3 Event Networking Best Practices in B2B Marketing
Trade shows can be a valuable networking opportunity to meet business contacts and potential new customers. An estimated 99 percent of marketers say that they find unique value from attendin...
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This Season, Fall in Love with Promotional Products
Autumn is the perfect time for small business marketers to make a bold move that leaves lasting impressions on current and potential customers ahead of the busy year-end holiday season. One of ...
Health and Wellness Promotional Products Match Consumer Interests
Health and wellness promotional products are strong contenders among the most popular logoed items. That’s great news for marketers in search of a memorable giveaway that offers people what they value...
Three Ways Colour Psychology Can Influence Consumers
Colour has the power to influence moods and inner feelings, making it an influential factor in buying patterns. Colour psychology research has reinforced that 60% of the time, consumers will decide if...
The Case for Case Studies: 6 Tips to Make the Most of Them in Your Marketing Materials
When you’re ready to make a purchase decision, especially when it’s a big one, you don’t jump inwithout doing some research first.Today, most of us ask the opinions of others and spend some quality sc...
4 Tips for Creating Engaging Business-to-Business Content
Intentional or not, most businesses and organizations create an enormous amount of content every day. With more blogs, emails, case studies and the like, the risk of favouring quantity over quality gr...
The Importance of Competitive Differentiation in Small Business Marketing
Small business owners must distinguish their companies to drive leads and promote loyalty, according to Kate Dunn, the award-winning, cross-channel marketing influencer and Director of Keypoint Intell...
Simple Ways to Personalize Your Multi-Channel Marketing Campaigns
Today’s top marketers are always exploring meaningful ways to reach and engage prospective and existing customers. One of the most widely embraced marketing strategies for establishing and maint...
Using Buyer Personas to Deliver Added Value
As your customers sort through countless marketing messages received on a daily basis, how are you separating your business from the pack to deliver personalized content that aligns with your ideal pr...
Research Confirms the Power of Print Marketing Communications
Recent buzz around the effectiveness of direct mail and print marketing communications may have marketers who’ve had all their eggs in a digital basket rethinking their strategy to incorporate a multi...
Power Up Your Print Campaigns
A landmark study by Millward Brown found that when people interact with something that can be touched and felt, the content leaves a "deeper footprint" on the brain. This suggests that printed marketi...
The Most Important Way to Build Relationships with Print Communications
Every company, regardless of the products sold or services performed, is in the relationship business —with customers, employees, business partners and the communities where they’re located. Marketing...
5 Networking Tips for Small Business Owners
In an increasingly digital world, the value of face-to-face conversation among small businesses and their clients or prospects cannot be understated. According to the Harvard Business Review, 95 perce...
The Small Business Marketer’s Guide to Hosting a Business Open House
Whether your small business is fresh off the launch pad or is in a more mature place in its lifecycle, hosting an event is a valuable way to showcase your products and services, build awareness among ...
Marketing That Pays Off? Consider Events
Event marketing is made to order for small to mid-sized businesses, nonprofits and other organizations with aggressive goals but limited sales resources. Participating in the right local, regional, na...
Event Marketing Before, During and After
Seasoned event marketers know the many advantages of participating in conferences or staging their own special events to reach their top goals: increase brand awareness, improve product knowledg...
The Influence of Custom Point-Of-Purchase Displays on Buyer Decisions
When used effectively, custom point-of-purchase (POP) displays and signage can influence buyer decisions and increase sales. In fact, consumers are more likely to purchase a good or service when they ...
4 Tips for Effective Custom Window Graphics
The name of the game in retail is to get people into your location and interest them in the goods or services you provide. Successful retailers know that starts with eye-catching, easy-to-understand s...
7 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Store Signage
Signs can attract new shoppers, brand your business and drive impulse sales. In fact, signage can account for half of your customers, according to the International Sign Association.Here are seven way...
Email Marketing: Measure Once . . . Then Measure Again
Increase conversion rates. Improve lead generation. Grow email list size. These are the top three email marketing objectives among small and mid-sized businesses we polled in a research study. Just 12...
Email List Growth: It’s Not as Hard as It Seems
Email remains attractive to marketers for its affordability, immediacy and effectiveness. Best of all, you know your subscribers have given you permission to contact them which means there is implied ...
What You Can Learn from Your Email Unsubscribes
No one likes rejection, including marketers. While the sense of “approval” that comes with seeing your marketing emails opened and the links clicked can make anyone smile, there is a seemingly unpleas...
Email Marketing 101: Spam Triggers and How to Avoid Them
Email Marketing 101: Spam Triggers and How to Avoid Them Email marketing is an important component of a multi-channel marketing approach. However, the spam filter is a significant roadblock that can d...
3 Customer Retention Strategies Using Targeted Direct Mail
Looking for business growth ideas? Some of your best opportunities are right in front of you. Consider 80% of your future profits will come from just 20% of your existing customers. Every time you in...
Top 3 Direct Mail Formats That Drive Real Results
Tried and true. Yes. Old and tired? Not a chance! Marketers continue to reap the benefits inherent to direct mail. According to recent research, 74% always or sometimes notice advertising in direct ma...
Local Retailers Save Time, Money with Neighbourhood Mail™
According to Canada Post research, one in every two people say they have purchased a product in-store over the past six months because of a direct mail ad.And why not? Checking the mail is part of mos...
Why You Should Consider A “Lumpy Mail” Promotional Product For Your Direct Mail Campaign
Nearly 80% of consumers say that they will act on direct mail that interests them immediately, while less than half say the same thing about email.Direct mail has strong potential to be a key componen...
4 Tips to Step Up Your “Swag” and Build Brand Awareness
For building brand awareness, one of the most effective tools is “swag” or logoed promotional products. According to a 2016 study by the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), approxim...
4 Ways to Create a Memorable Brand Experience
Not all companies have the ability to attract endless streams of customers based on their concept alone. For most business-to-business organizations, creating a memorable brand experience is a fairly ...
Why Brand Consistency is Important Across all Marketing Communications
When it comes to getting the word out about your company and the goods or services you provide, maintaining brand consistency is of the highest importance. If you don’t use the same branding across th...
3 Tips to Make Your Business Card a Real Keeper
Though advances in technology are constantly redefining the ways in which we do business, one conventional business practice has stood the test of time: the business card. Printed business cards provi...
3 Habits of a Successful Small Business Marketer
Although at times it seems like a complex science, excelling in marketing your small to mid-size business does not require an advanced degree in marketing or a decade spent at a prominent agency. Inst...
Target Marketing: 3 Tips on Enhancing Engagement
According to an InfoTrends survey, 64 percent of customer communications and marketing campaigns are personalized with one-to-one messaging, or targeted to a segment of customers or prospects. On...
5 Tips on Developing A 2018 Marketing Plan
It’s planning season for next year’s marketing. And, while it’s tempting to simply dust off 2017’s plan, you’ll want to take a fresh look at what you want to spend and hope to achieve. Along the way, ...
Ready, Set, Print! “Must-have” Materials for Your Next Event
Well before you host a special event or exhibit at a trade show, consider your printing needs and build a comprehensive list. You’ll not only save yourself hours of effort later, but also ensure that ...
5 Considerations for Your 2018 Marketing Plan
Full-time marketers are somewhere in the midst of budgeting and planning for 2018 programs and campaigns. When marketing is just one of several responsibilities you shoulder in your business or depart...
Are You Sending the Right Messages with Your Print Materials?
Printed materials are among the most effective communication vehicles for conveying a particular image, and they often make the first impression of an organization, laying the groundwork for a positiv...
Minding the Details is Important to Building a Brand
“Building a brand is hard; it takes many, many positive actions to establish a unique position in the marketplace,” says Dave Taylor, founder of Taylor Brand Group. Competitive analyses, strategic pla...
Use On-hold Messaging to Build Your Brand
Although as a business you don’t want to have customers on-hold, the inevitable does occur. So, make the most of the caller’s time while waiting by delivering a professional message.Research shows tha...
Faithful to Your Brand? A Brand Identity Audit Will Tell
Some businesses and organizations open their doors with little more than a logo and basic brand identity materials like business cards, letterhead and few forms. Others make their mark in the marketpl...
Just Who Are You Anyway? Ensuring Your Customers Recognize Your Brand
In a marketplace that exposes us to thousands of commercial messages daily, in a world of countless start-ups, daily announcements of mergers and acquisitions, and the constant introduction of new pro...
Using Promotional Products to Recognize Employees
When formal and informal recognition is built into your company culture, it can help you to attract and retain top performers while deepening commitment to your organization. Using promotional product...
Employee Engagement: 6 Ways to Show You Care
Recognizing hard-working and loyal employees makes good business sense in more ways than one. Staff turnover has a negative impact on employee morale and overall productivity, not to mention company r...
5 Dos and Don'ts of Donor Recognition for Nonprofits
According to the 2014 Burk Donor Survey by Cygnus Applied Research, donor recognition can be a tricky thing. A carefully considered gift or event invitation can strengthen a relationship, while someth...
Six surefire ways to add wow to print
An appealing headline and eye-catching graphic design will certainly help your mailer, brochure or other printed piece stand out. But, so will the many “tricks of the trade” developed over the years t...
Three ways to impress with point of purchase
Point-of-purchase (POP) displays are designed to catch a shopper’s eye, particularly at the place where payment is made. These displays allow products to be prominently positioned and thereby increase...
Put your storefront to work for your brand with window clings
What are your storefront windows saying about your business? Are you using the advertising space that windows provide to effectively promote your goods, services or events?Window graphics are an idea...
Promotional pens and other items
Sales promotions typically take shape as contests, prizes and product samples that are used for a defined period to stimulate interest and purchase. Do you need an effective, affordable and flexible w...
When it comes to promotional products choose wisely
The effective use of promotional products is more than just handing out a mug or a magnet at a trade show. After all, the purpose of these items is to build awareness of your brand. So, make sure the ...
How to measure the value of strategic promotional products
Today’s marketers give a thumbs up to strategic promotional products: 65% say promotional items are always or mostly effective as an advertising medium, according to Promotional Products Association I...
The influence of custom point of purchase displays on buyers decisions
When used effectively, custom point-of-purchase (POP) displays and signage can influence buyer decisions and increase sales. In fact, consumers are more likely to purchase a good or service when they ...
Happy Anniversary Canada
Confederation Day 2017 on July 1 marks a truly special occasion. The 150th anniversary of Canada—also known as the 150th anniversary of Confederation and promoted by the Canadian government as Canada ...
Effective signs for nonprofit organizations on a budget
Nonprofit organizations face a multitude of marketing challenges. Typically, you need to raise awareness to grow your base of supporters and volunteers, promote fundraisers and drive new donations … ...
What story does your signage tell
“Signs are a key part of branding your business,” notes Canada Business Network. “They let customers know who you are and invite them in from the street. A sign can be the first impression someone has...
Bring Creativity to Your Office
We all have those days where we get stuck in a creative rut; we have trouble writing content and are unable to generate new and innovative ideas. Luckily, there are few things that you can do to boost...
Direct Mail Design Best Practices That Make an Impact
Getting your direct mail marketing into the hands of those most likely to buy is job one. And that’s all about your mailing list. Bad data equals poor results.Have a quality list? Then it’s time to dr...
Find More Prospects Just Like Your Best Customers by Using Targeted Mailing Lists
For direct marketers, the value of a robust customer data file cannot be overstated. The more you know, the easier it is to plan and execute mail campaigns using targeted mailing lists that deliver th...
Maximize Response with a Great Offer
Easy to explain and quickly understood: The job of your offer – whether it’s presented in your direct mail piece, through your website or on your mobile site – is to motivate the respondent to act now...
Rules for the Ride
Being asked “What do you do?” is a great opportunity to deliver your value proposition to an interested audience. An “elevator speech” is a positioning statement that offers a brief synopsis of your c...
Why You Need a Great Elevator Speech
You’re at a networking function, a social event or online in a social media group, and the question is raised: “What do you do?” Is there a better opportunity to deliver your value proposition to an i...
What Are Customers Saying About You
“Statistics and experience show word-of-mouth is the number one purchase influencer with 70% of our brand mentions coming with a recommendation,” reports Jordan Whelan in Canada Business (2014). But h...
How to Drive Positive Word of Mouth
With all the marketing messages consumers are exposed to in our tech-savvy world, choosing the right channels to reach them is only one challenge a marketer faces. Another is having “trust-worthy” mes...
Ways to Take Your Spring Event to the Next Level
Are you planning any events this spring as a fundraiser, an annual golf outing or to launch a new product or service? Now’s the time to get a plan in place to not only get people to your spring event...
So Many Channels So Little Time
As a small business marketer, you have important choices to make in terms of which channels to invest your often limited dollars and even more limited time. Whether you’re considering direct mail, ema...
Tell Your Story Through Tradeshow Displays
Conventions, conferences and speaking events provide ample opportunities to connect with fellow business owners and potential customers. Networking is one of the best ways to connect with people on bo...
3 Tips to Effectively Manage A Team
Businesses both large and small rely on team members to achieve success, as team members approach tasks with enthusiasm, share the workload, learn from each other, and bring their expertise into the w...
3 Tips To Achieve Your Goals
We are now well into February and are turning our sights to preparing for the next season of business development. During this time of year, businesses have the chance to re-evaluate their goals for 2...
Grow Your Business With Visual Storytelling
2017 is well underway, and businesses are revamping their marketing strategies to make it a year of success and business growth. Over the past few months, we have shared tips on how to utilize content...
2 Ways to Help Your Business Succeed This Spring
Winter is almost over, and spring is only two months away, which means that it is the perfect time of year to start developing a marketing strategy for the upcoming season. It won’t be long before bus...
3 Ways to Incorporate Ergonomics into Your Workplace
Ergonomics is the science of workplace design and how the functionality of a space affects the productivity of its employees. Current office design has been found to be simple, ineffective and uncomfo...
How the Brain Digests Content and Why That Matters for Your Marketing Strategy
A film and a book are two very distinct mediums. Even though they both tell a story, the way that the story is conveyed to the audience is completely different. A book, which requires readers to use t...
Using the VARK Model in Your Business
In 1987, Neil Fleming changed how we identify with four distinct methods of learning. The VARK model, which stands for Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing and Kinaesthetic, is a theory that people proce...
3 Tips to Surviving Christmas Vacation
As Andy Williams famously says, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Christmas is almost upon us, and many people are looking forward to time off with family and friends. The holidays are when ...
The Importance of High Quality Content
Content is King is a term that has spread across the internet and inspired businesses to take another look at their content marketing strategies. Whether you are writing content for a print marketing ...
3 Exercises to Strengthen Creative Output
Creativity is one of the fundamental building blocks of business. In every industry, employees and management teams are continually being asked to provide creative solutions to key problems. It can be...
Make a Statement This Holiday Season
The holiday season is almost upon us! Everywhere you look, businesses have decorated their shops and have begun to offer holiday-themed products and specials on goods and services. This means that the...
3 Strategies That Will Add Personality to Your Marketing Campaigns
A buyer’s journey is always changing. With the increasing amount of unique and personalized print and digital marketing strategies, consumers look for companies to specifically attract their attention...
How to Develop a Growth Mindset and Keep on Learning
When faced with a challenge at work, what do you do? Do you define the problem as one that is too difficult to complete, or do you face the challenge head-on until the issue has been resolved? Accordi...
Make Meetings Meaningful Again
Over the years, companies have redesigned their workspace and revamped their work culture in order to foster productivity and engagement. As a result, business meetings were one of the first strategie...
Master the Skills of Team Collaboration and be Successful
In every business, there are always projects and tasks that need to be completed that require the entire team’s involvement. In these cases, team members have to work together to achieve a common goal...
Set Up Your Day for Success
It is said that humans are creatures of habit. When given a choice, many of us will choose to follow a routine rather than start our day without a plan of action. When our carefully laid plans are dis...
Find the Right Signage for Your Business
Signage is a form of marketing that any business can use to transform visitors into customers. With advances in technology, however, many people have come to believe that the more innovative and expen...
Why A Personalized Workspace is the Best Workspace
We spend a lot of time sitting at our desk, so much time in fact that studies have been conducted to find out exactly how long. It has been concluded that the average person spends approximately five ...
How Learning New Things Can Affect Your Brain Power
September is here, and school is back in session. Most people at an early age are passionate about learning as they are excited to see what is in store for them every time they open a book. When we gr...
The Art of the To Do List
A to-do list is designed to help people organize daily, weekly and monthly tasks so that they can devote their full time and attention to completing the project at hand. It is not an exciting way to o...
The Psychological Effects of Colour
In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton made a discovery that would forever change how we view colour. He determined that a rainbow of colours exists within pure white light and that they can be seen when shone thr...
Mentorship in Business
Every person in business has a unique skill set and knowledge base to draw from. A company may have several employees working on the same project, but each one will approach it differently. One person...
Our Heritage is Based on Storytelling
Stories have the ability to take readers on adventures around the world; meeting people and doing activities that they would never be able to do in real life. Every day, people are looking for a story...
Redefining Leadership
Leadership, as described by many, is the act of leading a group of people. Many times, however, we focus our attention on the definition of leadership instead of what it means to be a great leader. It...
Benefits of a Business Publication
It seems that everywhere we go we hear about the importance of content marketing, but alongside sharing great content, businesses need to circulate information through the correct platforms as well. M...
Interactive Print Advertising is Making Waves
Letters, stories and other forms of print-based communications were first used to share information and communicate with those from near and far. When printed materials started to be used to market bu...
How Customer Appreciation Can Transform Your Business
Customers are key to the success of any business but how can you gain a greater customer base to help your company stand out in the industry? Your company may have an amazing product, but if it does n...
3 Tips on How to Create a Great Team
We all know that a team of great employees is essential to the success of any business, but what happens when that team does not function properly or get along? With the number of personalities in a b...
It is Time to Invest in Company Culture
Company culture. This topic has been dominating blogs, online business forums, networking sessions and more, as company culture is being accredited to the success of businesses both large and small. Y...
Stand Out from the Crowd
In 2016, blogs, newspapers and social media platforms are focusing more and more on small businesses, startups and entrepreneurship as a whole. It is now easier than ever to start a business from the ...
Meet Your Customers Offline
Digital marketing strategies are the focus of every marketing department and sales team, as it is continuing to become even more crucial for businesses to adopt these strategies in 2016. We see people...
6 Must Haves for an Effective Print Marketing Strategy
As businesses have introduced new technologies and systems to connect with buyers and consumers, print marketing strategies have changed and evolved over the years. With the rise of digital marketing ...
Announce Yourself as the Expert
Imagine for a minute that you are standing on a sidewalk, looking directly at three storefronts. They are constructed fairly similarly and do not have any signage. There are employees working away ins...
Signage Is Your First Impression
Imagine that it is a beautiful sunny day and the temperatures are climbing into the late teens. There is not an inch of snow on the ground (yes, we are still in Canada), and you find yourself walking ...
Brand Equity is More Than a Like
We live in a world driven by technology. How many times have you checked your smartphone this morning? Probably more times than you can remember. If you’re in business, you know that everyone is talki...
