Maui Printing Company

Nobody questions the value of getting "a foot in the door." We all strive at one point or another to get a foot in the door with an employer, an institution of higher learning, or even a romantic relationship. As a marketer, however, your interest in getting a foot in the door is more likely with your customers and a hopeful precursor to a big sale! A salesman who gets a foot in the door by getting customers to agree to a small initial request will undoubtedly find greater success with larger requests (think major sales $$!) down the line. Freedman and Fraser's Compliance Experiment One of the first studies to scientifically investigate the "foot in the door" phenomenon was the 1966 compliance experiment by Jonathan L. Freedman and Scott C. Fraser. This experiment took place in two independent phases that used different approaches and test subjects. Because these studies were conducted on weekdays during the more conservative 1960s, the vast majority...

In business, to say that you should make every dollar count is an understatement. When dealing with uncertain economic times, budgeting decisions matter a great deal. Improving your profit margins and increasing your bottom line is always a top priority, which is why the instinct to try to cut corners to save a few dollars here and there is a natural one. It's also an instinct that you would do well to fight, especially when it comes to your print marketing. Marketing is About Communication and Communication Matters People who feel like it's okay to cut corners with their print marketing are probably not understanding what their marketing collateral is supposed to do. If you look at a flyer or another piece of print material as only an information exchange, things like paper stock and print quality probably aren't going to be high on your list of priorities. However, those things should make the top of the list because print marketing is about more than just...

Want to make your marketing campaigns the most effective they can be?   Be sure you’re hitting all of the key marketing components. In addition to factoring in the list, the message, and the offer, there are a number of other critical components that come together to make or break a campaign.  1 List Are you working with an internal list of existing customers? Or a prospect list?  2 Segmentation What do your customers look like and how do they behave?  How well do you understand them? Have you created customer profiles? Personas? Do you know the difference?  3 Design How will the design and layout of the print piece or email look? What types of images will you use? Brand colors? Is your look and branding consistent across all channels?  4 Offer What is the call to action and the incentive to respond?  5 Channel What is the medium? Is it print? Email? Social media? Mobile? Remember that multiple channels work better th...

Although ethical behavior in business is often touted, it can be hard to attain in practice. That's because ethical behavior has to be practiced by every individual, every day. It's not the sort of thing that can be decided upon and implemented en masse. Leaders are often under particular pressure to be practical over ethical. The reasoning is often because hard decisions require frequent compromise, and ethics often come across as black-and-white perspectives that don't match the reality facing a decision-maker. A Virtue You Can't Afford to Ignore However, ignoring ethics can be a dangerous path. Nick Leeson provides a very vivid example of this. His name is well known in financial circles as the man who single-handedly put the Singapore financial markets into a panic and brought down one of Britain's most famous banks. Leeson got his start early in banking as a clerk in 1985. At first, Leeson seemed to be a success. However, he began quickly playing ou...

From the affordable headsets that take users into another setting or world via virtual reality to games like Pok?mon Go and even children's coloring pages, technology is impacting the way we live and seek out entertainment. It may seem like virtual or augmented reality is firmly fixed in the digital world (and therefore of no interest to those who create and use printed pieces), but a surprising amount of technology can be incorporated into printed media. Augmented Reality and Printing Augmented reality technology provides an overly to the "real world" you can see via your phone's camera, adding digital elements to the space around you. Pok?mon GO is the best recent example of AR in action, and retailers like IKEA also use it to allow you to see what furniture pieces would look like in your own home. Adding AR elements to your printed pieces gives people a whole new way to interact with your postcards, business cards, catalogs, and more. It also adds an e...

In a recent study conducted by KissMetrics.com, visual appearance and color ranked more important to consumers than just about everything else when viewing marketing materials. In fact, ninety-three percent of people who responded to the survey said that visual appearance (which color is a part of) was the most important factor they used when making a purchasing decision. Only six percent said texture, while on percent placed a heavy value on sound and smell. Color and Marketing: Breaking it Down Along these same lines, an incredible eighty-five percent of consumers said that color was THE primary reason why they chose to buy a particular product or service. It goes without saying that the right color design is the perfect place to start with your marketing materials. In terms of your long-term success, one of the most valuable resources that you have available to you is and will always be your brand. It's something that lives on long after a purchase is made. It's ...

With all of the talk about the importance of properly marketing your product or service, it's important not to overlook the most valuable commodity of all: yourself. As much as that beautiful-looking flyer attracts the right type of attention for your product, a business card is designed to do the same for both your professional image and your career as a whole. But do business cards still have a place in a digital world? In an era where finding someone is easier than ever thanks to tools like social media, do people still need to go through designing, printing, and handing out a business card? The answer is one that might surprise you. Business Cards: By the Numbers Just going off of statistics, it's easy to see that the answer to the question "are business cards still an important tool in a digital world?" is a resounding YES. According to one study , there are about 10 billion(!) business cards printed in the United States each year - or roughly 27 mill...

We all want to live a purposeful life. Some individuals are lucky enough to be in a professional role that allows them to live out their passion through their profession. Even if you aren't able to make money while at the same time living your passion, you can still integrate your passion in your current profession. After all, "Often finding meaning in life is not about doing things differently; it is about seeing familiar things in new ways," says author Rachel Naomi Remen. More on this below: Understand You Don't Have to Change Careers: No matter what your current profession might be, you have the propensity to make a difference and live your passion. This means, living your passion doesn't have to include a career move. Not everyone can get a job that embodies their passion. That's why it's good to "bloom where you're planted" so to speak. Whatever your profession, find ways to live your passion within it. The following are ...

Compelling images are the perfect way to attract attention and create an emotional connection with your customers and prospects. Avoid these common mistakes as you design newer and richer content moving forward. Mistake #1: You Didn't Keep It Simple Why do you think audiences have gravitated towards visual print marketing content over the last few years? If you thought "because people are bombarded with information these days from nearly every angle," you'd be right! From the moment people wake up in the morning, their smartphones are sending them emails and push notifications. They're wading through dozens of blog posts. They're reading massive reports at work all day long. Information is everywhere, and it can often feel overwhelming. Solution: Make your print marketing visually impactful, and easy to read and interpret. Visual print marketing is an excellent way to relieve people from these stresses - or at least; it's supposed to be. I...

In the 70s, Italian aid worker Ernesto Serelli learned to listen to clients the hard way. His amusing tale of how he "helped" a village in Africa grow tomatoes, only to see the harvest consumed in a single night by the local hippos, is a powerful and popular TED talk . While you won't want to miss this dynamic speaker, some key takeaways are outlined below: Hippos and Tomatoes Italian aid worker Ernesto Serelli tells the tale of one of his first experiences working in famine-plagued Africa in the 1970s. Bustling with good intentions and plenty of energy, he and his team arrived in the village they were to help and promptly began planting familiar varieties of vegetables in the fertile soil. The local residents watched the process and despite efforts to engage and teach, did not take the aid workers agriculture lessons seriously or commit to growing. As the plants blossomed and bore amazing fruit, the workers celebrated the harvest and looked forward to showing...