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What’s your businesses marketing budget? If you just answered, “What marketing budget?” then you are not alone. Many entrepreneurs these days are starting businesses with nothing more than a home work space, a computer and set of marketable skills. Of course, marketing is a vital aspect of owning a small business. All the skills and equipment in the world won’t make your business succeed if no customers realize you exist. What to do?
We here at the Outright blog are dedicated to bringing free bookkeeping services to businesses on a shoestring budget, and we are always happy to find other businesses with the same mission. That’s why we love VistaPrint when it comes to professional, affordable marketing collateral.
VistaPrint is an online small business services company that specializes in providing low cost printing and business services. While the “print” in VistaPrint conjures visions of printing specialists, VistaPrint offers much more than just business cards, magnets, yard signs, car decals, brochures, key chains, rubber stamps… (We could go on forever, and so does VistaPrint’s catalog of printing services.) They also offer websites, email and postcard marketing services, graphic design and almost anything else you can imagine requiring when it comes to marketing your small business. And while “cheap” is not the word we would use to describe work of VistaPrint’s quality, we will say that VistaPrint is so cost effective that it hardly breaks even the shoestring budget. (For example, how do 250 free business cards sound?)
But don’t take our word for it. We recently caught up with eBay seller and Outright user Christopher Lesley of the Golden Pineapple Shop. Christopher used VistaPrint for all of his marketing needs including door magnets, business cards, brochures, rubber stamps, t-shirts, baseball caps, and calendars.
“The wide variety of merchandise/services available easily blew past the competition,” Christopher told us. “Their prices are also very competitive. They frequently give away lots of free merchandise just to get you in the door. I use these freebies as giveaways to some of my best customers.”
Of VistaPrint’s customer service, Christopher said, “VistaPrint has absolutely the fastest turnaround I have ever experienced and they have NEVER gotten my order wrong! To me, that is VERY important. Rather than wasting time following up on messed up orders, I can get right down to other business. I have introduced several local businesses to the wonderful folks over at VistaPrint and all have complimented me on their services”
Chuck Thomas of Zombie Cat Productions became a VistaPrint devotee after the service helped him out of a tight spot. He received a last minute invite to the Sundance Film Festival and needed business cards to hand out to potential film backers. Though he had his cards designed elsewhere, Chuck told the Outright blog “I decided to use VistaPrint due to the ease of use uploading the image and ordering. The cards came in and they looked exactly like they were designed. Plus, they came in on time. I would definitely use them again, though it'll be a long time since I got so many cards for so cheap I won't need to order for a while!”
You can also sign up for VistaPrint’s Deal of the Day RSS Feed and receive news of new specials as soon as they happen. Current deals include 25 free brochures and free standard or oversized postcards. Both of those pieces of marketing collateral lend themselves very well to a little marketing trick. Instead of cold calling a prospective client, send a brochure or a postcard first. When you call, ask if the client received your marketing materials. It’s a guaranteed opener and one that turns a cold call into a warm call!
What do you think?
Have you used VistaPrint?
Share your experiences!
1
I actually have used VistaPrint, and even though they seem like a "too cheap" way to go, I have ordered my business cards from them... and reordered a year later. The price is great and the quality was very good! I have also used them for promotional postcards. Very high quality.
Posted Mar 4, 2010 11:08:18 AM by: Active Enterprise
0
I have received their offers many times (or, as that guy in the new Old Spice commercial says, "a bagillion times"), but I have never taken them up on their free cards offer.
In the past, I preferred to design my own cards and use Overnightprints.com (I am not affiliated with them, just a happy customer) several times. I get double sided printing, cards with rounded edges, and even a cool type of semi gloss (UV protection or coating they call it, that has an interesting surface appearance).
Now I go the super cheap route: I no longer carry cards. When people ask me for my card, I ask them to go to my personal site which is my name dot come (JaneChin.com). I started doing this when I see how many cards get thrown away after the event! I figured, if people REALLY want to find me, they can google me and find me easily.
Posted Mar 4, 2010 11:32:02 AM by: Jane Chin, Ph.D.