How much thought have you put into how your business correspondence and other communications look to your customers and creditors? Many small businesses operate for years without the benefit of three essential communication pieces needed to give professionalism and credibility to their operations: Letterhead, envelopes, and a business card.

A Stationery Package Defines your Business as Legitimate.

Every legitimate and professional business needs a set of stationery for corresponding with customers, suppliers, and creditors in writing. A creative, tasteful, and cohesive package demonstrates that yours is an organized and viable business entity. If every piece of correspondence your customer receives--whether it's a marketing letter, a request for payment, a business card, or even the cover sheet on your fax--looks different, in other words, if your materials seem unrelated, then your business, in turn, will appear disorganized and people will get the sense that you're just flying by the seat of your pants (or pantyhose)! If you've been operating this way, perhaps it's time to consider hiring some design help for your business.

Here are 3 great reasons to develop a stationery package!

1. Letterhead makes a statement.

What do you do when you need to write a letter to one of your suppliers, or you need to contact a customer about a payment that is past due or send out an announcement about a new product? Preprinted letterhead can be used for more than just writing letters--you can use it for flyers, announcements, invitations, forms, fax cover sheets, any number of practical every day business purposes. A designer can provide you with a versatile format that can be adapted to serve many purposes. You will be able to present your communications more professionally and your customers, creditors, suppliers, and others with whom you do business will come to recognize your correspondence. And all your important contact information will be pre-printed right there on the page which will save layout time!

2. Preprinted envelopes say you're in business to stay.

Pre-printed envelopes will let your customers and creditors know it's from you even before they open it! Envelopes come in several standard sizes such as the common #10 size of 4x9" and the crescent size 6x9". Envelopes together with the letterhead sheet create an unbeatable combination that makes your business look professional--like you're going to be around for a very long time and can be counted on for long-lasting service and availability. Designers know how to create envelopes that display your contact information creatively and legibly and in accordance with current postal rules and regs.

3. Business cards or a brochure are an essential marketing tool.

The third piece of the stationery trio is a business card. Business cards will never go out of style. There's something magical about a small tactile card that you can hold in your hand and get a glimpse of the person and his/her business style--if it's properly designed. You need a good graphic designer for a great design--to make your card functional yet memorable so that people can find it in pocket or a file and know immediately why they kept it! Business card shapes are changing--you don't have to go with the standard 2x3.5" size anymore! Looking at your card should remind people of your business and entice them to give you a call! Keep business cards with current contact information on hand to give out everywhere you go. Never give out a business card with information crossed out and new contact info scribbled in by hand. If your contact information is going to change soon, order 250 instead of 2000, then reprint when the info changes. Business cards are economical to print and it's not worth tarnishing your business image to give out cards marked through with a pen!

FMI - For More Information

Use letterhead to make a great first impression:

http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/using-letterheads-to-create-a-good-impression-431353.html

Create your own letterhead using Word:

http://whitepapers.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=352246

http://whitepapers.silicon.com/0,39024759,60330455p,00.html

Client Showcase: Cathy's Crystals

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Motivational Minute

If you have plans and dreams, you need a place to write down your ideas and concepts to get there. Start an Idea Book. Find a journal, a sketch pad, ruled or unruled, large or small, whatever appeals to you. Perhaps you may want something small that you can carry around in your purse or a pocket. Perhaps you prefer the elegance of an artistic journal with handcrafted paper or a simple spiral notebook that you can buy at your local convenience store. Whatever you choose, find one with blank pages (no intimidating pre-printed words or phrases like "goals" or "to-do list") and use it to write down thoughts and ideas as they come to you. Don't be overwhelmed by that first empty page. Start in the middle of the book if you want to! Divide it up into sections ... or not! It doesn't have to be orderly or logical. Don't constrain yourself by trying to follow rules or keep it neat. Capture motivating statements you hear. Creative concepts on which you can build the foundation of a business plan. An Idea Book is your own private space to release your creative energy. Show it to the world if you want to or show it to no one. It's yours to use as you please. But it may be just the jumpstart you need to get your thoughts down on paper where you can analyze and develop your ideas into a plan!

Quarterly Quotes:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep.--Scott Adams

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and
the less the artist does the better.
--Andre Gide

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
--Cecil Beaton

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Copyright 2008 by Lot:21 Design