123Print's Tips for Your Small Business

10Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Infographic: What Videos American Workers Admit to Watching on Their Mobile Phones

Everything Else, Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge

I don't think it's a secret that everyone has moments where they blatantly slack off at work. Maybe we talk on their cell five minutes longer than they should. Maybe we spend a little too much time checking their Facebook or Twitter feed. Maybe we linger on a news website too long under the guise of "research." Maybe we sneak a glance at our cells and check out a few videos when we think no one is looking. Sneaky? Yes. Breaking some company rules? You bet! However, I think we all do it at some point or another. Earlier this year, the Harris Interactive Poll discovered something completely unsurprising - majority of American workers want companies to allow them to use any mobile device they choose for work-related tasks. With…

09Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Black Friday Madness – Business Style

Fun and Humor, Small Business, Small Business Lounge

Every year it seems that major retailers “leak” their Thanksgiving Day ads for Black Friday deals earlier and earlier. Yep, here we are, more than two weeks away from the most wonderful shopping day of the year and you can probably already find most retailers’ ads for it online with a quick search. Unfortunately, ever since posting of “leaked” Black Friday sale ads became a phenomenon a few years back, the stupendous offers and once-in-a-lifetime door buster savings they carry seem to get less and less exciting. That is unless you plan on spending Black Friday shopping for stuff for your micro business. What’s that? You say no one shops for stuff for their business on Black Friday? Exactly! Hey, check out the leaked ads. The big deals are pretty…

08Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Invitation Etiquette – Holiday Edition

Everything Else, Family Lounge, Wedding & Family

You don't need me to tell you that the holidays are rapidly approaching. The malls are decorated and surely you've seen at least one Black Friday or Christmas commercial reminding you that time is running out to get your shopping done. Personally, the holidays don't start for me until I see the famous Hershey's Kisses Christmas commercial. Growing up, that was always the key that soon I'd be gorging myself on turkey and after that Santa would be visiting. Speaking of Santa, I always wondered if parents invited him to sneak into their house every night - or if it was just understood. I mean, Santa is a really busy man, right? Billions of kids all around the world expect him to show up one night a year, but was…

04Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Smartphones – Connecting With Your Customers

Expert Advice, From 123Print's President, Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge, Technology News

The news about smartphone penetration continues to be incredible. Adoption rates continue to climb and more importantly, your key customer targets, people between the ages of 18-44 are using smartphones more than ever. They’re using them to socialize with friends and family via Facebook and Twitter. They’re shopping with one click and scanning barcodes to help them decide the cheapest place to get that new flat screen television. Despite the fact that the word “phone” is in the word “smartphone,” it almost feels like less and less people are concerned with the actual phone part. They’re more concerned with how the phone can help them reach their daily needs of socializing, reading, educating, and shopping. Ask yourself, what is your business doing to help these customers? What are you doing to help…

02Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

8 Simple Ways to Stay Productive at Work

Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge

When you're sitting at your desk in the office (or at your cool in-home office), what day do you find yourself struggling to be productive? What time of the day do you find yourself getting the most distracted, resulting in a decrease in your productivity level? I'm not afraid to admit that Monday is my worst day to be productive (I blame the eternal weekend we're all working for), and I find that once I eat lunch I have a really hard time staying focused. Anyone from 123Print reading this, or at our parent company Taylor Corp., I swear I get all my work done. Scout's honor! The fact of the matter is that we're all human. We can't all be at our best 8, 9, 10 hours a day…

01Nov 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Think Before You Font

Design Tips & Tricks, Expert Advice, Fun and Humor, Small Business, Wedding & Family

Sometime around the end of last week I walked into the office and before I could even sit down at my desk my colleague and fellow 123Print writer Shannon was all but levitating off the ground in a state of near-panic. “You have to look at the new calendars page on the site right away,” she exclaimed nearly breathless. I expected that maybe there was a typo we didn’t catch in proofing, perhaps an honest misspelling that spell-check “fixed” into a NSFW four-letter word, but no. It was worse. Right there in the headline was the most egregious of all things typography – the headline font was Comic Sans. Several expletive-laden phrases later and I was surrounded by our entire web design team who, after several expletive-laden phrases of their…

31Oct 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Infographic: Carbonite Small Business Disasters

Expert Advice, Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge, Technology News

What’s one of the worst case scenarios that you and your small business could face? What would you do if someone broke into your office and stole or destroyed all of your computers - the computers that had valuable information and data? Financials, important contacts, contractual agreements, business plans and models etc., all gone. Do you have a way to gain any of it back? What if there’s a horrible natural disaster and everything is ruined? What if there’s a fire in your house or your office? Machines, computers and technology are not invincible. In a continuing effort to help our customers improve and maintain their business, 123Print has become a partner with Carbonite, an automatic online file backup system. With Carbonite’s software, all of your important files (email, client…

27Oct 2011 by Cindy Berrier No Comments

Harry Potter Goes into the Vault – A Vent About Scarcity Marketing

Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge

I got some bad news this week. Warner Bros has decided to follow in Disney's evil footprints (I use the term "evil" in jest. I absolutely love Disney and everything about them.) and declared that as of December 29th, 2011... all of the Harry Potter movies will be put in the "vault." WHAT?! BACK UP! Warner Bros has a vault?! You mean I won't be able to get my beloved HP DVDs any time I want? Being the sole 123Print employee who would quit if given the opportunity to attend Hogwarts for real, I am outraged. I am so distraught at how much money I am going to have to dish out because of this that I cannot function. If my understanding is correct, and someone please correct me if…

25Oct 2011 by Cindy Berrier 1 Comment

11 Tacky Wedding Dresses That May Make You Cringe

Fun and Humor, Wedding & Family, Wedding Lounge

I don't know about you, but whenever I hear about a wedding I immediately imagine something classy and glamorous, with a touch of the couple's style. That touch may be brought out by colors, music selections, how they styled their invitations, or how they do their wedding vows - but sometimes people really go overboard to make their wedding their own. Or maybe that's not accurate and fair. Maybe these people actually think they're "unique touches," really look good. Taste is subjective, right? So maybe one of these photos actually appeals to you and inspires you if you're planning your wedding or your future daughter-in-law's wedding. Either way, this post is all in good fun. Personally, I wouldn't be caught dead in any of these wedding day outfits, nor would…

21Oct 2011 by Cindy Berrier 4 Comments

4 Holiday Promotion Ideas for Service-Oriented Small Businesses

Marketing Info, Small Business, Small Business Lounge

I hear you screaming from here – “Holiday promotions? It’s not even Halloween yet!” and in a way you’re right. It is a little early for Holiday promotions, but that’s also the point; now’s the time to start thinking about what you’re going to do and how you’re not going to get lost amongst all of the multi-million dollar campaigns the big boys are going to run between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The first thing you need to realize is, not to sound negative at all, that chances are you won’t be able to fairly compete with national, regional or even large-scale local businesses in the Black Friday weekend frenzy. The second thing to come to terms with is that the bulk of the holiday promotion and advertising strategies and tactics…