July 19, 2016 / como / 0 Comments
Roller banners are portable display systems that are used everyday in a wide variety of environments, including shopping centres, retail outlets and of course at exhibitions and trade shows. These portable displays are incredibly popular thanks to the fact that they are lightweight, easy to assemble and very portable.
Banner stands are usually supplied by large format print companies or exhibition and display related businesses who purchase the base unit that is essentially a spring-loaded mechanism and attach a custom printed banner, sometimes referred to as a ‘graphic’.
With the popularity of these banner stand displays at an all-time high, there are a wide variety of companies who can provide your business with a banner stand and it is therefore important that you select a company who can provide a good quality display, guaranteed to look professional and advertise your product or service in the best possible way.
The base unit for a banner stand is nothing more than a carrier for the message that you are displaying and the purpose of this article is to describe the various ways that these graphics can be produced and to illustrate the associated benefits.
There are a wide variety of materials that can be employed for a typical roller banner stand graphic and these include polyester based films, polypropylene based films and PVC. One of the biggest problems with many roller banner stand graphics is known as ‘edge curl’. Quite simply, this is the effect caused whereby the long edges of the print either curl inwards or outwards, thus negatively impacting on the geometric correctness of the print. Edge curl can vary from a minimal variance of between 10 and 20mm, through to severe edge curl which can obscure up to 25% of the overall printed image in some extreme cases. Almost universally, edge curl is caused by the thermal properties of the material being influenced by changes in temperature and this effect is accentuated where the print is is protected with a laminated film.
Generally speaking, polyester is the best choice for a roller banner stand graphic because the base material is very dimensionally stable and does not vary according to external temperature. It is worth noting that should a protective laminate film be used to over the surface of the polyester film, then the laminate should have a polyester composition rather than PVC which will otherwise have different thermal properties and could lead to edge-curl.
With the introduction of new print technology such as UV printing, many providers of roller banner graphics are able to supply prints onto low cost materials such as PVC at a lower cost of the polyester counterparts. An added benefit of a UV print process onto a PVC base material is that the ink possesses both UV stability and water-fastness, thus a protective lamination is not required. For these reasons an unlaminated banner stand graphic is unlikely to suffer the negative effect of edge curl.
If you own a banner stand and find that edge curl is a problem then you can take some simply steps to try to minimise the effect before the display is used. As mentioned previously in this article, edge curl is a fault which is caused by the thermal expansion/contraction of the base material or the lamination film that is used. The banner stand should ideally be stored at room temperature prior to use to allow the printed graphic to stabilise. Furthermore, the print should be assembled a few hours or preferably overnight prior to use which will allow the substrate to ‘relax’. By taking these preventative measures, you can help to minimise the negative impact of edge curl on your banner and ensure that your display has the best possible impact.
When sourcing a supplier for a roller banner stand or a replacement graphic for an existing banner stand, it is important that you select a company who have experience with the production of such printed display graphics. Ask to see a sample of work or some testimonials from previous satisfied customers and you can be assured that you will purchase the best possible product.
July 18, 2016 / como / 0 Comments
The FTC Telemarketing rules that are designed to protect consumers from frequent fraudulent telemarketing calls have created more challenges for companies whose marketing strategy depends proactively reaching out to customers and prospective clients. Companies should familiarize themselves with the laws, rules and guidelines before planning any telemarketing strategy. A complete overview of these rules are available on the Bureau of Consumer Protection website at www.business.ftc.gov.
Many of the guidelines that you will incorporate into your marketing plan will depend upon the type of business your company is engaged. For example, there are different rules for list brokers, mail order or telephone order merchandise, debt relief services, mortgage assistance relief services, soliciting money on behalf of a charity, calls that include a telephone survey and a sales presentation, calls made during specific times and days of the week, holidays or during times of a natural disaster.
The potential liability of a company is that if it does not comply with FTC rules and guidelines, it may be subject to a fine of up to $16,000 per violation. In order to avoid such penalties, companies must create and maintain a business practice that meets the requirements of these rules and guidelines. Even if a company makes an unexpected mistake, it may not be subject to a fine if it has good business practices and can show that it made every effort to comply. If, in the event that a call is mistakenly made to a consumer that is on the Do Not Call list, a telemarketing firm may not be liable for a fine if it can show that it does maintain a routine business practice to meet all requirements. To meet this requirement, a telemarketer must demonstrate that it has a written procedure to comply with the do not call requirements, it trains its personnel in those procedures, it monitors and enforces compliance with these procedures, it maintains a company specific list of telephone numbers that it may not call, it accesses the national registry no more than 31 days (starting with January 1, 2005) before calling any consumer (and maintains records documenting this process) and any call made in violation of the do not call rules was the result of an error.
In order to comply with FTC rules, a company will need to utilized software that best enables its ability to comply with ever changing rules. Calling land lines and mobile phones has become a challenge for many companies. One of the issues facing companies related to time of day calling is to determine which time zone a mobile phone is originated. For example, if the dialing software believes a mobile phone originates in California (Pacific Time Zone) when it in fact originates in Eastern Time zone, a company may be in violation of FTC rules if the company calls at 8PM PCT. This is just one example of how technology assists companies comply with FTC rules. Many consumers now are using only mobile devices (not land lands) so this is an important change in how companies reach out to consumers. In 2013, there are a number of vendors that have products that assist companies comply with FTC rules regarding Do Not Call. Some of them are Aspect, Oracle, Vocalcom, Cisco, Avaya, Enghouse, and Genesis.
Gregg Troyanowski is president of Promero, Inc. Founded in 2001, Promero is a leading customer care/call center software expert. Promero provides valuable insight when selecting a technology platform for its customer contact center. Promero supports companies of any size or industry. It addresses strategic, operational and technological issues always with the focus of providing a solution that is right for the client’s business. Promero’s client list includes companies on Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list.
Promero is an authorized managed service/application hosting provider and reseller of the world’s leading best in class solutions. If your business is considering an application enhancement, replacement or in need of technical support, please contact Promero for a free, no obligation consultation. www.promero.com
July 15, 2016 / como / 0 Comments
Advertising your business can be costly but it is essential in allowing a company to become recognised and to enable it to constantly attract new and existing customers. This is vital to the success of the business. There are many way in which a company can choose to advertise.
One such way is through direct mail. This form of advertising is one of the most traditional and is still effective in gaining customer recognition as it was years ago. By sending letters and leaflets to customers homes, companies can advertise to a wide target market while being cost effective. However, there are drawbacks to this type of advertising, as some people just throw out mail that they may think is junk mail. Therefore all direct mail must try to look like a genuine piece of important mail, if companies want it read.
Another way of advertising is through the media such as newspapers, radio and television. Although it is proven to be an effective way of advertising, it is the most costly and time consuming. This is due to the high demand for media advertising. To advertise through newspapers is fairly simple and not too expensive and can reach a large consumer area, as with radio and television. However, television is far more costly due to the larger fees and the production costs. If a company have a large budget behind them, then television advertising will work wonders.
Using the web to advertise is very common nowadays. Most companies recognise the need for having online presence and it is overall a worthwhile objective. However, websites take time and money to develop and if done badly, can be a complete waste of time. If a company is able to have a well design and user friendly website, it can greatly benefit from being able to be reached through the internet.
A more unique way of advertising a company is through the use of car graphics. This can mostly been seen on large company lorries and vans but is also very applicable to be used on cars. Vehicle wraps allow company information to be applied to vehicles are very durable and can come in a wide variety of appearances and themes. This is a very cost effective way of advertising a business as everywhere is vehicle is driven, the company is advertised, and therefore it can reach a large market area without even realising.
There are many ways in which a company can advertise itself. It is critical that businesses keep themselves known, and keep attracting customers. Whatever way a company advertises, whether is is through direct mail, media, online and even through car graphics, the company must think about how best its customers are reached and how much money they can afford to spend on advertising their business.
July 15, 2016 / como / 0 Comments
When firms look to the most recent, most innovative promotion device they will certainly be considering an LCD advertising poster due to the low investment costs
Advertising in the form of information are applied throughout the USA in the home shopping segment, now small to medium organizations can use the same methods to publicize sale products or overstocked products to probable buyers.
Now merchandise can be viewable and demonstrated to show how our lives will be enriched by possessing them, one company has been employing them for some time to advertise various products, the most current infomercial showed how we could not live without this tool that stored Wellington boots upside down and also allowed the customer an easy on and off with their boots, bearing in mind this December in the United Kingdom has been the worst for snow in the past 20 years, this tool sold out in the first week, proving that infomercials work.
How does a digital poster work?
The media on the digital poster was displaying several people who had been for a walk coming into the house and all apart from one individual was fighting taking their snow packed Wellington boots off. The man who wasnt struggling just put his heel in the tool and slid his foot out then did the same with the other boot and then picked the tool up that held the boots and he put them in the porch so the snow would drip off them and they would be fine (no cleaning) next time he needed the Wellington boots. was cleaned up easily. As you could see that the guard produced a barrier against the mud and wine so it could be moped up with a cloth.
The LCD poster is a standalone device having an advertising media player built into the display screen, all the ads are loaded onto a storage card and the dwell time set (how long the ad runs), so that when it finishes it loops round again.
Retail boutiques have been utilizing LCD posters for some time, to market the time and date their “super price beater” sale starts, presenting some of the designer clothing and handbags at a widely reduced price. Even food markets have been using digital posters to advertise and promote new additions to their food range, this way they can see how effective the marketing campaign was, if it wasnt they can change the media until they have a winning formula.
With these digital advertising displays the modern appearance to the customer shows how serious the business is in providing up to the minute informative information, now every business from a car accessory store to a beauty salon, all for a very low price, the return on the investment is said to be a matter of two to three months.
Firms who have fitted several digital posters are using some of them for advertising their goods and using some extra digital posters can create an additional income stream by selling advertising slots on the posters. With a normal advertisement costing $100 per week this is a win win situation as it is possibly the most cost effective direct marketing campaign possible and if 30 advertisers take the offer every month the owner of the digital posters can easily make an added $12,000 per month for little if any work.
July 15, 2016 / como / 0 Comments
Adverting in fact is very necessary for the success of any company. Without effective advertising you can not reach your wide audience. That apart, you can not even aim to familiarize the target market with your product if you dont have an advertising strategy to back your product or service. Advertising brings in customers apart from creating awareness. Hence, advertising is necessary.
However, the problem with the small business is that of finance. They are usually very tight on their budgets and have a negligibly smaller advertising budget. In this case, these companies often look for small business advertising ideas that can help them put in least money and advertise their product or service simultaneously.
There are many small business advertising ideas that can prove beneficial for your small scale business. Listed below are some of the best strategies that you can adopt to make sure you get the most out of your advertising campaign.
Always choose your advertising medium after careful analysis. Whether print, web, radio or television, before you decide your medium for advertising your product or idea, it is better you check your budget first. Never ever over-step your budget while advertising and hence, chose the medium only that you can afford and depending on the audience you want to reach out to.
Local newspapers are the best advertising media for your small businesses. Small business advertising ideas include advertising in these daily newspapers and other print material that has a wide audience. You can easily reach your target audience if you advertise in these regular mediums. Advertise repeatedly for sometime.
This has a dual benefit. One it can get you discounts on regular advertising and secondly, it keeps the readers informed by repetition. This prompts your target audience to action.
Local Yellow Pages and telephone directories are also the cheap and quality methods to reach a wide audience. Large number of people depends on advertising in these two medium for a reliable service or company offering a product of their need. Hence, it lends a certain amount of credibility to your product or company.
Advertising through direct emailing is another one of the cheap and best small business advertising ideas. Emailing requires just a customer database. Through emailing you can spread your message to your audience all free of cost and it also lends a personalized touch to it.