123Print's Tips for Your Small Business

05Sep 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Make Your Brand Memorable

If a picture is worth a thousand words, your brand image is worth a thousand purchase considerations. Portraying a powerful image as well as creating a unified, consistent look for your business ensures that your brand can be remembered. You brand is your business’ image — it is the first thing your customers and potential customers will think of when they come across anything related to your company. According to an article from the U.S. Small Business Administration, a strong brand identity is crucial to successful marketing because it helps your business stand out from the pack. In creating a powerful image for your brand, keep these questions in mind: - What is the first impression you want people to have of your brand? - What words or feelings do…

03Sep 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like … Christmas?

123Print Infographics, Small Business Info

Yes, it’s true. It’s only September and it’s time to think about the holidays. Today, nearly 40% of holiday shoppers start their gift buying before Halloween. Whether you or your customers celebrate traditional holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, or you’re more into unique celebrations like “Festivus,” you, like every other business, need to have your holiday ducks in a row in September! If you don’t already have your holiday promotions on the marketing schedule, then ‘tis time to do so. Newspaper ads need to be purchased, direct mail pieces printed and fresh loyalty cards should be at the ready. Customers are trying to save money and avoid the headaches that come with last-minute shopping by responding to early shopping offers. Not only are they buying electronics and other popular…

17Aug 2012 by Cindy Berrier 1 Comment

When It’s Time to Go Home: The Pitfalls of Being a Workaholic

Small Business Info

By: Anita Brady, 123Print President With 25 years of business experience under my belt, I’ve seen enough and experienced enough to know that success attained through luck or happenstance is usually fleeting and that hard work is the ultimate key to true, long-term success. For that reason, any budding businessperson is likely to find that success can entail getting little sleep, eating on the run and putting work before a personal life. Being an overachiever has its benefits, but not maintaining a balance between work and play also has its affects. Here are some tips I’ve learned about moderation, balance, and the pitfalls of being a workaholic; lessons that will ultimately make you a better manager, a better employee and a better person. Overworking is a Health Hazard If you’re a workaholic, there’s a…

06Aug 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Don’t Worry Be Happy [Infographic]

123Print Infographics, Life Insight, Small Business Info

[caption id="attachment_1459" align="alignright" width="150"] Click here to see the Happiness Infographic[/caption] With so many negative political ads talking about doom and gloom, we thought it was high time for an attitude check. Yes, there are many things that can be improved upon, but there are plenty of things to be happy about, too. The 123Print 1st Monday Infographic for August tracks the happy data. To start, we looked at the first ever World Happiness Report commissioned for the United Nations Conference on Happiness. The study found that the happiest countries in the world are in Northern Europe while the least happy countries are poor African countries. At first glance, money might seem to be the cause of happiness, but the combination of political freedom, social connections and little-to-no corruption carry more weight…

11Jul 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Dawn Billings, the first in the 123Print Interview Series “Small-Business Success: The Female Perspective”

Small Business Info, Small Business Sense Interviews

Ever wish you had just ten minutes with one of the pros? Well your wish has been granted. We’ve scoured social networks, conferences, women’s associations and the Internet at large to find optimistic, energetic and successful businesswomen who want to share what they’ve learned along the way. The 123Print interview series, Small-Business Success: The Female Perspective, is designed to help you improve your business and your life by inviting you to the table. The catch? You’ll have to provide your own coffee. This is about you and your success, so the more you join the conversation, the better it will make the series. Tweet your suggestions for small-business women interviewees, topics and questions with the hashtag #SMBsuccess, leave a message on our Facebook wall, or email us at [email protected]. Let’s start…

02Jul 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Star-Spangled Stats as We Celebrate Our Independence [Infographic]

123Print Infographics, Life Insight, Small Business Info

Headquartered in Frederick, Maryland and with a conference room named Antietam, it’s no surprise that we’re excited about the upcoming National Park Service’s events marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and recognizing the 50th anniversary of America’s Civil Rights movement. The week of the Fourth of July is the perfect time to share some of our patriotic spirit, so we put together a fun infographic about flags, and in particular, the standard of the United States of America. Most of us are introduced to the U.S. flag at sporting events, school and even the post office. Right around third grade we probably get to learn some flag history. But did you know that the design for our current flag actually received a B- from the teacher who was…

22Jun 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Taking Your Dog to Work is Good for Business

Small Business Info

Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day. As a dog lover, I think that rocks. If you’re the boss and your small business doesn’t allow pets in the office (even on a national holiday that encourages such things), maybe you should reconsider? Studies of people undergoing stress tests or physical examinations have shown that the presence of a dog lowered their heart rate and blood pressure during testing. Another insurance report said the average number of hours worked in a week is steadily increasing — by 200 hours between 1970 and 2006! People need more balance in their life. Dogs can help offer that balance. At 123Print, we don’t have a company mascot, nor do we allow pets in the office every day, but the majority of us…

19Feb 2012 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

220,000 Valentine’s Day Proposals

Wedding & Family, Wedding Lounge

The numbers aren’t in for 2012 yet, but according to

27Jan 2012 by Cindy Berrier 4 Comments

5 Creative Ways to Use Address Labels

Design Tips & Tricks, Expert Advice

Let’s face it, as much as some people want to admit it… the classic art form of writing a letter is vanishing. Those days of writing a letter to a loved one or friend are slowly being replaced with text messages, IMS and emails. So what does that mean? It means the common use of putting an address label on an envelope is becoming less and less useful. If you’re anything like my father, you refuse to do any sort of online banking or payments, so you still slip a check into an envelope and slap an address label on to save you a few seconds, and you see a lot of holiday address labels around Christmas but besides that, what do you even use an address label for these…

25Jan 2012 by Cindy Berrier 1 Comment

DIY: Embellish Full-Color Wedding Invitations

Design Tips & Tricks, Expert Advice, Wedding & Family, Wedding Lounge

So many of my friends are engaged and planning their weddings right now, that I often feel like suggesting that they pool their money together and have one giant wedding. I know they would all stare at me as if I had three heads and just spoke Greek to them, but it’s just a thought. Weddings are costly as we saw in The True Cost of a Wedding Knot, and in this economy that can definitely pose a problem. Brides want their dream wedding. They want wedding invitations that are unique and showcase their individuality. They want the recipient to open up the invitation and be enamored with it, but sometimes that’s hard to do when you’re a “budget bride.” Here’s my number one tip to those of you that…