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May Celebrations May: National Hamburger
May Celebrations
May: National Hamburger Month
You might think that National hamburger month only works well for restaurants and pubs (which it does), however, anyone can run a fun promotion centered around beef patties. Eateries can feature daily or weekly burger specials and encourage repeat visits via a frequency program. And any company can hold an open house for vendors and clients with a variety of sliders as the main course. Top Class Sigs and Printing can help you find a plethora of brandable products like spatulas, aprons, sauces and grills.
May 5: Cinco de Mayo
Celebrated in Mexico on the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla in 1862, Cinco de Mayo is also celebrated in the States. An employee-appreciation party is a creative way to taste the foods and drinks of our neighbor to the South.
May 11-15: National Etiquette Week
Miss Manners would approve. This week is dedicated to teaching and reinforcing good behavior not only in social settings but in the business world as well. What a fantastic opportunity for businesses to launch a community outreach program and team up with a high school to mentor students. The initiative should include the life lessons that will help them post-graduation, through college and into the business world.
May 18-25: National Backyard Games Week
Ah, those fun days of youth running around the backyard playing all sorts of games such as kick the can, tag, dodgeball, hide and seek, etc. Having an employee picnic with the backyard games being the core will energize employees and foster creative thinking. Top Class Sigs and Printing can help you secure logoed T-shirts and caps for teams, as well as fun gifts like kickballs, Frisbees and more.
Every Door Direct Mail for Your Business!
What is EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail)?
The Most Affordable Way to Send Direct Mail: Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is a service offered by the U.S. Postal Service which allows individuals and businesses to target mailers to specific neighborhoods as cost-efficiently as possible, all without a mailing list! Simply put, it’s a great way to reach more customers, increase revenue, while still keeping costs down.
The new way to mail!
You don’t need an expensive list, a costly postage permit, and you can target every single door in your neighborhood or another by just picking a targeted zip code. That’s the beauty of the simplified Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) service by USPS. At an astounding 17.5¢ per postcard for postage, it gives small businesses the chance to promote their products and services without all the cost and hassle that you typically associate with direct mail marketing. You don’t even need a mailing address. How EDDM functions is rather simple to understand and use. All you have to do is map out a target area and select a delivery route, prepare your marketing material and that’s it!
What are the key benefits of Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM)?
- Small Business Price
With EDDM you can mail your postcards and flyers for just 17.5¢. Compare that to traditional direct mailer campaigns that cost an average of 75¢ per piece for the smallest and most basic mailer promotion. - EDDM vs Direct Mail
The main difference between EDDM and direct mail is that EDDM doesn’t require any preparation of mailing lists. While when using services of direct marketing, you literary need to have correct names and addresses of clients where you want your advertising material to be sent, EDDM makes the entire process much simpler as you don’t need to know any details about the people who you are trying to contact! - Deliver BIG Postcard Sizes
The amazingly low price of 17.5¢ per piece is applied to ANY size of mailer. As long as you keep within the postal size guidelines (which we discuss below), you can send larger postcards for big impact postcards that stand-out in your customers mailbox. - No Postage Permit Needed
Normally when sending direct mail campaigns, you would need an active postal permit which can cost as much as $450 just to open an account. With EDDM, you don’t need one. USPS provides a special USPS/EDDM Endicia permit that you can add directly to your mailer designs. This special permit also ensures that your EDDM mailers are mailed separately from the mass of “circulars” that people are not always fond of. - No Mailing List Needed
Instead of printing names and addresses, EDDM utilizes a “simplified addressing” format that targets local postal customers in a radius of up to 5 miles. And because you no longer need to print names and addresses, you can forget all the typical ink-jet printing and labeling hassles. - Short-Run Mailing Campaigns
Create extensive local mailing campaigns or smaller mailing campaigns to test-the-water in your neighborhood. There is a 5,000 piece maximum per day, per post office but the minimum quantity to qualify is just 200 print pieces. - Direct Mail Works For Your Business
Direct mail is statistically one of the most effective forms of advertising for any business. It delivers a higher return-on-investment than any other medium. Every dollar spent on mailers returns an average of $12.57 in sales! And with 3-out-of-4 people reading direct mail, you are also guaranteed to get seen by the majority of people you send your mailers to.
The specifics about Every Door Direct Mail
Before you start printing your promotional material, you need to be informed a little bit more about the three common EDDM mailer sizes – 6.25 x11 inches, 8.5 x11 inches, and 11 x17 inches.; no matter which size you choose the truth is that EDDM promotions will be able to reach out thousands of new clients from which at least a couple of hundreds of them will hopefully become your clients. Even though you can choose between flyers, catalogs, brochures, etc, the most popular type of advertising tool is an EDDM postcard and a direct mail flyer.
Before you start using this marketing program, you need to know that USPS has set basic EDDM requirements that will need to be met so that their program functions properly. For example, there are restrictions for the mailer pieces sizes, how many mailers you can send per day depending on the program you are using, how your mail piece should look, and many others.
The EDDM size chart defines the mail piece not to be smaller than 11 inches in length and also not to be smaller than 6 1/8 in width. Rest assure that at Top Class Signs and Printing we are aware of all specifications and can handle the process for you.
Generate leads with Every Door Direct Mail
Every Door Direct Mail is a marketing service for small businesses from the US Postal Services. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners expand their business by sending out offers of direct mail to potential clients without requiring ink jetting, tabbing or mailing lists. The expenses are also low. This service can be effectively used for promoting your business in a local neighborhood, thus increasing the amount of leads, sales as well as revenues that are generated by your business. EDDM as a program is different from others as it is economical and simplifies the process of direct mailing. It allows you to target the local market and target your audiences conveniently at reduced rates.
EDDM can be used to deliver direct mails and advertising materials like full color flyers, full color brochures, full color postcards, open house events, realtor available properties, specials/sales and restaurant menus to certain particular local neighborhoods which are also called postal carrier routes. This service is one which does not require customers to purchase addresses or pay for printing their addresses or names on advertising materials. The USPS Letter Carrier puts a single offer on all mailboxes within the targeted locations which is economical for a small business owner and provides them with a cost efficient means for reaching out to a target audience.
Who is EDDM for?
EDDM is available to all companies and organizations who want to distribute promotions to the households and businesses in their entire neighborhood. It’s designed to get your marketing messages directly in the hands of customers – a low-cost way to tell people about your grand opening, your weekend sale, or your special offer. And you can as well include coupons, store maps and many other useful marketing tools and information that can be of use to your potential clients.
EDDM is particularly useful for local retail businesses and organizations that rely on walk-in custom and local business support.
This service is ideal for marketing:
- Arts & theater organizations
- Attorneys
- Auto dealers
- Banks & insurance agents
- Community groups
- Dry cleaners
- Grocery stores
- Real estate agents
- Restaurants
- …and all other local businesses
How does Every Door Direct Mail Work?
Select a Target Location: The best way to get started with an Every Door Direct Mail campaign is to locate an area in which you wish to market your services. Then contact a Top Class Signs and Printing customer service representative to help you enter the business address and zip code to show a map of your region. The map displays the postal routes or neighborhoods around your business that can be simply pointed and clicked to choose your area of distribution.
Get Counts: After choosing your targeted area, you receive an immediate count on the number of business or households that you have targeted. With this number, you learn how many flyers that is required for ordering.
Create your Flyer Design: Decide what you want to share with your audience; do you want your piece to be informative or do you want to send specials with coupons. Once you decide on your content a Top Class graphic designer can help you bring you EDDM to life!
Engage Employees With Team-Building Activities
A recent report by Gallup Inc. says that only 30% of full-time employed Americans are actively engaged and inspired at work. And yet, it’s the 30 million engaged employees in the U.S. that come up with “most of the innovative ideas, create most of a company’s new customers, and have the most entrepreneurial energy,” Gallup Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton writes in the report.
Keeping a team of employees happy, motivated and inspired can only be good for a firm’s relationships with its clients, and ultimately, its bottom line. Gallup’s survey indicates companies have a lot of room to grow in terms of engaging and inspiring their employees, and that’s where team-building activities and promotional products can play an important role.
As the economy continues to improve, the objectives of team building are evolving. In a better economy, “companies are more concerned about losing good people and the cost of replacing and training them,” says TeamBonding COO David Goldstein. “The goals of team building in this scenario are more about building balance and having fun at work. Companies want employees to like what they’re doing and feel like they have a purpose.”
For example, Goldstein’s company works with a lot of technology-oriented events. The firm partnered with their ad specialty distributor and created a high-tech scavenger hunt using GPS technology for attendees at the Corporate Event Marketing Association Summit 2014 conference.
The hunt consisted of 10 teams of 10, and each team leader used an iPad, iPhone or Android to get maps, messages and instructions about activities they needed to perform and upload. Activities included forming a letter of the alphabet with the team, jumping into a pool, and singing a song for points. The winning team received TeamBonding logoed Bluetooth speakers. Each team wore different neon-colored Malibu sunglasses to separate themselves and set their team apart.
Another of TeamBonding’s favorite team-building activities is charitable events. “This originated during the recession when some companies couldn’t necessarily justify team building, but could justify the concept of giving back,” says Goldstein. “Activities like assembling school supply backpacks or military care packages were good for the community as well as good for employees.”
How to use your imprinted phone stand?
Description: Phone Stand
Industry: Financial
What it was purchased for: A local financial institution needed a giveaway item for current and potential clients. It had to be useful to keep their name in front of the clients and also lasting.
How was it distributed: The phone stands were taken to industry trade shows and handed out.
Result or ROI: Many compliments were given after receipt of the phone stands, and the booth made some buzz around the show floor. Booth attendance was higher than previous years.
August is National Golf Month…Be prepared!
Golf is the sport of business. Reaching sales people, executives, and business owners requires the right promotional product and golf accessories are the perfect fit. If you are looking for the right solution for an upcoming tournament or corporate outing, just contact us and we will find the perfect corporate giveaway for your needs!
The golf kit includes (1) 28 oz quencher bottle, (1) 7/8″ Dia. ball, (1) towel, and (10) Tees; all items include 1 color imprint, 1 location. Free Set up until September 15, 2013 and as low as $6.7 per kit.
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