Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category

No matter how big or how small your business may be you will always have to advertise to get customers in the door. A rare business might be able to operate on word of mouth alone, but that is a rarity indeed. For the most part, buying advertising should be something that is part of your monthly budget, and even when things are ticking over rather well you should still advertise. You can never have too much exposure, and you always need to attract new customers.

When you first start buying advertising, you probably have to start small, though there is not rule that says you have to. Many start buying advertising in local newspapers and they may try to snag a few cheap radio spots. The more you have in your budget for advertising, the more spots or ads you can take out. Those who neglect to put aside any money for advertising are the ones who tend to end up going out of business rather quickly, so give it all you can.

If you have more in your budget, you should think about buying advertising on television. There is a huge difference buying advertising on network television and buying time from your local cable network. My cable provider is Time Warner, and I always see ads telling consumers they can buy ad time for a low price through them, and you may find your local cable provider can offer you this as well.

The most important part of buying advertising is knowing where to place it. If you have a garden supply shop, you will want to get spots on related cable channels like HGTV or the like. If you have something that everyone uses, such as a new grocery store, you can advertise almost anywhere you want. If you are buying advertising for a new daycare, you may want to advertise in the daytime hours. Moms thinking about going back to work are more likely to see your ad at this time than in the evening hours, though really, both are not bad ideas.

If you are buying advertising for television, but you don’t know what or where you want to put your ads for the best results, you should ask for assistance. Those you buy your advertising from should be able to help you place your ad in the most effective place you can afford with your advertising budget. It’s not as hard as you may think, and there is always someone out there who can help you out if you need them.

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Offices are always on the look out for cost trimming measures. One of the areas where savings can be made is in the buying of office supplies.

Office supplies like paper, printing inks, pens, clips, staplers and more are used everyday and is where there can be considerable wastage too.

Office administrators can apply the following cost cutting techniques:

1. Create a system whereby orders are only placed periodically say once a month or quarter. Keep a log of who has taken what and set up a system to recycle printing paper (make sure both sides are used). Aim for a paperless eco-friendly office.

2. Place orders for office supply from online stores. Make sure the order is large enough to warrant free shipping.

3. Look for generic brands of office supply. These are of quality and do not cost as much as branded varieties.

4. Surf the internet and look for discount online stores. These sell office supplies at lower rates than retail.

5. Use online directories to get quotes and compare costs. Often the same supplies will be sold by certain merchants at a lower rate as they cut overheads by storing goods in ware houses and run virtual offices.

6. Look for seasonal discounts or special offers. Many online stores give away freebies or further discounts to return customers. Find out if any of the online office supply stores have reward points or systems.

7. Set up a system whereby wastage is checked periodically. Ensure people shred documents and do not throw paper clips away. Some offices discipline staff by checking dustbins for wastage of office supplies.

8. Always comparison shop and look for bargains offline and online. Keep quality, quantity and price in mind at all times. Avoid being locked with a single vendor. Create a system that every time office supplies are ordered the lowest quote will get the order.

9. Consider leasing office equipment instead of buying. Copy machines, fax machines, and printers can be leased with maintenance included. Find out what the advantages are versus buying these machines.

Always create a list of office supply needs and then starch out items that are not necessities. Set systems in place so that employees do not use office supplies for personal use and do not order things that are not essential. For example most computers today have an inbuilt calculator and fax system. Think do you need an extra fax machine or a desk top calculator? The list should ideally have three sections: expendables, non-expendables, and work room supplies.

Similarly find cost effective solutions for telephone systems, internet connections, and so on. Think economy and lowered costs not expensive and hi-tech.

Be an educated buyer and keep abreast of the latest articles and tips on saving office supply costs on the World Wide Web. Browse the internet for new bargains and office supply directories which will offer great bargains and savings.

Buy good quality office supplies in minimal quantities at great rates and save yourself a bundle.

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Business card printing is not new in the corporate world. It has been a long-running business with very little advancements through the years. Avery Dennison, however, has just made one innovation that will certainly bring back the hype that once surrounded business card printing. With the company’s new Clean Edge Two-Side Printable Business Cards, entrepreneurs will experience a renewed desire to have business cards made and hand them out as well.

Double the usefulness

Avery Dennison is the leader in office supply products and the company has reaffirmed their desire to continuously innovate the world of office supplies by introducing a new way to do business card printing through their Clean Edge Two-Side Printable Business Cards. The concept behind this is obvious: Print text and images on both sides of your business cards to make them twice as useful.

The Clean Edge Two-Side Printable Business Cards allow you to produce professional-quality business cards with two sides. These cards allow you to do your designing and business card printing on your own. The cards work with both ink jet or color laser printers. Avery’s patented Clean Edge technology ensures that your business card printing will result in cards with smooth, non-perforated edges for a professional look and feel. In addition, the Clean Edge Business Cards have a special coating on both sides of the card, which assures you that your images and text will be crisp and vibrant when printed.

Get creative

There are a countless number of ways to innovate your business card printing through Avery’s new Clean Edge Two-Side Printable Business Cards. Businessmen and women can get creative with how they utilize the extra side of their cards.

This inventive way to do business card printing is useful for people from all walks of life. Doctors, for instance, may want to use the backside of their cards to list specializations, clinic hours, or maps. Salespeople may want to use the backside of their Clean Edge Cards as advertising space for their newest products. This backside can even be used as a discount coupon that can be handed out to customers.

Designing and printing made easy

Business card printing is made easy with Avery Design and Print Online, a free web-based, Clean Edge-compatible tool that can be accessed at avery.com. This software allows you to conveniently import company logos and other pictures. You can also browse for images in the Clip Art Gallery. Avery Design and Print Online allows users to design their own business cards using hundreds of predesigned templates. You can start from scratch, too, if you want.

Printing the cards you design is just as simple. Avery Design and Print Online allows users to print their business card designs from anywhere they have Web access and a printer. This is very handy for, say, a businessperson who needs a stack of last-minute business cards before they head off for a convention or acquaintance party. Avery Design and Print Online makes business card printing a breeze.

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Despite the tight budget strains, educators and students alike want more services and higher achievement levels. Dated technology and administrative infrastructures may cause lowered productivity as well as increased cost of operating under the old technology.

Schools throughout the last decade have been able to harness technological advances to benefit the overall teaching process. While some forms of technology may have a cheap price label, hidden costs are often involved, whether schools are thinking about a new operating systems or state-of-the-art interactive whiteboards.

Walk into a budding classroom or administrative office and you will see a proliferation of printing equipment, ranging from colour laser printers, mono laser printers, ink-jet printers and copiers. Recent news in IT Pro alarmingly highlights that 69 percent of businesses are unaware of total cost of printing. However, printing is an area where schools can reap significant savings through properly assessing its printing requirements and the total cost of running a printer, also known as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The sheer amount of different models on the printer market often confuses bursars wanting to deploy the most cost effective, robust printing solution. If schools were evaluating printers only by each unit’s purchase price, most of the administrative offices as well as classrooms would be running ink-jet printers. However, ink-jet printers in the busy education environment are rightly considered as a false economy. Where as the investment is low, the costs for ink-jet consumables; such as ink cartridges, maintenance and paper, can quickly mount up to exceed that of a top-of-the-range laser printer.
Factor in the hidden costs

Mono- and colour laser printers have quickly become standard in the education environment due to their print speeds as well as the rugged durability they offer. However, TCO is something that is often overlooked by IT managers and bursars involved in printer acquisition projects. Schools should be aware of the hidden costs on printing, such as:
- Network Management:

Most printers today come network ready, and where networked printers can effectively reduce TCO; a growing population of printers will require more network management.
- High usage and Consumables:

Users who tend to use the wrong printer for their print jobs can significantly increase TCO. Most schools today utilise both mono laser printers for word document processing and colour laser printers for worksheet material and/or presentation slides covered in the lessons. Schools also need to be aware that sending print jobs to a smaller printer will, overtime, overload the printer leading to increased consumable and maintenance costs.
- Maintenance:

Technology with moving parts will need maintenance at some point of its lifecycle. Printer service can represent up to 50% of the overall printing costs. Maintenance, along with consumables is a key factor when considering a printer purchase.
Reduce your printing costs

With the demand for bespoke lesson plans, in-class materials and the rise of desktop publishing courses, colour printing is more in demand than ever and schools need to take a more strategic view of their printing needs.

Choosing the right printing equipment for either the class room or back office is not as daunting as it may seem as there are effective ways in which schools can effectively reduce TCO. For example, by choosing the right mix of robust mono laser and colour laser printers. With effective utilisation of both types of printers, schools and educators can effectively drive down the TCO, as mono laser printers provide crisp text at a lower cost than a colour laser.

There are many ways in which TCO can be effectively reduced:
- Choose the right consumables:

Toners can be a burden on IT expenditure. Often, schools opt for standard capacity toners due to their low purchase price, even though print cost can rise as high as 14 pence-per-page. Most manufacturers offer high capacity toners, which can reduce printing costs up to 35% by simply buying in bulk. In a time where environmental issues are top of mind for us all, look around for a reputable vendor who will offer free recycling services for empty toners.
- Warranty and Maintenance:

Many manufacturers offer extended warranties and service initiatives with various benefits. Initiatives, such as our Service For Supplies programme provides end users with the comfort of knowing that they can effectively reduce their running costs by receiving next business day, onsite support for the life of the printer and free maintenance for the price of their consumables.
- Easy to use printers:

Schools need to make sure that the printers they choose are easy to operate by both staff and students alike. Staff needs to be able to change toners and paper as well as comfortably operate the printer through the printer control panel. Printers with simple user interfaces can significantly reduce queues to the printer, when students are waiting for their work to print.
- Manage the printer network:

Schools can save money on printing by implementing an effective print strategy, by looking at which printer’s receive the most jobs, which users and departments make the most print jobs and what percentage of print job are in colour. Most vendors should be able to offer monitoring tools for all of these.
- Choosing the right manufacturer:

Each school is different and requirements vary on individual basis. Make sure that the manufacturer or dealer you deal with understands your needs and does not try and sell the fanciest printer that may not match your printing needs. The wrong printer in the wrong place will have a significant impact on TCO.

With the effective utilisation of both colour laser- and mono laser printers schools can develop a printing strategy, which is not only fast and effective, but easy on the budget as well. Each printer manufacturer and dealer should explain TCO to their customers so that mutual understanding and trust is established. Total Cost of Ownership can be tackled with advice from the leading supplier and implementation of the right printers.

Making the right decision in terms of investment means buying a printer that fulfils the application requirement. The right printer for the job brings about many advantages. It can improve work presentation, reduce project time and most importantly save money.

To correctly calculate a printer’s total cost of ownership. Combine the acquisition price, cost per page, reliability, and support. Each printer will excel in more than one area, but all must be considered when defining TCO. Most reputable printer vendors will be able to provide estimations of their printer’s TCO.
About TallyGenicom

TallyGenicom is one of the largest companies in the world focused exclusively on supplying computer printers, supplies and service to commercial and industrial users. All TallyGenicom products are designed and manufactured to perform critical, business-specific printing tasks in industries such as healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, warehousing and retail. Major international corporations such as Wal-Mart, American Airlines, Tesco, Daimler Chrysler, Blockbuster and Volkswagen use TallyGenicom printers because of their customized design, rugged construction, proven reliability and durability.

TallyGenicom world-wide headquarters are in the United States in Chantilly, VA near Washington, D.C. Its European headquarters are in Ulm, Germany. In Europe the firm has operations in Paris, Vienna, Milan and Basingstoke in the UK. Asian operations are located in Singapore and Jiangmen, China. The company markets Tally, Genicom and TallyGenicom products worldwide.

For more information on the company, please visit www.tallygenicom.co.uk

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