someone will ask for an arm-wrestling contest. Things like this happen.
In the past week, here are the moments that have filled our workplace with joy.
- We had a bbq with cookies that tasted like red velvet cake
- We did pushups mid day to see if we could all get to 20 pushups
- We all worked together to load some donated heuss printing notepads into one of our favorite customer's cars
- We called a dance off
Go forth and have a happy day today. Thanks to those of you who call and fill our lives with awesomeness!!!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Customer Service Philosophy
Last night I was at a meeting and someone asked what our printing company did. I love this place. I could go on for an hour with an opening like that. I didn't really answer the question though. My real answer is anything someone needs. It's that simple. Yesterday I wrote a marketing plan, printed brochures, copy wrote and formatted a book for an amazon listing, shipped printed material to customers located thousands of miles away, wrote three tag lines and a whole lot more. I even made a handmade card for a customer. It's appropriate and she'll know this is about her when she receives it, but I don't want to spoil the fun.
At the meeting, someone answered for me. They said, "I always go to heuss printing when I need to get a small job done".
My initial reaction was WHAT? We ship internationally, have won national awards for our graphic design and print quality and regularly receive referrals from all over the country to work on campaigns and projects.
Then, I put the brakes on my defensiveness. Because, wasn't this person giving me a compliment? They were saying that when they come in with a small project that they don't feel like I put the project off or treat them as less important because it is not a high budget item. And this makes me happy.
Our company philosophy is that you treat people with thankfulness that they walked in the door. Every project is important and you never know if the person that copies their piano music today will need 400 shirts tomorrow, or 10,000 magazines next week.
So yeah, we are the place to come to for the small jobs. and the medium jobs. and the huge jobs. At the end of the day the size of the job doesn't matter to us. What matters is that you walked in our door, ordered through our website or called us for advice. Every job pays for us to be here and I am so glad to be reminded of that spirit of thankfulness that our customers notice, even on the small stuff.
At the meeting, someone answered for me. They said, "I always go to heuss printing when I need to get a small job done".
My initial reaction was WHAT? We ship internationally, have won national awards for our graphic design and print quality and regularly receive referrals from all over the country to work on campaigns and projects.
Then, I put the brakes on my defensiveness. Because, wasn't this person giving me a compliment? They were saying that when they come in with a small project that they don't feel like I put the project off or treat them as less important because it is not a high budget item. And this makes me happy.
Our company philosophy is that you treat people with thankfulness that they walked in the door. Every project is important and you never know if the person that copies their piano music today will need 400 shirts tomorrow, or 10,000 magazines next week.
So yeah, we are the place to come to for the small jobs. and the medium jobs. and the huge jobs. At the end of the day the size of the job doesn't matter to us. What matters is that you walked in our door, ordered through our website or called us for advice. Every job pays for us to be here and I am so glad to be reminded of that spirit of thankfulness that our customers notice, even on the small stuff.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Ode to Chartreuse
Oh glorious chartreause, whose color we love to use.
You exist in nature, but not on a goose.
oh this little inch worm, we are amused.
You exist in nature, but not on a goose.
oh this little inch worm, we are amused.
Are you more green than yellow, or yellow than green.
You are the favorite color we have seen.
Does this color exist in our spleen?
We see it outside when we preen.
You look best right next to blue.
But enhance other colors too.
Is that pink or teal next to where we find you?
On a rainy day you make our hearts soar.
When we have a chartreuse front door.
A plant, a tree, an inch worm or four.
Today, let's all use chartreuse some more.
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