How to Pick Promotional Products to Spread Your Message
We’ve all seen it—a child’s recent art work held up by a refrigerator magnet reminding you of a particular company’s contact information.
Look on your desk or in your purse. How many pens do you have with a business name and phone number imprinted on them? Millions of people just like you may not know where these products came from or how they got them, but they use them all the time.
Promotional products can range from printed paper materials like scratch pads, bookmarks, to plush toy animals or tools. They’re a great way to influence people to remember you.
As an author, you can remind people of your book through bookmarks, business cards, or any number of creative creations. There are many ways to spread the message, service, or product you offer.
Authors are particularly very creative with promotional products to match their books. Though bookmarks or postcards provide great introductions, you can expand your reach with additional creative products that showcase your book.
As an example, we have an author who wrote a book on finances. She offers a calculator and piggy bank to help parents teach their children financial responsibility.
Another author has a children’s book and commissioned one of the characters to be made into a plush toy.
Three things you need to put promotional products into your readers’ hands:
1. Brainstorm
Make a list of ideas of things that might relate to your book. With over 750,000 products to put your name or book title on, there will be just the perfect item for you. Choose fun, interesting, or practical products that support your message.
2. Demographics
Narrow down the list of the people you want to reach. Are they home makers, church goers, college students, or business professionals? Consider where they will be when they need your product the most and might pick it up when that time comes.
3. Consultation
Use a great company with a good reputation that can offer you many different choices and help you find the right product for your book. There are many companies to choose from online and off, but a pen or a mug may not be the right product for you. Talking with an expert can help you come up with creative ideas that will draw attention to your book and keep you in the forefront of your audiences minds.
After years of helping authors creatively market their books, WinePress Publishing established Notation Printing & Marketing Group . Since 2007, Notation has helped authors, small businesses, and organizations build strong marketing campaigns and brands. Their marketing experts love to brainstrom ideas for promotional products and programs that generate results.
Tweet This!The Dailies: A Free Icon Set for Writers
Another freebie from WinePress Graphics: The Dailies icon set. Every writer has those tools they need to do their work every day. So start your day the writers’ way and add some flair to your blog or Web site with these free icons.
Available in a wide range of sizes, spanning from 16×16 to 512×512 pixels, these icons are sure to come in handy for any reader or writer’s Web site.
Free Icons for Your Blog or Website
You can add visual appeal to your blog or Web site by downloading a free mini-icon set, courtesy of WinePress Design.
These icons are perfect for writers, readers, and book lovers. Free for personal or commercial use, these high-quality icons come in a wide range of different sizes spanning from 512px to 32px.
Click here to download your free icon set
Stay tuned to WinePress of Words for more freebies, courtesy of WinePress Design.
Thomas McGee is a graphic designer at WinePress. His job includes: cover design, Web design, advertising design, and assisting with WinePress’ partner company, Notation Marketing Group. In his spare time, Thomas enjoys volunteering at his local Christian bookstore, The Salt Shaker.
Tweet This!How to Set Up Your Own Gravatar
By Laura Christianson
Guest Columnist
You’ve probably heard of the hot new movie, Avatar. But have you heard of gravatar?
A gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar – your avatar is the thumbnail image that appears when you comment on someone’s blog.
If you have a Blogger profile, the image that accompanies your profile is posted whenever you comment on blogspot.com blogs. But that avatar works only for blogs hosted by Blogger. To make your avatar show up on WordPress (and other) systems, you’ll need to create a gravatar… a universal avatar.
Why do you need a gravatar?
To develop brand identity.
A custom gravatar — I recommend using a professional-looking photo of your smiling face or your company logo — establishes a consistent look for your brand. Wherever you go on the Web, your gravatar subtly promotes your brand. Eventually, people will begin to associate your face with your brand.
If you don’t use a gravatar, you’re stuck with a default avatar. WordPress, for example, gives me the following default options:
A “Monster ID” to brand my company? I don’t think so!
I ran into one glitch after creating my own gravatar; I noticed it wasn’t appearing on many of the comments I was publishing on other people’s blogs.
My problem?
I was commenting via an e-mail address that didn’t correspond with the gravatar I had created. (Depending on what type of blog I’m commenting on, I may use my business address or my personal address).
The solution?
I added additional e-mail addresses to my gravatar account. Here’s how to do it:
Go to:
- My Account
- Add an e-mail address
- Type in the address
- You will receive an activation e-mail
- Click the link, which takes you back to gravatar.com
- Select an e-mail address to modify
- Click an image you’ve already uploaded (or add a new one), click “Confirm”
Within minutes, my gravatar on comments I had already posted was updated to include my gravatar.
Your turn! Create your own gravatar right now and post a comment here, so we can see who you are!
Laura Christianson owns Blogging Bistro, a company that helps writers enhance their relationship marketing through Web sites, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.
Her company manages the WinePress blog, and she regularly consults with WinePress authors. You can read Laura’s monthly Relationship Marketing column in the Snohomish (WA) County Business Journal.
Tweet This!Bring Color to Your Desktop with FREE WinePress Wallpapers
By Thomas McGee
As a free gift from WinePress’ Graphic Design Team, you can find here a colorful assortment of desktop wallpapers to choose from. Each sports the classic WinePress leaves and division colors.
They’re sure to brighten anyone’s desktop. Enjoy!
Colors Include:
WinePress Group Emerald
WinePress Publishing Violet
Pleasant Word Goldenrod
UpWrite Garnet
Annotation Azure
Thomas McGee is a graphic designer at WinePress. His job includes: cover design, Web design, advertising design, and assisting with WinePress’ partner company, Notation Marketing Group. In his spare time, Thomas enjoys volunteering at his local Christian bookstore, The Salt Shaker.
