Advertising today has definitely evolved, just as people and businesses continue to find and discover ways of sharing information with one another. Back then, it was almost imperative for businesses to grace the pages of that thick yellow phonebook more fondly known as the Yellow Pages. The traditional yellow page advertising has been a key promotional tool for businesses to create awareness for their products and services, and sell it to the public.

The advent of the Internet, however, started to alter the way people do things; businesses responded to this by exploring new ways of communicating with and addressing the needs of the people. Today, an increasing number of transactions are already being done online and information-sharing and dissemination over the Net has never been more widespread now than it was before. More businesses are likewise actively promoting themselves online, taking advantage of the growing number of Internet users and wider reach of an online medium. Thus, there came the emergence of online marketing.

Online marketing is fast growing in popularity as an effective advertising tool, and continues to post itself as a viable alternative to the traditional yellow page advertising, especially in a fast-paced and tech-savvy environment. Any avid Internet user today would actually notice that a lot of businesses today have websites where they promote their product and service offerings, and share other types of company information. In contrast, the once very thick Yellow Pages seem to have fewer pages lately, an indication that businesses are recognizing the benefits of increasing their online presence against advertising the traditional way. A thorough comparison of the two modes of advertising reveal that online marketing indeed has a greater number of benefits versus yellow pages advertising. Let me share with you ten benefits which top my list.

First, the Internet allows businesses to share more information to potential customers. Businesses practically have limitless space in their websites which they could fill in and update with information. On the other hand, yellow page advertising has a limit in terms of space that may be utilized to post certain content. The more information is shared in the Yellow Pages, the greater is its investment requirement.

Second, marketing initiatives done online are more easily searchable as compared to those advertised in the Yellow Pages. With the right key words, businesses can easily make their websites accessible to their target market. Information searches done using the Internet is much faster than manual scanning of the Yellow Pages.

Third, online marketing is more cost effective than yellow page advertising. Setting up, designing and running a website could be done for just a small amount of investment. On the contrary, the use of offline medium is known to cost substantially, even reaching thousands of dollars, while being bound by space and time limitations.

Fourth, online marketing makes it possible for businesses to attract hundreds, even thousands, of visitors to their sites, and create two-way interactions with them. Websites can be easily programmed to collect information from site visitors and keep in touch with them. This kind of functionality is not available in the traditional yellow page advertising.

Fifth, customer loyalty is more easily gained via online marketing. The Yellow Pages are simply all about ads, nothing more and nothing less. Meanwhile, websites may contain newsletters, updates and other attention-grabbing information links that encourage repeat customer contact.

Sixth, establishing credibility and gaining the customers’ trust are easier achieved through online marketing than yellow page advertising. Aside from ad placements, company websites can contain a whole range of information that can give customers better knowledge about a company and its products and services. The more customers know about a company, the greater is their tendency to trust it and see it as being reliable.

Seventh, online marketing offers greater convenience and flexibility in terms of updating information, at practically no additional cost. Businesses have total control of the content of their websites and they can modify it at any time they wish. Yellow page advertising does not have this kind of flexibility. In addition, any update done on traditional advertising usually requires additional investment.

Eighth, the effectiveness of marketing initiatives could be measured faster when the online medium is used. Site visits or hits as well as inquiries related to an online advertising placement, for instance, can be readily tracked as compared to calls received in response to a yellow page advertisement.

Ninth, marketing online allows companies to better demonstrate their competitive advantages and support their unique selling propositions. A website highlights the merits of a particular company, while the Yellow Page merely categorizes a company, together with its competition.

Lastly, online marketing has far greater reach than yellow page advertising. Web presence exposes businesses to the whole world, allowing it to tap not only local but international prospects as well. This opens promising opportunities for business growth and expansion later on.

There is no doubt about the power and capabilities of the Internet as an effective marketing tool. No wonder more and more businesses are shifting their budget allocations to enhance their web presence. With the right planning and use of resources, companies can make the most out of online marketing, the next big thing in the field of marketing and advertising.

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Advertising, using flyers has proved to be a very efficient method in delivering the advertisement, and conveying the message to large populations, and thereby promoting the business effectively and efficiently. If you want to reduce the total expenditure and overhead costs in order to show your prudence, especially when you are associated with a new venture, then advertising flyers can be of great help to you. They will efficiently market your product or business without disturbing your advertisement budget.

These days, the flyers can be printed in any color or a combination of colors, depending on one’s choice. The choice of the color should depend on the type of business. For example, if you want your advertising flyers for a business that deals in consumer goods, then you can get flyers printed in different colors or multiple colors, so that they can easily attract the best customers. On the other hand, if you want the advertising flyers for a wholesale or manufacturing business, then you can opt for either plain white, or black-and-white colored flyers.

There are various options for getting advertisement flyers printed. Below are some main points that should be kept in mind before getting the flyers printed and distributed:

- Throughout the world, customers are in favor of saving money by any means. Therefore, offer discounts, or other deals, or incentives printed on the flyer that can make the customers feel that they can actually save some money by purchasing the product from you.

- Always try to include contact information at the bottom of the flyer, which is easily accessible all the time. This can consist of a website link, or a phone number, or an email address at which an attendant is available all the time to take calls from customers.

- The main purpose of any advertising flyers is to grab the attention of the target customers. Therefore, try to design it in such a way so that the person who receives it doesn’t throw it away. Invest some of your precious time and try to make the flyer noticeable. For example, you can print “pass it on” at the bottom of the flyer so that ultimately, the flyer lands up in the hands of the decisive customers.

- Try to include the experiences and testimonials of your previous customers, along with their contact details. This will prove how efficient your product and/or business is, and it will definitely help in increasing the customer base of your business.

- Never waste your flyers, thinking that their cost is little enough to warrant throwing them around. Don’t just distribute them at every second place. This will result in over-promotion and will reduce the image of your business in the market. Distribute the flyers only at those places where your target customers are likely to be. For example, if you are dealing in weight loss products, then distribute the flyers near gyms or other physical activity and fitness centers, where you can easily locate your target customers.

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A flyer printing project can only be considered effective when you have clients to prove it; your clients are pleased with what they see from your print flyers; and they keep coming back for more. And the best way to know when your target readers are pleased is when they feel confident enough about your business that they tell their friends, family and acquaintances about you and what you have done for them.

Now isn’t that a great incentive to go get yourself excellent quality flyer printing materials for your marketing campaign?

Nevertheless, here are a few things that an effective flyer printing project must have so you can make a difference and become successful in your own field.

1. A simple flyer printing design and layout make a world of difference. If your target readers can’t make heads or tails on your flyer printing project then it means only one thing – you don’t have an effective print flyer.

Despite there being a vast source of graphics and images in the internet to help you create an interesting and attractive flyer printing project, it doesn’t mean that you have to put everything you want in one whole page of your flyer. Remember that you only have a limited space that you can only use so much of. Stop with the profusion of design and unusual font types. Too much of everything can only distract and confuse your target readers from what is really important in your flyer printing project – your message.

2. Contact person that goes with the information in your flyer printing pieces. Not only should you provide your target readers with your contact information, you should also have a point man for your flyer printing project. Doing so would give your flyer printing material a human touch to it.

Having an actual person that your target readers can get in touch with helps them to put credibility in your business. It shows them that you are willing to take responsibility and that you stand by what you have to offer them.

3. A size and format that is easy to read and take in. Use a format and paper size that can be easily handled by your target readers. And you don’t have to stick to the standards. As long as you can provide your target readers with a flyer printing size that won’t make it hard for them to understand your message, then go for it.

4. A readable and legible background image and color scheme. It doesn’t help your target readers to understand your flyer printing message if they have to squint their eyes just to be able to read your print material. Use a background and text color combination that is easy to the eyes and which helps them to make your information more readable and legible.

Use a striking colored background if you must; but make sure that it doesn’t take your readers’ eyes away from your message – which is really the most important element in your flyer printing project.

These suggestions can be helpful when you start your flyer printing project. I won’t promise that everything would be easy if you just follow this advice; but I hope that these suggestions will help you create something good out of your flyer printing pieces.

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Here is something I wrote for all of those that continue to ask me how to screen print. It’s a bit of a long read, but it’s informative enough to give you a good idea of exactly what takes place. It’s not completely detailed out (there are many small steps missing) but it is the key elements in screen printing.

1. Artwork. The artwork you start art with is VERY important. If you have jagged or grainy artwork, you will reproduce this. There are many art services on the internet that will supply you will screen printing artwork. If you fax them a logo, they can redraw it for you and send you a file in which you can use for the making of screens.
You can also create (or recreate) artwork yourself.   It is imperative to use a vector art program like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw or Macromedia Free Hand. Using these programs will ensure that you will have high quality artwork in the end. Photoshop can be used as well, but this is more for full color printing, etc., which is not good to start out with since there are special techniques to master before moving into this realm.

2. Film Positives. When you have artwork that is ready to print, you can print your artwork out on a clear film instead of paper.  There are different types of paper for inkjet and laserjet printers, so be sure you select the right type. For every color you have, you will print it out as a black plate on a separate film. For example, if you have a logo that is Red & Black, you would separate the two colors from themselves and print each out, changing the red to black and printing and then printing the black. Each of these would be printed on their own film.
This is simply known as art separations, or “seps”. If the colors are touching in the final version of the logo, then you need to have what is called trap or choke. Basically, it’s an overlapping of the artwork by a small margin. This small margin is just enough so you can register the colors so there is no space between them. On the films, you will also place registration marks. These marks usually are a circle with a vertical and horizontal line passing through it. These marks will be on the same spot on each film. This will help you line up the art later so the images match up perfectly.

3. Screen Making. When screen printing began it was called silk screening. The reason for this is, the screens used to be made from silk. Since this is no longer the case (now they are made from polyester), the name changed. A screen is simply a wooden or metal frame that has a fine mesh stretched over and attached to it. This mesh has different counts. Some examples would be 83, 110, 125, 140, 330 and on and various numbers in between. The lower the mesh count, the less detail you can print and the thicker the ink lays down. So it is an art form to say the least in dealing with correct mesh.
The actual process of screen making is quite simple, just time consuming. Capillary film is stilled used but the most common technique is using a light sensitive liquid emulsion. Emulsion can be used under a yellow light so that you still can see what you are doing, but the UV light is filtered out so as not to effect the emulsion. A scoop coater is needed. You pour emulsion into the scoop coater and place it on a vertical screen. Pressing up against the screen and pulling up, you will lay a thin layer of emulsion on the outside of the screen. Turn the screen around and do the same for the inside of the screen. Turn it back around and do it once more on the outside.
Once the emulsion dries, you can “expose” the screen. You need a good light source for this process. We have an exposure unit that can expose 20″ x 24″ screen. It has a halogen light along with 2 black lights to help diffuse (or even out) the light. The exposure unit is basically a box with a glass top and a lid that has a black matte and a vacuum frame. The light source would be contained in this box.  Some “do it yourself” printers that work from home actually use the sun for this process.  It’s very time consuming, but it works!
To expose a screen, taking the film positive you created and place it on the glass top with the right reading being up. Then take the dried screen and place it on the glass top with the film positive under it. The screen mesh will be touching the film positive. When you close the lid, there is a vacuum frame that will suck all of the extra air out of the frame. This vacuum frame will pull the matte close to the screen frame. This is essential for a crisp image to be burned into the screen mesh.
At this point, the length of time will be dependent on your emulsion and light source. This is something you can talk to your emulsion supplier about. It’s really a matter of testing. Most problems occur in this stage, so it is critical that you understand this process through testing, training and trial and error. The better you are in this area, the better your prints will be.
Once the image is exposed into your emulsion, you can take the screen to a washout booth. Lightly spray both sides of the screen with water. I garden hose with a sprayer on the end works well for this procedure. You do not want a lot of pressure but you do want some. After waiting for a couple of minutes, you can go back and begin spraying your screen with water. Spray on the outside of the frame, or the side that was touching the film. The inside will naturally be softer because the light had to shine through the emulsion to get to that side. As you spray down the screen, you will see the image on your screen. What happened is, wherever there was black on your film, the light did not shine through. Since the light could not expose the emulsion, it remained water solulable. Wherever the light shine through the emulsion, it hardened and will not wash away. Let the screen(s) dry.

4. Printing Press. Choosing a printing press isn’t nearly as critical, although you are looking for a quality press. To be honest, you may want to stay away from all-in-one units and similar machines. They are a waste of money. Even though you can print just as good of a print with these machines, they are costly and they slow your process down. When I started, I was told a 4 color 4 station press is just about all I needed. They were right. Very rarely did I ever need to print anything more than a 4 color design. Later, as I grew, I purchased more machines that allowed for more colors. But the first 5 years of my business, I believe I had 1 6 color job and 1 5 color job. So it wasn’t critical for me to spend more money on a 6 color machine. What you are looking for in a press is a solid frame, micro registration and rotating platens. Outside of this, you don’t need much more than that.  Obviously, a auto-press is what we use now (and is preferred), but these can run anywhere from $50,000 – $100,000 or even more.

5. Conveyer dryer and flash unit. To actually cure the ink, you need a heat source to reach 320 degrees for your ink. If you can reach 320 degrees in 1 second, it’s cured. If it’s 10 seconds, it’s cured. As long as it reaches 320 degrees, you are good. A flash unit is a unit that you place over your platen (arm that you place the shirt on). This flash unit is meant to flash the ink just long enough where it is not cured and it is not wet. This will allow you to print colors on top of colors if needed, and you will need it! Many people use these units to cure their shirts. This is not wise. If you have a flash unit over a platen, it has to reach 320 degrees to cure the ink. This heat will eventually warp your platens, causing printing problems in the long run. It will also heat your platen up enough that when you put another shirt on it and print, it will semi cure the ink in your screens, causing a clogging and poor printing. So buy the flash unit and use it for it’s intended purpose, to flash the ink, if you have to. If I print a single color on a shirt, I will not use a flash unit at all. If it is white printing, then I will. The reason for this is, you would print white on a shirt, flash it, then when the shirt comes back around to you, it needs a second print. This gives you a good vibrant white. If you are printing a color on a dark shirt, you would also print a white underbase, flash it, then print an exact image with a different screen over top of it with the color you need.
The conveyer dryer is needed to increase your production. When you finish printing a shirt, you pull it off of your platen and place it on the conveyer dryer. Basically, it’s a dryer that has a belt on it that goes through a tunnel of heat. When it comes out the other side, it is cured. There are temperature strips that you can place on the shirt to run through the dryer and make sure the heat and speed setting are correct. Raytek also makes a heat gun that when the shirt comes out, you point the laser beam at the ink and it will give you a temperature reading. Remember, 320 is the magic number!

6. Inks and miscellaneous. The ink you will use is a Plastisol ink. There are so many manufacturers and types of inks, it’s good to find one and stick with them. I can give you suggestions of what I feel are good, but it’s all up to you in the end. You will also need squeegees. A squeegee is basically a handle with a rubber blade on the end. This blade is what you use to push or pull the ink through the screen and onto the shirt. There are so many miscellaneous items that it would be good to talk to a supplier about what you need to get started.

7. Screen prep and registration. Your scoop coater cannot reach all areas of the screen, so you want to tape out the areas that did not have emulsion. There are special tapes made to do this, but packing tape works well if you remove it right away when you are finished. Simply tape the inside and outside of the screens wherever the emulsion did not cover. If you have a one color design, placing the screen on your press is quite simple. If you have more than one color, this is where the registration marks are needed. After placing your first screen on the press, you would do a test print. Place some ink on the screen and rest a squeegee on the frame close to the head. Pull the ink across the screen and onto the shirt. Next, take your second screen and place them on the next head. Align the registration marks on the screen to the marks on the print you made. Once in place, you can lock them in and adjust the micro registrations if necessary. Once locked in, do a test print. If everything is registered, you can tape up the registration marks on your screen and you are ready to print.

8. Your first print. You will be working upside down when you print t-shirts. The collar will be closest to you. After placing the shirt on the platen, pull your screen down. One thing I did not mention was off-contact. If you look between the shirt and the platen, you should have a gap. This is called your off-contact. You need about 1/8” between the screen and the platen. This will give you just enough room to make a print and allow for the screen to snap away from the shirt. This gives you a clean print. Some people will push their squeegee and others will pull. Whatever is comfortable to you is best for you. Personally, I’ve always pulled my squeegee. This means that when I pull down my screen, I grab my squeegee and pull the ink towards me. You want to have the sqeegee at an angle, but not too much. A 70 – 80 degree angle is good. If you go too much of an angle, you will get a heavy print and it won’t look very good. If the angle is a 90 degree, then you won’t get the proper pressure, giving you a light print. The good thing is, if the first print does not work out for you, you can print it again, right over top of it. The registration of the machine will be the same so even if you rotated the press and came back to it, it would still print good.
As with anything, practice is what is needed. Make sure that whatever you do that works, keep it consistent. A firm grip on the squeegee, a consistent angle and a quick stroke will give you a good print. When you find that print, keep it consistent. Good luck!
I know that throughout this article I left out smaller details of the process, but I figured this was long enough.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 480.678.4488 during business hours.

-Michael D’Elena

Owner/President

Reckless T-shirts

Need screen printing? Check us out at: http://www.recklesstshirts.com or http://www.recklessts.com

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