So, what do they do?

In basic terms, QR Codes can be scanned by your potential customers/current customers/target market and used to instantly provide them with relevant and important information such as; your contact details, event details, virtual business cards, price lists and much more. QR Codes are most well known for redirecting the viewer straight to the organisation’s website.

Great, what does this have to do with me?

Your advertising and marketing efforts will become greatly enhanced and seamlessly integrated if you incorporate a QR Code on your leaflets, business cards, posters and local advertising; QR Codes can be used on almost any form of print or display.

Lovely stuff, so where do I get one?

Well, that’s the great bit. Get your printing done with Ballyprint.com and we will provide you with a customised QR Code free of charge and include it in your graphic design! You can also download a QR Code Reader for free, we recommend this one – www.redlaser.com.

Will a QR Code really work for me?

QR Codes can be used for all sorts of business, products, services and events. We’ve included a few examples below to get your creative juices flowing!

• A business consultant adds a QR code to the back of their business card so clients can scan the card with a smart phone and instantly add the consultants contact details to their address book.
• A festival organiser adds a QR code to the posters used to advertise the event. People no longer have to try to remember all the details, they can scan the code and go directly to a website to find out more and buy tickets.
• An estate agent uses QR codes on the For Sale signs and newspaper ads. Anyone scanning the code can gain instant access to sales particulars, interior photographs and the agent’s contact details.
• A retailer decides to announce the opening of a new shop through a leaflet campaign. A QR Code is added to the leaflets, linking to a Google Map with the shop’s location. People can then follow the online directions directly to the door!
• A mail order company adds QR codes beside all products in their catalogue. Customers can now add products to their online shopping cart simply by scanning the relevant codes.

For more information on QR Codes or to discuss using one in your future print publications call our team on 02825 639371 or email hello@ballyprint.com.

“All great enterprises move forward in a recession and the weaklings move backward. The dumbbells cut back on advertising. The smart people don’t.” Ed McCabe, Founder of Scali, McCabe & Stoves ad agency.

The dreaded “R” word. At first we denied we were entering recession, until it took hold and held us firmly in its grip. Now some experts fear we may be entering a “double-dip recession”, where everyone has had to admit, we’re feeling the pinch. How long will the recession last? What is a recession? And should you cancel your marketing plans, batten down the hatches and ride it out?

When cash flows are struggling and profits look as though they are on the way down, the knee-jerk reaction is to cut back on spending and reduce overheads; often the first casualty is your marketing and advertising budget. Successful marketing is all about quality not quantity so for the clever marketer there are loads of opportunities to increase sales while keeping a close eye on your purse strings.

Traditionally, a recession is defined as two consecutive trading periods (quarters) of decreasing GDP or economic growth, during which the unemployment rate is likely to go up and consumer confidence down. Historically, a recession is supposed to last for around one year and they come around more often than you might think. The UK has faced recession four times since 1973, which means we’ve lived in recessionary times at least once every ten years. A normal economy will go through a typical cycle of peaks and troughs, this is unavoidable. However, this recession has hit the hardest. Some reasons provided for this include; the changing high street – technological advancements have increased online shopping and imports, the part the banks had to play and the high levels of personal and business debt through credit.

Despite the despair publicised in the media, growth can occur during a recession and opportunities are there to be taken advantage of; with many companies cutting marketing budgets an aggressive business can experience great strides in a recession. Over the years hundreds of studies have been conducted to prove that companies who cut advertising and marketing budgets during a recession face immediate and long-term negative effects on sales and profit levels. Studies have yet to show that timidity is the route to success. Instead, they have consistently proven that companies with the intelligence and guts to maintain or increase overall marketing and advertising efforts in times of business downturn will reap the rewards and have the edge on their timid competitors.

Here are 10 strategies you can use to help your business thrive in recession economy:

1. Don’t cut your advertising budget, increase it. Let your competition cut theirs. When you increase your spending, you increase your share of voice. If your competitors cut back, your message grows even stronger.
2. Stop trying to advertise your business to everyone and anyone. ‘Preaching to the masses’ is a luxury you really can’t afford. Instead, identify your target audience and speak directly to them.
3. If your products or services are cheaper than everyone else, now is the time to shout about it! Many small businesses – particularly in the service sector – are able to undercut their larger rivals so make sure everyone knows you’re cheaper by making this the main focus of your marketing.
4. Offer discounts or special offers. If business is slow then selling at a discount is preferable to selling nothing at all. You want to prevent people putting your advert or leaflet to one side and forgetting about it, so give them an offer they can’t refuse but only if they’re willing to act quickly. Set a ‘valid to’ date (the shorter the timescale, the better) or limit the offer to the first 25 or 50 orders.
5. Reassure your customers. Implement marketing strategies that allow buyers to feel they are minimizing risk by doing business with you
6. Start sponsoring. This type of awareness advertising gives your business valuable exposure to targeted, core audiences.
7. Keep your friends; know who your loyal customers are. Keep in touch with them and let them know what you have to offer.
8. Maintain continuity to sustain awareness. Advertising works cumulatively so you have to remind people frequently about your brand or they’ll forget you.
9. Club together with other companies offering complementary services and share the cost of producing and distributing a leaflet. Even if you only strike a deal with one other company, you could halve your marketing costs. But be careful, only choose companies with a very similar target audience otherwise you could be wasting money promoting your business to people who will never become customers.
10. Don’t “cheapen” your advertising by trying to save on creative design or production costs. Your customers will notice and worry about quality. This is a time to stress quality and value.

If you are thinking of starting a new marketing campaign and would like some expert marketing and print advice you can call Rachel on 02825 639371 or email rachel@ballyprint.com.

If you think we’ve missed out something important, get in touch!

Art Paper
See ‘Coated paper’.

Backing Up
Printing the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side.

Black and White
Originals or reproductions in single colour (black).

Bleed
Printed area which extends off the trimmed area. It is not possible to print all the way to the edge of the paper sheet. To achieve this effect it is necessary to print a larger area than is required and then trim the paper down. Typically a designer would allow an extra 4mm-5mm of bleed to colour and image areas to allow for a little leeway when trimming.

Board
Thick paper over 200gsm in weight, commonly used for folders, brochure covers etc…

Bond Paper
A basic uncoated paper, often used for copying or laser printers. The better quality bond papers, with higher rag content, can be used for letterheads.

Business Card
Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver’s name, company affiliation (usually with a logo) and contact information.

CMYK
Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black – used as the basic colours in the printing industry. See ‘Four Colour Process’.

Contrast
The degree of tones in an image ranging from highlight to shadow.

Coated Stock
Paper which has a coating; usually of china clay. It can be gloss, silk or matt and is suitable for jobs requiring a fine finish such as colour brochures and annual reports.

Collate
To bring together and organise printed matter in a specific order.

Crop Marks
In printing, marks placed on the copy to indicate the edge of the paper. Used as a guide when cutting (or trimming) documents to finished size.

Die-Cutting
The process of using sharp steel rules to cut special shapes, such as the pockets of a folder.

Digital Printing
Printing processes in which information is transferred from a computer directly onto paper, without the need for film and printing plates. Digital printing is faster and more cost-effective for small/medium print runs and allows special techniques such as personalisation and printing-on-demand.

Dots Per Inch (DPI)
Measure of the resolution of input devices such as scanners, display devices such as monitors, and output devices such as laser printers, digital printing presses and monitors.

Drilling
Making the holes in paper for use in a ring binder.

Duplex
A printing press equipped to print both sides of a piece of paper in one pass.

Encapsulation
A form of protective enclosure for papers and other flat objects; involves placing the item between two sheets of transparent polyester film (available in various thicknesses) that are subsequently sealed around all edges.

Finishing
Any process that follows the actual printing; this can include folding, creasing, stitching and binding etc…

Flyer
A small leaflet, commonly printed onto a thick paper, often used to promote bars or nightclubs.

Folder
A folder is used to hold loose papers together for organisation, protection and/or presentation. Folders usually consist of a sheet of thick paper which is folded in half. One or more pockets may be affixed inside to contain loose paper documents.

Four-Colour Process
The most common system for producing full colour print; the four ink colours are Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black – often referred to as CMYK. The inks can be overprinted and combined in a variety of different proportions to produce a wide range of colours.

Full Colour Printing
See ‘Four-Colour Process’.

GSM
An abbreviation for ‘grams per square metre’. This indicates the weight of paper or other stock. For example a typical photocopier paper is 80gsm, a good letterhead paper might be 120 gsm, a postcard would be about 300gsm.

Laid Paper
Uncoated paper often used for business stationery which has a textured pattern of parallel lines similar to hand-made paper. Compare to Wove Paper.

Lamination
A plastic film bonded by heat and pressure to a printed sheet for protection. Available in matt or gloss finish.

Landscape
An oblong artwork or photograph where horizontal dimension is greater than the vertical.

Leaflet
A leaflet usually consists of a printed sheet of paper not larger than international standard A4 in size. Leaflets are used to convey information and are commonly used by companies, organisations and individuals to advertise products, services, events and activities.

Letterhead
A piece of paper – usually A4 or A5 in size – used by a company or organisation for official correspondence. Letterheads usually feature the name, logo and contact details of an organisation.

Lithographic Printing (litho)
A conventional (non-digital) print process. The process works by first transferring an image to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Only the inked image portion is transferred to a rubber blanket that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper.

Micron
Although paper is usually measured in grams per square metre (weight), it is sometimes measured in microns (thickness). A micron is unit of measure equal to one millionth of a metre or .00004″.

Pantone
Pantone, Pantone Matching System and PMS + are Pantone Inc’s industry-standard trademarks for colour standards, colour data, colour reproduction and colour reproduction materials, and other colour related products and services, meeting its specifications, control and quality requirements.

PDF
Portable Document Format – The industry standard for saving files in an acceptable format. Quick, cheap and increasingly stable; often used for viewing proofs and for supply of final artwork.

Perfect Bound
A way of adhesive binding multi-section jobs. Individual sections are collected together and the spine is ground off (typically 3mm). Glue is then applied to the spine and a cover pulled on before the product is trimmed to size.

Portrait
An upright, oblong artwork or photograph where vertical dimension is greater than the horizontal.

Postcard
A rectangular piece of printed card, usually A6 or A5 in size, posted without an envelope and used for advertising or as a greeting.

Poster
A poster is any large piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Posters are often used as a form of advertising or by campaigners and protesters to communicate a message.

Pre-Press
All procedures (and costs) associated with bringing a job to press, such as design, artwork, proofs, set-up etc…

Proof
A version of a document produced for the purpose of review before it is printed.

Ream
Five hundred sheets of paper.

RGB
Red, green, blue additive primary colours.

Saddle Stitch
In binding, to fasten a booklet by wiring it (stapling) through the middle fold of the sheets.

Score
To impress or indent a mark in the paper, to make folding easier.

Spiral Binding
A binding, as used in notebooks, in which the pages are fastened together by a spiral of wire or plastic that coils through a series of holes punched along the edge of the document.

Spot Varnish
A way of highlighting an area of a page by selectively applying a gloss varnish to it.

Stock
Paper or other material to be printed.

Trim Marks
See ‘Crop Marks’.

UV Varnish
See ‘Spot Varnish’.

Wove Paper
Uncoated paper often used for business stationery which has no obvious surface texture or pattern. Compare to Laid Paper.