Online Printing Blog

Getting In Touch with Customers with Thank You Cards

How to thank your customers for giving you business? Do you simply write a small note below the invoice? Or do you feel that the quality of your service is enough to impress the customers? One thing should be said in this respect, you are not the only good service provider in your niche business there must be many more other companies. So sending an impersonal note that lacks any personal touch does not do any good to the business prospects. If you show your appreciation to the clients that will make them happy and bring you quality business which even a thousand banners can not bring. So in order to show sincere appreciation to the clients thank you cards are best tools for the businessmen.

But how can the thank you card be used effectively to meet your business needs? Lets see:

• As A Token Of Respect: You can show respect to your clients through the simple and affordable means of a thank you card. It doesn’t take much time to list down the names of the clients and then send them a token of appreciation. It will make the customers believe that they are your treasured clients and special attention is paid to their work. They will also not think of switching from your service. Such greeting cards also create a humane picture of the company and you are identified not just by the products or services you deliver. Respecting and appreciating your client’s will be more potent than sending brochures or booklets promoting your business.

• Personalized Cards: Do not go for flashy designs while choosing a thank you card. Write words and sentences specially for the client. You can start off by addressing the client as dear and then go on to describe his/her project type and the work that has been done. These things will make the recipient feel special.
• Except Holiday Occasions: All the companies send thank you cards along with newsletters after an occasion. Thus this has become a common practice. Think out of the box! Send a thank you card after a a client has taken your service for a specific time period.

• Customize the Cards: Always get the thank you cards printed from a professional printing service provider such as PrintPapa. The thank you cards are generally hung up on the walls and thus they will draw attention. Choose high quality paper while selecting the card and use customized envelopes while sending them.

How to Self Publish Books, Manuals, Reports or Newsletters

Self publishing is one booming source of income in the present economic scenario. If you are good in writing and willing to write books or manuals that millions of people across the world enjoy reading then chances are that you can make a lot of money by writing and self publishing. The present age is the age of information and people are eager to know more and more about anything and everything. But before you actually step into self publishing of books, manuals, reports and newsletters do a small market research and make out whether actually there is a need for the information you provide.

If you are interested to communicate an idea to people, or if you are expert on some subject, writing and then self publishing would be the best for you both to earn money as well as to make yourself known. You can find unlimited publications on magazines and manuals, filled with ads by people like yourself. Simply review all the advertisements and jot down the popular topics and subjects that have been written in books, newsletters, manuals and others in last few days. Now compare your piece of information and think that you have the equally interesting information to present before the audience. If the answer is in the positive then you can rightly enter into the market with an opportunity to earn more money and fame.

The following list of ideas can help you in getting ideas to self publish books, reports, manuals and newsletters:

• Target your market and write the materials required
• Cash in on your creativity and expertise
• Know how to package your information
• Focus on those subject material that are sale able
• Fill the entire material with self interest benefits
• The material you develop must evoke emotions and desires
• Do frequent advertising of your self publishing venture

At PrintPapa we offer various kind of printing options for Self Publishing. You can order as low as 5 soft cover books at a time. We offer 3 sizes and you can order the book printing option online. We also offer spiral binded book, booklets (ranging from 8 to 60 pages).

Self Publishing v/s Traditional Publishing

You are a new writer and yet to be published, you opted for many options to get your work published so that your work is known far and wide. Many a times it happens that you send your request to traditional publishers but receive rejection letters from there and this adds to your frustration. So where to go, to get your work done? A quick search on the Internet can make your work go smooth. Let’s first decide what is the difference between traditional publishing and self publishing.

• Traditional Publishing: By the term traditional publishing we can refer to those companies that buy the printing rights for only some selected works. Traditional publishers generally prefer selecting only the best work out of many submissions. The entire printing work moves in an order. First a contract is made with the author, a copyright is taken out in the name of the author. The author is then paid with first publication rights along with various other rights. The present world is very competitive and in order to succeed in that the publisher must be very selective in choosing the books to publish. A publishing company can not afford to take risk by publishing books that are NOT going to sell. That is why it is necessary for a write-up to be professional sounding with high selling point in order to get published.

• Self Publishing: Authors who are into self publishing are unlike the traditional publishers and take all publishing risks whether it sells or not. Also if there is a substantial benefit then the author is entitled to keep all profits with them. In order to self publish a book, it is required to find a good printing service producing short run high quality books. Before actually investing in a publishing service it is always a good idea to obtain a sample copy of the work.

A self publishing author must have full interest in handling all the marketing responsibilities. Selling books through book signing or through  author tables at local fairs and events is also one good scope for this. Thus it is highly important on the part of the self publishers to have a good understanding of the market, doing marketing research and should have a knowledge about advertising and marketing products.

At PrintPapa we offer the capability of Self Publishing by producing Short Run Books. You can order as low as 5 books. These are soft cover perfect binded books. We offer various services and lots of resources as far as self-publishing is concerned. To name few of them:

• Get ISBN Number
• Cover Design
• Hard Copy Proofing
• Interesting FAQs.

Visit our Short Run Book Section to learn more and to get a quick online quote. You can also place an order online with few clicks. Or give us a call and we will guide you through the ordering process.

Best Ways to Submit Work to a CD or DVD Duplicator

A CD or a DVD duplicator is a device used to duplicate from one DVD to multiple DVD copies in a very short time. The duplicators are best used when there is need for multiple copies of the same data. Duplication is best for quantities of 500 and less. For more quantities go for replication. The CD/DVD duplicators are available in variety of sizes. All the high performance brands can record the data without any loss in bits.  In case of errors it will spit out in a different bin.

The technology can efficiently be used to create equal space partition on the hard drive like the master disc ensuring maximum of HDD space. Most of the  DVD and CD duplicators have integrated ‘Master Error Proof  Technology’ that can be used to replace the master disc without wasting the blank DVD. Nowadays there are some professional duplication companies that are involved in the business of CD or DVD duplication. By following few simple steps the process could easily be done. So if you want to distribute some data, CD or DVD duplication could be the ideal way to do it.

Here are some essential tips and tricks to follow while choosing a reputable duplication company:

• If you have printing on the CD or DVD then ask for the print samples of different print methods before allotting work to the duplication company you have selected. This would help you in understanding which print method would be good for you both professionally as well as economically.
• Inquire about the media quality used, thus do not compromise with the quality. Go for CDs and DVDs with less error rates. (very important)
• Always choose a reputed company in the industry.

Hence with a little knowledge and care the entire process of duplication can be easy, fast and cost-effective thus to make several copies of a CD or DVD.

So the next time you plan for outsourcing your work of CD or DVD duplication, make sure that you consult an authentic name. PrintPapa could be one reliable source in this regard. We at PrintPapa use the best quality media and equipment to produce your copies.

Tips to Get a Great Looking CD or DVD

You are running a business, for which you want to get big profits beating all your niche rivals. But how is that possible until your message is spread to those interested in your services and products? Everyone knows that a good impression and a strong image helps any business to prosper among its target audience. In fact that marks your success. How this image can be created is always a debated issue. Although the experts have many opinions, great looking CD’s and DVD’s could also help to sell your products and cater your message to the prospective audience. Now unless your CD or DVD is made impressively you can never succeed in achieving what you aspire. Below are few simple tips and tricks of creating high-quality, print ready artwork for your next CD or DVD project.

Talk To Your CD DVD Printing Vendor: Before ordering for your CD or DVD to a printing company the very first step you need to take is, checking whether your vendor has specific instructions regarding your requirements or not. Hence for getting a quality work in return of the hefty payment that you do, necessarily communicate with your vendor and make him/her understand your demands. Absence of instructions might confuse them in giving you the satisfactory result.

Use The Template of Your Vendor: Always try to use your vendor’s templates. This will help you in understanding the measurements. By using your vendor’s templates you can ensure that your CD/DVD will move early into the production phase without any throwing additional cost on you.

Apart from the above discussed tips there are some other important printing aspects also for you to follow, and these include:

• High Resolution Artwork - 300dpi or Greater
• Layered Files
• Create Your Artwork in CMYK
• Font Size and Selection
• While Using the Safety Margin do not Crop the Center Hub Area
• Send all Original Source Images

So the next time you plan for printing CD or DVD, consult any authentic printing agency and make sure if the agency you select offers all the services you require. PrintPapa is a reputed printing service provider that you can consult for all your printing services.

Tips for Postcard Marketing

Marketing the products and services through postcards is a widely used tool in today’s business world. There are so many things that you can put into a printed postcard. But only the worth while information will lead to the success of your marketing campaign. This makes it important for you to choose the right approach and design before you go to a printer. Though there are many tricks of this marketing trade but these are the five main aspects:

• Lifestyle – Marketing a lifestyle related to the product is the best way to go about your postcard marketing campaign. Using a lifestyle image at the top of a postcard is the best way to catch the attention of your clients. You can select a picture portraying a carefree attitude towards life, or a model with gorgeous dress or even a dude with some of the latest gadgets. If the postcards are printed in the proper manner then the visual appeal of these images makes the readers want to purchase the products instantly, and thus, gives your company a good launchpad.
• Informative – Today’s age is an age of information. There are so many businesses around the globe that are marketing their products effectively by giving some vital information and statistics. Find out the relevant information about the benefits and dangers of the products and print them on your postcards. People take quite a notice to such type of postcards as they can learn a lot from them and use them in their personal or professional life. If the approach to the postcard is right then they can also make people buy your products. Though the approach is very simple it proves to be very effective.

• Art – Art is one of the popular themes for marketing a product. Everyone likes a beautiful postcard and then there are some that collect such postcards. Beautiful designs and images along with a provocative marketing message and the logo of the company goes well for most marketing campaigns. But in such marketing techniques the skills of the printing agency play an important role.
• Forms – Sending forms along with postcards is a great way to get instant clients. Sending the form will make the customers directly order for the products after reading through your benefits and exclusive offers.
• Souvenir – Souvenir advertising containing facts and images of some important places in the city or some other facts along with your company’s message go well with the clients. This is very useful for people, and thus, they are referred to regularly.

Getting clients to read postcards would mark the success of your postcard marketing campaign. With the choice of the right printing agency like PrintPapa, you can maximize the potential of your marketing campaign.

Best File Formats for Sending Artwork to a Printer

With the evolution of  computers there are various types of file formats in which a picture or an artwork can be saved. There are a number of file formats available today such as gif, jpg, png, pdf, eps, tif. With so many formats available it is difficult to decide the type of format that will best suit the work of the printer you have hired. Each time you save a specific file there is a file format you have to select. While some are high resolution others are for low resolution while some others are only for native purposes. As the different software help users in different tasks, there are different formats for different purposes.

If you are a non-expert in handling file formats then it can be disastrous for you. If you send a file in the wrong format to the printing agency then it might not be compatible with the computer and give awful prints. These will cost you a lot with regards to both time and effort. So, it is desirable to know some important aspects of the proper file formats for your artwork reproduction:

• .jpg – This is a popular format for both emails and web sites. It compresses the toned images into a desirable size (72 dpi for web and 300 dpi for printing) that can be downloaded over the Internet by the printing agency. But if you compress the image too much then the prints will be degraded.

• .gif – It is a very good format for mailing and for posting on the Internet. They also work perfectly in compressing a file. One of the differences between the .jpg and .gif is that this format is more suitable for solid color images and not for the non-continuous color images.
• .png – It is a hybrid of the above mentioned formats. It can be used by you to remove the sharp and unattractive borders from any artwork before sending it to the printers. The format also allows users to compress continuous or non-continuous tone color images. The files that are saved in this format are generally larger in size, and therefore, ideal to send larger images to your printing agency.
• .tif – This is a ‘versatile color space file format’ which can act as a cross platform between your Mac and PC. There is no compression hence this is a good format for printing, but the file sizes can be huge.
• .pdf – It is the native file format developed by Adobe and can be accessed by a program named Adobe Acrobat. .pdf format has many uses including the creation of interactive forms and a lot of print ready materials. This is the most popular format used by printers today.

Sending the print-ready files makes the task of printers easy and saves a lot of time and effort on your behalf. This will also ensure that there are no delays in your marketing campaigns. See below for our File Preperation checklist:

• use our templates to setup artwork.
• outline all fonts.
• embed all images
• check all images to be 300 dpi
• setup bleeds & safe area properly.
• convert colors to CMYK
• flatten transparency?
• perform a spell check
• send us PDFs. We Prefer PDFs
• MS Office Files? Use Primo PDF
• Publisher file use pack & go.

Tips to Create Brochures for Special Events

There are so many people that think that brochures are just for general advertising and can be used as a public relations tool too. But the true fact is that using brochures for special events is the best utilization of this marketing tool. So, below are a few tips that will help you get the best results out of your brochure marketing for events such as presentations, holidays and conventions.

• Conventions: This is a great event to promote your business image and promoting your services to the clients. Attractive colored brochures are highly popular for such conventions. These brochures should carry all the required information about your business. The content for the brochures to be distributed in a convention should be both general advertising and public relations based. There should be equal amount of information given about the company as well as some of its best products. The brochures should be given to the business partners and some of the targeted customers.

• Presentations: You can also get a 4 page colored brochure printed for presenting a report or for your project proposal. The brochures act as a complimentary reading material that will clarify the points discussed in the presentation. These are more public relations oriented as they are used to impress people and get them glued to the report that you are presenting.

• Information Campaigns: If you are running an awareness campaign of any sort then the tri-fold brochures can be used effectively for this purpose too. These materials are generally advertising based and use cheap paper that is loaded with information of all sorts about the campaign and vital information about the company. But using the right printing services is anyways important as the texts should be distinct.
• Employment: Brochures can also be used to find new employees for a company. The content for such brochures revolve around how good a company is and what are the benefits of working in the said company. These brochures are printed using the best printing services as they have a lot of public relations messages and are made with an intention to get the best human resources for a company. The brochures also include application forms for the desired candidates.

As you can see that brochures can be used in many ways than one beyond advertising purposes, it is important to use the best printing agencies. PrintPapa is a renowned printing agency that uses the best technologies in the industry to get the desired print quality.

Recycling Used Postcards

Though this is the age of Internet and emails but postcard is still considered as one of the best ways to greet and inform people. This is the reason each year you get so many postcards from your friends, relatives or many other companies trying to promote their products or services. But once the postcard is read it is of no use and soon gets disposed of in the garbage box. But wasting paper is a crime in itself especially taking into consideration the rate at which the greenery is being shed all around you. So why not try and put minds into play and find some ways to use the postcards that are lying in a corner of your house.

The postcards are made of high quality materials and a lot of hard work goes in on the part of the printer to design them. So using the recycled postcards is also paying respect to the printing agencies. There are so many innovative ways to use the used postcards. Below are some of the ideas that you might put into use:

• Creating a Collage: Cut some of the pieces of the beautiful custom made postcards and put them together to create a collage. You need to have a creative mindset to turn the pieces of postcard into an artwork. If the collage gets the desired effect then place it within a frame. This artwork can be given as a gift to any friend or even sold.
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• Making a Birthday Scrapbook: Use the postcards to make pages of the scrapbook or the borders for the photos. The text portions of the postcards may also be used to create captions on the photos.
• Creating Gift Tags: Beautiful images and designs are made on the postcards that are used for marketing. The printing service providers put in a lot of effort to make the postcards look the best. So if you have bought a gift for your friend then use the desired images from the heaps of postcards at your disposal. Just make a hole and then attach the image with a string or ribbon.
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• Making Home Décor Items: Use the best images in your postcards and then place them in frames to make things of table and wall décor. These images may also be pasted on the glass and you will get a beautiful looking candle holder.

Custom printed postcards are the best things that can be used to decorate a home without spending a penny. So use them and that will in itself be showing respect to the printers.

Better Files - 7 Common Mistakes!

Every designer is taught to make their artwork press ready but hardly do they abide by this rule. As a result, a lot of time and effort is wasted and the deadline for your printing project often gets delayed. Only the printing service providers know how much hard work goes into providing high quality prints. On top of that, if there are serious mistakes in the formatting of the print-ready copies then the work just gets increased manifold. So, why not give the printers a break and send them files that will be easy to print. Here are 7 things to do while sending a work for printing:

1. Giving Detailed Specifications - While placing your order at a printing agency you know what the final work should look like. Why not enlighten the printing agency with all the detailed specifications? There are many small things that help a printing agency to give you the desired prints quickly such as trim size, number of colors, whether there is need for special printing methods such as die-cut or varnishing as well as special folding instructions. Calling up the printer and providing the information that will help him print quickly and efficiently. The more information you provide to the printing service provider the better quality of output you will get.

2. Avoiding Excessive Use of Spot Colors – Using many spot colors without knowing which ones are spot and which can be run as process can be a nightmare for the printing agency. Designers use as many spot colors as possible (sometimes even 23 of them together). Not knowing that every spot color requires a new plate increases your printing bills. Printing presses cannot handle more than 6-8 colors and there are high risks of getting unsatisfactory prints. So, the final document should be devoid of all the unwanted spot colors. Spot colors should only be used when there is the utmost need for color consistency as is the case with logos.

3. Add Bleeds – Leave a space of 1/8 inches (or larger space for die-cuts) in order to accommodate for the white border that will be used around the printed piece. If this is not done then some of the vital parts of the print might be lost and then again, the end result might look unfurnished.

4. Low Resolution or RGB Images – So many people think that web is the best way to get quality images. But there are originality as a well as screen resolution issues. While choosing the web images choose those that have a DPI of at least 300 to get good print quality. Always remember that if the images look good on screen, it doesn’t mean they will look good after printing too!

5. Proper Document Size – Many designers do not know about the proper document size. There are various things that should be accommodated for in the document such as wraps, grooves, scores and hardware. A lot of time is taken if a document has to be re-sized and re-formatted.

6. Using Similar Fonts – Most of the printers use font management systems that are unable to use TrueType and PostScript fonts together. To make the task easier, convert all the fonts to outlines before the final work is sent to the printing agency.

7. Make Decisions in Advance – There are so many times when the situation will force you to keep the vital printing decisions till the last minute. For other occasions, it is wise to have a plan made well in advance. Taking some extra time for designing and production allows you to get enough time for making the files print ready.

Checking on these vital aspects will be a blessing in disguise so that you can get the desired results that you wished for! For more learning visit our FAQ section at PrintPapa.com