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by Joe Gass at Heritage Printing & Graphics Because many companies focus their marketing on Thanksgiving and Christmas sales, it is easy to feel bombarded with marketing overload during the holidays. Here are a few examples of how to use creative promotions to grab your customers' attention and boost sales year round:

• Happy Birthday! Take advantage of every opportunity you have to celebrate, whether it is your company's birthday or your customers' individual birthdays. Don't have this information? Request it by creating a "birthday club" offering special discounts, promotions, or a free gift on customer birthdays. This is also a great way to build and update your customer database.
• Ground Hog's Day. While Valentine's Day is typically the feature push during February, you can get a jump start by promoting a more light-hearted holiday. For example, a fireplace business could offer a discount promo to help customers stay warm during six more weeks of winter.
• Earth Day. You don't need one particular holiday to show interest in the environment. Does your company take every opportunity to print on recycled materials, use energy-efficient appliances, install solar panels for energy, etc? If so, toot your own horn and look for creative ways to reward customers who do likewise.
• Cold weather fun. If you live in the Midwest, it may be fun to offer a promotion around the weather during the blissful month of January. For example, if yesterday's high was 15 degrees, customers would receive a 15% discount on all purchases. Be clear upfront if exclusions apply.
• Choose a quarterly way to highlight a target demographic. For example, seniors receive a free piece of pie with $5 purchase in April. College students receive a free pitcher of their favorite beverage with a large pizza in October. Families receive a 15% water park admission discount for groups of four or more in August.
• Help your community with goodwill promotions. Offer discount coupons or free gifts with donation of a non-perishable food item, gently used clothes, or blood bank donations. Many people forget that non-profit organizations need donations and support year round.
• Other ideas... Has your spring sprung? Overhead door companies could offer a discounted garage door replacement to promote the kick-off of spring. Enjoying the dog days of summer? A doggy-doo cleanup company can help you relax by offering summer promotions to clean up your yard.

If you'd like help creating marketing materials to advertise your low-cost, high return promotions, give us a call today! We're full of unique print ideas to increase sales year-round.   Heritage Printing & Graphics, Inc.                                                  Improving Your Image in the Marketplace Banners, Signs, Displays, Decals, POP, Wall and Window Graphic Brochures, Booklets, Publications, Marketing Materials & Direct Mail 5900 Harris Technology Blvd, Suite G, Charlotte, NC 28269 704-551-0700  www.HeritagePrintingCharlotte.com 22725 Washington Street, Leonardtown, MD 20650 301-475-1700  www.HeritagePrinting.com *We specialize in wide format, offset and digital printing. *Veteran Owned and Operated. *Our house papers are recycled, FSC certified & Made in America. *We have received over 100 print quality awards during the past 15 yrs *GreenWorks certified for environmental responsibility.

Next time you want to make a bold statement to your Charlotte area prospects and clients, try saying it with color! Depending on what type of message or meaning you wish to convey, the color combinations you choose can support, emphasize, or contradict your message. Color stimulates the senses, symbolizes abstract concepts and thoughts, expresses fantasy or wish fulfillment, and produces an aesthetic or emotional response. According to the Institute for Color Research, humans make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing, and the majority of that assessment is based on color alone. Because color delivers an instant impression that is generally understood universally, color is very important in conveying a mood or idea where verbiage is not used or understood. The power of color combinations can also be seen on many levels of marketing communication, including corporate identification and logos, signage, television ads, billboards, print media and packaging, online web sites, and on point-of-purchase displays. Here is a small sampling of dominant colors and the responses they elicit: Red: Exciting, energizing, sexy, hot, dynamic, stimulating, provocative, aggressive, powerful, Charlotte, Bright Pink: Happy, attention-getting, youthful, spirited, fun, wild Light Pink: Romantic, soft, sweet, tender, cute, babies Orange: Fun, childlike, harvest, juicy, friendly, loud Beige: Classic, sandy, earthy, natural, soft Brown: Wholesome, warm, woodsy, rustic, durable, masculine Purple: Royalty, powerful, expensive Light Blue: Calm, quiet, peaceful, cool, water, clean Bright Blue: Electric, vibrant, stirring, dramatic Bright Yellow: Enlightening, sunshine, cheerful, friendly, energy, happy Black: Powerful, elegant, mysterious, bold, classic, magical, nighttime Silver: Classic, cool, money, valuable, futuristic Gold: Warm, opulent, expensive, radiant, valuable, prestigious Joe Gass, President Heritage Printing and Graphics 5900 Harris Technology Blvd, Suite G Charlotte, North Carolina 704-551-0700 www.heritageprintingcharlotte.com