Ece Gimer

January 3, 2012 By Ece Gimer

New feature: Spotlight on Google+

We recently joined Google+ and we need your help and permission to improve it!

Each week we’d like to choose one great project we’ve completed and spotlight it on our Google+ page. For each special design we choose to spotlight, we want to do a little write-up about it and of course show it off visually. This will help visitors see the types of jobs we complete, and it also might give each winning creator a little recognition for their efforts!

Of course, since we print projects for other graphic designers and artists, odds are we won’t always be choosing our own work. That’s where the “permission” comes into play. Each weekly winner will need to agree to allow us to publish their art online. We’ll remind those in the running about this and get their permission before posting.

September 19, 2011 By Ece Gimer

Realtors® use print to sell homes in and around DC

Realtors use print We work with some of the most respected Realtors® in the DC Metropolitan area. They use print in many ways to help them sell real estate. Here are some of the most popular:

1. Farming neighborhoods. The most successful Realtors® really know the neighborhoods they sell in. This enables them to price their listings properly to get the most activity in the shortest amount of time. The right list price is the one that generates multiple offers in the shortest amount of time, with the competition among buyers driving the final purchase price up. The best Realtors “farm” their top neighborhoods by consistently reaching out to property owners and providing them information (through postcards, flyers and other printed materials) concerning recent sales, average time on the market, etc. By maintaining visibility as a local expert they find that, when an owner does decide to sell, the real estate agent’s name is fresh in the mind.

2. Announcing new listings. A lot of home are sold as a result of news spreading “through the grapevine.” People love the neighborhoods they live in and most of them want their friends and family to live closer. So, when they hear about a new listing, they talk! The best Realtors® notify the local residents of all of their new listings as soon as they sign them up.They do this through “just listed” postcards and other mailers.

3. Announcing sold listings. If you are a listing agent, you need your neighborhood residents to know that you actually sell homes! One of the best ways (since residents don’t have access to the MLS to check your success rate) is to announce your recently sold homes. This can be through a postcard or through a periodic newsletter. When they see your success, they will be thinking of you when it comes time to sell their home.

Of course there are other ways to stay visible in the communities you sell homes in — door hangers, magnetic calendars, desktop calendars, professional sports team schedules — but these are the most popular (from our perspective). What print do you use in your real estate profession? Let us know below.

I’m sure you’re aware that we create impressive, attention-grabbing custom designs of all of these materials and more for our Realtor® clients. So, when you’re ready to make an investment in your marketing, give us a call (or easier yet, fill out a short form and get a no-obligation quote for printing).

September 4, 2011 By Ece Gimer

5 things you definitely still have to print

Sure, technology is changing how people do things, but there are definitely things that must be printed. Here are our top 5 (in no particular order):

1. Signs, posters and banners. No surprise here… Wide format prints will always be a great way to attract attention, announce a new product or service, or alert your customers of an event or special promotion. If you have retail space and aren’t taking advantage of this opportunity to promote your business, you need to reconsider.

2. Bound presentation materials. When you have an important sales presentation, you need to make a great impression. One great way to do this is to present a full color, coil-bound book to each member of your audience. A power point presentation is simply not going to do the trick. Your target needs to see and feel the quality of your products or services.

3. Invitations. Email is unreliable, impersonal and, well, to be honest, cheap! If you want to be sure you guest list actually receives, reads and considers your invitation, the best way is still snail mail.

4. Business cards. Still the easiest way to share your contact information, business cards are a great, economical way to make the right first impression. So many ways to make your card an original!

5. Custom marketing materials. The latest craze is social media marketing, but a business that ignores the power of professionally designed brochures, pamphlets, sell sheets, and other promotional materials, is relying way too much on a single element of what should be a comprehensive marketing strategy.

We can design, print (and mail) all of these materials and more.

What do you print? Do you agree or disagree with our list? Let us hear your thoughts below…

September 2, 2011 By Ece Gimer

Lamination … from cards to posters

In this shop we use heated roll laminators to protect cards, important documents, window signs, posters and more. We have several machines here with varying widths as well as varying thicknesses of lamination film.

wide format laminator How do heated roll laminators work? Well, once you fire them up, heated rollers melt the glue which has been applied to the lamination film as it is fed through the machine. There are two rolls of film used in the lamination process — one roll on top and the other on the bottom. The glue is on the inside of the films as they meet at the rollers. As the glue is heated and the document is pushed through the machine, the top and bottom films adhere to one another as well as the subject media. Voila!

We get a lot of calls asking what is the largest thing we can laminate. Our largest in-house width for lamination is 44 inches. There is no maximum length. So, if you have a poster that is 3.5 feet wide and 12 feet long (or longer), we can definitely laminate it for you. Hey, we can even design it, print it and laminate it for you! 🙂 We also laminate posters that have been mounted on foam board. And in case you didn’t know, lamination not only protects, it also beautifies.

Do you have any questions about lamination? Feel free to ask!

July 28, 2011 By Ece Gimer

Window signs… a great investment

Retail space comes at a premium. Why? Well, for one thing, retail provides business owners with some of the best and most cost effective marketing opportunities. Potential customers don’t have to search for you… you’re right there in plain sight and they walk past your shop all day, every day. But do they notice you? They will if you have the right window signs, posters or banners.

A great investment Wide format window sign prints (also known as large format), when properly designed and placed, can be eye-catching customer magnets. Full color high quality digital prints which announce new products or services, seasonal specials, upcoming events and other important information are great for businesses with high foot or vehicle traffic and good visibility. If you have retail space and your windows aren’t strategically covered with posters and signs, you’re missing out on a crucial marketing opportunity. In fact, if you aren’t taking advantage of foot traffic, you may as well be upstairs. You paid for the space, now make use of it!

If you’re in retail or perhaps the restaurant / bar business, our design team and wide-format prints can quickly turn your empty windows into your highest-producing sales squad. Sit down with us for a few minutes and tell us what message you’d like to get across and we’ll put that vision to paper, vinyl, fabric… whatever! Or, design your signs and banners yourself and have some money-makers hanging within 24 hours of sending us your art. Your call.

I don’t know if there is a better investment for retail businesses than window and wall signs. Do you?

Ece Gimer

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