Are Services like LinkedIn the end of Business Cards?
With the rise of smartphones, like the iPhone and the new “knockoff” by BlackBerry, some people are chatting about the potential “end of the business card.” Yes, that could happen, eventually, but probably will not until more people have these smartphones and are very comfortable using them. The great thing about a business card is that if you are casually talking with someone and want to make a connection, extend the offer of business, or provide a resource, unless you are extremely handy with your PDA, pressing a business card into somebody’s hand is much less intrusive and more “suave.” If you whip out a phone and start pecking at the tiny keyboard, while asking the person in front of you for all of their life details, you are not being very personal or personable. Technology, as much as it extends connections between people, can also raise barriers. Technology is great for keeping in touch. As a way to initially connect, if you are standing right next to someone, not so much. The business card is a non-aggressive way to make the connection. If the person to whom you give your business card does not want it, they can dispose of it at a later date. You are more likely to stay in touch with someone if you do not force yourself upon that person. Hence, the business card.

Business Cards as Gift Tags?
‘Tis the season for holiday giving. In December, corporations and businesses give gifts to their clients to show appreciation for business throughout the year. If you are able to send your own corporate gifts, consider adding a business card or two as the gift tag with your gift. You could even use your business card as the gift tag. Write a personal note on the back. Or, write a note in the card that you are enclosing some of your cards for the new staff in the office so they will be able to contact you for services without searching for contact information. Your business cards are inexpensive—use them!

Order Business Cards Online: www.cmykcards.com.au

• All magnets before December 12th
• Business cards and all other printing before December 15th
• All plastic cards before December 5th

Although we will endeavor to get all work out before Christmas, we can’t guarantee anything received after these dates will make it before the new year.

PLAN AHEAD FOR 2009

Why not keep your jobs coming through over the Christmas Break with our 24/7 online system. When we come back we” make sure you can have them delivered early in the new year.

Our Christmas trading dates will be up to 6pm December 19th and we are back from 9am January 12th 2009.

Order you business cards online quick and easy at www.cmykcards.com.au

There has been a fair bit of trade press recently promoting the dos and don’ts, rights, wrongs and how tos of buying and selling printing businesses. Seeing the amount of action in this area and the knock0on effects of financing a business acquisition, it is work looking at some lateral or real situations rather than follow the academic or times earnings philosophies.

The fact of the matter is that the boom days in the printing industry extended through the 1980s, when the baby boomer generation found it reasonably easy to purchase equipment and get started in their own business. It goes without saying this generation is now in its 50s to 60s, and admit it or not, desperately seeking to start or implement an exit strategy to embark upon the less stressful vocation of retirement.

In additional to the aforementioned group, there are also numerous businesses that are simply not trading profitably, from which the owners wish to sell or merge in order to exist or retire while they still have the shirt on their back.

Some typical scenarios include the fellow slowly going broke who sold to a co-existent inhibitor of a niche market. He got out for the market value of his equipment.

There are enthusiastic young companies who are actively seeking to build their own sales and profits through the going concern acquisition of another business. Usually retaining key staff and rationalising the plant of either or both businesses, thus assisting to finance the acquisition.

The plain truth is that equipment values decline and pricing pressures within the industry continue to diminish any discounted cash flow method. The majority of business cards company for sale have aging equipment, even if the youngest press is only five years old today.

People spend a lot of time focusing on the front of their business cards. They make sure that their logo is eye-catching and all of their information is correct. Then they send the cards off to be printed with nary a thought for the back of the business card. Yikes! Business cards are one of the most inexpensive forms of marketing available. To get the most out of your business cards, and to make sure that new contacts actually KEEP your business cards, print on the front and the back sides of your business card.

The Most Interesting Business Card Back
Esquire magazine published an interesting article about the most creative and self-beneficial use of a business card I have ever seen. John Mariani, the author, likes to drink Daiquiris. The original Daiquiri, made with juice from one freshly squeezed lime, one teaspoon of sugar and two ounces of gold rum, shaken with ice and poured into a martini glass. In order to ensure that his drink is made and delivered correctly every time by bartenders that don’t know how to mix drinks, he had the recipe and a picture of the correct glass printed on the back of his business cards. He hasn’t had a bad drink since.

What You Should Put on the Back of Your Card
Not everyone will find it appropriate to print a drink recipe on the back of their business card. There are hundreds of other things you can put on your card. You can use your card to market your business by including a call to action. Example: For more information about [insert your service] visit [insert your web address] for a quote! You can give out helpful information. If you find yourself frequently hand-writing recommended websites for people, print your top five most useful websites on the back of your card. Like to read? Order business cards with different quotes from your favorite books. That will show that you like to take in information. If your business has something to do with holidays, print the day of the week, month and date of that year’s holidays. If you have to re-print halfway through the year, just adjust the dates to reflect the upcoming holidays. Other information that will ensure people will keep your card are: tip calculators, toll-free numbers for airlines and hotel chains, phone number prefixes and more.

How to Hand Out Your Business Cards
If you go to the trouble to include something on the back of your business card, you definitely want people to notice. Our recommendation? Hand out your card upside-down. That way, people will notice the useful information on the back, in addition to seeing the front. Also (and not just because we print business cards), hand out lots of cards—to everyone you meet. You never know when one will result in added business or a referral.

Order Business Cards Online: www.cmykcards.com.au

The results follow an annual increase of 16.1 per cent in 2007 compared to 2006, the fifth consecutive year of recorded growth by the industry.

This most recent result continues the strong trend of advertisers to incorporate a greater share of outdoor media into their marketing campaigns.

All sectors recorded good increases throughout the quarter, with posters experiencing the greatest growth at 27 per cent.

Revenue rises across the industry formats were as follows:

• Street furniture, including bus /trams stops, retail and phone booths up 9.4 per cent, from $37.9m to $41.5m.

• Large format, including billboards, super sites and spectaculars up 14.5 per cent, from $32.1m to $36.8m.

• Transit, including advertising on buses and trams, taxis and railways up 15 per cent, from $19m to $21.9m.

• Posters, including 6 and 24 sheets, up 27 per cent, from $6.1m to $7.7m.

According to Helen Willoughby, Chief Executive of the OMA, organic growth across the industry will continue throughout 2008.

Willoughby says, “The development of new sites, coupled with the planned launch of the industry’s new audience measurement system later this year, will continue to drive the industry forward.”

Just letting you know that we are closed this Monday the 6th of Oct 2008.

Remember, you can still order business cards, logo design, stationery etc. online. We will process all your orders on Tuesday.

Regards,

Michael

We will be closed on Monday the 9th of June 2008 for the Queen’s Birthday Pulbic Holiday.

Have a great long weekend.

Anthony

Ps don’t forget you can still order business cards and other printing online. We will process them on Tuesday.