If your New Year’s resolution is already a fading memory, don’t despair. You’re in good company. People who like to track this type of thing have concluded that about 35% of us kick our good intentions to the curb by the first of March. On the bright side, every day presents a new opportunity to get back on track. In business, being able to shift gears quickly and navigate new terrain is a sure path to success.

HAMILTON, ON., March 15, 2010 – Carson Taylor, sales executive at Allegra Hamilton was recently recognized by the Allegra Network franchise system for being among the top system-wide sales professionals. Taylor was awarded the International Silver Sales Milestone Award, an annual honour based on sales volume achievements.

“The marketplace is changing, and small and mid-sized businesses need to take a more strategic approach to their print and marketing communications, “said Allegra Sales Manager Jim Gladun. “Carson proves again and again to be a valuable and knowledgeable resource to marketers who want to see real results from their communications programs.”

With two locations at 255 York Blvd. and 11 Hughson St. South, Allegra is a full-service marketing communications provider with in-house printing technologies including traditional offset and digital printing, variable data capabilities, colour signs, posters and banners, graphic design, mailing services, promotional products, internet marketing solutions and project consulting.

Keeping a keen focus on the big picture can quickly be derailed by the simplest tasks. When meeting or event preparation includes document duplication, it can eat up your time in no time at all. This holds true for the day-to-day doings of any office, too. How much time do you or your staff members spend standing in front of the office copier?

Just because you can do it “in house,” does that make the most sense? It’s true; not every printed project requires all the bells and whistles. But, every time you put together a package of information that lands in someone else’s hands, it deserves the kind of attention to detail that shows you take your professionalism seriously – from top to bottom. Is your company logo on the piece? Then it represents not only your department but your brand, too.

Whether you are printing everyday business forms or copying single-use presentation materials, today’s high-speed, high-volume printing and copying solutions take the pain out of duplication without sacrificing quality.

GO DIGITAL

Today’s digital printing technologies give you great flexibility with speed, personalization and quality. Electronic files go directly to print, eliminating the prep work that’s required with traditional offset printing. That means high-quality results without added costs.

Printing your collateral materials “on demand” allows you to tailor the content to make it relevant to your audience by creating multiple versions. Without the prep work, you can do 50 or 500 and the cost per piece is the same. If your business requires you to make frequent updates to sales sheets or flyers, digital printing will be a welcome partner. You’ll store far fewer, and obsolescence due to outdated facts and figures will become a thing of the past.

ORIENTATION AND TRAINING

And, don’t overlook your internal audiences. To succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, you need a well-trained, well informed staff. Orientation information for new employees and training materials for all staff members should be clearly written and presented in a convenient, easily accessible printed format. Professional-quality manuals, handouts, brochures and a variety of finishing services make the right impression when you want to hire and retain the best for your staff.

Your print communications provider can help you to determine the best solution to meet your project needs. By adding tabs, covers and the right binding, you’ll take your printed materials from just so-so to super.

For expert consultation and superior results in printing, call or visit your Allegra Print & Imaging Hamilton professionals today.

Your days are packed. Meetings, mediations, trial dates – the last thing you should have to worry about is whether your critical documents will look good and be ready on time for the court. With over fifteen years of experience serving the legal industry, we understand your specific needs and can handle all the details. Fast and friendly, we’re conveniently located right around the corner from the John Sopinka Courthouse in Hamilton.

Important trial coming up? We’ll copy your legal brief, make volume reproductions in black and white or colour.  We can handle multiple outputs from CD or digital files, too. Enlarge critical evidence photos into large-format  banners or posters for courtroom displays that really add impact and clarity to your court case. Our whiteprint copier can handle your tightest deadline on-demand. Full bindery services with cerloxing, hole punching, coil binding, tabs, poster mounting and more will help you present a well-organized brief. We are cost-effective, and, of course, confidentiality is always assured.

As a full service printer, we also handle stationery needs from letterheads, business cards and envelopes to memo sheets and account sheets for lawyers, accountants, mediators and other professionals. With one stop you can meet all your legal printing demands. Contact the experts at Allegra today.

Whether you are producing a company or customer newsletter, direct mailers, even event signage, you will instantly increase attention and retention when you use colour.
Research shows that colour:

• Increases brand recognition by up to 80%
• Improves readership as much as 40%
• Increases comprehension by 73%

When possible, using four-colour makes the most dramatic impact. However, the infusion of a second or third colour takes black and white text and images up a notch, too. Fortunately, a range of cost-effective solutions exists to add “punch” to your printed materials.

Designers often manipulate colour to create interest and variety from a single image. Following are a few terms to help you know your colour options.

• Spot colour – Adding one or more single flat colours to a printed piece. You can
  also create monochromatic (single colour) photos.
• Halftone – A pattern of dots of different sizes used to simulate a continuous-tone
  photograph, either in colour or black and white.
• Duotone – Created by printing a photographic image in two colours. They often possess greater depth and warmth than photos printed in one colour. Most are printed using a hue naturally dark in colour, like black or blue, and a naturally light hue, such as gray or yellow.
• Tritone – A halftone using three colours to produce more contrast and detail than
  a duotone.
• Mezzotint – Computer-generated reproduction of an engraver’s method which creates various textures and patterns to create artistic effects.
• Posterized – The colour palette of an image is manipulated and recreated using only flat colours.
• Traps – Trapping is a term that describes the method used to make two colours fit
  together perfectly without any white gaps between them.
• Screens – Varying the screen percentage can give you the illusion of printing with
  multiple colours. For example, a 50 percent screen of a solid red creates the illusion of pink.

See the pros at Allegra Print & Imaging in Hamilton for creative ideas on adding colour to your next print projects: from business cards, flyers, posters, banners, to trade show displays.

Allegra Print & Imaging, Hamilton has enhanced its printing capabilities yet again with the addition of Blueprint Output and Reproduction services. Large-scale documents like architectural drawings, construction drawings, landscape designs, construction site plans and more can now be printed from PDF or PLOT files or scanned and converted to digital files for archiving and future printing.

“Our service offerings continue to expand to meet the needs of our increasing client base and their demand for diverse printing capabilities and solutions,” said Gasper Lipari, Vice President of Allegra. “This is an extension of our full colour, wide format capabilities offering over-sized signs, posters and indoor/outdoor banners.”

Allegra Print & Imaging is among the most advanced and diversified printing companies in the Greater Hamilton area and serves more than 1,000 businesses and organizations. Lipari is known for his innovative business practices and commitment to offering clients one-stop shopping. Now with blueprint copying and printing services, the bar in Hamilton, Ancaster, Burlington, Stoney Creek and Waterdown area is being raised once again.

In addition to the new blueprinting services (copying, scanning and printing), the company features full-colour printing, graphic design services, short-run digital colour printing, high-volume copying and complete binding services along with mailing services, promotional products, and project consulting. Contact us for help with your next project or for a competitive quote.

When used intentionally and thoughtfully, colour can go a long way in defining your print communications, and subsequently, your business or organization.

When it comes to influencing buying decisions, appealing to your customers’ emotions rather than their logic does yield the best results. All of our senses are heightened when a purchase is on the line. When you’re using print communications to motivate, sight moves to the forefront. Connecting to your customers’ sense of sight can be greatly enhanced by adding colour.

According to a recent study, people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62 to 90 percent of product assessment is based on colour alone.

To find out more about how using colour can benefit your business, contact Allegra Print & Imaging at 905 528-2999. We’re serving Hamilton, Burlington, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Waterdown and Stoney Creek areas.

With all of the available options – print and electronic – direct mail remains the #1 choice in top direct marketers’ bag of tricks. For both B2B and B2C communications, direct mail carries many advantages unmatched by other forms of direct advertising.

Direct mail continues to provide measurable results and noteworthy ROI, thanks to its flexibility in format and ability to deliver targeted, personal and lasting messages. To be successful, apply the following principles of direct response communications:

• Target your audience
• Craft a worthy offer
• Include a call to action
• Provide a response vehicle

YOUR LIST

Your list can make or break your direct mail campaign. If you are not talking to the right person, the message you deliver – no matter how specific – will be meaningless. One of your most valuable business assets is your “house” list. Why? Customers cost less. It costs eight times more to obtain a new customer than retain an established one. Your house list is five to 10 times more likely to respond to your campaign than any other list. And, it’s free. You own the data, so you can use it as you like without incurring additional costs.

YOUR OFFER

Once you have your targeted list, choosing the right offer to appeal to your audience may take some time and testing. One of the top 10 mistakes with direct mail is not making a specific offer or request – and expecting the recipients to determine what they’re supposed to do.

YOUR CREATIVE

After settling on the offer, it’s time to choose a format. Which is best? It will depend upon your campaign objective. The primary formats include: postcard, self-mailer, letter, package with multiple elements, and dimensional enclosure.

Your brand, image, message and of course, budget, will help bring focus to the creative development of your direct mail, both in look and copy. With all of the pieces in place, your direct mail campaigns will deliver results.

For direct response planning, printing and mailing, see your Allegra Print & Imaging Hamilton professionals today.

Choosing an “expert” to take care of your health and wealth is a given. It makes sense that you would forgo having a first-year resident perform a delicate surgery on a loved one. Or, pass on hiring an accounting student to manage your family finances.

And while your print communications aren’t exactly a matter of life and death, they do have an impact on the long-term health and profitability of your business.

At every corner it seems, another source for printing pops up. Office supply outlets have plenty to offer in products. Be sure to evaluate what they can offer you in terms of quality and expertise. Choices in papers, inks, format – you name it – all influence the readability and effectiveness of your printed pieces.

POINTS TO PONDER

No doubt, you are wearing multiple hats, and any assistance feels most welcomed – no matter what the source. Being a bit selective about whom you choose to hand off some of the tasks, however, will pay big dividends in the long run. To help you identify the best resources for your print communications, consider the following:

• Consultative services – A print partner, like Allegra Print & Imaging, offers sound strategies for the development and execution of your print communications, whether its identity materials, sales support tools or direct mail pieces. Being able to turn to a trusted resource with a solid knowledge base will put your mind at ease – and free you to concentrate your efforts in another area.
• Graphic design – Sometimes, you need more than a few hundred copies of straight text. For those jobs, every step of the printing process impacts what follows in both time and money. Working with a one-stop resource gives you access to a provider who designs with printing and mailing in mind. Your pieces look good and are designed to be produced and mailed in the most cost-effective ways.
• Relationship building – A collaborative environment provides the most fertile ground for growing great ideas. Real communications pros can look at your overall objectives and work with you to see that your communications goals are met.

Next time you need support for your print communications, think Allegra Print & Imaging. Click here for contact information. We help clients in Hamilton, Burlington, Ancaster, Stoney Creek and other areas of Southern Ontario to reach their goals. Through careful strategy and planning, your print communications will “connect” with your audience.

Print communications remain the most effective way to reach your target audiences. But getting the most of each marketing dollar becomes more and more challenging as you try to cut through the clutter of a crowded and competitive marketplace.
Consider these cost-saving tips the next time you are ready to print:

• Stick with standard finished sizes to reduce paper waste and minimize your costs.
• Be careful when using bleeds, that is, color or images that run to the edges of the paper. Sometimes they require larger sheets that need to be trimmed, resulting in higher costs and longer production time.
• Use color to print a large quantity of “shells.” Then, customize the text as your projects come up throughout the year with one color of ink.
• Similarly, spread the cost of color between several jobs. For example, design a series of brochures that share the same colors, and print them at the same time. It can be cheaper than paying separate setup charges for each.
• Before placing a special order, ask if there is a paper stock in inventory that might be right for your project.
• Choose the right type of binding. Saddle stitching (stapling the piece along the center fold) is one of the least expensive and most popular types of binding.
• On larger quantities that are printed on two sides, lay out both sides on one larger sheet. This is called printing “two-up” and can reduce costs by about 25 percent since press time is cut in half.
• Consider digital color output. Though printing small quantities (under 400) of a full-color brochure is usually cost prohibitive for many organizations, consider short-run digital printing instead. If set up correctly, your project can be output directly from your digital files and the press time is cut in half.
• Avoid rush charges. Find out what length of time is required for production, printing and added processes like folding and die-cutting. Stay on deadline to avoid rush charges, which can be as high as 50 to 100 percent above the normal quote.

For many great ideas on how to harness the power of print, see your Allegra Print & Imaging Hamilton professionals today. Allegra Print & Imaging Hamilton can help you make the most of your project from design to delivery. Click the link for a quote.