5 Print Products to Strengthen Your Urgent Care Facility’s Brand Identity

Printing for Urgent Care Facilities | MMPrint.comWhen a patient seeks out an urgent care facility, chances are they’re not quick to think of one by name—in fact; studies show that their selections are based more on location than anything. So, what can we do to combat this?

How can you get clients to think of your facility, recommend it to others, and seek it out in their times in need?

Internally, you spend time and resources, ensuring that your customers leave your waiting room feeling cared for, listened to, and confident in the information they’ve received. If you’re providing excellent service, the next step is to stand out with name recognition.

Let’s use the time that customers are in your waiting room or interacting with your staff to build a visual brand identity. Here are five printing products that will get your name in the eyes and memories of your customers:

Medical Tri-fold Brochures

medical tri-fold brochures urgent care | MMPrint.comThe time spent in the waiting room is a great moment to reach out to your patients and educate them on topics like common illnesses, immunizations, or emergency preparedness. You can also create and provide brochures for ailments and treatments to be provided by the staff during or after treatment.

These brochures not only serve as an educational tool for your customers; they also build trust with your patients and remind them of your branding every time they look at it.

A tri-fold brochure can provide a lot of information within its six panels, but you’ll want to keep the right balance of imagery and text to entice customers to read it. Keep the text focused and concise, with information chunked into small paragraphs, lists, or graphics for best results.

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Counter cards

You may be familiar with counter cards—they feature an informational graphic mounted to an easel-back and sit prominently on desks and shelves throughout most medical offices. Much like a brochure, these counter cards can educate your clients about illnesses, treatments, or office protocol. Branded signage gives your office a professional appearance while also reaffirming your urgent care facility’s name in their minds.

Counter cards are designed to be read relatively close-up, so be sure that your signage has an enticing photo and a prominent headline. The body text should be brief since this type of sign will probably be read while standing at a reception desk or while waiting for a doctor in a room.

Branded notepads

Branded Notepads for Urgent Care Facilities | MMPrint.comWhen you want customers to remember your name, it’s vital that they’re constantly exposed to it while having the best experience possible. Branded notepads add credibility to your medical office and give a unified, professional appearance. Branded, custom notepads are generally visible as customers check-in and interact with the staff. They’re useful for both the reception and medical staff and give your customers one more visual brand touchstone throughout their visit. These notepads can be used as promotional tools and distributed during networking events or customers as they head home.

Sell sheets

Sell sheets are like a one-page brochure and can be used to promote your facility or list your services with pricing. Within your office, they are the perfect tool for going over costs and services with your patients as they come into the office.

Promotional products

Promotional Products for Urgent Care Facilities | MMPrintIn a similar vein to your notepads, anything your customers interact with or take home should be branded. Consider for a moment, how many bank pens have you accidentally taken in your lifetime? Most of us can honestly say quite a few. Every time you use that pen, you’re exposed to that bank’s name. If you don’t have an account, there’s a good chance you’ll give them a call the next time you’re looking for a new checking account or auto loan, because you’re familiar with their name.

The same can be said for an urgent care facility. Pens, wristbands, water bottles, and hand sanitizers can make great, brand awareness-building giveaways for your customers. They provide the bonus of adding just an extra dash of goodwill.

The key to a great promotional product is to provide something useful, in sight, and easy to reach when their moment of illness strikes.

These are five popular print products that can increase brand awareness in your urgent care office. They can encourage repeat business and referrals from your satisfied customers since they’re more likely to remember where they got exceptional service.

Branding for Urgent Care Facilities | MMPrint.com

Just remember when you go to order your print products to brand, brand, brand. While you don’t want to create a design that is dominated by your branding, you’ll want to be sure that your logo, name, address, and phone number are prominent and professional. As long as you keep providing excellent care, your brand awareness will organically grow just by providing these types of print products throughout your facility.

Five Tips to Ensure your Graphic Design Files are Ready to Print

Five tips to ensure your graphic design files are ready to print

After a lot of head-scratching, pixel-pushing, and consideration, your new brochures or business cards are finally ready to fly to the print shop.

But, wait!

The worst feeling in the world is to get an item back from the print shop and see that it’s cropped strangely, the colors are out of whack, or there’s a glaring typo staring back at you.

So, let’s talk about five things you should check before you hit send on that file.

One More Proofread for the Road

Proofread Your Print Files

On your screen, moments after completing a design is the worst time to check for errors. Your brain is still filling in the gaps and seeing what it thinks it should see, not what is there.

If time allows, walk away from your design for at least an hour. You’ll want to look at it with fresh eyes.

Then, go ahead and print it to scale. Take a critical look at it both at close and, if it is larger than a business card, a few steps back.

Look for images that are out of alignment, text that doesn’t fit quite right, and of course, typos! Check every address, phone number, and email address for accuracy. If time allows, pass it on to a co-worker to perform the same check.

Verify your Color Space

Verify Your Color Space

The RGB (red, green, blue) color space is commonly used for digital pictures, like monitors and TVs. It is the color space you’re viewing this article in. By default, most graphic programs like Photoshop will start you in an RGB color space, as it anticipates that the files created will be used for the web.

CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is used for commercial printing. In general, when you create a file for print at a print shop, you’ll want to ensure you’re working in the CMYK colorspace. When you first set up the file, you can easily define this by selecting the print presets.

As digital printing has become more common, things have changed and yet, CMYK is still the preferred colorspace for printing.
So, before you hit send, give your print shop a call and ask them which color space they use. This simple tweak can save your new brochure or flyer from coming off the press looking a little off color-wise.

Check your Bleed Settings

Check your Bleed Settings for Best Printing Results

Bleeds are important for any document that is printed edge-to-edge, where the solid colors or images need to go all the way to the edge of the page.

While you’re on the phone with the print shop, verify what they’d like the bleed settings to be. We prefer ⅛” bleeds, but some may ask for ¼” or ½” bleeds to give themselves a little more margin for error.

Take a look at your file in your graphics program. Make sure that all your artwork is extended past the bleed line. Also, ensure that all text and important graphics are within the safe zone which is typically a ¼” from the edge.

Some print shops can provide a bleed and margin template, but if they cannot, just create a margin guide about ¼” from the edge of your document and let no important text or graphics past it. This will prevent any important information to be cut off.

Embed or Flatten your Fonts

You spent so much time designing the perfect document and a big part of that is font selection. To ensure that your fonts print properly, you’ll want to embed them into the file. Fonts are pulled from your local computer, so there’s no way to know if your print shop will have the same font.

First, keep a backup of your file with the text still editable. Then, go into your document rasterize each text layer if you’re using Photoshop. If you’re using Illustrator, convert each text element to outlines.

If you’re sending your file as a PDF (and you should be), you can sometimes embed your font directly into the file. This will make your file size bigger but allow the recipient to edit the text if needed.

Some fonts don’t allow you to share them in this way, so it isn’t always an option. Sometimes, all you can do is rasterize or outline them.

Convert your File to PDF

Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign files don’t email well in their native formats. They often contain fonts and images that are linked to files on your local computer. When the printer opens these files, they won’t see what you see! Missing fonts, images are only the beginning though. Some files can render differently on different machines (especially if the file was made in a Microsoft Office product like Word, PowerPoint, or Publisher).

So, if you’re sending a file to a print shop, convert it to PDF. If your file has bleeds, be sure to check that the bleed settings are turned on as you export the file. A PDF is a special kind of file that will retain the visual formatting of your file consistently on any machine that opens it. It’s a graphic designer’s best friend.

With these five tips, you’re on your way to having picture perfect files every time. If you’re ever unsure of any settings or requirements, don’t hesitate to call your print shop. We love speaking to our customers and want to make sure your file is formatted properly, so you get great print results from our service every time.

If you have questions or need a quote for your next printing job, leave a comment or give us a call at 877-MMPRINT!

Any tips you want to share from experience?

9 Creative Booth Designs to Create Awe at Your Next Tradeshow

Tradeshows can be quite an exuberant experience for many since it offers a lot of exposure for competing brands and emerging businesses within the industry. However, as a business owner, you are always on a lookout to make your team and offered amenities stand out from the rest. One of the best ways to do this is to make sure that your booth or stall is set up in such a manner that onlookers simply cannot get their eyes off of it. Here in this post, we would like to share with you some of the best design features that can get you all the attention you deserve. So, stick around and find out some of the finest schemes that can make your next tradeshow appearance for your brands and businesses an instantaneous and mega-hit.

  • Where Your Main Feature Is Your Product!

One way to make your booth design instantly appeal to the masses is to create a gigantic version of your main product or service as the central idea for your booth design. Thus for a shoe company, huge sneakers could serve as the backdrop for your stall. We know making things appear gigantic may not sit well with others, however, you need to deliver a picture to your customers and prospects that is larger than life itself. Plus it allows you to set your differences aside and focus on a simple and decluttered design that emphasizes your offered product or service. This is a strong message to anyone who doesn’t know you to instantly understand what your business is all about.  

  • A Stylized Product Wall

Keeping the notion of offering viewers a minimalist approach to your company’s branding, a lot can be done with simplicity combined with elegance. A stylized product wall that seems like an incomplete maze can offer you both closure as well as easy entry and exit for your audiences. This is one wall that is arranged in such a fashion that it offers a maximum display for your products, nothing too heavy to digest, and still makes a powerful statement about your brand or business. This plays ideally well for cosmetics and perfume displays.  The use of vinyl banners, wall graphics or posters are perfect for these displays.

  • Extravagant Seating Arrangement With Vibrant Displays

You know there will be a lot of people that would need someplace to give their bodies a rest since these tradeshows can be quite unnervingly prolonged at times. This is where you can capture the attention and allow them a dynamic seating arrangement that not only serves to comfort them but permits you to give you a solid presentation regarding your offerings. Make them relax and feel comfortable while simultaneously offering them your products and services through vibrant displays, lookbooks, or pop displays to surround their imagination. Being subtle and yet ambitiously promote your brand is an art and this can take you closer to mastering it.

  • Exotic Overhead Hangings With Open Space for Crowd Movement

The artistic and aesthetically pleasing ceiling is not simply a part of the Renaissance Age, it still gathers a lot of appeal to this day. Besides people don’t like to be confined in small and tight places. This design allows you to offer them the freedom to move about as per their will, while your overhead hangings are sure to attract a lot of attention. This simple yet effective design allows your visitors to be open and yet be a part of the bigger picture that you will eventually present them with. Making yourself distinct is the essence of marketing and promoting your business. This also gives you a lot of options to play with as well enabling you to create a distinguishable feel for your brand.

  • Ambient Enclosed Environment for Out of the World Experience

At times if you really want to make an impression you have to do it in a manner that is different from all the rest. In this, an enclosed environment for your booth can serve as an isolating factor from all the commotion in the surrounding and make your visitors feel exclusive. This is your playground and sky is the limit. Create an ambiance for them in whatever little space that you have and make your audience feel special. They should sense that they have entered a portal to some new dimension. Make this journey and transition for them as enjoyable as possible, stay creative and pay attention to detail for décor, lighting system, display, and loads of other variables.

  • A Journey Of Your Company Through Your Brand Logo

Your brand and business’ logo is more than simply an insignia that serves as a trademark for your venture. It can, however, be converted to a whole new feature if your booth design heavily implies all of its artistic curves and features to create a depiction or representation of your journey so far. In short, your booth design is a representation of your company’s logo and within its structure products and services are displayed in an imaginative and inventive manner. We simply cannot tell you what will make a perfect impression, however, your design team might have to sit and discuss this in a meeting to pull this one off. 

  • All Organic Set For Environmental Enthusiasts

There is a lot of awareness that is being created about global warming and how should businesses be focused on their corporate social responsibility. Luckily if you are a business that is effectively environmentally friendly then this is your chance to show off and make everyone jealous. Go with indoor friendly plants for décor, make waves with wall and ceiling hangers. Downright turn your booth into a big show fest for organic items. Plus, green is a greatly refreshing color as science has proven. It is cool to your eyes, but not as cool as your booth will look on the big day.  

  • A Sci-fi Themed Experience & Setting

A great contrast to Mother Nature is modern technology and hi-tech equipment. These are the alluring factors that pull the millennials and centennials like a swarm. Let’s face it’s their generation that holds the key to our future. This might seem to be the priciest option on our list but including biometric devices and RFID checkers on important customer touch-points is simply the crux of things that you can do to make your setting and its experience instilled with technology. Go completely sci-fi and follow this theme to the core.

  • A Puzzling Yet Entertaining Territory

Last but not least, offer them a puzzle or a mystery to solve. Tease their brains a little. Give their cognitive cogs a juggle. Make it entertaining for them. The more you stimulate their senses, the better will be their retention regarding their visit to your booth. It is all about making lasting impressions. The experience you offer them is how they are going to remember you by. So take some time out and think about it with an out of the box approach.

We hope this post was able to offer you some deep insights regarding crafting your own custom exhibit design for your company’s next big outing at a tradeshow. No matter what decisions you might take, do not forget to have a good time. This is a great learning experience and it should be observed in a heartfelt manner nonetheless. We wish you all the best from our side for all of your future endeavors.

If you have any opinions or suggestions regarding the topic or about something we missed out on, then please share with us your feedback in the comment section below. 

The latest digital press

A picture of our new short run digital press Konica Minolta Accurio Press C6100
A picture of our new short run digital press Konica Minolta Accurio C6100

The Marsid M&M Group, a leading provider of printing, graphics, mailing and fulfillment services, is proud to announce the acquisition of Konica Minolta’s flagship full color digital press, the Accurio Press C6100. The new addition further solidifies the Marsid-M&M Groups’ commitment to the Digital Printing Market and Customer Demands for short-run, Variable Data and large format Printing.

The Long Island based printing company will offer new paper sizes, faster output and efficiency to their nationwide customer base for all products including, but not limited to printing of 6 page brochures, catalogs, newsletters, annual reports, calendars, synthetic menus and digital business cards.

Barry Caputo, Owner of The Marsid M&M Group, stated ” This is another step in our on-going effort to constantly upgrade our equipment and stay on the cutting edge so that we can offer better products and more solutions for our clients.”

“Our new Accurio Press C6100 will keep us “On the Top”; The Marsid M&M Group has been providing quality printed products to America for over 45 years. The installation of this state-of-the-art piece of equipment will insure that our clients will receive all of their products printed perfectly!” said Carin Walter, Production Manager at The Marsid M&M Group.

The Konica Minolta Accurio Press C6100 presents a revolution in color digital printing with a staggering 100 full color pages per minute (6000 full color pages per hour) in an amazing 1200 DPI resolution to reproduce the finest detail in both images and text. Productivity and speed are only a small fragment of its capabilities. Complete with a on-board touch screen command center and the powerful CREO print management software, efficiency and quality are inherent.

The Accurio Press C6100 is Konica Minolta’s flagship color digital press; it doesn’t get any better. 14 and 16-point heavyweight card stock can be fully duplexed while a pinpoint registration unit detects image skew and performs corrections on the fly. Exclusive Simitri HD+ toner – the world’s first polymerized toner particles – produce astonishing fine detail and color stability; a preferred attribute for any print professional.

Besides the Accurio’s amazing color accuracy Konica Minolta has now invaded another section of the industry by being able to print up to 13”x30” sheet sizes digitally. This allows 6 – page brochures and newsletters, paper posters, and landscape booklets to be able to be printed in quantities as low as one.

On top of it’s amazing printing capabilities it also has some the latest advancements on in line finishing. On top of being able to saddle stitch in line like The Marsid-M&M Groups bizhub’s; the Acurrio can also square back saddle stitch (Lay Flat Binding) in line.

Brilliant and vibrant color with richer tones and higher resolution printed digitally on heavyweight paper at sheet sizes up to 13”x30”…  The fine line between digital and offset printing just got thinner.

To learn more about the Marsid M&M Group and their offerings, please visit www.mmprint.com or call 1-877-mmprint.

How to Provide Excellent Customer Service (And Drive More Sales)

Achieve excellent customer service

Lots of companies receive one-time orders from customers, but it takes extraordinary service to get repeat orders and switch these customers into long-term clients.
Thankfully, you’re not in it alone. When working with a printer that delivers superior client service, you’ll be able to pass those benefits onto your buyers. You’ll be a distributor that provides what others can’t, and you’ll capture their business anew. Look for a printer with the subsequent traits and you’ll be able to expect more orders.

Go The Extra Mile

Male runner getting ready to start his race

Your printer shouldn’t simply fulfill orders; they should create them exceptional.
Since printers comprehend their products best, they can supply suggestions you haven’t thought of to drive your printing to the next level.
MMPrint.com will:
• Assist clients with design tips and suggestions
• Provide free samples shipped out the same day
• Answer all questions via phone, chat or email
• Suggest ways to improve returns on printing investments
• Blind ship if requested

Any Product Is a chance to exceed your customer’s expectations
MMprint.com will assist you to exceed end-buyer expectations by suggesting additional finishing options. Recommend your customers opt for additional options like:
UV, AQ or Varnish Coating
Variable Data to help drive sales
Foil Stamping or Embossing
Die-cutting
And more!

Communicate Updates

Man using smartphone - communication concept

If you’re kept in dark regarding where your shipments are, your clients are too.
Make your clients feel secure regarding their orders. When your printer regularly communicates important updates to you, you’ll be able to pass the information to your clients through each step of delivery.
MMprint.com will update you immediately on:
• Tracking information
Estimated delivery/ship dates
• Any shipping delays
• Anything that may arise
Rest assured, if your printer is aware of something regarding your order, you’ll know too.

Offer Price Matching

Make sure your customers continuously get the best deal.
With thousands of printers out there, it’s not possible to match prices on every single product. Luckily, if your printer offers price matching, you don’t need to. MMPrint.com always tries to match any lower price on an identical product found. Simply send over the quote to your dedicated print specialist and they will work with you on a reduced price. Work with the printer you would like and continuously get the best prices.

Offer Discounts

You can take your business anywhere.
Your printer should make you feel significant and show they appreciate your business. Maximize your profits by partnering with a printer that gives discounts for repeat business.
MMPrint.com offers:
Non-Profit Discounts
• Discounts on large-quantity orders
• Coupons sent with orders and repeat customers
• And more!

Add A Personal Touch

Person with long curly hair sits at a desk with a flower and designs on a laptop

Printers are made up of people, after all.
Placing orders and requesting quotes shouldn’t feel impersonal: You should feel like you’re working with real people rooting for you to succeed by pleasing your clients with their products. Make sure your printer cares about you, your clients and what you need.
MMPrint.com sends:
• Holiday greetings, just to say hello!
• Sneak peeks at upcoming products so you can stay on top of trends
• Informative newsletters with articles to help you improve your business
• Personal follow-ups to make sure all of your questions are answered

Or just give us a call and reach a live person right away at 1-877-MMPrint. Our customer service team is here to help with any of your printing needs!

Why You Should Have a Custom Printer

Printing is Easy… Isn’t it?

Fine printing is not as easy as hitting . There are so many factors involved in custom printing that must be taken into consideration when creating a final product to meet your standards. You could spend time, money, and resources to figure out how to do it yourself OR you can leave the copy printing to the professionals.

Custom printers have both the means and experience to produce prints that will impress you and your clients. What allows them to achieve such high quality, are the countless resources they have at their disposal.

Resources

For starters, custom printers, such as the Marsid M&M Group, have a huge variety of paper selections. As mentioned in my previous blog, there are paper stocks with different coating, paper weights, textures, and even specialty paper that custom printers keep in stock ready to be printed on. Along with professional printing services comes professional printing equipment. Custom printers have access to digital printing presses for short run prints and offset presses for long runs and PMS printing.

Other machinery that the Marsid M&M Group have include: a cutter to accurately cut the prints down to size, an original Heidelberg machine that has been modified for die-cutting, foil stamping, and embossing, and multiple other machines for binding and folding. Custom printers also keep large quantities of ink on hand to avoid having to go through the trouble of buying new ink for every job. All these resources give custom printers the capabilities to customize any and every printing project up to the imagination of the client.

Experience and Knowledge

Besides the resources and equipment, custom printers also have the professional experience and knowledge to make the best product possible as well as avoid common mistakes found in copy printing. For example, printing with bleed is frequently botched in the designing process before the physical printing even occurs. For those of you who do not know, bleed is when the design or colors extends to the edge of the page. Often times, the final product will have a white border around the design or it would be trimmed past the desired dimensions. In order to avoid this, the Marsid M&M Group suggests a 1/8” margin of color beyond the edges as well a ¼” safety margin to prevent any text from being trimmed off.

Another issue that can be avoided by having professional printing services done is printing low resolution images and/or poor designs. The artwork department at the Marsid M&M Group will always inform the client of any quality issues when provided with low resolution images. Poor resolution equals poor quality. To avoid this, the artwork department will request images and files with higher resolution as to make the best product possible. The design can also be improved by the artwork department. If you are willing pay to produces out all these prints, why not set a little extra money aside to have the artwork department improve the overall look and feel of your copy print?

Web-to-Print

The printing industry as well as the business world has gone through a dramatic change in the Digital Age largely due to the presence of the internet. Businesses that only keep physical documents are at a disadvantage, but at the same time most companies are not able to be 100% digital. There needs to be a balance between the two and that is where Web-to-Print comes into play. Web-to-Print is the term used for printing e-commerce.

The benefits of this industry are that it gives consumers the ability to conveniently order customized prints as well only order what they need. That is a much better alternative to spending more money for prints that are close to what the clients are looking for without having to pay for extras that come in a package.

Now that you have an understanding of why it is so important to hire professional printing services, head over to the Marsid M&M Group’s website with your printing needs where you can request a quote or live chat with a printing specialist!

100lb is Not That Heavy

14pt Gloss Cover, 100lb Matte Text, 15 mil Synthetic, there are so many different types of paper out there and you are probably wondering what type to use for your next printing project. In order to figure which one you should use, you should know the difference between all of them.

 

To Print Coated or Uncoated? That is the Question.

The three most common paper types that we offer are gloss, matte, and uncoated stocks. Gloss paper has coating that adds a sheen to the design. This gives the colors a higher contrast which makes it great for advertisements. Matte paper has a subtle coating that slightly increases the contrast of the design without the intense glare that is found in gloss coating making this paper stock great for lookbooks and comic books. Last, but not least, uncoated paper, as the name implies, does not have any coating making it the ideal paper stock for text. Also, uncoated paper can be written on making it the ideal choice for coloring books and journals.

Paper stocks are also classified into cover and text stocks. Cover stock is a thicker paper meant for soft outside covers and used for single page prints. Text stock is thinner and used for flyers and the inside of books. Each type of paper stock, whether it is cover or text, is further classified based on its weight. For those who do not know, a single sheet of 100lb gloss text does not actually weigh 100lb. What determines the weight of a paper stock is how much 500 sheets of that paper weighs. When you think about it, each sheet is a lot less than even a single pound.

Special Paper Stocks

There are also various paper finishes that sets certain paper stocks apart. For example, 2 very unique finishes are Linen and Laid. Linen paper has a crosshatch pattern embossed into that paper. The pattern looks similar to linen table cloth. Laid paper had a different texture made up of ribs known as chain lines. They appear horizontally and vertically on the paper.

         

Another very unique paper is Synthetic Paper. What makes this paper so special, is that it is not really paper at all. It is a PVC-based material that is waterproof, tear proof, and heat resistant. Although extremely durable, it still has the feel and look of high quality thick paper. This makes Synthetic Paper perfect for restaurant menus, post cards, and training manuals. At Marsid, we carry 2 types of Synthetic Papers, 12 mil and 15 mil. 12 mil Synthetic Paper is perfect for folded menus while 15 mil is better for standalone sheets or bound books.

There are a ton of options for paper stocks which means there are a ton of options for you to print on. Hopefully, you have learned a thing or two about the various kinds of paper and are now equipped with the knowledge to know what you type of paper would be best for your project. However, if you are still unsure with what paper stock to go with, you can contact our print specialists at the Marsid M&M Group and we can give you our expertise on what type of paper would be best for you.

Quick History of the Printing Press

The printing press was introduced to the world by a man named Johannes Gutenburg. The blacksmith from Germany invented the first wooden printing press in the 15th Century. This phenomenal invention allowed for mass production of books and distribution of knowledge. Prior to the printing press, written knowledge was limited to a very few. By the end of the 15th Century, the printing press had become a prominent piece of equipment that had already produced over 15 million books in its first 60 years of its existence. Upon its invention, the printing press has been used to mass produce novels, manuscripts, and an early version of the Bible.

The Many Developments of Printing

Over the course of the next few centuries, there were not any large advancements to the printing press until the Industrial Revolution. In 1810, the first high-speed printing press was invented by Friedrich Gottlob Koeng. Four years later, the steam-powered printing press was developed and the first facsimile machine, or fax machine, was patented. It was not long before the competition for the best printing press began. Amongst the competitors were the Heidelberg printing presses. They are versatile presses that are capable of printing, perforating, hole punching, die-cutting, embossing, scoring, and foil stamping. The Marsid M&M Group is fortunate enough to have such a press that we use to die-cut shapes into or out of paper as well as foil stamp and emboss.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, the offset printing press and the typewriter were invented. In the 20th Century, the invention of printers was geared more towards the everyday consumers. Some examples include, photocopiers, inkjet printers, laser printers and the modern-day fax machine. However, in 1993, the digital printing press was developed by Benny Landa. This invention revolutionized commercial printing allowing for smaller print jobs by drastically lowering setup cost of smaller printing jobs and making variable data printing much easier.

The Printing Industry Now

Fast forward to today, print is seen everywhere. Advertising, newspapers,  calendars, lookbooks, booklets, business cards, brochures, magazines, menus, hang tags, coupons, catalogs, cards, bumper stickers, tickets, folders, journals… the list goes on.


Over the past few centuries, printing has gone through many advancements, but whether it is digital or offset, print can be found anywhere and everywhere. Today, knowledge is easily accessible to anyone willing to put the effort to look for it. This is because of how big the printing industry has become in the last 6 centuries. However, due to the presence of digital media, we often overlook how big the print industry actually is. Contrary to popular belief, the printing industry is still growing. In fact, global print was an $898 billion industry in 2016 and is on track to reach $980 billion in 2018. Not bad for an industry twice the age of the United States.

Custom Printing 101: How to get started…. and why

Custom Printing 101

First off, if you have read previous blogs, you have read all about the benefits of combining print marketing with digital marketing and how it increases ROI. You can go to previous blogs to learn all about the benefits of Print Marketing and

Worker uses specialized spatula to apply red paint to industrial printer | Marsid-M&M Group

ROI. The goal here is to explain custom printing and walk you through every step. Sadly, we as humans, are often intimidated by that, which, we are not

 

familiar, people often feel uncomfortable placing an order and asking questions. Ultimately, we are here to answer your questions, and we hope you take advantage of this blog to help answer some questions. We will try to help explain certain attributes and attempt to help give suggestions.

Step 1: In the beginning there was…

It turns out that you need to have calendars printed for your company or to give as a business partner as a gift. Or you are opening a restaurant and need menus. Perhaps, you have a big presentation coming up, and you need presentation cropped-logo-2015-512x512.jpgfolders to hand out so everyone is on the same page…literally. Either way, you need something printed. Naturally, your next thought is: Let me contact The Marsid M&M Group, everybody knows they’re the best. Ok, so that last part may not have happened, but let’s assume it did. From this point, I am going to assume that you are putting an order through online because if you call us, our print specialists can answer all your questions over the phone. Or, you can read this blog, and then call in and act like you’ve been printing projects for 30 years.

Step 2: Paper weighs 100 lbs?

You arrive at our site and choose which item or items you need to be printed. Once, you are on that item\s page, there is a box on the right-hand side that needs to be filled out. This is the point in the process, where
many feel overwhelmed or get confused. Some of the terms may sound unfamiliar.

As you see, I have selected booklets for this item. We first decide on the quantity of our printed item. Next, we come to Pages. This can get tricky. Printers do not count the number of pieces of paper. We count pages as a book does, including the cover. So, a cover is 4 pages, the front cover, the inside jacket, the rear jacket, and the back cover. A book with a cover and 75 pieces of paper in between is in printer’s terms, 150 pages plus cover. We number every surface area. Next, is theattributes page size. This is the actual size of an individualized numbered page. Or the size of the cover, (unless the inside and outside are different sizes). Any product that has a cover and inside pages will require the type of cover paper and the type of inside paper. Normally, you would choose cover stock for a cover and text stock for the inside pages. You will also have to choose the color of the cover, inside and out. For printers, any color is full color. You can choose black ink, or leave it blank. For a cover, you may choose full color on the front and black ink on the inside. Next, you must choose the color of the inside pages. Remember again, if 1 page has color on it, then the inside pages are full color. Lastly, we come to how the booklet is bound. For a booklet, there are 4 different binding options. Saddle stitching, which is like a magazine, the pages are simply stapled or stitched together. Spiral bound, like a school notebook. Wire O bound is like spiral except that it is not continuous. It is a number of individual wired loops that are perpendicular to the edge of the page it is binding. Lastly, it can be perfect bound, which is like a normal paperback book. There are page limits and requirements for binding. You can call us to ask, or when the quote is put through, we will let you know what your options are.

Step 3

Once you have been assigned a print specialist and receive your estimate, you may go over any additional questions that you may have and review the pricing. At this point, you want to make sure your artwork is done and is a Print Ready PDF. We also have a blog post that explains how you can use a free piece of software to design your artwork if you haven’t already created your artwork.

Order Now | Marsid-M&M Group Printing

After you made sure your artwork is ready for printing you can simply click the blue Order Now button at the bottom of your estimate which will bring you to the order form that is customized for you.

Next, you will come to where you provide us with your billing and shipping info so that we can get your final printed project to you in a timely manner. As you can see you are given 3 options for completing your order. One being complete order and upload file (The option you are most likely going to want to choose), Complete order and upload files later (Only select this if you do not have your files yet), and complete order and use previously uploaded files (Use this if it is a reprint or if we already have your artwork).

Step 4

Now that have completed your order you should receive a low-res proof soon of what your artwork will look like when printed. If everything looks correct you can approve it. Next production is started and when it is completed you will receive an email with tracking for your package.

Now that you know the basics to getting custom printing head over to the Marsid-M&M Group and have it printed right the first time with customer service experts!

What Your Business Card Says About You

The Most Powerful Yet Overlooked Marketing Tools

One of your most powerful, yet ignored weapon in your marketing arsenal is your business card. Exchanging business cards with potential clients is, in fact, the most personal form of marketing. In this “tech-savvy” world, business cards are still essential for modern day businesses. There are many advantages of swapping business cards when compared to simply exchanging numbers. For starters, it is quite embarrassing and unprofessional when a client hands you their card and you have nothing in return for them. Rather than just being a contact in someone’s phone, a business card allows you to brand yourself. By presenting a client with a business card, you contain the ability of promoting yourself by means of text and visual cues. Production and printing costs of business cards are low and the benefits are high; as they make a statement in the business world.

Business Card Printing Services | MMPrint.com

When done properly, a business card should convey both you and your company’s dominance. The color, content, design, typography, paper, as well as the size of a business card, will act as clear signals to a potential client about who you are and what you stand for. When creating a business card it is equally important to convey an important message, as well as have your card stand out amongst all the other cards.

Business Card Essentials

When designing a business card, the information contained on the card must include your first and last name, business address, email address, office phone number, cell phone number, the company’s logo, and a web address if applicable. Make sure that your name is the largest text included on the card so that potential clients can quickly discover your name when they look at your card. A business card should never just merely contain your name and information; it is important to include a tagline of what your company is capable of doing.

It is important that the size of your business card must be no more than 3.5 inches by 2 inches. This measurement is the standard size of business card holders as well as the pockets found within wallets. If your business card is too difficult for the client to carry, then they will simply just throw it away if it does not possess the utmost importance. It is also necessary to always carry your cards in a card holder. Presenting a potential customer with a dog-eared business card will consistently give off a poor representation of your company.

Content and Design

When addressing the content and design of your card, ask yourself, “What makes my card stand out from the others?” The fact of the matter is; your card is only one glance from ending up in a stack with all the others.  If you choose to adopt a clean and simple design it does, in fact, show that your business cares about their appearance, but it doesn’t necessarily make the card stand out. On the other hand, over complex or cluttered designs tend not to scale well, can potentially lose detail when printed, and can even limit the writing space that clients often use to write notes on. Finding the balance between content and design is essential when selecting your business card.

Premium Business Cards | Marsid-M&M Group

High creativity can possibly draw away a potential customer; that is if you are dealing with a serious client. However, choosing a material other than paper, containing angled cuts, altered corners, and interesting backsides can also be viewed as cool, modern, and innovative. This is important for people like artists or graphic designers who attempt to look trendy to their customers. Smaller businesses tend to even put fun and interesting substances on their card so that their client will view it all the time. Some of these cards may contain a USB, a professional football schedule, or even magnets.

Typography

Business Card Typography and Design | MMPrint.comWhen deciding which font to use and the spacing between texts, it is important to realize that legibility is absolutely essential. It is also important to understand that your choice of font will depict your personality and will speak the voice of your brand. Be aware that fun and modern fonts may undermine the severity of your company. It is equally important to understand that decrepit fonts are sometimes difficult to read.

Color Psychology

Choosing the color of your business card can tell a potential client a lot about your charisma. When choosing colors it is again very important to understand that your card must be easy to read. Choosing a traditional color like white is very safe and conservative; however, it is difficult to stand out from all of the other cards. If one were to choose black, they are demonstrating power and seriousness however the color black can suggest mystery and can even intimidate the client. Similar to black, the color red is very powerful and passionate, but it too can intimidate the client. The color blue will often convey your message with honesty and trustworthiness, but it also represents calmness and tranquility which can be conceived as laziness by your client. The color yellow is very uplifting and stimulates the mind; however, it can be strenuous on the eyes. So when choosing a color it is important to keep these things in mind.

Color Wheel Typography - Meaning of Colors

Now that you have an overall sense of how to create a business card, here at the Marsid M&M Group, we are ready to help and aid you with all your business card needs. We print any quality, as well as any quantity of business cards. Our experienced staff can even help you design your card to perfection. With our state of the art equipment; the finished good you receive will exceed all of your expectations. To get a free quote please visit our business card printing services and premium business card printing pages.