All pieces are professionally printed on a high quality glossy card stock and feature a QR code for easy scanning with a smartphone. These custom designs match each customer’s new website which keeps the branding consistent across all media. Check out these latest examples of Advantage Plan print work below. You can see more examples of designs branded to match client websites in our Branded Sets Portfolio…

Business cards for Cabin Creek

Business cards and rack cards for Applegate Inn

Business cards for Annie's Cottage

Business cards and rack cards for McMillan Inn

A recipe postcard design is now an effective part of the print marketing for The Wakefield Inn.

Finding new and effective ways to engage your print marketing audience presents a challenge. Sending guests or clients a postcard featuring a recipe is a great way to follow up or touch base with them. This works especially well for B&B inns, cafés and restaurants, since they can feature a favorite dish that guests have enjoyed.

InsideOut Solutions recently worked with The Wakefield Inn, a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire, to design a postcard with Chef/Owner Janel Martin’s pear scone recipe. They chose a 4.25″ x 6″ card, which is the maximum size for the U.S. postcard rate, and it gave us plenty of room for all the elements of a great recipe postcard: the ingredients list, instructions, photos and a design branded with the inn’s logo, fonts and colors. There was even space for a QR code that goes straight to their bed and breakfast website’s Recipes page.

Wakefield Inn is a Branded Sets customer: InsideOut Solutions manages both their website and print marketing.

Postcards are very economical to print and mail, making them a good print marketing value. It’s a unique way to say “Thank You” and get customers to hold onto your contact information after they’ve visited. It’s also a nice memento that creates a positive association with your business every time they make your recipe!

This compact brochure has it all: it's an easy-carry size, matches the website design, and features a handy QR code, useful locator maps and a full list of chamber members. Plus, the clickable pdf version will soon be available for download at concrete-wa.com.

A Chamber of Commerce brochure gets the word out about their vibrant small community.

Concrete in Northwest Washington may be small (pop. less than 800), but it has a lot to offer. Its fun annual events, beautiful mountain setting and visitor-friendly services deserved a hearty shout out. They got it with a website launched in spring of 2011. Next: they needed a matching brochure for newcomers and visitors.

The Right Fit

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: pick the right format for what you have to offer. I’m a big fan of print pieces that, whether cut or folded, end up being about 4″ x 9″. This allows the finished card or brochure to fit in any standard display rack or no. 10 business envelope. Plus the size is easy to carry and economical to print.

For Concrete’s brochure, I chose a 12″ x 9″ trifold format that allows for three panels, front and back. That gave plenty of room for nice-sized photos and helpful information…

The Right Info

Chamber President, Valerie Stafford, wisely opted for less text. Instead, the photos tell the story. Smiling friendly faces and colorful photos of main attractions and events give viewers the right idea.

The back panel is an easily accessible place for contact information and maps. Concrete isn’t far from a main interstate, but it’s just far enough that a regional locator map helps viewers understand where Concrete is in relation to I-5 and major cities. The second larger map gives a good overall layout of the town without having too many hard-to-read details.

A QR code is also on the back. Instead of mobile users trying to type a web address, they can just scan it with their phone (and free app) and go right to concrete-wa.com

The interior of the brochure has plenty of space to provide a complete list of the Chamber members and their contact information. One panel is also dedicated to Concrete’s annual events.

Clickable PDF

Not only were 5,000 brochures printed, but I also generated an interactive pdf. Every members’ email or website address is clickable, and so are all instances of concrete-wa.com. The interactive pdf will soon to be offered on their website. [ View PDF ]

The brochures were a hit when they arrived at the Chamber Offices:

“….[T]hey’re beautiful!”

~ Valerie Stafford, President
Concrete Chamber of Commerce

1. a display piece for the counter
2. a print piece for local visitor centers’ racks
3. a postcard for announcements

Rather than designing and printing three separate pieces, we suggested a single all-purpose piece: a 4″ x 9″ rack card designed as a self-mailer. David liked the idea of getting three uses for the price of one and decided to have InsideOut proceed with the design.

Matching to Existing Visual Branding
Since Wind Rose Cellars is just starting out, there weren’t a lot of existing pieces to match to. We decided to use their new Bravo Rosso wine label as a basis for the rack card design. The label had many elements that David liked and planned on using in future designs. So we used the same aged paper, compass rose illustration, fonts and colors to keep the look of the card consistent with that of the label. Because we had worked with David on the Bravo Rosso label, InsideOut already had all the design elements on file. This allowed us to get started immediately and helped reduce the overall design time.

A Lasting Print Piece
It’s expensive to have a print piece that needs frequent updating and reprinting. To avoid this expense, we kept the information general and didn’t include specifics (such as prices or a full wine list) that would need future revision. It was better to stick to the basics that included:

• a locator map
•  a QR code
• a reference to their Facebook page

The map was drawn simply, avoiding excessive details that make a map too large (there’s not much space on a 4″ x 9″ card) and too confusing to look at.

The QR code points smartphone users straight to the winery’s home page. No need to type out windrosecellars.com—just scan the code and there you are!

For the Facebook address, we sent David easy-to-follow directions that allowed him to set up a Facebook custom URL for free. The custom address is shown on the card with the Facebook icon and /windrosecellars next to it.

On the front of the card, a glossy coating keeps the colors from fading and gives the piece a substantial appearance. On the back, the card was left uncoated for ease of writing.

Self-Mailer Savings
No need to buy envelopes—the self-mailer design makes the piece a mail-able postcard. To prevent problems with delivery, placement of the return address and the vertical line indicating the message and label areas follows Post Office guidelines.

There’s still plenty of space on the back for David to customize the message on the card. He can use desktop-printed labels or handwritten notes to announce events or special deals.

Ready for Display
At the tasting room, the rack card can be put in a vertical display so it takes up less room on precious counter space. Guests can pick up the card to keep as a reference or they can mail it out and share the information with others.

The 4″ x 9″ dimensions are also the correct size for visitor center display racks. Space is at a premium in most visitor centers. They’ll often reject pieces that are too large for their display racks. Also, in often-crowded racks, the top third of the card is usually all that’s visible. With this in mind, the Wind Rose Cellars rack card features the name and main offering (wine tasting) in the must-be-visible top third.

———————–
After a few revisions, David approved the piece and 2,500 rack cards were printed. The cards now serve as his primary print marketing piece, promoting his new business in the mail and on display.

Click here to view pdf: Wind Rose Cellars Rack Card

The finished packaging with dark maroon capsule.

Captain’s Walk Winery in Green Bay, Wisconsin wanted a wine label for a rosé to be heavily promoted during the annual Tall Ships Festival. The wine, called ’7 Seas’, needed a look that was eye-catching but in a muted palette that would work with established branding and the wine’s color. The final design is the result of a fruitful collaboration with the InsideOut design staff, the winery’s team and the printer, WS Packaging.

Click here to see a closeup of the finished front and back label.

InsideOut has great print deals on the following items for a limited time only:

20% OFF! ~ Greeting Cards (4″ x 5″ and 4.25″ x 6″)
20% OFF! ~ Postcards (3″ x 4″ and 8″x 5″)
30% OFF! ~ Personalized Notepads (4.25″ x 5.5″, 4″ x 6″, 5.5″ x 8.5″and 8.5″ x 11″)

For discount to apply, final client approval must be received by 4 pm PST 11/30/09. Contact Jim McCauley for details: Email 360-683-5774 x 304

If you don’t want to spend anything on postage, use your email instead. If you choose a pdf card, then it can be emailed now with a later option to have it professionally printed. Or send a card using a professional program which also allows you to track open rates, bounces and collect statistics at the same time you’re saying Merry Christmas!

Right now, InsideOut is offering great deals on postcards, pdf cards and e-cards:

6″ x 4.25″ Postcard
Custom design and printing with full color on both sides ~
500 for $125.00*
1000 for $133.00*

PDF Card
Branded to match the look of your business ~ $100

E-Card
Custom designed to match your branding ~ $70

Contact print@insideout.com or call 1-800-500-8401 ext 304. Just mention “Holiday Special” and get those holiday greetings done!

*Plus shipping and tax.

InsideOut has great print deals on the following items for a limited time only:

20% OFF! ~ Greeting Cards (4″ x 5″ and 4.25″ x 6″)
20% OFF! ~ Postcards (3″ x 4″ and 4″x 4″)
15% OFF! ~ Bookmarks (1.5″ x 7″, 2″ x 8″and 2.75″ x 8.5″)
35% OFF! ~ Personalized Notepads (4.25″ x 5.5″, 4″ x 6″, 5.5″ x 8.5″and 8.5″ x 11″)

For discount to apply, final client approval must be received by 4 pm PST 10/30/09. Contact Jim McCauley for details: Email • 360-683-5774 x 304

New rack card design for The Croff House in Hudson, NY.

The Croff House is a Victorian home with a beautiful and comfortable updated decor. Owners Duncan Calhoun and Russell Gibson worked with InsideOut to create a great web site that captures the contemporary feel of the inn and showcases its luxurious amenities. With the web site completed, it was time to create a print piece that could do the same job in a much smaller space. Again, they turned to InsideOut — this time, for the design of their 4″ x 9″ rack card.

Strong branding with matching marketing pieces:
Print designer Jennifer Lozada transferred the logo, colors, fonts and layout of the web site to the much smaller 4″ x 9″ print format. Rather than cramming the space with text, she let the photos do most of the talking. Open spaces (“white space”) in the layout draw the eye to the most important information. White space is key if you want to convey elegance and sophistication. Even with the “blank” space, text and photos, there was still room for a helpful locator map. Good feedback from the owners helped refine the map, text and photo selections.

The result: The web site and rack card are a match, conveying a consistent message. The owners decided on a quantity of 5,000 cards. InsideOut managed the printing to ensure quality, affordable cost and speed of delivery.

“It’s perfect!!!!” – Duncan

“The rack card looks great.” – Russ

A bookmark is just the start for marketing the Bed and Breakfast Foodies.

“8 Broads in the Kitchen” is a group of eight innkeepers from all across the United States. Their web site offers great recipes as well as insights and experiences from each innkeeper’s local food culture.

The group asked InsideOut’s print department to develop a bookmark to match their web site. InsideOut designed the 2 in. x 8 in. bookmark using the established logo, stripes and colors. The front prominently features the web site address. On the back, there’s a picture of each innkeeper with her contact information.

10,000 bookmarks were printed and have arrived in plenty of time for their joint photo shoot this September. The bookmarks can be tucked into cookbooks, displayed on their own, or attached to any other related marketing materials.