Minuteman Press Leduc

Your local print shop does WHAT?

2011-08-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact we've been open in Leduc for 10 years, some people associate Minuteman Press with copy shop. That's why I absolutely LOVE bringing people in for shop tours. So they can see our state of the art color digital presses. So they can see our two offset presses, and mostly so they can see the wide variety of bindery equipment we have!
Yes Virginia, we ARE more than a copy shop!

One of the services that is more of a surprise than anything is our promotional product department. We are members of the Canadian Promotional Products Association and have thousands of products that we can bring in, but we also have capabilities to do promo products right in the comfort of our shop. What is our biggest selling product? Surprisingly it's custom labelled barbecue sauce! (not pens or shirts or mugs) Manufactured in Edmonton, we pick up the barbecue sauce within hours of it being bottled, we print the labels ourselves, and label the cases. Last week, we did 60 cases (720 bottles) in just a couple of days!

Contact us for a custom quote on private labelled barbecue sauce! Or any promotional product you can think of! We have minimum quantity products if you are in a pinch.

If Business Cards Aren’t Dead, What’s Next?

2011-08-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Being in the print industry, we focus a lot on the business card, and at our conference, we discussed at length the future of business cards.
Today, we share with you some of these suggestions. We discuss using a creative approach with business cards to get noticed, no matter what industry you are in.

Suggestion 1: Don’t List Products On Your Business CardUnless you want your prospect and client to think of you as a “merchant of stuff,” don’t list things you sell on your card. Any list of products will not be complete and every list of products will position you and your business as a commodity company. The client simply looks at that card and thinks, “That’s what the guy sells. I don’t need any.”

Suggestion 2: Make Your Title Mean Something
Whether you are the owner or a sales associate, carefully look at your title. The higher up the corporate ladder you sell, the more the top level buyer likes to deal with top level sellers. Is there any damage in having more than one vice president of sales (or just vice president)? In reality, everyone can be a chief and nobody needs to be a follower.

Suggestion 3: Position Yourself Higher Along The Food ChainIs it a product or service company? This is the most difficult of all questions to answer and communicate on your card. Are you Jane Doe, Promotional Consultant, VP of Creative Services? Or, Jane Doe, account executive? The suggestion—position yourself higher in the vendor food chain. It’s hard to buy creativity on the internet, but easy to find stuff at prices often lower than yours.

Suggestion 4: You Need More Than One Business Card
You are too versatile with too many capabilities and too many applications to position it on one very small card. One business card is simply not sufficient. Does the safety director care about sales and marketing? Does a fundraiser care about corporate safety? Would an HR director really care about promotional products or employee loyalty? Business cards are inexpensive to produce, so why not have a few different versions depending on the audience? If you are going to a safety show or cold call on safety people, then position your card for safety—Jane Doe, VP Sales. Safety Motivation & Performance Division. Create a "division" of your company tonight; print it on a card tomorrow. It will give the prospect cause to say, “What exactly does that mean?” Dare they ask you that question, it will open the door to appointments.

For more ideas for business card marketing - or any type of marketing - contact Alana or any of the sales team at Minuteman Press in Leduc. We are your First and Last Step in Printing!

Back from the Las Vegas Convention!

2011-08-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

No blog update for a little while because I was in Las Vegas attending the Minuteman Press World Convention! The theme was Victory in the Modern World.

It was lots of fun. I met Minuteman Press owners from all over the world, got industry updates, found out about new software, heard keynote speaker Bob Burg and Ron Baron, got a crash course in social media, how to sell marketing services, a rallying speech by Mike Jutt and Bob Titus and got to pick the brains of a panel of million dollar store owners. It was three days of brain satisfaction. Of course the Gala and all the wonderment of the nightlife in Las Vegas to go with it (I saw a record number of shows!)
In addition to all of that, I got to attend the Vendor Show - a printer's heaven trade show where I got to window shop great new machines and products. And purchased a number of great things!

As we receive them (they're all in transit) and we begin using them, I will start outlining some of our awesome new capabilities!

I'm just so excited!

Tagline Survey Results!

2011-07-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we discussed the importance of taglines in marketing and branding. I posted a survey asking what everyone's favorite tagline was. Results are in! Seems the overwhelming majority like the Trix cereal tagline: "Silly Rabbit! Trix are for kids".
Maybe it was the nostalgia factor, or people have a sense of humor, this one has stayed memorable for years.

It doesn't just have to be businesses that have a tagline. Organizations have them - sometimes called a mission statement or a motto. Governments and even countries have taglines too. Let's take a peek at some of my favorite geographical taglines:

Saskatchewan - Land of the Living Skies
Riverton, WY - We’ve Got All the Civilization You Need
San Bernardino, CA - It’s a Great Day in San Bernardino
San Clemente, CA - Where It’s Good To Be Alive
Ontario - Yours to Discover
Tombstone, AZ - The City Too Tough to Die
Walla Walla, WA - The City so Nice, they Named it Twice
Yakima, WA - The Palm Springs of Washington
Oshawa, ON - Prepare to be Amazed
Pheonix, OR - The Other Pheonix
Northwest Territories - Spectacular

I'd love to be able to include my own province in the list of my favorites, but it's not very accurate in my opinion and it's lacking any flavor or humor. Alberta - Wild Rose Country has no oomph. Sorry Alberta - wild roses are one of my favorite flowers, but your provincial moniker falls as flat as the prairies. I'm leaning towards this one: Alberta. At least there's no snow in July. Next week, we will look at the new branding that Alberta has recently gone through. Perhaps now is the best time to pick out a new tagline to go with the new logo...

How to kill your time killers

2011-07-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wrote about office time wasters, and I think everyone out there could relate on some level about what I was describing. Today, we'll discuss how to kill those time killers!

Time weighs heavy on our hands. We spend time. Time passes. It drags on or it hurries by. The great American inventor, Thomas Edison said, "Time is really the only capital any human being has, and the one thing he can't afford to waste."
The perception of not having enough time for the things we must do or, just as importantly, the things we want to do is a leading cause of stress in society today. Continued exposure to stress can have an adverse effect on a person's health, both physical and mental.
Constant interruptions can significantly hinder effort, curtail creativity and decrease productivity by disrupting thought processes and workflows, causing individuals to lose focus and take longer to complete tasks. A high rate of interruptions can be a serious issue in the workplace and can be a barrier to success.

Regularly organize and prioritize your work.
Assess the types of interruptions you experience most. Are they necessary or not?
Distinguish between available time and time that is off limits.
Postpone unnecessary interruptions until you have some available time.
Be willing to say no. There are only so many hours in a day and only so much you can do with that time.
Recognize that some interruptions are unavoidable. When these occur, encourage the interrupter to get to the point quickly.
Don't engage in small talk. Establish how much time you have initially, such as 10 minutes, and stick to it.

Time management is a journey. By keeping control of your time and managing how it is spent, you may find that you have just a little more to spend. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Source: Danita Johnson Hughes, Ph.D. is a healthcare industry executive, public speaker and author of the Turnaround. Through her work she inspires people to dream big and understand the role of personal responsibility in personal and professional success. In her first book, Power from Within, Hughes shares her "Power Principles for Success" that helped her overcome meager beginnings and achieve professional, community and personal success.

Managing Time in the Office

2011-07-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Time gets lost. People kill time. Time flies. It gets wasted. Sometimes, we have no time left; we're out of time. Today and tomorrow, Minuteman Press Leduc looks at the time spent at the office and provides tips for managing time. Because you spend a great deal of your time working, meeting your employer's expectations becomes increasingly important. Managing your time effectively, however, is often hampered by interruptions.

Think back to your last day at work. You arrive, sit down and slowly begin to get into a groove. You begin working on that report that's due at the end of the day. After about an hour, you quit to go to a meeting that was scheduled a few days ago. After the meeting you think, "What a waste of time. They could have just sent a memo for us to read and not interrupted my work day."
You go back to your office and try to get back to that report. The phone rings. It's Tom. You decide not to answer. Whatever it is, it can wait.
Two minutes later, Tom is knocking on your door. You bite your tongue and invite him in as you're thinking, "Can't he take a hint? I'm busy!" He spends 20 minutes discussing the meeting you just had and how he thought it was such a waste of time. He leaves.
The phone rings again. It's Jenny. You don't answer. You really need to get this report completed by the end of the day. Jenny sends you an e-mail. You open it. She needs to discuss a matter of mutual concern regarding another work matter. She'd like to do this at your earliest convenience. You e-mail her back that you will meet with her later in the afternoon. Gee! Another meeting!
While emailing her, you notice several emails received since yesterday. You think, "Maybe I'll read some of these and get them out of the way. two hours later, it's past lunch time and you haven't eaten. You take a break for lunch. When you return, Jenny is waiting to start the meeting you agreed to this morning.
Before you restart your computer, you decide to take a bathroom break. You run into John in the hallway. He comments that he hasn't seen you all day and wants to know what you've been up to. You tell him you have a report due and need to get back to it. The two of you talk for 10 minutes.
You finish the conversation and complete that trip to the bathroom, resolving to get back to that report as soon as you get to your office. In your office, you remember a file you need to finish the report. You don't remember where you put it. After 30 minutes you locate it. Finally, you get back to your computer.
As you're typing away on your computer, your boss walks in, pats you on the shoulder and wants to know how it's going. You try to keep a straight face as you're thinking, "It could be going better if I could get around all these interruptions." After a light conversation, you're alone again.
Does this sound familiar? If so, you may be experiencing time stress. Learning to manage your time more effectively by controlling interruptions is the key to reducing stress and being more productive and successful on your job.

Tomorrow we will look at how to manage your time and keep your day more productive in the office.

Business Networking International

2011-07-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Minuteman Press Leduc belongs to a Business Networking International group - or BNI for short. Utilizing the power of network marketing, we're a dedicated group of entrepreneurs devoted to bringing referrals for fellow members.
We are highly motivated, type A personality business people, but that doesn't mean we don't have fun!
Check out the video we made to honk our own horn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QRVOmZYRPg

Because in BNI Synergy, we are DING...AWESOME!

Considering Your Professional Image Part 1

2011-07-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

We all want to put our best foot forward in business. Whether it's a polished sales pitch, a great office or show room, a well designed website or beautifully printed business cards - everyone in business knows that your image says a lot about your business.

So when you are considering your business image consider this: what your email address is says a lot about your business too. If you have a website, an email address with that domain name looks very professional. People will automatically assume you are a well organized professional organization. If you don't have a domain name, there are many freeware email accounts out there, and you should create one for your business. Don't be tempted to use your personal email address! Unless it's your name using your personal email not only mixes up your personal and business email, but it looks unprofessional.

Too many times I've had to print business cards with email addresses like: "princess_sweetpea13@domain.com" or "bearhunter@domain.ca" and heaven forbid this one: "vampy_kitty69@domain.com" And a professional email doesn't just belong on your business cards. Consider creating a new email address for job hunting. Trust me - potential employers do not want to see "bondage-queen123@domain.com" on your resume unless you are applying for a position as a dominatrix. And how about as a way to collect rsvps for weddings or anniversaries. Keeping this email separate from your personal emails and keeping it conservative will help you stay organized and keep you looking like a pro.

What's your tagline?

2011-07-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

With the explosion of social media, you're hearing a lot about personal brands again. Now, Andy Warhol's infamous 15 minutes of fame is a reality for anyone who can upload a video to YouTube or create a blog. With this type of exposure readily available, how do you want people to think of you? What do you want your tagline to be? If you think about what you want to accomplish this year, what is your mantra?
Promotional Consultant Today gives these tips for creating your personal tagline.
Think of a word or a tagline that will inspire you this year. Some people like the clarity of a single word like "simplify." Others get more inspired by a tagline like Nike's famous "Just Do It."
In a survey conducted by taglineguru.com, here are the top five taglines to get your creative engines roaring.
1. Got Milk? (1993,California Milk Processor Board)
2. Don't leave home without it. (1975: American Express)
3. Just do it. (1988: Nike)
4. Where's the beef? (1984: Wendy's)
5. Think different. (1998: Apple Computer)
Once you have your tagline, here are some ways to bring it to life: Write down your tagline or create a simple graphic of it and post it where you can see it. What we can visualize, we can make happen.
Think of three to five specific behaviors you need to model for your tagline to be experienced by others. For example, if your tagline is "simplify," what are you going to do so people can experience you as someone who simplifies things? Are you going to create agendas and e-mail them at the start of a meeting? Are you going to come up with a new way for your team to collaborate online? Are you going to be a rallying cry and driver for getting rid of time-wasting tasks?
Build into your year four things (one for each quarter) that would be significant achievements underneath the mantle of your tagline. If "simplify" were my tagline, I might donate all the things I no longer use to the Salvation Army or a local charity. When you're writing a project plan, ask yourself what you might include in your plan to show your tagline in motion.
Make it tangible and have fun with it: Your tagline is really a tangible way to motivate yourself to be the person and project manager you want to be.

Source: Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, is the founder of Cheetah Learning and author of Cheetah Negotiations, Cheetah Project Management, Cheetah Know How and Spiritual Money. In October 2008, The Project Management Institute (PMI), recognized Cheetah as the Professional Development Provider of the Year. Previously, PMI selected LaBrosse as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Project Management in the World, and only one of two women selected from the training and education industry.

Minuteman Press Blog Up & Running!

2011-07-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

An experiment in social media!
Last year, my graphic designer Michelle suggested we start a FaceBook page for the business. Me being completely ignorant about social media for business, and feeling rather overwhelmed said "sure - feel free to go ahead and make one for us". I didn't intend to be flippant, but later that night felt badly for the way I handled my employees suggestion. The next day when Michelle broached the topic again "Do you remember when I said we should make a Facebook page for the business?" She asked. I responded with "Yeah, about that - I'm sorry it sounded like I brushed you off..." and she cut me off to show me the completed page. Knowing that she did it in one night, and THAT DAY we started receiving quotes AND orders, I was converted.

Since then, I'd been trying to utilize social media. I'm on it daily, and it has literally replaced some (but never all) of my traditional sales techniques. We're on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/MMPLeduc We are now on Twitter @MMP_Leduc and now a blog. I've since given Michelle the title of Social Media Guru and have signed her up for a social media course at the U of A put on by Jeff Schneider with Marketing Ninjas

http://MarketingNinjas.com

I'm excited to see where this can all go. Maybe it IS the wave of the future. Maybe it's just really cool. Either way, I'm thrilled to be a part of it. I hope to blog about trends in digital printing. New innovations in offset printing. Bindery equipment, paper, ink...I love the industry, and have studied it my entire life. If you cut me, I would not bleed blood, but ink in PMS #185.
Thank you for visiting my blog - enjoy!

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