Although digital marketing and promotion continue to rise, print efforts can still be extremely beneficial for your business. Custom catalog printing, for example, can be a great way to improve your marketing efforts and support your promotional goals. Catalogs can help showcase your work and encourage customers or clients to invest more in your company. With the right design and a good campaign strategy, you can use custom catalogs to help grow your marketing efforts.
How to Use Custom Catalog Printing to Reach Marketing Goals
Catalogs aren’t just a way to show off a bunch of products to clients or customers. Many businesses have gotten creative in their approach to custom catalogs. Much like any kind of booklet, a catalog can be custom-designed to match your brand and help improve your company.
Product Showcase
If you have a lot of different products or services to offer, it can be useful to have all of them organized and listed in one place. Catalogs are great to send out to a client list or bring with you to trade shows and other events. To properly show off your products, it’s a good idea to spend some time thinking up the best way to group objects. For example, if you’re a plumber, you may want to organize the services you offer by room (i.e., kitchen plumbing, basement plumbing). If you’re not sure how to organize your products, it can help to check out some other catalogs in your industry. This can help you see what customers react to and how best to show off your own items to clients.
Art Portfolio
If you’re an artist or graphic designer, having an art portfolio is basically required if you want to succeed in the business world. While many artists have turned to online portfolios, we all know that technology isn’t always reliable. Having a printed portfolio in the form of an art catalog can greatly help you boost your brand. By carrying your catalog with you, you’ll always be ready to show it off at a moment’s notice. You can also hand out your catalogs at events and meetings to help make a great first impression with a professional art portfolio.
Business Connections
Catalogs can be a great way to boost your promotion while also building connections with other local businesses. Many businesses will welcome the opportunity to cross-promote with your company. By leaving catalogs at other businesses (such as the coffee table of a cafe), you can reach more clients who may not normally find your brand. And by offering marketing and promotional aid back, you build strong professional relationships that can help grow your company even more.
How to Design the Perfect Custom Catalog
Catalogs can be a great way to show off your work and encourage new purchases. But they only work well if they’re designed well. Making the perfect custom catalog means having an understanding of graphic design elements and brand awareness. Taking the time today to carefully craft the right catalog design can help boost your marketing efforts.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Maintain Brand Integrity for Effective Catalog Printing
One of the most important things you can do when designing a catalog is to make sure you maintain your brand integrity. Not only is this useful for brand awareness, but it also ensures that customers or clients can identify your company when they go to make a purchase.
Maintaining brand integrity means using the same kind of promotional imagery and design across all platforms. To help your catalog match the rest of your business, it’s important to pay attention to the color scheme, font, and images used in your listings. By making sure they match your logo, website, and other marketing materials, your catalogs can greatly improve your promotional efforts.
Work with a Professional Template or Designer
Creating something visually appealing is a skill that can take a lot of time and research to accomplish. Many small business owners lack the ability to create the perfect catalog by themselves. If you aren’t confident in your design skills, it’s a good idea to work off a professionally designed template or find a designer you can hire. Many printing companies offer the use of templates, and several have in-house designers that you can hire to ensure your catalog is going to work for your company.
Ensure Your File Is Print-Ready
Improperly formatted files can be the downfall of any great design. If your file isn’t print-ready, then your catalogs could suffer disastrous misprints. Your printing company should be able to provide you with a full list of specific settings needed to ensure a good print. The most common areas that cause misprints are:
- DPI – Many editing software options default the DPI to 75. While this works well on computer screens, it often results in a fuzzy or blurry image on the page. Make sure your images are optimized with a minimum DPI of 300 for a crisp and clear print.
- Color Spectrum – By default, your images and files are likely set to the RGB spectrum, as this is how computer screens show colors. However, printers use the CMYK spectrum to create print images. So, make sure you change your settings to CMYK and ensure the colors are still correct before you hit send.
- Bleed Area – Some minor shifting during the printing and cutting process can occur. If your design runs right up to the edge of the page, you may lose some important information. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure you add a ¼” bleed area around the pages.
Where to Get Custom Catalog Printing
If you want to grow your business and expand your marketing efforts, Guru Printers is here to help. Our custom catalog printing services can help you show off your best products and services for greater sales and profits. You can start by placing an order online through our order forms. If you need any help or have any questions about our services, give us a call at (213) 513-2159 or send an email to [email protected].